Recently Watched Films

[Dan Warburton]

Henri-Georges Clouzot, Quai des Orfèvres, 1947

[surfer]

Play It As It Lays (Perry, 1972) - This movie isnt that bad, Tuesday Weld is just the wrong person to play Maria. She's a little too robustly healthy and pretty. She doesnt seem as frayed as the literary Maria, or as nihilistic. Other than that I kind of enjoyed this, its clearly trying to follow in the footsteps of Antonioni, though isnt quite as strong compositionally. When I was reading the book, it didnt scream out to me to be made into a movie, there are too many silences, too much space, too much reflection. Its not a very visual book. I do like Anthony Perkins as BZ, he's quite good.

[O'Grady]

Philippe Garrel - Berceau de Cristal (1976)

Beautiful film that could do with being back in print like much of Garrel's output. Soundtrack by Ash Ra Tempel, lovely and fitting it is.

[eraritjaritjaka]

helvetica - gary hustwit
plötsligt i vinslöv - jenny bergman, malin skjöld

really enjoyed plötsligt i vinslöv.

[Jesse]

[Yii]

1

[walto]

[quote="surfer"]


My first love...

[MRS]

Damnation for the first time. Did Tarantino just blatantly rip the woman's biblical monolugue to Karrer for Jules? Lots of peeking around corners, in some bizzare affiliation, it reminded me of how often the word "hush" comes up in The Sound and the Fury. The music and the sound are quite memorable. Of course, Tarkovsky's dogs are ubiquitous throughout.

[O'Grady]

Rainer Werner Fassbinder - Die Bitteren Tränen der Petra von Kant (1972)

[Dan Warburton]

Fritz Lang, Secret Beyond The Door, 1948

Odd to see Lang, who influenced Hitchcock enormously, so obviously influenced by Rebecca and Spellbound
Some splendid touches, of course - lighting superb throughout, and Miklos Rozsa turns in a great soundtrack - but I have a hard time seeing Michael Redgrave as Bluebeard.. especially after his great nice guy performance in The Lady Vanishes

[surfer]

The Son (Dardenne, 2002) - I was just thinking that I wasnt sure that Olivier would tell the kid who he was at that particular moment. The movie might have worked better for me if me had not told him at all, and you have this building suspense with no obvious payoff. You could be left wondering if he ever tells him. But in retrospect, it works the way it is; yes its quite probable he would have just blurted it out. Overall, an amazing movie and one of the best of the decade, imo.

[Dan Warburton]

Val Guest, Hell Is A City, 1960

[eraritjaritjaka]

cosmic ray - bruce conner
a conversation with god - tsai ming-liang
save my earth - kim byeong-jung

all short films. the first two being particularly enjoyable.

[fearandpanic]

Val Guest, Hell Is A City, 1960

That's a very good, tough British noir. Lots of great location filming in Manchester, especially around industrial sites, if I remember correctly.

[O'Grady]

Bela Tarr - The Man from London (2007)

Soundtrack was a bit played out but apart from that I enjoyed it. Slightly different from the other films I've seen of his. Oh and the dubbing/lipsync is worse than I seem to remember in his other films but maybe that's just me

[Dan Warburton]

Alfred Hitchcock, The Trouble With Harry, 1955

Eccentric and amusing (as opposed to side-splitting) black comedy, notable for the Bernard Herrmann score and the screen debut of Shirley Maclaine, who gets some of the best lines, including "He looked exactly the same when he was alive, only he was vertical."

[kangaroo?]

Privilege - Peter Watkins (1967) - a bit dry considering when it was made, but pretty awesome. There are some absurd wtf moments. Promotional text for the DVD talks about it being prescient. It does strike me as being very British, though viewed in the context of the careers of American pop stars like Michael Jackson or Brittney Spears, it does have broader relevance.

over the top but razor-sharp story telling, focusing on implicit consequences and nothing less.
but most notable was the seamless merging of traditional, subject-portraying, cinematic language with a more naturalistic approach. The editing together of the two techniques didn't miss a beat, no frame wasted & so on..

[Dan Warburton]

Jean Vigo, L'Atalante, 1934

Finally saw this for the first time, and totally blown away. There's a splendid BFI 2DVD set with all 4 Vigo films + a whole disc of bonus documentary material going dirt cheap at Amazon. Well worth checking out.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Jean-Vigo-Colle ... 919&sr=1-1

[fearandpanic]

Finally saw this for the first time, and totally blown away. There's a splendid BFI 2DVD set with all 4 Vigo films + a whole disc of bonus documentary material going dirt cheap at Amazon. Well worth checking out.

The long documentary (from the "Filmmakers of our Times" series) included there is especially moving and illuminating, particularly the reflections of the actors on working with Vigo. Michel Simon is fascinating in it on his acting methods in general. It's definitely worth following up the anarchic character in L'Atalante with the even better Boudu in Boudu Saved From Drowning (Boudu sauvé des eaux) by Jean Renoir.

[Dan Warburton]

Good call, Fear! Am gradually working through the Renoirs too - will move that one a little further up the pile. Was just watching Vigo's Zéro de Conduite actually (only 41 minutes long, ideal for a morning coffee break from the Tilbury biography review ) and enjoyed it enormously. Easy to see where Truffaut - and Lindsay Anderson - came from. Certainly makes you wonder what Vigo might have gone on to do had he lived longer.