A Cinema Canon for the Ages

[oscar jubis]

There's a reason why so many actors came to appreciate William Wyler, and why so many critics have changed their minds about him. Willie had an instinct about film and about realism when it came to acting. The reason he put actors through so many takes is because he wanted them to do it until he felt they weren't acting any longer but feeling the line, feeling the character, feeling the scene. He knew it when he saw it, when he heard it and not before. He couldn't explain the process to himself or to others. It came as instinct to him. That is why I admire his work and why so many in the industry came to realize his greatness as a director. His films were nominated for more Academy Awards for acting than any director in the history of film. I know it's easy to dismiss the Academy. They've shown rather shallowness through the years when it comes to their picks. However, the overall community has a vested interest in the promotion of film as both industry and artform. Yes, artform. There are artists in their membership. For years I've tried to extoll Wyler's vision as a progressive one

The passage quoted below is from the most recent Wyler retrospective (at the Quad in NYC). I think that it may be of interest to you.

"In The American Cinema, Andrew Sarris grouped William Wyler in the dreaded “Less than Meets the Eye” category, alongside Huston, Wilder, and Lean as “directors with reputations in excess of inspirations.” And what a reputation Wyler has: this consummate perfectionist worked for nearly half a century, from the silent era to the dawn of the New Hollywood, earning the most-ever Best Director Oscar nominations with 12 (and three wins). His name has become virtually synonymous with Hollywood craftsmanship and prestige; Wyler made unapologetically big movies about big themes with big performances. But a closer look reveals countless grace notes between the crescendos, and shows Wyler to be an acute chronicler of mid-century American life. He had the range of an accomplished journeyman, but whatever the genre, he proved a fluid stylist of startling invention."

[cinemabon]

What a nice comparison - Lean, Huston, Wilder - three directors whose style I admire very much; even if put into a historical context. There are contemporary directors whose style I also admire, such as Villeneuve and others. Thank you, Chris, for going to the trouble of finding that quote and sharing it with me. I appreciate that. I'm trying to read your Facebook referenced reviews as often as I can. Being so busy lately with my nursing duties gives me very little free time. I have to "cram" as much as I can into those fleeting hours while I savory all of the true morsels presented to me; like a Chris Knipp review. Your insights into film have always intrigued me. I look forward to your enlightenment as most of the films you review I will never see. However, you give me a glimpse into the realm of possibilities.

One added note... Oscar mentioned Ikiru and then Chris said this film moved him more than any movie he'd ever seen. That's a ringing endorsement if I ever heard one. This is the gift that being part of this group gives me. When I say enlightenment, I mean it in the broadest sense. Ever since I started writing on this site, the views of other film critics have opened my eyes, opened my mind, and opened my heart. Ikiru is an incredible film of human pathos. Why didn't I learn about this film in film school? Why didn't I know about this film when I managed a retrospective theater? It took two decades to discover a gem that had been lying around, mixed in with the gravel... I only had to bend down, and pick it up.

[Chris Knipp]

Your interest and your appreciation mean a lot to me. I appreciate that what I do, though my way of life now, is a luxury. Hopefully it doesn't take very long to read one of my reviews. They're not lengthy treatises. Hopefully if a new film sounds really good you'll be able to see it without leaving the house, much as I wish everybody could and would see them all on a big screen.

I wish there were lots more revival showings too, so Wyler, Lean an Huston could continually still be seen on the big screen too the way they were made to be seen and look their best. I have only seen IKIRU on the big screen, by the way.

[cinemabon]

"You see... this is my life... it always will be... there's nothing else... just us... and the cameras... and those wonderful people out there in the dark... Ok, Mr. DeMille... I'm ready for my close-up..."

[oscar jubis]

Thank you, Chris, for going to the trouble of finding that quote and sharing it with me. I appreciate that.

I'm the one who posted the quote, not Chris.

One added note... Oscar mentioned Ikiru and then Chris said this film moved him more than any movie he'd ever seen. That's a ringing endorsement if I ever heard one.

Given how prolific Kurosawa was, it's weird Chris and I both love Ikiru and Rashomon more than any others from his filmography. Yes, a ringing endorsement of Ikiru

I have added some recent or fairly recent films to my all-time list:

Ida

A black-and-white film, released in 2013, shot in academy ratio about a girl raised in a (Catholic) convent who finds out at age 17 that she's Jewish. It fits into the transcendentalist style proclaimed by Paul Schrader in his book about the films of Dreyer, Bresson, and Ozu. It inspired Schrader to make a film that may one day be included on this list: First Reformed.

Minari

Excerpts from the review by Chris Knipp: "Minari is a very low-keyed, personal, authentic film whose widespread success with critics and viewers astonishes in view of how much it avoids conventional markers or payoffs. There's a defiance in it that underlines its personal-ness, and unwillingness to please or impress, that fits with the pivotal relationship of Soonja with her eight-year-old grandson, David (Alan S. Kim). This is a film that requires us to internalize the action and ponder it. We're in it for the long haul, not the payoffs. We aren't fed dramatic markers or modeled reactions, but must find them. I'd say it's the richer for this. This is, after all, a story that needs no fanfare for many in this country of immigrants. The hardships here are those of many, but not all. What fits a great number is how it is for the foreign born who have American children and see them take a foothold in this country they may have had to struggle for. As Vanity Fair's Anthony Breznican explains in a recent article typical of many now, Lee Isaac Chung'S "semi-autobiographical story" about "young Korean immigrant parents" who take their family "to rural Arkansas" to start a farm "defies categorization in many ways." It is "a tearjerker, a comedy, a coming-of-age story, and a kind of adventure, all in one." It also is an American film, made and set in America with American actors released by the winning young American distributor A24 - but, confusing categories, having over half its dialogue in Korean. People have been thrown off by this. Minari was listed as a foreign film for the Golden Globes (in which category it won) - but is currently a regular best picture contender in the Screen Actors Guild Awards and a Best Picture leader for the Oscars. Americans are leery of foreign languages. They need to accept that families who speak something other than English at home are an American staple. Perhaps even scoffers will come to tolerate and then befriend this oddball, bravely personal movie." (Knipp)

Sorry We Missed You

Ken Loach has won the Palme D'Or twice but I think this film that also premiered at Cannes (2019) is even better. Sorry We Missed You is about the nature of work in our fucked-up times and how it impinges on marriage and family life. It features a delivery man from Manchester married to a home-care nurse, their rebellious graffitti-artist teenage son, and bright 11 year-old daughter. It's about ordinary people doing ordinary things and having ordinary problems. If that sounds "neo-realist" in the Italian post-WWII mode, consider the use of non-actors in some major roles and real-location shooting. It builds to an emotional crescendo that elicits a compelling, empathetic catharsis. As far as I know, it was not released in America, which illustrates the current style of censorship in USA. Sorry we missed your masterpiece, Mr. Ken Loach.

[cinemabon]

Oops, Sorry Oscar

[oscar jubis]

Oops, Sorry Oscar

I shoulda put a smily face next to my correction. Emojis were invented for a reason. By the way, I want to mention a few titles that may continue to impress me and find their way into the list: Steve McQueen's "Small Axe" or more specifically two of the five episodes: "Mangrove" and "Lovers Rock", Paul Schrader's "First Reformed", Charlie Kaufman's "I'm Thinking of Ending Things", Eliza Hittman's "Never Rarely Sometimes Always", and Paul Thomas Anderson's "Phantom Thread". I'm not ready to say these are masterpieces, only that each is an absolute must-see (all in the English language, by the way)

[oscar jubis]

I don't think there's been much mention on FILMLEAF of Charlie Kaufman's I'M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS, certainly not a review. This film is currently commanding a lot of my thinking about movies. Charlie Kaufman's conceits have paid off amply in the past, providing unique humanist perspectives. The wisdom and emotional power of films like ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND and ADAPTATION is undeniable. I find that "I'm Thinking of Ending Things" may be just as wonderful an achievement as those older films but I will have to watch the film again to decide. I'm glad I don't have to write reviews on a deadline. Sometimes , these films that take a long time to figure out turn out to be the very best.
I am also admiring the Oscar winning best animated short of 2004: Chris Landreth's RYAN. It's a biopic of a famous Canadian animator famous in the 60s and 70s before a precipitous, substance-fueled decline into despondency. I love it enough to include on my list. It's very smart, spectacular from a purely pictorial perspective, and emotionally compelling; a combination of attributes that's just hard to find.