Experimental rock band The Mars Volta brought joy to their legions of fans by unexpectedly announcing in June 2022 that they had reunited a decade after their break-up, and had been recording new music together. Months of anticipation culminated with the release this week of The Mars Volta, their seventh studio album and the first since 2012’s Noctorniquet. The reason the album is self-titled is to allow the band to start on a clean slate, moving on from the experimental, psychedelic/prog rock sound that captured the imagination of fans and critics in the early 2000’s, and ultimately led to a 2009 Best Hard Rock Grammy for the track Wax Simulacra from the album Bedlam in Goliath. As is frequently the case with the Grammies, the award was a belated recognition for the body of work they had built up in previous years, particularly the astonishingly inventive 2005 album Frances the Mute, which I had on heavy rotation on my iPod during 2006-07.
from left: Omar Rodríguez-López and Cedric Bixler-Zavala, the creative forces behind The Mars Volta
The core of the band, which was formed in El Paso, Texas, remains the dynamic duo (watch their live performances for proof) of vocalist/lyricist Cedric Bixler-Zavala and songwriter/left-handed guitarist/keyboardist Omar Rodríguez-López (both are now 47 years old). Founding member Eva Gardner, who left the band before they recorded their first full album, is the bassist on this album. Omar’s brother, Marcel, who has played keyboards on all but their debut release, is back. Willy Rodriguez Quiñones is the only newcomer, becoming the sixth different drummer in the history of the band.
As mentioned, this new album veers off into a pop-based sound. Whereas the tracks on previous albums contained a mix of incomprehensible lyrics, discordant instrumental (and vocal) shrieks, and unexpected switches in pace and tone, this album is more accessible in every way, although Bixler-Zavala’s high-pitched, near-falsetto vocals provide the link to the past. Switching from experimental rock to pop doesn’t come at the cost of artistry; it’s just a different expression of skill and creativity, and therefore the ability to excel in a different genre is all the more impressive; it’s as if Jackson Pollock suddenly started painting like Rembrandt, or Quentin Tarentino made a hit rom-com.
The first noticeable change in the new album is the length of the songs. Whereas Frances the Mute had three songs of 12-13 minutes and one of 32 minutes length, the longest track on this album is just over 4 minutes. Overall, The Mars Volta clocks in at just 45 minutes, quite a contrast to previous albums, most of which were 60-75 minutes long.
With every successive playing of the album over the past three days, I found myself liking more and more songs, and experiencing that wonderful feeling when each track starts taking on a distinctive identity.
The lead single, Blacklight Shine, is also the lead track in the album and has a catchy chorus, accompanied by a rolling bongo-like percussion sound; and as with previous songs from the band, the lyrics switch between English and Spanish. Shore Story is as conventionally structured a song as you could imagine, built on a slow R&B groove, with enough room to hear Eva Gardner’s thoughtful bass lines. Blank Condolences continues along the same vein, but this time a bluesy guitar provides the frills, supporting by a stuttering drumline. Next comes Vigil, the first song on the album that hooked me, with its beautifully paced chorus: “It’s the want || of the weight || when it crushed || All the centrifugal ways our lives || fall in and out of place“. Que Dios Te Maldiga Mi Corazon is a full-on latin-tinged track and quite reminiscent of the band’s older work. Palm Full of Crux is another favourite of mine, this one has a combination of piano, horn and flute sounds, holding the heartfelt vocals in a delicate web. In No Case Gain, Bixler-Zavala switches between throwback psychedelic vocals when singing the verse, and a lower register (for him) delivery on the refrain. I love the falsetto wail in the chorus of Equus 3: “Pain in my heart, go away || ‘Til we settle the score, you tried to scatter to the wind“. Another R&B-style track follows with Collapsible Shoulders, once again elevated from the conventional to the memorable, by the chorus: “I’m livin’ on the verge of ruin || And never did I hear you say “Leave no man behind”“.
It’s been a while since so many tracks on an album have appealed to me, and by the looks of the critic reviews, this release has really given everyone a frisson of delight. Whether you are a fan of the band, or just looking for something new to listen to, I highly recommend getting hold of the new album. Meanwhile, I intend to go to the band’s back catalogue, as well albums like Antemasque and In•ter a•li•a that Bixler-Zavala and Rodríguez-López worked together on as members of other bands.
This is the sixth entry in a series of thumbnail reviews of films I’ve watched on the Criterion Channel streaming service. I finished off this set of 10 films during the second half of November of 2021. Given this is now September 2022, it’s pretty clear how much I’ve fallen behind in posting these, with the original intent having been to do so at the same pace as my viewing. I also realize just how many movies I powered through during those first few months of the subscription, driven by the sheer thrill of being able to access this amazing library of films. In twelve months, I’ve watched a total of 142 films on Criterion, so I still have another eight thumbnails to post in order to get to #131-140…by which time, I would have seen a few more! It’s a good problem to have. For the moment, let’s go through this set of #51-60, which includes one mystery thriller, a Japanese monster movie, a Japanese crime film, three noirs, one WW2 submarine thriller, one romantic comedy, one social drama and one literary adaptation.
The Grass is Greener (1960): Director Stanley Donen exemplified the golden age of Hollywood, starting off with big budget musicals before moving on to romantic dramas and comedies, invariably with the biggest stars of the day. The Grass is Greener is a “love quadrangle”, set in England, starring Cary Grant, Deborah Kerr, Robert Mitchum and Jean Simmons. It’s always fun to watch a movie packed with A-list stars, and in this particular case, having Mitchum cast against type as a lovesick oil millionaire. Watching the film, I got the sense that this must have been a relatively relaxed film shoot; for one thing, the actors had all worked with each other previously and enjoyed a real-life camaraderie; and secondly, most of the proceedings take place within a sumptuously furnished English country house. Having said that, I could not quite reconcile the very adult theme of the story with the lighthearted tone of the film, and came away feeling rather disappointed. The film was not a major success at the time of its theatrical release, but given its star wattage, it has enjoyed a lengthy second life on cable channels. Stanley Donen ventured into Hitchcockian territory with his next two films, Charade and Arabesque, both of which enjoyed box office success with an entertaining package of mystery, romance and humour.
The Enemy Below (1957): The submarine thriller is a specific sub-genre of war film, which if well made, can make for a tense and claustrophobic viewing experience. They typically involve a cat-and-mouse game between the captains of a ship and a submarine, or two rival submarines. The Enemy Below ticks all the boxes, and benefits from some fine acting by Robert Mitchum, as captain of an American Destroyer escort, and Curd Jürgens, as captain of a German U-boat. While some films choose to portray one or the other captain as evil or sadistic, The Enemy Below portrays both as honorable men, doing a job, but not intent on unnecessary killing. The film is directed by Dick Powell, who had a successful career as an actor in both comedies and detective films, before making the jump to directing. Other notable films in this sub-genre include Run Silent Run Deep (1958), The Bedford Incident (1965), Das Boot (1981), The Hunt for Red October (1990), The Wolf’s Call (2019) and Greyhound (2020).
Ace in the Hole (1951): This sordid tale of greed evoked strong reactions from critics when it was released, with terms like “grotesque”, “distorted” and “absurd” being used to describe the premise and the plot. As society itself has turned more cynical in subsequent years, the film has won the respect of many modern-day critics, with Roger Ebert including it in his The Great Movies series of publications. Kirk Douglas plays Chuck Tatum, an ambitious but combustible journalist, whose career has fallen on hard times due to arrogance and alcoholism. One day, he chances upon an accident scene – a man has been trapped in a cave-in while exploring a Native American cliff dwelling. As rescuers frantically work to get him out, Tatum realizes this has the makings of a national human interest story – provided he can prolong the rescue effort and control the narrative. Thus begins the journalist’s slide into a quagmire of deception, from which he cannot escape. Douglas excelled at playing flawed characters who come to tragic ends, and this ranks as one of his great performances. The film is sometimes classified as a film noir, with Jan Sterling, who plays the trapped man’s wife, fulfilling the role of femme fatale. Director Billy Wilder received an Oscar nomination for co-writing the script. Mr. Wilder was clearly in the midst of a purple patch at the time – he had received Oscar nominations for his previous two films (A Foreign Affair and Sunset Blvd.) and would garner writing and directing nominations for his next two efforts (Stalag 17 and Sabrina).
A Colt Is My Passport (1967): While Toho studios captured the imagination of international audiences during the 50’s and 60’s with the Godzilla films and the acclaimed works of Kurosawa and Ozu, it was Nikkatsu, Japan’s oldest studio, that targeted local audiences, particularly Japanese youth, with their highly stylized mukokuseki akushun (“borderless action”) films of the 60’s. Five of these were compiled by Criterion in 2009 into a box set titled Nikkatsu Noir, which includes A Colt is my Passport. It was directed by Takashi Nomura, who was strongly influenced by French crime films and Italian spaghetti westerns. Nomura’s visual style, choice of music score and having a cold and calculating killer as a protagonist certainly do evoke the mood of Sergio Leone’s films. Leading man Joe Shishido was notable for his cosmetically enhanced cheeks, which gave him a chipmunk-like look that I found equal parts ridiculous, unsettling and distracting. But it helped create a visual identity for the actor, which he leveraged into a successful career in Nikkatsu action films, such as Rusty Knife, Detective Bureau 2-3: Go to Hell Bastards!, Gate of Flesh and Branded to Kill, many of these directed by B-movie maestro Seijun Suzuki.
Jerry Fujio and Joe Shishido are contract killers on the run in Takashi Nomura’s A Colt Is My Passport (1967)
Destroy All Monsters (1968): As a big fan of “creature features”, it’s no surprise that Godzilla movies have always been on my watchlist – both the Japanese originals as well as the various modern incarnations. Having said that, one must admit that many of these have been average to mediocre; it’s almost like the idea of a Godzilla film is better than the experience of actually watching one. That was my impression of Destroy All Monsters, the ninth entry in the original “Shōwa era” series, which ran from 1954 to 1975. On paper, it was a no-brainer, as it featured an all-star kaiju team-up and had the original director Ishirō Honda returning after a gap of two films. The opening exposition tells us that it’s the year 1999, the world is at peace, and all the kaiju have been confined to an island research facility. But then an alien race, bent on the conquest of Earth, release the kaiju and using mind-controlling technology, unleash them upon the major cities of the world. If I had watched this film in my childhood, I would have thoroughly enjoyed it, but the dated visual effects and the wooden acting were too much to take, and I had to will myself to sit through it to the end. Still, if you want to see Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra, King Ghidorah, Gorosaurus, Anguirus, Baragon, Manda and the incredibly annoying Minilla together on screen, this is the movie for you. Although director Honda was celebrated for the Godzilla series and other sci-fi films, it is equally impressive that he came out of retirement in the 80’s to work for his friend Akira Kurosawa as an assistant/consultant on the master’s last five films, including Kagemusha, Ran and Madadayo.
Hangover Square (1945): I was able to erase the bad memories of Destroy All Monsters with this extraordinary crime noir film, featuring Laird Cregar, an actor that I had not heard of previously. The film is set in London in 1903 and tells the story of George Harvey Bone (played by Cregar), a successful music composer, who suffers from spells of short term amnesia, triggered by stress and discordant sounds. Concurrently, there are unsolved crimes in the neighborhood which may or may not be connected with Bone’s brief periods of unexplained absence. Throw in a wealthy fiancé, a suspicious Scotland Yard criminologist and a manipulative nightclub singer, and we have the makings of a melodramatic thriller. Most of the narrative takes place in Edwardian London nighttime, allowing acclaimed cinematographer Joseph LaShelle to use lamplight and fog to create a starkly lit noir masterpiece. Laird Cregar was on a crash diet during the making of the film (an attempt to slim down for more romantic roles), which created severe health problems and resulted in his death at the age of 31, just two months before the film’s release. I can therefore imagine there was some verisimilitude to Cregar’s performance of the tortured artist living on the edge of sanity. German director John Brahm also directed the well-regarded horror films The Undying Monster and The Lodger (also starring Cregar).
I Wake Up Screaming (1941): I couldn’t get enough of Laird Cregar, so I promptly followed up with another one of his pictures, although he wasn’t the lead in this one. Square-jawed leading man, Victor Mature, plays New York sports promoter Frankie Christopher, who we see at the start of the film being questioned about the murder of an up-and-coming actress he was mentoring. Although he protests his innocence, police detective Ed Cornell (Laird Cregar) is determined to put Frankie behind bars. Caught in between is the dead actress’s sister Jill, who doesn’t much care for Frankie, but doesn’t think he is guilty either. Although Mature plays the leading man, it’s Laird Cregar who delivers the narrative tension with his menacing on-screen presence. The film plays out like a real whodunnit with the guilty party not revealed right till the end. This was director H. Bruce Humberstone’s best known film, although he was a prolific filmmaker who worked on a wide range of genres, including four films in the Charlie Chan detective series and three Tarzan films.
The Last Tycoon (1976): Famed director Eliza Kazan’s final film featured a powerhouse cast, including Robert DeNiro, Robert Mitchum, Jack Nicholson and Tony Curtis. It is set during the Golden Age of Hollywood and tells the story of a successful young studio chief, Monroe Stahr (DeNiro), who falls in love with a young actress he fleetingly sees on a movie set. Being a man accustomed to getting what he wants, he tries to woo her, while his life is pulled in various other directions by the demands of his job. Sadly, in spite of the stellar cast, the pacing is lethargic and the film just seems to go nowhere. It’s a rare misfire for DeNiro at a stage of his career when he was in films such as Taxi Driver, 1900 and The Deer Hunter. Likewise, it was an unfortunate coda to Kazan’s storied directing career that saw him win Oscars for Gentleman’s Agreement and On the Waterfront, and receive nominations for A Streetcar Named Desire and East of Eden.
Angel Face (1953): There were a couple of moments while watching Angel Face, when I physically jumped in shock, that’s how unexpected the twists and turns in Otto Preminger’s film noir are. Ambulance driver Frank Jessup (Robert Mitchum) responds to an emergency call at a large mansion. It turns out to be a false alarm, but while he’s there, Frank strikes up a conversation with heiress Diane Tremayne (Jean Simmons). In due course, Diane and her wealthy parents have taken a liking to the industrious young man and offer him employment to support his ambitions of opening his own car repair shop. I wouldn’t want to reveal any more about the plot but suffice to say that things don’t end well. Preminger keeps everything calm on the surface, adopting the tone and pacing of a regular social drama, and then springs a surprise on the viewer from time to time. Angel Face was made midway through Preminger’s illustrious career, eight years after he was Oscar nominated for Laura and seven years before Anatomy of a Murder.
Black Widow (1954): This well-made mystery film is shot on Cinemascope in vivid colour, rather than in B&W or the grungy tones associated with noirs and thrillers. The legendary Ginger Rogers, who made her name starring in wholesome musicals with Fred Astaire, gets top billing here, cast against type as a haughty and viciously gossipy actress, Lottie Marin. Lottie and her husband live in the same New York apartment building as their friends, Broadway producer Peter Denver (played by Van Heflin) and his vivacious actress wife (played by the vivacious Gene Tierney). Into their high society lives enters Nancy Ordway, an aspiring young writer dreaming of making it big in the Big Apple, and then things start to go horribly wrong. The film received only middling reviews upon its release, but was popular with audiences, and likewise I too found it entertaining. Director Nunnally Johnson was better known as a scriptwriter, with writing credits including the Oscar nominated Grapes of Wrath, and hits like How to Marry a Millionaire and Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation. His most celebrated directorial effort was The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, starring Gregory Peck, which received a Palm d’Or nomination at Cannes.
Chronophlogiston 