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SCREENING LOG
- 11/24-11/30, 2003
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I watched KHRUSTALYOV, MY CAR!, ONIBABA, MAN OF MARBLE,
THE BITTER TEARS OF PETRA VON KANT, LOVE ACTUALLY, HOLIDAY
and PADRE PADRONE. In order of preference:
The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972, Rainer Werner
Fassbinder)
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0068278/
A masterpiece from the early part of the tumultuous profilic
period that is '70s Fassbinder, one that brilliantly transforms
what could have easily been single-set canned theater into
a vibrant, dense and shifting screen of visual signs bespeaking
a tempest of oppressive relationships, thinly veiled emotions
and shattered desires. A moody, self-absorbed woman fashion
designer (Margit Carstensen, with a face that seems chiseled
in ice and slowly melting under the lights) seduces a woman
model (a hazardously innocent Hanna Schygulla) only to be
spurned by her as well as all her friends and family. An air
of intense ambivalence, as intoxicating as it is suffocating,
pervades in every onscreen exchange, as well as the plethora
of inanimate objects (from life-sized mannequins to a larger
than life painting of a bacchanale, all brilliantly shot in
garish, blazing colors by Michael Ballhaus) that seem to hover
omnipresently in the background, commenting constantly on
the proceedings. A phenomenal cast (including a mask-faced
Irm Hermann as the mute secretary) operates at its understatedly
bitchy best. While there are too many great Fassbinder films
to single one out as the best, this is probably the key film
in understanding his deeply conflicted attitude towards the
ways of the world. #3 for 1972 between INTIMATE CONFESSIONS
OF A CHINESE COURTESAN and CHLOE IN THE AFTERNOON
Padre Padrone (1977, Paolo and Vittorio Taviani)
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0076517/
A childhood and coming-of-age story based on the experiences
of Gavino Ledda (who appears onscreen to introduce and conclude
the film), who grew up tending his oppressive father's farm
in remote Sardinia but eventually found the means to educate
himself as a young adult. The film has a rough, crude look
and feel to it (that recalls Pasolini's color films) that
is not inappropriate to the setting. The episodic narrative
is blessed with memorable moments and images that capture
the harsh realities of rustic life, captured through a generally
static, no-frills camera that allows dramatic tension to accumulate
over the film's duration while placing the viewer at a contemplative
distance. However the unflinching neo-realism is peppered
with interesting stylistic devices such as titles commenting
directly on the action and interior monologues made not only
by people but by animals. A great film filled with detailed
observations of a way of life gently reflected upon with a
mix of bemusement, sadness, and wonder. #5 for 1977 between
ERASERHEAD and INVINCIBLE ARMOUR
Holiday (1938, George Cukor)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0030241/
The other great Kate Hepburn-Cary Grant comedy of 1938. Headstrong
Kate negotiates the marriage between her own prissy sister
and a robust, back-flipping Grant, only to realize that he
is her own kindred spirit. Though it never quite overcomes
its theatrical trappings, Cukor makes a virtue of stagey enunciations
and coordinates the dialogues with characteristic zest. Grant
and Hepburn are priceless, displaying all the intimacy and
emotional sensitivity they were preculded from exhibiting
amidst their antics for Howard Hawks. The ensemble is first
rate, particularly Lew Ayres, who lends a haunting presence
as Hepburn's alcoholic brother. #2 for 1938 between BRINGING
UP BABY and THE 400 MILLION
Love Actually (2003, Richard Curtis)
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0314331/
Curtis, who cornered the romantic comedy genre with blockbuster
scripts FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL and NOTTING HILL, shoots
for the moon with an epic multi-character fresco involving
a dozen or so stars that plays like a who's-who of rom-com
converging in a half-dozen intersecting plots that all feel
fairly familiar (even the one about the porn actors falling
in love while performing on set feels like a joke told once
too often). None of them are substantial enough to stand on
their own, but Curtis wisely chops them up and injects them
with growth serum so that the film is a near-non-stop succession
of Rom-Com Movie Moments played for maximum yippee-and-hooray-for-love
effect. The emerging winners of the battle royale ensemble
for me would be Hugh Grant (whose role as the Prime Minister
saving Britain from President Billy Bob Thornton is the most
wink to the audience not to take things too seriously), Laura
Linney (taking things too seriously, but is good at it), Keira
Knightley (drool), Martina McCutchen (drool -- AND she can
act) and Emma Thompson (who seems to have jilted housewife
actress' playbook down cold, putting new spins on old sobs).
Losers would be Colin Firth (who seems to be slumming in the
nerdy do-gooder bit), Alan Rickman (who seems lost), and Liam
Neeson (who's just plain dull). Watching this was like spending
two hours eating triple-layered chocolate fudge cake iced
with pheromones, with both my stomach and my genitalia left
aching from the non-stop succession of go-for-broke sentiment
and unbridled coupling onscreen. Whatever the case, as far
as over-the-top genre blow-outs go, this worked for me in
all the ways the Fourth Film by Tarantino did not. #7 for
2003 between CRIMSON GOLD and PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN #18
for new films seen in 2003 between CRIMSON GOLD and PIRATES
OF THE CARIBBEAN
Man of Marble (1977, Andrzej Wajda)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075902/
An aggressive female film student investigates the life of
a Stalin-era hero who fell out of favor after taking his own
government-fabricated image too seriously. General consensus
seems to elevate this long, somewhat bloated film as a brilliant
and scathing indictment of the dehumanizing social machinery
of Eastern European Communism as well as the dubious power
of mass media. In what otherwise seems like a cut-and-dry
revisionist history mystery story owing perhaps a bit too
much to the narrative framework of CITIZEN KANE, and mostly
populated by the same talkative, socially symbolic character
types found in Wajda's 50s movies, I found myself more intrigued
by the dissonant and distracting aspects of the film: the
bizzarre mannerisms of the lead actress, the wacky 70s cop
movie soundtrack -- so much of this seems haphazard that it
seems to subvert the many conventional aspects of the movie.
In this regard the abrupt ending (thanks to the meddling of
Polish censors) makes sense as a purposeful loose end. All
in all, a film more remarkable for its socio-political implications
and stock-taking of a nation than for its cinematic execution.
#10 for 1977 between DESPERATE LIVING and CLOSE ENCOUNTERS
OF THE THIRD KIND
Onibaba (1964, Kaneto Shindo)
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0058430/
A highly effective horror allegory set in feudal Japan, concerning
a peasant mother and daughter-in-law, both widowed by a war
raging around their hut, who capture, kill and rob stray soldiers
in order to stay alive. A male neighbor returns and initiates
a tryst with the daughter, stirring lustful envy in the mother.
All seven deadly sins are paraded throughout the film among
the three despicable yet alluring characters, with genuinely
horrifying results and a variety of vague interpretive possibilities
emerging towards the end. #12 for 1964 between I AM CUBA and
HUSH, HUSH... SWEET CHARLOTTE
Khrustalyov, My Car! (1998, Alexsei German)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0156701/
You may need to be specially invested in Stalin-era Russian
history to comprehend this nightmarish depiction of the last
days of Stalin's regime as experienced by a brain surgeon
exiled in a Soviet gulag. Otherwise, the film's oblique narrative,
murky soundtrack and brilliant but disorienting camerawork
that occupies a constantly shifting perspective don't help
to clarify matters at all -- which may very well be an appropriate
method of capturing the paranoia and mad anxiety of the period,
but nonetheless is bewildering and unpleasant to experience.
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