Oscar's Cinema Journal 2005

^From now on it'll be: the cultural mecca of San Francisco and the Bay Area :)
^Watched the first hour of Crashers with Chelsea and her friend while waiting for the Penguins doc to start; found it uninspired, inoffensive, not very funny. Chelsea says the movie got "sweeter" and less funny after I left to watch the doc. Le Divorce was witty, sophisticated, and poked fun at the state of Franco-American relations without crassness, or condescension to either side. It's good, not great.
^I understand it's not your intention but I bet I'm not the only one influenced by your opinions. I should probably thank you for saving me from Ma Mere and the Brazilian flick you hated at the SFFF.
^I posted on the Hustle and Flow thread. I found it worth-watching and "uplifting" to an extent. It'd be a better movie if the female characters were less stereotypical, and if the script was wiser than the pimp protagonist.

What's with the little pyramids?

Now don't blatantly give away prejudging a film that way as you do on Wedding Crashers. To give the illusion of having approached a movie with an open mind, you have to watch the whole thing. It's a hilarious movie. It's good entertainment. But if you don't like it -- and you certainly don't have to -- you also certainly don't have to condemn it morally to justify your dislike. Comedy offends, and absolute comedy offends absolutely. I can't wait for Pretty Persuasion, which promises to be much more offensive and more pointed. I hope your daughter likes it. I actually found some of the early wedding mélange sequence tiresome, though most people who like the movie don't. It's really better later on, as far as I'm concerned. But to leave after a solid hour shows that the man, Oscar Jubis, was suffering.

I have read and pondered your remarks about Hustle and Flow and I continue to ponder them. Since we have constant exchanges it's my responsibility to try to understand your personality.

Have you commented on 29 Palms? I just watched it on DVD and am looking for where to post comments. You started .a thread on Bruno Dumont , but it never went on to his latest film.

This is where "The last film you watched" becomes invaluable. It seems ridiculous to me that I'm the person on this site who has most often mentioned the name of Bruno Dumont.

*I want to clarify that I didn't walk-out on Crashers and that, what I watched of it, I watched with an open mind. Chelsea and her friend needed a ride to the plex to watch it, I decided to stay and watch March of the Penguins, which showed one hour later. So I sat with them until Penguins started. I watched enough of Crashers to know I'm not interested in watching the rest, but it's neither insufferable nor condemnable. Of course, I didn't list it on my journal.
*29 Palms has risen to #8 on my Netflix queue. I will post on the Dumont thread after I watch it.

Friday August 12th

L'Eclisse (Italy, 1962) on dvd
We meet Vittoria (Monica Vitti) the morning after she decides to break her relationship with live-in boyfriend Riccardo (Francisco Rabal). She goes to the Borsa (Roma's Stock Exchange), where she knows she can find her petite-bourgeoise mother. It's a chaotic day at the Borsa, with many investors losing money. Vittoria meets Piero (Alain Delon), her mother's stockbroker. The film then alternates between their points of view: Vittoria visits a friend, a white Kenyan who has recently moved to Rome; Piero deals with despondent clients, cancels a date with a call girl. L'Eclisse then focuses on Piero's conquest of Vittoria and her ambivalent response_ a chilling poem of absence and desire.
The brilliant mise-en-scene of the Borsa sequences evidence Antonioni's background as a documentarian. The outdoors scenes_filmed in a new Roman suburb_effectively dramatize the influence of environment or milieu on characters, a specialty of Antonioni. The highly suggestive, wordless, final scene, included in Scorsese's brilliant My Voyage to Italy, represents the pinnacle of Italian cinema. It begs to be seen repeatedly. L'Eclisse is a masterpiece.

One would think it was obvious that watching a film "with an open mind" would require watching the whole thing. Oh, well, I give up.

Which Antonioni film do you think is best and how do you think L'Eclisse relates to the rest of his whole œuvre?

Saturday August 13th

Cronicas (Ecuador/Mexico, 2004) at SoBe Regal
I approached the second film written and directed by Sebastian Cordero with trepidation. Cordero's debut, Ratas, Ratones, Rateros, was yet another movie that exploits the seedy side of urban Latin America for cheap genre thrills. This time the Ecuadorian filmmaker leaves Quito for Babahoyo, a small, impoverished town where the corpses of several children have been dug out bearing signs of torture and rape. The murders have been linked to others in nearby towns. The sorrow and anxiety are palpable in Babahoyo, as police conduct a frantic search for "el monstruo". Except for the opening scene (which assertively identifies a possible suspect), these events are shown from the perspective of a three-person TV crew from Miami; most specifically, from the point of view of TV personality Manolo Bonilla (John Leguizamo).Manolo, who switches between Spanish and English like the prototypical Miamian, witnesses Vinicio (Damian Alcazar) accidentally run-over a kid and saves him from a lynching mob. Subsequently, there are several conversations between Manolo and Vinicio, set in the town's jail, which revolve around Manolo advocating for Vinicio in exchange for information that may lead to "el monstruo". These exchanges crackle with an intensity reminiscent of similar scenes from Giuseppe Tornatore's A Pure Formality.
Both Alcazar and Leguizamo give very good performances. Alcazar is becoming increasingly recognizable to American viewers, who've seen him in Herod's Law and The Crime of Padre Amaro. Mr. Alcazar has won five Mexican Academy awards and has been nominated three other times. I've enjoyed his acting in Mexican films Bajo California and Arturo Ripstein's La Mujer del Puerto and a new Spanish film titled Hector. But the protagonist here is Leguizamo's Manolo and Cronicas is less about whodunit than about his decision to withhold information from the cops and the ensuingconsequences.
Cronicas breaks no new ground artistically and thematically, and a romantic subplot involving Manolo and his producer(Leonor Watling) feels like an afterthought. But there's plenty of reasons to recommend Cronicas: the masterfully staged lynching sequence, outstanding use of location shooting, the performances of Leguizamo and Alcazar, the sustained rhythm and pacing of the plot, and the realistic consideration of journalistic ethics.

Sunday August 14th

Such a Gorgeous Kid Like Me (France, 1972) import dvd
The gorgeous kid is Camille Bliss (Bernadette Lafont), who is in jail for murder and tells her life story to Stanislas, a timid sociologist working on a thesis titled "Criminal Women". Such a Gorgeous Kid Like Me is a fast-paced farce from Francoise Truffaut, the only one of his films not available on video in the USA and the only one I hadn't seen. Roger Ebert called it "the first Truffaut film I haven't liked" when it premiered in 1973, because of it being "predictable" and its heroine "shallow". Ebert has a point, this film feels like a trifle. But seen in the context of Truffaut's filmography, Such a Gorgeous Kid Like Me acquires some resonance. This is the third of his films about a woman admired by five males. In fact, Ms. Lafont was the first of Truffaut's objects of male desire_in the short Les Mistons (1958), in which she was the subject of adoration and contempt for five prepubescent boys.Such a Gorgeous Kid Like Me is her comic revenge on five males, adults only in appearance. Camille Bliss may also be the most sexually liberated of all Truffaut's heroines, and the one most in control of her destiny and the men buzzing around her.

36 Quai des Orfevres (France, 2004) import dvd
"Policier" by cop-turned-director Olivier Marchal, inspired by real life events. The retiring police chief (Andre Dussolier) challenges the heads of two police departments to break the case of a gang that specializes in armored truck robberies. The rivalry between Vrinks (Daniel Auteil) and Klein (Gerard Depardieu), which goes beyond the professional into the personal realm, becomes the focus of the film. A plot contrivance or two fail to derail this solid genre flick. 36 Quai pays homage to the tradition of French crime movies, for instance, by naming a key character after Belmondo's protagonist in Melville's Le Doulos. Besides that, 36 Quai could've been made in Hollywood or Hong Kong which, given the genre, is a compliment.

Huge thanks for the info on "Such a Kid". I've been trying to track it down for quite a while. Curious how you found it. Import from?


Truffaut is a director who has immortal status. I discovered him in 1997 with The 400 Blows, a film that Jim Morrison worshipped. (Jim Morrison is responsible for my vast cinema knowledge. If it wasn't for my religious devotion to the Lizard King I would still be watching Rambo and Batman ad nauseum)


He's just as personal as Godard.
I love the fact that Truffaut & Godard were film critics who felt that the medium needed new voices, new directions. They realized that "doing it yourself" was the only way to ensure that quality cinema still existed. They were brave, in a way, because if you've never made a film and you proclaim to be a critic with "the right perspective", then you run a very high risk of failing miserably. Godard & Truffaut had the balls to be fearless and true to their visions. And cinema history shows how perfect that was, how the efforts were definitely needed. Without Breathless we wouldn't have the types of films we have today. Sorry but anyone who doesn't realize Godard is like Thomas Edison in terms of technique doesn't know anything about movies.

Truffaut's filmography is towering. I don't know who I love more- Him, Varda or Godard. Fahrenheit 451 is so evocative to me- like a hypnotic dream.

The Wild Child, Jules and Jim and Shoot The Piano Player are undeniable classics.

I'm waiting for the annoucement of a Truffaut retro at the PC.

Nice post! The 400 Blows and Shoot the Piano Player are universally beloved. I also happen to be a fan of The Wild Child, Story of Adele H. and the morbid The Green Room. Jules et Jim IS an undeniable classic, yet I only enjoy some of its scenes. As a whole I found it a bit repetitive. Just my subjective reaction to the film.
Here's the info on the disc: Such a Gorgeous Kid Like Me

Perhaps you are a bit too young to have appreciated the magic of Jules et Jim when it first appeared. It's whole method seemed wholly original at the time, the story was original, and Jeanne Moreau (who'd been in stodgy solemn or conventional stuff before this) suddenly burst from the screen with her embodiment of a free spirited woman. "I only enjoy some of its scenes" is sad to read. But it just shows what I think, which is that movies date rapidly. Shoot the Piano Player is, to me now years later, perhaps the more remarkable, but still Jules et Jim was more thrilling when it was new.

Only those who watched Jules et Jim and Breathless when they came out can fully experience how they changed cinema, just like none of us can fully understand how Eisenstein's Strike and Potemkin did the same thing. But I'm not convinced any of them has "dated". I would argue that none of these classics has dated any more than Joyce's "Ulysses" or a Chopin composition. Then again, at a personal, subjective level, I cannot deny that, ever since my first viewing of Jules in the late 70s, I experience a loss of interest in the characters and their game of romantic musical chairs somewhere past the one hour mark. The film's first hour is extremely "magical" and yes, thrilling. This is where you'll find the cigarrette trick performed by Jules' girlfriend filmed in a 360-degree pan, the cuts and pans that link Catherine to a statue the men love, the race sequence along a bridge; the irises and wipes Truffaut uses to recall the cinema of the period in which Jules et Jim is set, and other wonderful moments. Later the camera becomes more static, and the behaviors of the trio repeat patterns that became tiresome to me.

I agree totally on the "dating" thing.

After seeing Jules et Jim as many times as I have, you do lose some interest in the trio for sure. But it's spirit will always live on.

The sense of freedom, the carefree air of life, that song, the beauty of it is just perfect.
Jules and Jim is even more free-spirited than Breathless.
(Breathless is much more edgy).


I still can't believe Truffaut starred in Spielberg's Close Encounters. My guess is that Francois liked Jaws?

Good comments, to which I can add nothing. I think the reason why film does date more than music or fiction is the photographic images, which contain a time capsule of fashion, etc. -- such that the "period" flavor itself dates, i.e., the men's haircuts of a Seventies movie supposed to be set in the 1890's suddenly begin to look 1976, etc. But if it's a great movie of course that hopefully doesn't date. However when you're talking about Joyce or Chopin you're talking about great genius and unique style.

Quote:

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Originally posted by Johann
I still can't believe Truffaut starred in Spielberg's Close Encounters.

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The key to his casting on Spielberg's movie rests on another film you brought into the discussion: The Wild Child. Truffaut's performance as Dr. Itard in that film, his first substantial role, concerns Itard's efforts to communicate with Victor, a child alienated from civilization. This theme of communication is of special interest to Truffaut. His Lacombe, in Close Encounters, is a scientist who directs an international effort to communicate with extraterrestrials. He is a very likable, heroic character.The irony is that Lacombe finds a way to communicate directly to the aliens whereas he often needs a translator to communicate with fellow humans.

This is why you are so vital to this site oscar.

I'm surprised you didn't comment on the use of the name Lacombe.

+ Gracias por the kind words Johann.
+ My sole cinematic reference is the titular character of a Louis Malle movie. I think "la combe" means "the valley". You tell us, CK.

Monday August 15th

Swing Time (USA,1936) on TCM
Nice score by Jerome Kern, including great songs like Oscar-winner "The Way You Look Tonight". Absolutely awesome dancing numbers featuring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. But the story is utterly lame, which becomes immediately obvious because there's no dancing or singing during the interminable first 25 minutes of the picture. Go ahead, shoot me.

The Mad Songs of Fernanda Hussein (USA, 2001) dvd
A classic example of true independent, regional filmmaking. Just under 3 hours long, John Giavito's labour of love combines documentary segments with three fictional stories set in New Mexico during the Gulf War. The titular character is a Mexican-American whose kids become victims of anti-Arab hatred while her husband has returned to his native Egypt because no one wants to hire him. The second story concerns a pacifist teenage boy who's angry at his dad's politics and frustrated about the failure of his activism to change people's attitudes. The third story concerns a veteran who returns from Iraq with physical and psychological scars. These stories make ample use of footage of actual pro and anti-war demonstrations, welcome parades, and TV coverage of the war. The documentary segments include several melodious songs by Iraqi activist Naseer Shamma, performed on a string instrument called "oud", information and footage of the effects of the US bombing campaign on Iraqi women and children, and a montage of unbelievably sadistic pro-war paraphernilia (a substantial portion aimed at children). The fictional segments are careful to depict in detail typical New Mexican environments, particular desert landscapes not unlike those found in theatre-of-war locations in the Middle East. The Mad Songs of Fernanda Hussein uses non-actors which is, at times, apparent. Moreover, the film leaves no doubt as to its stance regarding US intervention outside our borders. You'd have to look elsewhere for contrasting points of view. The Mad Songs of Fernanda Hussein is an inspired denunciation of racial hatred, nationalism, and militarism in the USA; I love it for that.
Production Notes:THE MAD SONGS OF FERNANDA HUSSEIN

The Mad Songs of Fernanda Hussein

Is this available via Netflix? (I tried to check, but they're once again down--which seems to happen a bit too often.)

Lacombe I thought it would be a reference to Malle's Lacombe, Lucien. Just shown at the Pacific Film Archive.

Yes, Fernanda is available via Netflix.
No relation bet. Malle's film and Truffaut's Claude Lacombe.

I had my dates confused. Claude came before Lucien.

Tuesday August 16

Memories of Murder (South Korea, 2003) DVD
The second film from director Joon-ho Bong (Barking Dogs Never Bite) was a commercial and critical success, earning awards for Best Film, Best Director and Best Actor from the prolific Korean film industry. Memories of Murder is based on a series of bizarre and brutal murders of women which took place in a semi-rural burg in 1986, while South Korea was governed by the Chun dictatorship. The film centers on the investigation from the point of view of local cops and one that comes from Seoul to volunteer his services. The scope of the film can be illustrated by the FIPRESCI award it received at the San Sebastian Film Festival for "giving new insight into the roots of political repression in a dictatorship under the guise of the hunt for a serial killer". Mind you, Memories of Murder is full of suspense and comedic asides, but still manages, at the edges, to provide a type of state-of-the-nation commentary. Memories of Murder had a limited release in the US on June 24th but it's already available on dvd. I wish I could refer to the plot, in order to make some critical observations, without spoiling your enjoyment. The film boasts excellent production values. It has also received very good reviews in North America and I guarantee you'll agree that it's at least worth a rental. Enough said.

A year or so ago you sent me a list of Korean movies you recommended. They were very hard to find, and only on video. Are more of them now available on DVD, and do you have any new recommendations. So far as I've seen, Korean movies seem to be more remarkable for their violence and extremism than for anything else. The more unconventional ones, like Oldboy, are fun though. The war stories are a bit of a bore.

Chris, would you like the names of some good/interesting Korean films? I can't vouch for their general availability, certainly not in the US but ones that you might want to keep a look out for.

Cheers Trev.

Originally posted by Chris Knipp
A year or so ago you sent me a list of Korean movies you recommended. Are more of them now available on DVD

Suddenly many recent Korean movies have come out on dvd in the US, but not necessarily the best.
The biggest beneficiary is Mr. Ki-duk Kim. The Isle, Bad Guy, Spring, Summer, Fall... and Samaritan Girl are all available now. He has a unique vision or "world-view", problem is there's something truly fucked-up about it. Dude can be simultaneously exploitative and priggish, like a voyeur with an exaggerated sense of guilt. It's hard to explain because I'm still trying to figure it out, but it seems to stem from his take on female sexuality. Thing is that I've enjoyed, to some extent, everyone of his films.
Others recently out on dvd: the political thriller Joint Security Area, the black comedy The Quiet Family, and Untold Scandal, a retelling of "Dangerous Liasons" I liked a lot.

do you have any new recommendations.
Lamentably I haven't seen a great Korean film since I sent you that list. (Untold Scandal and Memories of Murder would be the two I recommend. I also liked Oasis but I think you've seen it already.)
Tale of Two Sisters was more confused than anything else.
Camel(s) was undernourished.
Avoid a movie titled Eunjangdo.
Save the Green Planet, Happy End, and This Charming Girl are the next Koreans on my "To Watch" list. I've been been planning another viewing of the wonderful romance One Fine Spring Day, a personal fave.

So far as I've seen, Korean movies seem to be more remarkable for their violence and extremism. The more unconventional ones, like Oldboy, are fun though.

Perhaps, you'd also enjoy the previous film from the director of Oldboy. It's titled Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and even though it's on dvd everywhere, it will finally get a theatrical release (limited) in America tomorrow from Tartan USA. I assume they will release it on dvd real soon.

I will take note of all these, and trevor, please do give any additional recommendations you have besides those already mentioned here. I have got to see Kim Ki-duk's other stuff, no doubt about it, but I have to tell you all, that I've got a Netflix queue a mile long now and it's 95% French films.

The fact is that a lot of the more interesting films of the past remain only on tape and will remain so.

I'd certainly go along with Untold Scandal and Memories of Murder, I can also recommend Happy End, excellent underplayed film making, same goes for Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, in my opinion a far superior film compared to Oldboy.

Save the Green Planet is truly out-there, it's one of those oddities you'll love or hate and This Charming Girl and Failan are on my must see list.

Other recommendations:

The Surrogate Womb aka The Surrogate Woman.
Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors
Woman Is the Future of Man
Take Care of My Cat
3-Iron
Samaritan Girl
Birdcage Inn
Holiday in Seoul (even though it's a rip of "Chungking Express")
Tears - Hard hitting teen drama.
Spider Forest

+ others already listed by Oscar.

Christmas in August and Harmonium in my Memory are said to be very good as well but I won't know for sure till next week.


For something light:

Love Wind Love Song
Ditto
The Way Home
My Beautiful Girl, Mari - animated
Oseam - animated

I did have a lot of reviews that disappeared when foreignfilms.com was virtually wiped out.

There are a hell of a lot of fair to average horror films as well as some truly awful ones but I have no idea if you watch these.

I personally like a lot of Kim ki-duk's films but I can certainly understand why they would upset a lot of people, I had very mixed emotions after seeing The Isle.

Anyway I'm sure that's enough for now, it would be just as easy to list the films to avoid simply because they are awful but it's always more pleasurable to recommend the good.

Cheers Trev.

Thank you I'll print these lists out for future reference. Sorry your reviews were lost. Don't you keep backups on your computer? I'd do that if I were you.

Thanks Chris. I learned too late but I do save all my reviews and more detailed comments now.

Cheers Trev.

*I am very interested in Trevor's review of Jin-ho Hur's Christmas in August(will you post it exclusively at foreignfilms?). I've just learned it has finally become available on dvd here! Both Christmas and Hur's A Fine Spring Day are character-rich, melancholic romances of the highest quality.
*On the other hand, none of Sang-soo Hong's films are available in N.America. Another director with a unique take on relationships. I reviewed Turning Gate. Other titles include two recommended by Trevor:Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors and Woman is the Future... (not as good as the other two IMO).
*Here's an older post on South Korean Cinema.
*Huge fan of My Beautiful Girl Mari but it's animated CK. Looks like a double recommendation for Memories and Scandal, both at netflix.

I'll copy some of my comments on Korean films over from foreignfilms.com and post future reviews on both sites. I'm looking forward to seeing Christmas in August but am more concerned about Harmonium in my Memory as this is the third or fourth release date it's had.

Cheers Trev.

Quote:

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Originally posted by oscar jubis

Memories of Murder (South Korea, 2003) DVD

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I HIGHLY recommend the film ...

-- Throughout the investigation, it also challenged the scientific vs intuition approach ... which is still contentious even in today's world ...
-- The ending, while based on real life ending, was also thought provoking ...

Quote:

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Originally posted by oscar jubis

... and Untold Scandal, a retelling of "Dangerous Liasons" I liked a lot.
... I also liked Oasis but I think you've seen it already....

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oh no ...

But I really do not like UNTOLD SCANDAL (except for the costumes), somehow I like the Hollywood 1988 version better ...

I HIGHLY recommend OASIS ...

Quote:

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Originally posted by trevor826
My Beautiful Girl, Mari - animated
Oseam - animated

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Hey trevor,
did you finally watch these 2 animations?
I thought no one else watched OSEAM ...
(I kept recommending in foreignfilms.com last time)
I knew some would watch My Beautiful Girl, Mari

Anyway, for those who did not know,
-- My Beautiful Girl, Mari received Cristal d'Annecy at Annecy International Animation Festival 2002 .
-- OSEAM received Cristal d'Annecy at Annecy International Animation Festival 2004.
;)

Quote:

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But I really do not like UNTOLD SCANDAL (except for the costumes), somehow I like the Hollywood 1988 version better ...

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That "Hollywood" version (I'd not speak of it that way, with the English director working from an English play using French locations) may be the best one of the Choderlos de Laclos epistolary novel Les Liaisons dangereuses (in my opinion it almost is), but you have to see the other ones too, including the 1959 French one (Roger Vadim) with Jeanne Moreau; Milos Forman's 1989 Valmont; the witty 1999 teenager version Cruel Intentions with Ryan Philippe and Reese Witherspoon; and even the somewhat kitsch recent glossy TV miniseries (Josee Dayan, 2003) with Ruppert Everett and Catherine Deneuve. Reading the thorough Wikipedia rundown on the book and its adaptations, I see there was a 1980 (Claude Barma) French TV version too. There may be others... In fact, this is an excellent opportunity to study the art of adaptation. I'll have to see the new Korean version some time. But I'll still probably agree with hengcs's preference of Stephen Frears's very happy 1988 adaptation of Christopher Hampton's play. Of all the Korean stuff you've all mentioned, in fact, this is the one that most appeals to me to check out, apart from Kim Ki-duk's and Park Chan-wook's other movies besides the ones I've seen.

I planned to watch the first three films directed by Bela Tarr in chronological order but I started with his second.

Wed. August 17th

The Outsider (Hungary, 1981) dvd
Andras is a man in his 20s who was raised in an institution after his father emigrated to Canada (no mention is made of his mother). He has a brother, and a baby son from his ex-girlfriend. Andras trained as violinist at a Conservatory but never graduated. He enjoys playing at the pub and at social functions. He gets fired from his job as an attendant at a psychiatric clinic but quickly finds employment at a factory. He meets a pretty girl at the pub and eventually marries her. Even though she also works, they experience financial difficulties that threaten their relationship. Andras' wife is especially upset at his "lack of ambition" and his insistence on paying full child support. The life experiences of Andras are seen as representative of the struggles of the common worker in Hungary. Through him, Tarr introduces many of the residents of a small town during the communist era. Tarr also takes pleasure in depicting the town's culture through pub conversations and musical performances. This is Tarr's first color film; the style is characterized by long takes and closeups, with the camera relatively static (particularly when compared to the slow panning that would later become characteristic). At this stage of his career, Tarr's aim was to focus exclusively on "social problems" through careful observation and attention to character and environment.

Thursday August 18th

Francesco, Guillare de Dio aka The Flowers of St. Francis (Italy, 1950) import dvd

"Things are there. Why manipulate them?"
Robert Rossellini

Rossellini practically invented Italian neorealism with his war trilogy (Rome Open City, Paisa, Germania Anno Zero). As a matter of fact, Rome, Open City is as much of a landmark film as Eisenstein's Strike, Bunuel's Un Chien Andalou, Rouch's Moi, un Noir and Godard's Breathless, all highly influential films that showed a revolutionarily new way of making movies. Francesco is Rossellini's first period film (medieval times) but it's as simple, austere and naturalistic as possible, well within the school of neorealism. It concerns several episodes in the life of St. Francis of Assisi and his followers. Rossellini cast real monks, who don't get credited individually in the titles. The only actor in the cast is Aldo Fabrizi as Nicolaio, the Tyrant. Francesco gradually gains resonance through acute observation of the daily routines of Francis and the monks and their encounters with a variety of individuals. The film culminates in a poignant scene in which they decide to separate to spread their message. The excellent script is a collaboration between the director, Federico Fellini, and two priests.
I watched Francesco on a dvd released by Masters of Cinema in the UK. The Criterion edition being released tuesday will feature the same restored print.

Family Nest (Hungary, 1979) dvd
Bela Tarr's early filmography has been compared to the work of John Cassavetes, but for me the strongest association is with Ken Loach's films like Cathy Come Home and Ladybird, Ladybird. It's gritty, social realism about family dysfunction and how it is exacerbated by socio-political forces (in this case, primarily but not exclusively, shortage of housing). Family Nest focuses on a young family. Laci returns from two years of military service to the extremely tense atmosphere of the small apartment where his parents, brother, sister, wife Iren and daughter are forced to cohabitate. Laci's lecherous, alcoholic father is relentlessly critical and abusive towards Iren. He accuses her of adultery. Laci, who also has a drinking problem, is caught in the middle. He's careful not to contradict his father because they depend on him economically. After a heated argument, Iren is practically forced to leave even though it's made apparent she and Laci still love each other. A heartbreaking, engaging debut.

Friday August 19th

Alexandria...Why? (Egypt/Algeria, 1978) dvd

Youssef Chahine had almost 30 years of experience as a writer/actor/director when he started working on his autobiographical Alexandria Trilogy. This is the first of the three films, a winner of a Special Jury Prize at Berlin, set during the World War II. The protagonist is Yehia, who goes to a British high school and loves Shakespeare and Hollywood musicals. He comes from A Christian middle-class family experiencing economic problems. His father is a Paris-educated lawyer with communist leanings who wants him to be an engineer. Unlike his friends, Yehia shows no interest in women, devoting most of his time to watch movies, put on theatrical shows, and experiment with a rudimentary camera. He dreams of coming to California to study filmmaking but has to accept a job as a bank teller out of necessity. Yehia is Chahine's alter ego and the center of a film that somehow juggles a multiplicity of narrative threads. There's a rich young uncle who belongs to a nationalist group and carries acts of violence against foreigners. Once, he kidnaps a naive British soldier and ends up falling in love with him. There's a love story involving a Muslim and a Jewish girl whose family is forced to emigrate because of fear of a Nazi takeover. There's a subplot involving a war profiteer, the father of Yehia's best friend. And much more.
Alexandria...Why? is a fast paced film that jumps from one subplot to another breathlessly, and changes tone at the drop of a hat. There are parts that incorporate theatrical conventions and others that utilize documentary footage, and often these are juxtaposed. It's an exhilarating, taboo-breaking, exuberant and sometimes sloppy film. And I will never forget the visual gag that closes the film with a bang, a stunt which may or may not have symbolic significance.

Thanks for the reminder about this which I should probably have myself. Did you buy or rent? Ditto on the Bela Tarr?

*I am watching the first three films from Bela Tarr. I will watch the third tomorrow. I rented all three from Netflix.
*I am watching Chahine's Alexandria trilogy. I'll watch the next two soon. I own all three on dvd.

Thanks. I am ordering the Alexandria Trilogy for myself.

The three dvds together sell for $41.99 at deepdiscountdvd. Shipping included.