Recently Watched Films 2010

Citizen Kane. Me for the severalth time, Louise for the first.

I watched this recently and wouldn't be surprised if Brad Pitt had as well...his character in Inglorious Basterds is pretty much Charles Foster Kane with a gun. Eyebrow acting par excellence.

My weekend was...



Un prophète/A Prophet (2009, Jacques Audiard)

One of the many films that suffers from having critical plaudits loaded onto it, I think. It's good, almost very good, but not that good. The performances are striking (especially from Niels Arestrup and Tahar Rahim, pictured above) and the atmosphere just oppressive enough to tighten the terse script yet never cloud it...but it's way too long (it felt far longer than its 2.5 hours) and, for me, seemed to dawdle in last half hour or so. Some of the more poetic scenes in the second half felt unnecessarily shoe-horned in simply to justify the title (further compounded by religiously-inclined sub-titles) and some fairly sharp plot turns.

This is a brutal film, both in physical violence (let's just say that if you thought that scene in Cache was unpleasant then prepare yourself) and the mental torture of inmate against inmate, but not without reason. The petty gang mentalities and the beatings that arise from want of shoes or food (despite the hilariously stereotypical portions of bread that seem de rigeur in French prisons) become commonplace disturbingly quickly, making you question how you would react if you were the near blank slate that Malik begins his sentence as.

Something that struck me forcibly was that I was possibly missing out on certain subtleties by relying on subtitles; the characters speak in French, Corsican and Arabic depending on the allegiance of the time. The flux of power and loyalty seems to be what is at the heart of most prison movies and, through my own lack of proficiency, the nuances were lost at times.

Ignore any of the critical hyperbole you may've read and you'll probably get more out of this film.

Bob Le Flambeur (Melville, 1956) - Enjoyable, but perhaps because its 4 years before Bout De Souffle, it lacks the ironic distance and modernist tendancies of Godard's noirs. I found the second half more interesting cinematically, especially the extended shots of "practicing the safe cracking" and "at the roulette wheel" where Melville's lingering camera falls in love with the rhythm, sound, and composition of the dialogue-free scenes. I can see how this movie hints at the New Wave, but its still pretty firmly rooted in the past.

Bob Le Flambeur (Melville, 1956) - Enjoyable, but perhaps because its 4 years before Bout De Souffle, it lacks the ironic distance and modernist tendancies of Godard's noirs. I found the second half more interesting cinematically, especially the extended shots of "practicing the safe cracking" and "at the roulette wheel" where Melville's lingering camera falls in love with the rhythm, sound, and composition of the dialogue-free scenes. I can see how this movie hints at the New Wave, but its still pretty firmly rooted in the past.

it may work within the genre, but the film is clearly much more about Melville's love of noir then about telling a noir story (after all, there isn't much to Bob le Flambeur, story wise). that's where the film breaks with the past and influences the new wave. i love the safe cracking bit.

it may work within the genre, but the film is clearly much more about Melville's love of noir then about telling a noir story (after all, there isn't much to Bob le Flambeur, story wise). that's where the film breaks with the past and influences the new wave. i love the safe cracking bit.

I'm not sure I understand or see clearly the difference between Melville's love (homage) and telling a noir story straight. Time period? Country of Origin? If the classic American noir period was between mid 40s to mid 50s, then '56 would seem to put it in the classic noir period. If it lacks the self-consciousness and meta-commentary of later homages like Godard or Altman, then isnt it just a classic noir?

Actually I was surprised at how much of a plot there was. Spoiler: The con owing the cop some info, the boy bragging to his gf about the heist, the gf telling the con after getting drunk, the con telling the cop, etc. And then the irony of having his winning streak coincide with the bank heist and result in the death of his friend, who tipped off the police in the first place. I'm not as much of an aficionado as you and Dan, but that sort of plot mechanation is the thing typical classic noirs tend to do, while post-noirs jettison the plot and focus on the attitude and ambient details, which Melville does a little, but maybe not as much as I had expected.

Still good though, thumbs up.

Actually I was surprised at how much of a plot there was. Spoiler: The con owing the cop some info, the boy bragging to his gf about the heist, the gf telling the con after getting drunk, the con telling the cop, etc. And then the irony of having his winning streak coincide with the bank heist and result in the death of his friend, who tipped off the police in the first place. I'm not as much of an aficionado as you and Dan, but that sort of plot mechanation is the thing typical classic noirs tend to do, while post-noirs jettison the plot and focus on the attitude and ambient details, which Melville does a little, but maybe not as much as I had expected.

the difference to me is that in this film these are relegated almost entirely to pure theme and plot mechanization. the influential part, with regards to the new wave (and what sets this film apart from his later, more strictly mechanical crime films), is in the fairy tale/poetic tone of the film. if i had to guess though, i'd say that Les Enfant Terribles was probably the more influential of two anyway (that and Melville's autonomy).

interesting thanks.

Stanley Kubrick - The Shining (1980)

gorgeous lighting (as always), but this kind of hysteria does nothing for me anymore. only two moments still crack me up:

1. that first shot of jack staring straight into the camera for an extended period of time and looking totally batshit
and
2. furry blowjob--20's style

i was struck this time around by how bad i thought the soundtrack was (very surprising, considering it's Kubrick). though i guess the music is as broad and hysteric as the rest of the movie, so you could argue that it works within the concept (just like the "purposefully" bad orgy music in Eyes Wide Shut).

That's probably my least favorite Kubrick film

John Ford - The Informer (1935)

a good, expressionist influenced look ruined by poor writing and excruciatingly belabored direction.

"hooker with a heart of gold" night:


John Ford - Stagecoach (1939)

lovely.


Fritz Lang - Man Hunt (1941)

fans of Fritz Lang and George Sanders should check this out if they haven't already.

Three Colours: Blue (Kieslowski, 1993)

Hard to find fault with this film on a technical level, beautiful cinematography and soundtrack. However, while I empathized with Binoche's character to an extent I also struggled to really connect with the character on as deep an emotional level as I would have liked - I'm not sure why, perhaps the script, it's hard to explain. Still, a very good film.

District 9 (Blomkamp, 2009) - What an impressive debut. Leroy's ghost was right, definitely one of the best movies of the year.

Just watched this for the first time this morning and I absolutely have to agree with the positive vibes...One of the best of it's genre I've seen in a very long time..I mean it totally kills Avatar. Hands down

The fact that Sharlto Copley improvised almost all of his dialogue is icing on the cake..Impressive.

Surprisingly watchable...

I had no positive expectations at all ( I HATE U2...And Jack White...well..uh..) but Jimmy Page pulled it out for me.


Should I count this as a guilty pleasure? I wonder..

I was a bit into my cups when I saw this...I saw a some of it again last night while completely sober...




I really should give up drinking......

Surprisingly watchable...

I had no positive expectations at all ( I HATE U2...And Jack White...well..uh..) but Jimmy Page pulled it out for me.


Should I count this as a guilty pleasure? I wonder..

I was a bit into my cups when I saw this...I saw a some of it again last night while completely sober...




I really should give up drinking......

If it makes any crappy film a guilty pleasure, you might want to stay with the juice

Guy Debord, La Société du Spectacle, 1973

(but this picture is Orson Welles, of course, from Mr. Arkadin (1955)) - "let's drink to friendship!"

District 9 (Blomkamp, 2009) - What an impressive debut. Leroy's ghost was right, definitely one of the best movies of the year.

Just watched this for the first time this morning and I absolutely have to agree with the positive vibes...One of the best of it's genre I've seen in a very long time..I mean it totally kills Avatar. Hands down

The fact that Sharlto Copley improvised almost all of his dialogue is icing on the cake..Impressive.

I continue to be completely surprised by how positively this film was received, pretty much across the board. I thought it fell pretty badly between two stools and was, ultimately, very dull.

Really? I thought it anything but dull. But then again, some folks like olives...and some don't.

Eric Rohmer - Le Rayon Vert (1986)

Watched this for the first time last night and its just become my favorite Rohmer film (I've seen only five or six others). I definitely picked up strong vibes from Rivette, in fact portions of the film almost feel like they could have come stright out of something Rivette might have done a decade earlier (the mystical undertones) - but the film is distinctly Rohmer. The last scene in particular was very moving.

Scandal Sheet (1952)
House of Bamboo (1955)
The Crimson Kimono (1959)
Underworld U.S.A. (1961)
Merrill's Marauders (1962)

five Sam Fuller films (Scandal Sheet is based on a Fuller novel but is directed by Phil Karlson), all very disappointing.