Deviation
Posts: 26908
Joined: 2/6/2006
From: Enemies of Film HQ
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In these recent days, I discovered there was a Film Festival in Luxembourg. The Place Beyond the Pines was showing. I missed it. MISSED IT, though I did not miss these:
The River (Jean Renoir, 1951, USA/INDIA/FRA)- The music is pretty, the actors of any gender are pretty, the story is emotional, entertaining and manages to features some philosophical complexity that does justice to the culture it is portraying, and also quite pretty, and the images are absolutely pretty. It's not as strong or as that second half of Grand Illusion, but it's far more consistent and tight in its pacing and story, and is equally as effective and emotional
(10)
Hiroshima Mon Amour (Alain Resnais, 1959, FRA/JPN)- Riva really doesn't have any luck with these Amours. Her most successful one will become a brutal test of self-responsibility and love for Trintinguant when she has a stroke, and this one which shown her affairs with a Japanese man in Hiroshima post-WW2 and her doomed one with a German officer in Nevers, WW2. The dialogue is occasionally stuck in ambiguity which never really becomes pretension, the cinematography is stunning, and the way Resnais edits and cuts flashbacks with the contemporary narrative is something still effective till today. The first 14 minutes, showing flashbacks of the effects the nuclear bomb in Hiroshima while as the man denies that such events have been seen or happened, is some of the greatest cinema out there.
(10)
Wreck-it Ralph (Rich Moore, 2012, USA)- Fantastic, incredibly imaginative even with all the plot references and really quite beautiful, even if the plot feels occasionally too slight and that twist makes the film less powerful or interesting. Paranorman STILL DA BEST though (if not for not taking the direction of W-i R and introduce a big baddy).
(9)
Fateless (Lajos Koltai, 2005, HUN/GER/UK/ISR)- The European co-production deals with a Hungarian Jew who ends up travelling throughout various concentration camps in WW2, doing his best to endure, and flows less like a narrative and more a series of vignettes of certain events that have happened to him during the Holocaust, which by itself, makes it a rather interesting take on the Holocaust depending on the scene. The cinematography and music are incredibly emotive (Morricone DUH) even if they have the tendency of well, falling into the manipulative (a recreation of the most questionable bit of Schindler's List is disappointing) and the incredibly sentimental, the direction is fascinating in its minimalism and economic way of showing a lot with the simplest thing, but it has an annoying tendency of fading into black. The most fascinating thing thing happens in the third act, after he is saved by James Bond from the concentration camps, another challenge appears in the guise of trying to fit back with Hungarian society and his remaining family members, which while an interesting part of the film, it feels too short and rushed. It's a strong film with some flaws.
(8)
Anna Karenina (Joe Wright, 2012, UK) - I have not read the book so I cannot say how it compares to that. In fact, I don't even care, because that's just a source that is a book and this is an adaptation on a totally different medium, and what a use of the medium it is, using a theater as a background for many wonderfully artificial sets that recall the best of Fellini and the very few good ideas Moulin Rouge had, physical movements and camera swings that are almost balletic, a glorious sense of passion unleashing itself out of the artifice of the aristocratic culture it is showing, some unforgettable moments and some great performances throughout. The plot and romances about love verge from poetic and beautiful into the sentimental, which considering the reputation of Tolstoy's novel and what it is, seems somewhat insulting, but it is delivered with such panache, style and all-round attractiveness that I simple cannot bother that much really.
(8)
Fellini's City of Women (Federico Fellini, 1980, ITA/FRA)- Mastroianni's Don Juan ends up in a region of Italy dominated by women. OH YES. They're all radical feminists. OH NO. Then he ends up saved by a man. OH PHEW. Who is a fading ultra-masculinity. ERM...Also, the greatest set of boobs in cinema ever not to be seen in Russ Meyer. HUR-FUCKING-RAH. Possibly the most sexually boorish and gaudy thing Fellini has ever done, it's also a rather fascinating, humoristic ride even though not-really-ever-truly-laugh-inducing of a middle-aged womanising man who finds himself observing a chaotic radical feminist group which is the progress in the first act, and a fading, dying and decaying world of ultra-masculinity and doesn't know what exactly he is observing and this outsider perception is possibly the greatest strength of the film. Like most of Fellini's stuff, some of the scenes work, some don't and go on forever, some are simply awkward to watch and some of intensely moving, but the end result is something which is quite witty and really quite unforgettable, if not for all the right reasons.
(8)
Fresh Guacamole (PES, 2012, USA, Short Film)- Better then Paperman.
(8)
Cosmopolis (David Cronenberg, 2012, CAN/FRA/POR/ITA)- Cronenberg's ridiculously divisive feature is an interesting one that, rather disappointingly considering the director's CV, never really elevates itself to greatness, be it for the constant, never pausing talk which sometimes is in itself, occasionally infuriatingly intentionally obtuse for the sake of vagueness, stuck in its own abstraction and obscurity and constantly didactic, with the direction verging from genius to unspectacularly theatrical depending on the moment. However, some of the talk itself, from the unnatural way it is delivered, the almost lively quality it has, the genuinely interesting performances it has delivering it, mixed with Cronenberg's direction which in some occasions gives great images. The theme feels cluttered and disjointed, with major parts left out and what's left being rather impenetrable in occasions (fuck knows what the barber scene meant) and rather maddening, but for most part I couldn't be bored by it, it has that fascinating mesmerising quality within it.
(8)
The Last Thakur (Sadik Ahmad, 2008, BAN/UK)- More Bengalis, though different Bengalis from those of The River, with this Yojimbo of sorts told from the perception of a child whose perception of people tend to contradict those seen on the frame, from the villainous Hindu Thakur (who is actually a rather nice guy) to the respectable Muslim politician (who is actually quite a corrupt guilt-ridden flawed bastard of a man) as the film slowly builds to its explanation of who is what and who did what. There's a seemingly unneeded excess of soft-focus and the ending is a bit disappointing, and the performances can be stilted or inconsistent, but it's a good thriller and a rather interesting way of telling the story.
(7)
Bullhead (Michael R. Roksam, 2011, BEL/NET)- Whenever it is set around Belgian Ryan Gosling character, psychology and performance, it is incredible, it feels underdeveloped (bar a very playful moment when two Wallonians are explaining the plot to the police) and underwritten. There is a funny sense of humour throughout which also makes it more fun, and the music, cinematography and the boobs of Belgian Ryan Gosling's love interest (kinda) are fantastic.
(7)
Dark Shadows (Tim Burton, 2012, USA)- The first of Burton's two films that flopped in the States last year, and also by far the weakest, yet like Frankenweenie, quite interesting, but unlike Frankenweenie, not really well, good. It's his most outright perverted (not hard when the sumptuous Eva Green is looking particularly sumptuous) and tonally closer to the violence and villainy of Batman Returns and Beetlejuice. These are good things, and so is the thing going on where the anti-hero kills even innocents on-screen then the antagonist does, the performances are mostly strong and the visuals are excellent. Then well, you have a script which is too muddled and bloated with way too much stuff, never sure on which plot it wants to focus on, adding some plot-elements that are only slightly referenced before and other plot elements it completely forgets on for long patches of the film. The result is a film that's not really good but neither really bad. So it's mediocre.
(5)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Dpp1978
There are certainly times where calling a person a cunt is not only reasonable, it is a gross understatement.
quote:
ORIGINAL: elab49
I really wish I could go down to see Privates
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