A perennial favorite
and one of those films that you wish you could go back and watch for the very
first time again. Polanski provides just
enough ambiguity (but not too much) for us to feel that Mia Farrow is, perhaps,
going insane -- after all the odds would seem to suggest that outcome is more
certain. But most audiences will know
too much and the thrill is in hoping that Satan is real. You know the story: actor John Cassavetes and wife move into NYC
apartment building (where John Lennon was shot) and meet vivacious older couple
(Ruth Gordon and Sidney Blackmer in astonishing performances). Have they seduced the husband into joining
their witches' coven? The evidence mounts.
One of the great ones.
I'm finding it too
hard to review this on cinematic grounds without having all of my sentimental
and nostalgic feelings influence my reaction.
But I think that's OK because this concert film by Talking Heads really meant
a lot to me and thus deserves my highest rating. Back in 1984, my friends and I saw this at
Cinema 93 and danced in the aisles. I
bought the album with a special glossy book (now lost) in Hanover, NH
(Dartmouth bookstore, I think) and later the cassette because it had remixes or
longer versions of the songs. When my
high school had an "air band" contest, we got a "big suit"
from my friend Todd's dad and created props (using the same design as was used
in BBHS's production of "Definitely Eric Geddis") out of cardboard
with white paint and black outlines -- guitar, keyboards, etc. I played David Byrne. We didn't win but got an honorable
mention. Talking Heads were/became my
favorite band in those pre-college years.
Probably they went downhill after this album and watching this again
last night, perhaps I wished for a few more early songs and not so much from
Speaking in Tongues (but this was after all a film of the tour for that album).
Having just read David Byrne's book (How Music Works), I can see more clearly
than ever just how much careful thought went into the stage show for that tour
and for the movie Stop Making Sense, directed by Jonathan Demme (who went on to
Silence of the Lambs and more). What's
more, almost 30 years later, this still sounds great.
Prior to his later
international success (with the Double Life of Veronique and Three Colors:
Blue, White, and Red), Krysztof Kieslowski made this 10 part series of short
films (50 minutes each) for Polish TV. Each episode, shot by a different
cinematographer, focuses on one of the 10 commandments (or perhaps on how
people break the commandment and the subsequent implications). But it isn't
exactly straightforward which film goes with which commandment (although some
internet pundits do make the call) -- instead these might be considered
"puzzle films" because we are thrown right into the lives of the
characters (mostly all residing in a single housing estate) without any context
or back-story. The plot, or moral
dilemma, faced by the characters is only slowly revealed. Some are doozies and you find yourself
thinking "what would I do?" or "what exactly _is_ the right
thing to do?" or even "there's no way in hell that I would end up in
that predicament". At times, I felt
that I was watching a series of really intriguing "afterschool
specials" designed to get me to think about ethics and really that's not a
bad thing. Amazing that Kieslowski and
his collaborators are able to sustain curiosity excitement and interest in the
viewer (this viewer) across nearly 10 hours.
Highly recommended.
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.
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).
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.
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.
