SCREENING LOG - 11/12-11/18, 2001

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I watched A Touch of Zen, The Obscure Object of Desire, Wild Strawberries, The Love of Jeanne Ney, Gertrud and The Seventh Seal. In order of preference:

Love of Jeanne Ney (1927, Georg Wilhelm Pabst)

One of the most dazzling first hours of cinema, rivaling SUNRISE in terms of invention and lyricism, only to be marred by melodrama and a standard cliffhanger climax in the second half. Still, the filmmaking evidenced here is both inspired and inspiring, with moments of unforgettable breathtaking lyricism and power.

A Touch of Zen (Hsia Nu) (1969, King Hu)

Arguably the greatest martial arts movie ever made, offering a textbook of elements from which countless Asian sword-and-costume films have pilfered, while retaining an artistic vision that remains to be equaled by its successors. The first hour is a moody, paranoid ghost story; the second hour a more conventional series of intrigues and sword fights. The third hour... has to be seen to be believed. Only a spattering of inadequate descriptions can be summoned: "golden", "transcendent" and "a heck of a lot better than Crouching Tiger."

Wild Strawberries (1957, Ingmar Bergman)

The earliest instance I can tell of Ingmar Bergman learning to get out of the way and let his movie and his characters tell the story for him, something I wish he'd done more often. The great actor/director Victor Sjostrom, in his last role, is excellent as the aging professor's mental journey through a lifetime of petty cruelties. The sorrow is delicately meted out in teaspoons, and a sense of uneasy grace is found.

The Obscure Object of Desire (1978, Luis Bunuel)

More late-period hijinks from the Surrealist master, involving a bourgeois everyman in a frustrating love affair with a young woman (played by two actresses, taking turns). Embracing the cliches of middle-class romance head on while turning them on their heads, the film manages to be trite and profound at once.

Gertrud (1965, Carl Dreyer)

Challenging, beautiful and tedious, this is Stanley Kubrick without the window dressing. Dreyer's last film, and in many ways his purest film, as it is about a woman who seeks purity of love, without compromise. I can't say I enjoyed myself, but in many ways I am deeply impressed by the integrity of vision at work.

Seventh Seal (1956, Ingmar Bergman)

I'll just say that this film belongs in the top 10 of our little non-American films poll as much as THE GRADUATE belongs in the AFI's top 10. It's more a matter of praisng aura and perceived cultural impact than the actual virtues of the filmmaking.

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