The Longest Post On Filmwurld

[oscar jubis]

A rare moment: a movie from my list of beloved, great films that has to be removed for its failure to sustain additional viewings with pleasure and edification. I was watching Fritz Lang's MABUSE, THE GAMBLER, the 1922 film that introduced the iconic master villain, and I found it difficult to sustain interest. It's an episodic crime film lasting 5 hours in its original version, and it failed to sustain my interest in the way the equally long, more rewarding LES VAMPIRES did recently. Much to admire in Lang's film but not one of my favorites based on my last viewing.

Having said that, I have a new addition to the canon, a late silent from the UK: SHOOTING STARS (1828). It's a visually inventive love triangle set in a film studio hence its ability to critique its own medium and production process. Anthony Asquith is primarily responsible. He was in his 20s still when he made this masterpiece.

These changes have been made to the original post on page 1.

[cinemabon]

Sure about that date?

[Chris Knipp]

A typo, no doubt. It's 1928.

[oscar jubis]

Sure about that date?

No, like Chris says: it should be 1928. Thank you so much for being so observant and for making me feel good that you guys are reading these posts about movies that should be quite obscure to the vast majority of people. Matter of fact, remarkable how few people in film studies are familiar with the wonderfully cinematic silent films Anthony Asquith made before he became famous for talkies based on famous plays. And I like those too. I'm watching his UNDERGROUND (also 1928) next.

[Chris Knipp]

Early Anthony Asquith - is there any way we can watch them?

[Chris Knipp]

P.s. I hope somebody will read my New Italian Cinema reviews in the Festival Coverage section, just completed reviews of all the films. But the series isn't till the end of this month so you have plenty of time.

[oscar jubis]

Early Anthony Asquith - is there any way we can watch them?

Both SHOOTING STARS and UNDERGROUND have been restored by the British Film Institute recently and released on Bluray and dvd with no coding for region. It can be viewed in all players.

[cinemabon]

I had no idea you worked in Egypt. The reviews are, as always, a window into a cultural phenomenon of which most of us know so little. How revealing the depth of your reviews tend to be when it comes to understanding another country's version of cinema - very different and yet some common similarities familiar in most settings. You're very fortunate to be in New York and San Francisco which has this exposure. "Foreign" cinema appears to have run a cycle of avant garde college students in the 1960's; posh art house acceptance in the 1970's; transfer to video and widespread discussion in the 80's and 90's; internet websites in the early 2000's that gave rise to a forum like this one... and now with multiple digital outlets and multiple websites, obscure theatrical releases again attract small highly-educated specified audiences, not unlike those in the 1960's.

[Chris Knipp]

Thanks, Oscar. I hope these disk releases will move to rental availability because I don't buy disks just to watch a film except in very rare cases.
Cinemabon, Egypt, you're referring to me? Yes and I also worked more briefly in Morocco but it's been a while. More significantly I have put a lot of time into studying Arabic. But how did this come up? not on this thread? Not sure exactly how US audiences for foreign films have changed. I'm no expert on that. I'm guessing that there are also a lot more film festivals all over the US - all over the world - and that also makes new global cinema in closer reach to people. I think that's another important "platform." Yes, if you live in the San Francisco Bay Area and spend significant time in NYC, you get a chance to see most of the foreign releases.

Some great non-US films releasing soon that I saw in the NYFF - watch for these, please!
BURNING (Lee Chang-dong)
ASH IS PUREST WHITE (Jia Zhang-ke)
ROMA (Alfonso Cuarón)
COLD WAR Paweł Pawlikowski)
SHOPLIFTERS (Hirakazu Koreeda)
and the French ones
HIGH LIFE (Claire Denis) I didn't dig it, but there's probably a lot there I missed.
NON-FICTION (Olivier Assayas)
SORRY, ANGEL (Christophe Honoré)
A FAITHFUL MAN (Louis Garrel)

Also coming in Feb. with one-week Nov. release:
NEVER LOOK AWAY (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck) The maker of THE LIVES OF OTHES made a good one this time. It's in German about an artist, whose life, like Gerhard Richter's, spans from the early Thirties till today and he becomes one of Germany's most important artists. I saw this in a screener, it's being distributed by Sony Pictures Classics. The others above I saw at the NYFf. See my reviews in the Festival Coverage Section