Road to Salina

Wish the last 30 minutes were better, the first hour was very good. Hope it gets a blu ray release at some point because this is a bit of a forgotten gem.

This Italian/French co-production was Georges Lautner's only English-language film. He was a very successful director of crime films that never really made sizeable inroads to North America, and this was clearly designed to address that. The presence of Farmer and the (really quite good) Pink Floyd-influenced score reminds me Barbet Schroeder's "More", even though the plot couldn't be less similar.

Probably my biggest "find" of the year. It’s a sort of homage to Noir/American crime films, but directed by a French director in the Canary Islands (substituting for Mexico) which gives it a very unique look. Soundtrack is also very good with shades of Morricone. The central mystery is quite easily solved, but it doesn’t diminish the film. I would say it’s more of a doomed love story and perhaps that difficulty to label it has kept it under the radar. Mimsy Farmer is very good in her bold role.

An interesting idea and you can see the potential in it. If only Robert Walker Jr. was better in the lead role.