|
SCREENING LOG
- 7/28-8/03, 2003
Back to 2003 Index
I watched FAMILY PLOT, MR. KLEIN, BOUND FOR GLORY, FACE TO
FACE, BEING THERE, SUMMER WITH MONIKA, THE PIANO TEACHER,
THE LIFE OF OHARU.
The Life of Oharu (1952, Kenji Mizoguchi) second viewing
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0045112
My overall esteem for this film more or less held steady
this time -- there are passages of extreme visual brilliance,
especially in the opening passages that follow the ill-fated
heroine into the temple, and the dissolve to the face that
inspires the prolonged flashback that serves as the main narrative.
I still find the plot a bit overly repetitive in heaping one
injustice after another on this woman, whereas the non-narrative
elements of the film are what linger: visual repetitions,
like a destitute woman playing a lute, an incredibly rich
soundtrack that features a unique aural texture to practically
every scene, and the way the camera tracks Kinuyo Tanaka as
she walks from one end of the frame to another -- a shot like
that more than sums up the specialness of this film; in fact
a shot like that is basically a work of art in itself. #3
for 1952, between IKIRU and SUMMER WITH MONIKA
Mr. Klein (1976, Joseph Losey)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0074916
An engaging and expertly told story of a French art dealer
during the Nazi Occupation whose identity is co-opted by a
mysterious Jewish doppelganger, leading to the dealer's persecution.
Alain Delon does a fine job of making us care about his essentially
unlikable character: as much as he exploits others, we come
to sympathize with his own victimization, leading to a broader
appreciation of the unjust and insane logic of life during
wartime. There wasn't much in this film in terms of images
or moments that singularly stood out in my memory but in terms
of sustaining a narrative it was the best I've seen this week.
#7 for 1976 between HARLAN COUNTY USA and ROCKY
The Piano Teacher (2001, Michael Haneke)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0254686
For a good hour of this story of an extremely passive-aggressive
woman who lives (and shares a bed) with her mother, and her
bizarre affair with her young piano student, is a stunning
model of masterfully controlled storytelling, and downright
brilliant in its use of musical performances to advance the
story. But towards the end the sordidness of the story takes
over and the film goes nowhere, which is really a shame given
the incredible momentum throughout the film's first hour.
Isabelle Huppert is consistent throughout, and gives a performance
that in its restraint of emotion and precision of gesture
simply outclasses the work that drew more publicity and praise
for Nicole Kidman and Julianne Moore last year. #13 for 2001,
between ALI and GOSFORD PARK
Summer with Monika (1952, Ingmar Bergman)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0046345
A very refreshing look at early Bergman, that with an attentive
and often lyrical visual sense follows the lovely but ultimately
doomed affair between two teenagers who run away from their
families for a summer fling by the seaside. It's a wonder
that the film goes so well in the first half, demonstrating
compassion to its leads while documenting their dreams, frustrations
and dignity as individuals, goes off in the final moments
as the starry-eyed young girl becomes a shrewish and self-centered
teenage mom browbeating her hapless, hardworking husband.
Such an outcome smells of a sexist morality tale, but I simply
can't resolve that conclusion with what preceded it. In any
event there are plenty of beautiful moments to recommend it.
#4 for 1952 between LIFE OF OHARU and FORBIDDEN GAMES
Being There (1979, Hal Ashby) second viewing
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0078841
A film which really appealed to me in my youth for its wry,
deadpan, slightly melancholy tone and its hero, a vapid blank
whose sole satisfaction is in watching TV (as a kid I could
relate). Now the flaws of the film are all too apparent; it
basically runs as a one-joke movie, an imbecile gets mistaken
as a political genius -- for this gimmick to work you have
to believe that everyone onscreen is more gullible than you
are. And yet Melvyn Douglas and Shirley MacLaine, in their
heartfelt performances (much better than Peter Sellers, who
can hardly keep himself from letting the audience know he's
in on the joke with his slightly smirking expression) convey
a heartache that makes you realize how much their characters
want to believe in something as simple as Chauncey Gardner.
They contribute greatly to a quietness to the film that I
find fascinating and oddly moving. #4 for 1979 between APOCALYPSE
NOW and KRAMER VS. KRAMER
Face to Face (1976, Ingmar Bergman)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0074147
As WINTER LIGHT indulged in the delicious irony of a minister
who has lost his faith, here we have a psychologist who succumbs
to a prolonged nervous breakdown -- but the results are somewhat
less predictable and more doggedly engaging. Getting past
the psychobabble about repressed family memories, one can
appreciate the gradual ebb of the narrative, how it leads
from everyday banalities to startling depictions of the heroine's
nightmarish interior life. Liv Ullmann gets to let it all
hang out, and there are many shots where a close-up of her
face simply dominates the film. #10 for 1976 between FELLINI'S
CASANOVA and CARRIE
Bound for Glory (1976, Hal Ashby) second viewing
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0074235
Fairly harmless and somewhat insipid biopic of Woody Guthrie
that glorifyingly depicts how he abandoned his wife and kids,
slept with various women and strummed his guitar among the
salt of the earth to become a folk music icon. Hal Ashby,
whose stock has understandably diminished since his 70s heyday,
trots out all the cliches that lazily dominated post-60s thought
and filmmaking, about virtuous anti-establishment heroes uplifting
the downtrodden and victimized common folk. Haskell Wexler's
soft-focus camerawork gives it all a nice nostalgic tint.
#14 for 1976 between NETWORK and SEVEN BEAUTIES
Family Plot (1976, Alfred Hitchcock)
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0074512
I guess I don't qualify as being a die-hard Hitchcock fan
-- I can appreciate the good humor that breezes through his
final effort, which pits a goofy cab driver (Bruce Dern) and
his clairvoyant girlfriend (the bubbly Barbara Harris) against
two conniving diamond hustlers (William "Big Teeth" Devane
and Karen Black). It's just a bit narcoleptic in its pacing,
more TV Mystery Movie of the Week than something emblematic
of The Master (with the brilliant exception of a car chase
pitched so intense as to reach purposeful self-parody). #17
for 1976
Back to 2003 Index
|
