Filed under: film | Tags: a foreign affair, beeswax, billy wilder, bujalski, edward g robinson, fritz lang, jack lemmon, john ford, john wayne, kaporovsky, marlene dietrich, mumblecore, stagecoach, the fortune cookie, the woman in the window, walter matthau
A Foreign Affair I watched this on TCM, during the introduction Alec Baldwin was flabbergasted that Robert Osborne had chose it as an essential. He claimed it was uneven, many of it’s attempts at humor fell flat and John Lund was miscast. Unfortunately I agree with him completely. It’s probably the worst Wilder film I’ve seen. Granted, I haven’t seen much of his post-1960 output. That said, it still has it’s moments, most of them coming via Marlene Dietrich. It’s also interesting that Wilder actually engenders sympathy with her ex-Nazi character in 1948, so soon after WWII and all that entailed. **
The Fortune Cookie More Wilder. The first film featuring Matthau and Lemmon together. It’s fun, but you know, nothing really spectacular. Lemmon and Matthau are great, there are some good jokes, yet it suffers from it’s length and from not really adding much to Wilder’s canon. An interesting diversion. **1/2
The Woman in the Window This is a fantastic film. Given that it was made in 1944 it’s hard to imagine Lang had taken much from Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt, but it bears similarities and it kind of feels like Hitchcock by way of Lang. The compositions aren’t quite as engaging as one would expect from Lang but that’s made up for by the screenplay and Edward G. Robinson’s performance. All this assumes one completely ignores the “it was all a dream” ending tacked on due to production code concerns. ***1/2
Stagecoach I have a feeling this one would improve greatly with a second viewing. I watched it in two parts which never does a film any favors. I found it enjoyable enough with some memorable performances, a diverse cast of characters, and a great chase scene. But in the days since I’ve seen it I keep coming back on moments and images and characters. I definitely need to revisit it. ***
Beeswax Probably the best directed Mumblecore feature I’ve seen. It’s pleasant enough but it lacks a real punch. It certainly doesn’t have the power something like Humpday did despite that film looking nowhere near as nice as Beeswax. I certainly don’t regret seeing it and I found myself quite taken with Alex Kaporovsky’s character. He’s apparently a director, I wouldn’t be averse to checking out one of his films. **1/2
Filed under: film | Tags: aldo ray, all that jazz, barbara stanwyck, bigger than life, bob fosse, born to kill, cape fear, clash by night, cold water, dziga vertov, fritz lang, gregory peck, imelda staunton, j lee thompson, jacques tourner, james mason, late august early september, lawrence tierney, man with the movie camera, mathieu amalric, mike leigh, nicholas ray, nightfall, olivier assayas, robert mitchum, robert ryan, roy scheider, vera drake
Yeah, I’ve been neglecting the viewing logs. I’ll get back to that in May. In the meantime, here’s the best of what you missed.
All That Jazz (Bob Fosse, 1979) – This was far darker, and far better, than I was anticipating it being. The performance of a career from Roy Scheider and the final musical sequence might be my favorite in the history of musicals.
Bigger Than Life (Nicholas Ray, 1956) – I suppose it would be an insult to Nicholas Ray to term this one a Sirkian melodrama. There’s so much subtext going on here, the threat to the nuclear family comes from within. Every bit as strong as Rebel Without a Cause. If not stronger.
Born to Kill (Robert Wise, 1947) – Despite Wise’s directorial style being more Val Lewton than Fritz Lang this is one of the noirest noirs I’ve seen. Lawrence Tierney completely owns this film. Though he gets plenty of help from the supporting cast.
Cape Fear (J. Lee Thompson, 1962) – I struggle with this film in that its message is one I couldn’t disagree more with. However, that doesn’t change the fact that it’s a great piece of filmmaking, chilling and suspenseful, and contains what is probably the performance of Mitchum’s career. Strangely, I saw Fritz Lang’s Fury this month which seems to carry the opposite message, one I agree with, but is a much less effective film.
Clash by Night (Fritz Lang, 1952) – A great blend of noir and melodramatic sensibilities. I reviewed this here.
Cold Water (Olivier Assayas, 1994) – A great coming of age film. The party scene that is its centerpiece is one of the more stunning pieces of cinema I’ve seen.
Late August, Early September (Olivier Assayas, 1998) – More Assayas, this time with Mathieu Amalric in the lead role. It’s very much about death but also very clearly a celebration of life. Assayas is consistently great and this film is no exception.
Man with the Movie Camera (Dziga Vertov, 1929) – There is no narrative to the film but it’s never less than engaging. Just a stream of captivating images with the loose theme of filmmaking connecting them. Many techniques we take for granted today were pioneered by Vertov and shown off to great effect in this film.
Nightfall (Jacques Tourneur, 1957) – An underrated noir. Considered here.
Vera Drake (Mike Leigh, 2004) – A powerful film. It completely devastated me. Enough has been said about Imelda Staunton’s performance, but it bears repeating, Hilary Swank’s Oscar belongs to her.
Filed under: film | Tags: barbara stanwyck, clash by night, fritz lang, marilyn monroe, paul douglas, robert ryan
The two previous American Lang films I had seen, Human Desire and The Big Heat, didn’t leave much of an impression on me. However, I would like to revisit both. Clash By Night on the other hand, had me at hello. Opening with stormy seas, it is as much melodrama as it is noir. The screenplay by Clifford Odets captures the best of both worlds, full of snappy dialogue and sexual intrigue. It concerns a woman who has had some tough breaks in life coming back home to live with her brother, “Home is where you come when you run out of places” she says. She meets a nice man and ends up marrying him, only to be tempted by his troubled friend.
The cast is fantastic, coming in I was excited to see Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Ryan and Marilyn Monroe in the same film. Imagine my surprise that Paul Douglas, who I had only seen in Angels in the Outfield, ended up really impressing me. He has a very unique character, and it’s a shame he wasn’t used more. Stanwyck is her usual fantastic self and Marilyn Monroe is really good. I think she is undervalued as an actress these days and viewed as nothing more than a sex symbol. Even later in her career she seemed to get a lot of roles that demanded little more from her than being cute or sexy. Robert Ryan is very convincing in his role, he’s despicable, and the combination of him and Stanwyck, who it would seem sees much of what she doesn’t like about herself in him, is explosive.
Lang’s direction is as strong as ever. I was particularly taken by how much he says with his shot compositions and cinematography. He uses very suggestive lighting and blocking to get his points across. There is one shot late in the film with Barbara Stanwyck in the center of the shot in the background with the imposing figures of Robert Ryan and Paul Douglas in the foreground on either side of her. Imagery like this seems to be a forgotten art, obviously Lang does it better than most, but during Hollywood’s golden age it seemed to be more or less a given. It’s rare these days to see images composed with such thoughtfulness. As long as we can see the actors it’s all good.
The ending isn’t as dark as I was anticipating. When in the projection booth Robert Ryan was talking about how he’d like to cut up the faces of pretty women I assumed it was foreshadowing a violent ending. Though I’m grateful that wasn’t the case. As dark as the film is, it is nice that the ending has a modicum of hope, if it isn’t an outright happy ending. Paul Douglas’s character is so kindhearted it would’ve been painful to see anything less. It can be a cruel world, but it helps when there is still room to hope.
Filed under: film | Tags: arnaud desplechin, esther kahn, fritz lang, george clooney, jason reitman, metropolis, michael haneke, silent film, the dardennes brothers, the son, the white ribbon, up in the air
A brand new feature! Somewhat of a New Year’s Resolution to write more I’ve decided to make a post every for every five new films I see with comments and ratings.
The White Ribbon Formally impressive, Haneke is a master of craft. The acting is superb and the story is engaging enough, but the ideas are uninspired and I still find irksome the extremes he goes to to get his points across. **1/2
Esther Kahn The most restrained of the three Desplechin films I’ve seen but also the least impressive. On one level I can admire Summer Phoenix’s performance but on another it never feels completely organic to me. However, the biggest difference between this and his two most recent films is the stripped down story. You never get the feeling th at it’s bursting at the seams with ideas and inventiveness. Or perhaps I just miss Mathieu Amalric. There’s still enough here to recommend it and I could see myself growing to like it more on repeat viewings. ***
Up In The Air I don’t understand why Jason Reitman’s films get the buzz they do. Perhaps if he was given a script that wasn’t awful we could see what he can do, but so far his mise-en-scene has been as uninspired as his material. Clooney never gets off autopilot here, which is entertaining enough, especially when he’s playing off Anna Kendrick, but the treatment of the economic crisis is at best opportunistic and at worst insulting, and a hackneyed third act crashes the whole thing into the mountain. *1/2
The Son I’m certainly in the minority with this opinion but based on The Son and L’Enfant I find the style of the Dardennes brothers terribly distancing. The abundance of over the shoulder shots always making you painfully aware of the fact that you are watching someone keeps me from becoming emotionally involved. The stories are always finely tuned and well crafted but they never have much effect on me. Despite all that, I enjoyed the film and the lead performance is wonderful. **1/2
Metropolis Silent film is easily the era in film I am least knowledgable about. Until now, Chaplin was really the only director that ever wowed me. Even films like Sunrise and Nosferatu, while very good, never sent me over the edge. Last year I really dug Hell’s Hinges with William S. Hart and now Metropolis easily rivals City Lights as my favorite film of the era. I was enraptured from beginning to end. The story is wonderful, even if the end is a bit heavy-handed, but it’s the imagery and direction that really astound here. Nothing short of a masterpiece. ****
tongue-tied lightning 