Mon Oncle

Well, Booth, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie.  It was like a wonderful confectioner's treat.  Even though I love a well written script, I found it surprisingly refreshing to  enjoy a nearly silent film, full of visual gags, supportive music, with conversation like the waa-waa-waa of adults in a Charlie Brown special.  Early on, when Tati as Monsieur Hulot is standing in profile, I had to double check it was not Buster Keaton.  Tati's graceful movements, actions, and expressions are very reminiscent of Keaton.  I can see this movie needs repeated viewings to catch all the gags that went by me the first time.  There is just so much to smile over...the Arpel's dachshund slumming with the neighborhood dogs, mirrored by Hulot's nephew getting into mischief with the neighborhood bad boys. Positioning the window so the reflected light causes the bird to sing. Hulot's lovely apartment house, full of lively neighbors, contrasted with the sterility of the Villa Arpel and the falseness of the social interactions that go on there.  The awful drone that is neverending in the Arpel kitchen, and at the Plastac factory.  The running fish fountain gag.  Hulot trying to find a glass in the Arpel kitchen. The arrows on the streets guiding everyone into their places.  Tossing the car cigarette lighter out of the window as he would a match.  I found it heartbreaking to watch Hulot saying goodbye to his neighbors, when his brother-in-law wants to be rid of him. (Where do you think they were sending him to?)  Just a wonderful, charming film showing how technology and consumerism have affected community.  I look forward to a second viewing!

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

Booth, how was Amber Heard? 

How'd you see it? 

Susan

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

You know it hasn't been released in the US yet.  It's been in Domestic Distribution Hell with the help of the Weinstein boys first and then later from Senator.  The film was shot in 2006 and last I heard the summer '09 release date was squashed. 

I guess it has had some distribution in the UK....

Susan

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

The Spirit of the Beehive  (El espiritu de la colmena)

I love my library.  I see a Criterion Collection DVD, I will take it from the shelf and look.  This is a Spanish film from the early seventies, and this woman found it to be a stunner.   Seven- year-old actress Ana Torrent is mesmerizing, the focal point of this story from inside the mind of a child who sees no difference between reality and fantasy. In a small Castilian village torn by civil war (1940), young Ana sees, at a traveling movie show, the movie Frankenstein.  She becomes obsessed with the monster, confused by what is good and what is dangerous.  She believes she can contact the monster's spirit, and find the answers to her questions. There's an introverted bee-keeper father, a sad mother whose heart is elsewhere, and an older sister who seems slightly unhinged.  A quiet story, told mostly with images, long shots, lingering.  This movie has one of the most beautiful, haunting, moody last shots I've seen in a long time. 

In an interview, the director Victor Erice told the story of asking Ana if she knew who Frankenstein was.  She answered that she knew who he was, but she hadn't made his acquaintance.   Erice said that Ana wasn't acting, she was living the experience.  You can feel it.  Have any of my fellow cinephiles out there seen this?

The Proposition  

Highly recommended.  A brutal Western translated to to the Australian Outback.  Strong performances by Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone and Danny Huston.  Great script and music by Nick Cave.  

XXY  

An Argentine movie about a 15-year-old hermaphrodite struggling with her identity.  If you read and were fascinated by Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, you will appreciate this movie.  Well done.

They Live

An old John Carpenter film I hadnt seen in nearly 20 years. Starring Roddy Piper. Was alright when it first came out, just looks pretty dated now. Not the worst movie with an ex wrestler in it...but not the greatest either. Aliens among us that you can only see with special sunglasses on..strange

 5.5/10 (Better than Mars Attacks at least)

"Ive got good news....that gum you like is going to come back in style!"

"I'm a WHOLE DAMN TOWN!"

Antichrist

Now, i've literally only just finished watching this, and my mind is shot to pieces. I'm pretty unfamiliar with Lars Von Tier's other works, and it's only due to a bit of wikipedia and review-reading for a while before i watched this film that i know what i do about him, including the controversy that surrounds alot of his work. 

The Epilogue of the film shows Willem Defoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg (just known as He and She in the film) having sex whilst their baby makes his way out of his cot only to fall out of the window to his death as She climaxes. It's shot beautifully and the music was lovely, but the content was obviously horrific. I knew from that scene that this film was going to be a head-fuck.

I have to say that i did enjoy it, alot. I'm not a fan of gore to be honest, and whilst they're isn't alot of it in the film, the parts that are in it include *POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERTS* His balls being smashed to pieces with a plank of wood (the pain from which makes him pass out, at which point she wanks him off), Her self mutilating her own genitalia (it all becomes apparent why she does this), a fox disembowelling itself shortly before whispering "chaos reigns", a deer running from them mid-way through giving birth to a stillborn fawn, and last but not least an Audition style leg-crippling via a large drill. This all sounds very Eli Roth-like, but believe it or not it's all tastefully done and isn't without it's deeper meaning.

Which brings me to my last point. Whilst the film is dark from start to finish, containing sexual violence, mutilation, dead/dying animals, and basically makes nature (and the female form to a certain extent) a source of pure evil, i actually feel upbeat after watching it. It is so damn incredibly well shot; particularly the scenes where He is trying to give Her therapy, and when it shows what she is thinking of, the scenes here are some of the most beautiful images in any film i've ever seen. This isn't just horror, it's wonderful and some of the symbolism and cinematography is fucking breathtaking.

Defoe and Gainsbourg are the only credited actors in the whole film, as whenever another person is shown, their faces are blurred, and their performances are both unbelievably good (she actually picked up Best Actress at Cannes this year for her role). Their performances, coupled with this being the most original Horror i've seen in a while, make me a huge fan. It makes me want to check out Von Tier's early stuff, which i may well do pretty soon. When i've recovered from this.

9/10

The Class

This 2008 winner of the Palme D'Or examines a year in the French classroom of Mr. Marin and his middle-school students.  The school is in the tough inner city of Paris, and the kids are representative of the melting pot that is modern day France.  This film feels so real you could think it is a documentary, but no, the kids are acting (although the teacher is played by the author of the autobiographical novel on which the movie is based.)  This movie will make you wonder how any teacher today manages to keep going day after day.  Well done.

Quick one here: Across the Universe.

I went into this not really knowing what to expect, and with fairly low expectations.  After watching it, I did like it.  Some of the remakes of the classic songs were well done- with changes in tone or a different context they had a surprisingly powerful resonance. Acting was fairly good given the constraints of the movie. There was more plot than I expected, although it was predictable and was pushed along fairly artificially, and sometimes the emphasis on the broader societal conflicts were a bit heavy-handed. Also, the spontaneous dance/song numbers were at times a bit jarring, but they were generally well done.  Still, glad I saw it.

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin