Finishing School

Special delivery – a five minute journey into a world devoid of science and logic, writer/director Roman Bubnov pits a mysterious, gift-giving force against a woman in an intriguing little Russian short film – Who’s There (2018). A twenty-first century Hitchcockian blonde (Darya Yanvarina) – ear buds in, phone attached to hip; a beautiful mystery, so alluringly aloof. . . a woman placed in a dire situation, she receives a text from source unknown, asking if she got the said sender’s present.

What looks to be an open and shut case, Lucio Fulci perverts a seemingly simple murder mystery with suspicious individuals and numerous red herrings in 1971's intriguingly titled giallo, A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin. Carol Hammond (Florinda Bolkan) is a bored London housewife, married to her staid husband, Frank (Jean Sorel), mother to an ungrateful step-daughter, Joan (Ely Galleani), and daughter to a famed lawyer and big time politician, Edmund Brighton (Leo Genn). Haunted by her subconscious, she often dreams that she has found her way over to her wild-child next door neighbour’s pad, Julia Durer (Anita Strindberg) – a sex-kitten known for throwing massive drug-fuelled orgies. Fulci perfectly encapsulates the situation with an amazing transition – visions of her dreams cut to her husband using a nut-cracker at one of their typically boring dinners, as well as a nicely used split screen shot.

A meditative piece on aging, Rúnar Rúnarsson’s 2004 short film The Last Farm, out of Iceland, depicts a situation in which many of us will one day find ourselves in. . . old and decrepit, losing our freedom as we are forced out of our homes for a much more costly imitation of it. Hrafn (Jón Sigurbjörnsson) is an elderly man who has done it his way. Loving life on his little plot of farmland, it is stark yet beautiful, cold yet alive – a frigid ocean property surrounded by hilly mountains and dales, the meeting of land and sea picturesque in all of its challenges. . . unspoiled water and terrain for as far as the eye can see.

Pushing the boundaries of the Italian giallo, Andrea Bianchi’s aptly titled Strip Nude for Your Killer (1975), which features numerous examples of the seductive art of striptease, oodles of nudity, and a violently high body count, is an example of Eurotrash in its most disturbingly alluring state. . . not for the prudish or weak of heart, but fascinating to be sure. A glossy B movie set in the posh world of a Milanese modelling agency, one of the house’s top photographers, Carlo (Nino Castelnuovo), uses his advantageous position to pull stunning women into his bed (I use this term loosely – a steamy sauna works just as well for the cheeky fellow) with promises that they will grace the cover of the world’s most iconic fashion magazines.

A swashbuckling tale of adventure, romance, and intrigue, Fanfan la Tulipe (1952), directed by Christian-Jaque, found its way to me rather serendipitously – a thirty-three dollar Criterion feature tucked in the back of a country thrift shop (price tag – two bucks). Following the titular character, played by Gérard Philipe, as he gets embroiled in one scenario after another, mostly thanks to his fortune having been told, this occurrence helps form his unorthodox path (more on that later). . . I must say that it seems rather funny that I found this one in a place wholly unexpected, especially since the film deals with fate and destiny. Played with a comedic spin, the story is set during the Seven Years’ War, and as the voice over (narrated by Jean Debucourt) puts it: “war, the only recreation of kings which the people could enjoy. . .the regiments of Picardy, Aquitaine and Burgundy fought elegantly, killing each other with grace, disemboweling in style. . . His Majesty’s soldiers found this war so pleasant that they made it last seven years”.

With a title like Seven Blood-Stained Orchids, you’d probably expect a fascinating nature documentary divulging the secrets of a rare flower. . . but of course not, this is part of the continuing series of giallo films reviewed here on Filmizon.com. Written and directed by Umberto Lenzi (and loosely based upon Cornell Woolrich’s novel “Rendezvous in Black”), the filmmaker immerses the viewer into a sordid tale of bloody revenge. A murderer, dressed (and gloved) in black, is dispensing of women in and around the city of Rome.