SCREENING LOG - 10/27-11/2, 2003

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From the Ozu retrospective at Lincoln Center, I watched DRAGNET GIRL, PASSING FANCY, A MOTHER SHOULD BE LOVED, A STORY OF FLOATING WEEDS, LATE AUTUMN and END OF SUMMER. Also, IL GRIDO, THE STATION AGENT, PYAASA, THE LOWER DEPTHS, NIGHTS OF CABIRIA, THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (1974) and THOSE WHO LOVE ME CAN TAKE THE TRAIN.

6 x Yasujiro Ozu

in chronological order:

Dragnet Girl (1933)

http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0024120/

Josef von Sternberg doesn't get as much mention as Frank Borzage or Ernst Lubitsch as an early Ozu influence, but those familiar with the dense arrangement of objects onscreen in Sternberg films may see the resemblance in both early and late Ozu films. This moody, expressionist pre-noir potboiler exhibits plenty of inspired clutter (most memorably the RCA Victor dog) and stylistic fluorishes (tracking shots, pull shots, and memorable use of shadow) as it tells the story of a gangster and his good-girl-gone-bad moll (Kinuyo Tanaka) as they experience an spiritual awakening through the good graces of an innocent girl. Redemption seems to be a recurring motif in Ozu's gangster movies (WALK CHEEFULLY, THAT NIGHT'S WIFE), and one wonders if bad guy heroes turning themselves in is a convention of the genre or indicative of Ozu's feelings about the criminal life he was assigned to depict. Whatever the case, the climax (involving the single gunshot fired in the entire existing Ozu canon) is as suspenseful and emotionally powerful as anything Ozu filmed. #7 for 1933 between WOMAN OF TOKYO and DINNER AT EIGHT

Passing Fancy (1933)

http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0023937/

Takeshi Sakamoto and Tokan Kozzo team up memorably yet again as an unemployed illiterate drunk and his resentful son, in this sentimental study of working class father-son relationships. As in I WAS BORN BUT... and TOKYO CHORUS, Ozu explores how children measure their self-esteem in their parents. #9 for 1933

A Mother Should Be Loved (1934)

http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0025214/

Sadly, the first and last reels are missing from this story of the turbulent relationship between a single mother and her two sons, one of whom is deeply jealous of the attention lavished on his brother by their mother, which in turn causes the other brother to resent his mother as well. The missing ending is supposed to present a happy resolution, but what still exists in print is a bizarre quasi-Oedipal melodrama that strongly hints at psycho-sexual tensions between family members, something I've never seen anywhere else among Ozu's numerous family studies. Several scenes take place in a brothel, a "home away from home" for the brothers, further adding to the weirdness. But perhaps most beguiling of all is a German poster celebrating the tricentennial of a passion play that hangs prominently in the family's living room. All in all, a most bizarre entry in the Ozu canon. #6 for 1934

A Story of Floating Weeds (1934)

http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0025929/

Remakably similar in structure yet different in tonal effect to Ozu's more famous 1959 remake, this story of a travelling troupe's last days in a seaside village was one of Ozu's first forays into a quiet, rural background, though it still feels brisk compared to the more staid and sumptuous remake. The depictions of stage life are more slapstick-oriented than in the remake (most notably in Tokkan Kozo's hilarious turn in a full-sized dog costume), but are counterbalanced by sensitive portrayals of all the characters, especially the great, dignified lead performance by Takeshi Sakamoto. The romantic interludes are as powerful as in the remake, though without employing the overt sensuality of on-screen kissing; instead there appears to be the use of a filter or gauze to give the scenes between the young couple an otherworldly effect, which gives more emphasis of the idea of the actress employed to seduce the troupe leader's son enacting a "performance", an idea that I would have like to have seen developed even further. Even so, this is a marvellous work with a set of wonders distinguishable from that of the remake. #3 for 1934 between L'ATALANTE and OUR DAILY BREAD

Late Autumn (1960)

http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0053579/

A trio of old buddies intervenes in the affairs of their old college crush, now a recent widow, and her daughter. The daughter won't marry, afraid to leave her mother alone; the guys attempt to arrange a marriage between one of them and the mother, with near-disastrous results. Ozu's attentiveness to the pleasure of small moments shared between good friends is at its peak of perfection -- as in all his best films, one forgets that they're following a story and is just "hanging out" with the people onscreen. However, there's much more to this film than a matchmaking lark -- the pleasure that the viewer gets as a fellow matchmaker conspiring among the men gives way to the quiet pain of mother and daughter as they face imminent separation, leading to an ending every bit as heartbreaking as that of LATE SPRING. #6 for 1960 between MUGHAL-E-AZAM and PEEPING TOM

End of Summer (1961)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055052/

(note: this screened on a less-than-optimal 16mm print, probably because it was not a Shochiku production and therefore not included in the recent restoration of Ozu's works).

Quite unlike any other Ozu film, this chronicle of a wealthy patriarch's last days seems to float dreamlike as if conjured up within the dying man's subconscious: playing hide-and-seek with his grandchild, leaving his family to visit the house of an old flame. The uncharacterisitc score by Toshiro Mayazumi, with its use of chamber music and wind instruments, adds to the surreal quality, as do appearances made by white American boys (the only appearances made by non-Japanese actors in all of Ozu's oeuvre, I believe). As is typical of late period Ozu, there's not much apparent conflict driving the narrative, merely a weaving of isolated moments between several characters, but what gives this film its indelible effect is the succession of astounding images: a girl getting ready for a date while standing next to a dead man, a funeral procession of people dressed in black matched with a flock of ravens. A film about mortality devoid of pathos, it is a deeply disturbing work. #9 for 1961, between WEST SIDE STORY and A WOMAN IS A WOMAN

The rest, in order of preference:

Johnny Guitar story of his life (!) movie of the week

Pyaasa (1957, Guru Dutt)

http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0050870/

Guru Dutt's masterpiece is a brilliant fusion of musical entertainment and social philosophy -- rarely have social discontent and spiritual longing been expressed with such melodic sensuousness. Dutt gives an impassioned performance as a destitute poet caught between the rigid borders that divide class values: his character is looked down upon as a low-class upstart by established poets and publishers, while he is rejected as a useless loafer by his own family. The music by S.D. Burman has a tuneful simplicity that finds a powerful synergy with Sadhir Ludhianvi's simple yet profound lyrics; they acutely observe the inequities that surround Dutt's character, as if he were an Indian William Blake. The magnificent camerawork, often employed in settings lushly adorned in mist and shadow, sweeps from grand shots of surging anonymous crowds to scrutinizing close-ups worthy of Carl Dreyer. Dreyer (and Mizoguchi) make for good comparisons to Dutt's moving story of a social outcast subjected to the horrendous abuse of the material world for the sake of holding firm to impossible ideals. #2 for 1957 between MOTHER INDIA and APARAJITO ali-112 (and everyone else's it seems) Fixing recommendation of the week

Nights of Cabiria (1957, Federico Fellini)

http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0050783/

Fellini's sprawling masterpiece (are there any Fellini films that aren't sprawling?) follows Giulietta Masina as a prostitute through five interlocking adventures that reflect on her own ideals of love and how easily they are abused in the real world. It's a film of troubling yet powerful contradictions. There's an unlikely mix of gritty neo-realist settings and brash street encounters (contributed by Pier Paolo Pasolini's writing) and the sublime, circus-like magical moments that only Fellini can conjure. The story takes us through a series of powerful experiences covering all corners of Italian life -- from a posh celebrity penthouse to the dirt pits inhabited by the homeless; from a majestic cathedral bathed in daylight and churchbells to a seedy nightclub tinkling with music and a magician's oily stage show -- expereiences both exciting and horrendous, and yet Masina's character doesn't seem to have learned a thing. Cabiria is the biggest paradox of all, a tough-as-nails hooker with a heart of molten gold, often an object of the audience's pity and condescension at her dignified dum-dum ways, and yet Masina's mannered, Chaplinesque performance eludes criticism, it seems absurdly unrealistic yet she creates her own reality that makes complete sense: every gesture, utterance and pratfall has its own self-contained beauty that transforms everything around it. She's a tremendous contributor to the hypnotic spell the film weaves on the viewer; other key factors are the gliding camerawork and of course Nino Rota's wistful score. I wouldn't have noticed how captivated I was by these exceptional contributors were it not for the ending, a make-or-break gambit that took me out of the film and had me wondering about what I had just watched really amounted to. I'm still not quite sure, other than that it was a lot. #6 for 1957 between A KING IN NEW YORK and WILL SUCCESS SPOIL ROCK HUNTER?

Il Grido (1957, Michelangelo Antonioni)

http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0050458/

Antonioni was exploring the malaise of modern life well before L'AVVENTURA made him into an international sensation; personally I prefer this masterpiece more than any of his subsequent films, save L'ECLISSE, because it still has the healthy neo-realist flavor of a rural working-class setting (though stunningly invaded by the industrial sounds and imagery that would later take over the screen in RED DESERT), which goes to show that alienation isn't just exclusive to the rich. Steve Cochrane plays a refinery worker who splits with his lover (Alida Valli) and shacks up with a series of working class lovers (Betsy Blair, Dorian Gray, Lynn Shaw, all excellent), only to gradually realize that he can only live as he had before, a way of life which has no longer become sustainable. The film is shot beautifully, capturing a fog-covered landscape rich in metaphorical meaning. This film, for me, does an exceptional job of validating Antonioni's reputation in depicting the impossibility of people's ability to achieve lasting happiness in the modern world, and their poignant struggle to make do and carry on the best way they know how. #8 for 1957 between WILL SUCCESS SPOIL ROCK HUNTER? and THRONE OF BLOOD

Chris-435 "the collective massmind" is what's for supper Halloween movie of the week

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974, Tobe Hooper)

http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0072271/

Time hasn't been entirely kind to this landmark horror movie about a pack of teens who fatally encounter an all-male family of former slaughterhouse employees-turned-cannibals -- there have been too many borrowings of this film's themes of cannibalism, stylized graphic grotesquerie and teenage massacre. But the spirit of the film remains untarnished: raw, screaming terror, epitomized in the relentless, almost hypnotic drone of Leatherface's chainsaw. What I found most interesting, aside from the sheer low-budget resourcefulness of Hooper's filmmaking talents, was the black humor of the latter half of the film, that approached the realm of family sitcom. For the above reasons, I find this the closest cinematic equivalent to the music of The Ramones (though I like The Ramones a lot more) -- given what little I know about horror, this may be the first true "punk" slasher movie, at least the one that embodies the true spirit of punk. #7 for 1974 between THE GODFATHER PART II and A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE

Fesch and Mike F-6 recommendation of the week

The Station Agent (2003, Thomas McCarthy)

http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0340377/

An unsocial dwarf (Peter Dinklage) moves to the sticks to occupy the decrepit train station he's inherited; gradually his life becomes enmeshed with a garrulous Puerto Rican hot dog vendor (Bobby Cannavale) and an artist in the midst of marital upheaval (Patricia Clarkson). This unlikely but charming story sneaks up on you in an earnest quiet way, giving plenty of space for the characters to seep into the viewer's sympathies. Lovely performances abound, especially Patricia Clarkson as the oddly sensual middle-aged artist. The only misstep is with a couple of awkwardly handled scenes dealing with the dwarf's sense of displacement -- then the film defeats its own implicit purpose of portraying him as a human being first and foremost. On the other hand, these off moments show how much the film had succeeded up to that point. #5 for 2003 IMDb releases between MYSTIC RIVER and CRIMSON GOLD #18 for new movies seen in 2003, between "GOING HOME" from THREE and CRIMSON GOLD

Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train (1998, Patrice Chereau)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118834/

The friends and lovers of a recently deceased Paris artist take the train to Limonges (home of one of the most extraodinarily immense cemetaries I've seen) for his funeral, giving opportunity for much bickering and personal stock-taking among themselves. I found this story idea very interesting, esp. in its structural design, this feeling of an ensemble being propelled by a speeding train as well as their own unhinged emotional states, giving way to a splendid funeral scene and a relatively tranquil, reflective aftermath. It was just hard to get into at first, as I had trouble connecting with the characters (even with Pascal Greggory, having seen two great performances by him in the past month). The jitterbug camerawork, which I find so elegant and purposeful in the best films of Olivier Assayas, struck me here as being more of a stylistic affectation, and the eclectic soundtrack was relentless. Still, parts of this play very well in retrospect; this may grow on me over time.

The Lower Depths (1957, Akira Kurosawa)

http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0050330/

I am not familiar with the Maxim Gorky play about tenement residents that inspired this filmed adaptation, but I found this rough going regardless. It's deliberately stagey and theatrical in its staging and performances, yet cinematically uninspiring compared to what Sidney Lumet was able to get out of a single room in TWELVE ANGRY MEN or Kurosawa himself achieved in the first hour of HIGH AND LOW. The characters are played so broadly that it's hard to buy any of this as real. This ranks alongside Hitchcock's JUNO AND THE PAYCOCK as cautionary tales for major directors attempting to adapt stage productions for the screen.

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