The Longest Post On Filmwurld

[oscar jubis]

Great films newly added to canon

1960. WILD RIVER (Kazan)
This is the first Elia Kazan film on the list. It's a film I finally caught up with, so to speak. There are still several movies likely to elicit surprising responses because I haven't seen them (or don't remember having seen them). It's possible that I watched a couple of scenes from it one night while broadcast on TV. Being true to my experience of cinema after high school, I watched a lot of fragments from movies; I "sampled" from movies quite a bit. This practice has only become more "natural" with clips on youtube and the overall fragmentation of experience often cited as characteristic of what is often labeled postmodernism. I'm not an unequivocal champion of technology but I am grateful that the (UK) Bluray of Wild River allows me to experience it in ideal, pristine conditions. I like how the Cinemascope images are composed but I love how the extended shots allow us the rich pleasure of seeing the performance and presence of exceptional stars who died young: Montgomery Clift and Lee Remick, and "character actor" Jo Van Fleet in the key role of an old lady who refuses to sell her little island so the government can tame the wild Tennessee river. The film presents substantial discourse about the inevitability of government (call it "civilization" and you realize this movie is a "western" of sorts even though it's set during the New Deal) and the resistance to it.

2011. A SEPARATION (Farhadi)
This Oscar winner has proven its worth as a perfectly crafted piece of dramaturgy over a dozen viewings. This is the Middle Easter film that I use the most in my classes because it is so engaging and because it elicits debate and promotes an understanding of the different layers of Iranian society and culture. I have seen students raised on Michael Bay and CGI fall under the spell of this subtitled masterpiece, and marvel over the intricacy of plot construction and the way Farhadi uses doors, mirrors, and architectural divisions to visualize separations between individuals and groups.