Oscar's Cinema Journal 2005

Mon. March 28th

Okraina aka Outskirts (1933) on dvd

I watched this film for the first time last November and had to watch it again. It's only the second film from boxer-turned-filmmaker Boris Barnet that I have seen. It's his first sound film and it's set in a small Russian village, from days before the start of WWI until the abdication of the Tsar and the end of the war. A highly original work in which the first line of dialogue is uttered by a horse_which doesn't happen again. The use of sound is quite inspired and playful throughout. Although several scenes concern the revolutionary movement spreading throughout Russia, the main theme of the film is the tension between the nationalistic fervor of citizens under attack versus their humane impulses. Some of the most poignant scenes involve a local girl's infatuation for a German p.o.w. and an act of collective fraternization by troops at the warfront. The tone of the film varies effortlessly between comedy and tragedy, sometimes within the same scene. One never gets the sense of knowing what's coming next. Barnet remained active as a director into the 60s, before he committed suicide in 1965. A retrospective of his films has traveled the country in recent years. Outskirts is available on a dvd that includes Barnet's silent comedy The Girl with the Hatbox, which I plan to watch again soon. Hopefully other titles will become available in the future.

I am behind -- limited Internet access -- and I would have to review my limited knowledge of Breillat and have more leisure to debate her merits with you; if you like her, fine; and certainly, she's not to be condemned merely for being provocative, though I have yet to see that she makes good films. As for Gregoire Colin's real pecker, as you put it, he's pretty hot looking and I'd be glad to see that....movie, i mean.

Tue/Wed March 29th and 30th

Back to back viewings of Andrei Tarkovsky's Solaris (1972) on Criterion dvd, the second viewing while listening to commentary track by Johnson and Petrie, authors of "The Films of Andrei Tarkovsky: A Visual Fugue. Solaris is the third of Tarkovsky's seven features, all of which I've watched more than once and find new things in them every time I do.

Polish writer Stanislaw Lem, writer of the source novel, spent three weeks in Moscow discussing the project with the director. They couldn't find any common ground with Lem ultimately refusing to participate in writing a script. Lem on Tarkovsky: "He sees space as something terrible and that the whole issue of the Solaris ocean is an annoyance, one could say. My take is that it's an interesting challenge confronting man, though it can, naturally, cause tragic conflicts and suffering. I tried to soften him up, but he was stubborn, and so was I. So I ended up returning to Warsaw." Lem's novel for instance takes place entirely at the space station over the planet Solaris whereas the first 43 minutes of the film take place on Earth. The basic plot concerns a psychologist sent to a space station located off the planet Solaris to conduct an investigation prompted by reports from cosmonauts that scientists on Earth have difficulty reconciling. We learn that the planet's ocean is an intelligence capable of creating physical manifestations of humans by using materials inside the cosmonauts' minds (such as memories). These manifestations are labeled "guests". Tarkovsky seems to take the premise and skeletal structure of the novel to explore a variety of issues that can be described as philosophical or existential. He has little or no interest in science, technology, or space exploration. So the film may not satisfy sci-fi buffs. It's also important to point out that for Tarkovsky narrative continuity is not a priority, and that several plot details are elided altogether. The result is an enigmatic film, open to a multiple interpretations, meant to be seen more than once. Just what is it that makes us human? (My take is that A.T. believes that the ability to experience intense emotions, such as love and fear, is atop the criteria list. He'd probably consider the "guest" Hari, the manifestation of the psychologist's dead wife, more human than the cold, affectless Dr. Sartorious). Another major issue is man's search for truth, which the film proposes (in my opinion of course) is hindered by self-imposed limits. The nature of consciousness and the uses of memory also feature prominently. The film is highly intertextual with all forms of quotations and allusions to works from other arts such as the writings of Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy, the Spanish novel "Don Quijote de La Mancha", greco-roman sculpture, Bruegel's painting "Hunters in the Snow", etc.
There is undoubtedly quite a bit of political subtext, particularly veiled criticisms of the Soviet regime's restrictions of freedom and exploitation of the natural environment. The Soviet censors made production and distribution of Tarkovsky's films very problematic, particularly his previous film, Andrei Rublev, and this one. Tarkovsky was eventually forced to seek exile in Western Europe because of the difficulties getting his films made there.
Formally speaking, Solaris features the director's trademark studied widescreen compositions, long tracking shots, opening a scene with a confounding closeup rather than an establishing shot, the constant presence of natural motifs (horses, plants, water,etc) and emphasis on rhythm over editing.

Thursday March 31st

Up and Down at SoBe Regal

Only the second film directed by 37 year old Jan Hrebejk to get US distribution, and the first to be set in the present. The stories of two families experiencing crises, one working class and the other middle class, eventually merge in Hrebejk's tasty mix of humanist drama and dark comedy. As a big fan of his Divided We Fall, my expectations were high but I was not disappointed. Up and Down manages to deal with "heavy" topics, such as the transformation of Prague into a capitalist, multicultural society in which issues of racism and exploitation have become increasingly relevant, within an engaging, palatable narrative. Altman fans will feel at home. The ensemble cast does wonders with the satirical, minutely observed script.

First Quarter Report

Total Films=144 in 90 days, including 13 shorts and 9 silents.

By Decade:
00s=81 films, 90s=5, 80s=5, 70s=9, 60s=15, 50s=15, 40s=4, 30s=1, 20s=9.

By Language:
51 in English, 28 in French, 21 in Spanish, rest in numerous other languages. The French number rather high because 10 of the 13 shorts I watched were in French.

Viewing Environment:
86 films on video, 49 at theatres, 9 on broadcast channels.

Well, you beat me, but that's nothing new.

How many were repeats, vs. new viewings?

Good question. Surprisingly low: only 19 features and 2 Brakhage shorts are repeats. By the way, films that I watched more than once during these 90 days (Solaris, Le Chant du Styrene) were only counted once. Why repeats? Because I may never get a chance to see it at a theatre again (Written on the Wind, Eternal Sunshine), cos I wanted kids to watch it (Siddhartha, A Hard Day's Night), cos Chelsea wanted me to watch it with her (Pretty in Pink), cos I didn't like it and I wanted to give it another chance (Wild at Heart), cos they're great and I watch them every so often (Au Hasard Balthazar, Potemkin, Strike, Solaris, Outskirts, Brakhage shorts, 2046, Ivan's Childhood), cos I wanted to watch an alternative version (Barbarian Invasions).

Friday April 1st

A large poll of Mexican film historians and critics picked Rio Escondido (Hidden River, 1948) as number 23 on the list of best Mexican Movies of all time. Every single frame is certifiable proof that director Emilio Fernandez (who served as model for the Oscar statuette) and cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa are first-rate filmmakers. This is the 3rd film I watch this year starring Maria Felix, who oozes charisma but is not known for nuance and subtlety. She starts as a saintly teacher with a heart condition sent by the president Miguel Aleman as part of his campaign to bring health care and education to Indian peasants living in remote parts of Mexico. Didactic, propagandistic melodrama of the highest caliber. A documentary sequence_ in which the camera lingers lovingly on the Diego Rivera murals that adorn the Presidential Palace and provides voice-over narration, is supposedly filmed in Technicolor but not in the print used for this dvd. The disc is made in California, USA and clearly aimed at older Mexican-Americans (several younger ones I've met don't speak much Spanish) since it has no English subs.

Your number of repeats isn't that low -- isn't that about one seventh of your total, or am I as usual miscalculating? Anyway I wanted to know that because again this is where we differ and maybe you are the greater cinephile, because I do re-watch movies, but relatively few of them. I would say that I am rewatching 2046 already; I like to re-watch movies that are pure style, like Wong's. I have given films a second chance sometimes, but also sometimes like you rewatch one just to see it with somebody else, because they want to see it and I want to go to a movie with them. I also think that cinematic experiences are often epemeral and that, unlike a great book, an enjoyable and interesting movie may not yield new wonders on re-watching; a great movie of course will, or simply will move you all over again to wonder or tears.

But--"so many movies, so little time...." On that theory, I prefer to watch ones I've never seen.

Also, sometimes I think a movie is great, but the experience of watching it was so intense, that I hesitate to undertake it again. By the same token I don't want to listen to Bach's unaccompanied violin suites very often, or to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, despite the fact that I think those compositions are the ultimate in musical experience. You can't drink first growth bordeaux every night. You can't live at a fever pitch. I'm in this for the long haul. I don't want to burn my candle at both ends. Call me a wimp, but I believe in moderation.

Sometimes we forget that. Many would consider our movie watching schedules immoderate as it is.

I think Ikiru is the greatest movie ever made; that's my personal choice; but I don't want to watch it often. I want it to remain special, not make it my daily study like some prof who teaches Hamlet every semester.

I saw Nobody Knows twice, with two different people. The second person might not have gotten to see it if I hadn't gone with them. And it could stand up quite well to being seen twice.

I think it's an interesting to re-watch youth films of the Eighties -- Pretty in Pink, with Chelsea -- to go back over what seemed very fresh and trendy at one time, to see how it looks now that we're arguably into another era -- not to mention into another decade of our lives.

If you commented on an alternative version of Barbarian Invasions, I missed it. I watched the 'director's cut' of Donnie Darko and I'm quite convinced that I prefer the earlier version. The new one waw missing some of my favorite parts of a film which, on first viewing,k AI thought overrated, though I can see how it could be a cult movie for young American males of a certain demographicl, maybe various demographics. But not being a young American male, I thought it was highfalutin, pretentious, and unresolved. Now I see that it was pretty classic in its way. But the director shouldn't have spent so much time reediting it, and should have moved forward instead. I guess The Barbarian Invasions was interesting, I liked the way it showed how relatively European French Canadians culture is. But I'm not sure it's fine enough artistically to warrant making it a subject of study by seeing it in an alternative version. Was the alternate version exciting? Again, so many movies, so little time. But you obviously have twice as much time to watch movies as I do, despite all your responsibilities and good works!

I guess finally I can enjoy re-watching many movies, but prefer watching one's I haven't seen 95% of the time, because it's diverting to do so, and there are so many to see.

Originally posted by Chris Knipp
Your number of repeats isn't that low -- isn't that about one seventh of your total, or am I as usual miscalculating?

You're not miscalculating. To be exact, 14.5% of the films I watched this quarter were repeats. I thought it'd be about 20%.

... an enjoyable and interesting movie may not yield new wonders on re-watching; a great movie of course will, or simply will move you all over again to wonder or tears.

I'd put about half of my repeats in this "great" category.

But--"so many movies, so little time...." On that theory, I prefer to watch ones I've never seen.

I wouldn't want to miss out on any good, new films either. I've never kept track of the films I watch as closely as I am this year, but I estimate that the percentage of repeats will increase to about one in five in the third quarter (July, August, September) because during that period fewer good films are released, there are no local film festivals, and my beloved Cosford Cinema closes for two months. We call it the "mean season" here.

Also, sometimes I think a movie is great, but the experience of watching it was so intense, that I hesitate to undertake it again.

My tendency when I fall in love with a film is to challenge the film to remain so lovable by watching it again ASAP. I've watched Eternal Sunshine thrice at the theatre, for instance. I will soon watch it at home and listen to the available commentary track. I often find that only when one is very familiar with a film's plot (content) can one fully concentrate on the production of images, the visual language, the mechanics of the film's structure, etc.

Sometimes we forget that. Many would consider our movie watching schedules immoderate as it is.

Cristi won't let me forget.

I think Ikiru is the greatest movie ever made; that's my personal choice; but I don't want to watch it often. I want it to remain special, not make it my daily study like some prof who teaches Hamlet every semester.

I watched it for the third time last year. Rashomon about four or five times. None of AK's other films seem to merit that many viewings in my opinion. I will watch Kagemusha and Red Beard again though. We'll see what happens.

If you commented on an alternative version of Barbarian Invasions, I missed it.

First post on this page, second paragraph. It's 14 minutes longer. I'm glad I own it. It's not "better" than the shorter cut.

I watched the 'director's cut' of Donnie Darko and I'm quite convinced that I prefer the earlier version.

I haven't seen the director's cut. I remember reading that the longer cut explains things too neatly and works against the film's enigmatic aura, or something to that effect.

Thanks for giving me a long reply on this topic of re-watching; really an important topic for us, I think. "The unexamined life is not worth living," and likewise not to go back and re-watch films, for a film-lover, would be mindless and careless. Kael supposedly rarely re-watched them, but that may be partly a myth; anyway, I don't have her extraordinarily precise visual and other memory of films. Yes, it's important to re-watch them, but it's also important to strike a balance, to have a life, as the saying goes. Your comments on Kurosawa make me realize that I have actually watched a lot of his movies two or three times, but that's over a long period.

Ultimately this is a personal decision each of us must make, based on personality, memory, and how we want to live our lives. To some extent it is true that Less Is More. But that, too, is personal. What's normal for you or me may be a bit on the side of excess for your wife.

Saturday April 2nd

Beshkempir aka The Adopted Son (1998)

The first film from Kyrgyzstan to be distributed in the US and the feature debut of director Aktan Abdykalykov. A highly autobiographical movie about a boy entering puberty and learning that he was adopted. The movie is set in a rural village where it's the custom for large families to allow a childless couple to adopt one of their offspring. The customary adoption ritual is depicted in the opening scene in full color, then we flash forward 12 years to b&w quotidian scenes of boys playing in the muddy river, stealing eggs, spying on bathing women, wrestling, getting a haircut, flirting innocently with local girls, watching a Bollywood musical on a freestanding screen outdoors, practicing intercourse with a voluptuous sandwoman, retrieving a colorful bird trapped indoors...Every vignette carefully framed, with color returning briefly at key moments. The film builds up to a key moment in every boy's life when he asks a girl to ride on his bycicle, and to the funeral rituals for Beshkempir's grandmother. The central role is played by the director's son. They collaborated on another film, which was not distributed here. Beshkempir is a poetic coming-of-age film grounded in the natural environment. It provides access to a relatively unknown culture and people. The Fox Lorber dvd features a nice transfer and can be had new for about $6 including shipping at various sites including Amazon and half.ebay.

Samurai III: Duel at Ganryu Island

Third and final installment of the 5-hour Samurai trilogy starring Toshiro Mifune and an all-star cast of veterans from Ozu, Kurosawa, Mizoguchi, and Naruse films. The trilogy is based on the novel "Musashi" by Eihi Yashikawa about the transformation of the titular character from hothead show-off into a compassionate, thoughtful, highly skilled samurai.

I recently brought up The Adopted Son while talking about another film from the region, the recently released Schizo. The Adopted Son was the only film not only from Kyrgyzstan but the whole of Central Asia to get U.S. distribution. It's a beautiful piece of work. Also be on the lookout for another one, this one from Tajikistan called Angel on the Right being released direct-to-DVD I think from Global Film Initiative/First Run Features on June 21st.

Yes, beautiful film ain't it? The village in which the film is set seems to exist in a vacuum, as I detected no evidence of external forces impinging on its residents. I am not identifying this as a flaw, but l'll say the film is rather simple content-wise. I am very curious about the institutional forces, governmental or religious, that have an influence on these people. I plan to seek out other Central Asian films and I have taken note of the ones you've discussed. Please comment on Angel on the Right after viewing.

I agree with your comments on The Barbarian Invaders, and it remains one of the more memorable films I've seen over the last few years. I particularly found interesting the relationships between the baby boomers and their children, i.e. my generation. Have you seen The Decline of the American Empire, which evidently is a "prequel" of sorts to BI? If so, is it worth checking out?

I also recently rented Jesus of Montreal, which is such a cerebral film I don't think I was able to absorb everything it was saying in one viewing. Worth another look. Intriguing premise, and heady subject matter.