Summer Interlude

Many consider the first real "Bergman film" to be Sawdust and Tinsel (aka The Naked Night), but I would argue that this film from a couple of years earlier is really the film in which he came into his own. It's about an aging ballerina (artist character), hiding behind layers of makeup, who begins to recount the summer in her youth when she was happy and in love. Most of the film, as the title would imply, is the flashback. She meets a shy young man while vacationing by a lake, who is the perfect example of youthful innocence and quickly falls in love with her. Bergman, particularly in his early work, was so good at these kind of love stories in which youth, beauty, and love are contrasted with loss, death, and the corruption of the human heart. It's sad but sweet, and Bergman manages to mix those elements with his usual care and grace.

Los Olvidados (aka The Young and the Damned)

Luis Bunuel creates an unforgettable masterpiece of unflinching reality that provides the necessary justification for those who believe that there is no difference between between cinema and reality, at least cinema as true art. It follows a couple of street kids in Mexico City as they merely exist in the world they know. The movie makes no effort to excuse them as they beat up a blind man, steal money, or as in one scene, brutally muder a peer, yet neither does it allow itself to pass judgement. It remains incredibly objective, not explaining why the situations are the way they are, and offerring no solution as to how they could be improved. It stands as a document of truth, observing the way things are in the streets of Mexico City. Bunuel is often remembered for the slitting of the eyeball in Un Chien Andalou or his virulent satirical attacks on organized religion as in L'Age D'Or or the sensual, surrealistic farce of his later years, but what is often overlooked is just how humane a filmmaker he always was even at his boldest and most controversial. However with this film as with his greatest film Nazarin, and other films he made while in exile in Mexico, he mostly strips away style (though there is still one memorable surrealistic dream sequence in the film), to the bare essence of humanity through his images. It's a powerful film which leaves me thinking of the truth of Jim Hoberman's observations, "Los Olvidados is strong enough to make a hardened Communist cry or drive a (true) Christian to despair." A true gift from any artist.

A History of Violence

David Cronenberg is one of the few legitimate auteurs in the world of English language film, but I would have never known this was his film had I not seen his name in the credits. It feels like the film of a first time director with a script by a first time writer. Perhaps it is because this is his first film with a respectable budget and he just got preoccupied with his new toys that he can use in order to recreate that idyllic Small Town, USA feel, but it's distracting and you start to wonder how a steady hand like Cronenberg's could be so sloppy. Of course it's a film about violence (and it is violent) -- the excitment of it, the grotesqueness of it, the catharsis of it, the eroticism of it, and the survival of the fittest. Viggo Mortensen is Tom Stall, a small town business owner with a hidden past that he'd like to keep hidden. You have to wonder why he's so damn good at killing people -- such as when two gun toting crooks attempt to rob his diner and abuse the patrons, and in a flash, he takes matters into his own hands with grisly results. But he saved lives and becomes a hero. The scenes of violence are marvelously staged, and William Hurt has a scene stealing role, but the rest feels sloppy. Cronenberg seems to be touching on interesting themes, but he and his screenwriter can't quite bring them out. I guess it doesn't really matter anyway, because as far as cinema is conerned, Sam Peckinpah has already made the most authoritative statements about violence with The Wild Bunch and particularly Straw Dogs.

The Magician

Max von Sydow provides an extraordinary presence as a 19th century illusionist. Thematically, it fits nicely into the type of films Ingmar Bergman was making in the late-50's, though the execution is not up to the standards of his best films. It is about magic vs. rationalism or faith vs. scepticism or art vs. science or illusion vs. reality, because after all, they are almost all the exact same conflict. The magician stands in as the artist character of Bergman's film against the cold intellectual man of science. At times, there is an almost fairy tale like atmosphere created, but at the end, I was never quite sure what was being communicated. It is, however, unmistakably a Bergman film.

The Scarlet Empress

During the early 1930's, when no one really seemed to know what to do with this new sound thing, Joseph von Sternberg was one of the few visually captivating directors working in America. Made in 1934, just before the Hays Code went into effect, he made this erotically charged film starring Marlene Dietrich. Von Sternberg seems captivated by Dietrich, almost to the point of fetishism as he places her at the center of the opulent historical pagent. The story concerning Dietrich's marriage to a half-wit baron and subsequent sexual conquests for power is merely an excuse to show off von Sternberg's decors. Unfortunately, this self-confessed "exercise of style" seems very empty. The camera moves, the lighting is delicate, and the production design is as ornate and elaborate as any I've ever seen. I might argue, however, that he goes too far, to the point of litterally cluttering the frame with visual stimuli, that at times is painterly, and at others is merely distracting. As a gift to Dietrich is succeeds, as a visual exercise it is at least bold, but as a movie, I was left wanting more.

A Taste of Cherry

This is the best film yet that I have seen from Iranian auteur, Abbas Kiarostami. The story is quite simple -- concerning a middle aged man driving around the outskirts of Teheran in his Land Rover searching for someone to help him commit suicide. First he picks up a young soldier, and his intentions are unclear. Soon, he drives the soldier up a remote hill where he reveals that there is a large sum of money in the car, and he will give it to the soldier if at 6:00 the next morning he will show up and call the name, Mr. Badii (the driver). If there is an answer the soldier is to help Mr. Badii out of the hole, if there is no answer, the soldier need only throw 20 shovel-fulls of dirt into the hole and the money is his. The soldier is horrified at the idea and runs away. Next, Mr. Badii picks up a slightly older, Islamic seminarian who attempt to convince him to not commit suicide because it is forbidden by the Koran. He too refuses. Last he picks up an old man who does much of the talking. The old man reveals that he too attempted to commit suicide at one time, but couldn't go through with it after eating a handful of mulberries. He also tries to convince Mr. Badii to not go through with it, but reluctantly agrees to take on the job because he needs the money to help his ill son. It seems to me as if Mr. Badii is searching less for someone to help him kill himself, and more for someone to connect with -- someone who will give him a reason to keep living. It's a touching and understated film that at times seems to be welling up with humanity. It feels very natural, and though some have commented that it is slow and boring, I never found it to be so. It is a film that seems to ask if there is any meaning to life, but secretly knows that there is.

One P.M.

In the late 60's, Godard came over into enemy territory in order to document the revolution in America in conjuction with American filmmaker, D.A. Pennebaker. After directing much of the production of the film, he abandoned it, and Pennebaker took it upon himself to assemble the footage and release it. The result is one of Godard's most facinating political documents. Of course it is a work of art, and about the nature of film and filmmaking as much as it is about Marxist revolutionaries in America. It is unashamedly self-conscious, often showing Godard directing the action and camera work -- as if the behind-the-scenes was being intigrated into the film itself. There is one, long unbroken shot of a man -- it might have been actor Rip Torn -- going up an elevator in a building under construction, walking through the construction sight, and then going back down the elevator while yelling political maxims. Godard interviews members of the Black Panthers. There is a scene in an inner city, New York elementary school in which a man dressed as a Confederate soldier speaks to the primariy black school children, as Godard sits at the back of the class directing. Jefferson Airplane conducts and illegal rooftop concert, all captured by their camera's. It's quite a film.

35 Up

"Give me a child until he is seven, and I will give you the man," quoth the narrator in all of the entires of Michael Apted's remarkable, "Up" series. We first saw them at seven, now they are thirty-five, and you have to ask yourself, how much different are they really? Many of them still have the same exuberance (in one form or another), many have the same ambitions (though some have achieved them and others have not). The life process is a profound thing, and it has never been captured better than in this documentary series. To the extent that it is proper to separate the parts of this whole, so far, this is one of my favorite entries into the series, and one that feels the most revealing. We come to discover that everyone really does ask the big questions of life, and they are often asked once we reach rock bottom. Life is beautiful and sad, and it is reflected in the lives of these individuals.

The House That Dripped Blood

Amicus studios made the kind of anthology horror films that I wouldn't mind raising my children on -- frightening, but not grotesque, twists, a bit corny, and a moral lesson of sorts. A famous actor has gone missing in a house that seems to have a history of strange goings on and Scotland Yard in called in on the case. Not that it seems haunted, because the happenings of the previous owners where all due to themselves and not ghosts or anything, but one has to wonder why this house has attracted such a history. The first, and best segment involves Denholm Elliot as a writer of horror stories who begins seeing his latest villainous creation in dark corners and haunting his waking hours. It's the creepiest segment with the kind of twist that is ideal for this type of anthology film. The second, and more disappointing entry, involves a retired Peter Cushing who walks to town one day and discovers an unusual wax museum with a wax figure that strangely resembles a woman he once loved. He also meets the mysterious curator of the museum. Unfortunately, this is little more than a rip off of House of Wax. The third is a strong segment with Christopher Lee as a stern father who hires a woman to be a personal teacher to his seemingly sweet daughter. The woman begins to question his methods of parenting until she discovers that the daughter has inherited some traits from her mother -- a witch. The final segment is about the actor, who has sense gone missing, mostly because in preparation for his latest role (as a vampire), he buys a cloak from a mysterious seller, which happens to be the cloak of a real vampire, thus turning the actor into a vampire. This final segment is a bit too tongue in cheek, and lacks the delicious thrills of the others. Not to say that this is a great film, but it is the kind of film that reminds you why the horror genre can be so much fun.

Age of Assassins

This Japanese film is a strange blend of comedy, thriller, and gangster film. Its strangeness has a certain charm that mostly works. It's about a seemingly mild-mannered teacher who finds himself pitted against a sadistic scientist who was once in league with the Nazi's. The scientist, who happens to run an asylum, uses crazy people as assassins, and one by one sends them after his new foe. There are some very funny scenes including a pillbox being blown to hell by the Japanese artillary.

The Devil's Eye

Part Dante, part Milton, all Bergman. One can see Bergman's background in the theatre in this film about the Devil's desire to corrupt an upstanding country parson by sending Don Juan (now one of the damned) to seduce his engaged daughter. The film plays out as a comedy, though manages have the same feeling as his The Seventh Seal. Of course Don Juan doesn't succeed in his seduction, at least partly because he falls in love with the young maiden, and partly because she turns out to be more clever than he imagined. More humorous and less angst filled than his later films, though not as profound either. It's basically a photographed stage play, albeit with the direction of a master. The sets for Hell are particularly memorable.

Jailbreakers

I guess this made for TV movie is an attempt to throw back to the days of drive in movies and AIP, however veteran director William Friedkin forgets one thing, to make it enjoyable. Shannen Doherty is a flirtateous high school cheerleader and Antonio Sabato Jr. is her motorcycle driving, bad boy, boyfriend on the run from the law. To be fair, I can't fully blame Friedkin, because most of the cringe worthy moments in the film are due to the atrocious script. But maybe that was the point; though it just doesn't have the spirit of a low-budget 60's-70's era biker movie. Features a performance by a young Adrien Brody.

Dracula 2000

I guess I was surprised to discover that I ended up enjoying this latest incarnation of the prince of darkness more than I was expecting to. Granted, Dracula, as played by Gerard Butler is more rock star (and therefore right at home in the modern, media-saturated, sexually liberated world) than Gothic count, but hey, he's immortal, he can change with the times, right? Christopher Plummer plays the latest Van Helsing, still determined to discover the secret to killing the immortal, living dead. Much of the movie is set in New Orleans during Mardi Gras, which as I mentioned before, makes evil feel right at home. In a way, it's almost an amusing satire of today's culture when you know that Dracula can blend into a crowd. The most interesting element is the twist on the legend where he is revealed to be none other than Judas Iscariot, wandering the earth for his damnation -- which explains his aversion to Christian iconography. And while its religious aspects are far from profound, they are treated with respect, and it is even implied that even Dracula is not beyond forgiveness and the power of grace, but his selfish pride will not allow him to repent. Like I said, it is interesting.

Passion

After his radically political period during the 70's, Godard seems to have mellowed out in the 80's in order to attempt some seemingly more thematically ambitious films. Unfortunately, his 80's period mostly lacks the wit, charm, and enjoyability of 60's Godard, and it lacks the immediacy of 70's Godard, yet they still manage to be artistic successes in their own way, and clearly come from the hand of a master. Here he takes a self-conscious look at art, filmmaking, politics, and factory workers. Much of it involves a filmmaker who stages his films to look like painting from artists such as Rembrandt and Goya. It also features a performance from a young Isabelle Huppert as a worker in a factory that somehow relates to the film being made. Fortunately it manages to retain that distinctly Godardian sense of humor, though I seem to detect a trace of sadness behind humor.

The Exorcism of Emily Rose

There is something very interesting about this movie. It is the rare kind of film that attempts to blend genre's with idea's in ways that one might not immediately think of, and while it may not be completely successful, I think it deserves more than a little merit for the attempt. Is it a courtroom film? Is it a horror film? Is it about psychosis? Is it about a demon possessed girl? One might argue that this is Inherit the Wind meets The Exorcist. Fortunately this is immensely superior to Stanley Kramer's simple-minded religious, courtroom drama, though not as good a William Friedkin's seminal horror film, though director Scott Derrickson is wise enough to avoid most of the post-Exorcist cliches and pratfalls that have become associated with this particular horror sub-genre. What sets this apart is its focus on ideas particularly those in regard to the existence of the supernatural. Poor Emily Rose was a young college student who started exhibiting strange behavior. Her doctor suggested a kind of mental illness and recommended medical treatment. However, she, her family, and her priest, played by Tom Wilkinson, come to believe that she is demon possessed and in need of an exorcism. But when she dies soon after the failed exorcism attempt, the priest is arrested for negligent homicide and taken to trial with her agnostic lawyer, played by Laura Linney. The courtroom battles over natural vs. supernatural, while the film flashes back to Emily and problem as seen from the various points of view of the witnesses. The film raises more questions, than answers, but that is certainly the point. Wilkinson is excellent as the priest, and Jennifer Carpenter will have you running for the nearest vat of holy water in her utterly convincing portrayal (without the aid of digital effect) of a possibly possessed girl. At moments, Tom Stern's cinematography will have horror fans cheering for the wonderful homage's to Dario Argento's Suspiria. Much has been made on the fact that this is loosely based on a true story, and the film benefits from the fact that it avoids the exploitation of the genre -- mostly. Derrickson has made the most thought provoking horror film since Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later, even if it does still have a few kinks left to work out.

2046

I have to admit that I'm a little bit surprised how generally tepid the reviews have been for Wong Kar-Wai's latest film, when I think it is one of his finest works. The fact that it is an indirect sequel to his modern classic, In the Mood for Love, is mostly inconsequential, though an understanding of the previous film might add an extra layer to sense of loss and forgetten memory that is almost palpable in this film. Tony Leung gives and excellent performance as Mr. Chow, the main character from In the Mood for Love, who after missing what might have been the opportunity for the love of his life in the previous film, has retreated into the boozing world pulp novelization and meaningless womanizing. The film has been criticized for its meandering and amorphous structure, yet to me its lack of structure which includes flashbacks, flashforwards, memories, and stories gives me the feeling of a sad memory and lost opportunities all done with painfully beautiful photography by three separate cinematographers including, Christopher Doyle. The most affecting passages of the film include his prologed relationship with a call girl played by the ethereal Zhang Ziyi. Her performance is subtle and absolutely magnificent. The first few scenes she has with Leung, she is a hard-to-get flirt who refuses to be with him, but notice the subtlety of her expression when she realizes that she is in love with him, and he tries to pay her for sex. She deserves an Oscar for that moment alone. Later there is a beautiful sequence that is the visualization of the story he is writing in which his alter-ego falls in love with a beautiful, emotionless android played to perfection by Faye Wong. There's an almost Blade Runner like quality in these scenes. I also have to mention the music which Michael Atkinson points out is almost like a movie unto itself. It adds a wonderful depth to the world. It is a sad film, but I'm a sucker for memories of lost love.

Hail Mary

The box from this mid-80's Godard film proudly states, "The most controversial film of the 80's," perhaps because it had the distinction of being condemned by the pope. Godard is no stranger to controversy, though the battle this time is over a religious issue and not a political one. At times Godard has been, unfairly in my opinion, criticised for neglected the spiritual in favor of the social and political. In a sense this may be true, but when watching his film, I often get the sense that he's trying to reach for something deeper than a system of government, and this is the film in which it becomes most direct. Before Scorsese's film, this is like The Last Temptation of Christ for Mary, the mother of Jesus. Unfortunately, it is a more interesting film than it is a good one. It's set in modern day France when Mary, a young high school girl is informed that she will bear a child despite the fact that she has pledged to not have sex. She is, in fact, a virgin, a detail that annoys her boyfriend, Joseph, especially now that she is becoming pregnant. The human doubts, struggles, and disbeliefs over such a miraculous occurrence all play out in the film. How can she be pregnant and still be a virgin? After all, the Mary and Joseph of this film are two very ordinary young people. Perhaps the central focus of this film, in my opinion, is the mysterious dichotemy between body and soul. Much of the controversy over the film I suspect stems from the numerous scenes in which Godard's camera observes Mary's naked body as she develops. Though it is all presented very non-sexually, there seems to be a real facination with the physicality of flesh. Yet this is a film about a divine miracle and life growing within this girl -- the soul. It then also seems to compare the body/soul dynamic with the dichotemy of sound and image -- a facination with the essentials of cinema that Godard has explored and experimented with throughout his career. It's too bad that much of the film seems unnecessarily oblique and at times even borders on boring (not a common Godard trait). I have a feeling that this could have amounted to more profound statement, as it is however, I will settle for some unique observations that don't add up to a cohesive whole.

The Book of Mary

Mary is a 10-ish precocious French girl who occasionally has a tendency to speak in lecture, as if to a class. Part of that may be because she is retreating into her own world because her parents are getting separated. This is a touching little short film. The most memorable scene may be one in which Mary silently dances throughout her house to the strains of a Mahler symphony.

The Musketeers of Pig Alley

Martin Scorsese cited this early Griffith short as being the first gangster film. It's very much a "street film" set among the urban poor and focusing on a young couple and the neighborhood hoodlums or "musketeers." The climactic sequence is justly famous -- particularly a scene in which two rival gangs are stalking each other through an alley as one gangster walks up to the camera in what some describe as the invention of the close up (though I'm not sure that's actually true). It is a great shot though.

A Corner in Wheat

An early short film by D.W. Griffith with a social conscience. When a group of weathy tycoons decide to raise the price on wheat, the poor working class people are left in starve and stand in long bread lines. One of the first times Griffith attempted cross-cutting between two scenes, which creates the most effective sequence, juxtaposing an empoverished bread line with a group of wealthy people lauging it up at a dinner party. Features a kind of you-reap-what-you-sow kind of justice (pun probably intended). There's poetry in the final shot of a downtrodden farmer sowing his seeds in an empty field with his back the camera.

From the Life of the Marionettes

This may be the closest Ingmar Bergman has ever come to making a genre film. It feels like a film noir, or a detective story, except the mystery isn't a whodunit, but a why-did-he-do-it. The film opens on an embrace with sexual vibe going on in the room, suddenly the man begins to choke the woman, kills her, and violates her. This stands out among Bergman films in that it was made in Germany and features no familiar faces in the cast. As a film it's about the mysteries of sex and the need for human connection. Yet intimacy is such a frail thing, and often self-motivated, while sex is an almost metaphysical act determined by very biological functions. Are not we all just slaves to our hormones and to our own selfish desires? That is the question Bergman poses here. He answers it, however, in very Freudian terms with a lot about repressed anger, dominant mothers, sexual misunderstandings, emotional confusion, and even a bit of latent homosexuality. It's an unusual film, even by Bergman standards, yet one which clearly seems to be attempting to shed light on the human soul.

The Old Dark House

This James Whale directed chamber play seems more dead-pan comedy than horror film. The simple premise consists of a group of travelers in the Welsh countryside getting stranded in a storm and forced to take shelter in a creepy, old house whose inhabitants include a female religious nut, her atheist brother, an insane pyromaniac locked and hidden in a room, their 102-year-old father (played by a woman), and a creepy mute butler played by Boris Karloff. Whale's comedy is perverse and entertaining, and he displays his mastery of expressionistic lighting, no doubt influenced by German silent films.

Drole de Drame

Marcel Carne directed this light satire of detective fiction, and people's obsession with the genre. The film features some quaintly humorous scenes, but overall is mostly forgetable, especially when placed along side some of Carne's other accomplishments.

28 Up

How does a child become a man? Those who started as children become adolescents and teenagers, by the time they reach the college age they are young adults, soon they find themselves as full fledged adults. Michael Apted's documentary series bears witness to how children become adults, yet in the adults you can still see the spark and innocence of youth, albeit dimmed by age and experience in "the real world". At 28, the subjects of the film have now mostly settled into adulthood, and seem to be on the path that will lead them for the rest of their lives. The earilier entries all took place during formative, developmental years in which the only thing that was certain was change -- 7, 14, and 21 are all very complex stages of life. By 28, however, those types of developmental changes are mostly over, and we the audience sit back comfortably and watch how their lives have turned out. It's fascinating, sad, and dripping with truth.