Alex's Portfolio: November 2016

Week in Film: Catching Up (Again)

Stromboli

Year: 1950

Director: Roberto Rossellini

My initial impression was a drift away from the neorealism style that Rossellini had come out of, but with a couple months retrospective, the things that stand out to me the most are the things more tied to that style than not. I think of the only truly great scene in the film, the one with the fishing. That is the most obvious example, but also there's a realness to the situation Ingrid Bergman's character finds herself in. Some of what I saw as more melodramatic at the time (the final scene, which apparently is genius, but didn't work for me at all) has become more about the style of performance and less about the content and vision of the picture as a whole.

That doesn't make this a particularly good movie though. It seems to have become better than what my initial reaction indicated with time, but only slightly. I remember the better aspects, but that's the danger with getting behind on something like this. It becomes too distant and the freshness of your thoughts have become far overripe and have changed flavor. Maybe the perspective of time makes the past clearer, but something tells me if I were to watch this again my rating could drop at least a half grade.

Rating: C

Europe '51
Year: 1952
Director: Roberto Rossellini

This is the weakest of the Rossellini/Bergman criterion films. This one has left my memory considerably more so than "Stromboli," and for that I'm giving it a lower grade. No particular scene stands out in my memory, and I don't recall much that elevates it above merely okay. I do think Ingrid Bergman is a pretty good actress though, and by pretty good I mean better than serviceable, but nothing very impressive. She's not what I was expecting.

Rating: C-

Journey to Italy
Year: 1954
Director: Roberto Rossellini

Easily the best of the set. Reminded me a lot of Linklater's "Before" movies and Kiarostami's "Certified Copy." Surprisingly, this one may have faded the most out of the three, but the feeling of it has remained strongest over time. It feels less forced, more natural, more real than the others. And Ingrid Bergman gives her best performance here. Out of them I would see this one again before the others, both because it was good and because I can't remember exactly why.

Rating: B

Joy Division
Year: 2007
Director: Grant Gee

An informative documentary not just about the titular band but also the landscape of late 70s/early 80s England. It was engaging and interesting throughout, as a good documentary should be (or any film for that matter). Ian Curtis seems like he could have done so much more. It's a shame what happened.

Rating: B-

Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck
Year: 2015
Director: Brett Morgen

Cool to see an artistic touch to this one what with the animations and such. It's probably the better film in my rock n roll suicide double feature (the other being "Joy Division," see above), but I didn't get as much out of it as I did the other. Another example of wasted potential.

Rating: B-

The Filth and the Fury
Year: 2000
Director: Julien Temple

The second time I've seen this. I'm not entirely sure why I decided to watch this again, this time with my dad, but something drew me to it. Maybe it was the string of music docs I was watching, or just wanting another kick of energy that it gave me the first time. It's still good, but seeing something like this so recently and watching it again isn't a great idea. It doesn't have the freshness that is often important in documentaries of this sort.

Rating: B

Ministry of Fear
Year: 1944
Director: Fritz Lang

A strong, claustrophobic, Kafka-esque beginning disappointingly devolves into something much more standard. M and Metropolis (both of which were slight disappointments themselves, but only because of their reputation as being great) are much better Lang pictures.

Rating: C-

The Night of the Hunter
Year: 1955
Director: Charles Laughton

I wish he directed more movies. This is a masterpiece, and the kind of fully realized, beautifully executed piece of work that is extremely rare in first time directors. It's a fairy tale in tone, not the Disney kind mind you, but the Grimm ones. It's images are ethereal and evoke the world of childhood, which is fitting for a film about childhood. So many brilliant moments. Robert Mitchum is the scariest.

Rating: A

Bride of Frankenstein
Year: 1935
Director: James Whale

I went into this expecting waves of nostalgia (as a little kid I was super into the Universal monster films), but was surprised to find I didn't really remember any of it. While "The Wolfman" and "Dracula" are deeply ingrained in my childhood, I guess this one just didn't stick. Odd, given that this is likely the best of those movies, at least from those I've revisited in the last few years.

Rating: B

The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum
Year: 1939
Director: Kenji Mizoguchi

There's a beautiful tracking shot from a low vantage point of two people walking along the edge of a river of some sort. I feel I should have waited for the Blu-ray release though, the streaming print was pretty bad.

Rating: B

The Life of Oharu
Year: 1952
Director: Kenji Mizoguchi

The buds of Mizoguchi’s early films blossom fully here. The compositions and camera work are great, as are the performances. Really, truly heartbreaking at times.

Rating: B+

Ugetsu
Year: 1953
Director: Kenji Mizoguchi

This is what Mizoguchi has been building to. So many breathtaking scenes and images: the boat in the fog, the father’s spirit humming in the dark, the welcome home. Absolutely beautiful.

Rating: A

Island of Lost Souls
Year: 1932
Director: Erle C. Kenton

The first part of the film, the one set on the boat with the creeping dread and the strangeness that exudes from the setting and the images is actually pretty awesome. And the jungle sets on the island help to perpetuate that feeling as the film goes on. But Bela Lugosi is a shit actor and it all just becomes too predictable. Charles Laughton is fun though.

Rating: C-

Day of Wrath
Year: 1943
Director: Carl Th. Dreyer

Dark beauty. The whole thing feels uneasy, in a good way. Nothing feels safe, everything sinful. So much dread, but seductive dread. The kind you're afraid might consume you. If you lived in times like those, at least.

Rating: B+

The Haunted Strangler
Year: 1958
Director: Robert Day

Probably the best movie of the criterion "Monsters and Madmen" films, but not my favorite. It's hard to judge it because of that.

Rating: D+

The Atomic Submarine
Year: 1959
Director: Spencer Gorden Bennet

This is where I find the most difficulty in reviewing films. This is by all accounts a bad movie. It's also the most fun I've had with a movie in a while. How do you rate something like that? Artistic value, or entertainment value? This is the eternal question that is grappled with when considering a film which you are reviewing. Usually I'd give this a D-, but considering how unintentionally hilarious it was, I just can't do that and keep a clear conscience.

Rating: D

Weekend
Year: 1967
Director: Jean-Luc Godard

Such mixed feelings about Godard, and especially with this film. I really like the experimentation, when it works, and the feel of his movies overall. But they can be very heavy handed and disjointed. Also I goddamn hate french car horns. Actually, that scene, the incredibly long tracking shot of a traffic jam, is a prime example. It would've been so cool if it weren't for all that infuriating honking. That's a metaphor.

Rating: C

The Devil's Backbone
Year: 2001
Director: Guillermo del Toro

It's odd when original material is executed in a fairly, dare I say it, conventional way. This is not a conventional movie, mind you. It has del Toro's mark all over it, and anything with that kind of auteurist stamp is bound to be fairly unique. But something about it is... not plain, but Hollywood maybe? I can't judge a movie for that though, that wouldn't be fair. Maybe it reminds me too much of Spielberg at times (one of the most overrated of filmmakers), or maybe I've just been watching too much Godard. It's good though, this film. That inescapable feeling of convention is probably just in my head. But I am ignoring what the film does that others don't: bringing brutal reality into the equation. I say conventional, maybe, yes, possibly, I don't know, but I'm sure I'm not saying contrived. I should write my own definitions for words, so people can understand what I mean. Or maybe I should just practice.

Rating: B

First Man Into Space
Year: 1959
Director: Robert Day

There were some moments, like the monster wandering the corridors, that were such pure perfect 50s sci-fi B-movie that I couldn’t help but feel an odd and surreal sense of wonder. It was moments like that, that created that specific feeling, where I think I understood the cult appreciation of these films, at least to some degree. But yeah, it's still terrible. Terrible, terrible movie.

Rating: D-

Cronos
Year: 1993
Director: Guillermo del Toro

Weak. The pacing seems off, and it has a couple of unfortunate moments that are hard to bounce back from. The concept is interesting, the execution lacking.

Rating: C

Mala Noche
Year: 1985
Director: Gus Van Sant

I think Gus Van Sant is an artist I can connect with on a basic level. I feel like I understand his films. I may not be gay or living on the streets, but there's something in the foundation of this and "My Own Private Idaho" that I identify with, for reasons I can't really explain. There's a sense of familiarity, an intimacy that is at once undefinable yet very close. This strange sensation of home, or being away from it.

Rating: A-

Pan's Labyrinth
Year: 2006
Director: Guillermo del Toro

The best, most artistic, most creative of the Guillermo del Toro films I've been watching of late, and probably my favorite too (but with time, I feel "Devil's Backbone" creeping back into my consciousness more frequently). What del Toro does so well is balance, and mix, the worlds of childhood and adulthood. This can be an incredibly violent film, but it's also a fairy tale. Just one that's more honest.

Rating: B

Ashes and Diamonds
Year: 1958
Director: Andrzej Wajda

All kinds of strong finishes lately. This is the best of Wajda's trilogy, which is pretty impressive considering how strong "Kanal" was. Much of this has to do with the strength of the lead actor, who is pretty damn good. Some striking imagery, too.

Rating: B+

Cat People
Year: 1942
Director: Jacques Tourneur

An instance of reputation being larger than the film merits. It would have been better with a little more ambiguity, I think making the turn into definite supernatural elements was a mistake. It's still a good testament to the rule of the imagination being greater than anything that can be shown. At least for the most part, until it turns out to be just a big cat.

Rating: C

Equinox
Year: 1970
Director: Jack Woods, Mark Thomas McGee, Dennis Muren

Some cool special effects, but other than that not worth investing time in.

Rating: D-

Germany Year Zero
Year: 1948
Director: Roberto Rossellini

I wish I could remember "Rome, Open City" more so I could say this with more confidence, but I think this is the best of Rossellini's war trilogy. It's probably his best period (again, wish I could remember "Journey to Italy" more). At any rate, it's far better than the highly incompetent Paisan (another film I can barely recall). You know, I don't think Rossellini is a good match for me. The ending was a real shock though, and a great and powerful moment.

Rating: B+

Corridors of Blood
Year: 1958
Director: Robert Day

This isn't a horror movie, and I feel a little cheated because of that. If I'm going to watch things I know aren't going to be any good, they should at least have the decency to be the kind of not good I expect. It doesn't have the hilarious unintentional humor value of the sci-fi movies in the criterion "Monsters and Madmen" series, and also doesn't have whatever made "Corridor's of Blood" not a failure. But this isn't a failure really, just kind of a standard B movie of the era, which simply means it's not going to be good. I will say that Christopher Lee is the bomb though, and Boris Karloff is pretty good too.

Rating: D

Redes
Year: 1936
Director: Emilio Gomez Muriel, Fred Zinnemann

A small picture about standing up to the man and being a low income fisher and all that stuff. I liked the shots of the characters against the background of the sky, very Ford-esque. A decent but not particularly great introduction to Marin Scorsese's World Cinema Project.

Rating: C

In Vanda's Room
Year: 2000
Director: Pedro Costa

I had been avoiding this one for a while because of my negative reaction to "Ossos," but because of the impending departure of the criterion collection from Hulu, I've been trying to finish of various films and film series or trilogies or whatever else I suspect may not be available when the new home of the collection, Filmstruck, comes out. So I came to "In Vanda's Room" with a slight sense of dread, treating it more as something that I have to do more than something I want to do (which is not a good frame of mind when going into anything, and honestly a poor reason to watch anything to begin with). To my relief this is a much better, if not much easier, viewing experience.

It seems to me that Costa's films are ones you're gonna have to submit to. They are long (this one nearly three hours) and slow, and nothing much happens. But they probably need to be that way. They are immersive experiences, ones that reveal subtly and honestly aspects of the human condition that are often not seen, or at least usually shown very differently. It's a film about poverty, but it isn't about squalor. It is, I guess, but it's not demeaning. The characters are people, not victims. You feel connected to them in an intimate way where another film would leave you pitying them from a distance. Sometimes you feel unbearably close to them.

The best thing about "Ossos" is also the best thing here: the cinematography. I haven't seen anything quite like it. The deep, solid colors, the abundance of shadow, the blinding light and intricate framing. It isn't ominous darkness either, but something more comforting. Maybe not comforting, but certainly warmer. It perpetuates that feeling of intimacy. It's one of the only times I've thought that having subtitles might have detracted from the experience. It is something visual above anything else, and I'm willing to bet you could still get a lot out of it with them off.

Rating: B+

The Phantom Carriage

Year: 1921

Director: Victor Sjostrom

I have to admit, sometimes I have a slight aversion to silent films. In my mind, I stereotype them as dated and slow. Then I actually watch one and realize how foolish this false perception is. Or, unfortunately, sometimes that stereotype is reinforced. This is a case of the former, and one that makes me want to delve deeper into that part of cinematic history I have for a while neglected. There are moments here that play the nerves better than anything I've seen in a while, and it is clear it's influence is far reaching.

Rating: A-

Touki Bouki
Year: 1973
Director: Djibril Diop Mambety

Despite some cool stuff, it doesn't work. Maybe it's just my aversion to brutal and bloody animal slaughter, but I had a hard time getting close to this. And I didn't understand a lot of the motivations behind the characters actions. I was left largely indifferent to these people.

Rating: C-

Alex's Portfolio

Reviews

Monday, November 14, 2016

Week in Film: 10/31/16-11/6/16

Saturday, November 5, 2016

Week in Film: Catching Up (Again)