5x2

5x2 is a French tale of a disintegrating marriage that starts in the divorce courts, and shows five earlier time periods in the marriage of the two people, hence the title. The segments are shown in reverse chronological order, which changes the entire focus of the film for the viewer. The end of the marriage in an unfriendly divorce is a given, so each time capsule provides some understanding as to where the couple went wrong, and how we might also make similar mistakes.

In the first segment, the couple leaves the courtroom, checks into a motel, and starts a farewell fuck. She changes her mind, and he anally rapes her. Pretty obvious he is not the caring, gentle lover type. The next episode takes place at a dinner party, where he demonstrates that he cares much more for his son than his wife. Next we see the birth of the son, where the husband takes a powder. Episode 4 shows their wedding night, where he passes out that night with her wanting sex. She goes for a midnight walk and screws a stranger out of frustration. Finally, the last segment shows how they met. He is with his current girlfriend on vacation in Sardinia. He ditches his current girlfriend to swim off into the sunset with his future wife.

Note that others could probably summarize the same plot and make her seem more responsible for the failed marriage.

Valeria Bruni Tedeschi shows full frontal early in the film in good light, and shows buns in the deleted scenes. Geraldine Pailhas, as the girlfriend in the 5th episode, shows a nipple.

IMDb readers say 6.7, and Tedeschi won a minor award for her performance. Berardinelli liked it at three stars, but critical approval was not unanimous. I personally found it a very watchable film dealing in a realistic way with a real life subject.

The proper score is C+. Although it is a thoughtful movie, it is in French with English subtitles, and thus has zero cross-over appeal to those who don't like subtitles.

 

Beautiful Target

She's back, Yoko Natsuki got out of trouble yesterday as she escaped the killer in Beautiful Target. Apparently she did not learn her lesson as she fell right back into the clutches of the madman in these "Babe in Bondage" scenes. Fear not she once again escapes - after being raped. Caps and six clips.

Unnatural & Accidental

"Unnatural & Accidental" is the film adaptation of the stage play entitled "The Unnatural and Accidental Women" by Marie Clements. The film is about the real-life murders of Aboriginal women on Vancouver's downtown east side and tries to temper gritty true-crime elements with spiritualist fantasy sequences.

Rebecca (Carmen Moore) has returned home to be with her dying father. His last wish is that she track down her mother, an aboriginal woman who has long been missing. As she turns over the stones that hide the debris of the unwanted and forgotten, she is drawn into the mysteries of ten missing Native women whose spirits lead Rebecca to the killer who still haunts the alleys, streets and hotels of this urban wasteland.