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SCREENING LOG
- 8/25-8/31, 2003
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I watched BERLIN: SYMPHONY OF A CITY, THE SEARCHERS, THE
END OF ST. PETERSBURG, DONOVAN'S REEF, THE GENERAL, DIRTY
PRETTY THINGS, ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, RHAPSODY IN AUGUST,
THE PLAYHOUSE, COPS, and CHANG. In order of preference:
Once Upon a Time in the West (1968, Sergio Leone)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064116/
If they told me that you could extract every dimestore cliche
out of a given genre and weave them together into one of the
most vivid and richly human worlds ever realized in movies,
I'd have laughed my ass halfway to Witchita. #2 for 1968,
between THE COLOR OF POMEGRANATES and 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY.
The General (1927, Buster Keaton and Clyde Bruckman)
third viewing
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0017925/
The first hour is perfect, hell it's beyond perfect; the
battle sequence is kind of a let-down that feels out of joint
with the two train chases that provide the film with its ingenious
symmetry -- and I think bkamberger is stretching a bit in
calling this a critique of Southern values; if it is there,
Keaton doesn't push it far enough (except for the gags that
tear mercilessly into the uselessness of Southern belles).
#2 for 1927 between SUNRISE and METROPOLIS
The End of St. Petersburg (1927, V.I. Pudovkin)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0018066/
As mainstream as the Soviet avant garde film ever got; Pudovkin
is merely brilliant compared to the terrifying genius of Eisenstein,
but brilliant is still a couple of leagues better than what
we've got now -- oh if only mainstream movies today were as
good as this one... #5 for 1927 between OCTOBER and BERLIN:
SYMPHONY OF A GREAT CITY
Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (1927, Walter Ruttmann)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0017668/
A laudable experiment no doubt, though somewhat lacking in
jaw-dropping moments -- after a while I was tempted to play
my own game of "Where's Hitler?" -- surely he was somewhere
in this? #6 for 1927 between THE END OF ST. PETERSBURG and
THE LOVE OF JEANNE NEY
Rhapsody in August (1991, Akira Kurosawa)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101991/
It's amazing what wonders menopause can instill in some talents
-- this is the most tender Kurosawa movie I've seen, and only
towards the end does he crawl on top of his soapbox, though
it's so gentle one might not even notice. #8 for 1991 between
DAUGHTERS OF THE DUST and BARTON FINK
Chang (1927, Ernest Schoedsack and Marion C. Cooper)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0017743/
Cute work of pseudo-ethnographic Orientalia buttressed by
massive helpings of exciting wild animal footage -- they should
rerelease this with Steve Irwin narrating the titles. #8 for
1927 between THE LOVE OF JEANNE NEY and CHANG
Donovan's Reef (1963, John Ford)
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0057007/
I have reason to believe that John Ford went insane after
being confronted with the racist contradictions of his Western
Colonialist mythology in THE SEARCHERS, and this oddball quasi-Preston
Sturgesian multicultural mix of Fordian sublime and Fordian
ridiculous would serve as my exhibit A; it's as fascinating
and bizarre as a picture I once saw of Lyndon B. Johnson with
hippie hair after quitting the Presidency, his world like
Ford's having crumbled into self-ridicule. #11 for 1963 between
THIS SPORTING LIFE and CHERYOMUSHKI
Dirty Pretty Things (2003, Stephen Frears)
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0301199/
This thriller about a Nigerian refugee who falls into an
organ-trafficking ring in London has a slick audience-friendly
neatness to its social-consciousness agenda that's a bit too
reminiscent of Soderbergh's TRAFFIC, but it's effectively
mounted and quite absorbing. #2 for 2003 between CAPTURING
THE FRIEDMANS and ALL THE READ GIRLS #13 for new movies I
have seen in 2003, between RAISING VICTOR VARGAS and LILYA
4-EVER
Shorts by Buster Keaton
The Playhouse (1921)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0012570/
The first reel showcases some outstanding trick photography
with Buster Keaton playing every part in a theater performance,
including audience members -- the rest of the film is standard
slapstick. #4 for 1921, between TWO WISE WIVES and TOL'ABLE
DAVID
Cops (1922)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0013025/
Silent slapstick as conceptual art -- Keaton takes the simple
idea of misperception and milks it for all its worth -- the
end is a bit too Keystone Cops-ish for my taste, but there
is some brilliant stuff on show. #6 for 1922
The Searchers (1956, John Ford) second viewing
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0049730/
I can write a novel about what's wrong with this movie (though
there certainly are some great parts to it as well), but for
now I'll just say that this has my vote for the Most Overrated
Classic of All-Time. #13 for 1956 between THE MYSTERY OF PICASSO
and THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
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