Recently Watched Films 2012

[Dan Warburton]

glad you caught up with straight time, there are so many finely observed details, and walsh has never been slimier. seeing russell looking fresh as a daisy before her career path began to consist of roles frequently calling on her to be debased [she married the creepy, if occasionally gifted, roeg] is touching. anti-hero seems to be a malleable term, but SPOILER when dembo ices the busey character, my empathy shifts to aversion. great casting across the board.

grosbard's real life bride is the madam in his nearly as fine true confessions, so good.

Word. Both terrific films. I think my sympathy for Dembo went out of the window before the moment you mention above (AND IF ANYONE HASN'T SEEN THE FILM DON'T FOR GOD'S SAKE READ THE SPOILER BIT ABOVE!!!) - but quite where, I don't know. In any case, I'm going to recommend this to Michel Chion (who, I'm sure, has probably seen it a dozen times already) if he decides to do his Morality In Cinema class again next year at IDHEC.

[fslmy]

just finished Straight Time yesterday, thanks DW. The whole time I was thinking about Art Pepper's book Straight Life. Many of the themes and personalities seem right out of Art's life, having spent 10 years in San Quentin for minor crimes. The entire feel of the book was very similar to the film. Surprising they mentioned Chet Baker instead of him really.

[Dan Warburton]

Yes, I thought about that too - maybe that connection is made in the Ed Bunker book No Beast So Fierce the film is based on.. Anyone read it (Jesse?)? Thanks for reminding me to go and listen to some Art Pepper again, fslmy.
After the dizzying information overload of the Assayas two nights ago, had to slow down last night with



Joseph Losey, Accident, 1967

Losey at his most Resnais-like, not only the wonderful cameo appearance of Delphine Seyrig, but in the Muriel-like tension that seems to be simmering just behind the twitching lower lip of Bogarde's mid-life crisis. The chemistry between him (withdrawn, sensitive, feminine, fragile) and Stanley Baker (brash, impulsive, masculine) is terrific, no more so than in the scene when Bogarde cooks his omelette - all one take! - with Jacqueline Sassard sitting sphinx-like between the two men vying for her attention. Cool (in both senses) John Dankworth score too, saxophone and two harps.

[Lao Tsu Ben]

I've just seen Straight Time, a very good film indeed, but a rather painful watch in the end - (spoiler) it's hard for me to see a character fucks things up as much as Dembo does in that film. He's just plain dumb. It makes for a very frustrating viewing. That should explain my coolness towards naturalistic cinema. Personal taste... Otherwise, it seems that Ulu Grosbard just died. Did anyone mention that ? I look forward to seeing Georgia now.

[Dan Warburton]

No, in fact - RIP. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulu_Grosbard
"In Hollywood, Grosbard worked as an assistant director on Splendor in the Grass, West Side Story, The Hustler, The Miracle Worker, and The Pawnbroker before helming the screen adaptation of The Subject Was Roses on his own."
Not a bad list, eh?

[Lao Tsu Ben]

After watching the chilling Into the Abyss by Herzog, I must confess an unhealthy fascination with documentaries about criminals sentenced to death. This is overwhelming stuff, both in different ways, Herzog, unusually unobtrusive, makes it almost a mythological matter, with occasional hints of his typical silliness (titles such as "The Urgency of Life"), while Broomfield, less of an artist, seems properly at a loss for words. Aileen Wurnos' last interview is a stunning moment, there is almost a sense that the camera wants to kiss her, before we see her losing her mind in a sudden burst of anger. "Aileen, I'm sorry, I'm sorry" says Broomfield.

Aileen Life And Death Of A Serial Killer - Mike Broomfield

[Lao Tsu Ben]

Edith Wharton meets Once Upon a Time in America meets Roland Emmerich with an actual director behind the camera. Does it ring a bell? Saw Titanic for the first time today, in 3D. There is nothing as spectacular as the sinking of the Titanic, obviously, in Wharton's novels, and the dialogue is, of course, less witty, but the film retains an overall sense of what made Scorsese's The Age of Innocence and Terence Davies's The House of Mirth, interesting, if clumsy, attempts. I must say I find Rivette's dismissal of the film rather cheap and silly, and saying that Kate Winslet is "débandante" is not the most elegant thing in the world to say about anyone at any rate, be it a successful actress. Ok, Rivette doesn't have a thing for plump actresses, shall we move on ? As for DiCaprio, now that I've grown older, I see what made him a superstar, and I can think of no other actor with this kind of boyish easiness, besides River Phoenix. The old lady made me think of Lillian Gish in the Wales of August. Worth every penny it cost, and every penny it made. Truly an oustanding movie in many regards.

Titanic - James Cameron.

[Antoine]

Asghar Farhadi, A Separation.

[Dan Warburton]

James Cameron, Titanic, 1997

I salute you, Lao Tsu Ben - you gave me a damn good idea there for a rainy Monday afternoon: I took my son to see Titanic in 3D - and was blown away. Or rather washed away. (The 3D thing is a total wank - I'd prefer to see more definition and clarity instead. 3D makes sense in films that were made with it in mind, but as an added extra to spice up old movies, well, I'm not convinced.. though as a way of luring people back to the cinema, it obviously works - would we have gone to see it if it hadn't been in 3D? I don't think so.. anyway..) As blockbusters go, it really takes some beating. What more could you ask for? A good, honest love story complete with nasty upper class villain (Billy Zane: "I always win, Jack") set against the backdrop of one of the most spectacular catastrophes of human history. DiCaprio and Winslet are both superb, but the supporting roles are well cast too (Frances Fisher, Kathy Bates and David Warner all turn in great performances). OK, so the dialogue is a bit wooden in places, and some of the plot developments stretch credibility (put it this way, the last thing you're going to do on a sinking ocean liner is chase someone with a gun down into the flooded ballroom..), but who cares? We've put Mr Rivette's criticism to bed, I think, but it's worth remembering that he's not alone in taking potshots at Cameron. Robert Altman called Titanic "the most dreadful piece of work I've ever seen in my entire life", which is pretty rich coming from someone who made such a pile of crap as Beyond Therapy. Sour grapes, or simple snobisme?

[Dan Warburton]

Wojciech Has, Sanatorium pod klepsydra ("The Hourglass Sanitorium"), 1973

Whoa, what a trip. "Alice in Shoahland", as one wag over at IMDb dubbed it, this amazing journey into the world of dreams and the subconscious is based on several short stories by Bruno Schulz (who was shot by a Gestapo officer himself http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruno_Schulz ), and it's right up there with Tarkovsky's Mirror, Jodorowsky's Magic Mountain and Bergman's Hour of the Wolf in my book. That said, I reckon I'm going to have to watch it at least three more times before I even begin to figure out how it's all put together. And I you bet will. Nice set of articles here http://www.anne-guerin-castell.fr/fr/wo ... ydre.shtml if your French is up to it. But check out the film too.

[Lao Tsu Ben]

We've put Mr Rivette's criticism to bed, I think, but it's worth remembering that he's not alone in taking potshots at Cameron. Robert Altman called Titanic "the most dreadful piece of work I've ever seen in my entire life", which is pretty rich coming from someone who made such a pile of crap as Beyond Therapy. Sour grapes, or simple snobisme?

Glad you like it. I would like to put hands on the interview with Godard that Rivette mentions, to know whether he says anything besides it is a piece of crap. It was in Elle, so I don't imagine something substantial. New Wave veterans seemed to hate it anyway.
I have been checking some things on the film such as how long you can survive in cold water, and I came across this interesting detail:

Director James Cameron did the sketch of Rose (Kate Winslet) wearing the necklace. It is actually Cameron's hand, not Leonardo DiCaprio's, that we see sketching Rose in the movie. James Cameron also drew all of the pictures in Jack's sketchbook.

Ah, La Clepsydre, I've been wanting to see that film for some time. Thanks for reminding me.

[Dan Warburton]

Peter Weir, The Last Wave, 1977

With only a few months to go before the end of the world, thought I'd chill out with an Aboriginal apocalypse movie for a change. Can't let those Meskin injuns get all the credit. Started out well - nothing like innocent children forced to take cover in their school from an attack of.. no, not birds (but the Hitchcock reference is clear) but giant hailstones! It also rains crude oil and there's a plague of frogs too, which may remind you of another later film. Turns out Richard Chamberlain isn't Dr Kildare after all but an extraterrestrial shaman bringing sacred stones from the rising sun, and has to swim through shit (literally - the ancient burial chamber is in the Sydney sewers) to locate the mystic murals (which look as if they've been painted by the kids in the school mentioned above) prophesying a giant tsunami.. Some nice touches, but the horror movie clichés have passed their sell-by date now. Not as weird and scary as Picnic at Hanging Rock, or as evocative as Roeg's Walkabout (which also featured Aboriginal actor David Gulpilil, in case you recognised him), but worth a look.

[cheerios]

Tsai Ming Liang - What Time is it There?



Really pretty awesome. The only other Tsai film I've seen is Goodbye Dragon Inn. This one is great too. There are just so many awkward/funny moments that are so interesting to watch them play out. Some parts were really really funny, and he muses at Asians being abroad, the alienation and loneliness of it all.

[Dan Warburton]

Nicolas Roeg, Eureka, 1983

No wonder the producers at MGM didn't know what to do with it, letting it slip out quietly on limited release in England before dropping out of sight - part adventure story, part soap opera-style biopic, part courtroom drama, its jumps between genres are as breathtaking as its editing. The Citizen Kane reference is clear, but to make things more interesting this is actually based on a true story http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Oakes. Stellar cast - Gene Hackman, Theresa Russell, Rutger Hauer (best role I've seen him in), Mickey Rourke (idem), and as usual with Roeg moments of extreme sex and violence. Sometimes painfully slow (the trial scenes drag, and Russell, otherwise wonderful, hysterical), sometimes dizzyingly fast (the voodoo rites intercut with the attack on Jack's mansion are absolutely sensational), it's a glorious, flawed colourful sprawl of a film. You can see why Jim O'Rourke loves it so much.

[Lao Tsu Ben]

Twixt - Francis Ford Coppola

I have pretty mixed feelings about this one, as irony lurks at every corner, which are many. Francis Ford Coppola, in interviews, makes no bones about his refound freedom as a filmmaker, an handy synonym, translated into film, for quirkiness, which sometimes can be annoying. Fortunately, along with irony, there are many things that lurk in that film; in fact, I'm not used to see something with so many ideas, and all my prejudices were put to silence. Hour of The Wolf, Melancholia (which I don't like at all), Vampyr, Inland Empire, In the Mouth of Darkness, La Maison Nucingen, by Ruiz, and Coppola's own Dracula are the references that come to hand, as the film navigates between self-aware silliness and, (cough), you know, things of beauty. That should give you an apt notion of how it looks like. As for myself, I tend to find it rather magnificent, but friends of mine begged to differ, saying that it was either ok (and amusing), or utter bullshit. So much for consensus (sigh). I'm also quite seduced by what can be most properly called its "art direction" (think Sin City), while my friends found it ugly, which I can also understood. Look at some pictures of the film on the internet, and it's undeniably bad-looking, but the film looks good. I suppose Coppola must have been well-aware of this paradox. Won't say check it out, but do as you feel, and see it with feeling (wow, that was a rather trite catchphrase). As far as indulging movies go, that was a lot better than the Tree of Life anyway.

[Dan Warburton]

Well, if I come across it in a couple of years in a 5€ box, I might just give it a try, but a) as I'm not a big fan of Val Kilmer b) didn't think much of Sin City and c) absolutely hated his last but one, Youth Without Youth, I can't say I'm in a hurry! Love your throwaway exit line about The Tree of Life though

[Lao Tsu Ben]

Well, if I come across it in a couple of years in a 5€ box, I might just give it a try, but a) as I'm not a big fan of Val Kilmer b) didn't think much of Sin City and c) absolutely hated his last but one, Youth Without Youth, I can't say I'm in a hurry! Love your throwaway exit line about The Tree of Life though

I agree with all of your points, especially the last two ones, but that does not mean anyone should see it; I would be at pains to formulate any kind of advice at this point. Perhaps I should have said that Sin City was not at all my cup of tea, in fact pretty much a complete waste of time to my mind. As for Youth Without Youth, I slept through most of the movie: total rubbish. Also, I stopped to watch Tetro after a few minutes, because it seemed irremediably stupid to me (and pretentious, they sort of get along). Love Rumble Fish, though, perhaps the only film of his that I really liked so far. Let's say that Twixt begins like a rather inconsequent affair and ends up exorcising Coppola's own guilt about the death of his son.

[MRS]

Stephen Frears, The Hit, 1984

More I see this (this was the third time), more I like it. Stellar performances from Terence Stamp and John Hurt, classy cinematography from Frears and great location shooting in Spain. Nice one. Good essay on it here too
http://www.criterion.com/current/posts/ ... to-nowhere

"Myron?! That's an unusual name. . .Myron. Well. Paris. So. Cross the frontier at. . .where? Somewhere quiet, eh? Up through France, should get to Paris five, six in the morning? Quick word with Mr. Corrigan and then. . .lights out Willie. The executioner. And his assistant."

[Dan Warburton]

"We're here. Then we're not here. We're somewhere else... maybe. And it's as natural as breathing. Why should we be scared?" Thank goodness Joe Strummer was too busy touring with The Clash to play Myron and recommended Tim Roth instead. Meanwhile, felt like some good bawdy fun last night so had another shot at



Tony Richardson, Tom Jones, 1963

"It is widely held that too much wine will dull a man's desire. Indeed it will... in a dull man." According to my beloved IMDb trivia page, this hilariously sexy scene took three hours to shoot and both Albert Finney and Joyce Redman "felt the effects" for days. And "Hugh Griffith was reportedly drunk through much of the production; the scene in which his horse falls on him was not planned, and many believed he was saved by virtue of his inebriated condition." Who cares if corrugated iron was only invented 80 years after the events in the film were supposed to take place, or that you can see tyre tracks and radio antennae in the hunt sequence (I didn't spot them)? It remains (think I said this last time) one of the most exciting scenes in cinema, full stop. Richardson wasn't very happy with the film, but I'm not complaining. Micheál Mac Liammóir's narration is a delight - nice to compare with Michael Hordern's in Barry Lyndon, the other great film adaptation of a picaresque 18th century English novel. Funnily enough, second film I've seen with David Warner this week (here he's the odious spotty creep Mr Blifil, in Titanic he's the Cal's brutal Pinkerton manservant). Guess I should follow up with Cable Hogue, Straw Dogs, The Omen, Tron and Time Bandits!

[Dan Warburton]

Orson Welles, The Trial, 1962