What Time Is It There? (2001)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

What Time Is It There? (2001) -- M.-L. Tsai

This is the second film I've seen by Ming-liang Tsai and it shares the same rhythms with that later one (Goodbye Dragon Inn) -- that is, slow and still.  The shots often feature "ugly" settings (e.g., toilets, messy rooms) but are shot with colored lights or filters (and dressed with certain objects) such that the complementary hues stand out. The plot itself is about loss and lack of connection (a father/husband passes away, a girl goes on a trip to a country where she doesn't speak the language) but it doesn't feel as depressed or dejected as that sounds -- instead it feels rather mysterious.  This sense of mystery is heightened by the film's ending in Paris.  What resonance might an object like the watch (transferred from one to another) hold, spiritually, psychologically? Is this the key to the puzzle? Deeper allusions to reincarnation (the wheel of time) abound and turning back time might be a very common human yearning. Something to ponder.

Holy Motors (2012)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Holy Motors (2012) -- L. Carax

If Leos Carax's goal was to make indelible images that lodge in your mind, then I think he has succeeded (the name-dropping of Diane Arbus is not for nothing). If he wanted to create the kind of film where (motivated) viewers attempt heroically to divine a plot out of the headlong series of "appointments" but end up only scratching their heads, then he has also succeeded.  Holy Motors is never predictable and Denis Lavant is remarkable (and often scary) as the protagonist who transforms himself from one person to the next...endlessly? (Only the limos know).

The Lavender Hill Mob (1951)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

The Lavender Hill Mob (1951) -- C. Crichton

If you haven't seen any of the comedies that Sir Alec Guinness made at Ealing Studios in the 1950's, then I highly recommend that you do.  The Lavender Hill Mob is a heist film like no other, in which mild-mannered bullion office clerk Guinness masterminds a scheme to get the gold out of the country.  Charles Crichton directs this so as to raise the tension and also to release the wackiness.  Even after watching this many times over the years, I still chortled. See also The Ladykillers, The Man in the White Suit, and Kind Hearts & Coronets.

Wings of Desire (1988)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Wings of Desire (1988) -- W. Wenders

Probably the first Wim Wenders film that I saw -- a poetic fantastical romantic story (with a much longer black and white portion than I remembered) that has the good humor to cast Peter Falk in a knowing role and treats our private thoughts, important or trivial, as something to be treasured.  Probably this is due to the contributions of Peter Handke, the writer, because Wenders went amazingly downhill after this film. Two angels watch over Berlin just before the Wall came down.  One angel wants to know what it is like to be human, rather desperately. Bruno Ganz is great as this angel.  The cinematography by Henri Alekan (who did Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast) is great and so is the sound.  Crime and the City Solution and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds make appearances.  I have the poster on my wall.