The Pianist (2002)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

The Pianist (2002) -- R. Polanski

Adrian Brody gives a stunning and remarkably "internal" performance (because for half the movie he has no one to talk to) as a survivor of the Holocaust in Polanski's haunting remembrance of his youth (in the guise of telling Wladyslaw Szpilman's story).  The Nazis roll into Poland and from then on the movie is one relentless and harrowing slide into darkness.  This is gut-wrenching stuff made all the more so because it is based on true events-- the world really was that evil 70 years ago.  And, yes, humankind is still capable of perpetrating such evil even today.  I think I can hear deeper emotions in the playing of the piano just knowing the pianist's life story.  But can you hear them if you don't know?

Day for Night (1973)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Day for Night (1973) -- F. Truffaut

I don't know how real movies are made but I love watching movies about movie-making.  The challenges of moving from concept/idea/script to its practical realization in front of the camera is endlessly fascinating and, of course, movies in this tradition are always focused on the troubles that ensue.  Whereas Fellini's 8 1/2 sees the director stuck for ideas, Truffaut's more minor (but still endearing) work shows the director trying to hold a motley cast and crew together while they over-react to relationship dramas on the sidelines and downgrade (or upgrade) their expectations about what kind of film is going to be accomplished.  The moneymen are barely kept at bay. Truffaut brings a lot of anecdotes from his own career to the table (e.g., working with a cat) and also pays tribute to some of his favorite filmmakers. Similar in some ways to Richard Rush's The Stuntman (1980) although with a much more sedate director (played by Truffaut himself), this is an affectionate depiction of the passion that is required to get a movie made.

Margaret (2011)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Margaret (2011) -- K. Longergan

Filmed in 2005 and then running into post-production hell and legal troubles until release in 2011, Margaret is a heavy duty melodrama set in motion by the swirling intensity of unbridled and immature emotions released by Lisa Cohen (played expertly by Anna Paquin) after witnessing a bus accident.  A few mentions of (or visits to) the Opera highlight the film's main thrust -- in her head, life is an overwrought drama of good and evil, with demands and responsibilities to pursue the most moral course of action.  Yes, these are the dictums of adolescence, when there are so many opportunities to blunder and so many agonies of embarrassment on the path to truth.   Indeed, director Kenneth Lonergan took this theme (and the title) from a poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins, which suggests that we may actually end up missing the emotional intensities of our youth.  But truly they are a train wreck to watch!  (For what it's worth, I watched the 186 minute extended version of Margaret, which apparently involves different editing and sound -- with a rather meditative view of New York City interspersed throughout).

Blow Out (1981)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Blow Out (1981) -- B. DePalma

On its own terms, as a B-movie with "aspirations", Blow Out is pretty great.  DePalma nods (or winks) at both Antonioni and Hitchcock, probably rips off Coppola's The Conversation, and even steals the feel of the ending of Chinatown.  Young John Travolta is a sulky sound man who accidentally records a possible gubernatorial assassination and then spends the rest of the film trying to convince people.  Nancy Allen is a dopey pawn/love interest/victim and John Lithgow brings the evil.  There are tracking shots up the wazoo. Good for popcorn munching.

The Godfather, Part II (1974)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

The Godfather, Part II (1974) -- F. F. Coppola

It's gripping like most sequels aren't (and it makes you lament about Coppola's subsequent output).  We pick up a few years later than where The Godfather left off, with the Corleone family now firmly entrenched in Las Vegas.  But Michael (Al Pacino) just seems burdened by responsibilities and mostly he's a drag. Lee Strasberg is pretty great as his crime boss nemesis, however, and John Cazale is heart-breaking as weak brother Fredo.  There are some great set-pieces (in Cuba, in the Senate hearing, and in all those very dark shots by Gordon Willis). We also get to see Vito's early days (with De Niro aping the mannerism of Brando) and these also have a vitality and suspense that makes you wish there was a whole film taking place in this era.  But, in the end, the viewer gets ground down, just as Michael Corleone does (and Part 3 belongs to a very different Pacino).

The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

The Empire Strikes Back (1980) -- I. Kershner

In some ways, this is better than the first Star Wars, however you couldn't just jump in without having watched "Episode 4" because the narrative is much more "serial" like. That is, we jump right in where the other movie left off, with no real exposition to introduce the characters. The direction here is often a lot more "fun" and the cross-cutting episodic structure works well (from the ice planet Hoth to Billy Dee Williams' cloud city). The Yoda scenes pay tribute to the film's spiritual kung fu roots, even as we are still squarely situated in an action movie, for better or for worse. The plot does advance in this episode and naturally leaves us hanging for the next installment (another three years later -- a lifetime for a young boy).

Star Wars (1977)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Star Wars (1977) -- G. Lucas

Famously (for me at least), I first saw this at age 9 at the Cinema 93 in Concord, New Hampshire with my dad.  Now some 35 years later, how does it hold up? In truth, it is hard to watch without the emotional resonances of a small boy (and for this I give it 4.5 stars -- a tough feat to accomplish).  But the plot is wafer thin, despite the mythology woven around it in a few choice scenes.  All flash & bang & action glued together with witticisms (that later became the formula for "I'll be back!" and countless other action movie one-liners).  And of course the movie world was irrevocably changed by the fortunes made.  Now we must live with the blockbusters and Hollywood's slavish devotion to them and their sequels.

Notorious (1946)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Notorious (1946) -- A. Hitchcock

Dark Hitchcock romance (some call it his best, some call it sadomasochistic) which takes place in the aftermath of WWII in South America where escaped Nazi scientists are still plotting away.  Of course, what they are cooking up down there is just a MacGuffin for Cary Grant and the CIA to chase after with the help of bad girl Ingrid Bergman.  Of course she falls for Grant but he is a chilly constricted bastard to her.  Hitchcock is in full flower using tracking shots to reveal "key" plot elements and point-of-view shots to show consequential subjective states. He intercuts those dwindling champagne bottles to really ratchet up the suspense.  As Claude Rains is forced to find out, you only hurt the one you love.  We almost feel bad for him, Nazi that he is (another of Hitch's nasty experiments in audience identification?).  Masterful.

Aguirre the Wrath of God (1972)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Aguirre the Wrath of God (1972) -- W. Herzog

In recreating this 16th century expedition by Spanish conquistadors to the Amazon, Werner Herzog has created something very special.  A film of incredible images of great beauty that possess even greater power because we know that the team of film-makers and actors endured hardships to create them.  They really did climb down that mountain, ride the rafts (with horse and monkeys) in the rapids, and endure the mania of Klaus Kinski.  The music of Popol Vuh, while not as awe-inspiring as in other Herzog films, adds to the trance-inducing atmosphere of some scenes.  Worth the trip.