Oscar's Cinema Journal 2005

[oscar jubis]

Friday May 27th

Whity (Germany, 1971) on dvd
Filmed in Cinemascope in Sergio Leone's set in Almeria, Spain, Whity is Rainer Werner Fassbinder's 10th film. It is sumptuous, a stark contrast to the films that preceded it, mostly 16 mm films with minimal camera movement. Whity marks the first collaboration between the director and DP Michael Ballhaus, shortly after they were introduced by actor/producer Ulli Lommel. Lommel, who has affectionately referred to Fassbinder as a "terrorist", states in the commentary that he was very antagonistic toward Ballhaus and kept providing artistic challenges. One scene lasting four minutes involves complicated dolly and panning shots with the camera zooming in and out in constant motion. Upon seeing the rushes, Fassbinder stormed out in tears and told Lommel: "He's a fucking genius!". Then got so drunk that the next day's shooting had to be cancelled. Incidents during the shooting of Whity formed the basis of the film Beware of the Holy Whore, which regretably I have yet to watch. I pass the pen to Chuck Stephens.

"Dessicated scion Ben Nicholson presides over a family of drooling nitwits, mincing transvestites, and nymphomaniac schemers, each caked in thick whiteface, the shade of which seems to vary, scene-by-scene. The family's hunky, long-suffering man-servant Whity (played by Gunther Kaufmann, a longtime fixture in Fassbinder's ensemble and intermittent feature in the director's bed), is a delicate Mandingo in a too-tight monkey suit, his mouth a lacquered slash of stark-white lipstick. Though lovingly devoted to a family who consider him nothing but "the cross we must bear", Whity soon finds himself smitten with saloon-chanteuse Hanna Schygulla and in her arms learns that in love begins liberation, and in liberation, death.
Whity groans with political provocations of every design_from the grotesquely char-darkened Mammy who bugs her eyes and tunelessly warbles "glory, glory, Hallelujah" to a moment of tender sexuality between two men and a horse. Thirty years in obscurity has dimmed Whity's exuberant excesses not one footcandle, and those who fear the worst may find that time, in this rare case, has been but a tender whip."

[oscar jubis]

Saturday May 28th

Crash (USA, 2005) at AMC Americas
http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/show...0930#post10930

Sunday May 29th

Life Stories:A Conversation with F.W. Fassbinder (Germany, 1978)

The longest interview given by Fassbinder was conducted by Peter Jansen, who edited the first book on the maverick director. Fassbinder discusses how he lived his first years of life in a home with many adults so that he failed to differentiate his parents from other adults present, how his need to tell stories manifested itself very early on, his theatrical education, the formation of his anti-teater group, the autobiographical bent of his films' content, recurrent themes in his work, etc.

I Don't Just Want You To Love Me (Germany, 1993)

This 96-minute documentary directed by Hans Gunther Pflaum is the best introduction to F. W. Fassbinder and his career. Nice combination of interviews of a dozen key collaborators interspersed with the most telling scenes from several of his 43 features. For Fassbinder, his crew was like a family, like a nomadic artistic commune. He was extremely demanding and manipulative, "terrorizing" and inspiring, cruel and tender. The theme of freedom vs. confinement (internal and external) perhaps the salient theme, but also a chronicler of post-war Germany, an expert at depicting relationships as power struggles, a Mondrian-like painter on celluloid, self-destructive and emotionally vulnerable yet extremely efficient and economical as a filmmaker. His tendency toward single takes kept his crew and cast tense and focused, and made his prolificacy possible. The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant singled out as perhaps his most autobiographical movie.

[oscar jubis]

Monday May 30th

Kingdom of Heaven at AMC Americas
Even though Ridley Scott has stated that the "correct" or "definite" cut is 220 minutes long and coming out on dvd, I headed to the theatre for the 145-minute cut. Epic spectacles demand big screens. Eva Green has complained that most of her performance, including a steamy sex scene, were excised from the theatrical cut. I was sorry to hear this and agree that her Sybilla was short-shifted.
What remains is an entertaining, coherently told episode from the Crusades involving a somewhat fictionalized Balian, who saved the lives of thousands of Jerusalem inhabitants during a siege led by the Muslim leader Saladin. Kingdom of Heaven is no Spartacus but it is a good movie. Orlando Bloom is adequate (much better than Farrell in Alexander) and the supporting cast is superb: Brendan Neeson, David Thewlis, Jeremy Irons, Syrian actor Ghassan Massoud, etc.
The storytelling is surprisingly lucid given the abbreviated cut. The scene of the Siege of Jerusalem is absolutely stunning, an expert staging of a remarkable event involving ingenious strategic defenses. Production values are excellent overall, most notably the art direction and design. The film avoids showing favoritism for any religion, portraying extremists on both sides as the villains. The latter are one-dimensional characters, at least on this cut, which limits the film's scope. Recommended.

[Chris Knipp]

I wish I could see it, along with Brothers, Mysterious Skin, and several others, but it's not in the program right now.

[HorseradishTree]

I pretty much agree with you on Kingdom. The thing that most pleased me was Saladin's portrayal. As an amateur historian, I've always been fascinated by this ruler and his masterful diplomatic handlings. I'm relieved they didn't turn him into a caricature. I can still trust Ridley Scott as a filmmaker.

[hengcs]

Originally posted by Chris Knipp
I wish I could see it, along with Brothers, Mysterious Skin, and several others, but it's not in the program right now.

I have watched BOTH these movies.
;)

I really want to write the reviews (esp. for some "recent" movies that I have watched ... and those that I informed that I will post my comments ... *guilty*)
sigh ...

Kind of hectic these few weeks ...
Moreover, I will be out of town soon, for about 3 weeks ...
sigh ...

[oscar jubis]

Originally posted by HorseradishTree
The thing that most pleased me was Saladin's portrayal.

I hope Kingdom of Heaven stays in theatres long enough for Chris to watch it and regale us with his insightful commentary.
I was also impressed by Ghassan Massoud's portrayal of Saladin. Massoud is an actor, theatre director and drama teacher in Damascus. I wish we had access to his performances in Syrian films such as The Chant of Rain.

Tuesday May 31st

Lola (Germany, 1981) on dvd

When The Marriage of Maria Braun was released in 1980, we had no idea we were watching the first installment of Fassbinder's Bundesrepublik Deutschland trilogy. When Lola came out the following year, "BRD 3" appeared above the title. The director explained that Lola was the third and his next film would be the second installment of a trilogy dealing with three women against the background of post-war Germany and its so-called "economic miracle".

Lola appropriates the name of the protagonist of Sternberg's classic The Blue Angel (1930), an adaptation of Heinrich Mann's novel "Professor Unrat" about the demise of a morally upright middle-ager in love with an indecent woman. Fassbinder has created a bon-bon of a movie, a candy-colored confection. This Lola is an expensive whore and chanteuse who dreams of owning the bordello. Her regular client is a sleazy developer, a coarse man getting rich at the public's expense. His nemesis is new building commissioner Herr von Bohn, who aims to fight the self-serving ruling elite by forcing them to abide by established codes and laws. Barbara Sukova and Armin Mueller-Stahl both won German Academy awards for their acting as Lola and von Bohn. Ultimately, this brightly colored, frothy concoction is more about the pervasive allure of capitalist immorality than about sex. The blunt ending pulls the rug right under you.

[Chris Knipp]

I hope I can see it while it's still onscreen too, and thanks for the compliment. I also heard good things about Ghassan Massoud from an old friend here who saw the film and knows my interest in Arabic culture. A point you bring out is that I guess we don't have much access at all here to Arabic films of the past. They could probably be obtained in the Arab world but aren't available on the market here.

[oscar jubis]

We have poor access to Arabic culture in general at the moment. Looking forward to both Brothers and Mysterious Skin opening here this month at SoBe Regal. At home, my Fassbinder exploration continues...

Wednesday June 1st

Veronika Voss (Germany, 1982)
The last film completed by Fassbinder won the Golden Bear at Berlin. It's actually the second of the BDR trilogy, in which the director denounces the corruption, collective amnesia, chicanery and pretense hiding under the facade of the economic miracle during the post-war era.
Veronika Voss stars Rosel Zech as the titular character, based on the life of actress Sybille Schmitz, with a special focus on the tumultuous last year of her life. It's 1955, Voss is a has-been who has a chance encounter with Robert, a sports reporter who serves as audience surrogate. The basic premise is not unlike that of Sunset Blvd. Voss is a lonely, needy woman who feels ambivalent about being recognized but she flirts with Robert, who doesn't know of her. Robert lives with his girlfriend Henriette, who's initially upset about Robert's growing obsession with Voss. Eventually, Henriette joins Robert in unraveling the mysteries of her existence. They learn Voss is being blackmailed by a woman psychiatrist who mentally tortures and supplies narcotics to the fragile former movie star. Voss is portrayed as an unstable and talented actress who attempts in vain to regain her glory.
The b&w cinematography is used to evoke the films Schmitz made during the 30s and 40s while under contract with UFA studios. Several flashbacks, some in the form of dreams, fill out the portrayal of Voss and result in very rich observations of changes in German society from the 30s to 1955. It's also interesting to ponder the parallels between the deaths of Fassbinder and that of Veronika Voss.

Dance With Death: Sybille Schmitz, UFA Star (Germany, 2000)
Documentary directed by Achim Podak features interviews with people who knew Schmitz well and a variety of film clips from her major film performances. It becomes clear that Fassbinder adhered faithfully to events in the tragic life of Schmitz for the script of Veronika Voss. The documentary also serves as a primer on the changes experienced by the German film industry from the end of the silent era until the mid 1950s. Most of the clips shown are from films that are otherwise unavailable (except for Pabst's Diary of a Lost Girl and Dreyer's Vampyr)

[Chris Knipp]

"Poor access" is a big understatement. I wonder if you're familiar with the book, Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People by Jack G. Shaheen, which after a general introduction analyzes film by film how Arabs have been treated in Hollywood movies. They've been the last free onscreen punching bag since long before 9/11, it would appear. "Meticulous...passionate... Highly recommended." --Library Journal. Shaheen shows that American movie reviewers are also to blame; for instance he quotes a line from Bosley Crowther's review of the 1938 Adventure in Sahara: "We know the desert is no picnic and you can't trust an Arab very far." Maybe who you can't trust very far is a Times critic.

[oscar jubis]

~What'd we do without you, CK. Found out my library has it, but I might just buy this book since the price is right.
*If you visit this thread with regularity, you've may have noticed my interest in the work of certain directors this year: Fassbinder, Welles, Murnau, Melville... and most definitely Jacques Rivette.

Thursday June 2nd

Histoire De Marie et Julien (France, 2003) on PAL dvd
The latest film from septuagenarian Rivette is the third of his movies I've watched this year. Before the year is over I plan a first viewing of his Gang of Four and a second of Va Savoir, both available on region 1 dvd. Even though I've only seen less than half of the movies Rivette has directed, I'm beginning to consider him a personal favorite. What's frustrating is that my free time and writing skills may be insufficient to explain the unique intellectual and cinematic pleasures I get from watching certain Rivette movies. At their most challenging and demanding, watching Rivette films is like listening to Ornette Coleman's and Cecil Taylor's jazz recordings. The degree of complexity and innovation is such that the initial reaction is partly confounding and disorienting. If attentive and focused though, one becomes attuned to the prevalent aesthetic. Novel perspectives are developed and the surface pleasures deepen with each subsequent viewing/listening.
Whereas the less experimental Secret Defense (the Rivette film I watched last month) is his version of the mystery thriller, Histoire de Marie et Julien is basically a supernatural romance. Julien (Jerzy Radziwilowicz) is a 40-something clock repairman who re-encounters Marie (Emmanuelle Beart) one year after meeting, when they were both in other relationships. Freed from past entanglements, they develop a caring and passionate relationship but Julien is increasingly frustrated by her secrecy and reticence. A secondary story of a woman who sells fake antique fabrics (known only as Madame X) and her suicidal sister gains importance as the film progresses.
Three keys to the film are: a) Rivette's creation of self-contained worlds in which anything that might exist beyond the film's fictional universe is disregarded. b) Paying attention to the title cards that precede each section of the film which inform the viewer as to which character will be driving the narrative. Rivette guides you by telling you beforehand the p.o.v. of each sequence. The titles are not completely necessary because the images speak for themselves but Rivette is trying to increase the film's legibility, in my opinion. c) Be aware that Rivette likes to blur the lines separating dream from reality, life from death.

[arsaib4]

"What's frustrating is that my free time and writing skills may be insufficient to explain the unique intellectual and cinematic pleasures I get from watching certain Rivette movies. "

Same here, although, you've made some very valid points. I was fortunate to catch this film last year at the French Rendezvous and I haven't been able to forget it since (not that I've tried). Thought about discussing it when the Artificial-Eye's disc came out, but was still hoping for a U.S. release. Well, it looks like it's going straight-to-DVD here on July 12th. That's a shame (especially since Resnais' latest was dealt the same fate), but at least it'll be available for people to see, and I'll try to make a post on it around that date. I'll see it again, but for me it ranks among his very best.

[oscar jubis]

~I was also extremely disappointed when I learned Not On The Lips wasn't getting a theatrical release, arsaib. Resnais is my favorite French director but getting access to his films has been a struggle because I don't speak French to avail myself of certain titles not available with subs.
*I watched most of Histoire de Marie et Julien a second time before mailing the disc back and look forward to comments from others who will have access to this movie beginning July 12th. I learned that this film was on its third day of shooting in 1975 when apparently Rivette suffered some kind of a "breakdown" and the project was abandoned. Leslie Caron was cast as Marie and Albert Finney as Julien. Regarding the ending, it was interesting to learn (from Rivette's interview on the Art. Eye disc) that in 1975 he obtained financing without a finished script, actually without Rivette knowing how to end it. Rivette explains that nowadays he wouldn't get a penny without a definite, pre-conceived conclusion to the "histoire". And what an uplift one gets from that gorgeously lyrical, magical ending. Then again, I'm always elated after watching an excellent movie for the first time.
(POSSIBLE SPOILERS)
I wonder how other members will react to Marie reciting phrases in Gaelic for no apparent reason, or a "mystery female" calling Julien to tell him Marie is at a specific hotel, or the fact that no explanation is given as to how Julien obtains what he needs to blackmail Mme. X. It had the be the other "revivant" (X's sis) I say to myself, but I think this is conjecture not fact. I'm very curious about viewer's reactions to this very enigmatic film. Three of the seven people who posted comments at IMdb hated it, two of them state they walked out after an hour or so.
By the way, I'm tired of waiting to watch Celine et Julie vont en bateau again. Is it ever coming out on dvd with English subs?

Friday June 3rd

Falling Angels (Canada) at Cosford Theatre

This Canadian feature directed by Scott Smith premiered at Toronto '03 and is finally getting a limited release thanks to the admirable FilmMovement. It's a dysfunctional family drama set in 1969 Saskatchewan, based on a novel by Barbara Gowdy. We learn in the opening scene that mother Mary (Miranda Richardson) has died and that dad, who is very drunk at the funeral, is a likely alcoholic. I ask myself, why would Smith choose to reveal at the start that Mary dies? I guess that it generates interest in the drama about to unfold, but I found that Mary, her husband Jim and their three adolescent daughters are characters with sufficient dimensionality to stir one's interest anyway. If initially the viewer fears he's met these characters before (depressed mom, alcoholic dad, fixer eldest, rebel middle, and princess youngest child), the script and performances provide enough individuation and shading to make this sick-family-dark secret-tale feel fresh. Flashback scenes set during the Cuban Missile Crisis provide added perspective on how the 60s changed the political climate and the Field family.

[arsaib4]

Originally posted by oscar jubis
I was also extremely disappointed when I learned Not On The Lips wasn't getting a theatrical release, arsaib.

Have you seen it yet?

Resnais is my favorite French director but getting access to his films has been a struggle because I don't speak French to avail myself of certain titles not available with subs.

Actually many of his latter films released on DVD are provided with English subs, but perhaps those are not the ones you're looking for. A 5 film/DVD set was released recently in France and subs are included. It contains: La Vie est un roman (1983), L'Amour à mort (1984), Mélo (1986), I Want to go Home (1989) [to the best of my knowledge, none of them are available in the U.S. on DVD or vhs], and Mon oncle d'Amérique (1980) [available here on both formats]. Mélo is my favorite from them, and the last time I checked, it was the only one available at Nicheflix. The set is expensive, but the alternative is much more so as individual films are priced at around EUR 25. Same Old Song (On connaît la chanson/1997) is also available with subs, although, it was issued here on vhs. Unfortunately, one of his very best, Smoking/No Smoking (1993), only has a French audio track.

I watched most of Histoire de Marie et Julien a second time before mailing the disc back and look forward to comments from others who will have access to this movie beginning July 12th. I learned that this film was on its third day of shooting in 1975 when apparently Rivette suffered some kind of a "breakdown" and the project was abandoned. Leslie Caron was cast as Marie and Albert Finney as Julien. Regarding the ending, it was interesting to learn (from Rivette's interview on the Art. Eye disc) that in 1975 he obtained financing without a finished script, actually without Rivette knowing how to end it. Rivette explains that nowadays he wouldn't get a penny without a definite, pre-conceived conclusion to the "histoire". And what an uplift one gets from that gorgeously lyrical, magical ending. Then again, I'm always elated after watching an excellent movie for the first time.

Interesting, I don't have the AE disc so I wasn't aware of that. Koch Int. (the company which is releasing the disc here) lists interviews from both Rivette and Beart, so hopefully, along with "porting" the AE disc, they'll also copy the extras.

(POSSIBLE SPOILERS)
I wonder how other members will react to Marie reciting phrases in Gaelic for no apparent reason, or a "mystery female" calling Julien to tell him Marie is at a specific hotel, or the fact that no explanation is given as to how Julien obtains what he needs to blackmail Mme. X. It had the be the other "revivant" (X's sis) I say to myself, but I think this is conjecture not fact. I'm very curious about viewer's reactions to this very enigmatic film. Three of the seven people who posted comments at IMdb hated it, two of them state they walked out after an hour or so.

I just read some of those comments over at imdb, and they seem to have been written by casual fans--people who didn't necessarily sought out the film, but ended up watching it at a festival etc. (I'd prefer if true film buffs get to attend those festivals but often it's the people who simply have the means.) Rivette's films usually do require a second viewing for one to grasp all the concepts. They can be deceptive at times. I believe it was Gavin Smith who was surprised about how much was at stake after all in Marie et Julien, and I think I agree. (I'd like to refrain from making specific comments until I've seen it again.)

By the way, I'm tired of waiting to watch Celine et Julie vont en bateau again. Is it ever coming out on dvd with English subs?

British Film Institute (BFI) are releasing the film theatrically in the U.K. on a new print so we can perhaps expect something later in the year from them. And I'm sure after they'll release it, New Yorker will follow suit. Why didn't this thing came with subs is beyond me, but it seems like the French have their own ways of taking revenge!

[oscar jubis]

Yeah, I was pissed the "coffret" lacks subs. Here's my experience with Resnais films:
*Love these, seen 2x or more: Le Chant du Styrene, Night and Fog, Hiroshima Mon Amour, Mon Oncle d'Amerique, Last Year at Marienbad (own Marienbad dvd).
*Like these, seen once: La Guerre est Finie, Providence, Stavisky, L'Amour a Mort (Own last two on dvd)
*Never Watched: Muriel, La Vie est un roman, Melo (on my queue at Nicheflix), I Want to go home, Smoking/No Smoking, Same Old Song, Not On the Lips (will rent this summer).

Looks like the Koch Int. disc will copy the two interviews included on the AE disc of Marie et Julien.

Great News that BFI is releasing Celine et Julie in theatres. Bodes well for a dvd version.

Saturday June 4th

Not Reconciled or Only Violence Helps Where Violence Rules (Germany, 1965) on dvd-r
Marrieds Jean-Marie Straub and Daniele Huillet collaborated on this adaptation of Heinrich Boll's novel "Billiards at Half-Past Nine". It revolves around three generations of men from the Fahmel family and how each relates to a church, the Abbey of St. Joseph in Cologne. Heinrich Fahmel designs it in 1910, his son Robert blows it up as an act of sabotage, and Robert's son Joseph is entrusted with its reconstruction. The narrative incorporates several contemporaries of Robert both during the war years and in the present.
The underlying theme is (re)building vs. destruction. The theme's presence in the narrative is matched by a formalist strategy of exploding the plot into discrete, de-dramatized fragments from different time periods. The viewer is implicated in the job of restoring the timeline, to some extent, reconstructing the narrative. It helps that Not Reconciled is only 53 minutes long since the film requires one's full attention for maximum impact and legibility.
Not Reconciled is an indictment of Germany's collective psyche, which in the opinion of Straub and Huillet made the rise of Nazism possible. The film denounces how many who embraced Nazism wholeheartedly were able to assume positions of power during reconstruction. The thesis is that German society has failed to become reconciled with dangerous aspects of its psiche and legacy despite appearances to the contrary. Fassbinder advanced similar ideas on his BRD trilogy.