The Exorcist (1973)

Director: William Friedkin
Writer:   William Peter Blatty 
Cast:       Ellen Bustyn, Max von Sydow, Linda Blair, Jason Miller

When a teenage girl is possessed by a mysterious entity, her mother seeks the help of two priests to save her daughter. 

I had seen this film when I was about 12 and was scared shitless. That was not such a big deal back then since any decent quality horror film would have done the same at those sort of age. Once you grow up and become rational, horror films don't work that well for you on a getting scared level and the same thing happened to me. I am not a big fan of horror films these days and the ones that I end up enjoying tend to be 'Psychological Thrillers', which doesn't go all supernatural on us. Last year's 'The Babadook', a film championed by William Friedkin himslef, was one such film and you can pretty well explain that one as it happening inside the minds of the two protagonists- mother and son. My recollection of The Exorcist was that of it being a supernatural story and I really didn't feel the need to revisit it even though I became a big fan of Friedkin over the years after watching To Live and Die in LA, Sorcerer, French Connection and Killer Joe. Mark Kermode, film critic, frequently cites 'The Exorcist' as his favorite film of all time. That and general boredom led me to finally take the plunge and revisit the film.

I don't know if I am talking absolute bollocks, but I think Friedkin is playing a huge prank on our skepticism towards horror films and all things supernatural. The mother character is not at all religious and when her daughter starts behaving oddly the doctor explains it as caused by a lesion in her temporal lobe. The scans reveals nothing and the doctors recommend 'Exorcism' as a last resort, acknowledging it as a placebo technique. On the other side you have a priest, Father Karras, who is a qualified psychiatrist. He is suffering a crisis of faith and is grieving, with guilt, the death of her mother who died old and alone. He is bewildered when the mother approaches him, asking for exorcism. Like us the viewers, he is also skeptical about supernatural things and thinks her daughter's ailment is purely psychological. It is quite a habit to check who all are in a room witnessing when something seemingly supernatural happens in horror films. This is so as to explain events as hallucinations/psychological, and till the last exorcism part of the film, I could only put the mother as sole witness to unexplainable things in the film. So you can still possibly have 'The Babadook' explanation for it. But it goes apeshit during the final exorcism and it lands like a slap in your face when she defies gravity. It also does the same for Father Karras who finally accepts that they are dealing with the devil/supernatural indeed. So, the father character, is representing us in the story and we see the film from his perspective.  

So, to sum up, it is indeed great and is not just a horror film. Performances are excellent and the atmosphere it creates is terrific. The special effects and make ups have aged very well which is remarkable. Mike Oldfield's 'Tubular Bells' is used sparingly than I thought considering the fact that it achieved its legendary status due to its association with this film. The film was an adaptation of William Peter Blatty's 1971 novel with the same name. It was the first horror film to be nominated for Best Picture Academy award but lost out to 'The Sting'. Yup, Mind-boggling!!! Begrman's 'Cries and Whispers' was also nominated.

Rating: 5/5

                                                                        

Sorcerer (1977)

Director: William Friedkin
Writers:  Walon Green, Georges Arnaud
Cast:       Roy Scheider, Bruno Cremer, Francisco Rabal, Amiduo

Four unfortunate men from different parts of the globe living in exile in South America agree to risk their lives transporting gallons of nitroglycerin across dangerous South American jungle. 

South American road films are always a good watch when it comes from very good directors. Motorcycle Diaries, Aguirre: Wrath of God and Fitzcarraldo are some that I really love. Sorcerer is more close to Fitzcarraldo than the other two which are more philosophical or political in nature. In Fitzcarraldo, Kinsky is motivated by an uplifting cause, but in Sorcerer motivation for the characters is the desperate nature of their situation. The first half of the film is an elaborate foreplay (reminded me of 13 Assassins) which trots across Mexico, Jerusalem, Paris and New Jersey showing us small back-stories for the four characters. Their exiled life in Porvenir, a remote village in South America is hellish and when they are offered this suicidal job for good money, they show no hesitation in taking it. The 218 miles journey is treacherous as one would expect and there are many set-pieces to be had. They are really breathtaking despite the fact that you are expecting those kind of stuff. Even the trucks have a certain character and the title of the film comes from one of them. The matter of fact ending of the film is also great stressing the fact that we humans are not in control of our situation. The last scene is very predictable but is done in a cool way. That guy really looks like Graeme Souness.

Film was a big budget disaster at box office and it also got poor critical reception. It got released close to Star Wars and that is cited as a reason for its poor theatrical run. This is also marked as the turning point at which the studio system veered a great deal towards the block-buster kind of films. Sorcerer now holds a cult status and many of the critics who criticized it when it got relased have changed their tune. In this era of CGI shitfest where films rarely make us feel excited by action/adventure, Sorcerer is a great watch since you know that these guys did it for real rather than getting hung in front of a green screen. Friedkin has also been linked to directing an episode of True Detective Season-2 and he will be perfect. Hope he does the whole season.

Rating: 4/5

Bug (2006)

Director: William Friedkin
Writer:    Tracey Letts
Cast:       Ashley Judd, Michael Shannon, Harry Connick Jr.

A lonely woman who lives in a motel room gets an unhinged war veteran for company and they find they are infested with bugs after they make out. 

The film is a tale of two halves like 'From Dusk Till Dawn'. I really liked the first half of the film, especially the script and the tension but in the second half it becomes a cliched psychological horror. The first half was especially surprising because I expected it to be like a Cronnenberg body horror film and it wasn't. The Michael Shannon character believes in Bilderberg group conspiracies and convinces Agnes (Ashley Judd) that the army conducted experiments on him and he is carrying the bug. They cover their room with tin foils and the climax scene is really exquisite visually. It is a real good watch overall but the tone change in the second half is a bit unconvincing.

Rating: 3.5/5 

To Live and Die in L.A. (1985)

Director: William Friedkin
Writers:  Gerald Petievich, William Friedkin
Cast:       William Petersen, Willem Dafoe, John Pankow, John Turturro

A fearless secret service agent is hellbent on bringing down a counterfeiter, who killed his partner, by any means.

As the opening credits rolls on you are reminded of where Nicolas Winding Refn's 'Drive' was coming from with its font and thumping music. This film is representative of films from the 80s with its over the top style and cheesiness, but in a good way. In terms of how L.A is represented and its soundtracks it is similar to Drive but not in terms of the treatment. It is the other end of the axis. Very fun film to watch with the trademark Friedkin car chase also in there.

Rating: 4.5/5

Cruising (1980)

Director: William Friedkin
Writers:  William Friedkin, Gerald Walker
Cast:       Al Pacino, Paul Sorvino, Karen Allen

A police detective goes undercover in the sleazy and underground gay subculture of NYC to catch a serial killer who is targeting gay men.

The film is based on the novel of same name by Gerald Walker. It doesn't have any humor at all and proceeds like a documentary. The film is more about Al Pacino's character's transformation through the investigation as he increasingly doubts his own sexual orientation. The film depicts it in a very ambiguous way whereas the novel supposedly was very explicit. The catching of serial killer becomes a sideshow and we are not even sure whether the one who is caught is the real serial killer at all as the evidence is there for only one murder. 

Whether you like the film or not would depend on the level of ambiguity you can tolerate. It faced numerous protests by numerous gay rights groups during its filming.

Rating: 3.5/5

Killer Joe (2011)

Director: William Friedkin
Writer:    Tracy Letts
Cast:       Matthew McConaughey, Emile Hirsch, Juno Temple, Thomas Haden Church, Gina Gershon

A fucked up family decides to kill the family head's evil ex-wife in order to collect the insurance money. They contact Killer Joe to do the deed and he wants the daughter to be his retainer till he gets his money.

Film is a pitch black comedy set in rural Texas. Friedkin himself described it as a pitch 'black hole' comedy. Matthew McConaughey's title role reminded me of Dennis Hopper in Blue Velvet, especially with the now famous 'K fry C' scene. Many people will find the films anarchic and dark humor bit hard to take but I really liked the film. I had so far seen only seen 'French Connection' and 'The Exorcist' from Friedkin's filmography. Planning to catch up with his older films.

Rating: 3.5/5

The French Connection (1971)

Director: William Friedkin
Writers:   Ernest Tidyman, Robin Moore
Cast:       Gene Hackman, Fernando Rey, Roy Scheider

A pair of NYC cops in the Narcotics Bureau stumble onto a drug smuggling job with a French connection.

Film is made in documentary style with minimal dialog. Friedkin was influenced by the film 'Z' for this style. It is essentially a police procedural film and the first R rated film to win best picture at the academy awards. The film was adapted and fictionalized from the non-fiction book by Robin Moore with the same name. The real life counterpart of the French guy was later caught in France but not extradited.

Film was made based on a discussion with Howard Hawks whose daughter was living with Friedkin during that time. When asked about how he thought about Friedkin films, Hawks replied they were lousy and asked him to make the best chase of all time. That is how that chase came about.

Rating: 4/5