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SCREENING LOG
- 9/01-9/14, 2003
Back to 2003 Index
I watched THE COLOR OF POMEGRANATES, WHALE RIDER, PIRATES
OF THE CARIBBEAN, X2: X-MEN UNITED, OWNING MAHOWNY, XALA,
STORY OF A PROSTITUTE, THE IRON HORSE, AMERICAN SPLENDOR,
STAGE DOOR, ASHIK KERIB, DEAD MAN, and BLACK CAT, WHITE CAT.
In order of preference:
The Color of Pomegranates (1968, Sergei Parajanov)
second viewing
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063555/
This unabashedly musical and poetic reverie recapturing the
life and times of Armenian poet Sayat Nova is Parajanov's
greatest film and one of the all-time greats, my single favorite
Soviet film of the post-Stalin era, incomparable to anything
from anywhere that came before or after it. I must admit that
after a second try I still can't sit through this film without
getting worn out -- it's pure sensory overload. You feel like
an entire world of sounds, images, moods and meanings has
been packed into 80 minutes. Overwhelmingly beautiful. #1
for 1968
Dead Man (1995, Jim Jarmusch) second viewing
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112817/
I wouldn't call myself a true Jarmusch advocate, my chief
problem with him is that he indulges in a kind of hipster
cloyingness from time to time, especially in his early work,
and he doesn't always hit the right notes to my ears -- though
one can say that's where his brilliance lies, in subverting
audience expectations. In any event there are still moments
of in this film esp. towards the beginning, where I feel Jarmusch
smugly commenting on his own cleverness, but gradually the
film sucks me into its world and has me completely believing
in it, and leaves me haunted long after its final heartbreaking
climax. This is most certainly the best thing he has ever
done, a dense work of wounded ferocity that can be related
to any number of things: a wholesale reconception of the Western
genre endowed with raw clairvoyance that shows up UNFORGIVEN
and DANCES WITH WOLVES as the dead-end revisionist footnotes
they are; an ode to the immortal revitalizing legacy of William
Blake; an appropriately multi-tonal portrait of trans-cultural
exchange; a battle between Mercenary Capitalism vs. Untamed
Nature; a profoundly disturbing meditation on the sloppy unfunniness
of violence (the crude outbursts of bloodshed in this film
are practically a slap in the face to any film that treats
it as a cause for entertainment); an acid-washed roadtrip
charting the apocalyptic trajectory of White Male America;
a meditation on trancendence and mortality in the face of
immensely senseless suffering and violence... but most appraisals
I've read of this film that refer to these themes end up making
the film sound way too pat. There is a wild, untameable urgency
at the core of this masterpiece, due to its blinking, waking-dream
structure, its burning iconographic black and white imagery,
its unsettling silences disrupted by Neil Young's half-deranged
guitar soundtrack, that I would trade 1,000 neat and tidy
Sundance-friendly indie packages to experience again. One
of the most challenging and visionary experiences the American
cinema has offered in over a decade, one that seems to embrace
a ghastly nihilism lying in the deepest heart of the West,
yet invests that nihilistic outlook with tremendous breathtaking
beauty. Truly a film to be reckoned with. #1 for 1995
ali-112 film of the week
Xala (1975, Ousmane Sembene)
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0073915/
Sembene, a major filmmaker credited with helping to devise
a cinematic idiom for an African audience, issued this blunt,
scathing satire about a businessman who fails to consummate
his marriage to his third wife. It works as a harsh but hilarious
and insightful critique of an African ruling elite that emerged
in the wake of post-colonialism, the businessman's impotence
symbolizing his failure to connect with the welfare and the
culture of the African people and engender prosperity for
all. Sembene populates the screen with a variety of images
and characters to give his argument the richness of cultural
specificity. A unique film, and quite fun to watch. #6 for
1975, between F FOR FAKE and MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL
zetes and Chris-435 film of the week
The Story of a Prostitute (1965, Seijun Suzuki)
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0059715/
Of the four Suzuki films I've seen this is the most conventional
and well-crafted in terms of story, and most sensitive in
terms of character. Perhaps not coincidentally, the story
focuses on a woman, a "comfort woman" forced to serve Japanese
soldiers on the Manchurian front in World War II. She develops
feelings for one soldier that put the entire unit in jeopardy
-- as in FIGHTING ELEGY Suzuki identifies sexual repression
as a key factor in the Japanese Nationalist mentality, and
dissects it with deadpan humor, delirious satire and eye-popping
visuals (not as in-your-face as his later films but put in
the service of the story to striking effect). This film convinces
me of Suzuki's major status both in Japanese cinema and world
cinema. #4 or 1965, between LOVES OF A BLONDE and STAGE SISTERS
Fixer of the week
Stage Door (1937, Gregory LaCava) second viewing
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0029604/
Fast-talking classic about the shifting fortunes of various
aspiring actresses in a Times Square boarding house. LaCava
directs Edna Ferber and George S. Kaufman's witty script at
a breathless pace, capturing the mania of the Manhattan actor's
hustle while vividly depicting a sense of makeshift sisterhood
among these struggling thespians. All of this culminates in
the film's absolute best moment (Andrea Leeds ascending a
staircase with stunning suicidal fervor) leading to its absolute
worst (tacky, treacly moralizing about sacrifice and on-with-the-show
sentimentality). The acting in this film is uniformly great;
the juicy rivalry between Kate Hepburn and Ginger Rogers being
only one facet of a captivating ensemble. #5 for 1937, between
MAKE WAY FOR TOMORROW and THIS SPANISH EARTH
The Iron Horse (1924, John Ford)
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0015016/
It's remarkable to see how early Ford had laid out his mythic
constructions of the West, and how much of Ford's recurring
motifs (heroic pioneering individual, the necessity of taming
the wilderness to make way for civilization, drunken Irish
providing comic relief) were already in place. This account
of the building of the Transcontinental Railroad aims for
historical grandeur a la Griffith and gets it, tying the forward
movement of a nation to the fates of a few key individuals.
Its as watchable as any of his later works, and serves as
an entry point to understanding how later Ford movies dismantled
the myths he created. #11 for 1924, between THE NAVIGATOR
and HOT WATER
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
(2003, Gore Verbinski)
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0325980/
It's pretty much Johnny Depp who single-handedly gives this
film its swashbuckling sense of swagger, successfully diverting
the viewer from what is otherwise a standard pirate movie
revised and updated to comply with prevailing 21st century
formulas. It just goes to show how much genuine charisma is
in shortage in the movies these days. Whatever the case, this
is great fun, though the plot twists and artlessly chaotic
action scenes threaten to sink the film late in the game.
#2 for 2003 IMDb releases, between CAPTURING THE FRIEDMANS
and AMERICAN SPLENDOR #13 for films released in 2003, between
RAISING VICTOR VARGAS and WHALE RIDER
Ashik Kerib (1988, Sergei Parajanov)
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0094681/
The last film in the bittersweet career of one of the Soviet
Union's most visionary directors is, somewhat disappointingly,
his most straightforward and narratively conventional -- though
this may be attributable to his intention to make this a film
primarily for children. All the same this rendition of a Lemertov
tale about a wandering minstrel's misadventures is full of
the stunning visual tableaux and luxurious soundtrack characteristic
of Parajanov, even if it is served up for more prosaic purposes
than one expects of this groundbreaking master.
Whale Rider (2002, Niki Caro)
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0298228/
Not quite the New Zealand-ized version of BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM
I had feared it to be, thanks to sensitive performances (esp.
Keisha Castle Hughes as the girl who wants to do all the cool
things Maori boys get to do but can't because otherwise there
wouldn't be a movie), eye-soothing cinematography and a pervading
sense of solemnity that reassuringly whispers "respectable"
in one's ear, making international arthouse moviegoing safe
for the family once more. #14 for new films seen in 2003 IMDb
releases, between PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN and WILD BERRIES
American Splendor (2003, Shari Springer Berman and Robert
Pulcini)
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0305206/
This self-reflexive biopic of graphic artist Harv Pekar seems
to have a lot going on, with its quirky use of animation and
mixing and matching of dramatized re-enactments of the artists'
life with actual interview footage of Pekar and other people
depicted in the film. But all of this amounts to a lot of
surface flash; one doesn't really get an intimate feel for
Pekar -- the performances by Paul Giamatti and Hope Davis
as Pekar and his wife feel like thickly-mannered caricatures,
which may consciously be inviting comparison to their real
life counterparts, but it only left me wanting more face time
with the real things instead of the imitations. The dramatized
scenes of his life are played out with rather generic insights
about the virtues of extolling everyday people and everyday
life (matters I take very seriously, esp. when a film like
this claims to be particularly concerned with them). There
are some intriguing moments that get at the question of what
makes someone fame-worthy (most notably a sequence involving
Pekar's appearances on David Letterman) but all in all this
briskly edited film feels made more to sustain the audience's
attention-span rather than provoke their thinking. Compare
this to the far superior CRUMB and you'll see what I mean.
#3 for 2003 IMDb releases between PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN
and ALL THE REAL GIRLS #20 for new films seen in 2003, between
CITY OF GOD and THE ROAD
Black Cat, White Cat (1998, Emir Kusturica)
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0305206/
I consider Kusturica's earlier films WHILE FATHER WAS AWAY
ON BUSINESS, THE TIME OF THE GYPSIES and UNDERGROUND masterpieces
all, so it is with some regret that I report disappointment
with this subsequent tale involving a family of gypsy rogues
who get embroiled with a wacky nouveau riche gangster. While
each of his previous films seemed to top the one before in
relentlessly mad creativity and visionary excess, this one
with its charming rascals, wacky camerawork and wall-to-wall
music, seems to tread familiar territory. Still there's plenty
of fun to be had and Kusturica's sharp and shameless sense
of humor catches one off-guard more than once.
X2: X-Men United (2003, Bryan Singer)
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0290334/
Pretty solid franchise effort that effectively parcels out
various mutant special effects and thrills with standard plot
twists and a generic thesis on tolerance for mutants and other
weirdos. Cool, fun, no real complaints, no real excitements.
#5 for 2003 IMDb releases #25 for new films seen in 2003,
between MY SASSY GIRL and MAROONED IN IRAQ
Owning Mahowny (2002, Richard Kwietniowski)
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0285861/
Based on the true story of a bank clerk who used his account
access privilege to fund a multimillion dollar gambling addiction,
this feels like a rather familiar study of a man's downward
spiral, though a casino manager played by John Hurt who befriends
the clerk only to exploit him further is an interesting variation.
Philip Seymour Hoffman, whom I have long admired, seems like
he's falling back on his fragile obsessive schmuck routine
that he's trotted out for one too many films, which is too
bad because he really deserves lead roles more often. But
his presence isn't nearly as depressing as the once red-hot
Minnie Driver, whose formidable talents are relegated to the
background as the Long Suffering Girlfriend of the Addict.
Disappointing.
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