Alphaville
**/5
by Jean-Luc Godard
To be honest, I didn't like Alphaville very much at all. I felt very mistrustful of the film: it seemed to be making fun of me.
It was constructed with all of these “genre” elements: a spy, a femme fatale, a superintelligent computer, a secret organization, etc. but separated them from any of the style or artistry that actual genre films often contain. The bare plot devices were pasted together, which I felt created quite a misrepresentation of the source material. It was as if the film was intended to expose the flaws of the films it derived itself from, and, by proximity, those who enjoy such films, which seemed like a rather immature and cynical venture.
Besides that, there were some scenes that did not really blend with the others (like the fight scene in the hotel room near the beginning), and the whole thing was devoid of any kind of dramatic tension. Events just sort of played out until the end. And by the end, you realize that this film also states that love is among those preposterous things that only happens in movies.
The stylistic decisions that were added onto this strange film were ones that I just didn't get. The two second long interludes of neon signs and things speeding by or flashing seemed to be some kind of visual metaphor, the meaning of which escaped me. The distant and sterile mood of the film coupled with incredibly long handheld takes just exhausted me. I felt cut off from the characters, but also unpleasantly trapped. If this is what was intended, I fail to see why.
It is quite possible I'm missing something here, but if I am, isn't it a problem that the point wasn't made clear?
Monday, January 25, 2010
Monday, January 18, 2010
House of Wax
House of Wax
****/5
by André De Toth, starring Vincent Price
I recently rewatched this film and was pleased to find it was as great as I remembered. This is the film that made Vincent Price the face (and voice!) of horror in the 50s and 60s. Full of excellent scares, creepy sets, and imagery that is still shocking by today's standards, this film sticks with you. For a couple years I was trying to remember what film it was that had a particularly terrifying murder in it, and watching House of Wax again, I realized this was it!
The only parts of this movie that fall short are the interludes intended to showcase the film's original 3-D. On DVD, you wonder why there are so many Can-Can dancers and obnoxious guys with paddleballs. Other than these pitfalls, though, the movie is generally well paced, concise, and totally scary. Highly recommended.
Recommendations
The Abominable Dr. Phibes (one of Vincent Price's last great horror roles)
****/5
by André De Toth, starring Vincent Price
I recently rewatched this film and was pleased to find it was as great as I remembered. This is the film that made Vincent Price the face (and voice!) of horror in the 50s and 60s. Full of excellent scares, creepy sets, and imagery that is still shocking by today's standards, this film sticks with you. For a couple years I was trying to remember what film it was that had a particularly terrifying murder in it, and watching House of Wax again, I realized this was it!
The only parts of this movie that fall short are the interludes intended to showcase the film's original 3-D. On DVD, you wonder why there are so many Can-Can dancers and obnoxious guys with paddleballs. Other than these pitfalls, though, the movie is generally well paced, concise, and totally scary. Highly recommended.
Recommendations
The Abominable Dr. Phibes (one of Vincent Price's last great horror roles)
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
La Fille d'Eau
La Fille d'Eau
*****/5
Jean Renoir
I got a whole box set of Renoir films for my birthday that I'm just now getting around to watching. This is the first one, from 1925, and in fact, it was Renoir's first solo directing role. It seems Renoir has been making incredible films since the beginning. The story, as with most good films, is simple. A girl's father dies, and when her uncle treats her horribly, she runs away and falls in with some bad people until she can be redeemed. However, this is barely the surface of what it is like to watch this film. My history teacher, Gene Stavis said the other day, “The story is less than 50% of what a film is about.” I could not agree more. This film, ridiculously retitled Whirlpool of Fate for America, has so much more going on. It is a complete coalescence of the state of film up to that point, in much the same way people mention Citizen Kane being. However, Citizen Kane blends its ideas much more smoothly than this film does, although the chunkiness here does not really detract. There are scenes of Russian montage, and a magnificent nightmare sequence that has got to be one of the best dreams committed to film. You can see more than a little of this dream in the films of Jean Cocteau. La Fille d'Eau is shot mostly on location, with the scenes on the water being the absolute best. Look for (although I don't think you'll miss it) the shot where a man walks in place along the top of a moving barge. Also when the girl is sitting on the barge's rudder, the camera is on the other end, which keeps her in the middle of the frame as she swings on it and moves the whole background. The effect is simply incredible.
Recommendations
Anything by Jean Renoir or Jean Cocteau
*****/5
Jean Renoir
I got a whole box set of Renoir films for my birthday that I'm just now getting around to watching. This is the first one, from 1925, and in fact, it was Renoir's first solo directing role. It seems Renoir has been making incredible films since the beginning. The story, as with most good films, is simple. A girl's father dies, and when her uncle treats her horribly, she runs away and falls in with some bad people until she can be redeemed. However, this is barely the surface of what it is like to watch this film. My history teacher, Gene Stavis said the other day, “The story is less than 50% of what a film is about.” I could not agree more. This film, ridiculously retitled Whirlpool of Fate for America, has so much more going on. It is a complete coalescence of the state of film up to that point, in much the same way people mention Citizen Kane being. However, Citizen Kane blends its ideas much more smoothly than this film does, although the chunkiness here does not really detract. There are scenes of Russian montage, and a magnificent nightmare sequence that has got to be one of the best dreams committed to film. You can see more than a little of this dream in the films of Jean Cocteau. La Fille d'Eau is shot mostly on location, with the scenes on the water being the absolute best. Look for (although I don't think you'll miss it) the shot where a man walks in place along the top of a moving barge. Also when the girl is sitting on the barge's rudder, the camera is on the other end, which keeps her in the middle of the frame as she swings on it and moves the whole background. The effect is simply incredible.
Recommendations
Anything by Jean Renoir or Jean Cocteau
Mr. Wong Movies
This is a little embarrassing. A couple times I have been randomly picking films out of my 50 Horror Movies box set (which is a medley of public domain art and trash) and come across a “Mr. Wong, Detective” film. Something about my undying love for mysteries, the 30s, and utter garbage comes together for me in these films. I have no illusions that they are good, but they do keep me interested. And if I had to pick an aspect of casual racism, I'd pick these films over anything with a caricatured black person.
Bela Lugosi's Mr. Wong fell victim to a lot of horrible things. Firstly, he was the bad guy, which pretty much gave the guys over at Monogram Pictures the liberty to make him as despicable as they wanted. He speaks in halted English and has a ridiculous underground lair. Not even his wife or daughter like him. However, Boris Karloff's Mr. Wong is a highly respected private detective. He is most often called in when the police are dealing with a crime where they need information from Chinatown, and he is more likely to get it than they. Mr. Wong always solves the crimes the police assume to be open and shut. He performs scientific analysis and picks up clues they overlook. As far as a stereotype goes, Wong doesn't really fulfill any racial caricatures. Now, this does not entirely redeem these movies, but they are an interesting relic that is decent entertainment as a mystery.
The best one I've seen so far is The Fatal Hour. The movie starts when the main cop, Captain Street, gets a phone call that his long-time friend has been killed while working undercover. The tone is somber, which removes a lot of the overblown “comedy” banter from the picture. People look at each other with sad understanding and Wong comes in mostly to console his friend. The characters deal with much heavier issues than normal, such as who will tell the officer's wife he has been killed. As the film progresses, solving the crime comes to the forefront over the personal issues, but it never comes back to the level of annoying chatter of the other films.
I would certainly not go so far as to recommend these pictures, but maybe I feel it should be noted that they are not the racist exploitation films that it would be easy to assume they are. In fact, I always find it a little comforting that Mr. Wong is the most respectable and well liked guy in the movie. People are comforted by his presence and cherish his friendship. He is intelligent without being cartoonishly wise or enigmatic, and he is capable without using any “Oriental secrets”. He's a down to earth kind of guy, heads above the rest of the San Francisco police force.
Recommendations:
The Fatal Hour, if you absolutely must
Bela Lugosi's Mr. Wong fell victim to a lot of horrible things. Firstly, he was the bad guy, which pretty much gave the guys over at Monogram Pictures the liberty to make him as despicable as they wanted. He speaks in halted English and has a ridiculous underground lair. Not even his wife or daughter like him. However, Boris Karloff's Mr. Wong is a highly respected private detective. He is most often called in when the police are dealing with a crime where they need information from Chinatown, and he is more likely to get it than they. Mr. Wong always solves the crimes the police assume to be open and shut. He performs scientific analysis and picks up clues they overlook. As far as a stereotype goes, Wong doesn't really fulfill any racial caricatures. Now, this does not entirely redeem these movies, but they are an interesting relic that is decent entertainment as a mystery.
The best one I've seen so far is The Fatal Hour. The movie starts when the main cop, Captain Street, gets a phone call that his long-time friend has been killed while working undercover. The tone is somber, which removes a lot of the overblown “comedy” banter from the picture. People look at each other with sad understanding and Wong comes in mostly to console his friend. The characters deal with much heavier issues than normal, such as who will tell the officer's wife he has been killed. As the film progresses, solving the crime comes to the forefront over the personal issues, but it never comes back to the level of annoying chatter of the other films.
I would certainly not go so far as to recommend these pictures, but maybe I feel it should be noted that they are not the racist exploitation films that it would be easy to assume they are. In fact, I always find it a little comforting that Mr. Wong is the most respectable and well liked guy in the movie. People are comforted by his presence and cherish his friendship. He is intelligent without being cartoonishly wise or enigmatic, and he is capable without using any “Oriental secrets”. He's a down to earth kind of guy, heads above the rest of the San Francisco police force.
Recommendations:
The Fatal Hour, if you absolutely must
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Le Corbeau
Le Corbeau
*****/5
Henri-Georges Clouzot
The French continue to casually make beautiful films with important social messages. I guess not "continue" since this film is from the '40s, but "consistently".
The story is of an anonymous informant who sends exposing letters to every person in a small town. The infrastructure and relationships crumble as treachery and secrets come to light. The mystery of "Who is 'Le Corbeau'?" is not nearly as thrilling as the human drama, which explores how easily people can be swayed to keep themselves safe. It was made as a response to the occupation of France, and therefore the comments are rather subtle, but not easy to miss.
I first thought of recommending The Exterminating Angel, which is one of my favorite films ever, but I'm not sure if that is the strongest connection I can make. Apparently, Godard's Weekend was inspired by The Exterminating Angel, so maybe I'll save the recommendation for that.
*****/5
Henri-Georges Clouzot
The French continue to casually make beautiful films with important social messages. I guess not "continue" since this film is from the '40s, but "consistently".
The story is of an anonymous informant who sends exposing letters to every person in a small town. The infrastructure and relationships crumble as treachery and secrets come to light. The mystery of "Who is 'Le Corbeau'?" is not nearly as thrilling as the human drama, which explores how easily people can be swayed to keep themselves safe. It was made as a response to the occupation of France, and therefore the comments are rather subtle, but not easy to miss.
I first thought of recommending The Exterminating Angel, which is one of my favorite films ever, but I'm not sure if that is the strongest connection I can make. Apparently, Godard's Weekend was inspired by The Exterminating Angel, so maybe I'll save the recommendation for that.
The Passion of Joan of Arc
The Passion of Joan of Arc
****/5
Carl Theodor Dreyer
I feel like Dreyer should have waited like 2 years to make this movie. It was really dialogue heavy, which is not necessarily a problem itself. But the fact that the actor's performances were interrupted by long intertitles was somewhat of a detriment to their intense performances. Had this picture been in sound, it could have been distracting to actually hear their words, though.
Even so, this movie is intense. It is an unyeilding portrait of suffering, specifically religious suffering, which is the most extreme.
As far as that goes, though, I have to admit, I liked Day of Wrath a whole lot better. The scenes of religious persecution obviously owe a lot to Joan of Arc, but the themes of suffering, religiosity, and human urges are better expresseed, I feel. There is also the advantage of Day of Wrath telling a story you don't know the end to.
Dreyer's trademark spare sets, atmospheric lighting, and haunting imagery are pervasive. He is one of my favorite filmmakers and consistently succeeds to bring chilling, deep stories to the screen.
Recommendations:
Day of Wrath
****/5
Carl Theodor Dreyer
I feel like Dreyer should have waited like 2 years to make this movie. It was really dialogue heavy, which is not necessarily a problem itself. But the fact that the actor's performances were interrupted by long intertitles was somewhat of a detriment to their intense performances. Had this picture been in sound, it could have been distracting to actually hear their words, though.
Even so, this movie is intense. It is an unyeilding portrait of suffering, specifically religious suffering, which is the most extreme.
As far as that goes, though, I have to admit, I liked Day of Wrath a whole lot better. The scenes of religious persecution obviously owe a lot to Joan of Arc, but the themes of suffering, religiosity, and human urges are better expresseed, I feel. There is also the advantage of Day of Wrath telling a story you don't know the end to.
Dreyer's trademark spare sets, atmospheric lighting, and haunting imagery are pervasive. He is one of my favorite filmmakers and consistently succeeds to bring chilling, deep stories to the screen.
Recommendations:
Day of Wrath
I Bury The Living
I Bury the Living
***/5
********SPOILERS********
This was a very strange low budget horror flick. A prominent guy, Kraft, is newly appointed as chairman to run the cemetery in a small town. He accidentally mixes up the colored pins used to mark on a map whether a plot is purchased or full. The people he places the black pin for then show up dead. He soon descends into a madness where he becomes convinced that he has a power to kill anyone whose pin he has access to. In the end, it turns out the elderly cemetery keeper (McKee) killed them all because he didn't want to retire.
There are a lot of plot holes here. Firstly, every person died in a different way, as pointed out by the police. There is a line at the end that indicated the people all died of fright before he could strangle them, but then why did one have a cerebral hemorrhage and another have heart failure? Another question that arises is why didn't McKee commit similarly motivated murders when Kraft's predecessors made the same mistake in placing the pins? It wasn't entirely clear why he committed the murders in the first place. Also, how did McKee even end up dying? Are we to consider that perhaps Kraft does have some kind of power?
Despite this, there is a lot to like in this film. The distorted sequences are surreal and creative, very similar to the dreams in The Elephant Man. They are well thought out and avoid seeming like other “weird” dream sequences, which often have a very rigid way of being. My favorite detail of this film is the “killer” map itself. At times when Kraft feels he is most out of control, the map glows and is larger than in reality. At one point it takes up the whole wall, backlit. The glow becomes brighter and brighter until Kraft is standing silhouetted against a white screen as he puts a gun to his head. The moment is intense. The next time you see the map, someone else is in the room, and it returns to its normal proportions. All this is handled smoothly and skillfully, not unlike the first shot in the film. Credits roll over a general texture, much like in an Ozu film. Only, in this film, once the credits are done, the camera pulls back and you realize the texture is that of a wall, the wall around the cemetery. The shot is paced well and not excessive or overly dramatized. It is smooth and engaging, showing you the space that the film will take place in.
Overall I liked the film, but I feel like there was a real missed opportunity in explaining why McKee did anything. What I think they were getting at, with all the comments on his devotion to the cemetery, was that when he saw the pins marking the grave as full, he took it upon himself to make sure the map was correct. If the map could be wrong, what good was the map, and therefore the cemetery? At least, this is the answer I like. In the end, when Kraft tries to make up for his deeds by switching the black pins for white, McKee goes about making the corrections, digging up the bodies.
This obsession with consistency and a perceived truth is an idea I find myself liking more and more. Perhaps it has something to do with my own obsessive tendencies. I like the idea that he is so obsessed with this map that he would rather murder someone to fill their grave than change the pin to its proper white. It is a similar idea to one touched on in a comic called Rip Hunter: Time Master. It's a fun 60s comic with some unintentionally fascinating aspects. Much like McKee in this film, Rip Hunter is obsessed with the truth of history. His job is to go back in time and document important events on film. Constantly he screws up and has to defy the apparent course of things to make sure history is the way he “knows” it is. A good example is an issue where Rip realizes that Caesar is supposed to be in Egypt the next day, but according to reports, he is in India. Rip uses his ship to remove Caesar from what he was doing and bring him to the “proper” place. Because of his obsession with keeping history correct, he creates situations that never could have taken place naturally, creating the history he knows and loves. What would happen if Rip were ever to realize his folly, could be potentially crushing to him. But one of the interesting things about a character like this is the inability to see it any way but theirs.
Recommendations:
Diary of a Madman
***/5
********SPOILERS********
This was a very strange low budget horror flick. A prominent guy, Kraft, is newly appointed as chairman to run the cemetery in a small town. He accidentally mixes up the colored pins used to mark on a map whether a plot is purchased or full. The people he places the black pin for then show up dead. He soon descends into a madness where he becomes convinced that he has a power to kill anyone whose pin he has access to. In the end, it turns out the elderly cemetery keeper (McKee) killed them all because he didn't want to retire.
There are a lot of plot holes here. Firstly, every person died in a different way, as pointed out by the police. There is a line at the end that indicated the people all died of fright before he could strangle them, but then why did one have a cerebral hemorrhage and another have heart failure? Another question that arises is why didn't McKee commit similarly motivated murders when Kraft's predecessors made the same mistake in placing the pins? It wasn't entirely clear why he committed the murders in the first place. Also, how did McKee even end up dying? Are we to consider that perhaps Kraft does have some kind of power?
Despite this, there is a lot to like in this film. The distorted sequences are surreal and creative, very similar to the dreams in The Elephant Man. They are well thought out and avoid seeming like other “weird” dream sequences, which often have a very rigid way of being. My favorite detail of this film is the “killer” map itself. At times when Kraft feels he is most out of control, the map glows and is larger than in reality. At one point it takes up the whole wall, backlit. The glow becomes brighter and brighter until Kraft is standing silhouetted against a white screen as he puts a gun to his head. The moment is intense. The next time you see the map, someone else is in the room, and it returns to its normal proportions. All this is handled smoothly and skillfully, not unlike the first shot in the film. Credits roll over a general texture, much like in an Ozu film. Only, in this film, once the credits are done, the camera pulls back and you realize the texture is that of a wall, the wall around the cemetery. The shot is paced well and not excessive or overly dramatized. It is smooth and engaging, showing you the space that the film will take place in.
Overall I liked the film, but I feel like there was a real missed opportunity in explaining why McKee did anything. What I think they were getting at, with all the comments on his devotion to the cemetery, was that when he saw the pins marking the grave as full, he took it upon himself to make sure the map was correct. If the map could be wrong, what good was the map, and therefore the cemetery? At least, this is the answer I like. In the end, when Kraft tries to make up for his deeds by switching the black pins for white, McKee goes about making the corrections, digging up the bodies.
This obsession with consistency and a perceived truth is an idea I find myself liking more and more. Perhaps it has something to do with my own obsessive tendencies. I like the idea that he is so obsessed with this map that he would rather murder someone to fill their grave than change the pin to its proper white. It is a similar idea to one touched on in a comic called Rip Hunter: Time Master. It's a fun 60s comic with some unintentionally fascinating aspects. Much like McKee in this film, Rip Hunter is obsessed with the truth of history. His job is to go back in time and document important events on film. Constantly he screws up and has to defy the apparent course of things to make sure history is the way he “knows” it is. A good example is an issue where Rip realizes that Caesar is supposed to be in Egypt the next day, but according to reports, he is in India. Rip uses his ship to remove Caesar from what he was doing and bring him to the “proper” place. Because of his obsession with keeping history correct, he creates situations that never could have taken place naturally, creating the history he knows and loves. What would happen if Rip were ever to realize his folly, could be potentially crushing to him. But one of the interesting things about a character like this is the inability to see it any way but theirs.
Recommendations:
Diary of a Madman
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