the LAST FILM YOU'VE SEEN thread

[Chris Knipp]

Jia Zhang-ke, The World (2005) Netflix DVD.

A lot to say about anything by Jia, who is a brilliant and original director, no doubt about that, but I still would list Unknown Pleasures as my favorite of his by far, so far. Maybe a big element of this is that it has no very clear agenda, and the weakness of The world is that it very much has one and never really lets loose. I was struck by the acting in The World, though; these people really are good.

Three by Jia Zhang-ke: Leading new director of China's "Sixth Generation" of Filmmakers

I've put combined comments on Jia's Platform, Unknown Pleasures, and The World on my webite here.

[Chris Knipp]

Sydney Pollack: The Interpreter (2005)

Glossy mediocrity

A whispered conversation overheard after hours at the General Assembly by a UN interpreter (Nicole Kidman) reveals that someone plans to assassinate an African leader who's soon to speak there. They were talking in an African language that is her specialty, and she has a special connection with the country where it's spoken. Reluctantly alerting the authorities she is soon pursued by Africans and guarded by a Secret Service man (Sean Penn), while plans are made to avoid an international incident which would be particularly embarrassing to the US since it is not favorable to the leader in question. . . .

One could never quite bring oneself to see this and now one sees why. After ten months, finally, wandering in a rental shop not noted for its rich or exotic offerings, one said, "Why not?" Well, here's why not. Because this is a loud, glossy mediocrity. Because it is not believable for a minute, because the actors are miscast, and because there is hardly a single memorable scene. . .

[For the review go here.]

[Johann]

City Lights


Rented the new Warners 2-DVD set and loved every frame.

But am I the only one who thinks the girl's "revelation" at the end was a little hammy?

I mean, how was she cured? and overnight at that?

She's a beautiful cinematic angel, tho.

The thing that made me laugh the most was Chaplin testing out his boxing gloves in the dressing room, his hands & arms rolling and roiling- hilarious. Then there's the black guy with his good luck charms coming back into the room after his fight.

75 years old.
Still holds up magnificently.

[Chris Knipp]

Lots of stuff in Chaplin is hammy. That doesn't keep it from being classic, though.

[Johann]

Three Times


This goes down as one of the greatest experiences I've ever had at a movie theatre.
Hou Hsiao Hsien is an artist, and he's the most intelligent filmmaker this side of Godard.
This film is the epitome of "quality" cinema.
Precision filmmaking.
Even Kubrick would have to admit that this is EXACTING.

I mean Jesus, look where Hou places his camera.
The camera belongs nowhere else but where he puts it.
His images and the way he edits them to tell his stories is beyond "auteur".
He's a MASTER folks.
But I'm preaching to the choir here- everybody here knows who this man is, and I'm ashamed to say I've only seen 2 of his films. Shame on me.

This press screening was incredible. The main reason is because there was no one there. (Just 5 of us).
The whole theatre was empty- the mighty VanCity theatre- the one with the absolute optimum viewing conditions. It really seemed as if the movie was played for an audience of one. I had no one in front of me and everybody else sat "up top".
I got the official press kit for the film (which is gorgeous) and sipped divine Twinings earl grey tea beforehand. I felt like an aristocratic film geek.

But anyway- the film.

The first part, "A Time for Love", is staggering moviemaking.
It's set in 1966, mainly in a pool hall and what can I say?
It's first love, 60's Chinese style.
The Platters are crooning, a gorgeous woman & an odd guy are playing a game and the vibes are as warm & fuzzy as cocoa by the fire on a wintry night.
The colors, costumes, sets, HAIR (of both leads-especially in the 2nd story) and overall production value is second to pretty much none.
I can't think of too many films that have this level of quality.
Can you?

The second part, "A Time for Freedom", is my favorite of the whole film. If Griffith were alive to see this he would absolutely love it. It's silent except for astounding music and it is the zenith of cinema. The ZENITH folks!
I don't even want to describe it. It has the exact same actors but it's now set in 1911. The costumes in particular grabbed my eye.
Just look at those designs and colors! Perfect

I do have a minor complaint. *very minor*:

I wanted to see her let her hair down.

Dammit, Hou fades to black just when she's about to "get down to rise" and I was a little miffed. He does that twice in this part.
But so what? He's a Master and he can do what he wants.

The soundtrack is what makes this even more of a masterpiece than it is. Cuz brother, music added to killer images is what makes the most compelling cinema to me. And Hou has some SUBLIME musical moments here.

The third part, "A Time for Youth" was fine fine moviemaking too but it didn't hold my interest as much as the first two did. Probably because it's set in our own vacuuous times (2005).
Modern TaiPei is as bleak as any other industrial "globalized" city, and the love stories that make up this episode didn't move me an inch.

But what made me think was the tattoo on her lover: the Anarky sign. Is Hou commenting on the status quo? I like to think so, even if he isn't. Anarky is desired.

But he saved the best for last. That song and those images that he chooses to end this masterpiece is without question one of the best things I've ever seen/experienced.

That's how a film should end.

With powerful music, with powerful images, and with a powerful sentiment.



The Dardennes film beat this for the Palm D'or?

It must have angels and miracles flying out of every frame, cuz this film is the SHIT people.


GOD BLESS HOU HSIAO HSIEN

[Chris Knipp]

Glad you had such a good experience. A good exprience and a nice press packet can really enhance the old flick experience. Press screenings are the way to go. My favorite is the first "Time." I didn't respond as much to the second, though it is interesting I thought it not quite up to earlier similar films. As for the third, it is like Millennium Mambo, and I don't think contemporary debauchery is Hou's forte. Saw this at the NYFF, where everything was good, or 99% of it. Press screenings, though not just 5 people, no chance of that in NYC...

[oscar jubis]

I just bought an Asian dvd of Three Times. I'll have to wait until the film fest is over to watch it though. Hou is one of the world's top 10 directors. His films are consistently in the "must see" to "masterpiece" range. I just watched L'Enfant at the fest and will be reviewing soon. Now that I think about it, I'd probably place the Dardennes in that director's Top 10 on the strength of their four fiction films. Will we ever get a chance to watch the documentaries that preceded them?

[Chris Knipp]

We should certainly be able to see the earlier work of the Dardennes to be able to speak "learnedly" about it as a whole. Good point.

No doubt about the fact that "Three Times" is beautiful and deserves to be seen on a big screen. I personally found the first part way more appealing and emotionally communicative than the other two. I think Hou had hits and misses. And there's nothing wrong with that. So does Jia, though Jia has a more visceral quality in his impact for me, somehow.

[Chris Knipp]

The 15 films of the

RENDEZ-VOUS WITH FRENCH CINEMA

eleventh season at Lincoln Center, which I'll be reviewing here and posting about on my

WEBSITE

concurrently.

[Johann]

The Covenant

Interesting occult movie, with some young people getting caught up in magic and creepiness


Tamara

Another interesting occult "cult" movie, with the title character literally transforming into a haunting, sexy, other-worldly maniac killer witch- yep, she's an ax-wielding, seductive teen hottie.

Made for high-school preppies- you know, fans of "Scream" and "I Know What You did Last Summer".


To Live and Die in L.A.

80's cult classic.
Starring a younger Willem Dafoe & John Turturro, this is my kind of film.

Gritty, pulpy, and gorgeously photographed by ace cameraman Robby Muller, this is a masterpiece of urban violence and counterfeit money madness.

Doom

Craptastic grade-Z actioner with a dash of horror.

Some Space Marines led by "Sarge" (The Rock) are trying to figure out why scientists are biting the dust.

I yawned quite a bit, but it's got enough blood, gore and wacked-out violencia to keep teens and fans of the video game entertained.

Easy Rider

Counter-culture classic that I never get tired of.

Is that "tripping out" scene in the cemetary something else or what? I love it.

"Goin' down to Mardi Gras, gonna have myself a show..."

[Johann]

War of the Worlds

Saw this Spielberg film again on DVD- Cruise and kids are on the run from the get-go,and the action just gets more and more OUT THERE.

I really love how they created the whole "attack".
The special effects are boss. Thought so in the theatre, I think so now. SFX are incredible. VERY high believability factor.

I especially love the angles Kaminski shoots from.
I mean, look at how menacing and distant the pods look!
It stretches the plausibility quotient, but hey, this is WAR of the WORLDS. Who can say what's plausible when something like this happens?
:)


The Hills Have Eyes

This is the one from 2006.
HEAVY, brother, HEAVY.
Really really heavy after watching War of the Worlds...

Wes Craven takes us on an extremely uncomfortable trip with a family stranded in the desert.
Rob Zombie would love this movie.
And so would Clive Barker, probably.

[oscar jubis]

Originally posted by Johann
The Hills Have Eyes

Not my kind of feel-bad but, for those interested, the sequel opens March 2nd.

[bix171]

1.) A Man Escaped.
Robert Bresson seems to be saying because each individual is essentially alone, one's courage means more to one's self than to others. But it is in that courage that others take strength and that appears, in a white puff of smoke at the film's end, to be our saving grace. A rigorous intellectual exercise cleverly offered as a thriller.

2.) The Rapture.
Michael Tolkin's condescending idea of what fundamentalism means to him suffers not only from his finger-pointing but also from the casual way he presents his characters. He asks us to accept leaps from his protagonist's promiscuity to her hardened belief in the purity of Christ's love to her rejection of it but he fails to imbue her with any notions of complexity (and Mimi Rogers in the lead isn't quite up to the task of finding any). Tolkin wants us to believe that this is a woman's personal journey but with his complete contempt of her and her ideals, what's the point of that? The preposterous wacked-out finale is clearly designed to Make You Think.

3.) Bound For Glory.
Though fraught with problems, Hal Ashby's biopic of Woody Guthrie is well worth seeing, most notably for the fine performances (David Carradine is superb as an aw-shucks, homegrown Guthrie given to fits of rage when pressured to shake his ideals), Robert Getchell's well-written dialogue (though he builds supporting actors up with such pathos that it's a shame when he consistently dumps them to focus on Guthrie), and the perfect dusty, sun-baked work of the gold standard of cinematographers, Haskell Wexler. Ashby, a hack director for most of his career (he frequently let his actors, such as Warren Beatty in "Shampoo", Ruth Gordon in "Harold And Maude" and Jack Nicholson in "The Last Detail", rule the roost) brings a fine looseness to the film, stuffing it with casual, endearing observations of Texans and Okies in odd short snippets. (A scene between Carradine and Lee McLaughlin as a self-described "insane" man is particularly notable.) There's a real feeling of outrage at California's de-evolution into a '30s prison camp that Ashby would never again display. Underrated.

[oscar jubis]

Welcome back, bix171. I found your comments regarding the three films quite insightful. A Man Escaped is a personal favorite, like most of Bresson's. One of only two of his films to have what can be described as a "happy" ending. Film informed by the auteur's own experience of being interned during WWII. The idea that seems to unite all the characters is: redemption through purposeful activity. Your theme of personal courage and how others gain inspiration from it is quite fitting.

[Chris Knipp]

Thanks for the comments, bix--having just seen the Bob Dylan show at the Morgan Library, where Woody's guitar was one exhibit, I am interested in seeing this, which I never have. Excellent sharp, succinct reviews.