Weekly Viewings From The To-Watch Pile #8 – The Huge Catch-up

From http://www.moviegoods.com/Assets/product_images/1020/420955.1020.A.jpg

I want to catch up with the films I have not talked about on here, so I am merely going to include quick reviews for them. I also rewatched David Lynch’s Lost Highway (1997), but I have plans to do a long form review of it. Like Trash Humpers (2009), I’ve not made the task easy for me, as it is another film where conventional film criticism probably goes out the window in trying to explain why I hold it as a good film, but I am going to try.

Aside from that, there is not that much to say. When this is up, I will still be disappointed that the Australian killer pig movie, Razorback (1984), did not live up to expectations. Expect a short review of that along with quite a few others at some point.

Anger Me (Elio Gelmini, 2006)

‘Biography of the late author/actor/filmmaker Kenneth Anger, covering his early life as a child actor up through his career as an author ("Hollywood Babylon") and avant-garde filmmaker ( Scorpio Rising, Invocation of My Demon Brother). Included are interviews with friends and colleagues and archival footage of Anger, as well as clips from some of his films.’ – From IMDB

If you are not interested in Kenneth Anger, you may not find anything of worth from this extended interview with him. If you are interested, its recommended. It can be found on the UK DVD Kenneth Anger: Magick Lantern Cycle.

District 9 (Neill Blomkamp, 2009)

‘An extraterrestrial race forced to live in slum-like conditions on Earth suddenly finds a kindred spirit in a government agent who is exposed to their biotechnology.’ – From IMDB

It is such a disappointment that a low budget sci-fi film with a great starting premise about aliens living on Earth registers no emotion, good or bad, from me at the end credits. The premise is great, allowing one to explore what-ifs on alien-human contact, how we would communicate, the potential discrimination, and even the slightest details like there being a group of humans – Nigerians – living amongst the aliens in the district and even betting on fights between alien bugs over money. The problem is every choice Blomkamp chooses – to make it an shoot-em-up action film, to make the Nigerians one-dimension flesh eaters, to give the main alien character a child alien despite the fact that he could have made them completely ‘alien’ in their behaviour over offspring to humans etc. – fails to completely work for me. Even the CGI, especially a joke involving a pig near the end, falters at places. In the end, this film is a complete ‘meh’ film for me if there was to be one.

The Fourth Kind (Olatunde Osunsanmi, 2009)

‘In 1972, a scale of measurement was established for alien encounters. When a UFO is sighted, it is called an encounter of the first kind. When evidence is collected, it is known as an encounter of the second kind. When contact is made with extraterrestrials, it is the third kind. The next level, abduction, is the fourth kind. Modern-day, Alaska, where-mysteriously since the 1960s-a disproportionate number of the population has been reported missing every year. Despite multiple FBI investigations of the region, the truth has never been discovered. Here in this remote region, psychologist Dr. Abigail Tyler began videotaping sessions with traumatized patients and unwittingly discovered some of the most disturbing evidence of alien abduction ever documented. The Fourth Kind exposes the terrified revelations of multiple witnesses. Their accounts of being visited by alien figures all share disturbingly identical details, the validity of which is investigated throughout the film.’ – From IMDB

This is going to be one of my more controversial claims on even if you reading this a year from now, but I immensely enjoyed this film, although to explain why I do have to spoil its background so be warned. After I watched it at first, knowing the legitimacy of the true story could be up for question, I thought it was a bad and exploitative film which was still far more fascinating than a lot of films because its blurring of documentary and fiction was so upfront and raised questions for me about the process in the film and in any other ‘document’. [SPOILER]  Than I discovered that the real life story was made up for the film, and it became an even more exploitative and trite film, but also gleefully subversive for a mainstream film. It may still be a bad film, but I can’t help but applaud the director-writer for his hoax, especially when it does, even by accident, raise questions about the legitimacy of biopics and documentaries. For example, the fact that the casting of both versions of Dr. Abbey Tyler and her patients is vastly different, from ordinary ‘real’ people to actors like Milla Jovovich who are clearly more glamorous looking and handsome, is almost a swipe at this habit done in a lot of biographic works. For me, it’s not only a film the late William Castle, who played tricks on his audiences, would be proud of but it’s an (accidental/purposeful) subversion of docu-fiction. [SPOILER ENDS]

The Great Silence (Sergio Corbucci, 1968)

‘A mute gunslinger faces off against a gang of bounty hunters in the great blizzard of 1899, and a grim, tense struggle unfolds.’ – From IMDB

Deserving of its praise. With its expressionist acting (even if you were to watch it in the Italian dub), snow bound landscapes and a beautiful Ennio Morricone score, this bleak Spaghetti western is a gem of any type of western worth viewing.

Kenneth Anger: Magick Lantern Cycle (2009)

Not a film as per say, but a collection of almost all of the experimental films by Kenneth Anger by the British Film Institution. An obvious influence on David Lynch and Martin Scorsese, Anger combined quick editing, the use of pop songs like Blue Velvet, and dreamlike imagery into many visual rich short films, though his subjects varied, from homoerotic desire in Fireworks (1947), a film he directed and starred in when he was only 17, to motorbike gangs in Scorpio Rising (1964). I wasn’t a fan of all of his work, as I feel he has a bad habit of making films too long, but for the most part his work is very striking and inspired even now. It does depend on your tastes if you will find merit to them, but it is recommend to explore his work. As I’ve mentioned earlier on in this post, the BFI release also includes a documentary/interview Anger Me.

Little Odessa (James Gray, 1994)

‘This film tells a bitter tale of a dysfunctional family. Joshua, a cold-blooded professional killer, returns to his Brighton Beach boyhood home for a "job." He knows it will be difficult to return to the Russian-immigrant community of his youth--in his eyes, we see anticipation of the inevitable emotional pain and psychic turmoil that seeing his forsaken family and estranged companions will bring him. To do his job, and try to maintain some semblence of sanity, he has had to wall off his humanity from even himself. Seeing his kid brother, who adores him, talking with his dying mother, who still loves him, and yes, arguing with his abusive father, begins to wreak havoc with his personal defenses. As his steely demeanor begins to dissolve, we are shown the soul of a hit-man crumbling away, piece by piece. Finally, all that he now allows himself to admit that he loves is agonizingly torn away from him and he is left with the ultimate punishment for his transgressions.’ – From IMDB

I am just as big a fan of James Gray as the French are, feeling that his films like Two Lovers (2007) and We Own The Night (2007) do stand above most others of the same genres not only in having great performances and depth to them, but in Gray’s skill as a director especially in the use of light. For his first film, this skill in directing was still developing but there was still quality to the film, a small, melancholic work which mixes a crime story with drama. Excluding the weird accent Tim Roth has in the main role, the acting is up to scratch for what the film needs, and Gray himself is still able to create striking images and flourishes to scenes that showed he was talented even back then. Now having seen all of his feature films, I hope for the next one.

The Niklashausen Journey (Rainer Werner Fassbinder & Michael Fengler, 1970)

‘Can a small group of people start a proletarian revolution, asks the "Black Monk" in a leather jacket. The medieval shepherd, Hans Boehm, claims to have been called by the Virgin Mary to create a revolt against the church and the landowners. The "Black Monk" suggests that he would have more success if he dressed up Johanna and had her appear as the Virgin Mary.’ – From IMDB

For this year I have been slowly going through as much of the late German director’s work as I can, starting from the beginning and progressing through everything in a roundabout sort of way at some point. It hasn’t been easy for me sadly, as I am still waiting for the moment he left his first period, where he tried to be a German Jean-Luc Godard, and would eventually become the man who would make the fascinating TV adaptation of Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980). The following film feels very much like a Godardian work, placing an historical individual into the then-present but ending up like a dated and dull political film where scenes usually end with actors talking about politics in un-engaging way.

Storm (Hans-Christian Schmid, 2009)

‘Hannah Maynard, a prosecutor of Hague's Tribunal for war crimes in former Yugoslavia, charges a Serbian commander for killing Bosniaks. However, her main witness might be lying, so the court sends a team to Bosnia to investigate.’ – From IMDB

A big disappointment for me. Ever since I saw the director’s previous film Requiem (2006) on British television unexpectedly and was surprised by it, I had been waiting for his next with anticipation. The problem with this is that unlike that previous film, where it took a real life incident in Germany of an epileptic girl, involving a mental breakdown and the involvement of exorcism, and places the viewer in her perspective, Storm distances the viewer from its serious subject of war crime that it becomes something that happens outside of ordinary life. Worst is that, for its moments of moral ambiguity, it comes down to a flawed but good lawyer (Kerry Fox) versus an evil war criminal in a plot that could easily be rewritten to be a pulpy Hollywood thriller.

Vengeance (Johnnie To, 2009)

‘A French chef swears revenge after a violent attack on his daughter's family in Hong Kong, during which her husband and her two children are murdered. To help him find the killers, he hires three local hit-men working for the mafia.’ – From IMDB

While it doesn’t completely gel together structurally, I cannot deny that Johnnie To is a gifted filmmaker. His greatest skill behind that of being a veteran of filmmaking for many years is that he has a sense of imagination which, working with his scriptwriter, his production crew and actors, allows improvisation and different ideas to be taken onboard that allows scenes, especially gun battles, to be original and different from each other and make sense within the context of the film. It also helps that the acting is of a higher quality and that the cinematography is sumptuous at times, putting this above many crime thrillers from any country.

Link to the Magick Lantern Cycle DVD

Also available on Blu-Ray

Note - I realise there is a huge price difference where the Blu-Ray is actually cheaper. As someone uninterested in Blu-Ray, except when its the only way to see a film, this was very annoying. You can search other websites for cheaper prices. As for importing it to another country, I have no knowledge to help, although the United States has normal DVD versions of Anger's films available.

Weekly Viewings From The To-Watch Pile #7 – Being Created While I Listen To Music

I am currently planning my next long form review with the hope of writing them with more frequency; I haven’t chosen a film yet, but there are plenty of potential choices.

Aside from that, I have been doing well for the last week or so except from frequent tiredness (I’ve suspected my closeted night owl personality for years now from my habit of staying awake long after midnight). My film viewing has lessened after the first six months of the year, probably a result of starting university again and my concerns of wanting to view individual films, regardless of their qualities, with more thought than just giving them a mark out of 5 or 10.

Currently there isn’t that much at the multiplex that I would like to watch, although that is probably my lessened interest in it that I’ve discussed in the Trash Humpers (2009) review. If David Fincher’s The Social Network (2010) gets great reviews from the sources I trust, I ‘could’ – emphasising the quotation marks – go see it when it gets a UK release, although I am one of the few individuals who wasn’t a fan of Zodiac (2007) and have been baffled by the fact no matter how many times I rewatch it. My local art centre has been growing strong in showing films thought after the fear in January that the whole building would be shut down. It could be argued that its selection is more middlebrow or more designed to interest older patrons, but when its past showings, from the ones I’ve seen or sadly missed, have varied from a Frederick Wiseman documentary to Polish films for the large polish population in the community, it cannot be criticised for picking dull and insipid choices. For winter, they have plans to show Abbas Kiarostami’s Certified Copy (2009) and a Christmas screening of It’s A Wonderful Life (1949), just two of the films have booked for one night screenings that I really want to see. If they have only booked Gaspar Noe’s Enter The Void (2009) and I would have done handstands.  For good or worse, and a fantasy scenario where I would be the only person left in the cinema at the end, it would cause great conversation. If I had more money, and the balls, I could book a single screening there for next year and wallow in Noe’s head while everyone else walks out halfway through.

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (Werner Herzog, 2009)

From http://trashfilmguru.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/bad_lieutenant_port_of_call_new_orleans.jpg

‘Abel Ferrara's cult crime drama Bad Lieutenant is given a sister film with this Werner Herzog-helmed production that takes its inspiration from the original, but focuses on new characters and plotlines. Nicolas Cage steps into Harvey Keitel's mold of a corrupt and drug-addled police officer, with the scummy setting moving from New York City to New Orleans. Eva Mendes, Val Kilmer, and Xzibit co-star in the Nu Image/Millennium Films picture.’ – All Movies Guide

When plans were first made to remake the Abel Ferrara film with Werner Herzog directing it and Nicolas Cage in the Harvey Keitel role, I was at first blank with disbelief as everyone else may have done...and yet later a part of me felt an entirely different thought. Would Herzog, the man who made Fitzcarraldo (1982) by literally having a full size river boat dragged over a mountain in the Amazon, really sell out? I felt that the only reason Herzog would have done such a project is if he had a take on the material that would be far from what may have been intended.

For the first fifteen minutes or so, the film feels like a straight-to-DVD cop thriller right down to the type of lettering used for the opening credits but as things go along, it is clear and apparent this is a Herzog film through and through. Beyond the iguanas, the film has a dense and erratic sense of mood which few crime procedurals would have, where the film can be both extremely funny and yet have dark moments such as one involving the Eva Mendes character.  It is not Herzog’s best film, but it is still far superior to many of its type because, not only does it have a sense of humour and oddness that gives it uniqueness, but also it has a surprising depth to it. Instead of the Catholic guilt of the original, this version continues that themes of absurdity and randomness in the world I have seen in Herzog’s other films, especially Stroszek (1977) (which is directly referenced in the one of the most memorable moments), stuck within the confines of a conventional genre film. The film’s moral ambiguity is also a factor which makes it superior, where even in the end, it is enforced that morally, and what is right and wrong, is completely redundant for some to survive.  That there are numerous scenes of fish and reptiles – considering Herzog’s beliefs in the 2005 documentary Grizzly Man that nature is chaos and violence – makes sense to reinforce the themes of the work as well as cause one to either laugh in stitches or view a scene in a peculiar light. The acting is spot on from everyone in their roles, although in honesty it is very much Nicolas Cage’s film from the beginning. It cannot be ignored that, with a few exceptions, Cage’s acting style is to be odd and weird regardless of the scene’s content, which means his best performances even in weaker films are with directors who recognise this factor (Herzog, David Lynch) and not directors who try to make him completely serious regardless if its ‘high art’ or ‘schlock’ (Neil LeBute’s 2006 remake of the Wicker Man is becoming a cult classic just for Cage’s bizarre non-sequitur and the amount of times he knocks out members of the huge female cast within the film’s length). Hopefully Cage will take advantage of this film to explore less conventional works as well as appear in multiplex films to pay the overdue taxes, as this does reinforce why people like me are fans of his in the first place.

Female Prisoner No. 701 Scorpion: Beast Stable (Shunya Ito, 1973)

From http://www.filmint.nu/files/fckeditor/Image/DVD%20Reviews/FemalePrisoner1.jpg

‘Following her successful prison break, Scorpion begins this third episode in the series hiding out in a brothel. Her prostitute friend tries to keep her identity secret, but the brothel's madam discovers that Scorpion is the ex-girlfriend of the vice officer who killed her lover.’ – Amazon USA

First of all as a technical note, there have been a couple of series of films or documentaries that I had not finished yet by the time I started this blog, which is the reason why I am reviewing the third film in this series by its own (apparently there is a fourth film, Female Convict Scorpion: Grudge Song (1973), not directed by Shunya Ito which makes this a quadrilogy instead of a trilogy and may be difficult to find). That said, it is worth mentioning my opinions on the first two prequels for context. Personally, having seen it twice now, I find that the original Female Convict 701: Scorpion (1972), which is the more acclaimed in the series, to be a bit of a disappointment, a pinku violence film which has plenty of inspired moments, and female nudity for anyone into that, but did not interest me. I enjoy my exploitation films greatly, but I have a very picky taste in them, finding more enjoyment in the ones which play to the so-bad-its-good category or push forward ideas and/or striking use of visuals and sound. This first film does experiment with the visuals, but it still felt uncompelling and tended to drag for me greatly even if Meiko Kaji is a great, near-silent presence. The second film Female Convict Scorpion: Jailhouse 41 (1972) changed this for the better, with the director moving past the sexploitation side of the original and experimenting more in its female convicts on the run from the law plotline, resulting in a very surreal film which wasn’t perfect but still rewarding.

The third film, Beast Stable, pushes further into experimentation of visuals and sound, discarding most of the sex from the original bar a few transgressive sequences, making it into the best of the trilogy for me. The result is a great, dark and at times nasty genre film which is light on plot, but makes up for it in its very unconventional moments, from the continuous black humoured joke involving a served arm, to mesmerising moments in a sewer involving fire and lit matches. Speaking even less than in the first two films, Kaji still able to project charisma despite only having a couple of spoken words in the script let alone dialogue. Whether it works on its own without the other two films is unknown to me, but I do advise people see it as it is a good Japanese film by itself if you are prepared for its nastier aspects.

Witchfinder General aka. The Conqueror Worm (Michael Reeves, 1968)

From http://classic-horror.com/images/witchfinder-general-poster.jpg

‘England is torn in civil strife as the Royalists battle the Parliamentary Party for control. This conflict distracts people from rational thought and allows unscrupulous men to gain local power by exploiting village superstitions. One of these men is Matthew Hopkins, who tours the land offering his services as a persecutor of witches. Aided by his sadistic accomplice John Stearne, he travels from city to city and wrenches confessions from "witches" in order to line his pockets and gain sexual favors. When Hopkins persecutes a priest, he incurs the wrath of Richard Marshall, who is engaged to the priest's niece. Risking treason by leaving his military duties, Marshall relentlessly pursues the evil Hopkins and his minion Stearne.’ – From IMDB

This is not amongst the best of British horror and genre films, but it does live up to its reputation. Solidly made, everything in it from direction to acting is good enough to compel you. What really adds to its qualities is the surprising amount of brutality and nihilism on display for a film of its period; here, the villain played by Vincent Prince is an employee of magistrates and the temporary government, who is give cart-blanch to torture and execute any innocent person he wants, taking advantage to sleep with any pretty young woman as blackmail in the process, while the neighbours of those who are guilty of witchcraft are just as corrupt, probably driven by jealously, murderous spite or superstitious paranoia that leads to numerous deaths. The violence is not gruesome by today’s standards, but it’s still unsettling within the context of the film; sadly for the version I saw, the scenes of violence which were once censored, and added back in for the uncut release, looked horrifically degraded, which may mean a fully restored uncut version is impossible now, a shame for such an interesting horror film. It is also a shame that its director Michael Reeves died just after making this film at a young age, as from seeing this I could see him eventually making a great film genre or otherwise.

Godfathers and Sons (Marc Levin, 2003)

From http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/5128Z7CTQNL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

‘Part of The Blues documentary film series on PBS, Godfathers and Sons is directed by Marc Levin. This installment explores the Chicago blues, the influence of Chess Records, and the connection between blues and hip-hop. Revolutionary rap group Public Enemy notes the 1968 Muddy Waters album Electric Mud as a major influence on the development of their sound. Working closely with Chess Records heir Marshall Chess, along with Public Enemy’s Chuck D, Levin travels to Chicago to make a record with contemporary hip-hop artists and veteran blues musicians. Modern electric blues rockers Sam Lay, Magic Slim, and Koko Taylor provide performances and interviews. Includes archival footage of Bo Diddley, Howlin’ Wolf, and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band...’ – From MUBI

The last of the documentaries in The Blues series for me, which suffers from not feeling as detailed as the previous parts, probably not helped by the fact that some of the aspects or at least the blue musicians themselves were tangentially mentioned in the other feature length episodes. It also has pointless use of black-and-white footage in especially in scenes of people being interviewed in front of the camera which comes off trying too hard to be artistic when it is merely irritating. Nonetheless, the music chosen and talked about is still strong – personally I really want to get hold of the Electric Mud album, a critically panned combination of Muddy Waters and psychedelic rock, after hearing pieces in this – and you cannot have as charming and likeable individuals in front of the camera as as Marshall Chess and Chuck D from Public Enemy, who clearly did not know each other for a long time  before the documentary but immediately bonded from just talking about one experimental blues album.

The Blues series itself is not the best of its type, somewhat tied down by the lack of experimentation in the presentation of the material and a reliance on the traditional documentary style – talking heads, very little camera movement in shots etc. – that shows off its television roots too much. Nonetheless, it is still a good introduction to blues music only marred by the painfully dull entry by Clint Eastwood called Piano Blues, where its slowness and leisured pace matched by Eastwood’s interviews with the likes of Ray Charles was suffocating. Beyond that episode, the others, for all their flaws, succeed in showing how good blues music can be, while the examples by Charles Burnett and Wim Wenders should be watched as good music documentaries by themselves as they not only experiment but clearly love this genre of music through how they present it.

Sirius Remembered (Stan Brakhage, 1959)

[WARNING – Do not watch this short video if the sight of a dead animal upsets you]

‘A film that was shot on early handheld 16mm technology, Sirius Remembered is a tribute to a man's pet dog. The film is a blurry and disorientating collaboration that was shot over a period of about six months. Once the dog died, the man put the carcass into the woods and came back periodically with his camera and filmed it in various stages of decomposition.’ – From IMDB User Comments

Recording the decay of the corpse of your family dog is not an objectionable act depending on what its purpose is as a film. The sight of a dead animal, even one that is usually kept as a pet, is a natural part of life; living near the countryside since I was born I have seen many dead animals in various states of decay around the area, a result of which means I do not find such sights shocking, excepting it as it is excluding the slight sadness at the sight. Brakhage (or anyone else) has the right to film said material, even more so if people object to it as distasteful (read the first review here for example), as it means it would show an ordinary aspect of life that is ignored and hidden from sight, just like other topics such as birth and autopsies which Brakhage himself has filmed. Of course there are ethical issues with this, such as filming the body of what would have been a close member of his family, but it should not be forgotten that regardless of the beliefs of the viewer, especially those who find any pain or injury to an animal upsetting, death cannot be avoided and one cannot try to hide from it even in video form. The problem with this short in particular however, and why it completely fails, is that this message or any purpose, even to shock, seems to be missing, which can be squarely blamed on the poor shooting of the footage and editing. While I have barely seen much of Brakhage’s work, what little I have has showed a considerable thought in pace and rhythm, whether it is the considered and slow depiction of his wife giving birth, blood and placenta et all, in Window Water Baby Moving (1962), or the abstract colours and shapes of the Dante Quartet (1987). With Sirius Remembered however this is not the case, shot with a jittery camcorder – like a student film as it has been criticised for – and is edited in, and I apologise for this description of this acclaimed director’s work but it is the fitting term, a cackhanded way that doesn’t allow one to take in what you have seen. If it was done with as much consideration almost the rest of his work I’ve seen, it could have been a good work, and even a fitting tribute to Sirius of the title. As it stands, it’s worth viewing for those interested in Stan Brakhage but not engaging and comfortable viewing. 

Weekly Viewings From The To-Watch Pile #6

Also known as the controversial post that dismisses two highly regarded classics of French cinema. In the end it does depend on individual tastes; some people with agree with me on some of these reviews, some will not. That’s what makes film criticism interesting in the first place.

For anyone curious, one of the reasons this thread is frequent, especially now in October, is my attempt to catch up with writing about all the films I’ve seen in the last week or so. Also worth noting, since I have mentioned the month, is that I do want to start watching a few more films fitting for Halloween. At the moment it is a bit difficult to do so since there is a lot, not just in films, to clear through but hopefully I’ll be able to engorge myself in horror and genre films as much as other bloggers have.

Heima (Dean DeBlois, 2006)

From http://dcist.com/attachments/dcist_mehan/heima-poster.jpg

‘In the summer of 2006, Sigur Rós returned home to play a series of free, unannounced concerts for the people of Iceland. This film documents their already legendary tour with intimate reflections from the band and a handful of new acoustic performances.’ – From IMDB

With music as beautiful as that of Sigur Rós, it needs to be filmed in a way that allows its mystical qualities to shine; this also needs to be considered when one is showing an environment like the Icelandic countryside and the expansiveness of it. While Dean DeBlois does a serviceable job, he ends up relying on a traditional documentary format, instead of experimenting with the material, which restricts the music and environment from showing their full awe. Only one of the final performances depicted shows what could have been, but a lot of what makes that good is the band themselves and the people they work with their stage performances not the director.

Double Take (Johan Grimonprez, 2009)

From http://ruthlessculture.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/doubletake-poster.jpg?w=252&h=320

‘Director Johan Grimonprez casts Alfred Hitchcock as a paranoid history professor, unwittingly caught up in a double take on the cold war period. Subverting a meticulous array of TV footage and using 'The Birds' as an essential metaphor, DOUBLE TAKE traces catastrophe culture's relentless assault on the home, from moving images' inception to the present day.’ – From IMDB

Starting with an event in 1962, when Alfred Hitchcock met his doppelganger on the set of The Birds (1963), as a springboard into the climate and mood of the time surrounding the Cold War, this is an intriguing docu-fantasy. Some of the connections between them don’t completely make sense on the first viewing but it is an inventive and fresh perspective on its topics.

The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (Luis Bunuel, 1972)

From http://www.thecinematheque.com/poster_discreetcharm2.jpg

‘A surreal, virtually plotless series of dreams centered around six middle-class people and their consistently interrupted attempts to have a meal together.’ – From IMDB

Sadly I have to dismiss this film. I felt it had no real significance behind it (it’s not really a good satire of bourgeoisie for me) and not politically interesting. The dream sequences and how they were portrayed were exceptionally annoying and added to said disappointment.

Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky (Jan Kounen, 2009)

From http://pacejmiller.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/coco-chanel-igor-stravinsky.jpg

‘Paris 1913. Coco Chanel is infatuated with the rich and handsome Boy Capel, but she is also compelled by her work. Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring is about to be performed. The revolutionary dissonances of Igor's work parallel Coco's radical ideas. She wants to democratize women's fashion; he wants to redefine musical taste. Coco attends the scandalous first performance of The Rite in a chic white dress. The music and ballet are criticized as too modern, too foreign. Coco is moved but Igor is inconsolable. Paris 1920, Coco is newly wealthy and successful but grief-stricken after Boy's death in a car crash. Igor, following the Russian Revolution is now a penniless refugee living in exile in Paris. Coco is introduced to Igor by Diaghilev, impresario of the Ballets Russes. The attraction between them is instant and electric. Coco invites Igor along with his wife - now sick with consumption - together with his four children and a menagerie of birds to stay at her new villa...’ – From IMDB

Were it not for a surprise 10/10 review from someone I know online, I would have ignored what turned out to be a near-perfect gem and miss it at the cinema. Taking a tired and generic storyline of adultery – based on reality or not – as its central plot, this depicts it in a refreshingly subtle and thoughtful way backed up by excellent performances by the likes of Mads Mikkelsen (a candidate for the person of the year in film with only the awful Clash of the Titans (2010) remake affecting his chances), Anna Mouglalis and Yelena Morozova. It is a film where everyone involved including the person who designed the wallpaper on the sets deserves praise for their outstanding work, with lavish and detailed production values to match the excellent drama within. This may turn out to be an underrated and ignored film for 2010, which is an absolute shame.

Partie De Campagne (Jean Renoir, 1936)

From http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3b/Partie_de_campagne.jpg

‘The family of a Parisian shop-owner spends a day in the country. The daughter falls in love to a man at the inn, where they spend the day.’ – From IMDB

An incomplete film left as a short work, this does present a lot to like specially in Renoir’s use of the natural environment the story is set in for mood and contemplation. The film does feel too barebones however, working well as a short story in presentation but, sadly out of the director’s hands, missing potential depth to it. It also suffers from slightly annoying and exaggerated acting from at least one of the actors.

Weekly Viewings From The To-Watch Pile #6

Aka. The Harmony Korine Special

I did rewatch Harmony Korine’s Trash Humpers (2009) as well, but as the film has its own extended review I do not need to talk about it again unless new and changing thoughts develop from future viewings. I am going to include the two short films that come with the British DVD release here – Blood of Havana and Mac and Plac – however; I am unsure if these are available on the US version of the DVD, so I cannot say if they are easily accessible.

Roger & Me (Michael Moore, 1989)

From http://www.boston.com/ae/movies/blog/roger_and_me.jpg

‘A documentary about the closure of General Motors' plant at Flint, Michigan, which resulted in the loss of 30,000 jobs. Details the attempts of filmmaker Michael Moore to get an interview with GM CEO Roger Smith.’ – From IMDB

Going into this, I was hesitant ever since I starting doubting about Moore being a credible documentary director. Here he is the earnest, good willed person he would still be years later, making a very personal work. As a documentarian his use of secondary footage makes me wished he made subjected video essays that projected his opinions rather than documentaries that tried to combine this and factual information. The problem is with Moore is how he edits footage; when you start to notice, it makes it much more difficult for him to make credible statements when he may have compromised the information, even if you agree with him. Most documentaries are biased for one opinion or another, and those that try to be balanced are still effected by the editing, but with Moore it feels that he is trying to force a political message of his, continually trying to ring emotional sympathy more than facts, without a strong enough base to support it.

Blood of Havana (Harmony Korine)

A short using characters from Trash Humpers involving a political monologue against glossy recorded images. It doesn’t feel like the sort of work Korine is best at.

Act Da Fool (Harmony Korine, 2010)

‘A series of hazy 8mm vignettes, accompanied by a soft, lilting voice over, in which girls skulk around schoolyards, spray graffiti, drink, smoke, pose and embrace, evoking the loneliness, confusion and overwhelming wonder of growing up.’ – From MUBI

Despite being an advert for clothes, Korine manages to make a charming and thoughtful character piece beyond its original intentions. Interestingly, from comments I’ve read from the film’s YouTube page, objections have been raised that this is a racist depiction of these girls, but the thought not only never came to mind, but seems illogical to me. While I cannot make any grand claims about this, I do wonder, especially since one of the defenders of the short stated that they were black themselves and saw this as merely part of Korine’s fascination with outsiders, whether any of the posters who objected to the work were black men or women or were all white. If, to hypothesise, the later is the case it does raise some interesting questions of the depictions of race and ethnicity that a scholar of the subject could have a field day with if they were shown the comments. It also proves if by accident or not, like I describe in the Trash Humpers review, that Harmony Korine has the gift of creating engaging debates over his filmography.

Mac and Plac (Harmony Korine)

A twenty plus minute extended scene from Trash Humpers involving two minor characters in the centre of attention. It is worth viewing if you thought the original film was of merit.

Warming By The Devil’s Fire (Charles Burnett, 2003)

From http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/66/Warming_by_the_devils_fire.jpg

‘Part of The Blues documentary film series on PBS, Warming by the Devil’s Fire is written and directed by Charles Burnett and narrated by Carl Lumbly. This installment explores the tension between the gospel and the blues through the semi-autobiographic tale of a young boy (played by Nathaniel Lee Jr.) who is kidnapped by his blues-loving Uncle Buddy (Tommy Hicks) right before he’s about to be saved. Burnett investigates some of the blues women who defied the church by singing racy songs, like Lucille Bogan, Mamie Smith, Ma Rainey, and Bessie Smith. Includes archival performances by Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Reverend Gary Davis, blues performers who managed to work within the church’s jurisdiction. Burnett also discusses his fascination with W.C. Handy and Blind Lemon Jefferson.’ – From MUBI

A delightful surprise in The Blues series. Using a story from the perspective of a boy in the 1950s, the director weaves the history of the blues in a way that feels extremely personal to himself, and the screenwriter, and avoids being restricted by its structure by having an almost fluid, stream-of-consciousness presentation to scenes. That the music and archive footage, shown to the viewer one-after-another in rapid succession, speaks for itself except some narration gives the film a far better quality than most of the other films in the series and a lot of documentaries.

The Skeleton Key (Iain Softley, 2005)

From http://www.sofacinema.co.uk/guardian/images/products/6/45746-large.jpg

‘A hospice nurse working at a spooky New Orleans plantation home finds herself entangled in a mystery involving the house's dark past.’ – From IMDB

With its Southern vibe, there was a hope that this horror film would improve on a second viewing. What happened instead was that, despite the charismatic lead Kate Hudson (and John Hurt, who is on the list of actors whose presence makes a film immediately better), it got worse. All it is a standard package of conventional modern horror tropes – jump scares, ominous music to make said scenes ‘scarier’ etc. – to try to frighten the viewer without a lot of thought and skill. Worse is the fact that, for all its moments discussing the practice of Hoodoo magic, it merely depicts it as another alien and ‘evil’ entity, one-dimensional and designed only to harm.

A Single Man (Tom Ford, 2009)

From https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibPDxCEFJMVLeURZ04ke-wlK2S3BCzP72ySRj1Uc78PN4uJRK2zFZbxm48VIATaUsBP4mTNRiC7MRWio3uM9rN8b7OterJ57JKuVVqjYQGs7BN6TAw5SYwHkDGof_qIIEBpJPiLiP4KrM/s1600/a-single-man-poster.gif

‘It's November 30, 1962. Native Brit George Falconer, an English professor at a Los Angeles area college, is finding it difficult to cope with life. Jim, his personal partner of sixteen years, died in a car accident eight months earlier when he was visiting with family. Jim's family were not going to tell George of the death or accident let alone allow him to attend the funeral. This day, George has decided to get his affairs in order before he will commit suicide that evening. As he routinely and fastidiously prepares for the suicide and post suicide, George reminisces about his life with Jim. But George spends this day with various people, who see a man sadder than usual and who affect his own thoughts about what he is going to do...’ – From IMDB

A magnificent film. Controversy has surrounded the director Tom Ford, who he is and how he got the film made, but when he decided to make his debut he clearly had a personal reason to do so, and his desire to do this adaptation of a novel close to him shows just how much thought and a real emotional bond to it he had. With a long history of experience in the fashion industry, the film does look ‘glamorous’, but it is used in a way that is both beautiful and adds to the power of the film and its centre concept, of a man who decides one morning that it will be his last day alive, and how his view of the world alters, how everything is dull and lifeless until a moment of awe and happiness suddenly makes the world colourful, and how the littlest details suddenly have as much importance as large events (or of more importance, as the main character dismisses the Cold War and possible nuclear death as inevitable in one scene). Driving the film as well, with a strong supporting cast, is Colin Firth whose performance has made me view him in an entirely different light now, adding to the resonance and the moments of joy and deep sadness of the film’s core. A Single Man is an incredible gem. [As of October  2^nd 2010, it is the candidate for the best film of 2010 for me]

Weekly Viewings From The To-Watch Pile #4

In terms of writing the mini-reviews for this blog I am doing well and, once I can get the style of them correct, I will be gaining momentum. Writing extended reviews of individual films is the next goal, but I may already have a candidate for the first one. From the films I am interested in doing longer reviews for, it will be clear that, despite being dedicated to all films, I will pushing more for the more unconventional, and transgressive and surreal, works.

In regards to the review of Chris Petit’s 2010 film Content, I may have to correct my belief that the film was only shown at the Rotterdam Film Festival this year and once on primetime British TV. There is a possibility that Content was shown at least a few times in speciality cinemas in the UK.

With that, the first film I watched in this post was somewhat of a disappointment for 2010 for me, one that I am still going to think about, and rewatch, by the name of...

The Sky Crawlers (Mamoru Oshii, 2008)


From http://liveactionanime.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/the-sky-crawlers.jpg

 ‘The story unfolds in another 'possible' modern age. The main characters are youngsters called "Kildren", who are destined to live eternally in their adolescence. The Kildren are conscious that every day could be the last, because they fight a "war as entertainment" organized and operated by adults. But as they embrace the reality they are faced with, they live their day-to-day lives to the full.’ – From Anime News Network

A difficult film that is still hard to judge. On one hand, its long, slow periods between the few aerial battles did have potency, having long periods for contemplation – a trademark of Oshii’s work – which made me anticipate what would happen next and exemplify the aimlessness that war probably feels like. That the film also only drips the slightest bits of information about its world, leaving you in the position of the characters, furthers this feeling. Sadly after a long wait of anticipation there came a sense that, just as I thought the film would remain subtle, it suddenly felt the need to pound its message into me about war without anything truly insightful about it.  That this message has to rely on a plot twist, one which would encourage a second viewing but very little intellectual ‘meat’ to ponder, seems exceptionally lazy. Oshii’s qualities as a director can be seen and it is worth seeing but, for a man in his lesser known work can be extremely subtle or able to convey obvious messages in a very thoughtful way, this suffers the same problem as I think the overrated Ghost In The Shell (1995) has, also directed by him, in suddenly trying to cram ideas in the final act that felt badly forced.

The Outrage (Martin Ritt, 1964)

From http://cinemastationblog.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/outrage.jpg

‘A Mexican bandit, Juan Carrasco, spies a newlywed couple journeying through rugged country. He confronts them, rape and robbery on his mind, and the husband ends up dead. From the viewpoints of each participant and witness, a different story is told of what "really" happened...’ – From IMDB

Meanwhile, this turned out to be a pleasant surprise. As an American remake of Akira Kurosawa’s acclaimed Rashomon (1950), this western was already in a precarious position of being a pale imitation in the shadow of the original. It would be interesting to compare the two in a double bill, especially as a chance to rewatch Kurosawa’s film and see what my feelings are about it now, but this version is still able to stand on its own two feet. Were it not for the middle part that slightly lagged, and Paul Newman being far too broad to play a Mexican bandit – another example along with Chalton Heston in Touch of Evil (1958) of why casting white actors as Mexicans and darkening their skin artificially for the role isn’t a good idea, even if Heston did well in his role – this would be far better, but thankfully it doesn’t compromise the ending of the original, keeping the message and tone. As it stands, it is worth viewing not just as a curiosity but as a film in its own right. Also, along with Roger Corman’s The Intruder (1962), it is another film with William Shatner in it, as a priest, where he shows himself as a far more interesting actor for me than a simply dismissible one.

Beau Travail (Claire Denis, 1998)

From http://images.allocine.fr/r_760_x/medias/nmedia/00/02/13/46/affiche.jpg

‘This film focuses on ex-Foreign Legion officer, Galoup, as he recalls his once glorious life, leading troops in the Gulf of Djibouti. His existence there was happy, strict and regimented, but the arrival of a promising young recruit, Sentain, plants the seeds of jealousy in Galoup's mind. He feels compelled to stop him from coming to the attention of the commandant who he admires, but who ignores him. Ultimately, his jealousy leads to the destruction of both Sentain and himself.’ – From IMDB

While I confess to having not read the original Herman Melville story that inspired this, you would never think the first scene of a Melville adaptation would be on the floor of a dance floor, especially when the song playing sounds like a non-English version of Holly Valance’s Kiss Kiss, a song that got into the British Top 40 years ago only to suddenly disappear for the better. (If you are interested in pop music, or not, the song used in the film is actually the original version, a Turkish song called Şımarık by Tarkan which Valance covered with completely different lyrics. No one reading this probably cares but it interested me). It is quite fitting that I saw this and The Sky Crawlers not that far from each other, as both have main characters trapped in an environment, in this case a member of the French Legionnaires who, because of the habitat and the strict rules, tightens and tightens until he unravels. They both also have very slow paces, but in the case of Claire Denis’ film, she exceeds immensely, helped further by eye-catching cinematography that adds to the film’s mood. It is a very unconventional film but, as a burst of energy is released in the final scene, it succeeds. This is not the first Denis film I have seen, that would be the gory psycho-sexual horror Trouble Every Day (2001) starring Vincent Gallo and Béatrice Dalle, but this is the first one in a long time which makes me anticipate going through her filmography.

The Road To Memphis (Richard Pearce, 2003)

From http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51DMNNSFMKL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

For the last few months I have been going through the 2003 series The Blues, a Martin Scorsese produced series of documentaries by different directors (Scorsese himself, Clint Eastwood, Mike Figgis etc.) on different aspects of American blues music. Out of the ones I’ve seen – with only two left as this post comes out – the German director Wim Wender’s entry, The Soul of A Man, is the best, and also the one that tries to be more than a standard TV documentary with recreations in black-and-white and Laurence Fishburne narrating as the late Blind Willie Johnson. That said the others, expect Clint Eastwood’s horrifically dull Piano Blues, are interesting and this one was no different, exploring the Beale Street music scene in Memphis, Tennessee, and concentrating on musicians B.B. King, Rosco Gordon and Bobby Rush. Watching the whole series is recommended as they are great introductions to blues music.

Le Concert (Radu Mihaileanu, 2009)

From http://images.allocine.fr/r_760_x/medias/nmedia/18/71/89/96/19184889.jpg

‘Thirty years ago, Andrei Simoniovich Filipov, the renowned conductor of the Bolshoi orchestra, was fired for hiring Jewish musicians. Now a mere cleaning man at the Bolshoi, he learns by accident that the Châtelet Theater in Paris invites the Bolshoi orchestra to play there. He decides to gather together his former musicians and to perform in Paris in the place of the current Bolshoi orchestra. As a solo violin player to accompany his old Jewish or Gypsy musicians he wants Anne-Marie Jacquet, a young virtuoso. If they all overcome the hardships ahead this very special concert will be a triumph.’ – From IMDB

I must admit I really wanted to like this. It’s not necessarily that bad especially when the interactions between actors Aleksei Guskov and Melanie Laurent, the latter recognisable to English viewers who have seen Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds (2009), take place. Also for a very sentimental film I couldn’t help but be partly swept away by it at the end, especially when the central classical piece performed is a great one from composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The only problem is that its tonal shifts clunk so much you can see the seams. The comedy is usually in the registers of loud, and loud and wacky, and it has been a while - far more than in The Sky Crawlers - since a film has whacked me in the head with its political message with the subtlety of a 2X4. It’s a shame, as the only person under forty or fifty in the theatre when I watched this, that I couldn’t share as much enjoyment with it as everyone else did in the cinema. It turned out to be as ramshackle as its orchestra of misfits only no way near as talented.

Weekly Viewings From The To-Watch Pile #3

Warning – The music video Orphans you can see if you following the link contains real life violence that may upset and disturb people either by seeing it or how it is presented. The reason I have not included the YouTube video on this post isn’t because of the content but, considering the varying tones of the small reviews, that it would seem inappropriate for me to present it in the context of this written piece.

 I also want to add that I am that I am just about to start my final year of university. This, and the time it takes to get to and from the campus, the possible workload etc. may affect the number of posts I am able to do in a week.

Camille 2000 (Radley Metzger, 1969)



From http://www.cinemastrikesback.com/news/films/grindhouseuniverse/camille.jpg

‘Marguerite, a beautiful woman of affairs, falls for the young and promising Armand, but sacrifices her love for him for the sake of his future and reputation.’ - From IMDB 

Lacking the intrigue in the beginning of it that made the director’s 1970 film The Lickerish Quartet interesting immediately, this English language film (which makes no sense for me being set in Italy) is an erotic drama with little sex or drama worth caring about. It doesn’t look great aesthetically or in cinematography, the acting is generic on the verge of being wooden, and moments of artistry come off as pretentious and hiding the dullness of the film. The only interesting thing about it is that a particular camera technique – where it goes in-and-out of focus on a group of flowers near a bed where the main female character is having sex – was used with exact framing with red apples by the director Anne Biller in her sexploitation debut Viva (2007), but that is not enough to sit through this.

1900 (Bernardo Bertolucci, 1976)

From http://thames2thayer.com/political_cinema/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/1900_bloodyolmo_alfredo-1024x640.png

‘Set in Italy, the film follows the lives and interactions of two boys/men, one born a bastard of peasant stock (Depardieu), the other born to a land owner (de Niro). The drama spans from 1900 to about 1945, and focuses mainly on the rise of Fascism and the peasants' eventual reaction by supporting Communism, and how these events shape the destinies of the two main characters.’ - From IMDB

An epic five hour long period piece which wears it liberal heart on its sleeve and shows its fascist characters, personified by Donald Sutherland’s psychotic Attila, as one-dimensional villains. This film does suffer from two problems I find with historical pieces. First, in attempting to be historically accurate to the period as much as possible, it does lose the ability of being expressionistic or even glide into the fantastical that the best films (The Thin Red Line (1998), Andrei Rublev (1966), even Amarcord (1973) etc.) can. Secondly, even though this has moments of character development, the viewer is almost distanced and viewing them through a plate of glass, as part of a completely different time period, rather than seeing the world from the characters’ eye view themselves (again, unlike the best of these films). The decision to make the film in English, dubbing individuals in English in places, and starring Robert De Niro, Sutherland, a surprisingly young and thin Gerard Depardieu (dubbed as well) and other non-Italian actors, is questionable too. Not only is it about Italian, but there are numerous uses of Italian words and songs that makes the decision redundant. Despite these problems, Bertolucci nonetheless deserves some credit for trying to do something different with the conventional genre, bringing things in that would never be allowed in most historical films now – such as De Niro’s character snorting cocaine with his uncle and his lover – that add a more realistic layer to the proceedings.

The American Soldier (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1970)

From http://billsmovieemporium.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/theamericansoldier03.jpg?w=400&h=315

‘Ricky is a cold-blooded German-American contract killer. After serving in Vietnam he returns to his home town of Munich to eliminate a few problem crooks for three renegade cops. He inspects his old neighborhood with his childhood accomplice Franz Walsch, and pays a short visit to his mother and doting brother. When Ricky asks the hotel clerk for a girl, one of the cops sends his girlfriend Rosa. However she falls for the killer.’ - From IMDB

In the beginning, this shows aspects of Fassbinder of significance. The film is well made, with crisp and striking black-and-white photography, and interesting use of music, and has things of fascination. From what few works I’ve seen, he at least seeps his early work with pop-culture references, very like Jean-Luc Godard’s work, usually American iconography like Batman and a lot of pinball machines. Also, while wanting to avoid instigating anything considering Fassbinder’s life story, I cannot but notice how common it is for women to be slapped or backhanded by men in what I’ve seen so far. The American Friend as a film is less interesting, a minimalist crime work with some character scenes of notice but anaemic for the most part.

Content (Chris Petit, 2010)

From http://www.illuminationsmedia.co.uk/uploads/images/header/image1382.jpg

‘Between a deceased father and a young boy, Chris Petit wonders and wanders through concepts of the past and self-identity.’ - From IMDB


Re-evaluating this ‘21^st century ambient road movie’, my opinion of this has changed drastically from a mess to a gem from the moment the alluring, ambient music and sounds making up the score is first heard. In his middle age, and nearer death, Chris Petit is trying to find himself, looking at the world around him. As TVs become smaller, the Internet becomes part of our outer face, and the buildings (in Britain anyway) becomes blander, he suggest that we have become aimless, wandering and trying to find ourselves. A German actor, as a sender of illicit emails, muses on life and the desires people pour out online while YouTube clips, from early Lumiere films to confessions, are played. Numerous scenes are camera footage in cars passing on motorways and roads which, as Petit describes in the beginning, feel as if one is drifting in a dream state. Like the darkened roads of David Lynch’s Lost Highway (1997), they lead to nowhere; the only difference between them is that Petit’s roads and their surroundings are, depending on if you agree with him or not, exceptionally ugly. From the roads to the Kennedy assassination, to Pokemon and German guilt on eBay, this is a warning that we as people have become complacent and ignorant of the past and present as conformity and lifelessness reign, exemplified in the claustrophobic ‘New Towns’ in Britain which have high suicide rates that are hushed up.  This is a great work, but one (as of the 20^th September 2010) that is difficult to see, having only been screened at the 2010 Rotterdam Film Festival and once on British primetime TV. If you can find it, watch it, maybe watch it again months later like I did a second time.

Orphans [By Teenage Jesus & The Jerks] (Ivan Lerner, 1978)

Can be viewed here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTt2ScrvU-A

‘Directed by porno trade mag editor Ivan Lerner in 1978, Orphans cuts together Vietnam footage that almost captures the violence of the music of Teenage Jesus & The Jerks.’ - From MUBI

Cutting together horrific footage – Vietnam, gun violence, beatings and other atrocities – with the slow and unnerving rock song, this is an uncompromising music video which forces you to look at the brutality. It should be seen even if you hate the song for what the images are trying to say.