museless aiming

Films I saw in January 2010

I may not be able to keep this up every month, but in January I saw 32 (mostly) good films, so I figure I can do a top ten list. There are a few minor spoilers.

A Place in the Sun (1951)
A gorgeous black and white revisitation of Murnau's Sunrise, with the inexorability of film noir. The film has a very tight plot, yet its slower pace and concerns predict the later British kitchen sink dramas. In other words it's half Look Back in Anger, half The Postman Always Rings Twice, though better than either and with a character all its own. Superb acting, beautiful cinematography, and as tragic as you'd expect a film based on a novel called An American Tragedy to be.
The Conversation (1974)
Gene Hackman is brilliant as the best man in the private surveillance business whose professionalism keeps him totally disinterested in the conversations he records. Or at least until he hears about the consequences of one of his past jobs. Determined not to let it happen again, he starts to question everything, resulting in a slow unravelling of his life. If you replace the soulless frivolity of Antonioni's Blow up with the kind of madness you find in Polanski's Repulsion, then add a dash of The Shining and a lot of suspense, you'll have an idea of how good this Coppola thriller is.
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947)
It's a genre tour, and Mankiewicz somehow manages to pull together a ghost story, romance, and fantasy into one truly moving tale. Gene Tierney is at her best as her chemistry with Rex Harrison gradually develops. It's a bit weepier than my normal fare, though never overly sentimental, and so beautifully done that it's hard to fault. The Bernard Herrmann score is reportedly the composer's own favourite, which should tell you all you need to know about it.
Breaking the Waves (1996)
Like another Danish director forty years before him, Lars von Trier tackles religion: Does God exist? Is He benevolent or malicious? If He is good, then why is He silent to the faithful? If the religious believe He exists, why do they conclude that those who do speak to God are mad or mentally impaired?

Of course his answers are completely different from Dreyer's, so much so that sometimes it seems like a parody of Ordet. As a result it can hardly avoid invoking Bergman's films like Winter Light, and especially Through a Glass Darkly. And yet the film wouldn't be great if it were merely a parody of his more serious Scandinavian predecessors. (Few people seem to remember that perverse humour, occasionally hilarious, runs through this mostly morose tale.) If it's sometimes a playful parody, von Trier still engages with serious questions here. Has Bess's prayer caused Jan's injury? Is Jan the victim or the aggressor? Is Bess succumbing to temptation or making a Christlike sacrifice?

Emily Watson's haunting, childlike acting and the perfect pace of the film help to constantly raise and reassess these questions. The end explicitly invokes Ordet -- but can it be taken at face value? There are no answers here, just brilliantly posed questions and a thoughtful examination of them. Be wary of watching with people of strong convictions about religion, atheism, or even simply morality -- arguments will inevitably ensue.
Gimme Shelter (1970)
A documentary which shows the planning, execution, and aftermath (though not necessarily in that order) of the free Rolling Stones concert in Altamont, also known as "Woodstock West" in December 1969. The cliché is that it's the dark side of Woodstock, that it's the end of the 60s. But what most people forget to mention is that the chaos and violence of Altamont is also borne of life, and this film has nothing if not vitality. It annoys me to read this concert described as the death of the 60s, since it makes it sound like a dwindling group of hippies giving up on the whole thing.

In reality it's oversaturation, too many people, too much diversity, and the ideals of the 60s were too naïve and too narrow to support the full gamut of life, which, let's face it, contains more brutality than love. If the scenes of the Stones back stage occasionally seem staged, this doesn't detract from others in which they seem genuinely introspective about the extent to which they're culpable for what's happened. This film turns what sounds like random footage of a festival into a real fistful of life and a compelling snapshot of an era.
All That Heaven Allows (1955)
Okay, looks like I'll just have to face up to the fact that I've watched a lot of weepy dramas this month. Inspiration for Fassbinder's Ali: Fear Eats the Soul, this film features Rock Hudson as a young landscape designer who begins an affair with an older rich widow, much to the chagrin of her family and indeed the whole town. The plot can't do it justice, though; it's a deeply moving examination of prejudice and the rules of society in addition to being a tearjerker, and the stunning Technicolor doesn't hurt either.
The Searchers (1956)
If you can't see it in a theatre, get it on blu-ray. The VistaVision is utterly spectacular, making a lot of films made half a century later look washed out and dull. John Wayne, cast against type as a bloodthirsty racist, is a force of nature. He teams up with Jeffrey Hunter's character, part Indian, to seek revenge for the slaughter of their family.

Despite many happy scenes, sunny shots of a breathtaking landscape, and the almost total lack of explicit violence, this is bleak and horrifically brutal fare. It even stands up to some of the best horror films (see below) in its ability to evoke harrowing emotions by what's not shown -- the slaughter of a family and the rape and murder of a young girl take place before the characters arrive, the audience is not allowed to see them. The vicious desecration of an Indian's corpse takes place just outside the frame, forcing the viewer to imagine it. Yet there's also real goodness, redemption, and the tragic and almost convincing sentiment that "Someday, this country's gonna be a fine good place to be. Maybe it needs our bones in the ground before that time can come." Nonpareil.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
This film is truly the stuff of nightmares. I've already reviewed it at length here however so I won't go into anything more on this page.
Brick (2005)
A film set in California, with drugs, scandal, revenge, and a brooding male lead willing to take a beating to get to the truth? Sounds like The Big Sleep! I may stand alone in claiming that it's a bit old hat (it did win the jury prize for originality at Cannes). Nonetheless, I know that I'm not tired of noir, and I applaud Rian Johnson for directing such a slick and faithful return to the genre. Great acting, punchy dialogue, enough plot twists to make you feel like you're in the 40s. What more can one ask from a directorial debut in this century?
Jules et Jim (1962)
François Truffaut's nouvelle vague film about a love triangle in which two best friends love the same woman for thirty years. My initial feeling was that both Les quatre cents coups and Tirez sur le pianiste are better than this, but since that's true of the vast majority of films in existence, one can't really hold that against Jules et Jim. It's also possible that this one is more complex. I didn't love it as much as John Hurt does (he introduced it at the BFI and said he watched it every week for a few months after first seeing it in the 60s), but I do think it warrants further viewing.

I'm at a bit at a loss to say anything more about it, as it's not an easy film to encapsulate. It's a breath of life, bittersweet, with many vivid moments, and some beautiful music as well. In contrast to the unpopular ending of Breaking the Waves which I liked, I seem to be the only one who finds the Angel Face conclusion of this film a bit tacked on. But it remains a transcendent portrayal of friendship; I'll say no more until I've seen it again.

And an honourable mention to Let the Right One in. A vampire film which is romantic but not Romantic, it does away with much of the sensual side of everyone's favourite species of undead. The result is something surprisingly human, if not quite mundane.

The film I most wanted to like last month but didn't wasThe Red Shoes. I know, I know, I'm wrong, but sometimes you just can't like films even when you try. I felt like I was waiting for it to end. It was neither as visually appealing nor as substantial as Black Narcissus, and it just kind of mopes along for too long. I love Lermontov (the Russian author) and I certainly side with his namesake character that Vicky is puerile and misguided, but I can't really understand his motivations either. It probably doesn't help that I have no appreciation for ballet or redheads (I will admit a certain weakness for Deborah Kerr, though it helps if she's in black and white, or in a habit). I'm a little sad to have to disagree with Kate Bush about this film, but I'm still intrigued to see The Line, the Cross & the Curve even though she apparently hated it.

I also found Singin' in the Rain to be vulgar and idiotic, but I don't think it warrants much discussion beyond that. Gene Kelly is so smug that it makes me physically angry. Just to be clear, I have nothing against musicals either -- I quite liked Gigi which I also watched in January.

Anyway, in February I may try to get a life and stop watching so many films, but depending on how that goes I may do a shorter list at the end of the month.

: film : : reviews :

Mon Feb 1 01:25:21 GMT 2010