The Robert Zemeckis movie, Used Cars (1980) is a raw and foul-mouthed satirical comedy. Of course it satirizes the deceit and unscrupulousness of car salesmen and plenty of others. An obvious but often funny item, it stars Kurt Russell, Jack Warden, Gerrit Graham and Deborah Harmon—all of them rich in personality and never overacting. I don’t know how good an actor Cheryl Rixon is, but—her character undergoes a wardrobe malfunction, and Rixon is truly gorgeous in both her face and her bare bosom. No malfunctioning in Used Cars.

Matt Dillon, Lili Taylor and Marisa Tomei are all savvy, amusing and sensual—indeed, wonderfully memorable—in Bent Hamer‘s Factotum, a 2005 picture based on writings by Charles Bukowski. Dillon’s Hank Chinaski is a would-be writer who cannot adapt to ordinary life and is sometimes a feckless jerk. In one instance, he slaps to the floor of a bar his “loser” girlfriend (Taylor), who nevertheless needles him. She often drolly thinks Hank is too big for his britches.

Hank needs the odd jobs he gets fired from. A heavy drinker inept at manual labor, like the pitiable Laura (Tomei), he is finally homeless. These people are oddities in a dull milieu confusing or disappointing to them. And what comic oddities they can be. Factotum—directorially and photographically impressive—is never depressing. Good show.

Directed by Clint Eastwood, Juror #2 (2024) is a poorly written legal drama. Nicholas Hoult adeptly plays a juror, Justin, examining a defendant who is being tried for a “crime” Justin himself is responsible for. Most of the trial’s jurors are made to seem stupid. Justin is simply weak and ignorant—too much so. The case is ridiculous, and there is an appalling witness whom everyone appears to find credible. (For those who have seen the film: Why wasn’t the witness asked in court to describe the defendant’s car?) Juror #2 isn’t boring but it isn’t good either.

I know nothing about the direction the Greek filmmaker Michael Cacoyannis‘s career gradually went in, albeit the critic John Simon was very displeased with it. In the 1950s, however, he wrote and directed some notable examples of that decade’s artistic Euro-cinema, among which was A Matter of Dignity (1958). Mr. C.’s script, original to the screen, is sensible and palatable. Its themes are financial collapse for a family, moral responsibility, and the elusiveness of being in love, of intimate connection. The film owes a lot to actress Ellie Lambeti, who is luminous with versatility and charm, while other performers, e.g. Athena Michaelidou, grippingly make the grade as well. Surprisingly, my most recent viewing of Dignity was on Tubi.

(In Greek with English subtitles)

After a man’s young son dies in a hit-and-run accident, This Man Must Die (1969) quickly concentrates not on the father’s grief, although that is there, but on his thirst for revenge. He intends to find the driver and kill him. Claude Chabrol‘s film, adapted from a novel by Cecil Day-Lewis, deals with furious moral rejection of an individual: namely, Paul Decourt, the driver (finely acted by Jean Yanne). The film’s problem is that Decourt is a man whom no one would tolerate, yet people around him do tolerate him.

Typically, Chabrol insisted on visual or pictorial excellence in Man. It is a damn nice-looking picture. The sequence in which the terrible accident and the aftermath are presented is tastefully done brilliance. Man isn’t great, but it isn’t forgettable either.

(In French with English subtitles)