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SCREENING LOG
- 12/20-12/25/2005
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The New World (2005, Terence Malick)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0402399
barely yes
I'm willing to give Malick the benefit of a doubt, he's certainly earned it. I go back and forth between seeing THE NEW WORLD as some kind of cool alternative way of storytelling, vs. lazy storytelling. I may be swinging towards the latter. All that saves it are several images that hold on tooth and nail to that "yes" rating. In fact the movie was a YES for the first third and then started to crumble. It basically has the same strengths and weaknesses as THE THIN RED LINE -- a poetic narrative structure that's very heavy on breathtaking imagery, but starts to seriously lose momentum in the second half. In THE THIN RED LINE the stakes were higher and so was the poetic achievement -- here it feels too dissolute.
Also I would have figured Malick to be the last director on earth to envision Pocahontas as a Native American Britney Spears -- but lo there she is in a deerskin outfit that looks like its straight out of the Versace fall collection.
The War Game (1965, Peter Watkins)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059894
YES (#2 for 1965 between PIERROT LE FOU and BATTLE OF ALGIERS)
White Dog (1982, Sam Fuller)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084899
yes
Angel Face (1952, Otto Preminger)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044357
TSPDT project #809
YES YES (#1 for 1952)
Though the only other Preminger noir I've seen is LAURA, but the things that struck me as a bit off about LAURA work a lot better for me in this one -- namely, the woodenness of the performances. People act as if they are acting, which totally fits this world of repression and deception. Of course you know I'm going to say it, that it's proto-Bressonian. Preminger's direction of actors creates a certain tonal tension -- something in the deliveries is off, like people aren't really being naturally themselves, and I find it very effective.
The narrative does what film noir narratives do best, lead you by the nose down a dark garden path without letting on that you're being manipulated through an elaborate mousetrap of contrivances and coincidences.
The cast is uniformly excellent - the Jean Simmons character is quite a concoction, and she is perfect at not overplaying her hysteria, letting it bubble underneath until it explodes in secret malicious acts. Robert Mitchum is as good as I've ever seen him, with so much understated intelligence and decency underneath his meaty mug and yet it still can't save him.
How interesting that my two favorite Premingers are ANGEL FACE and BONJOUR TRISTESSE, they have a lot in common storywise. I just love these self-destructive young women - must be the savior complex in me.
Fallen Angels (1995, Wong Kar Wai) second viewing
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112913
yes
The Aimless Bullet (1960, Yoo Hyun Mok)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053577
yes
Cache (2005, Michael Haneke)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387898
YES YES (#1 for new films seen in 2005)
Punishment Park (1971, Peter Watkins)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt006763
mixed
Turning Gate (2002, Hong Sang-soo) second viewing
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0313550
YES YES
A Christmas Story (1983, Bob Clark) second viewing
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085334
yes (#8 for 1983 between HOMECOMING and NOSTALGHIA)
King Kong (2005, Peter Jackson)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0360717
mixed (YES for Naomi Watts and emoti-Kong, NO for the rest of the movie)
Christmas in July (1940, Preston Sturges)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032338
yes
Cocktease of the Week:
my not-so-legitimate DVD of Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995, Aditya Chopra)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112870
which was a YES YES for the first 10 minutes before it crapped out.
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