Szamanka (Andrzej Zulawski, 1996)

2/10
Andrej Zulawski is most known internationally for Possession, an 80's body horror flick starring Isabelle Adjani in a crazily over the top role. I found that movie flawed, but interesting.
I didn't know much about Szamanka going in but I knew Zulawski would be on hand to accept a lifetime achievement award from Fantasia so I decided that would be worth seeing in itself. It was, but unfortunately, the movie was not. Possession was flawed but interesting (a trait in movies I can tolerate and have for many years) but Szamanka was flawed and uninteresting, a fatal combo. It features another crazily over the top performance from its lead actress, but never goes anywhere interesting with it. She meets with an anthropology professor who has unearthed a 2000-year old shaman, and the movie mostly details their crazed, illogical love affair, with lots and lots of wild sex.
I'll give this movie one point for its soundtrack which, although annoyingly repetitive, features some cool tunes, and another point for actually being kind of funny at times, in its silliness. But overall...pass.
I have another movie to see in this little Zulawski retrospective, L'amour Braque. Hopefully it's a lot better

From Dusk Till Dawn (Robert Rodriguez, 1996)

6/10
I was in the mood for something light and I'd never seen this one all the way through, so I put it on. It has a really great first half, and Clooney and Tarantino (despite the latter receiving a Razzie nom for worst actor) have surprisingly good chemistry. I'm also a fan of both Harvey Keitel and Juliette Lewis so their presence was welcome. When the movie breaks off into its second half (the siege on the vampires at the bar), it becomes significantly less interesting and doesn't appear to know what to do with itself. Tarantino may have written the screenplay (so of course he ends up with Salma Hayek's foot in his mouth) but the jarring discrepancy between a great first half and a spoiled second half was a criticism I had of Rodriguez's Planet Terror. Maybe these two are best kept apart, in the end.

No Sex Last Night (Sophie Calle & Greg Shephard, 1996)

8.5/10
In 1992 visual artist Sophie Calle went on a road trip with photographer Greg Shephard. They each had a video camera, and they also recorded their own thoughts independently both through their cameras and afterwards in voice-over. They agreed to take the road trip barely knowing one another, driving from coast-to-coast with a loose promise of a Vegas wedding at the end of the journey.
Though this is played for realism, it's impossible to deduce what is fiction and what's real in this hybrid video essay/road movie/love story/documentary. The situation seems unbelievable (two near-strangers cooping themselves up in cars and hotels for a month and marrying in Vegas) but there is precious little in here that even bares a passing resemblance to acting. In watching the footage they shoot and the monologues they give about each other, themselves, their surroundings, their moods, etc, they seem too complex, too contradictory, too illogical, to be anything else but human beings. It's a fascinating, immersive trip, shot and edited very much like a Chris Marker film (to whom the movie is dedicated), but unlike just about anything I've ever seen. I highly recommend it.

Paris Was a Woman (Greta Schiller, 1996)

7/10
Interesting if unspectacular documentary (it was made for TV, and much of the footage is is interviews with talking heads) about the exile of artistic women to Paris, focusing primarily on the 1920's. Sylvia Beach, Djuna Barnes, Gertrude Stein, Alice B. Toklas, Adrennie Monnier and others are the focal point. It was quite interesting to learn their stories (and, frankly, to learn how many of them were lesbians...I would have never guessed). Nothing monumental but worth a look if the subject matter interests you.

Cremaster 1 (Matthew Barney, 1996)

5/10
The second film of Matthew Barney's five-film Cremaster Cycle, I liked the first one (Cremaster 4...don't ask) better but neither blew me away. Cremaster 1 is even more tedious and less engaging. I wouldn't recommend it but I'm trying to watch all five so yeah.

Fargo (Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, 1996)

7/10
I was a little underwhelmed considering all the hype, but it was still a good, charming movie. Frances McDormand, William H. Macy and Steve Buscemi were all great as was the story, the usual unclassifiable brand of the Coens' suspense/dark comedy.