Coda

#268 Coda - 1987 (This Film Rates a D+ ) This Australian-made TV film follows Kate Martin as she investigates the attempted murder of her neighbor, Anna, a music student who was violently thrown out of a window. Kate's ex-husband, Mike Martin, is the prime suspect, but as the investigation unfolds, a dark figure is revealed to be stalking Kate and her friend Sally. It also involves a too red of a lipstick wearing lesbian teacher who was the last to see Anna alive. She is really forward and creepy. The killer stalks Kate and Sally with a decent chase sequence and the police become convinced of an alternative suspect. The killer seems to be everywhere though there isn't a lot of killing. The film's suspenseful moments are notable, and the cinematography showcases some impressive artistic camera views. However, the storyline is too predictable, and the action is super limited. The final showdown starts strong but peters out in the end. Coda features a mostly female cast, which is a positive aspect, but the film's overall impact is weakened by its tame and superficial approach. The lack of gore and effects contributes to its final demise. Despite some suspenseful moments, the film's pacing issues and overlong filler sequences detract from its overall effectiveness. "I hate opera, they don't even use guitars."

A music student, Kate Martin begins to personally investigate when her ex-husband, Mike becomes a suspect of attack upon a neighbour, Anna. Although Mike is definitely a primary suspect both Kate and Detective Sergeant Turner, who is officially in charge of the case, think Dr.Steiner, a lesbian teacher of not only Anna but also Kate, may know something important because she was the last person who met pre-attacked Anna. But out of their sights the attacker goes to the hospital where Anna is admitted... Although I admit it is truth that almost non-human movements of the masked attacker are, at least in some scenes, very weird and even horrible, it is difficult to say this film itself, of which visual and musical atmospheres are very similar to those of WHEN A STRANGER CALLS, is very good. This is partially because the whole story is so horizontal that there is no space for audience to enjoy his or her own detectiveness, and partially because the character of Sally, who helps Kate to investigate, is a meaninglessly non-stop talker and badly adds not well-organised half-comical quality to the latter half of the film.

I wouldn't read to much into the Hitchcock influence on this movie. The movie is full of the regular psychological tricks like police that can't see the tree's through the forest, the attacker almost teleporting around conveniently. That kind of stuff that us horror movie buffs have seen a thousand times before.

There was a couple of things that I didn't like at the end. The first one was that the mysterious key wasn't ever explained, I kind of knew this was going to happen. It was just there to help us connect the dots which was probably necessary as I wasn't too sure if the attacker was male or female for most of the movie but the key itself could have been used more creatively to bind it to the story I thought rather than just forgetting about it in the last leg.

But the most annoying thing was that the explanation was so pointlessly convoluted leaving us without a care in the world with what they were even saying. It was the worst ending of its kind because I actually liked a lot of the rest of the movie. Being a first movie for these guys they clearly fell into the trap of over thinking it rather than just giving the viewer something they could more easily grasp.

I really enjoyed this movie and it was an inspiration to me. Even inspired my friend to make http://www.codaphilly.com/ which is really cool. I can't remember the last time i saw the movie but it still stays in my mind. One day I hope to find and see it again. IMDb makes that so easy for us movie lovers. I love their service and think it is the best available online for us movie goers. One of my favorites in philadelphia is an independent film theater down on 2nd and walnut. They show a wide variety of movies that catch the eye just like coda does. I recommend this movie to anyone who is a major movie lover like me.

*Warning* Spoilers* I bought this video, expecting it to be another movie! However, I decided to watch it and was soon caught up in this horror-thrillers complicated web of intrigue. Because it is complicated and the movie take more than enough time to arrive at the rather obvious conclusion. But there are some pleasure to be had from this "sub-Hitchcockian" exercise in terror. The leads are interesting and well played by unknown Australian thespians. It should also be noted that the two main characters are strong women. The only man to be seen more than fleetingly is soon out of the picture (the heroines boyfriend). However, if you are gay or, especially, lesbian, you should have quite a few problems with this movie since there is a homicidal lesbian depicted (not an altogether ugly portrait, but still...). All in all, nothing special, but done with a certain flair for the medium and the genre (the final 15 minutes ARE tense and the attack by the mask-wearing and sword-wielding maniac in an empty school is a creepy sight). And since it is set in the world of a music academy, it contains many beautiful pieces of classical highlights!