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SCREENING LOG
- 7/14-7/20, 2003
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I watched THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG, LES DAMEOISELLES DE
ROCHEFORT, THE KILLING OF A CHINESE BOOKIE, HERO, VIOLENT
COP, IN THE REALM OF THE SENSES, SONATINE, and TAXI DRIVER.
In order of preference:
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964, Jacques Demy)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0058450
Having never watched this famous French musical of the '60s
I've always held the impression that this was some kind of
kitschy pastel Franco-mod attempt to ape MGM, but instead
I discovered a remarkably nuanced and totally disarming opera
that deals with a real-life situation in a way I found emotionally
honest. Catherine Deneuve and Nino Castelnuovo are captivating
as young lovers separated by war, and the tough adult decisions
that need to be made under hard circumstances. Remarkably,
this may be the closest we'll ever get to a musical directed
by Douglas Sirk or Robert Bresson -- the oversaturated interior
colors seem that seem to compensate for the drabness of lives
lived within them is unmistakably Sirk, while the rigid, deadpan
performances of the actors are indebted to Bresson -- an inspired
approach, in that it makes the singing of the characters even
more of an unrestrained expression from within their inexpessive
faces. But above all trembling sense of compassion for people
getting by as best they can is completely the contribution
of Jacques Demy. The music is a revelation in how it somehow
catches the inflections of everyday speech, while building
to the requisite dramatic climaxes with gusto. Unquestionably
a masterpiece. #1 for 1964
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976, John Cassavetes)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0074749
In many ways the most direct and quietly moving Cassavetes
film I've seen to date, simply following one man (Ben Gazzara,
in a monumental performance) as he runs his seedy and offbeat
stripjoint, entertains his girls, racks up $23,000 in gambling
debts and is coerced by his gangland creditors to commit murder.
It sounds like B-movie pulp, but reconstituted through the
Method approach into something completely organic and fresh
-- every moment, no matter how brief or drawn out, cute or
sleazy, feels lived in and right. You really get to be with
these people, and it's beautiful in a ragged and completely
original way, and if you're like me you end up feeling gratitude
for sharing in the genuine affection Cassavetes has for his
characters. This is probably the Cassavetes film I like the
most, because it makes me feel most at home in its wacky environs.
#1 for 1976
Les Demoiselles de Rochefort (1967, Jacques Demy)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0062873
Demy's ambitious study in kismet follows several characters
as their paths repeatedly meet and almost meet as they pine,
sigh and sing away their dreams and disappointments over true
love. Meticulously designed both in terms of narrative and
setting, the film feels a bit arch at times but that doesn't
mean it's lacking in delights: the Michel Legrand score is
more tunefully consistent than in UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG,
the use of real locations is eye-poppingly vivid, and everyone
onscreen is a winner. And then there's Gene Kelly, in what
may be THE performance of 1967. His appearance here is much
more than a summation of all his aw-shucks romantic dreamer
roles for MGM; it's like seeing your long lost friend coming
back to re-enact your favorite memories with him. The wrinkles
on his smiling face only add to the poignancy of his relentlessly
charismatic performannce -- in a film that seems to be mainly
about second, third, and final chances, you can practically
feel his glee and gratitude at being able to give it his all,
one last time. #7 for 1967, between BELLE DU JOUR and BONNIE
AND CLYDE
In the Realm of the Senses (1976, Nagisa Oshima) second
viewing
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0074102
It's very difficult for me to come to terms with this film
or to account fully or lucidly for my response to it. To dismiss
it as porn is to miss the very intense and tactile reality
of the two actors/characters (there's hardly any distinction
really) onscreen. To call it art is to incite a debate as
to what art constitutes. To judge it harshly in terms of normal,
healthy relationships (as I often feel inclined to do) is
to miss the point. Leaving those conventions behind, I'll
just say that for me this film simply occupies its own sphere
of existence; and as I watch it I realize that my own act
of viewing is very much like that of the geishas and servants
who watch with a mix of horror and fascination these two lovers
who copulate and copulate like there's no tomorrow, taking
their intercourse to the ultimate limit -- sex as a social
revolution turned tragedy. Like them I am embarrassed and
mildly offended to be in their presence, but if only because
I am confronted with my own limits in sharing the intimacy
of others. That's not the same as a porn movie, where the
viewer is implicitly invited as a participant in the onscreen
proceedings and can watch as an invisible pleasure-seeker;
here every outrageous moment in this movie implicates the
viewer's involvement, whether it be one of complicity or disgust.
It also can be seen as a scathing critique of Japanese male-female
relations, and how the lust to conquer and subjugate on both
sides of the gender divide becomes an impulse that consumes
and destroys. But ultimately, I find it to be one of the most
stunning and confounding studies in desire the cinema has
produced; not only the desire of the two lovers onscreen,
but that of the viewer's desire as well. #2 for 1976
Taxi Driver (1976, Martin Scorsese) seventh viewing
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0075314
The film that made the mainstream American movie safe for
charismatic psycho killers is as fresh and vibrant as ever
-- a masterfully synthesized amalgamation of memorable Movie
Moments strung together to keep the viewer in perpetual enthrallment.
The content is no doubt provocative but seems to be presented
more for sensational thrill than ideological development,
and the ends are left loose enough for anyone to make of it
what they will. Above all else, this film will always be a
cornerstone in my personal development as a film viewer, in
challenging myself to see beyond a movie for its sensational
effects, no matter how seductive they may be. #3 for 1976
Sonatine (1993, Takeshi Kitano)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0108188
A yakuza lieutenant is double-crossed by his boss while on
a business trip to Okinawa, and holes up with his men as they
plot their next move. What I like best about Kitano is how
he situates violence within a larger frame of having to wait
for that violence to erupt, and what people do while they
wait -- this adds a meditational, existential layer to the
proceedings. What I don't like is how much that layer may
be mistaken for a slick veneer of cool, unhelped by Kitano's
tendency to romanticize his tough-guy fatalism. Still there
are touches of tender humor throughout, the film is gorgeously
shot and the overall effect is quite unique in its lucidity.
#8 for 1993, between FAREWELL MY CONCUBINE and BLUE
Hero (2002, Zhang Yimou) second viewing
http://www.imdb.com/Title?0299977
My feelings for this amazing spectacular film fluctuate with
each viewing; this time I'm caught at a nadir. I go back and
forth as to whether this film is a ringing, uncomplicated
endorsement of the Chinese government, or a nuanced statement
on personal transcendence in the face of social turmoil. Of
course the two aren't mutually exclusive, and in some ways
what Zhang is saying about people who wish to change the world
for the better stinks of complacency. It was really the ending
this time that left me feeling empty -- which casts a new
light on all the dazzling spectacle that preceded it. I had
previously thought that this possible masterpiece was the
second coming of A TOUCH OF ZEN, but I'm not sure if Zhang
is nearly as invested in the Buddhist spiritual principles
of forbearance and transcendence as King Hu was -- as has
been the norm in his recent government-sanctioned period of
productivity, this slipperiest of auteurs seems too careful
to appease all sides. Whereas Hu's masterpiece shines with
an uncompromising philosophical vision, here the martial arts
scenes are as much an opiate for the moviegoing masses as
a means for personal discovery. There is no doubt a lot of
brilliance in this film, but it is hard to discern among the
glossy packaging. #4 for 2002, between THE PIANIST and GANGS
OF NEW YORK
Violent Cop (1988, Takeshi Kitano)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0098360
Kitano's directing debut (he stepped in when yakuza auteur
Kinji Fukasaku walked out of this film) isn't quite as cohesive
as his later films but is still a remarkable unveiling of
his pensive, melancholy style peppered with explosions of
violence. There's a LOT of footage of Kitano walking from
one scene to the next, reminiscent of how Don Siegel stretches
out the pace of DIRTY HARRY if only to give the violence a
better punctuation effect on the story. #12 for 1988, after
GANG OF FOUR
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