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SCREENING LOG
-10/25-10/31, 2004
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Reds (1981, Warren Beatty)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082979/
yes (YES for the first half, worthy of comparison with top-shelf
Altman and Welles. Mixed-yes for the second Hollywood melodrama
half)(tied for #1 for 1981 with EXCALIBUR, that other myth
of lost Utopia of the year)
A Page of Madness (1926, Teinosuke Kinugasa)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0017048/
To be honest I need to see this again as I could barely piece
out the plot - but the visuals and the rhythm were utterly
hypnotic.
YES (#1 for 1926)
Judex (1916, Louis Feuillade)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0006886/
Aside from an Oedipal plot twist introduced near the end,
it's somewhat tame and disappointing compared to LES VAMPIRES
-- the cast of characters is not as sprawling so it feels
more controlled and contained, which I think is antithetical
to what makes Feuillade so unique. yes (#3 for 1916 between
INTOLERANCE and THE FLOORWALKER)
Life is Sweet (1990, Mike Leigh)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100024/
Much prefer this over the currently praised VERA DRAKE --
the characters are much less iconic and more rangy and "in
process", and leave much more of an impression as a result.
YES (#3 for 1990 between TO SLEEP WITH ANGER and GOODFELLAS)
Dracula (1931, Tod Browning)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0021814/
yes (tied for #9 for 1931 with "SPANISH" DRACULA between
TABU and A NOUS LA LIBERTE)
"Spanish" Dracula (1931, George Melford, Enrique Tovar
Avalos)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0021815/
yes (tied for #9 for 1931 with DRACULA between TABU and A
NOUS LA LIBERTE)
Can't say I prefer one version over the other -- they both
have their relative strengths and weaknesses. Lugosi and brevity
in storytelling vs. higher level of craftsmanship and lower
decolletage on the Spanish ladies.
I Walked With a Zombie (1943, Jacques Tourneur)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036027/
Totally spellbinding and beautifully haunting -- unquestionably
my favorite of the four Tourneur films I've seen, and the
one that finally helped me get what Tourneur is about. YES
YES (#2 for 1943 between MESHES OF THE AFTERNOON and DAY OF
WRATH)
Fant(TM)mas - Ë l'ombre de la guillotine (1913, Louis Feuillade)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0002844/
So far so good -- the first episode is a brilliant work of
montage, and the third episode is startlingly self-reflexive.
YES (#1 for 1913)
The Thing (1982, John Carpenter)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084787/
Too much Kubrick and Ridley Scott, not enough Howard Hawks.
mixed tending to no
Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary (2002, Guy Maddin)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0293113/
I'd say this is weaker than THE SADDEST MUSIC IN THE WORLD
and COWARDS BEND THE KNEE -- for me Maddin's occasional flaw
is that he stretches his ideas too thin, and I think this
is the case here. mixed
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