jamesbondguy
Posts: 6238
Joined: 6/1/2007
From: The Village Green
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Raining Stones
Director: Ken Loach
I pretty much used up all my praise for Loach in my last review. Needless to say, I like him quite a bit, despite the fact he reuses his own formula (start with humour between two or more male characters, then one does something drastic, usually involving the criminal world, which leads to lots of shouting/crying and a tragic/semi-tragic ending), which is made up for, really, because of the fact that each film feels different and has qualities of it’s own (characters, story details, acting, locale) which set it apart while making it feel like part of a whole. I just wouldn’t suggest watching too many of his films in a row. But I value him for his political and social insight, and his ability to create powerful sequences and characters which sidestep British cultural clichés and stereotypes. But I’ve never been entirely sure of Raining Stones. I know some critics point out as one of his best, and it appears to have a bigger following in America than most of his films- perhaps because of the themes of religious guilt?
But I prefer Kes and Sweet Sixteen, as well as several other of his films. Perhaps the trouble is that I just didn’t find Bob an engaging character, especially in comparison to other Loach ‘heroes.’ It’s impossible not to feel for the guy, of course, but I didn’t really feel he had all that much of an interesting character until the final third of the film, at which point the picture changes gear and tone, moving from a comedy with elements of drama and tragedy, to a tragedy-drama. Of course, his character is guarded, noble and stubborn- but so much so that for much of the film it’s impossible not to question as to whether there’s more to him than that. It’s funny when it’s doing comedy (mainly due to the presence of Ricky Tomlinson), and it’s undoubtedly moving when it’s trying to be. But here this manipulation of emotions feel more facile than it did in other Loach films, and there’s none of the draw and opportunity for investment of the best of the later Loach-Laverty partnership. I don’t mean to be harsh towards the film, but the criticism is a mark of my respect for Loach. For his films, including this one, are often undoubtedly powerful- but when you can create such an emotional impact with every film, then you sometimes need something more in order to elevate it.
Une Partie de campagne (A Day In The Country, 1936)
Director: Jean Renoir
So, it was filmed in 1936, and released in 1946, just after the Nazi censors had departed allowing the cinema to breath again in France. And could there have been any more rejuvenating work than this? It was abandoned in 1936, half-completed, due to weather and personnel problems. Renoir moved onto Rules of the Game, and his assistant directors, Jacques Becker and Luchino Visconti (could you ask for two better assistants?) moved onto directing for themselves, and another, Henri-Cartier Bresson moved onto his career in photography. What was left of this adaptation of a Maupassant short story was assembled by other hands according to Renoir’s original instructions. More masterpieces than you may think have such tangled history, suggesting that their artistry may have grown out of frustration and dead-ends. It’s the story of a bourgeois Parisian family on a day out in the country, having a picnic at a small riverside inn. The father is loud, gruff and annoying, the mother is shrill, annoying and pleasure-seeking, the prospective son-in-law is almost as much of a buffoon as the father. So the film focuses on the daughter, who’s overcome and overwhelmed by the country, and is more introverted and knowing than the rest of her family. The mother and daughter are courted by two fishermen, and eventually the daughter and Henri fall for each other (and we witness perhaps the most incredibly filmed kiss, and aftermath, in cinema history)- or do they fall for the countryside, to which they are intrinsically linked?
The film resounds with the glories of nature- it’s in black and white, but never has been captured so purely and perfectly, and never has it had such a sensual impact on the screen. Truffaut, arguably Renoir’s greatest fan, called it “a truly physical film, which touches us physically, so that we feel every blade of grass”, and it’s true. The look of the countryside and the beautiful cinematography and camera movements draw us into the unspoilt riversides of Northern France, as if we were experiencing a memory of our own, which has been glorified and modified in our own minds. If you’ve seen it, you’ll never forget the tracking shot down the river as the rain beats down on it, the moment where Rudolf pushes open the window and lets the sun, and the view of Sylvia Bataille standing upright on the swing, enter the room, or the scene with the two lovers in the boat. It’s resolutely sentimental, of course, and very much rooted to the old France of Maupassant stories, but it’s a film which places it’s passion and emotion firmly on the surface, and allows us to become lost in it. And it ends unhappily, of course, with the retreating back to bourgeois complacency and repression. It’s the perfect adaptation of Maupassant (in fact, I’ve heard it’s a great improvement on the original story), and other French writers, like Balzac and Flaubert, would have killed for an adaptation like this one. If cinema is, as the saying goes, nothing more than the act of boys filming girls, then is the shot looking up at Sylvia Bataille’s face as she swings, standing-up, on the swing it’s greatest moment?
Histoire(s) Du Cinema (1988-1998, Jean-Luc Godard)
Une Femme est Une Femme (1961, Jean-Luc Godard)
Une Partie Campagne (1936, Jean Renoir)
The Singing Detective (1986, Aimel) -
Dans Paris (2005, Honore)
The Roaring Twenties (1939, Walsh)
Chat Perches (2004, Marker)
Detour (1945, Ulmer)
Sweet Sixteen (Loach)
Paris Nous Appartient (1961, Rivette)
Radio On (1979, Petit)
Gun Crazy (1950, Lewis)
Happy-Go-Lucky (2008, Leigh)
Tickets (Olmi, Kiarostami, Loach)
The Filth and The Fury (2003, Temple)
Joy Division (Gee, 2007)
My Name is Joe (Loach, 2003)
Love Meetings (Pasolini, 1965)
Raining Stones (Loach, 1993)
Somers Town (2007, Meadows)
This is England (2006, Meadows)
The Girl Who Lept Through Time (2006)
Election (1999, Payne)
High Hopes (Leigh)
Barton Fink (1991, Coen)
Slumdog Millionaire (2008, Boyle)
Carrie (1976, De Palma)
King of Kong (2007)
Twilight Zone: The Movie (Spielberg, Landis, Dante, Miller)
Burn After Reading (2007, Coen)
Shorts:
Antoine et Colette (1962, Truffaut)
Blue Jeans (Jacques Rozier, 1958)
Meetin' WA (Godard, 1986)
Bread And Ally/Breaktime (1970-72, Kiarostami)
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Just like Geoffrey Ingram.
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