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SCREENING LOG
-9/13-9/19, 2004
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The Decalogue, Parts I and II (1987, Krzystof Kieslowski)
I: "Thou shalt have no other God before me"
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094982/
yes
II: "Thou shalt not take the name of thy Lord in vain"
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094984/
yes
Perversely, I wonder if these TV productions would have more
of an impact on me if I saw them on the big screen. I've seen
eight of the ten episodes now and as much as I admire them
for their refreshing approach in resolving traditional notions
of morality with modern-day ethical dilemmas, I've never been
fully absorbed in any of them. Part of the problem for me
is trying to negotiate the moments where I feel the film is
archly rhetorical with the more extraordinary moments where
nothing is explained and life is simply lived on-screen, the
stuff that makes the meaning feel more real and moving. Another
problem I have is that the dilemmas of human life take the
form of heavy ironies (man trusts computer which ultimately
leads to death of son; woman with sick husband must decide
whether to abort her child conceived by another man). They
can feel like the kinds of hypothetical anecdotes one hears
at dinner conversations with lawyers and clergy. Nonetheless,
there are simply too few films these days that even dare to
grapple with contemporary human social problems in all its
ambiguities, and the sheer integrity of these productions
in terms of acting and directing, commands no small measure
of respect.
The Strawberry Blonde (1941, Raoul Walsh)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034236/
Fantastic period piece with James Cagney in one of his best
performances, as a feisty city lad longing for the love of
a stunning Rita Hayworth but learning to settle for the steady
devotion of Olivia de Havilland (not a bad looker herself).
Walsh's eye for turn-of-the-century detail is impeccable and
lovingly attentive: barbershop singers, carriage rides and
kerosene street lamps manually lit at night all feel authentic,
but are imbued with an extra special something thanks to buoyant
performances and a constant soundtrack of old-time favorites.
The story kind of loses a step near the end as it dwells on
Cagney's ill-advised business partnership with Hayworth's
husband (leading to one of the cheerful incarceration sequences
ever filmed), but by and large this shares a good deal of
the greatness of THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS or MEET ME IN ST.
LOUIS, in bringing the nostalgic past back to vivid life.
YES (#6 for 1941 between THE LADY EVE and SUSPICION)
Ruggles of Red Gap (1935, Leo McCarey)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0026955/
One of the great movies about American immigrants and the
values they come to adopt in ways that other Americans take
for granted. Charles Laughton gives a stiff-backed performance
as a high-class servant that risks being as smug as Peter
Sellers in BEING THERE. But unlike Chauncey Gardner, Laughton's
butler undergoes a profound radical change as a result of
being lost in a bet by his English master to a rough-and-ready
Montana entrepreneur. Laughton's transplantation in the American
frontier leads to his gradual shedding of Old World class
prejudices and self-realization as a man equal in stature
to everyone else. The way he gets misidentified as an English
colonel, leading to a sudden elevation in status and esteem,
really gets at something profoundly true about how malleable
identity is in America (well at least for white people), and
the liberating effect on Laughton's character is profoundly
moving, as is his recitation of the Gettysburg Address. McCarey
has a lot of fun with the caricatures performed by his lively
ensemble, in such a provocative way that turns stereotyping
into a means of communal embrace of diversity, instead of
snobbish discrimination. (Fans of TOKYO STORY may take note
of a scene with three drunken men staggering home not dissimilar
to a scene in Ozu's film.) YES (#2 for 1935 between BRIDE
OF FRANKENSTEIN and THE 39 STEPS)
City Girl (1930, F.W. Murnau)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0020768/
TABU notwithstanding, I would say that this is the Murnau
film that exemplifies his most sensitive and loving portrayal
of human relationships in his too-brief career; the relative
lack of formal experimentation that makes his earlier films
famous only helps to bring the human element into relief.
The scenes in the city are pretty much flawless, especially
in how it juxtaposes the blossoming love between two people
amidst the coarse bustle of a busy diner -- if only all Hollywood
meet cutes were as deftly handled as this! The second half
is more convential melodrama, with an imperiled virgin subplot
that seems taken from Griffith, but on the whole the movie
is essential Murnau. YES (#3 for 1930 between L'AGE D'OR and
MOROCCO)
The 39 Steps (1935, Alfred Hitchcock) second viewing
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0026029/
The blueprint for Hitchcock's illustrious career can pretty
much be found here; his expressionistic style, subjective
camerawork and penchant for set-pieces are soundly linked
to themes of victimization and guilt, moral anxiety leading
to aggressive actions, role-playing and false identities to
deceive others in order to achieve goals, sexual relationships
and the necessity of casual misogyny to overcome sexual fears,
etc. etc. As in SABOTAGE, there's also a bit of self-reflexive
acknowledgement of entertainment (what Hitch's films have
amounted to for the vast majority of viewers) amounting to
a mere surface to distract the audience from a much darker
world lurking behind the screen. Nonetheless the film is immensely
rich and entertaining on many levels. The Criterion DVD has
a beautiful print and features astute commentary by Marian
Keane. YES (#3 for 1935 between RUGGLES OF RED GAP and A NIGHT
AT THE OPERA)
I also rewatched parts of Michael Winterbottom's In This
World (2002) which I've decided to upgrade from mixed
to yes by sheer virtue of the content -- but it could have
been such a better movie if it weren't for the way the content
is treated for maximum appeal to bleeding-heart liberal audiences
(over-the-top strings on the soundtrack, Indiana Jones maps,
rushed pacing for people with low attention spans). And also
Kelly and Donen's On the Town (1949) a certifiable
YES which is now officially one of my all time favorite New
York movies.
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