Oscar's Cinema Journal 2005

[Chris Knipp]

Thanks. Solipsism. Why don't the Filmwurld forum pages have spellcheck? My spelling system is solipsistic.

[Johann]

Just buggin' ya.

You said my English doesn't falter so I had to say it.

Spelling doesn't really matter. It's what's said that does.

[Chris Knipp]

No your English doesn't falter. Spelling isn't everything but it does matter.

Mend your speech a little,
Lest it may mar your fortunes.

--Shakespeare, King LearAnd since I'm a former English teacher, I ought to know better. But boys don't spell as well as girls and we take that to the grave, I guess.

[oscar jubis]

Originally posted by Chris Knipp
I guess you just keep this thread for your own personal entertainment.

I understand how my not checking if there was a thread for the film gave you that impression, but YOU should know better. I've repeatedly stated I'd rather watch more film than post but I do in the hope of exchanging opinions about the films I watch. I'm trying to post on every film I watch as promised on January 1st. I haven't had internet access at home for almost one month. I'm trying to post from relatives' homes in less than desirable circumstances and with limited time to do it. I'm sorry I failed to search for your thread on The Assassination of Richard Nixon.

[oscar jubis]

Wed Nov 16th

Gun Fury (USA, 1953) dvd

Solid western shot in Arizona, directed by Raoul Walsh, who made excellent films in just about every genre. Rock Hudson is ready to settle down in California with new wife Donna Reed. The Civil War is over and he vows to mind his own business and stay away from any kind of violence. In route to the west coast, he is left for dead and his wife kidnapped during a robbery. Like the hero of High Noon, Rock has difficulty finding men willing to help him get her back. Good film, but not as memorable a western as Walsh's own Pursued.

[oscar jubis]

Thu Nov 17th

Down By Law (USA/Germany, 1986) dvd

Jim Jarmusch wanted to make a film starring his friends John Lurie and Tom Waits because he liked the chemistry between them. During a visit to Italy, a friend introduced him to Roberto Benigni and they hit it off immediately (mostly in French). Jarmusch altered the script to create a character for Benigni. Down by Law alternates between the pimp Lurie and the unemployed dj Waits in the poor parishes of New Orleans and how they come to be incarcerated. They share a cell with Benigni, whose anglophilia and attempts to master English idioms provides plenty of laughs. The three manage to escape through bayou swamps.

When I crave early Jarmusch, it's Mystery Train and Stranger Than Paradise I go for, over and over. But I'm glad I watched Down by Law a second time. I enjoyed it very much. This is quite an introduction to the US market to the talents of Mr. Benigni. This is also the first collaboration between Jarmusch and DP Robby Muller; his lensing and lighting here is every bit as awesome as that of Dead Man (thanks Criterion for the excellent transfer). John Lurie wrote the music score and Waits penned two songs prominently featured.

[Chris Knipp]

(thanks Criterion for the excellent transfer) So you're saying that's what the DVD was, eh? I wouldn't have known that the lighting was great in Down by Law. I've seen a number of Benigni's movies, not all of them, and my impression, corroborated by Italian friends, is that he is best in improvised performances, not so good in cooked-up film stories like his latest movie about Iraq, La vita è bella, etc. I think he's hilarious in Down by Law, though even funnier in NIght on Earth. That sequence of the taxi driver is one of the single drollest passages in recent films. But he has some moments in Down by Law that rival it. I would probably agree that Down by Law isn't quite up to Stranger Than Paradise and Mystery Train, but they're all of a piece, too.

[Chris Knipp]

I'm sorry I failed to search for your thread on The Assassination of Richard Nixon.Well, it's an obscure thread, though it took me only seconds to find it. On the other hand, I'm very very sorry you've had so much hardship, including lack of electricity. It would be churlish to criticize you for that. But I hope you can add your comments to the appropriate threads when you have the time. Otherwise this becomes a personal website within a collective website, doesn't it, really? If we all had our personal threads on this website, that would be kind of weird, to say the least. Alternately if the site's going to be all reviews and no talk, then it needs an edotor.

[oscar jubis]

Originally posted by Chris Knipp
I wouldn't have known that the lighting was great in Down by Law. I would probably agree that Down by Law isn't quite up to Stranger Than Paradise and Mystery Train, but they're all of a piece, too.

I'm probably not the only one who often takes the use of lights in films for granted, until one watches a film in which inept lighting detracts significantly from an otherwise good film. Last case in point, Diego Lerman's Suddenly (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=13254#post13254). Certain outdoor night scenes in Down by Law provide challenges to the DP in terms of lighting: long pans of New Orleans streets and especially, those involving the trio escaping through woods and bayou swamps. Boy, this picture looks fantastic! Muller is reportedly a pain in the ass but I'd put up with him to get my picture to look like this.

Yes, the Criterion transfer is beyond reproach. Among the extras, a press conference at Cannes '86 in which, as I remarked to Cristi, Jarmusch behaves like an arrogant asshole. Also included, a recent taped phone conversation between Jarmusch and Lurie in which the now mature auteur tells Lurie that he wonders why he behaved like a jerk at that conference.

[oscar jubis]

Thursday Nov 17th (cont)

Play (Chile, 2005) at Beach Cinematheque

Cristina, a live-in nursemaid from the sticks, performs household chores and reads National Geographic to an ailing Hungarian. She takes out the trash and finds a briefcase. Flashback to how architect Tristan's briefcase got there. Back to Cristina, learning to smoke Tristan's cigs, listening to his music on his I-Pod, and investigating his life via objects found inside. Cristina calls his cell but no one answers. She finds him and follows him around the streets of her beloved Santiago. The inquisitive, naturally curious Cristina also becomes interested in Irene, Tristan's high-maintenance wife. Tristan has recently lost Irene to a long-haired Russian and finds himself with a lot of free-time when construction workers go on strike. He visits his blind mother, an stylishly exotic woman having a torrid affair with a younger man, a rude magician from Argentina. Play alternates between these characters from different social strata as they ambulate through the capital city. Tristan and Cristina eventually meet in rather unpredictable fashion.

The debut of writer/director Alicia Scherson (who studied film in Cuba and Chicago) had its world premiere at the 2005 Tribeca Film Festival where Scherson was named best "new narrative filmmaker". The Voice and the Times both recommended it. I knew this before the screening yet I was still surprised at how Play didn't bring forth any associations with other films. It seems to have been made by someone who's been paying close attention to the minutae of life, to small behavioral differences, to what makes Santiago different from other world capitals, rather than made by someone who's been watching too many movies. Play is character-based rather than plot-fueled, with unforced bits of magical realism here and a touch of the absurd there. I was still sitting after the final credits wishing I could spend more time with Tristan and Cristina, and wondering what happened to them when Ms. Scherson stopped pointing her High-Def SteadyCam at them. Know what I mean?

[Chris Knipp]

Lighting: In general I want to learn more about the technical side and be a bit more aware of camera work, lighting, and editing when I watch a movie and comment on it -- but you don't want to overdo that, because it can be a distraction from the overall experience. Focusing on the "cinematic" was something I used to harp on when I was young; I wrote an essay arguing that popular American reviewers talked too much about film as if it was theater or a novel. I was talking pre-Kael. To some extent Pauline Kael, with her keen visual memory, changed that, though conventional reviewers since still tend now to revert to talking like movies are books whenever they can. What I was less aware of then than I am now is how important the writing
is, more than anything else, particularly in something conventional of course, something with a lot of dialogue, such as a romantic comedy.

I would certainly say that the photography, which would include the lighting, of Jarmusch's Dead Man, is absolutely amazing. I don't know why people don't talk more about that aspect of Dead Man. The landscapes are shot just the way 19th-century photographers and painters saw landscape. It's a completely different look, unique for modern film.

I haven't seen a lot of the recent Criterion DVD's, but I just watched the Vadim And God Created Woman last week, and it looked great -- as it did when it was new, I realized, watching the DVD. Full of the brilliant light of the Côte d'Azur.

[oscar jubis]

For those of you attending film festivals in the near future, check out the Chilean film Play, reviewed on this page. The title is easy to remember but it's a film you won't easily forget. It's not the type of foreign crowd-pleaser that gets picked up for distribution. It's doing the festival circuit right now and getting good reviews wherever it plays. I'm going out of my way to push this picture because Scherson is a young Latina filmmaker with a unique vision and there aren't enough of those. Actually, the only one that comes to mind is Lucrecia Martel from Argentina. Then again, you've all seen The Holy Girl (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=12944#post12944). Well, what are you waiting for?

Originally posted by Chris Knipp
conventional reviewers since still tend now to revert to talking like movies are books whenever they can.
Most definitely. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they are afraid to turn off readers who are not familiar with the terminology. Though truth is the main questions I get when discussing a movie are "who's in it?" and "what is it about?". Problem is certain movies require use of film grammar terms for a proper review, meaning one that conveys what's like to experience the film. If one is reviewing a Preston Sturges film for instance, one concentrates on the writing and the performance style. But a film by Kubrick or Greenaway demands descriptions of visual style. I think it all depends on the essential elements of the film being reviewed.

I would certainly say that the photography, which would include the lighting, of Jarmusch's Dead Man, is absolutely amazing.
To review that film without mentioning Muller and/or his work would be a failure to address one of the key aspects that make Dead Man so accomplished.

[oscar jubis]

Friday November 18th

God's Sanbox (Israel, 2004) Cosford Cinema
A 50-something writer from Jerusalem comes to a beach that borders the Sinai desert in search of her runaway daughter. A bartender tells them the true story of a blonde Jewish "hippie" and her doomed affair with the son of a Bedouin sheik. Turns out the writer and the "hippie" are the same person and 30 years ago she was forced to undergo ritual mutilation. Director Duron Eran engages in exotic-chic and softcore eroticism before turning the film into an expose of outdated, anti-woman traditions. The effect is jarring. God's Sandbox is poorly written and suffers from serious casting problems. This is the worst foreign film in general release I've seen all year.

[oscar jubis]

Sat Nov. 19th

The Phantom of Liberty (France, 1974) dvd

The penultimate film by Luis Bunuel keeps getting better with age. Sandwiched between the better-known The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie and That Obscure Object of Desire, Phantom has only in the last decade been acknowledged as a must-see. It's finally become available on a Criterion dvd almost devoid of extras (a brief interview with co-writer Carriere is not very illuminating).

The film comprises a series of interlocking episodes that illustrate with precision and economy various Bunuelian themes, such as the arbitrariness of convention, the modern world's ambivalent grasp of freedom, the hypocrisy within religious institutions, etc. It's full of paradoxes and absurdities that contain messages but, under the hands of the mature master, the film is light as spring air, efortlessly moving from one vignette to another. Guests sit on toilets around a table but sneak into a tiny dining room to eat their dinner, a mass killer is condemned to death so he is released into the arms of autograph seekers, a man in a playground gives pictures to preteen girls ("Show them to your friends but not to adults") and they turn out to be postcards of religious sites, a little girl is reported missing at school even though she's crearly there and accompanies her dad to the police station, etc. I've criticized Roger Ebert often, particularly for inaccurate plot descriptions, too many 4-star reviews, and not "getting" Kiarostami, but he summed up Phantom beautifully by stating: "In a world cast loose of its moorings by freedom, only anarchy is logical".

Other Bunuel films reviewed on this thread:
Viridiana (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=13123#post13123)
Nazarin (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=10479#post10479)
El Bruto (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=9882#post9882)
The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=11164#post11164)

[Chris Knipp]

Good to have the cross references.

[oscar jubis]

Thanks for the feedback.

Sun Nov 20th

Grandma's Boy (USA, 1922) TCM
Harold Lloyd plays a young man who overcome cowardice and shyness when grandma tells him of a magic charm used by his grandfather to gain courage during the Civil war. Lloyd captures a thieving tramp, teaches a lesson to a bully, and gets the girl of his dreams. Funny of course, but not a classic like Safety Last or The Freshman.

[oscar jubis]

Sun Nov 20th (cont.)

Early Summer (Japan, 1951) dvd

Setsuko Hara plays Noriko, a typist who is, at 28, entering spinsterdom. Her relatives are concerned. Her brother, sister-in-law, and her boss ploy to marry her to a successful 40 year-old. Noriko is very nice but she realizes she'd be happier with Kenkichi, a widower with a daughter. It's not so much that her relatives disapprove of Kenkichi. It's her self-sufficient approach that strikes her relatives as selfish and ungrateful. Moreover, this potential husband is being relocated to a faraway province. It's paradoxical that Noriko's "modern" behavior will be accompanied by a return to a traditional, provincial lifestyle. Thanks to Ozu's restrained emotionality and elliptical narrative, it's possible to sustain a number of possible interpretations for Noriko's choice. Is this a "love-marriage"? The fact that Kenkichi was the best friend of Noriko's beloved, killed-in-combat brother is one complicating factor. Anyway, Noriko's marriage means her relatives will have to adjust to her absence from the household and a reduction of the family's income.

The title's literal translation is "Barley-harvesting Season" not "Early Summer" and most of the plot transpires in spring. The titles of Yasujiro Ozu's films mean little. This one's said to be "among his best" and I love it. But that designation means little to me also because Ozu was consistently excellent. I've seen a dozen and each seemed "among his best" to me. The committed-drinker and eternal bachelor was one of the masters of the medium. Most of his pre-War films were called comedies and most of his post-War ones were family dramas, which evidence a pared-down style, a distillation of technique in search of substance.

I've always been curious about the fact that the director whose film plots deal with marriage and parenting more than those by any other director was himself not interested in being a husband and father himself. Ozu expert Donald Richie states in his brilliant commentary that the marriage-and-parenting plots were "pretexes" to board larger issues: the inevitability of chance, acceptance of the transcience of life, the dissolution of the existing order, and the clash between tradition and modernity. Richie discusses the formative influence of Ernst Lubitsch on Japanese directors, Ozu's dictatorial stance towards actors (he regarded them as "models", not unlike Bresson), the affinity between Ozu's and Jane Austen's narratives, relevant facts about Japanese history, art and societal conventions, etc. Besides the rich commentary, this Criterion edition includes a conversation between three of Ozu's collaborators.

Other Ozu films reviewed on this thread:
Tokyo Twilight (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=12966#post12966)

[oscar jubis]

Mon Nov 21st

Gate of Flesh (Japan, 1964) dvd

There was a Japanese New Wave taking place at the same time as the French one but the West didn't take notice. It wasn't until the age of dvd that film buffs in the West have had a chance to regard many of the films involved. The acquaintance is forcing a re-evaluation of six key filmmakers from the period: Shoei Imamura, Yasuzo Masumura, Hiroshi Teshigahara, Kaneto Shindo, Nagisa Oshima, and Seijun Suzuki. The 82 year old Suzuki remains active and vital. He has never completely abandoned the tag of B-movie director, but he's always been an iconoclast with a strong tendency towards artistic stylization and an attraction to controversial themes.

It's hard to reconcile the fact that his Gate of Flesh is set around the same time as Ozu's Early Summer. This post-War Tokyo is chaotic and populated by thieves, beggars, and whores. American GIs are ever-present and viewed with bitter resentment. The picture itself is quite critical of the US and its occupation of Japan. Suzuki admits to hating the US at the time, having spent three years of his life in the front trying to survive American attacks. Gate of Flesh is also a story of survival, involving four prostitutes living in the ruins of a bombarded building who shelter a former soldier wanted for stabbing a GI.

The grotesque ambiance makes quite a contrast with Suzuki's expressive use of color and the conscious artificiality of his compositions. At times he superimposes close-ups of faces onto a scene shot from medium distance, or he slows down the image so that a character's cries appear disembodied, or he splits a scene into freeze-frames giving the impression of a slide show, etc. Suzuki is relentlessly playful_ it's clear he's having fun, without detracting from the plight of his desperate characters.

[oscar jubis]

Mon Nov 21st (cont.)

Story of a Prostitute (Japan, 1965) dvd

Harumi is one of the girls brought from Japan to serve as "comfort women" to Japanese soldiers in Manchuria. She hopes all the fucking will help heal her broken heart and erase bad memories. Harumi becomes the favorite of Narita, a cruel high-ranking officer who beats and humilliates her. Love blossoms between Harumi and Mikami, Narita's young assistant, who's fiercely loyal to the Japanese cause.

This highly regarded film directed by Seijun Suzuki, like Gate of Flesh an adaptation of a story by Taijiro Tamura, is one of the most decidedly anti-War, anti-imperialist films ever. Suzuki is quite critical of, even angry towards, the aims of the Japanese emperor, the Japanese conception of honor and duty, and the arrogance of power. It's quite harrowing material, shot in widescreen b&w, with particular attention to creating contrast via lighting and mise-en-scene. Suzuki's stylings are more restrained than in Gate of Flesh, but not entirely abandoned: for instance, Harumi's hatred of Narita is expressed in a scene in which the frame is frozen and the portion of it that contains Narita broken into pieces. Suzuki is being crystal-clear here; no one can miss what Story of a Prostitute is saying so eloquently.

[oscar jubis]

Tue Nov 22nd

10 Minutes Older: The Cello (UK/Germany/France, 2002) import dvd

Fifteen directors were commissioned to create shorts lasting ten minutes (more or less) that deal with the concept of time. The shorts were divided into two features for theatrical release. I watched The Trumpet last year. It included shorts by Victor Erice (the best), Herzog, Jarmusch, Wenders, Kaurismaki and Kaige. The Cello contains the remaining eight shorts:

Histoire d'Eaux
Bernardo Bertolucci's widescreen, b&w film tells the story of an Hindu immigrant who gets dropped off in Italy. A fellow traveler sits by a tree and asks for water. The protagonist runs into an Italian barmaid with a disabled motorbike, fixes the bike, gets her pregnant, marries her and becomes assimilated. He rides with wife and teenage kids down a country road and has an accident. He walks around seeking help and encounters the man who asked for water, who exclaims:"I didn't think it would take you a whole day to return".

About Time 2
Mike Figgis splits the screen in four and alternates between an old couple with TV monitors for heads, two boys playing war, and an affair between musicians in which the man has erectile dysfunction. This most experimental short is most unsatisfying because it's too elusive.

One Moment
Jiri Menzel shows an old man in a country setting reminiscing about his life. Turns out the man is legendary Czech actor Rudolph Hrusinsky and the memories are all culled from his long filmography that dates back to the silent era. The clips are obviously carefully chosen and edited in chronological order. A beautiful film.

10 Minutes After
Istvan Szabo seems to be showing the most dramatic scene from a long feature, one that implies that 10 minutes is long enough to ruin a life or two. A wife awaits at home with an elaborate lunch for her husband. He is brought by friends because of heavy drinking. They leave, he becomes extremely abusive. The wife grabs a knife and he practically runs into it. I didn't like this one.

Vers Nancy
Claire Denis shots a 10 minute conversation between a young woman who emigrated to France from Eastern Europe (like Denis) and the author of a book dealing with issues of immigration, acculturation, France's national identity vis a vis its treatment of foreigners, etc. A black man sits in the same train car trying not to draw attention. I found the discussion quite lucid and interesting so I can't blame Denis for returning to her favorite themes.

Dans le Noir du Temps
Jean Luc Godard's essay includes clips from several of his films, footage from WWII, particularly about the Holocaust and the Resistance; narration includes poems and philosophical excerpts.

Addicted to the Stars
Michael Radford's sci-fi tale about an astronaut who barely ages while in space while the young son he left behind upon departure is now senile. Nice cinematography.

The Enlightenment
Volker Schlondorff's short is the third out of eight in this collection to deal with Europeans-of-color. It's about a black man being introduced to his (white) girl's family while they vacation on a RV-park.

[oscar jubis]

Tue. Nov 22nd (cont.)

This Charming Girl (South Korea, 2004) import dvd

Jeong-hae is not without charm, but charming is not the first adjective that comes to my mind when attempting a description. She's a 20-something postal worker who lives by herself in Seoul. The first half hour details her daily routine. She functions well occupationally and domestically, but her reticence and solitude hide a traumatic history; a history that is gradually revealed via flashbacks. This Charming Girl is set during a phase in Jeong-hae's life in which her affective needs are forcing her to come out of her emotional prison. This coming-out is evidenced initially by her adopting a stray cat. Jeong-hae eventually gains courage to ask a male customer to dinner, and come to terms with the incident that broke her soul.

Writer/director Yoon-ki Lee keeps the film's emotional temperature at a simmer, which won't be to everyone's liking. I found This Charming Girl quite satisfying as a wounded character study. It's well-acted and the character's development consistently rings true. I do appreciate the patient exposition during the first 30 minutes in order to establish Jeong-hae's present reality, but a 10-minute trim would not result in appreciative losses.

[Chris Knipp]

Ten-minute shorts series.

Sounds like some good stuff there.

[oscar jubis]

It's a shame these shorts are only available on import dvd. Here's the official site:Ten Minutes Older (http://www.tenminutesolder.co.uk/)

Wed Nov 23rd

Bright Future (Japan, 2003) dvd

Mamoru, a 20-something with a poisonous jellyfish for a pet kills his boss and the wife of his boss for no valid reason. Condemned to death, he asks best buddy Yuji to take care of the jellyfish, which includes acclimating the creature from salinity to freshwater. Yuji and Mamoru's dad become close. Yuji accidentally drops the aquarium. The jellyfish slips through floorboards onto a canal, propagates and becomes a public safety hazard. The fish exit Tokyo's canals onto the ocean as Yuji becomes acquainted with a youth gang.

I find the films of Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Cure, Pulse, Charisma) interesting and intriguing. I also admire his distrust of formulas and his restrain with shock effects. So, I'm finding it difficult to write that I didn't like Bright Future. I watched the 75-min making-of feature. Kurosawa states the obvious: he is not interested in character psychology or why his characters behave the way they do. Even the senseless murder of the boss, whose only fault is being a bit meddlesome. We're not supposed to wonder what got Mamoru to that point. The director's assistant states the characters are "incomprehensible" and Kurosawa's direction of his actors appears limited to their "hitting their marks". The intention was to make a picture about "the generational clash" and express it in "physical terms, like in a Robert Aldrich movie". Kurosawa strikes me as lacking ambition. The 50-year old doesn't seem to have much to say about "alienated youth". I did find myself moved by the unlikely relationship that develops between Mamoru's father and Yuji, but it was too little too late for me. Thinking of the jellyfish as a symbol or a metaphor didn't take me far either. The musical score is often inappropriately lilting.

[oscar jubis]

Wed Nov 23rd (cont.)

Rent (USA, 2005) Sunset Place Theatres

Jonathan Larson's musical, inspired by Puccini's La Boheme, won the Pulitzer and the Emmy. It's had a successful 10-year run and been credited with bringing a younger audience into theatres. The film version of this celebration of bohemia, directed by Chris Columbus, lives by the motto "If it's not broke...". Six of the eight celebrated actors who originated the show are back and the two newcomers, Rosario Dawson and Tracie Thoms, are up to par. I propose there are few who liked the play and don't like the movie, which seems calculated not to upset the play's fans. I like the performances and most of Larson's material so I had a good time watching it with Chelsea. My 15-y.o. rocker-girl "loved it".

[Chris Knipp]

I loved it too.

[oscar jubis]

Thu Nov 24th

Shenandoah (USA, 1965) TCM

Farmer Charlie Anderson (James Stewart) is a widower with five sons and a daughter. He's proud of not being a slave owner. He calls himself a Virginian, not a Confederate. He won't lend horses, much less sons, to the Confederate cause. One day, troops from the North take his teen son for a soldier and take him prisoner, forcing the Andersons to get involved in the conflict. Shenandoah is a Hollywood picture with the requisite straining of credibility for entertainment purposes. But it's handsomely mounted, engaging, and Stewart is uh Stewart.

[oscar jubis]

Friday Nov 25th

A Peck on the Cheek (India, 2004) Cosford Cinema

In war-torn Sri Lanka, a pregnant woman evacuates to India where her daughter is born. Nine years later, the girl's middle-class adoptive parents decide to tell her about it. They decide to indulge the mischievious girl's desire to find her birth mother although the trip to Sri Lanka is quite perilous.
Writer/director Mani Ratnam's film is a mixture of war epic, melodrama and musical that's thoroughly entertaining and visually attractive. The overblown emotions and plot contrivances characteristic of big Bollywood productions are also present.

[oscar jubis]

Sat Nov 26th

An Inn in Tokyo (Japan, 1935) import dvd

Yasujiro Ozu's penultimate silent film plays like a precursor to Italian neorealism although Japanese films of this era did not play internationally. Kihachi, abandoned by his wife, roams around looking for work with his two sons in tow. At a communal room where they sleep, he meets a Otaka, a young woman with a sick toddler who's also unemployed. When he finds work through Otsune, a woman friend, Kihachi tries to help Otaka, which makes Otsune jealous.
This heartfelt tale of survival and fellowship indicates Ozu developed his unique style at an early stage of his career. The pace of the storytelling, the acting style, and the camera angles he favored are already evident in An Inn in Tokyo.

[oscar jubis]

Sat Nov 26th (cont)

Porto of my Childhood (Portugal, 2001) Sundance Channel

Manoel de Oliveira explores the city where he has lived his whole life. It's an exploration based on his memories, mostly those from his formative years. The film opens with the filmmaker visiting the ruins of the house where he was born in 1908, and the natural surroundings he calls "the Eden of my priviledged youth". There are re-enactments of cherished memories, including scenes of bohemian and "cafe culture", archival footage of public events, and thematically-appropriate clips from his earliest films (Aniki-Bobo and Hard Work on the River Douro). The soundtrack includes brief commentary, fado songs, and poems by close friends. Porto of my Childhood creates a unique synthesis between fiction and documentary, and its temporal shifts are so graceful. Manoel de Oliveira is one of the world's greatest directors.

[Chris Knipp]

An Inn in Tokyo (Japan, 1935) import dvd What sort of import DVD, if you don't mind?

[oscar jubis]

Sun Nov 27th

Singin' in the Rain (USA, 1952) Cosford Cinema

A public screening of this classic is reason to rejoice. It's hard to believe Singin' in the Rain was a rushed production created around a collection of old songs to profit from the huge success of An American in Paris and its star Gene Kelly. Kelly and Stanley Donen directed, based on a script by Betty Comden and Adolph Green about Hollywood during the difficult transition from silents to sound films. Singin' in the Rain's wild variety of musical styles amounts to a delightful history of the genre, from burlesque and vaudeville to the more lyrical and romantic variations. The tone shifts from tender to laugh-out-loud funny. The story holds it all in place and the performances are uniformly brilliant. Cast includes Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Cyd Charisse, and a teenage Debbie Reynolds.

[oscar jubis]

Originally posted by Chris Knipp
What sort of import DVD, if you don't mind?

It's a NTSC Region#3 release by Panorama, a Hong Kong company. Release date: 7/16/2005.

[Chris Knipp]

NTSC Region 3....etc.
Did you buy or rent it?

Singin' in the Rain -- makes me think of A Clockwork Orange. But yes, I have seen the original movie. Gene Kelly wasn't sexy -- or elegant like Fred Astaire -- but he was a great dancer and a charismatic personality for that style of musical.

[oscar jubis]

*A rental from Nicheflix (the Ozu film).

Monday Nov 28th

Cowards Bend the Knee (or The Blue Hands) (Canada, 2004) dvd

A silent horror film inspired by the tragedies of Euripedes and films starring Bela Lugosi, shot in Super-8 and divided into 10 chapters of equal duration (6 min. 6 secs.). Also an autobiography with a protagonist named Guy Maddin, like the Winnipeg-based director. But he was born in 1956 and the film is set circa 1930. Maddin calls it the most accurate type of autobiographical film because it incorporates what he calls his "pre-history" and his family "mythology". The plot involves mutilation, revenge murder, a hoax transplant, and a Freudian love triangle involving a ghost. The action takes place in a graveyard, a hockey arena with a wax museum in its rafters, and a beauty salon that serves as after-hours bordello and abortion clinic. Maddin is true to his intention to make the film "as hysterical and elliptical as possible". Sometimes films take you on a trip to a strange place that only exists in the wild imagination of a fearless artist.

[oscar jubis]

Tuesday November 29th

Kira (Russia, 2003) dvd

"My dream is to disappear with only my films remaining. No cross, nothing. Only her films remain! Some people like them, but most don't". (Kira Muratova)

Doc about Romania-born, Moscow-educated filmmaker Kira Muratova. A tough assignment for director Vladimir Nepevny because she doesn't want to be "opened up like a can and examined" and claims to have poor memory of past events. It's left for directors like Andrej Wajda and Alexander Sokurov to praise her uncompromising vision and key collaborators to provide some insight into Muratova's cantankerous but generous personality. Kira was extremely valuable to me primarily because I've only seen Passions (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=11134#post11134) and Chekhovian Motifs and Kira includes numerous clips from all her other features.

[oscar jubis]

Tuesday Nov 29th (cont.)

Chekhovian Motifs (Russia, 2002) dvd

An updated merging of Chekhov's unfinished play "Tatyana Repina" and his short story "Difficult Natures", directed by Kira Muratova. The latter concerns the eldest son of a farming family leaving the nest to attend college and the generational clash between him and his cheapskate father. This story is split into two episodes that open and close Chekhovian Motifs. In between, an hour-long wedding in an Orthodox church where a motley group of guests kvetch, opine and cackle incessantly as Muratova's pans take it all in. Most interestingly, the chubby groom is under the impression that the ghost of his lover Tatyana, an actress who poisoned herself, is interfering with the ceremony.

Chekhovian Motifs evidences Muratova's penchant for dialogue lines repeated as mantras, affection for grotesque characters, and unusual attention to animals. I understand why Jonathan Rosenbaum would say "if you enter this without any warning you might wind up fleeing in terror", but I was happy under the fascinating spell of a filmmaker with a mind (and eye) of her own.

[Chris Knipp]

I wish you would give more information about where you got the film if its a DVD each time--Nettlix, NIcheflix, purchase, if so where purchased, etc. It's also helpful to give the director's name with the title at the beginning of your note or review. Thanks.

[oscar jubis]

Wed Nov 30th

The Cry of the Owl (France/Italy, 1986) dvd

Claude Chabrol is the celebrated director influenced by Hitchcock and Lang who emerged from the Nouvelle Vague and has made at least 10 movies you must see (my list: La Beau Serge, La Femme Infidele, Le Boucher, The Cousins, Les Bonnes Femmes, This Man Must Die, Violette, Story of Women, Madame Bovary, La Ceremonie).
Claude Chabrol has also been called a hack and a sell-out because his poor discernment and addiction to shooting schedules has resulted in at least 10 movies you must avoid.
The Cry of the Wolf falls somewhere in between.

The Cry of the Owl was hand-picked by Patricia Highsmith for Chabrol. By all accounts, the film is quite faithful to the novel, except it is now set in Vichy, France. Highsmith seems to have understood that the novel's themes are a good match for Chabrol's preoccupation with unveiling the dark side of bourgeoise characters residing in seemingly placid small towns. As with most mystery thrillers, plot descriptions are likely to spoil the experience. It suffices to reveal that Robert, a recently divorced peeping tom who admits to mental instability is "found out" by the subject of his obsession. Instantly smitten, Juliette breaks up with her fiance, who won't take it lightly. The plot provides plenty of surprising twists and the characters gradually reveal traits not initially apparent.

Upon release, a number of critics questioned the plausibility of certain events. I was able to sustain disbelief until the climax, which is downright absurd, as staged by Chabrol. So absurd in fact that it raises the possibility Chabrol is playing a joke on Robert, a surreal move Bunuel would applaud. A minor complain would be the archaic, overly precious lines uttered at times by the morbid Juliette. I found The Cry of the Owl worth watching, but except for Highsmith's fans, I hesitate to offer a general recommendation.

[Chris Knipp]

I just watched (Netflix DVD) Chabrol's La rupture/The Breach, from 1970. It is treated by film professors as a classic. I liked your dividing his work up into works you must see and works to avoid, and this one also may lie in between. What would you say about it?

[oscar jubis]

*Currently I'm taking full advantage of the Netflix membership and the good selection at my local library. Almost all the Region 1 discs I'm watching are rentals. Most of the imports are from Nicheflix but I'm about to cancel my membership as I've seen most of the titles that interest me. The Cry of the Owl is from my own library. It's one of about 100 discs I plan to sell (when I make the time to do it, that is.)

*Even though it's been a while since I watched La Rupture, I think I can answer your question. I think it's a bit better than The Cry of the Owl. I would not call it a classic. Those who appreciate Chabrol at his most surreal and experimental might think so though, whereas others may dismiss it as too implausible or believable.

[oscar jubis]

Thursday Dec. 1st

Jarhead (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=13739#post13739) (USA, 2005) AMC CocoWalk

Pick Up on South Street (USA, 1953) dvd

An excellent film noir written and directed by Samuel Fuller (The Big Red One (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=11654#post11654), 40 Guns (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=9379#post9379)). Richard Widmark stars as Skip McCoy, a pickpocket who snatches a wallet from Candy (Jean Peters) while riding the NYC subway. Candy was transporting a piece of microfilm in that wallet. She doesn't know that the recipient is a communist agent and that she's being tailed by FBI agents. A pro stoolie named Moe (Thelma Ritter) sells information to the cops that results in McCoy's arrest but they fail to find the microfilm.

Fuller's background as a journalist and his experience with underworld types proved invaluable in crafting the knowing, economical script. His skills in choreographing exciting and believable action sequences is amply evident here. Yet, what makes Pick Up on South Street so memorable to me are the principal characters and how they increasingly become more complex as the involving plot proceeds. The art direction and set design are deserving of particular praise for evoking New York City locales within the confines of the 20th Century Fox studio. Highly recommended.

[Chris Knipp]

Thank you for putting your comment, however brief and disappointed, on the Jarhead thread.

I hadn't thought of Pickup on South Street as a noir. Interesting thought. I just thought of it as a Samuel Fuller movie. That's a genre all to itself, which grows complexly out of his being what might be described as a "primitive," as an article on his death did, or as an expressionist, a political filmmaker whose politics are murky, an artist of "stylistic tics," a "melodramist" (Adrian Martin) certainly an extremist, certaily uneven, crude yet a master of technique. Fuller defies description, and his best work is certainly not to be missed, and Pickup is by general consent one of those.

[oscar jubis]

I've seen only 7 Sam Fuller movies, the three mentioned above and the following: The Naked Kiss, Shock Corridor, The Steel Helmet and White Dog. I cannot call him "uneven" based on my experience with these seven, as I like them a lot. He's one of the directors I'm paying attention this year. It's deserved I believe. Next Fuller I'll watch is either House of Bamboo or the made-in-Portugal Street of No Return.

[oscar jubis]

Friday December 2nd

Charlotte and Veronique (or All the Boys are Named Patrick) (France, 1958) dvd

Godard debuted as director with this short written by Eric Rohmer. The titular roommates are picked up separately by Patrick (Jean Claude Brialy). Both agree to go out on dates with him. Charming, endearing film with nice b&w photography of Parisian streets. Included as an extra in the Criterion dvd of A Woman is a Woman.

Rana's Wedding (Palestine/Netherlands, 2003) Cosford Cinema

Unless Rana is married by 4 p.m., she has to move to Egypt with her widowed father. The young Palestinian intends to marry her boyfriend Khalil even though she has yet to discuss it with him. Rana's urgent predicament is not credible_she must've known for weeks of her father's plans. Yet, rather than regard this as a fatal flaw, I consider it dramatic shorthand; a way to create a fiction to document a Palestinian's travel around Jerusalem and her crossing the armed checkpoint separating Jerusalem from the occupied territories.

What emerges is a rich snapshot of Palestine and an expose of the plight of Palestinians under Israeli rule, anchored by a fascinatingly complex protagonist (Clara Khoury is wonderful as Rana). Dutch-based Palestinian director Hany Abu-Assad's film never feels didactic or driven by a political agenda. Political outrage is held in check until the final credits, which include Mahmoud Darwish's angry poem "State of Siege".

[oscar jubis]

Saturday Dec 3rd

A Woman is a Woman (France, 1961) dvd

Godard described it both as "a comedy a la Lubitsch" and "the idea of a musical". It's his first studio picture, a color CinemaScope one. The characters wonder it it's "comedy or drama". A demure stripper (Anna Karina) wants to get pregnant. Her lover (Jean Claude Brialy) refuses, so she recruits their friend (Belmondo). This premise is not treated with any gravity. It's used to generate amusing vignettes and visual gags to a score by Michel Legrand. Snippets of a score that is, with Godard hinting at the possibility of turning certain scenes into musical numbers, without ever doing so.

A Woman is a Woman is tirelessly self-conscious, with constant winking at the viewer, and packed with references to other films by Godard and Truffaut. Godard discourages full engagement by constantly stressing the fakery and artifice inherent to commercial genres. He's like a magician sharing the secret behind the trick. I found it mildly diverting yet inconsequential and slight. The film has ardent admirers as well as violent detractors (Manny Farber, for instance, called it "perhaps the most soporific, conceited, sluggish movie of all time"). A Woman is a Woman is more about Karina, and Godard's parental anxieties, than anything else. I would hesitate to recommend it to anyone except for devoted fans of the actress (and Godard completists, of course).

Other films by Godard reviewed on this thread:
Weekend (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=12780#post12780)
Tout Va Bien (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=12141#post12141)
Notre Musique (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=11731#post11731)
2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=13493#post13493)
La Chinoise (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=13029#post13029)
Letter to Jane (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=12194#post12194)

[Chris Knipp]

Thanks for the cross-references.

[oscar jubis]

Avec plaisir.

Sunday December 4th

Chisholm '72: Unbought & Unbossed (USA, 2004) dvd

The first black woman elected to Congress launched a bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1972. This debut of director Shola Lynch is primarily concerned with Shirley Chisholm's quixotic stance, how it was received by the electorate and portrayed in the media, and the difficult issue facing the Black Congressional Caucus on whether to support her or back others more likely to win the nomination. Chisholm '72 includes new interviews, archive footage taken during the campaign, and scenes of school girls in Barbados that evoke the 7 years she spent in her father's homeland. I was fascinated with Chisholm, her courage, and the strength of her convictions. The doc is lean and economical at only 75 minutes duration.

The Squid and the Whale (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=13785#post13785) (USA, 2005) at SoBe Regal

[oscar jubis]

Monday Dec 5th

Bolivia (Argentina, 2001) dvd

Perhaps there's nothing more typically Argentine than the "Bar-Parrillada", a modest establishment where working-class men (primarily) can have a drink and a cheap meal (grilled meats usually). For the full effect, visit during soccer games and boxing matches when the joints are really rocking. Bolivia is mostly set in one such place. Over the opening credits, footage of a World Cup qualifying match between Bolivia and Argentina; replays of several Argentine goals as the commentator disparages the weaker rival. Cut to camera pans of the walls of the bar as we overhear the conversation between the bar owner and Freddy, who just arrived from Bolivia and wants the cook job. Freddy joins his sole co-worker, Rosa, an immigrant from Paraguay. Bolivia takes us to the clubs and pensions that cater to immigrants from poorer South American countries. We witness how they are overcharged for phone service and harrased by the police. But the drama takes place inside the bar, where it becomes evident the locals are angry at the mere presence of immigrants, at least when the economy is depressed. Freddy is constantly subjected to verbal abuse, some of which have a racial component (unlike Argentines, the majority of Bolivians and Peruvians are descendents of Indians). Eventually, violence erupts.
Bolivia was co-written and directed by Adrian Caetano, an Uruguayan working within Argentina's film industry. I've seen three of his four features and Bolivia is my favorite. The dialogue is richly detailed and thoroughly authentic_I wonder how much of it was improvised given the naturalistic perfs from several non-actors. The film was shot in 16 mm, b&w, and apparently filmed over the course of three years because of budgetary constraints.

Pride and Prejudice (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=13807#post13807) (UK, 2005) at AMC CocoWalk

[oscar jubis]

Tuesday Dec. 6th

While the City Sleeps (USA, 1956) TCM

Penultimate American film directed by Fritz Lang, the German master who worked in Hollywood for two decades after making several silent masterpieces in his native country. In While the City Sleeps, the search for a serial killer is less interesting and resonant than the competition for the position of executive director of a media conglomerate. What interests Lang is the maneuvering, backstabbing and influence-peddling for power. The killer has a "mother complex", like Psycho's, but he's not a major character in Lang's film. Solid performances by Dana Andrews, George Sanders, Vincent Price, and others.

[oscar jubis]

Wed Dec 7th

Slacker (USA, 1991) dvd

No other film reminds me more of the friends and acquaintances I made while attending graduate school at Ohio State than Slacker. Richard Linklater's film is a portrait of the denizens of a particular section of Austin near the University campus and a major psychiatric hospital. The structure, a series of loosely connected vignettes, seems borrowed from Bunuel's The Phantom of Liberty. Except that the vignettes in Slacker are shorter and used to give expression to the internal monologues of a variety of conspiracy theorists, burglars, musicians, psychiatric patients, students, paranoids, amateur philosophers, street merchants, etc. The transitions between scenes are graceful but the material itself is hit-and-miss. Slacker anticipates the director's more mature and thought-out Waking Life.

[wpqx]

You know when I saw the Phantom of Liberty I didn't think about Slacker, but now that you mention it the comparison is valid. I was a little let down by Slacker, as I was with Waking Life just because amateur philosphers get old really quick for me. Perhaps you have more of a personal connection to the generation and era shown than I do, because it wasn't my generation.

Not to pick fights with you, but I can't say I agree with your assessment of While the City Sleeps either. The film was decent, but very far from Lang's best American work. I'll admit I still haven't had a chance to see the Woman in the Window or Scarlet Street, but that said I'd still opt for The Big Heat or Fury as his best US releases. To me it anticipates Spike Lee's Summer of Sam, where the killer is seen only briefly and clearly supporting, it is the people around him that make up the story, and the pursuit which is the interesting part. Granted Lee's film goes into divine opera, but still David Berkowitz (pardon the spelling), was only briefly featured in a film about him and that summer in 1977.

Wow all this talk is making me realize how amazing Lee's film was, but pardon me I'm quite the whore for Spike Lee, I love all of his films and truly believe he is one of the best filmmakers to ever live.

[oscar jubis]

Originally posted by wpqx
I was a little let down by Slacker, as I was with Waking Life just because amateur philosphers get old really quick for me.

I was merely amused by the oddballs and eccentrics in Slacker whereas I was intellectually stimulated by Waking Life's script and quite taken by the animation style.

Not to pick fights with you, but I can't say I agree with your assessment of While the City Sleeps either. The film was decent, but very far from Lang's best American work. I'll admit I still haven't had a chance to see the Woman in the Window or Scarlet Street, but that said I'd still opt for The Big Heat or Fury as his best US releases.

I'll meet you halfway. I like The Big Heat and Fury (and Scarlet Street and a few others) more than While the City Sleeps. But for me, Lang is right up there in the cinema pantheon with Mizoguchi, Renoir, Murnau and Welles. To compare his films is like comparing albums by Duke Ellington or compositions by Mozart. I mean, they're all marked by genius. While the City Sleeps is a strong indictment of business-trumping-ethics and upward-mobility-at-any-cost, which we've come to take for granted. I found that the clues that lead to the capture of the killer were overly dependent on coincidence, but the thriller aspect of the film is subservient to the drama. Thus, I consider it a minor flaw.

Wow all this talk is making me realize how amazing Lee's film was, but pardon me I'm quite the whore for Spike Lee, I love all of his films and truly believe he is one of the best filmmakers to ever live.

I think Do the Right Thing is amazing. And The 25th Hour is quite special. If not underrated then under-appreciated. I'm curious...when you say you love all his films, does that really include She Hate Me?

[wpqx]

Ok I should have said all I've seen. I'm yet to get She Hate Me. Of the films I've seen, only Girl 6 seemed a little weak, and even that had it's moments, like the Tarantino cameo. I believe Mo' Better Blues got a bad reputation, but it really is an amazing film. I guess Lee would be in that pantheon that you would put Lang in for me.

[oscar jubis]

I'd be curious to read your take on Lee's worst-reviewed movie.

Thu. Dec 8th

Medea (Denmark, 1988) dvd

Is this made-for-TV movie Lars von Trier's best? Some critics think so, Atkinson at the Village Voice included. I won't go that far, but perhaps it's the most compulsively watchable because of the amazing images borne out of relentless visual experimentation. It's a labor of love, an adaptation of a script co-written by Trier's favorite filmmaker: Carl Theodore Dreyer. Trier is more faithful to Dreyer the visual artiste than Dreyer the writer_Trier ended up doctoring the script quite a bit. Medea unfolds in shimmering marshlands, gloomy subterranean passages, and vast ocean coasts during low tide. Trier either saturates the colors or bleaches them out to fit the mood. Many outdoor scenes feature striking god's p.o.v. shots taken from a helicopter. Other scenes artfully merge two different images. Many details of Euripedes' play have been altered but the central tragedy involving a woman's choice of exile, death or revenge comes across full force.

[oscar jubis]

Fri Dec 9th

The Edukators (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=13872#post13872) (Germany, 2004) dvd

Sat Dec 10th

A Distant Cry from Spring (Japan, 1980) region #3 dvd

Nice film from Yoji Yamada, director of last year's Twilight Samurai. During a thunderstorm, Kosaku seeks shelter at a farm in Northern Japan. The farm is owned by Tamiko, a widow with a 6 year old son. Gradually Kosaku earns Tamiko's trust and becomes a father figure to the boy. The hard-working Kosaku is reticent to talk about the past. A visit from his brother reveals he is fugitive from the law. A bond grows between Kosaku and the widow but he remains at a distance to avoid disappointing her. A Distant Cry for Spring won 4 Japanese Academy awards: best screenplay, best score, best actress for Chieko Baisho, and best actor for Ken Takakura (The Yakuza, Black Rain). A solid, engaging drama. A shortened version of the film had a limited run in the US in the early 80s. The dvd features the full cut but lamentably it's been released in pan-and-scan rather than the original aspect ratio.

[oscar jubis]

Sun Dec 11th

Fiend Without a Face (UK, 1958) dvd

MGM acquiring this English indie for US distribution made sense. Teens flocked to theatres to watch the monster. Criterion opting to release it on dvd doesn't make sense, but it piked my curiosity. It's low-budget sci-fi horror, significantly inferior than 50s films like Them!, The Day the Earth Stood Still and Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Must be the wild premise, or more specifically the monster. Check this out: near an atomic plant, a scientist manages to materialize thoughts; they are invisible but they escape. They kill humans by sucking out their brains and spinal cords. When exposed to radiation, they become visible and multiply. Oh, and they fly! The acting is mostly subpar, the dialogue is corny, and the plot formulaic. The "mental vampires" are quite a sight though.

[oscar jubis]

Mon Dec 12th

Spring in my Hometown (South Korea, 1998) import dvd

Winner of the Grand Bell (Oscar equivalent) for best film and winner of multiple awards at film festivals worldwide, this is the debut of writer/director Kwangmo Lee. Sungmin and Changhee are 12 years old and best friends. It's 1952 and the US has set base near their rural town. At school, they are fed pro-US, anti-communist propaganda. Sungmin's family is doing well as both dad and older sister work for the Americans. Changhee's mother is struggling since her husband, rumored to support the communists, disappeared. The boys routinely spy on American soldiers having sex with women in an abandoned mill. One day, to Sungmin's surprise, it's his mom who is having sex with a soldier there. Someone sets the old mill on fire. Perhaps Sungmin, who has disappeared, is the culprit.

Kwangmo Lee's strategy: place the camera as far away from the action and don't move it. Frame each shot very carefully to create perfectly balanced compositions. Let the war and most dramatic moments happen offscreen. Use intertitles to inform and to clarify events. The result: a compilation of gorgeous images; a puzzle of a film, one with a few pieces missing, yet the overall plot is fairly clear by its conclusion; a drama that creates a distance between the characters and the viewer, emphasizing the character's connection to his/her environment/community and discouraging at any cost any emotional response from the viewer. I've never seen a film with such a consistently detached point of view of dramatic material.

[oscar jubis]

Tue Dec 13th

El Regalo de Silvia aka Silvia's Gift (Spain, 2003) R2 dvd

The debut of co-writer/director Dionisio Perez tells 4 stories that remain parallel. Silvia is a teenager with chronic depression. Her story is told via video journal entries. The other three major characters are recipients of Silvia's organs after she commits suicide. Their stories start immediately post transplant. Carlos (Luis Tosar), a family man who inherits her heart, gets promoted to manager at the factory and forced to lay off some of her friends. Victor, a car thief who gets Silvia's liver, resumes drinking when he finds it difficult to change course in life. Ines' new corneas open up a multiplicity of possibilities and challenges.

El Regalo de Silvia is earnest and honest, but the only story that's compelling to watch is Silvia's and her home-made video bits are dramatically insufficient. Then again, a film entirely about a teenage depressive who decides to commit suicide and donate her organs would be too much of a "downer" to have any hope of returning the producer's investment.

[Chris Knipp]

El Regalo de Silvia aka Silvia's Gift (Spain, 2003) R2 dvd

Classic downer of the indie type!

[oscar jubis]

Wed Dec 14th

I Fidanzati aka The Fiances (Italy, 1963) dvd

Ermanno Olmi's The Tree of Wooden Clogs is my favorite film of 1978. Olmi is a prolific, self-taught director who's been making films for 50 years _he acknowledges being influenced by Rossellini and Pasolini. Yet that rural epic was the only film of his I had seen. Last year I finally watched Il Posto, and now I Fidanzati. Hopefully recent films directed by Olmi such as The Profession of Arms and Singing Behind Screens will get released on dvd.

I Fidanzati is a stunning drama about Giovanni, a young factory worker from Milano who accepts a promotion and transfer to Sicily, where he is to remain for 18 months. The move implies a separation from his fiancee Liliana. Portions of the film have a documentary feel, particularly scenes that depict the industrialization of the mostly rural island at the southern tip of Italy and the cultural dislocation experienced by Giovanni and other northerners. I Fidanzati is equally concerned with the couple's romantic longing. Olmi builds up to a crescendo in which he intercuts shots of the separated lovers in the present with shots from a possible future in which they reunite. Sublime and sophisticated filmmaking from Ermanno Olmi.

[Chris Knipp]

Il posto is also famous and was shown widely here. I have a copy of Singing Behind Screens, but I found it very boring.

[oscar jubis]

I liked Il Posto just a tad less than I Fidanzati. Olmi is still an unknown quantity outside Italy because of inadequate distribution. Maybe he belongs right up there with Rossellini, Antonioni, Visconti, Fellini and Pasolini. I hope we'll be able to form a firm opinion about this in the near future.

Wed Dec 14th (cont.)

Smiles of a Summer Night (Sweden, 1955) Criterion dvd

Ingmar Bergman (Persona (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=11210#post11210), Saraband (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=9427#post9427)) was miserable because of personal and professional disappointments in the mid-50s. After directing some films that bombed at the box office in Sweden, he needed a hit. Smiles of a Summer Night wasn't only a hit in his country but it's his first film to receive international recognition. The producers from Svensk Filmindustri took it to Cannes without telling the director. It was awarded a special prize there.

Smiles of a Summer Night was not Bergman's first comedy. It was his first period comedy, set at the beginning of the 20th century. It was inspired by plays by Moliere and Marivaux he had directed for the stage and gives the impression of a Renoir or Lubitsch picture. It involves several mismatched couples and the games they play to create more suitable realignments. But it's got that unmistakable Bergman imprint. A couple of examples.

Much more so similar films, Smiles of a Summer Night is concerned with characters, particularly male ones, confronting humilliation. There a scene in which a conflicted theology student is derided for being sexually impotent. In another scene, a countess faces the camera and exclaims:
Men are horrid...vain and conceited.
And they have hair all over their bodies.
He comes to me at night, driving me insane with caresses.
He talks about his horses, his women and duels.
About his soldiers and his hunting_talks and talks and talks.
Love is a loathsome business.
In spite of everything, I still love him.
I'd do anything for him...
just so he'll pat me in the head and say: "That's a good dog".

Smiles of a Summer Night is witty and fun, set as the title implies during the very short Swedish summer. But it's biting and acerbic when it needs to be, reflecting themes we have come to recognize as characteristic of Ingmar Bergman.

[oscar jubis]

Thu. Dec 15th

Walk the Line (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=13926#post13926) (USA, 2005) AMC CocoWalk

S21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine (Cambodia/France, 2003) dvd

Writer/director Rithy Panh, emigrated to France from his native Cambodia in 1979. His career as a documentarian has been dominated by a singular focus on the genocide that occured in Cambodia in the late 70s. In this regard, Panh's career is comparable to that of Patricio Guzman from Chile and Claude Lanzmann from Israel. As a matter of fact, Panh's approach resembles Lanzmann's, particularly the technique used in Shoah of having those who committed atrocities demonstrate or re-enact in great detail how things were done. Pahn has two survivors of one particular "interrogation center", a former highschool known by the code S21, confront several of their jailers. The Khmer Rouge regime's detailed records, including photographs, serve as a useful tool to document what happened and stimulate repressed memories. Pahn's film is outstanding, an inspired examination of evil.

[oscar jubis]

Fri Dec 16th

Syriana (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=13961#post13961) at AMC CocoWalk

Sat Dec 17th

White Heat (USA, 1949) TCM

White Heat was perhaps the last of the great gangster films of the golden era of Hollywood. The gangster genre gained prominence in the early 30s with films like Scarface and Public Enemy, starring James Cagney. He and director Raoul Walsh collaborated on several films during the 30s and 40s culminating in Cagney's last signature role in White Heat. Cagney is gang mastermind Cody Jarrett, an epileptic with a mother fixation and delusions of grandeur. He is at the center of a fast-paced, exciting picture. There's action from beginning to end_car chases, explosions, shootouts, fights, prison escapes, you name it. Walsh became famous for these (even though he had proven he was so much more than an action-oriented director in pictures like Me and My Gal and The Strawberry Blonde). Cagney's portrait of the flamboyant gangster is reason enough to watch White Heat even if you're not a fan of the genre.

[oscar jubis]

Sat Dec 17th (cont)

I Know Where I'm Going (UK, 1945) dvd

The 18 films that resulted from the collaboration between Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger constitute the most amazing body of work in the history of British cinema. The consistent quality and variety of genres and themes in their filmography is beyond compare. This year I finally caught up with two of their films I had never seen before, Tales of Hoffman (http:///www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=9626#post9626) and this film starring Wendy Hiller. She plays a materialistic and practical 25 year old who's traveling to the Scottish Isle of Kiloran to marry a millionaire she doesn't love. A week-long gale prevents her from making the crossing. In the same predicament, Torquil (Roger Livesey), an earthy native of the area on an 8-day leave from the Army. Michael Powell's love for the Scottish Isles and folklore inspired the film. He weaves local legends and customs gracefully into an unlikely romance. Some of the dialogue is in Gaelic, the local language. Powell and Pressburger skillfully combined on-location with studio scenes so that they're impossible to tell apart. I Know Where I'm Going is the type of film that inspires devotion.

[oscar jubis]

Sun Dec 18th

Brokeback Mountain (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=13988#post13988) (USA, 2005) at Regal SoBe

The Bad Seed (USA, 1956) dvd

William March's novel The Bad Seed was a bestseller, the theatrical adaptation won a Tony and the main actors were brought to Hollywood for the movie adaptation. It's a story about an 8 year-old serial killer raised in a normal environment with loving parents. Turns out her grandmother was an infamous psychopath and the "bad genes" were pased on to her. The Bad Seed was also a hit at the box office. Over the years it became a camp classic. Director Mervyn Leroy's movie is basically a filmed play, with theatrical acting rendered campy by frequent close-ups. The result is perversely and addictively watchable. My kids were thoroughly fascinated, so much so that they disagreed with my assertion that, at 129 minutes, The Bad Seed is half an hour too long. What I really liked was the chillingly restrained, Oscar-nominated performance from Patty McCormack as the born-evil blonde girl with pigtails.

[oscar jubis]

Monday Dec 19th

The Fugitive (Mexico/USA, 1947) TCM

John Ford and his Mexican counterpart Emilio "El Indio" Fernandez co-directed this adaptation of Graham Greene's novel "The Power and the Glory". It's set in an unidentified Latin American country where the Catholic Church refused to support a military dictatorship. All the priests left or where executed except for a nameless one played by Henry Fonda. There's another fugitive in the plot, an American murderer called "El Gringo". Their fates are intertwined, along with that of a police lieutenant played by Pedro Armendariz who's abandonment of religion to support the government constitutes a form of self-denial. Dolores del Rio plays the lieutenant's devout ex-girlfriend. The Fugitive is a fable with a strong Christian subtext. Good performances from all involved. What makes it truly special are Ford's visual compositions and the magnificent lighting and lensing by the great Gabriel Figueroa. Never released on video. Thanks Turner Classic Movies!

[Chris Knipp]

Pardon my ignorance, Oscar, but what does Turner Classic Movies mean, cable TV?

[oscar jubis]

Yes, it's a cable channel owned by Ted Turner and a treasure for film buffs. They have an amazing collection, with a concentration on American films made between 1930 and 1970. They also show some silents, foreign-language films, shorts, and self-produced docs about actors and directors (the last one about neglected director Oscar "Budd" Boetticher). Commercial-free of course and they strive to show films in the correct aspect ratio (no pan-and-scan).

Tuesday Dec. 20th

The Family Stone (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=14007#post14007) (USA, 2005) AMC CocoWalk

[Chris Knipp]

Well, it's not for me because I don't have TV, not cable and hardly anything else to watch. I don't see how you find time for it all.

[oscar jubis]

Wed Dec 21st

Aprili (USSR, 1961) dvd
Falling Leaves aka The Month of St. George (USSR, 1968) dvd

Until today, the only film I had ever seen by veteran Georgian director Otar Iosseliani was his last, Monday Morning. It's one of the best undistributed films I've seen in recent years. Now, four of the movies he made before emigrating to France have been released on dvd. Iosseliani's work is, in my opinion, a synthesis of three major influences: Jacques Tati, Alexandr Dovzhenko (Earth, Arsenal, Ivan), and Czech New Wave (Milos Forman, Jaromil Jires, etc).

Aprili combines Tati's emphasis on visual gags and expressive sound design with Dovzhenko reverent eye for natural landscapes. It's about a young couple having difficulty finding in the city the privacy required for intimacy. In the rural outskirts of the city, new housing developments are being built. Our couple moves into an apartment there and begin to furnish it, but increasingly they find themselves disatisfied with their surroundings, the pursuit of material possesions and the destruction of the natural landscape by rapid urbanization. Aprili is almost devoid of dialogue.

For about ten minutes, Falling Leaves gives the impression of being a documentary about artesanal wine-making in rural Georgia. Then it focuses on Otar and Nico, two young men from the village who get hired as technicians at a state-run winery. They are opposites as far as personality and values. For instance, unlike Otar, Nico fraternizes with those under his supervision and gives them certain freedoms. Major conflict arises when Nico refuses to certify that a vat contains wine of sufficient quality to bottle. Nico is pressured by management to give his authorization in order to meet production quotas. He refuses to betray his values. Falling Leaves reminded me of anti-establishment Czech films like Firemen's Ball and Daisies.

[oscar jubis]

Thu Dec 22nd

The Chronicles of Narnia: the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=14028#post14028) (USA, 2005) AMC CocoWalk

Fri Dec 23rd

The Honeymoon Killers aka Dear Martha (USA, 1969) dvd

I only know of two masterpieces by one-time directors: Charles Laughton's The Night of the Hunter and this personal favorite of Antonioni and Truffaut. This is my third or fourth viewing and I never tire of it. The production story is almost as interesting as the real life story of the infamous "Lonely Hearts Killers" that is the basis of the movie. TV producer Warren Steibel (Firing Line) got $150,000 from a rich friend to make the movie. Steibel asked his best friend, music composer and film buff Leonard Kastle, to do research on the series of murders committed by Ray Fernandez and Martha Beck in the late 1940s. Then he asked him to write a script. Steibel and his rich friend loved the script and hired Marty Scorsese to direct. A week into production, all Scorsese had was a few master shots. It became clear to Steibel, it'd be impossible to get the picture made within budget with Scorsese helming it so Steibel fired him and asked Kastle to direct. Tony LoBianco and Shirley Stoler (the concentration camp guard from Wertmuller's Seven Beauties) are absolutely perfect as the lovers pretending to be siblings while preying upon lonely women in order to fleece them. The stunning b&w cinematography of Oliver Wood, Kastle's mise-en-scene and sparse use of Mahler's Sixth Symphony contribute to a fascinating portrayal of the passion-poisoned murderous couple. The Honeymoon Killers (a title imposed on Kastle by the distributor) is one of the best crime films ever made.

[oscar jubis]

Sat Dec 24th

King Kong (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=14047#post14047) (New Zealand/USA, 2005) AMC CocoWalk

Tunes of Glory (UK, 1960) dvd

Excellent military drama, directed by Ronald Neame (The Horse's Mouth) from a script by James Kennaway, the author of the source novel. Neame, a cinematographer-turned-director, was paradoxically known for de-emphasizing everything but the performances. The approach is certainly warranted when you manage to get the two best British actors of their generation, Alec Guinness and John Mills, to play the leads. The plot involves two middle-aged colonels, opposites in personality and background, disputing control of a Highlands Battalion in a snowy Scottish town. Tunes of Glory was made in color when most British films were being made in black & white; it's the use of color that belies Neame's background as a cinematographer. Otherwise, Tunes of Glory is the type of film that strives to remove the camera from the viewer's consciousness in order to emphasize the acting. If you liked Breaker Morant or Paths of Glory, you should avail yourself of this Criterion disc.

[Chris Knipp]

That's a good one.

[oscar jubis]

Sun Dec 25th

Love Finds Andy Hardy (USA, 1937) TCM

There were 16 movies based on the Hardy family of characters from Aurania Rouvenol's play, all starring Mickey Rooney and most considered teen comedies. The three worth seeing are the ones with Judy Garland (who was 15 years old then). Andy finds himself with two dates for the Christmas dance and falling in love with a third girl. Plot also revolves around his attempts to put together enough money to buy his first car. This is my favorite Andy Hardy movie because Garland sings three songs and it's the only one also featuring a very young Lana Turner.

Female Trouble (USA, 1974) Independent Film Channel

A bit of counter-programming: my favorite John Waters movie and the first one to be shown at a first-run theatre.

"To me, bad taste is what entertainment is all about. If someone vomits watching one of my films, it's like getting a standing ovation"
Waters, in his autobiography "Shock Value".

"Filthy! Repellent! Where do these people come from? Where do they go when the sun goes down? Isn't there a law or something? This compost heap is even dedicated to a member of the Charles Manson gang!"
From Rex Reed's review of Female Trouble.

The more famous Pink Flamingos is basically a compendium of gross-outs. The follow-up is superior in every respect and just as perverted. In Female Trouble, Waters adopts the structure of the biopic to create a seamless narrative, recounting the story of Dawn Davenport (Divine) from suburban teenhood to death in the electric chair. Waters cuts across a variety of subcultures to invent one of his own: "the filthiest people alive". Waters incorporates drag queen humor, porno, underground comix, Hollywood "B" movies, glam and pre-punk rock, Genet, drug culture, Russ Meyer and Kenneth Anger into a celebration of depravity that functions as a critique of the nature of celebrity in America. Divine doesn't eat shit on this one but, to compensate, plays a double role and gets to fuck him/herself. Also starring Mink Stole and Edith Massey.

[oscar jubis]

Mon Dec 26th

The Keys to the House (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=14066#post14066) (Ita/Fra/Ger, 2004) dvd

Lord of the Flies (UK, 1963) dvd

Peter Brook's adaptation of the William Golding novel, released on Criterion dvd as part of their Great Adaptations set. The premise: somewhere in the near future, the next world war erupts. A plane carrying a group of British school boys being evacuated crashes on a deserted island in the South Pacific (inexplicably). Thirty boys survive, no adults. The boys elect a leader, a thoughtful one named Ralph, attempt to set rules and become organized. Jack, the "alpha male" leader of the school choir, resents Ralph and rebels against the rules. A boy's suggestion that he saw a "snake thing" or a "beastie" takes a life of its own. Soon boys are talking about "ghosts" and "monsters from the sea". Boys like "Piggy" who doesn't believe there is a beast and the intuitive Simon, who states "maybe it's only us", are in the minority. The potential threat allows Jack to create dissension, as he is a "hunter", considered more capable of protecting them from the perceived enemy. The boys' behavior becomes increasingly violent and savage.

Peter Brook had a lot to contend with: an inexperienced crew, a cast of non-actors, producer-imposed duration limited to 90 minutes, no lights, no ability to see the rushes, bad weather, a shooting schedule limited to two summer months, inability to use synched-sound because the roar of the waves drowned the kids' voices, a fable full of symbolism and subtext that presents unique challenges, etc. and he still delivered a good movie. No, it's not a classic, or a "great adaptation". It's an effective film that works as drama and conveys the basic message of Golding's book. But there are flaws in the script (mostly ellisions and omissions required by the short running time), poor mise-en-scene of certain passages, and the acting in some scenes is unconvincing. A second adaptation of the novel released in 1990 is markedly inferior.

[oscar jubis]

Tue Dec 27th

Kings and Queen (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=14075#post14075) (France, 2004) dvd

[oscar jubis]

Wed Dec 28th

Thieves' Highway (USA, 1949) Criterion dvd

A collaboration between two great men: Jules Dassin and A.I, Bezzerides.
Dassin worked for a decade in Hollywood, where he made three excellent movies: the prison-escape Brute Force, the policier The Naked City, and Thieves Highway. Then he directed Night and the City, a great film noir set in London. In 1952 he was blacklisted by the HUAC and moved to Paris. There he made the heist movie Rififi and He Who Must Die.
Bezzerides is a novelist and screenwriter. Credits include They Drive by Night, On Dangerous Ground and the great noir Kiss Me Deadly.
Thieves' Highway is based on Bezzerides' novel "Thieves' Market". It's a mixture of proletarian drama and noir thriller about corruption in the fruit market business in California. The emphasis is on realism by using colloquial speech and on-location shooting. It's a gritty tale about Greek-American trucker Nick (Richard Conte) who returns from the war to find his father with his legs amputated. He learns one Mike Figlia (Lee J. Cobb) from San Francisco refused to pay his Dad for a truckload of tomatoes and caused him to have a highway accident. A prostitute (Valeria Cortese) associated with Figlia falls in love with Nick and helps him get justice. Very exciting and rewarding film. Perhaps my favorite directed by Dassin, and that's saying a lot.

[oscar jubis]

Thursday Dec 29th

Breakfast on Pluto (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=14148#post14148) (Ireland/UK, 2005) at Regal SoBe

The Devil and Daniel Webster (USA, 1941) Criterion dvd

German-born William Dieterle directed many "prestige" pictures in Hollywood including several biopics for Warners that won Oscars (The Life of Emile Zola, Juarez, The Story of Louis Pasteur). These bland, sluggish films have aged poorly. Two films directed by Dieterle are worthy of recommendation: The Hunchback of Notre Dame (if only for Charles Laughton chewing up the scenery) and this slice of cornball Americana. The Devil and Daniel Webster was released in a shorter version, retitled All That Money Can Buy in order not to offend Bible-belters. The folks at Criterion have restored it to its original length and kept the title of the source short story by Stephen Benet. It's the tale of a poor New Hampshire farmer with a saintly wife and God-fearing mother who sells his soul to the devil (John Huston) in exchange for seven years of good luck. Farmer Jabez Stone becomes the richest man in the State and turns into a greedy and ruthless man. When the devil comes to collect, Jabez repents and summons respected politico Daniel Webster to defend him and try to save his soul. This RKO production benefits greatly from having among its crew several who worked in Citizen Kane including the art director, editor and composer Bernard Herrmann, who won an Oscar for the score.

[oscar jubis]

Fri Dec 30th

Young Torless (Germany, 1966) Criterion dvd

Young Torless is the first masterpiece of the New German Cinema and the debut of writer/director Volker Schlondorff. Before the debuts of Wim Wenders, Werner Herzog and R.W. Fassbinder, Young Torless had won the Critics Prize at Cannes for Schlondorff. He was only 25 years old, with experience as an assistant to Alain Resnais and Louis Malle while he lived in France. Young Torless is based on the book "The Confusions of Young Torless" by Robert Musil, based on his experiences attending an Austro-Hungarian boarding school in the first decade of the 20th century. Schlondorff made it into a film for two reasons: he was familiar with the milieu, having attended a Jesuit boarding school in France for three years (with future filmmaker Bertrand Tavernier). Secondly and most importantly: the novel serves as a metaphor for the rise of Nazism in Germany and for the abuse and systematic extermination of Jews. It was imperative for Schlondorff to examine the dark recent German history, although it was discouraged by the German leadership focused on moving forward and presenting the world with a new image of the country.

Thomas Torless is sent by his parents to a bourgeois boarding school in the country. The intellectual boy becomes enmeshed in the mounting abuse and humilliation of the meek Basini at the hands of two boys, the cunning and sadist Reiting and his brute follower Beinberg. Torless attempts to distance himself from the abuse of Basini as it escalates, but finds that he's become an accomplice by the mere fact of being a passive observer to the cruelty. The episode results in a Torless' deeper and more complex understanding of the nature of good and evil. There is a coming-of-age aspect of Young Torless regarding his first forays into sexual behavior and his appreciation of women. Although handled with equal aplomb and sensitivity, this aspect is secondary to the devastating drama at the school's dormitory.

The casting of the film is most interesting. The only actor with any experience is Mathieu Carriere, who plays Torless. All the other boys are played by non-actors Schlondorff met at rock clubs, schools, and places where kids congregate. The last role to be cast was that of Basini, whose ethnicity is never made explicit in the film. Two boys, not identified by Schlondorff in an interview included on the dvd, told him of a classmate from their school in Vienna they thought would be ideal for the role. Upon meeting him, the director learned that the boy, Marian Seidowsky, was the son of Polish Jews. Schlondorf had no intention of casting a Jewish boy in that role. But Seidowsky was very smart, and a film buff quite familiar with Lang's M, a film that influenced Schlondorff's script and mise-en-scene. Seidowsky's screen test left no doubt he was ideal for the victim role.

Young Torless is a masterpiece. I have not seen any movie that dramatizes with such clear-eyed complexity the complicity of those who passively and detachedly witness the victimization of others. Schlondorff has been making superb movies for four decades now. His latest, The Ninth Day, is a must-see.

[oscar jubis]

Sat Dec 31st

The Girl From Monday (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=14192#post14192) (USA, 2005) dvd

2005 BY THE NUMBERS

TOTAL MOVIES: 582 or 11.2/Week
TOTAL FEATURES: 503 or 9.7/wk
TOTAL SHORTS: 79

THEATRICAL SCREENINGS: 170 or 3.3/wk
FEATURES: 166 or 3.2/wk
SHORTS: 4

HOME VIDEO: 350 or 6.7/wk
FEATURES: 275 or 5.3/wk
SHORTS: 75

CABLE TV: 62 Features

[Chris Knipp]

What are you, some kind of movie nut?

[oscar jubis]

*You're a certified film buff yourself! I want to thank you Chris for reading this journal and posting your thoughts, as well as the following members: pmw, Johann, cinemabon, JustaFied, arsaib4, wpqx, hengcs, bix171, and trevor826. Gracias de corazon a todos.
(sorry if I missed anyone).

*What's unique about my film watching in '05 was the shorts, which I had not previously payed enough attention. Standouts include:
THE HOUSE IS BLACK (Farrokhzad)
A PROPOS DE NICE (Vigo)
LE CHANT DU STYRENE (Resnais)
MISTS OF AUTUMN (Kirsanof)
L'ETOILE DE MER (Man Ray)
LA TEMPESTAIRE (Epstein)
LA GLACE A TROIS FACES (Epstein)
DOTTIE GETS SPANKED (Todd Haynes)

* There were tons of good new releases in 2005, being listed and discussed elsewhere. But thanks mostly to a rich crop of dvd releases, I watched these magnificent older movies for the first time in 2005 (I may have seen a couple decades ago and forgot):

USA
THE SEVENTH VICTIM (Robson)
CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT (Welles)
IN A LONELY PLACE (Ray)
WANDA (Loden)
FALLEN ANGEL (Preminger)
JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN (Trumbo)
40 GUNS (Fuller)
A WOMAN OF PARIS (Chaplin)
SHERLOCK JR. (Keaton)
IT'S ALL TRUE (Welles)
HOLIDAY (Cukor)
THE LUSTY MEN (Ray)
THE LADIES' MAN (Lewis)
THE KILLERS (Siodmark)
LOVE STREAMS (Casavettes)
COLOR OF A BRISK AND LEAPING DAY (Munch)

France
MOI, UN NOIR (Rouch)
MOUCHETTE (Bresson)
MELO (Resnais)
WEEKEND (Godard)
JOUR DE FETE-Color version (Tati)
CHRONICLE OF A SUMMER (Rouch)
JAGUAR (Rouch)
LE DOULOS (Melville)
THE GANG OF FOUR (Rivette)

Japan
THE LADY OF MUSASHINO (Mizoguchi)
TOKYO TWILIGHT (Ozu)
EARLY SUMMER (Ozu)
AN INN IN TOKYO (Ozu)
FUNERAL PARADE OF ROSES (Matsumoto)
FIGHTING ELEGY (Suzuki)
STORY OF A PROSTITUTE (Suzuki)
MANJI (Masumura)

Italy
L'ECLISSE (Antonioni)
EUROPA '51 (Rossellini)
THE FLOWERS OF ST. FRANCIS (Rossellini)
I FIDANZATI (Olmi)

Germany
NOT RECONCILED (Straub/Huillet)
TARTUFF (Murnau)
MARTHA (Fassbinder)
YOUNG TORLESS (Schlondorff)

UK
I KNOW WHERE I'M GOING (Powell/Pressburger)
BRIEF ENCOUNTER (Lean)
PUNISHMENT PARK (Watkins)

Soviet Union: ZVENIGORA (Dovzhenko) and OUTSKIRTS (Barnet)
Hungary: THE RED AND THE WHITE (Jancso) and ADOPTION (Meszaros)
Senegal: BLACK GIRL (Sembene)
Mexico: LA PERLA (Fernandez)
Denmark: MEDEA (von Trier)
Spain: WHO CAN KILL A CHILD? (Ibanez)
Czech Rep: VALERIE AND HER WEEK OF WONDERS (Jires)
Finland: DRIFTING CLOUDS (Kaurismaki)

[trevor826]

I thought I'd been cramming it with around 400 films a year over the last couple of years but I can't imagine how you could watch so many and put so much of your time and effort into this site, incredible!

Cheers Trev.

[oscar jubis]

Thanks. I'm sure you'd agree it's exceedingly rewarding. Cinema is the present-day equivalent of sitting around listening to a storyteller. Moreover, if you love art, cinema encompasses all the other arts (the experience of watching a movie like Sokurov's Mother and Son, for instance, gives me a very similar kind of pleasure as visiting an art museum). The variety of experience one can have is amazing. It can be both a communal experience and a family event. I try to involve my family into my movie-watching as much as possible in large part because of the learning potential involved. Some of the best discussions I've had with my kids have been stoked by films. Just last night, we watched the doc Death in Gaza, which is basically about what is like to be a 12 year old Palestinian boy in Israeli-occupied Gaza. It would have been difficult to have such a rich discussion with my 12 y.o. without the movie. All this film-watching and the sharing of it with others at home and at filmwurld is time very well spent. I know I'm preaching to the converted, but I felt a need to spell it out.

[Chris Knipp]

Well, your accomplishment is prodigious, but a bit overwhelming since I've 'only' watched around 200 films this year -- and even that may be more than usual for me -- though I'm not sure how many I watched when I rented a lot of videos in the 'Eighties; I didn't keep lists). I have a little trouble keeping track of all of my current viewings -- remembering all of them completely, I mean. The majority, about 140, I saw in theaters and were new, but due to joining Netflix recently and buying dvds more online and bringing them back from Italy last year and France this year, the number of those I watch is creeping up again (home viewing used to be in the majority fifteen years ago). Of course as you well know the advantage of the videos and dvds is that you can review the 'past' and do so more selectively.

A more limited question: How good a movie year in the US do you think 2005 was compared to other recent years, and why? Were this year's top movies better/less good than/equal to last year's? Even if you haven't made your final list up of course, do you have a general feeling?

[oscar jubis]

Originally posted by Chris Knipp
How good a movie year in the US do you think 2005 was compared to other recent years, and why? Even if you haven't made your final list up of course, do you have a general feeling?

My general feeling is that 2005 was equally good when compared to recent years. Typically I have an equal number of English-language films and foreign language ones I want to list. I think the reason why right now my foreigns are significantly less is that there are several well-received foreigns I haven't seen (some of these will open here or come out on dvd within a month): Hidden, Tony Takitani, Machuca, A Tout de Suite, Innocence, The Best of Youth, The World, The Weeping Meadow, The Intruder and others.
If I may digress a bit...
Recent trends that became more prominent and evident in 2005:
*More films being distributed, but often distribution limited to huge markets (sometimes only NYC). Or extended distribution:one or two prints traveling around the country over the course of months to a year.
*More quality films, especially foreigns and independents, going straight to dvd. Do you remember when "straight to video" meant the movie was terrible or at least mediocre?
*More and smaller film festivals, especially "niche" fests dedicated to a specific kind of film (i.e. shorts) or films from a specific country or region (often organized by consulates or orgs like Alliance Francaise). More traveling film festivals, which are quite cost-effective.
*I don't know if it's a trend but several of my favorite docs of 2005 where shown first on television. Standouts: No Direction Home, Death in Gaza, Undeniable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson, etc.

[Chris Knipp]

Thank you, you should know if anybody on this site does. I have the feeling this was a good year, except that maybe there were fewer big mainstream American movies that were really outstanding than last year, which had The Aviator, Kill Bill, Million Dollar Baby, and Collateral, all of which I really liked.

Maybe it's unfortunate that I don't watch television and relates slightly to my seeing far fewer good docs than in the past few years, when Michael Moore seemed to spur a flowering of the genre. I still tend to think that straight-to-video (certainly once a pejorative term) is a ripoff as I did with Cavani's Ripley's Game a couple years ago, because it should have had theatrical showings here, it got screwed. It was shown in England and France, and it is the best Highsmith and the best Ripley (Malkovitch). But I'm catching on since I bought the dvds of No Direction Home. Then last year my Best Documentaries list was Born into Brothels, Bukowski: Born into This, Control Room, The Corporation, Fahrenheit 9/11, Outfoxed, In the Realms of the Unreal, Riding Giants, Tarnation, and Touching the Void. That's a pretty killer list. And 2003 had Fog of War, The Corporation, The Same River Twice, Capturing the Friedmans, Spellbound, Lost in La Mancha, Blind Spot: Hitler's Secretary, Être et avoir/To Be and To Have and My Architect. That's pretty killer too considering that the last two are among the best documentaries I've ever seen, but some think that of Fog of War and it's pretty fine. Anyway is it possible 2005 wasn't as good a documentary year, or is it just me?

This year all I could say were really great ones were Grizzly Man (but it's one of my all-time fovorite docs), Nossiter's Mondovino (also a favorite of mine, but its idiosyncracy, plus the avenging gods of wine agrabusiness, seem to have pretty much killed it and it's barely a blip on the screen), and The Boys of Baraka. I saw some other ones but not so many and they were too partisan or not as convincing maybe.

[oscar jubis]

Originally posted by Chris Knipp
Anyway is it possible 2005 wasn't as good a documentary year, or is it just me?This year all I could say were really great ones were Grizzly Man (but it's one of my all-time fovorite docs), Nossiter's Mondovino, and The Boys of Baraka. I saw some other ones but not so many and they were too partisan or not as convincing maybe.

My fave doc was SHAKE HANDS WITH THE DEVIL. I also liked GRIZZLY MAN and NO DIRECTION HOME. You mentioned BOYS OF BARAKA and MONDOVINO. I mentioned DEATH IN GAZA and UNFORGIVABLE BLACKNESS (Ken Burns). Besides those, we should consider the ones below, all 2005 releases:
THE WILD PARROTS OF TELEGRAPH HILL
MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION: FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT'S LEGACY IN JAPAN
GUNNER PLACE
THE UNTOLD STORY OF EMMET LOUIS TILL
CINEVARDAPHOTO (Agnes Varda)
ROCK SCHOOL
WE JAM ECONO:THE STORY OF THE MINUTEMEN
ENRON:THE SMARTEST GUYS IN THE ROOM
THE PROTOCOLS OF ZION
THE WHITE DIAMOND (Herzog)
CHAIN (Jem Cohen)
WILLIAM EGGLESTON IN THE REAL WORLD
And probably others I've forgotten to list. I loved the Chilean doc Salvador Allende but it doesn't count because it's undistributed.

[Chris Knipp]

I saw some of those, but not others. But you didn't answer my question -- which is okay!


Anyway is it possible 2005 wasn't as good a documentary year, or is it just me? I meant compared to 2004, where I found more really gooid ones.

*THE WILD PARROTS OF TELEGRAPH HILL
MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION: FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT'S LEGACY IN JAPAN
*GUNNER PLACE
THE UNTOLD STORY OF EMMET LOUIS TILL
CINEVARDAPHOTO (Agnes Varda)
ROCK SCHOOL
WE JAM ECONO:THE STORY OF THE MINUTEMEN
*ENRON:THE SMARTEST GUYS IN THE ROOM
THE PROTOCOLS OF ZION
THE WHITE DIAMOND (Herzog)
CHAIN (Jem Cohen)
*WILLIAM EGGLESTON IN THE REAL WORLD

*Seen

I found Williman Eggleston very interesting to me personally, loved watching him shoot photos, but not that great as a documentary. another one about the same to me was Be Here to Love Me: a Film About Townes Van Zandt. Interesting (not quite as much, because I'm more interested in photogrpahy than songwriting--except that the Bob Dylan movie is important and terrific as you'd expect, coming from a brilliant filmmaker lke Scorsese).

[oscar jubis]

To be more specific, I don't think I've seen enough of 2005's well-received docs to form a solid opinion. There's one I didn't mention which aired on the BBC in 2002 and got released in NYC theatres last summer. It's called The Century of the Self and it got uniformy excellent reviews. Not on dvd yet. But my fave doc of the year is out on dvd. I'm excited about a second viewing.

I'm usually reluctant to generalize and make lists and stuff when I've missed so many films, particularly docs.

[Chris Knipp]

The Century of the Self was showing in NYC but I didn't make it to it. I could have seen more docs but I feel there were not as many this year as last that were attracrtive.