Quatermass and the Pit (1967)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Quatermass and the Pit (1967) – R. W. Baker

Heady blend of science fiction and horror from Nigel Kneale (screenwriter) courtesy of Hammer films (after a run as a BBC TV series).   A treasured VHS tape now replaced by blu-ray looks a lot better but art direction and top notch special effects were never the focus of this flick.  Instead, the superb plot links a possible spaceship dug up at a tube station being renovated with tales of Satan and malevolent ghosts across the centuries, suggesting a possible influence on human mob behaviour, suggestibility, and even evil itself. Prof. Quatermass conflicts with the military who think the spaceship is an unexploded bomb and won’t listen to the possibility of genetic experimentation (prophetic for 1967). Lots of echoes of these themes in other later films and in culture itself.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

The Hobbit:  The Desolation of Smaug (2013) – P. Jackson

A childhood favourite (now preserved at Mom’s house in a green leather-bound volume with runic lettering) called to me and I left the house to see some 3D (good for depth of field, if not for the eyes/head/stomach).  Having been unexpectedly pleased with and drawn into An Unexpected Journey (on home video), I thought Desolation of Smaug would be a fine holiday spellbinder and so it was. Of course, we pick up the story in the middle (after a somewhat disorienting prologue) and we know we will leave it before the end (being the middle part of the trilogy), so this must be borne in mind. That said, with less clear reminders of reading time long past, the film plays as a spectacle, full of orc-killing action, distant NZ mountainscapes, more dizzying 3D fighting, wise old Ian McKellen, a faint echoing of world wars, the darkest evil somehow forged in a ring (that is trotted out somewhat less frequently), and a talking dragon in the form of Benedict Cumberbatch (or is it BC in the form of a dragon?). A roller coaster ride, no doubt, with enchanting visuals (a true alternate reality unfolding before you) and one peak after another. Those who say this second chapter is better than the first may be adrenalin junkies … but how can they (we) go cold turkey for another 12 months?

Police Story (1985)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Police Story (1985) – J. Chan

In America in the early 90s, Jackie Chan was an underground cult figure.  His 1970s movies were available in badly dubbed, incomprehensibly edited versions that nevertheless retained some charm and great kung fu skills (especially Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow or Drunken Master).  But Jackie was changing, directing his own movies and continuing to do his own stunts even as they became more dangerous and spectacular.  In the 80s, with Project A (a period pirate movie) and this film, a modern crime thriller, Jackie reached a new level integrating his comedy and action into blockbusters.  And he never looked back.  Of course, Police Story is far from slick and the comedy is pretty low-rent.  But the editing is pretty great and shows an understanding of the pacing needed for action.  The set-piece stunts include cars driving through a shanty town and Jackie sliding down a pole strewn with lights through a three-story shopping mall.  However, the small scale action and Jackie’s little touches (which display incredible acrobat skill) make the movie.  Here, he is a cop protecting a secret witness before the trial of a gang boss; he gets framed, kicked off the force, and then single-handedly gets the bad guys. As if, the plot mattered!

A Christmas Carol (1951)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

A Christmas Carol (1951) – B. D. Hurst

Alastair Sim is Ebenezer Scrooge in this noirish but largely faithful retelling of Dickens’ novella.  I granted an extra ½ star to this for the nostalgic pleasure it provides – this is my Dad’s favourite Christmas film.  But it moved so quickly and contained so many evocative scenes of the 1840s that I soon moved beyond just connecting with my own childhood to enjoying the movie on its own terms. Sim’s performance verges on caricature at times but he is still very moving as the bitter man who believes all humanity is selfish – until he is visited by the Spirits of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet-To-Come.  Things become dark enough that the final scenes of renewal may bring a tear to your eye.

Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) -- R. Hamer

Key Ealing Comedy starring Dennis Price as a young man whose mother was disinherited from her noble family (because she married an Italian man below her station) and who seeks revenge.  At the start of the film, there are 12 people ahead of him in the line of succession to the Dukedom and by the time he hatches his plan, only 8, all played by Alec Guiness (including in drag).  You can guess what is plan is, as the film begins with Price in the death house waiting to be hanged the next morning.  This makes for a delicious, very understated, probably subversive black comedy. There are some hints that the main character is gay (as was apparently the director) and the film is set during the time of Oscar Wilde, but I never noticed such things until they were pointed out.  Why don't they make them like this anymore?

The Glass Key (1942)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

The Glass Key (1942) -- S. Heisler
Dashiell Hammett's novels seemed readymade for the screen and helped to kickstart the film noir genre. In The Glass Key, Alan Ladd is the hard boiled but loyal friend/sidekick/henchman to the corrupt but frank and direct political boss Paul Madvig (played superbly by Brian Donlevy). Madvig makes a deal with the Reform Party for the upcoming election which angers his mob connections (run by Joseph Calleia). So, trouble ensues and Madvig's sister, and the son and daughter of the Reform Party candidate get ensnared. The latter is played by Veronica Lake, making this one of the classic Ladd-Lake pairings (but unlike Bogart and Bacall, they really didn't like each other). Ladd's character Ed Beaumont is the classic Hammett figure, smart, independent, able to play both sides off each other, willing to look bad/deceitful/disloyal (and take a beating) but for the right end - of course, he ties up everything with a bow.

Some Came Running (1958)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Some Came Running (1958) -- V. Minnelli

I haven't read James Jones' novel, so it is hard to know if this is faithful. I mention this because the film seemed unpredictable (a good thing) although it vaguely follows the traditions of melodrama. Sinatra is here as a disoriented writer - he doesn't know what he wants (having just returned from some war - is it really supposed to be 1948, as suggested at one point?). He returns to his smalltown hometown, sees his self-absorbed noveau riche brother Arthur Kennedy, starts boozing and gambling with Dean Martin, tries to force himself on repressed creative writing teacher Martha Hyer but makes more of a natural fit with ditzy tramp Shirley MacLaine. Vincente Minelli shoots it in widescreen but this doesn't become eye-popping until the climactic finale which like every scene in this film seems to come out of the blue, more or less like life itself.

Baisers Voles (Stolen Kisses) (1968)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Baisers Voles (Stolen Kisses) (1968) -- F. Truffaut

Truffaut continues the adventures of Antoine Doinel (and, by implication, his own fictionalized life story) that began with the 400 Blows.  Jean-Pierre Leaud (the same actor) is now in his twenties and returns here as a charming somewhat hapless guy who pursues his girl, Christine, and takes on various unsuccessful jobs (night watchman, TV repairman).  The centerpiece of the film involves his career as a private detective investigating why no one loves Michael Lonsdale's shoestore owner (by Lonsdale's request) and falling in love/lust with Lonsdale's wife (Dephine Seyrig). Truffaut's easygoing style is marked by a number of beautiful shots and fun sequences (the letter travelling the pneumatic tubes, various montages); he manages to  capture an affectionate tone that must be hard to create in reality (since we see it so rarely).

Le Boucher (1970)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Le Boucher (1970) -- C. Chabrol

I'm persuaded that there is more than meets the eye in this Hitchcockian film from Claude Chabrol. For some reason, there is ominous music in some scenes between the Butcher and the Schoolmistress, even when nothing disturbing seems to be going on. They seem to be courting, after meeting at a wedding -- until she stops him cold by indicating that she has forsaken love and romance due to a 10-year-old heartbreak. Yes, he is a rather morose character, always talking about the horrors he saw during a 15 year tour of duty in Algeria and Indochina. When grisly murders start to occur, the Butcher is our only suspect. Does the Schoolmistress think so too? There are suggestions that she does, but she doesn't turn him in. So, deeper, below the surface, Chabrol is interrogating this odd relationship between two types, possibly suggesting strong mutual influences -- the withholding or desire for sex seems important -- even on the murders. But even if there is nothing here but dimestore psychology, the beautiful environs of the Dordogne region of France are splendid to look at.

Ratcatcher (1999)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Ratcatcher (1999) -- L. Ramsey

Seemingly cut from the Ken Loach cloth of UK social realism, with a gritty hard look at a Glasglow tenement slum during a garbarge strike in the mid-70s, but then you start getting these "enhanced" emotional moments that feel more poetic (as reality can sometimes be, but the camera can highlight and hone in on).  Some of these moments are dire and distressing, as you would imagine this social and physical environment might facilitate, but others are more elevating and touching.  The focus is a young boy, not quite coming of age, but dealing as best he can with the accidental (and self-wrought) fortunes and misfortunes that come his way.  The Scottish accents are near impossible to understand but the feelings are evoked nevertheless.  Moving, but always with that knot in the pit of your stomach.

Stray Dog (1949)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Stray Dog (1949) -- A. Kurosawa

Early Kurosawa film (though actually his 9th) that mixes a noirish detective story with a humanistic look at post-war Tokyo and its underbelly on the hottest day of the year.  This has long been one of my favorite of his films, due in part to the wise and warm portrayal of the senior cop by Takashi Shimura.  Mifune shows his usual intensity as the wet-behind-the-ears junior detective who loses his pistol, which is then used in a series of crimes.  Kurosawa uses surprisingly short shots, especially at the start where we launch right into the plot and exposition is handled deftly; lots of wipes and dissolves as usual, but a number of extended montages (with superimpositions) that show us in neorealist style the struggling denizens of Tokyo.  In the end, two paths are suggested for "apres-guerre" youth: alienation or responsibility; Mifune and the perp are cleverly matched as two sides of the same coin. Despite these larger themes, Stray Dog remains an exciting and gritty detective story.

A Matter of Life and Death (1946)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

A Matter of Life and Death (1946) -- M. Powell & E. Pressburger

Powell and Pressburger's late wartime fantasy about a downed pilot (David Niven) who finds himself having to bail out of his plane without a parachute.  His last conversation is with Kim Hunter, an American WAAC, who offers him consolation.  But then, mysteriously, he doesn't die -- it seems his "conductor" to heaven (filmed in black and white, whereas the real world is technicolor) missed him in the fog. Niven and Hunter immediately embark on a love affair during the "borrowed" time and when the mistake is caught and he is asked to surrender himself to the other world, he refuses.   On Earth, a neuroscientist (Roger Livesly) attempts to diagnosis Niven's hallucinations, recommending brain surgery; in the other world, an appeals court is set up to determine whether he should live or die.  Both events converge and, in fact, the whole movie hinges on whether British and American values and character can be reconciled. Defending the Allied romance of Niven and Hunter is therefore a metaphor for larger issues on the international scene.  Beautifully eccentric.

Diary of a Country Priest (1951)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Diary of a Country Priest (1951) -- R. Bresson

Whenever I watch a Bresson film, I always feel that there is something I'm not quite grasping, that is just out of my reach.  I think it may be a theological principle related to "grace" or "salvation" that I never learned, whereby characters who suffer tremendously, needlessly, and often not as a result of any of their own actions (e.g., Balthazar or Mouchette) attain some sort of spiritual transcendence (thanks perhaps to a benevolent Christian god).  I'm not quite sure how these things work together but they appear consistently in Bresson's oeuvre. In this film, his later style of focusing the camera on the small details of hands at work on sometimes mundane tasks and on the often serious but blank faces of the non-actor protagonists is only beginning to crystalize (his next film, A Man Escaped, is a masterpiece). Still, there is an intensity that grows from the camera's singular preoccupation with Claude Laydu who plays a young priest taking over his first parish in a French country town full of hostility toward him.  He keeps a diary in which he reports (in voiceover) the events that unfold as he attempts to resolve a family's spiritual and moral crisis.  He is sick and his grasp on consciousness and possibly reality seems tenuous. We never know if he is making the right decisions and he does not seem to know himself.  Nevertheless, he seems to achieve "grace" by persevering in his course despite suffering, both physical and in his duties.

Cries and Whispers (1972)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Cries and Whispers (1972) -- I. Bergman

Excruciating to watch, but utterly mesmerizing -- this is Bergman's strange tale of a woman dying of cancer (Harriet Andersson) in a completely red mansion in turn-of-the-20th-century Sweden. Her sisters, Karin (Ingrid Thulin, a repressed intensely negative presence) and Maria (Liv Ullmann, a fleshy indecisive and insecure presence), and her maid, Anna (Kari Sylwan, a motherly nurturing presence), are tending to her day and night.  She is occasionally lucid, occasionally in severe pain, occasionally unconsciously rasping.  In turn, we learn some past memories, internal anxieties, and current concerns of each of the characters who all have serious problems communicating with each other and their spouses.  It's painful.  However, the color palette (red and black, dominating) and the structure, full-of-close-ups and fades to red, make this unusual and experimental, and therefore exhilarating.

It's a Gift (1934)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

It's a Gift (1934) -- N. McLeod

W. C. Fields is the master of deadpan comedy, muttering witticisms under his breath often in reaction to over-the-top situations (which may have been created by his own ineptitude).  In It's A Gift, he plays Bissonette (Bissonay!) who runs a grocery store (cue chaos and molasses) but would rather own an orange plantation in California.  When his uncle dies, he inherits the money to move his family out there.  Such is the plot but this is just an excuse for stringing comic bits together.  Some are slow burners where the stupidity is apparent a long time before the actual ridiculousness happens but others are throwaway one-liners. Fields is delightfully put-upon and to my eyes a bit less misanthropic and more kindly than he is in other films such as The Bank Dick. It's worth getting into this film's groove.

I Know Where I'm Going! (1945)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

I Know Where I'm Going! (1945) -- M. Powell & E. Pressburger

I was truly captivated by this 1945 picture from The Archers (Powell & Pressburger, famous for the later Black Narcissus and The Red Shoes). A completely British film featuring a heroine who knows what she wants and that is to raise her social standing by marrying a rich but older businessman who is a symbol of Britain's new focus on corporate culture (he runs Consolidated Chemicals).  The film details her journey from Manchester to a tiny Scottish island (Kiloran) where the wedding will take place -- at last she is stopped by a tremendous gale blocking her passage.  She meets Roger Livesly who is more than he seems and they are stuck together waiting to cross the dangerous channel (where a well-filmed whirlpool lurks).  The film is thus a romance as well as a keenly wrought observation of down-to-earth Scottish values and culture (yes, some bagpiping here).  Powell and Pressburger go the expressionistic route (as usual) which lends a distinctly magical air to the otherwise realistic proceedings, full of dream sequences, superstition, ancient curses, and romance.  In the end, in what must be a political statement, humanistic values are championed over the military industrial complex. This makes the film sound dull but it is definitely not -- a moving mystical romance.

Lincoln (2012)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Lincoln (2012) -- S. Spielberg

Daniel Day Lewis is a folksy off-color but wise Abe in this re-telling of the last days of Lincoln, falling not far from where Henry Fonda might have wound up if his portrait of Young Mr. Lincoln had gone on (that voice!).  Spielberg's film exels at creating drama around the passage of the 13th Amendment to the U. S. Constitution (to outlaw slavery) and the congressional shenanigans needed to get the bill passed (aided indubitably by James Spader as Bilbo).  However, as good as Day Lewis is, the character study seems thinner than the ace replications of 19th century battlefields and chambers might lead you to believe.  It's not that he hasn't fully dissolved into this character with all his stories and speeches, it is just that we feel kept at a distance, despite the intimate moments on offer (between him and Sally Field, or the random generous moment with another human, black or white, high or low status).  But that's probably more Spielberg than Day Lewis -- or perhaps that's how Lincoln really was.

Psycho (1960)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Psycho (1960) -- A. Hitchcock

Another one of those movies where it is best to time travel back to the year when the movie opened -- or to a time when you didn't know anything about the movie.  What must it have been like to be shocked by Janet Leigh in her underwear (let alone the shower) and not to know what was coming.  Much has been written about Hitch's total manipulation of the audience, getting them to identify with Leigh -- and then Tony Perkins for a bit, because his mother is so tough on him.  But of course we are then implicated in his messed-up-ness and it is a very serious messed-up-ness.  Robin Wood argues that all of the characters (but principally Leigh and Perkins) feel the weight of the past on the present and this is as good a key to the film as any wackier Freudian notions.  Don't we all walk into "traps of our own making" or are they made for us? Sounds plausible, but Hitch rejects even this, with one or two (or more) random slashes of a knife in a motel bathroom. That's what's really scary.

Der Mude Tod (Destiny) (1921)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Der Mude Tod (Destiny) (1921) -- F. Lang

Following Intolerance's lead, Lang provides a triptych of stories -- but this time love is challenged to overcome death itself.  In the framing story, two lovers are parted by Death (personified) but he is willing to make a deal:  if she can save one of three people from him, then he will bring her lover back to life.  The challenges takes place in Persia, Venice, and China with great sets (and suspenseful action) in all three -- it is said that this film was very influential on Hitchcock (by him to Truffaut, in fact).  Of course, viewers are advised that this is Lang (and not Griffith) and to note the title when pondering the question of whether love truly conquers all.  Still, there appears to be life after death, so no worries!

Horse Feathers (1932)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Horse Feathers (1932) -- N. McLeod

Groucho is the incoming president of Huxley College who is advised by "son" Zeppo that having a winning football team will turn his school's fortunes around.  He attempts to recruit two ringers at the local speakeasy (this is 1932) but instead recruits Chico and Harpo (natch).  Hilarity and musical interludes ensue.  However, to my mind, the chaos seems more controlled here than in, say, Duck Soup, or more accurately McLeod chooses to fade out on the action rather than let it progress to its illogical conclusion.  In fact, the bits are consistently relevant to the plot.  Nevertheless, an hour spent with the Marx Brothers is an hour free from cares.

Katzelmacher (1969)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Katzelmacher (1969) -- R. W. Fassbinder

Fassbinder's second feature sees his career-long themes already in full-bloom.  These characters are inhumanely cruel to each other, even as they maintain a posture of friendship.  Of course, outsiders are treated especially inhumanely -- as demonstrated here in the way that the several couples that populate the film (and apartment block) react hostilely to the Greek immigrant (referred to by the slang word, Katzelmacher, which seems to refer to sexual behaviour as well as foreign worker status).  Fassbinder implies that money drives all human relationships and shows us this in a number of prostitution-like relationships.  To get us to focus on such themes, everyone is using emotionless Brechtian delivery here and the cinematography suggests a translated play (everyone faces the audience).  But there are also purely cinematic devices (a recurring tracking shot involving pairs of characters strolling arm in arm) in use. I like Fassbinder, so I might find this more engaging than the average viewer -- but if you like this one, there are further masterpieces to discover.

Jour de Fete (1949)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Jour de Fete (1949) -- J. Tati

Jacques Tati's first feature already demonstrates his gentle wit and physical comedy, but he's not yet M. Hulot (the star of his next few features).  Instead, he plays the local postman who is easily distracted from his route and routine, especially on the day of the town's festival.  Of course, chaos ensues.  When the townsfolk see a film showing modern American postal techniques (helicopter, motorcycle), our local man feels threatened enough to prove himself.  Not as fully realized as M. Hulot's Holiday but still a warmly amusing mood lifter. Great sound design as usual for Tati.

Fail-Safe (1964)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Fail-Safe (1964) -- S. Lumet

Could a little mechanical mistake trigger a nuclear war?  Such a possibility seemed more plausible in 1964 perhaps when Lumet's Fail-Safe and Kubrick's Strangelove were both released, the former dead serious but overshadowed by the latter's satire. Today, it seems more likely that a dirty suitcase bomb will wreak havoc rather than mutually assured annihilation (although the doomsday clock, which now includes threats from climate change and other imminent disasters, is still set at five minutes to midnight).  Lumet's film is tense and frightening, with the suspense generated by the distrust between the Americans and the Soviets and the necessity for one to believe the other truly made a mistake rather than an intentional first strike (which some, including political scientist Walter Mathau and defense Colonel Fritz Weaver, are advocating anyway).  Henry Fonda is the level-headed and compassionate US president and Larry Hagman is his interpreter to assist with the delicate communication to the Russians (handled in a nice bit of acting by these two).  Low budget and framed by a weird dream sequence, but gut-wrenching if you think about the power that politicians really wield.

Le Doulos (1962)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Le Doulos (1962) -- J.-P. Melville

This could be my favorite Melville film.  He masterfully hides things from the audience, leading us purposefully astray.  The central characters are also taken in and make poor decisions as a result.  The film is shot in contrasty black-and-white, not unlike some of the low-budget American noirs that Melville must have loved, but much more artful in set design, mise-en-scene, symbolism, jazzy soundtrack, than many of those.  The opening tracking shot alone is worth the price of admission. We follow Faugel (Serge Reggiani) who has just been released from prison and needs to settle old scores and get back to work.  Unfortunately, his next job goes wrong because the police are tipped off by an informer (le doulos of the title).  From there, the plot cascades in a complicated fashion until all is revealed in a sudden rush with three characters sitting in a bar talking over flashbacks.  But yet their fates still await them in a final coda.  

Cutter's Way (1981)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Cutter's Way (1981) -- I. Passer

Jeff Bridges plays Richard Bone who is drifting through life, as a part-time gigolo and boat salesman, whereas his friend, Alex Cutter, a Vietnam vet who has lost an arm, a leg, and an eye (played sharply by John Heard), is passionately and pointedly committed to a singularly bitter viewpoint (that the rich and powerful will screw over everyone).  Cutter is an exceptional character (almost doing an alcoholic and manic early Tom Waits impression) -- as memorable as any to appear in any film -- but ultimately the movie may be more about Bone's ability or inability to make a real decision.  A conspiracy theory plot remains resolutely out-of-focus as a kind of lingering hangover from 1970s films, but this is almost purely about characters and not about how they get from point A to Z.

Claire's Knee (1970)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ 

Claire's Knee (1970) -- E. Rohmer

Perhaps only the French would concoct a movie about a summer place (around a lake) where a 35-to-40 year old man about to get married discusses the possibilities and implications of an affair with a teenage girl.  Perhaps only Eric Rohmer would make such a movie.  The film itself is chaste but evocative.  Jerome stumbles into the plot because he runs into his friend, Aurora, a writer, who is lodging with a single mother of two teen girls (from different fathers, although it matters not).  She wants to experiment with an idea for a novel (about an older man and a teenage girl).  The acting of the principals captures the right blend of awkwardness, especially for Jerome who is very out-of-place at times in the young person's world.  Of course, in a somewhat Bunuellian (or Nabokovian) fashion, the film becomes focused on Claire's knee as an object of desire.  What would be the various meanings or effects of a gentle touch of that knee? A film that unwinds through talk that seems natural enough, though literary in scope, and which pulls you in through the ordinary suspense created when we wonder what people will do when they have moral choices to make. 

Silver Linings Playbook (2012)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Silver Linings Playbook (2012) -- D. O. Russell

Sometimes a movie takes you by surprise.  I approached Silver Linings Playbook like many would, expecting something different or quirky from director David O. Russell (I Heart Huckabees), but unsure how enjoyable a portrayal of people coping with mental health issues might be.  I was right on the first point but wrong to be worried about the second.  Russell has put together a complete package here -- a funny, warm, humanistic and seemingly realistic film that manages to be sharp and eccentric and ultimately romantic.  Bradley Cooper is astonishing as a man coping with bipolar disorder and the legacy of his own actions after finding his wife cheating on him.  Jennifer Lawrence is the unlikely love interest coping with her own issues after the death of her police officer husband.  A dance contest brings them together.  Robert De Niro and Jacki Weaver star as his parents, also coping as best they can.  The plot synopsis makes the movie sound like a downer or a didactic preachy movie-of-the-week social issues film, but I assure you it is not.  David O. Russell's own son apparently struggles with similar emotional issues and he brought his own insights to the challenges the film offered.  The acting is top notch throughout (including Chris Tucker in a small but funny role). And despite the fact that I work in a psychology department, I still felt that the film granted me more empathy toward people with serious mental illness and the ability to see them more easily as the rounded whole people that they are.  A rare recent five star film. 

A Wife's Heart (1956)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

A Wife's Heart (1956) -- M. Naruse

I think one reason why Naruse's films are so compelling is that you just don't know how they are going to end.  Hollywood melodramas were guaranteed to conclude on a happy note (even if it sometimes rang false). However, Naruse could go either way, often spiralling downward into a melancholy landing, but very occasionally offering a glimmer of hope.  In A Wife's Heart, we share Hideko Takamine's point of view as she and her husband plan to build a café next to the family grocery store.  However, her mother-in-law is against it, her older brother-in-law begs for their money, and her husband starts staying out late nights avoiding the situation.  What will she do? Toshiro Mifune plays an attractive bachelor who offers some alternate possibilities.

They Live By Night (1948)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

They Live By Night (1948) -- N. Ray

Nicholas Ray's first film is about DOOMED LOVE (yes, in all caps).  Bowie and Keechie meet in the old gas station when he busts out of jail (been there since he was 16) with a couple of older cons keen to continue robbing banks.  Her dad runs the place but he's a drunk and not very good to her.  Farley Granger (with hints of Keanu Reeves) plays Bowie and Cathy O'Donnell plays Keechie.  They hit the road to get away from it all (travelling only by night) and to fulfill the portentous intensity of their DOOMED LOVE.  Nick Ray is out of the gates like a shot with this gorgeous and "dilated" film full of giant head close-ups of kids who have to be tough but would rather swoon.

Il Grido (1957)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Il Grido (1957) -- M. Antonioni

Who would make a movie like this other than Antonioni?  Yet, even having seen most of his later features, I wasn't prepared for the encroaching inevitability of the plot's finale.  Steve Cochran (American noir star) plays a guy whose longtime companion (Alida Valli) suddenly up and leaves him.  So, he takes his 5 year old daughter on the road with him, across the barren wintry fields of the Po Valley.  He occasionally shacks up with the women he meets, who often have their own problems that he doesn't want to take on.  He's lost, sad, unsure of what he's looking for, unable to commit to anything (a job, a relationship), and unable to return to the past. Antonioni's early film is stark but beautiful in many ways with strong echoes of Visconti's Ossessione (and other neo-realist films) but this director is unable to escape the gravitational pull of the alienation that would later dominate his oeuvre. 

Story of a Cheat (1936)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Story of a Cheat (1936) -- S. Guitry

I looked up the definition of "picaresque" just to be sure, and, yes, Sacha Guitry's tale most certainly fits the bill. He plays a young rogue of peasant origins who lives by his wits in a corrupt society -- Monte Carlo! The film is basically wall-to-wall narration (with more than a few double entendres) telling a story that jumps back and forth from the present day and various timepoints in the past.  It comes as no surprise that Chris Marker, Alain Resnais, and Orson Welles are said to have loved this film (and this filmmaker who made over 30 films, some reportedly not so good).  Indeed, Welles seems to have modelled some of his films and some of his onscreen persona on Guitry. A film that probably wasn't meant to be taken seriously, but which is ground-breaking (in its use of time, narration, cuts, jokes) all the same.

Les Vampires (1915-1916)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Les Vampires (1915-1916) -- L. Feuillade

For a 7 1/2 hour silent film serial seen nearly 100 years later, its striking major accomplishment is that it is fun.  An intrepid reporter and his wacky friend Mazamette chase the evil criminal gang The Vampires through 10 episodes full of secret doors, letters with invisible ink, poison gas (or poison champagne), kidnappings, robberies, incredible stunts, and general mayhem.   Feuillade never moves his camera (although he does cut frequently within scenes) but within the scene there is movement, deep focus, and a great use of framing.  To this eye, it is modern enough, in technique and story, that I'm ready to start a conspiracy that it is a faux silent film (actually directed by Kubrick, taking a break from directing the moon landing for NASA).

Marty (1955)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Marty (1955) -- D. Mann

There is a very 1950s feel to this tale of a 34-year-old unattractive butcher (Ernest Borgnine) who feels the pain of romantic rejection very strongly, especially because all of his siblings have already gotten married.  So, when Marty meets Clara, a woman feeling the same kind of rejection (based only on looks) that society propagates so well, he feels a bond. They are both sensitive and sincere people.  Of course there are flies in the ointment. He lives at home with his mother who starts to feel worried that he might abandon her (based on the experience of her sister whose son and daughter-in-law want her to move out) and his friends think Clara is a "dog" which almost stops him.  Paddy Chayefsky's script is very knowing, if sentimental. It's very sad to see that the culture promoting beauty on the outside (only) has gotten even more entrenched since 1955 -- so much so that the film feels unsurprising.  A winner of the Oscar and the Palme D'Or, although perhaps only because it said things that Hollywood didn't usually say. 

The Wind that Shakes the Barley (2006)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

The Wind that Shakes the Barley (2006) -- K. Loach

Count on Ken Loach to speak truth to power -- this is his major theme over the years, whether he is depicting working class life in Britain more authentically or documenting the legacy of colonialism for marginalized people around the world.  Here, he focuses on the Irish fight for independence from the UK (circa 1920-22) using it as an example of how a unified front can be so difficult to maintain and how every action you take in the fight may compromise either the self, the cause, one's kin or humanity.  Characters do get into some political talk, which is exhilerating in contrast to so many empty Hollywood movies. Of course, nothing is simple and in effect this is really a two-hour trauma -- a full fledged war film.  Cillian Murphy is great, the film won the Palme D'Or, but I wouldn't want to put myself through it again.  However, Loach wants us to know that people are still struggling, despite our complacency.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) -- P. Jackson

This was one of my favorite books as a child so I approached this film with some trepidation (as I did the Lord of the Rings trilogy, which I can't quite remember in detail now).  At the start, when Smaug attacks Erebor, I felt turned off by the CGI -- but gradually I grew accustomed to it.  Distant memories of a book I read 30 years ago started to resonate with the images on the screen.  The actors did nothing to contradict or interfere with these internal images and I felt some of the magic I recalled.  Ian McKellen is truly great as Gandalf.  In the end, I felt immersed in the fantasy, ready for more (and thinking about when my sons will be ready to have the book read to them).

Caught (1949)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Caught (1949) -- M. Ophuls

I was expecting a film noir (like Ophuls' later The Reckless Moment) but instead this definitely tilts into melodrama territory of the soapy Sirkian kind, laced with social commentary. Barbara Bel Geddes plays the poor girl who goes to charm school to find a way to marry rich and she does…to her detriment beause she marries Robert Ryan (playing a veiled version of Howard Hughes) who is seriously messed up.  Later in the film, she escapes into the arms of James Mason (or does she?).  Ophuls' gliding camera is here and he has a way of making the material sing. 

Diabolique (1955)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Diabolique (1955) -- H. G. Clouzot

The wife (rich and with a heart condition) and the mistress (bitchy Simone Signoret) plot to kill the husband, a real jerk.  The first half of the film shows this in excruciating detail.  They succeed.  Then, the body goes missing.  Horror sets in.  A detective stumbles in (to lend some very brief comic relief in an otherwise bleak misanthropic film).  Perhaps someone else knows, perhaps there is something more sinister from beyond the grave (er…swimming pool)? Clouzot bought the rights to the story from Boileau and Narcejac before Hitchcock could get them (they later wrote Vertigo for him) and he tries to turn the screws tighter than the Master could (until Psycho perhaps).

House of Usher (1960)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

House of Usher (1960) -- R. Corman

Roger Corman uses the Cinemascope screen to great effect in this first entry in his series of Edgar Allen Poe films.  Vincent Price is haunting as the possibly deranged Roderick Usher (see him wince in pain!) and, although the rest of the acting is not up to his level, it is sufficent for the task at hand.  And that task is to create a suitably gothic and creepy atmosphere to set up a gruesome finale, whereby Winthrop's love, Madeline, comes back from the dead (or does she) to wreak her revenge.  Psychedelic dream sequence included with the price of admission.