SCREENING LOG - 12/11/2006-12/17/2006

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Pick 3 Film of the Week
Objective, Burma! (1943, Raoul Walsh)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037954/
Much of this film plays like an anachronism constrained by WWII propaganda filmmaking -- for the first half the US troops roll through their mission with impunity, slaughtering Japs by the dozens. This ease of warfare is a way to lure the viewer into the narrative before things get upsetting and American soldiers start dying (though almost all of them do so offscreen). Walsh is able to keep this gripping for the most part using the old school horror movie tactics of unseen menace and psychological tension as the troop begins to unravel as the mission goes awry. Errol Flynn is charming as the leader of the platoon, and the supporting cast is solid.
yes

The Burnt Theatre (2005, Rithy Panh) second viewing
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0461743/
A fluid, occasionally magical portrait of a theatre troupe in Cambodia struggling to make a living through various means, with the narrative slipping effortlessly between documentary and fiction, not unlike a number of other remarkable films seen this year (BORAT, I AM A SEX ADDICT). It's filled with a lot of incidental information about contemorary life in Cambodia, though it isn't quite as concentrated or orchestrated in its wonders as I remembered it, and so it falls from my top ten of this year. But it shares and in some way builds upon the relationship between work and play-acting that were explored in a much starker manner in Panh's S21: THE KHMER ROUGE KILLING MACHINE.
yes (#22 for new films seen in 2006 between A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION and HALF MOON)

My Dad Is 100 Years Old (2005, Guy Maddin)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0477785/
Isabella Rossellini's tribute to her late father Roberto is stylistically cheeky and ironic in its treatment of her father's life, ideas and approach to cinema-as-truth, thanks in no small part to Guy Maddin's wacky aestheticism, the very antithesis of Rossellini's direct, no-frills approach. And yet, Maddin, film geek that he is, retains a sincere respectfulness towards Roberto Rossellini's art, whose rawness of the image he shares (though this is one of his slickest, least dirty-looking films -- he certainly knows how to light up Isabella like a 30s goddess). Isabella narrates the film from the vantage point of her father's enormous belly, her first impressions of her father from childhood. She goes on to play her father, her mother Ingrid Bergman, as well as David O. Selznick, Alfred Hitchcock, Federico Fellini and Charlie Chaplin, single-handedly enacting an freewheeling debate on cinematic truth. For those unfamiliar with Rossellini, this film serves an excellent primer on the significance of his long-forlorn body of work. Beyond that, the film stands as a moving tribute from a daughter to her father.
yes

Bergman Island (2005, Marie Nyerod)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0469772/
Ingmar Bergman, now in his late 80s, has permanently retired to his secluded home on the Swedish island of Faro. This documentary takes a look at his daily life on his estate, mixed with Bergman's first-person recollections of his life and work. It's a generous offering of information on the man, and it often feels that Bergman himself is directing, in that his persona seems so dominant in every frame. Many lovely moments throughout, from Bergman talking about how Victor Sjostrom kicked his ass while shooting his first movie to his writing a list of his own worst demons. Watching this octagenarian still sparkling with thought, wit, anxiety and humor in his twilight years is quite an inspiring sight to behold.
yes

Thank You for Smoking (Jason Reitman)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0427944/
It's interesting that, in the seven years since THE INSIDER signified the official vilification of the tobacco industry, we're at a point where we can see them as the underdog in a losing battle and actually feel some perverse fascination in how they can possibly salvage their image. This film, based on Christopher Buckley's 1994 bestseller, is set right before the tobacco industry was slammed with mega-lawsuits and shows a super-spin doctor at work making friends with cancer victims on talk shows, bribing the Marlboro Man to keep his mouth shut when he's diagnosed with emphysema, and telling his son's class that they have the right to try smoking if they want to (once they turn eighteen, wink). At first the film lays the snarkiness on a bit thick, but by the end the libertarian issues take firm root and have me wondering just what freedom in this country really means. Aaron Eckhart gets the wiseass part of his character right, but he lacks a real sensitvity when the movie tries to show his weaker, more human side.
yes

District B13 (Pierre Morel)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0414852/
This is the first real look I've had at the European phenomenon known as parkour, where people run, jump, twist and turn through all kinds of found obstacles in any given urban environment. (viewers of CASINO ROYALE have already been treated to a taste of this in the film's opening action sequence). It's a blend of extreme sports and martial arts that can be breathtaking to watch. Such was the case in a bracing 10 minute chase sequence featuring parkour founder and master practicioner David Belle running sideways, bouncing down stairwells and scaling walls in escape from the enemy. It's some of the most thrilling action cinema in some time. Too bad the rest of the film doesn't quite reach the same standard - there's only one other true action sequence, the rest is standard issue guns-and-trashtalk.
mixed

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