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SCREENING LOG
-8/23-8/29, 2004
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I wasn't planning my past week's viewings with this in mind,
but as I reviewed these titles I realized they fell under
two general categories, and so I decided that in the Olympic
spirit I'd award medals to the best of them.
Cineolympic competition #1: Neo-realism
Gold medal winner
Bellissima (1951, Luchino Visconti)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043332/
Anna Magnani is an ambitious working-class mother trying
to get her little girl into the pictures and ends up getting
into far more trouble than she expected. More than any other
Visconti film, I'd say this one belongs on an Italian neo-realism
syllabus, even more than LA TERRA TREMA -- because it makes
explicit what was implicit in LA TERRA TREMA, the question
of what role the neo-realist filmmaker and the filmmaking
industry play in depicting and, presumably, improving the
lives of its impoverished subjects. Visconti's conclusion
is soberingly "realistic", at once pessimistic about movies
and hopeful about people, acknowledging the limitations of
cinema and art to change the world, which I guess was Visconti's
way to justify turning his back on neo-realism for the remainder
of his career. YES (#4 for 1951 between EARLY SUMMER and AN
AMERICAN IN PARIS)
Bronze medal
Durian, Durian (2000, Fruit Chan)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0255327/
This grittily realistic tale of a mainland Chinese prostitute
and a young girl, both itinerantly situated in the economic
boom area of southern China, is a considerable stylistic departure
from the anything-goes approach to filming the slums employed
in Chan's breakthrough film, MADE IN HONG KONG. Here it's
straighter neo-realism with scenes of the prostitute engaging
in explicit sex jarringy juxtaposed with scenes of the little
girl engaging in G-rated family banter. Much of the film,
especially the prostitute's homecoming in the industrial north,
plays like sociological journalism, that is to say, lots of
information conveyed but not in a particularly engaging manner.
mixed
Silver medal
Fires Were Started (1943, Humphrey Jennings)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035881/
A documentary-style depiction of the brave firefighters who
battled the blazes that engulfed Britain during the Nazi bombing
raids. The systems and routines of the firemen and the communication
system that dispatches them is meticulously charted but also
boasts a captivating rhythm of sound and editing that becomes
a cinematic celebration of work and duty, worthy of the 20s
"day in the life" docs of Dziga Vertov or Walter Ruttmann.
This is British neo-realism that's more dynamic, more focused,
more lyrical and more humane than virtually any of the British
Free Cinema turks who came up in the 60s -- what a shame that
Jennings died young, he could have shown the next generation
a thing or two and given Michael Powell a run for his money.
YES (#4 for 1943 between THE LIFE AND DEATH OF COLONEL BLIMP
and RED HOT RIDING HOOD)
Cineolympic Competition #2: Human Behavioral Dysfunction
Dog Days (2001, Ulrich Seidl)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0290661/
mixed
Bad Santa (2003, Terry Zwigoff)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0307987/
yes
Bronze medal
Cowards Bend the Knee (2003, Guy Maddin)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0346800/
yes (#20 for new films seen in 2004 between THE SADDEST MUSIC
IN THE WORLD and THE BEAUTIFUL WASHING MACHINE)
Silver medal
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951, Robert Wise)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043456/
yes (#8 for 1951 between STRANGERS ON A TRAIN and THE AFRICAN
QUEEN)
Gold Medal
Mon Oncle d'Amerique (1980, Alain Resnais)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081176/
yes (#5 for 1980 between LOULOU and THE SHINING)
Medal Count: France - 1 Gold Italy - 1 Gold UK - 1 Silver
US - 1 Silver Canada - 1 Bronze Hong Kong - 1 Bronze
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