Movies

THE FATHER OF MY CHILDREN (2009) is a French drama in which an overstressed, financially strapped film producer struggles to keep multiple projects in the air while increasingly neglecting his family, then finally blows his head off in despair, leaving his family to cope. The low-key tone makes it more effective than if it were overblown, but for the same reason it didn’t really compel my attention. “He didn’t love us—he left us for the void.”
Monogram ranked down at the bottom of the Golden Age movie studies but THE MYSTERY OF THE 13TH GUEST (1943) is a better-than-average thriller in the Wills Guaranteed To Cause Murder genre. Thirteen years ago, a wealthy man told his relatives his beloved granddaughter would open his will when she turned 21. Now she’s reached the birthday, she has to figure out what it means (“It says 13-13-13.”) and avoid the mystery villain whacking the guests at that party, one by one. Doesn’t make a lot of sense but entertaining to watch. “He’s placing the bodies in the exact order they were sitting around the table.”