Oscar's Cinema Journal 2005

[Chris Knipp]

Thanks for the cross-references.

[oscar jubis]

Avec plaisir.

Sunday December 4th

Chisholm '72: Unbought & Unbossed (USA, 2004) dvd

The first black woman elected to Congress launched a bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1972. This debut of director Shola Lynch is primarily concerned with Shirley Chisholm's quixotic stance, how it was received by the electorate and portrayed in the media, and the difficult issue facing the Black Congressional Caucus on whether to support her or back others more likely to win the nomination. Chisholm '72 includes new interviews, archive footage taken during the campaign, and scenes of school girls in Barbados that evoke the 7 years she spent in her father's homeland. I was fascinated with Chisholm, her courage, and the strength of her convictions. The doc is lean and economical at only 75 minutes duration.

The Squid and the Whale (USA, 2005) at SoBe Regal

[oscar jubis]

Monday Dec 5th

Bolivia (Argentina, 2001) dvd

Perhaps there's nothing more typically Argentine than the "Bar-Parrillada", a modest establishment where working-class men (primarily) can have a drink and a cheap meal (grilled meats usually). For the full effect, visit during soccer games and boxing matches when the joints are really rocking. Bolivia is mostly set in one such place. Over the opening credits, footage of a World Cup qualifying match between Bolivia and Argentina; replays of several Argentine goals as the commentator disparages the weaker rival. Cut to camera pans of the walls of the bar as we overhear the conversation between the bar owner and Freddy, who just arrived from Bolivia and wants the cook job. Freddy joins his sole co-worker, Rosa, an immigrant from Paraguay. Bolivia takes us to the clubs and pensions that cater to immigrants from poorer South American countries. We witness how they are overcharged for phone service and harrased by the police. But the drama takes place inside the bar, where it becomes evident the locals are angry at the mere presence of immigrants, at least when the economy is depressed. Freddy is constantly subjected to verbal abuse, some of which have a racial component (unlike Argentines, the majority of Bolivians and Peruvians are descendents of Indians). Eventually, violence erupts.
Bolivia was co-written and directed by Adrian Caetano, an Uruguayan working within Argentina's film industry. I've seen three of his four features and Bolivia is my favorite. The dialogue is richly detailed and thoroughly authentic_I wonder how much of it was improvised given the naturalistic perfs from several non-actors. The film was shot in 16 mm, b&w, and apparently filmed over the course of three years because of budgetary constraints.

Pride and Prejudice (UK, 2005) at AMC CocoWalk

[oscar jubis]

Tuesday Dec. 6th

While the City Sleeps (USA, 1956) TCM

Penultimate American film directed by Fritz Lang, the German master who worked in Hollywood for two decades after making several silent masterpieces in his native country. In While the City Sleeps, the search for a serial killer is less interesting and resonant than the competition for the position of executive director of a media conglomerate. What interests Lang is the maneuvering, backstabbing and influence-peddling for power. The killer has a "mother complex", like Psycho's, but he's not a major character in Lang's film. Solid performances by Dana Andrews, George Sanders, Vincent Price, and others.

[oscar jubis]

Wed Dec 7th

Slacker (USA, 1991) dvd

No other film reminds me more of the friends and acquaintances I made while attending graduate school at Ohio State than Slacker. Richard Linklater's film is a portrait of the denizens of a particular section of Austin near the University campus and a major psychiatric hospital. The structure, a series of loosely connected vignettes, seems borrowed from Bunuel's The Phantom of Liberty. Except that the vignettes in Slacker are shorter and used to give expression to the internal monologues of a variety of conspiracy theorists, burglars, musicians, psychiatric patients, students, paranoids, amateur philosophers, street merchants, etc. The transitions between scenes are graceful but the material itself is hit-and-miss. Slacker anticipates the director's more mature and thought-out Waking Life.

[wpqx]

You know when I saw the Phantom of Liberty I didn't think about Slacker, but now that you mention it the comparison is valid. I was a little let down by Slacker, as I was with Waking Life just because amateur philosphers get old really quick for me. Perhaps you have more of a personal connection to the generation and era shown than I do, because it wasn't my generation.

Not to pick fights with you, but I can't say I agree with your assessment of While the City Sleeps either. The film was decent, but very far from Lang's best American work. I'll admit I still haven't had a chance to see the Woman in the Window or Scarlet Street, but that said I'd still opt for The Big Heat or Fury as his best US releases. To me it anticipates Spike Lee's Summer of Sam, where the killer is seen only briefly and clearly supporting, it is the people around him that make up the story, and the pursuit which is the interesting part. Granted Lee's film goes into divine opera, but still David Berkowitz (pardon the spelling), was only briefly featured in a film about him and that summer in 1977.

Wow all this talk is making me realize how amazing Lee's film was, but pardon me I'm quite the whore for Spike Lee, I love all of his films and truly believe he is one of the best filmmakers to ever live.

[oscar jubis]

Originally posted by wpqx
I was a little let down by Slacker, as I was with Waking Life just because amateur philosphers get old really quick for me.

I was merely amused by the oddballs and eccentrics in Slacker whereas I was intellectually stimulated by Waking Life's script and quite taken by the animation style.

Not to pick fights with you, but I can't say I agree with your assessment of While the City Sleeps either. The film was decent, but very far from Lang's best American work. I'll admit I still haven't had a chance to see the Woman in the Window or Scarlet Street, but that said I'd still opt for The Big Heat or Fury as his best US releases.

I'll meet you halfway. I like The Big Heat and Fury (and Scarlet Street and a few others) more than While the City Sleeps. But for me, Lang is right up there in the cinema pantheon with Mizoguchi, Renoir, Murnau and Welles. To compare his films is like comparing albums by Duke Ellington or compositions by Mozart. I mean, they're all marked by genius. While the City Sleeps is a strong indictment of business-trumping-ethics and upward-mobility-at-any-cost, which we've come to take for granted. I found that the clues that lead to the capture of the killer were overly dependent on coincidence, but the thriller aspect of the film is subservient to the drama. Thus, I consider it a minor flaw.

Wow all this talk is making me realize how amazing Lee's film was, but pardon me I'm quite the whore for Spike Lee, I love all of his films and truly believe he is one of the best filmmakers to ever live.

I think Do the Right Thing is amazing. And The 25th Hour is quite special. If not underrated then under-appreciated. I'm curious...when you say you love all his films, does that really include She Hate Me?

[wpqx]

Ok I should have said all I've seen. I'm yet to get She Hate Me. Of the films I've seen, only Girl 6 seemed a little weak, and even that had it's moments, like the Tarantino cameo. I believe Mo' Better Blues got a bad reputation, but it really is an amazing film. I guess Lee would be in that pantheon that you would put Lang in for me.

[oscar jubis]

I'd be curious to read your take on Lee's worst-reviewed movie.

Thu. Dec 8th

Medea (Denmark, 1988) dvd

Is this made-for-TV movie Lars von Trier's best? Some critics think so, Atkinson at the Village Voice included. I won't go that far, but perhaps it's the most compulsively watchable because of the amazing images borne out of relentless visual experimentation. It's a labor of love, an adaptation of a script co-written by Trier's favorite filmmaker: Carl Theodore Dreyer. Trier is more faithful to Dreyer the visual artiste than Dreyer the writer_Trier ended up doctoring the script quite a bit. Medea unfolds in shimmering marshlands, gloomy subterranean passages, and vast ocean coasts during low tide. Trier either saturates the colors or bleaches them out to fit the mood. Many outdoor scenes feature striking god's p.o.v. shots taken from a helicopter. Other scenes artfully merge two different images. Many details of Euripedes' play have been altered but the central tragedy involving a woman's choice of exile, death or revenge comes across full force.

[oscar jubis]

Fri Dec 9th

The Edukators (Germany, 2004) dvd

Sat Dec 10th

A Distant Cry from Spring (Japan, 1980) region #3 dvd

Nice film from Yoji Yamada, director of last year's Twilight Samurai. During a thunderstorm, Kosaku seeks shelter at a farm in Northern Japan. The farm is owned by Tamiko, a widow with a 6 year old son. Gradually Kosaku earns Tamiko's trust and becomes a father figure to the boy. The hard-working Kosaku is reticent to talk about the past. A visit from his brother reveals he is fugitive from the law. A bond grows between Kosaku and the widow but he remains at a distance to avoid disappointing her. A Distant Cry for Spring won 4 Japanese Academy awards: best screenplay, best score, best actress for Chieko Baisho, and best actor for Ken Takakura (The Yakuza, Black Rain). A solid, engaging drama. A shortened version of the film had a limited run in the US in the early 80s. The dvd features the full cut but lamentably it's been released in pan-and-scan rather than the original aspect ratio.

[oscar jubis]

Sun Dec 11th

Fiend Without a Face (UK, 1958) dvd

MGM acquiring this English indie for US distribution made sense. Teens flocked to theatres to watch the monster. Criterion opting to release it on dvd doesn't make sense, but it piked my curiosity. It's low-budget sci-fi horror, significantly inferior than 50s films like Them!, The Day the Earth Stood Still and Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Must be the wild premise, or more specifically the monster. Check this out: near an atomic plant, a scientist manages to materialize thoughts; they are invisible but they escape. They kill humans by sucking out their brains and spinal cords. When exposed to radiation, they become visible and multiply. Oh, and they fly! The acting is mostly subpar, the dialogue is corny, and the plot formulaic. The "mental vampires" are quite a sight though.

[oscar jubis]

Mon Dec 12th

Spring in my Hometown (South Korea, 1998) import dvd

Winner of the Grand Bell (Oscar equivalent) for best film and winner of multiple awards at film festivals worldwide, this is the debut of writer/director Kwangmo Lee. Sungmin and Changhee are 12 years old and best friends. It's 1952 and the US has set base near their rural town. At school, they are fed pro-US, anti-communist propaganda. Sungmin's family is doing well as both dad and older sister work for the Americans. Changhee's mother is struggling since her husband, rumored to support the communists, disappeared. The boys routinely spy on American soldiers having sex with women in an abandoned mill. One day, to Sungmin's surprise, it's his mom who is having sex with a soldier there. Someone sets the old mill on fire. Perhaps Sungmin, who has disappeared, is the culprit.

Kwangmo Lee's strategy: place the camera as far away from the action and don't move it. Frame each shot very carefully to create perfectly balanced compositions. Let the war and most dramatic moments happen offscreen. Use intertitles to inform and to clarify events. The result: a compilation of gorgeous images; a puzzle of a film, one with a few pieces missing, yet the overall plot is fairly clear by its conclusion; a drama that creates a distance between the characters and the viewer, emphasizing the character's connection to his/her environment/community and discouraging at any cost any emotional response from the viewer. I've never seen a film with such a consistently detached point of view of dramatic material.

[oscar jubis]

Tue Dec 13th

El Regalo de Silvia aka Silvia's Gift (Spain, 2003) R2 dvd

The debut of co-writer/director Dionisio Perez tells 4 stories that remain parallel. Silvia is a teenager with chronic depression. Her story is told via video journal entries. The other three major characters are recipients of Silvia's organs after she commits suicide. Their stories start immediately post transplant. Carlos (Luis Tosar), a family man who inherits her heart, gets promoted to manager at the factory and forced to lay off some of her friends. Victor, a car thief who gets Silvia's liver, resumes drinking when he finds it difficult to change course in life. Ines' new corneas open up a multiplicity of possibilities and challenges.

El Regalo de Silvia is earnest and honest, but the only story that's compelling to watch is Silvia's and her home-made video bits are dramatically insufficient. Then again, a film entirely about a teenage depressive who decides to commit suicide and donate her organs would be too much of a "downer" to have any hope of returning the producer's investment.

[Chris Knipp]

El Regalo de Silvia aka Silvia's Gift (Spain, 2003) R2 dvd

Classic downer of the indie type!

[oscar jubis]

Wed Dec 14th

I Fidanzati aka The Fiances (Italy, 1963) dvd

Ermanno Olmi's The Tree of Wooden Clogs is my favorite film of 1978. Olmi is a prolific, self-taught director who's been making films for 50 years _he acknowledges being influenced by Rossellini and Pasolini. Yet that rural epic was the only film of his I had seen. Last year I finally watched Il Posto, and now I Fidanzati. Hopefully recent films directed by Olmi such as The Profession of Arms and Singing Behind Screens will get released on dvd.

I Fidanzati is a stunning drama about Giovanni, a young factory worker from Milano who accepts a promotion and transfer to Sicily, where he is to remain for 18 months. The move implies a separation from his fiancee Liliana. Portions of the film have a documentary feel, particularly scenes that depict the industrialization of the mostly rural island at the southern tip of Italy and the cultural dislocation experienced by Giovanni and other northerners. I Fidanzati is equally concerned with the couple's romantic longing. Olmi builds up to a crescendo in which he intercuts shots of the separated lovers in the present with shots from a possible future in which they reunite. Sublime and sophisticated filmmaking from Ermanno Olmi.