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.