Gonzo

Michelangelo Antonioni: L'Eclisse

2010-10-03T13:37:00.000-07:00

Director - Michelangelo Antonioni
Writer - Michelangelo Antonioni & Tonino Guerra

Cast Character

Alain Delon ... Piero
Monica Vitti ... Vittoria
Francisco Rabal ... Riccardo
Louis Seigner ... Ercoli
Lilla Brignone ... Vittoria's Mother
Rossana Rory ... Anita
Mirella Ricciardi ... Marta

Inside Vittoria's room is Ricardo. Time has emptied in silence shown by the multitude of used cigarettes on the floor. They decide on ending everything between them. She walks to him showing dominance entering his field of vision. She breaks away leaving him looking straight ahead without turning his head - he accepts their relationship is over. The lines in the mirror on her face that is shown while she is looking at Riccardo shows there is a beginning and an end to everything. As she looks outside she sees a phallic water tower persisting her lust and resembling a nuclear bomb.

Riccardo asks her for forgiveness. She says she was happier at 20. She says she will no longer translate articles for him and will have a woman do it instead. She says after being asked that she is not sure if she loves him. Around her is abstract art - hinting at her abstract feelings of him. This is two fold as both cannot communicate or choose not to out of a lack of courage and intimacy. The abstract art shows that he is also old fashioned.

He follows her in his car and meets up with her again. She asks why. He says he always follows her so, "Why not today?" She tells him it was a terrible night. He tells her goodbye then corrects himself to say they will see each other again. He accepts and says they won't call each other. As the stock market she calls for her mother. Piero overhears an insider stock tip from another man and buys 20,000 on Finsider. Vittoria meets her mother who goes to Piero to buy some stock. Outside both Vittoria and her mother shop for some fruit. She doesn't tell her mother she has split with Riccardo. At home her friend Amita comes and Vittoria tells her that she couldn't sleep last night. She tells her she is tired and depressed, disgusted and confused. She tells her friend, "What can I say? There are times when holding a needle and thread, or a book, or a man - it's all the same." She doesn't want convention but anything else. Vittoria meets Amita's friend Marta. Marta says she is hot in this weather but Amita tells her she should be used to it having lived in Kenya. She shows everyone the picture of the country. Ones of trees, jungles and savannas. Vittoria after seeing some tribal pictures of the natives dresses up and dances to the native music. Marta says she is scared of the native violence there.

The two chase after a lost dog. One of the dogs entertains her as it is magnificent at playing tricks. It makes her laugh as she did in the apartment. Outside there is a great shot Antonioni employs. He shows Riccardo on the street as seen through the balcony bars showing he is imprisoned by love. She and Marta take a ride in their friend's plane. They look outside and see the coliseum and canal.

At the city an older man talks to Piero and tells him not to be so eager to buy so many stocks. Piero decides to buy Finsider stock again after having luck the previous day. He meets with his partners buying and selling stocks before the bidding begins. Vittoria's mother arrives and drops salt on the floor for good luck. Piero calls his associates to find out a stock has dropped in another city so he tells Dino to sell immediately. Vittoria arrives and sees Piero. She goes to her mother. Despondent after her losses she wants to stay. Her mother claims the losses are due to politics as there is someone behind the scenes always pulling strings. Vittoria meets with Piero concerned with her mother''s losses. He says not to worry - with money anything is fixable. Piero shows Vittoria one man who lost 50,000,000 lire. She follows him and watches to see how he reacts.

After she leaves she runs into Piero again who is more enamored by stocks than her. She begins to notice him and fakes interest in the stock exchange. Piero tries to explain the stock market is much more complex than simply winning and losing money. The two leave together. In her apartment she shows him pictures of her father. In her room she lays on her bed and Piero tries to make his move but doesn't work. Her mother comes and offers Piero some food. Piero's boss tells the clients about the market and despite losses it is still stable. He assures them foreign countries still buy. Piero upset at his secretary has to find a client who owes 4,000,000 lire. He tells him, "If the market drops, I pay. If it goes up, you win - is that it?" He tells the client that he made him so much money over the years but he got greedy and lost it all.

Piero meets a girl and is angry when she dyes her hair. He tells her go and drives off. At the apartment he talks to Vittoria but to his bad luck a drunk steals his car. The next day they find his car in the water with a whole crew working to pull it out. He tells Vittoria he can fix up the car and sell it. They go to the apartment and Vittoria calls Marta. As they walk by the street Vittoria tosses a piece of wood in a barrel of water. This shows that some unknown force is keeping them together. At his apartment Piero reads the newspaper and answers a call from Vittoria who is too unsure to speak.

Vittoria walks outside to an empty sky looking at the buildings of cold modernity that are emotionally empty. She comes back to the barrel of water still assured that the water is still there. Piero throws a match case in the water next to the piece of wood. The wood lies on the matches and Vittoria flicks the two apart - hinting there would be no sex between the two. He tells her he bought a new BMW which bores Vittoria. His ambition is off-putting because he can never be in the present moment with her. As they talk there is a diamond shaped sign in the distance between the two of them. A diamond is most commonly a symbol of love, excellence and purification. It is also a symbol of power, strength and beauty.

He takes her to his apartment where she sits on the bench. He asks her, "You want to sit there?" hinting his bed would be better. His art is modern and elaborate contrasted by Riccardo's abstract older art. They both reveal their personalities which their age show as well. There is a 10 year age gap between both men, Riccardo being older. As the couple talk they share a joke which opens them up to a connection.She complains to him that he asks too many questions. She tells him, "Two people shouldn't know each other too well if they want to fall in love."

Diamond patterns reappear in his bedroom. She sees two pictures of his parents and feels naked in front of them. Outside she looks and sees many white tables that look like diamonds as well. They show further a relationship between time and space. A montage is shown of buildings outside. Modernity's coldness pierces her. The ominous music as they embrace spells doom. He talks to her about marriage and she is fickle. She only says, "I don't know." This uncertainty angers Piero.

Inside his apartment they play and leave. They promise to see each other tomorrow, the next day and so forth. A montage of shots show modernity overpowering nature. Buildings are everywhere. The broken lines of the pedestrian crosswalk show a lack of permanence in all things. A hole in the barrel of water leaks whatever love between Piero and Vittoria is left. This is shown by the piece of wood and matches inside. A man comes out of the bus reading a newspaper that warns of the nuclear arms race. The draining water from the barrel goes to the sewer.

Les Diaboliques

2010-09-15T07:50:00.000-07:00

Director - Henri-Georges Clouzet
Writer - Henri-Georges Clouzet, Pierre Boileau, Thomas Narcejac

Cast Character

Simone Signoret ... Nicole Horner
Vera Clouzet ... Christina Delassalle
Paul Meurisse ... Michel Delassalle
Charles Vanel ... Alfred Fichet, le commissaire
Jean Brochard ... Plantiveau, le concierge
Pierre Larquey ... M. Drain, professeur
Michel Serrault ... M. Raymond, le surreillant

"The painting is always quite moral when it is tragic and it gives the horror of the things it depicts." - Barbey d'Aurevilly

Les Diaboliques begins in a small French town opening up to the Delassalle Boarding School. Michel Delassalle arrives as the owner of the school. A man rings a bell which brings the students out. Mr. Drain comments to Nicole who says she is chaste that he heard screams from her room last night hinting at her affair with Michel. He tells her unfortunately not everyone can be thrown out of the school system. Christina, a teacher, comments to Nicole seeing her remove her glasses revealing her black eye. Nicole says she and Michel had a fight last night. The wife and mistress, Nicole, only get along so well out of their shared hatred of Michel.

He boldly comes in the room offers to kiss Nicole boldly which she rejects only to give Christina. He warns his mistress Nicole that his frail wife, Christina, will ruin them then violently throws them out. Outside the mistress and Christina talk. Christina being a devout Catholic refuses to divorce him. She says it's a deadly sin. The clothes they wear are indicative of their nature. Nicole wears black glasses hiding her motives and a black dress to show her dark soul while Christina wears a white dress - virginal and pure. Nicole tries to tempt Christina with murdering Michel but she refuses asking Nicole if she believes in hell. She says no but Christina says she believes in it.

At dinner at the school Michel is frugal with one of his subordinates. Nicole is always seen behind her black glasses hiding her emotions and ulterior motives. Michel dominates his wife telling her to swallow her food after she says she isn't hungry. Being wealthy Christina complains why does Michel buy such poor food for the students. This highlights her nervousness at the possibility of killing him. Christina is angry that all her money goes to Michel and he doesn't have the decency to buy good food for the students. The wide shot in the dining room shows the emotional distance between the three of them.

After finding a large box both Nicole and Christina disappear. Michel asks the concierge, Plantiveau, where they are. He tells them they have gone. The two travel to Niort. In the car Nicole tells Christina that Michel wanted she and him to control the school because of Christina's heart condition. Madame Herboux greets them at the hotel. In the room they have the operator call Michel. When he hears they are in Niort he is happy and says, "My compliments." Christina tells him she wants a divorce and wants her dowry returned. The chain of power starts with Michel controlling Nicole and Nicole controlling Christina. Nicole is loud and rough while Christina is loud and sensitive. Nicole uses a toothbrush cup to drink the wine devoid of any sense of high society sensibilities. She puts a sedative in the wine bottle for Michel. She visits Madame Herboux to prevent her from seeing Michel outside providing a witness to the crime.

Michel enters and Christina tells him she refuses to leave. Ready to divorce she tells him her lawyer is Berthoux. He tells her it must be consensual. He tries to spin her self doubt into fear saying she will go poor if they divorce losing the school and social standing. She tries to stop him from drinking the laced alcohol but after she is hit lets him drink. Nicole enters into the bathroom meanwhile Michel is knocked out cold by the drink. The landlords upstairs upset over not hearing their radio game show write a compliant at the time of the noise. This could be used as a possible lead for their crime. Nicole drowns Michel in the bathtub as he is unconscious.

They empty the water the next day and put the body in the large case they brought. The landlord Mr. Herboux helps Nicole put the case in the car. At the gas station a drunk soldier tries to get in their car causing the attendant to help the two women. He notices some leak in the trunk that could be damaging later if he were called as a witness. They return to the school later that night. They drag the case out the car and dump his body in the pool. The supervisors talk and reveal that Michel is missing. It is the third time it has happened. The swimming pool holding Michel is so nerve wracking as it is right near the school with the kids playing near it.

Christina wanting to turn herself in asks Plantiveau to empty the pool. She teaches class and runs outside to the empty pool looking in only to faint. She saw that no body was inside. Inside her room Christina prays. Nicole comes in and tells her she is worried because a corpse couldn't have just disappeared. One man comes into their room with Michel's perfectly crisp, dry suit and said a deliveryman gave it to him.

The two women visit the laundromat where the suit came from and get a key to a hotel where Michel was supposedly staying named Eden Hotel. The servant tells Christina that Michel is never in the room during the day only at night. The man says he never saw him neither the doorkeeper. At the school Nicole is worried if Michel was really dead. Christina argues with Nicole because Nicole planned the whole thing. Outside on her way to confession Christina is stopped by Nicole who shows her the newspaper, "A Naked Man in the Seine." She goes to the morgue to identify the body. She says it's not him. A policeman takes a taxi with Christina to St. Cloud. He introduces himself as Alfred Fichet. He offers to find her husband's body but she declines.

Alfred looks at Michel's personal belongings inside. When describing his clothes to Alfred he closes the door revealing the mysterious dry suit which stuns Christina. Outside a kid is shoveling dirt which Nicole asks why. He said the principal told him to. Nicole slaps him. He tells Christina he revealed himself after he broke the window. A photographer comes and takes a school picture of everyone outside. In the picture behind the window Nicole sees a mysterious stranger. Under a magnifying glass the two women see Michel. They are both afraid.

Alfred comes and tells Christina that he found Michel and he is alive. Christina says this is impossible because she killed him. Despite this he tells her tomorrow morning she will be acquitted. He goes to the garage and sees the mentioned trunk she told him about. Outside her window she sees someone through the building walking through each room. She looks down the hallway to see a room with a light emitting. Behind her a door opens by an unknown person. She hears the typewriter being used. The door opens and she looks inside. It is empty. Michel's hat and gloves are near the typewriter. She looks at the paper and "Michelle Delassalle" is typed several times.

The ending is surprising with two twists that will not be revealed in this review.

Abbas Kiarostami: The Taste of Cherry

2010-09-10T18:33:00.001-07:00

Director/Writer - Abbas Kiarostami

Cast Character

Homayoun Ershadi ... Mr. Badii
Abdolrahman Bagheri ... Mr. Bagheri
Afshin Khorshid Bakhtiari ... Soldier
Safar Ali Moradi ... The soldier
Mir Hossein Noori ... The Seminarian

The Taste of Cherry begins in the car of Mr. Badii who is on the most painful trip of his life. He looks out carefully to pick up hitchhikers to aid him in ending his life. He drives a nice SUV so naturally people approach him offering to work as laborers. He drives and tries to carefully pick the right man. He is affluent and patient choosing meaning and precision over desperation. He calls a laborer to his car and tells him he can solve his money problems. The man says no.

He sees a man who is collecting some items and figures maybe he can coax him to do a job for him. He tells him he will be well paid. The man returns to collecting plastic bags as his only source of income. He picks up a soldier who is on his way to the barracks. He is young and tentative - just what Mr. Badii needs. The soldier is tired but Mr. Badii tells him a soldier is never tired. He is young, only drafted two months ago. He tells Mr. Badii he is from Kurdistan. Mr. Badii concerned asked what he did before. The soldier says he was a farmer. The soldier was in school but gave up. Mr. Badii asks him a lot of questions trying to see if this is the right person for his plans. He asks the soldier to stay in the car to do a high paying job. Mr. Badii tells him he was in the military and met his best friends there. The soldier finally asks him what he wants after their small talk. He tells him not to be concerned with the job but rather look forward to how good the pay is. The soldier keeps asking what the job is and Mr. Badii tells him, "Listen when you ask a laborer to dig foundations does he ask if they're for a hospital, a lunatic asylum or a mosque or a school? He does his job and gets his pay."

The soldier now eerie wants to leave the car but Mr. Badii persuades him to stay. Outside the car he shows a soldier a hole. He tells him he wants to be buried here and at 6 a.m. to call his name. If he responds dig him up from the ground, if he doesn't respond take 200,000 tomans from the car. The soldier refuses and Badii asks him why. He tells the soldier he needs him and doesn't want to beg him. He says he can help the soldier. He tells Mr. Badii he can't throw dirt on someone's head. Cleverly trying to disassociate the act from himself he changes to the third person, "If he was alive he'd stand up to respond." He tells the soldier he isn't killing anyone only covering it up. He tells him to look at the hole and it is God's will.

He doesn't want to dishonor the soldier by giving him a gun to do the act but rather a spade, after all he was a farmer before. He tells him to pretend he's farming and that he's manure to be spread at the foot of the tree. The soldier unflinching won't budge. When Mr. Badii comes back in the car the soldier runs out the car and back to the barracks. Mr. Badii looks affectionately to the crows in the sky hoping his fate is soon. Outside he sees poor laborers who might do the deed but drives on. He needs someone as desperate as he to take the job - someone with weak beliefs. He talks to a security guard and is invited to join him. He tells him it's a nice place which the guard tells him, "Nice it's nothing but earth and dust." Mr. Badii replies, "You don't think earth is nice? Earth gives us all the good things."

Mr. Badii asks if the guard ever gets lonely. He tells Badii he is used to it and offers him some tea. After small talk about the wars about each-other's countries Mr. Badii pitches him his deal, "Tell me today's a holiday, so why are you here alone? You feel sad, so do I. Come for a drive. We can get a change of scene, talk." The guard says he can't leave. Badii says he will see his friend the seminarian. He picks him up and asks him why he studied in a seminary in Afghanistan. The man tells him because the seminary doesn't pay well he has to save up by working as a laborer. He tells him he is lucky he picked him up. "It's your hands that I need. I don't need your tongue or your mind. I'm lucky that those hands belong to a true believer. With the patience, endurance and perseverance that you learn you're the best person to carry out this job." The man asks what is intended of him. Badii tells him the act will go against his beliefs. "You believe God gives life and takes it when he sees fit. But there comes a time when a man can't go on. He's exhausted and can't wait for God to act. So he decides to act himself. There that's what's called suicide."

He tells the seminarian that he needs him to free him from this life. His reason why wouldn't help him to know and he can't talk about it. He wouldn't understand because he wouldn't feel what he, Mr. Badii, feels. The seminarian tells him suicide is wrong. Badii after listening to the seminarian lecture tells him, "I know that suicide is one of the deadly sins, but being unhappy is a great sin too. When you're unhappy you hurt other people. Isn't that a sin too?" He takes the man to the same tree as the soldier. He says tonight he will swallow all his sleeping pills. What he wants the seminarian to do is "wait until dawn then come here like a kind brother and cover me with soil. That's all." The seminarian pleads with Badii that the Koran tells him, "You shall not kill yourself." He asks Mr. Badii, "What's the difference between killing someone and killing yourself?" Both are killing. The man tries to offer Badii some food with his friend and Badii senses his refusal so drives off. At a construction site Badii looks at a rock crusher temptingly as no one will assist in his suicide.

Mr. Badii finally meets a man who has no problems with his plan but is told, "You have to do it properly with all your heart." The man tells Badii if he doesn't explain his problem who can help him? He tells Badii every problem has a solution. He tells him if everyone killed themselves over problems there wouldn't be anyone left on Earth. The man tells Badii after he got married he had so many problems he decided to kill himself. After a long talk on outlook and so forth surprisingly the man agrees to Badii's terms and helps him. Badii makes sure what he has to do precisely. He agrees only because his child needs some cure.

He drives his car around to talk to a guard and asks if he knows the old man with the blue jacket. The guard tells him his name is Mr. Bagheri. He tells him to make sure he is dead before burying him. That night Badii takes a taxi to the burial location. In his grave he waits looking at the moon through the clouds. We see in a flashback Mr. Badii on a film set - something to ease the audience in a scene with infantry marching near the tree he was buried. In the car when he talked to the young soldier he tells him the best time of his life was when he was in the military. Perhaps the highlights of his life are played back before he is released from this earth. Perhaps the tree was a cherry tree and like the final passenger in his car wanted to be buried near something that gave others pleasure.

Vidas Secas

2010-08-30T07:25:00.000-07:00

Director - Nelson Pereira dos Santos
Writer - Nelson Pereira dos Santos & Graciliano Ramos

Cast Character

Atila Torio - Fabiano
Maria Ribeiro - Sinha Vitoria
Orlando Macedo - Soldado Amarelo
Joffre Soares - Fazendeiro
Gilvan Lima - Boy (as Gilvan)
Genivaldo Lima - Boy (as Genivaldo)

Vidas Secas begins in northeast Brazil with a family looking for work. In a pan shot we see the family in the distance of the barren desert. The father, Fabiano, feeds his children a little bit of rice and his wife, Sinha, enough food to survive. They eat their pet parrot in desperation of food. Sinha says it is useless to continue and that they'll never get there. She complains how the sand hurts her feet. The sun beats sow on them while the boy falls down and cries. Fabiano tells him to get up and keep walking. An excellent triangular shot has Sinha framed on the right taking more space with Fabiano in the distance - she is domineering, cold and distant.

They arrive at a small ranch which Fabiano investigates. The dog Baleia brings some joy to the son in their miserable existence. Their clothes are tattered and worn - hopeless of their lives. They look to the sky remarking it will rain soon. She clenches her husband which eases his need for her affection. This intimacy though turns her off and she releases him keeping her distance. She rewards the dog who catches a squirrel for them to eat. The house they find might prove fruitful for farming. They hope only to have a leather bed one day like that of Tomas whose house they are in.

The man who visits tells them to leave but Fabiano tells him he can be a good cowhand. He tells the man that for every four calves born he will keep one. The man agrees to the deal. They herd the cattle and are so poor out of boredom the boy makes a little toy cow out of feces. They brand the cattle and attempt to tame them if possible. The wife figures out their accounts and at 100,000 for each hired hand soon they can afford their dream - a leather bed. They want to be dandies. Fabiano takes a trip to town to hopefully settle his accounts. He pleads with the boss that the money is not enough but the boss counters that he has lent him money all year and the little money he gets is a result of interest. The man tells him he can take it or leave it. Fabiano tells him that it isn't right and that he isn't a slave. Desperate Fabiano finally complies.

Outside he tries to sell a pig and is met by a man who tells him he must pay taxes. The tax official and Fabiano argue and he lets Fabiano go home not wanting to waste time. The family travels to a small town and go to church. Fabiano leaves and goes to a bar instead. A public official offers to play a card game with Fabiano in the bar. The official gambles everything and Fabiano leaves. He meets him outside and harasses him. He steps on Fabiano's foot and calls for the police. The official lies to the police about Fabiano insulting him and resisting arrest. Fabiano is severely whipped appealing to the official's sadistic humor. Now in jail Fabiano cries at his sudden and immense loss. The other prisoner helps him by putting his shirt under Fabiano's head making a small pillow. Meanwhile his family waits while a performance ensues outside.

The boss comes to the jail and has Fabiano released. He is given a shotgun and offered a job by some bandits but after seeing his family he declines. At home a superstitious doctor heals Fabiano. The boy asks his mother what hell is and she tells him it's where the damned go. He asks if she's ever been there and she hits him and he runs outside to cry. He looks at the house and says, "Hell." He looks at the landscape and says, "hot pokers." He looks at his father and says, "the damned." He talks to his dog and realizes the poverty and his father's unlucky damned existence and mother's scorn proves he is already in Hell.

Sinha says she wants to die and get her life over with. She looks around and gathers undrinkable water. She sees dead land, dead opportunity and dead souls. She argues with her husband as why he had to gamble their money away. He argues why she had to buy expensive shoes. Cooled off she looks outside saying the sun will kill the cattle. Fabiano curses the birds who drink the cattle's water. The sun burns through. They stare at it. She prays. He smokes his cigarette saying the cattle will eventually catch fire and there is no use waiting. They hyperventilate dying of thirst. The boss comes and tells him he will get his cattle tomorrow. They disappear and Fabiano searches for them. He stumbles across the man who beat him and contemplates killing him. He hears the cow he lost and must decide between the two. Desperate for food Fabiano searches for the dog to kill and eat. He shoots it.

Broken with despair Sinha turns to the only thing that comforts the desperate - optimism and idealism. She asks Fabiano if he thinks they will find a better place. He says, "maybe yes, maybe no." She says they will have a new life somewhere with plenty of crops. She says the boys will go to school - learn to read and do math. They keep walking until they see the barren landscape accepting the hell that is ahead of them.

Luchino Visconti: Rocco and His Brothers

2010-08-23T01:03:00.000-07:00

Director - Luchino Visconti
Writer - Luchino Visconto, Suso Cecchi d'Amico, Vasco Pratolini

Cast Character

Alain Delon - Rocco Parondi
Renato Salvatori - Simone Parondi
Annie Girardot - Nadia
Katina Paxinou - Rosaria Parondi
Alessandra Panaro - Ciro's Fiancee
Spiros Focas - Vicenzo Parondi
Max Cartier - Ciro Parondi
Rocco Vidolazzi - Luca Parondi

The film Rocco and His Brothers begins with the arrival of the Parondi family arriving in Milan. They are thrilled and mesmerized at the windows and lights of the big city after leaving a small one in the south. Rosaria shows the conductor the photos of her oldest son Vicenzo who lives in Milan. We are introduced to Vicenzo during a banquet. Ginetta is his girlfriend. The family meets up with him and Rosaria is angry when she sees Vicenzo isn't wearing black for his father's death. The other family is a bit displeased with Rosaria's unannounced visit. She is also argumentative and a bit of a killjoy. The other family continues to argue with her and threaten her to leave. Rosaria leaves angry that they are celebrating when her husband and Rocco's father has recently died.

Vicenzo now has to deal and take care of his uninvited family. Their first night in the new house they are met with snow which they are thrilled to see. He meets up with Ginetta who is angry that he doesn't visit her anymore. The two families are having problems so they have to meet elsewhere. He meets Nadia who has been kicked out of her home and introduces her to his mother. The brothers tell the girl they are looking for jobs. She sees newspaper clippings of Vicenzo who is a boxer. The girl is provocative and in one second the family instantaneously guesses what her profession is. He houses her because her father kicked her out and once she leaves Rosaria yells at Vicenzo for bringing in a woman who could be a prostitute.

The brother takes up construction jobs in the city while Vicenzi practices boxing. Rocco and Simone stay and practice boxing as well. Simone gets offered a chance to train at Cerri's gym despite his late age. Simone gets his first fight and everyone in the audience calls him names. Simone shows promise and wins his first fight. The crowd riots outside over the loss of the favorite boxer while Ginetta is taken home by her brother and away from Vicenzo.

Nadia enters Simone's life as he is the winner of the fight and says he has passion for his profession like she does. He tells her he enjoys it. She says she left her home town so she could be in a place where she could sleep alone. She says she played hide and seek hiding her identity in fear of others. Luca visits his brother Ciro and gives him a boxing poster. He tells him Simone gave it to him. Rocco finds a job at the dry cleaners and finds it hard to manage the many orders. Luckily his coworkers like him.

Simone becomes overconfident with his new success and starts taking advantage of Rocco. Rocco delivers a message to the gym manager telling him that Simone will be gone for the next two days. The boxing manager talks to Rocco about Simone saying he needs more practice despite his talent. The manager tells Rocco to stay with Simone to keep him away from certain people at the training center. He tells Rocco morals make a good athlete possibly hinting at his relationship with Nadia. He says he should avoid alcohol, women and cigarettes. Simone promises to take Nadia to the Bellagio Hotel before the year is over. It is expensive and she is testing how much she can squeeze from Rocco.

Simone goes back to the dry cleaner to return a shirt he borrowed without asking which angers the woman there. She argues with him and they kiss. Simone and Rocco talk and Rocco tells him that the jewelry from the boss at the dry cleaner went missing. Everyone there suspects Rocco stole it when Simone was responsible. He pretends to be unaware. Nadia picks up Rocco in her car and tells him she knows Vicenzo. She shows him a decoration and tells him Simone said he bought it, but she tells him he stole it. She feels Rocco's body and tells him he is warm. She says she won't see Simone anymore and says to tell him not to look for her. When Rocco goes home he tells his brothers he saw the boss and not Nadia. He keeps their encounter a secret to see how things will develop. He tells Simone that Nadia left him.

Rocco decides to join the army after getting a pink slip at his job. Rosaria writes to Rocco telling him Vicenzo and Ginetta have married due to his accident. Ciro left his job to work at Alfa Romeo. He meets Nadia in the street by chance and says she will treat him to a coffee. She tells him she went to jail and he is surprised but tells her he knew someone who went as well. He tells her he wants stability in his life - a house, a car and food. She tells him her life hasn't been ideal but he counters that if she believes it will be better it will come. He is an idealist happy with the bare necessities as long as it's honest. Rocco returns home to see his excited mother. He tells her he is disappointed to not see Ciro. Rosaria tells Rocco she doesn't want to see Gianetta because there are still problems between both families. Thankfully she says Vicenzo visits her a lot.

Simone starts to have problems at the gym with his coach about his performance. It is suffering because he doesn't take it seriously. Cerri is angry he took on country people and sees them as lazy and not serious. He sees Simone and Rocco boxing and Simone has new life breathed into him. Cerri watches Rocco fight and likes what he sees. Rocco begins dating Nadia seriously as time progresses.

At the fight Simone is not in good shape. He threatens to throw in the towel and the coach tells him to not be a coward. He begs to end the fight and they forfeit. Cerri tells Rocco he must take over Simone's spot as Simone fooled everyone concerning his potential. As they heal Simone one of the men reveal to Simone that Rocco has been seeing Nadia. She has quit her old profession and is now going to stenography school. Simone's friends tell him they saw Nadia with Rocco by the river. They run there and Simone sees the two kissing. They argue and Simone asks why does Rocco have to see someone he used to be with. Rocco tells him that he Simone hasn't seen her in two years. Simone calls for his friends to come over and demands an apology from Rocco. He asks why and Simone slaps him. Simone grabs Nadia while his friends hold Rocco back and Simone rapes her in front of Rocco. He can't do anything to stop him. She leaves and Simone beats him shortly. He threatens to continue fighting him at home. They fight and he leaves Rocco bloody on the street.

Rocco goes to Vicenzo's house. He tells him nothing happened and asks if he can stay there. When he meets Nadia again she says she feels defiled and truer to her old profession after the cruelty Simone dealt her. Rocco says only she can help him. Nadia says Rocco will regret his decision. She goes to Simone and goes through the motions to appease Rocco. She reveals this to Simone who is shocked from the previous night to understand. Nadia tells Simone he will never go back to him. He kisses her but she is lifeless.

Now Rocco is Cerri's new prizefighter. He teaches him tricks how to fake out the opposing boxer. Rocco wins. He tells Ciro he won because of all the hatred building up inside of him. Ciro meets with his girlfriend and the father takes a liking to him. His mother now lives with Simone's girlfriend. She says she regrets bringing her sons to the city in hopes they would be rich but instead following in their father's footsteps. She is most angry that her son Simone is dating a prostitute now. Ciro fears that young Luca will become like Simone. Rocco tells Ciro Simone didn't change he is demoralized because his self-esteem is shattered.

Later a man tells Luca outside the Principe Teatro to tell Simone he will be waiting for him in the bar. He meets him and asks why he isn't boxing. He tells him he needs money. The man talks to him in the dark with his face unseen. It shows this man is channeling Simone and telling him what he really wants to hear - the voice from inside. He tells Simone he is finished as a boxer and as a man he is a wreck. The man calls him disgusting. They fight and he beats Simone.

At Rosaria's house they have an arrest warrant for Simone. Rocco goes with the police to see why they are after Simone. Rosaria asks his girlfriend why they are looking for him. She calls him a delinquent. Rosaria says she has no right insulting others considering her profession and that she is to be embarrassed to look out the window with her around. She tells her she has ruined Rocco and once she leaves he will return to his virtuous ways.

Later we see a man who says Simone owes him 400,000 lire. Rocco says he will get the money. He says to ask Cerri to be a guaranter of the money. He can pay for Simone's legal troubles as Cerri promised him a 10 year contract. Simone can no longer handle his defeat as he doesn't box anymore. He can't even watch others fight because that could be him up there. On top of that his brother Rocco has the big fight that day.

Simone finds Nadia after a tip off at a bar. He tells her they can start a new life together. She says that's impossible so he grabs her. She flees afraid and tells him he is disgusting and that she is going to jail. She walks away only to have him pull out a knife tailing her. She welcomes him and he stabs her killing her. He cleans his hands in the dirty river unable to wash his sin away. Later we see Rocco wins the fight. They celebrate with a huge feast after Rocco's victory. The whole neighborhood comes into their home dining and wining. Vicenzo makes a toast. Rocco pledges one day he will go back to the country. Rocco says, "Remember, Luca, that our country is the land of the olive trees. Of moonshine and rainbows."

Simone comes to the house unable to look at his mother. He say she needs to talk to Rocco alone. Simone tells Rocco he killed Nadia is self defense. He confesses to killing her. Rocco cries uncontrollably. Rosaria says it's jealousy that drove him to this. Ciro says to report him. Rocco doesn't want to report him but Ciro leaves to do just that. The next day Luca tells Ciro he reported Simone. Ciro still idealistic feels he could have reached Simone to save him.

Fritz Lang: M

2010-08-20T02:16:00.000-07:00

Director - Fritz Lang
Writer - Fritz Lang and Thea Von Harbou

Cast Character

Peter Lorre ... Hans Beckert
Ellen Widman ... Frau Beckman
Ing Landgut ... Elsie Beckman
Otto Wernicke ... Kommissar Lohmann
Theodor Loos ... Kommissar Groeber

M begins with a circle of children playing a game warning of a nasty old man in black who will come to chop them up. A woman yells at them from the balcony to stop singing that song. A little girl plays with a ball on the street and bounces it on a reward sign of the murder of Klaus Klawitzky and his sister Klara. A shadow emerges on the poster asking the girl what her name is - she says Elsie Beckman. He buys her a balloon of a figure meanwhile her mother calls to her outside her apartment. A rolling ball outside and balloon stuck in the power lines shows her fate after meeting the mysterious stranger.

Newspapers explode with the headline news. The killer writes to the newspapers telling them his plan is not finished and is still in progress. The man has killed 8 children. At the table men read about the story. They read about how the killer lures them in with fruit, candy or a toy and that he has left no clues. Tensions fly as one man accuses another of being the murderer. Everyone is suspicious of anyone talking to children on the street. A great shot of two men arguing has the bigger one accusing the smaller one is accompanied with a low angle shot of the bigger man making him look powerful and a high angle shot of the shorter man making him look smaller and submissive.

The murderer's article is shown on the front page. Two politicians argue whether his article should even be shown causing fear for the citizens. They try take to fingerprints but are unsuccessful. They blow up the fingerprint bringing in a graphologist to examine it. Looking at his handwriting they see his broken letters determining he has an actor's personality and he has a strong and pathological sexuality. They do a primitive form of handwriting analysis. They find empty candy wrappings and setup a radius to investigate the serial killer. They search everywhere proving their investigation fruitless. Police search the forest and cheap hotels and check identities of vagrants. Police investigations prove bad business for bars as customers flee. The police demand to see their papers. Anyone without papers goes to police headquarters. The police apprehend a multitude of guns, brass knuckles, flasks, watches, burglar drills and wallets from people in the bar. Everyone is a suspect. Even the criminals are angry as it proves a detriment for business with police looking everywhere for the killer. There is an interesting shot as the camera dollies in to a heated discussion of the killer to build tension and dollies out once the tension subsides. Once rational conversation takes over the camera is at rest.

They wait for Shranker the head criminal. He tells them the killer is bringing too much heat on other criminals causing problems for business. Police talk and suggest having more raids and implementing spies among the police force. They are concerned that people are largely indifferent outside the hype of the story because there is no accuracy in their details. They plan to visit every asylum that houses criminals with his condition. They conclude the killer must be a beggar as they are the least suspected and can be anywhere without anyone paying notice.

The police desperation heightens as they hire unemployed union workers to patrol certain streets. They obtain a list of all mental patients who have been recently released. One police officer goes into a possible suspect's home to try to get a writing sample or pen that had the same color the killer used. A great shot has Hans Beckert, the killer, looking in the window of a storefront with the reflection of a fractured diamond around his face. This shows his fractured state of mind. He sees a little girl in the reflection of a diamond mirror and almost faints. When she is near another storefront window there is a clever dropping arrow and spinning circle Fritz Lang employs to hint at sexual penetration.

When the girl is away and safe Hans Beckert drinks to take his mind off his compulsions. The detectives find things in his trash bin of no use other than a letter to Ariston which rings a bell for one of them. The killer constantly whistles a tune which the blind balloon seller recognizes. A man sees the killer in the store with a kid. He marks M on hishand with chalk and presses it on the killer's back complaining about littering. The M in the story is ambiguous but it most likely is short for mark, murderer or molester. The girl points out the mark which she cleans. This terrifies him and he runs off. He is now surrounded by three people on the street but escapes to an alley.

Hans Beckert escapes to an office building outside. A man pulls out a gun and demands the guard open the gate and 15 men rush in the building. A guard is jumped and men investigate the building to find the murderer. They try to get in one room but avoid it so to not set off the alarm. Instead they drill a hole from the ceiling above to get in. Behind one door is Hans Beckert and one of the men hears him as he tries to flatten a nails to use as a lock pick to escape. It's amazing how throughout the whole film Hans Beckert says almost nothing yet his body language by actor Peter Lorre is so expressive. When he hears the henchmen outside his door he is shocked. They eventually come in the room.

News comes as the guard hits the alarm and the henchmen hurry their search to find Hans. They spot him and carry him out the building. They question the guards and the last henchman who was caught. In a flashback sequence the inspector incorrectly concludes they were after the safe. Nothing is stolen.Franz asks Karl Lohmann what the murder squad is for fearing for his life. Franz says he doesn't want to be part of a murder investigation but the inspector says it is too late. Franz reveals they were looking for the child murderer and the inspector loses thought. When asked Franz tells the inspector they took him to an abandoned distillery.

The mob throws Hans into a cellar and in a wide pan shot 200 people look at him. The blind man acutely hears his voice, recognized it and says their is no mistake. When shows the pictures of the dead children he panics and tries to escape. They get him and the mob wants him dead. He demands to go to the police instead but the mob laughs. The head in charge says for him to go to a jail would be useless as he would be pardoned or escape. Hans says he can't help what he does. He tells the mob of criminals they should learn a trade or skill and that he can't help himself. He has no control over what he does. He says he tries to escape himself only to see the ghosts of those he has killed.

The head in charge says because Hans has to murder he himself must be executed. The mob agrees. The lawyer argues that Hans should be put in an asylum. He argues Hans isn't guilty because his compulsions are not voluntary. The lawyer keeps arguing for him to be handed over the police. They rush to Hans until off camera a police enters and everyone raises their hands. The ending has women lamenting no matter the verdict it won't bring their dead children back.

Takeshi Kitano: Kid's Return

2010-08-18T23:27:00.000-07:00

Director/Writer - Takeshi Kitano

Cast Character
Ken Kaneko ... Masaru
Masanobu Ando ... Shinji
Leo Morimoto ... Teacher
Hatsuo Yamaya ... Boxing Club Manager
Michisuke Kashiwaya ... Hiroshi

Kid's Return begins with two high-school students performing a manzai comedy act. It is the central hobby of both characters Masaru and Shinji. Shinji delivers goods to a house and meets up with his friend, Masaru, who is looking for a job. He tells Masaru he is not still taking boxing lessons. They are both aimless and want to enjoy their youth without any responsibilities. Instead they want to live their youth through each other. Masaru offers him a ride through the city. Instead of going to history class they ride their bike in the quad. On the roof they make a man out of materials with a paper drawing of the teacher's face and a flashlight as a penis and two ping pong balls as the testicles. They hang it outside and the window and wiggle the ropes controlling the fake flashlight penis making everyone snicker inside the classroom. The teacher sees it and catches the constructed man.

At the cafe they talk of trying to be stand up comedians. When they return to school Masaru shakedowns two scared students for their money telling one to empty his socks. He seems to have gone through this before to hide it there. Shinji watches but doesn't participate. The two are unlikely friends and Masaru is the cocky extrovert and Shinji is the loyal introvert. At the cafe a shy student, Reiki, leaves a love letter for the waitress and as Shinji and Masaru leave Masaru takes the letter. They read the letter while biking and laugh at Reiki's love confession to Sachiko.

As they get in trouble for throwing a dart to a kid's head in class the office workers and principal tell them they don't need to be good students and they don't even need to come to class. They just ask them to leave other students alone. One teacher comes in to park his car and tells them they should have been expelled a long time ago. Later he finds his car torched in a pan shot starting from the students watching on the staircase to the sad teacher's sad defeat by his car. When kids don't have money that they can take from them Masaru punches one and tells him to get a job.

At the office again Shinji and Masaru are accused of setting the teacher's car on fire. They decide as the two are too stupid to fall in with the Yakuza they should become comedians. Surprisingly they take his advice and practice comedy routines. The two go to an adult video store and are told to leave. They return with painted mustaches, different accents and changed shirts with makeshift ties trying their luck again. Tired of listening to their routines the store clerk gives them two movie tickets to make them go away.

Masaru tries to shakedown two students again and their hired guard punches him knocking him to the ground. Without Masaru the next day at school it is Shinji who is bullied. They go to a boxing ring to join and practice. At the adult video store other students dress in pathetic disguises with drawn ties, glasses and cheap suits to pretend to be older executives. The woman sells them the tickets and when they are gone complains how stupid they are. When they return to the restaurant Masaru sees the Yakuza boss and tells him thanks for the food from the other day. The boss tries to buy them cigarettes and alcohol but they tell him they can't have it since they must be healthy to box. Masaru decides his boxing name will be "Dynamite Punch." He tells the boxing president he wants a true fight and one kid offers to take him on only because they hate each other. Masaru fights dirty and beats the kid. He wants Shinji as a boxing partner. When they fight Shinji shows to be a better boxer consistently beating Masaru.

Shinji and Masaru become estranged as Shinji excels at boxing and Masaru quits school and joins the Yakuza. At the cafe Sachiko listens to the persistent Reiki who flirts with her and tells about his financial job he will have soon. Shinji at the cafe sees Masaru walk in with the Yakuza and sees that he is now a guard. Shinji watches the boxing match of one his fellow boxers from the club. Shinji wins his first fight and becomes one of the best boxers in the gym beating everyone. Another boxer leaves the gym and tells Shinji when he becomes a boss and Shinji becomes a champion boxer they will meet again. One of the coaches tries to convince Shinji to cheat at boxing. He tells him he can put metal in his pants and later remove them when weighed to convince the club president he has lost weight so he can still drink beer.

Reiki finds he cannot handle the business world as it is too cutthroat for him. He decides to be a taxi driver instead barely making enough money survive. The club president tells Shinji his friend Hayashi isn't respectable and he shouldn't drink as it affects his performance. Hayashi gives Shinji some pills to lose weight. Shinji's performance suffers and his coach yells at him for softening up after a poor jog. Shinji doesn't do well in the fight so his coaches throw in the towel to forfeit the fight and Shinji loses. Shinji and Masaru reunite and Masaru tells him nothing has changed. Shinji asks if their fate is sealed and Masaru tells him it hasn't begun.

Raoul Walsh: The Roaring Twenties

2010-08-02T14:22:00.000-07:00

Director: Raoul Walsh
Writers: Jerry Wald & Richard Macaulay

Cast Character
James Cagney Eddie Bartlett
Priscilla Lane Jean Sherman
Humphrey Bogart George Hally
Gladys George Panama Smith
Jeffrey Lynn Lloyd Hart
The Roaring Twenties begins in World War I in the trenches during 1918. Eddie Bartlett (James Cagney) and George Hally (Bogart) are comrades. George calls Lloyd scared of the gunfire behind enemy lines but Eddie defends him saying they are using real guns not water pistols. At the base they receive letters from home. George is angry he gets a picture from an ugly girl and Eddie is happy he gets one from an attractive girl. They talk about what they will do after the war. George says he will be in the saloon business but prohibition will set in next year. Eddie wants to go back into the taxi cab business. After the armistice America focuses on the length of women's skirts, their short hair, the cost of living and prohibition.

Eddie tries to get his old job back at the cab place to no luck. No one after the war can get a job and employers don't care that they served in the war. To take his mind off this stress he visits Jean Sherman - a woman who wrote him letters in the war. He meets her and unfortunately she is only in high school which makes Lloyd laugh. When the Volstead Act takes place speakeasies spring up to fight prohibition. Now a cab driver Eddie is asked to deliver a package to a bar and is arrested not knowing that it is alcohol which he has. The woman Panama Smith is acquitted but Eddie is charged and sentenced to 60 days in jail. Panama says thanks and dismisses him. His friend Lloyd represents him but loses the case. Danny, his roommate, bails him out and Panama pays the fine.

She takes him to a speakeasy behind a store. The cops come in and out and cause no problems because of the bribes. She offers him work and he begins smuggling alcohol. Eddie starts making gin in his bathtub to avoid being fleeced. Problems arise when supply cannot meet demand. Eddie makes enough money to launder into his cab business. He hires two ex-cons and not the other guy in the group who was in jail because he says he was framed. He funnily only wants dishonest criminals who fit the job description and have pride in their work. He goes to collect money from a theater director and notices Jean Sherman. Now older and wiser she tries to avoid him. After some coaxing he takes a ride with her and walks her home not pushing his luck.

He introduces Jean to a bar owner so she has a job where she can sing at. She auditions and the two aren't wowed. With some convincing he gets her the job paying the difference in her salary to make her feel special. He shows her his bootlegging operation and the way they fake certain alcohols driving the price up. Jean sings show-tunes at the bar Eddie is at and he is enamored. He gives her some jewelry but she is dumbfounded. Eddie is afraid she doesn't want to be too serious because of the line of work he is in.

Later Eddie gets a ship pretending to be a coastguard while he tries to pirate a ship with alcohol. He comes in contact with is old friend George Hally. He robs George's ship but thankfully it isn't George's booze. George warns Eddie of Nick Brown who the booze belongs to. George says he knows the suppliers and because Eddie knows how to peddle it they should join. Eddie gladly accepts. As bootlegging increases so does crime and violence inevitably. Along with this the invention of the tommy-gun brings the era of drive by shootings.

George and Eddie head to the suppliers knocking out the guards on the way. They load the trucks with booze and the night watchman takes over the shift. George knocks him down realizing it was is old sergeant who mistreated them. George kills him. Back at the bar Lloyd and Panama talk and she sees he notices Jean who he likes. At the club George tells Eddie that Lloyd is going to move in on his girl. Lloyd and Eddie listen to the radio in Jean's room and they hear the news report of the liquor storage facility being robbed. Lloyd asks about Pete Jones on the radio who was killed. He was their sergeant and Lloyd doesn't like all this heat on them. After an attempted assassination on Eddie they knock the guy out and throw him out the club.

Eddie and his crew open a new spot called the Panama Club. George tells one of the henchmen he is tired of being a stooge. Jean says to Lloyd she will tell Eddie about their relationship. Danny, Eddie's roommate, is killed and is left with a note hinting that the man he robbed, Nick Brown, was behind it. Tired of being lackey George warns Nick Brown that Eddie is going to pay him a visit. In the restaurant the nervous customers give away the setup and a following shootout ensues. Nick Brown dies. Upon returning home Eddie warns George if he finds out he was in on it he will kill him. Panama tells Eddie that Jean has been having an affair with Lloyd. Jean quits the place. Once he sees the two on the street he hits Lloyd then leaves them alone accepting his loss.

The stock market crash follows. Eddie's business suffers and needs money to save his company so George plays hardball and buys his taxi company for $250,000. Businesses close and people lose everything. Roosevelt is elected ending prohibition. Eddie goes back to being a cab driver and picks up Jean who notices him. He is not interested in her stories about Lloyd and their child after losing everything. Two men later come to Jean's home threatening her about Lloyd's investigation. Knowing that George is behind it she rushes to Eddie to try to fix it. She finds him at the Panama Club and pleads with him. Eddie finally considers.

Spoilers

Eddie visits George and pleads him not to kill Lloyd as he and Jean have a kid. George says he would be doing Eddie a favor with all that Jean has put him through and says no. He says his associates will accompany him home permanently. Eddie turns the table and kills George. Running out Eddie is shot. He stumbles and dies on the steps of the church. He dies in the way he wanted the least ... humbly.

Akira Kurosawa: High and Low

2010-08-01T19:03:00.000-07:00

Director - Akira Kurosawa

Writers - Ideo Oguni (screenplay) &

Ryûzô Kikushima (screenplay)

Cast Character

Toshiro Mifune ... Gondo

Kyogo Kagawa ... Gondo's wife

Tatsuya Mihashi

... secretary Kawanishi

Yutaka Sada

... Aoki (chauffeur)

Kenjiro Ishiyama ... Taguchi (inspector)

Tsutoma Yamazaki ...

the kidnapper

Takashi Shimura ... police commissary

An executive of a shoe company becomes a victim of extortion when his chauffeur's son is kidnapped and held for ransom. - IMDB

The film High and Low begins with National Shoes company trying to make a deal. They go through strategies on how to market shoes from durability, price and fashion. One man argues the seller's shoes are too durable which prevent repeat business making a financial loss for the company. The boss owns half the company and they are afraid of what will happen to their position. They don't have enough of a percentage of stocks to take over.

They try to persuade Gondo to join them so they have 34% of the company. Baba says he will take over since he orchestrated the plan to force out the former boss if everything goes accordingly. Kingo Gondo complains about the buyers shoddy shoes and that although the boss is old fashioned he makes high quality shoes. When Gondo refuses to join their scheme the other man threatens to join the boss and vote him out. Baba tempts Kawanishi, Gondo's assistant, to help them and they will make him a director. Kingo Gondo coaches his son how to play to win and his wife tells him - referring to the business deal - "Success isn't worth losing your humanity."

Aoki, Gondo's chauffeur, looks for his boy Shinichi who has disappeared. Gondo receives a phone call from a kidnapper saying his boy has been kidnapped in exchanged for 30 million Yen. They see their son Jun in the house and he hasn't been kidnapped. It was Aoki's son who was. After the detectives record the phone call Gondo tells them this is not just about losing his money, the kidnapper wants to humiliate him since he has such a high executive position. In Japan everything is about saving face so humiliating someone is the worst social thing one can do. His wife, Reiki, tries to reason with Gondo saying he was willing to pay for his son's safety so why can't he pay for the chauffeur's?

Considering the fact that Gondo has mortgaged everything and used all the money he has to buy more stocks in the company he is truly trapped. To further this tension they are stuck in the house giving a claustrophobic, tight tension throughout. As the kidnapper calls in he keeps the phone calls short to avoid being traced to his location. Gondo decides not to pay the money as his whole life's work is too important to lose. His wife pleads but tells her she is spoiled and knows nothing of true poverty.

Gondo wants to go ahead and buy out the company but Kawanishi can't advise him to. He says if he goes ahead with the deal the public will hate him for buying the company and sacrificing a child causing no one to want to buy his shoes. Kawanishi wanted him to pay the ransom to force him out of the company. Everyone tries to play guilt trips on this man when acquiring power is at stake. Kawanishi admits to planning with the three other buyers. Detective Nakao says Gondo doesn't have to pay as it is his livelihood after all. He does ask him to bluff so they at least have the kidnapper's location when they meet.

The kidnapper calls and tells him to open the drapes. The detectives hide flat on the ground. He asks Gondo if he is up to anything suspicious. He keeps the calls short and to the point to avoid being traced. They listen to the taped call and hear a coin drop determining it must be a payphone.

On the train Gondo receives a phone call telling him to throw the two briefcases of money out the window before they stop to Atami. They find Shinichi at the stop. For once in the story the detectives have compassion for Gondo seeing he sacrificed control of the company and 30,000,000 Yen for the chauffeur's boy. As the kidnapper listens to the radio and reads the newspaper about the case he grows angry as people show sympathy for Gondo's incredible sacrifice. The kidnapper grows even more jealous because of Gondo's talent, wealth and personal character. The title High and Low is appropriate given its associations with heaven and hell, success and poverty, comfort and despair. Everyone sees Gondo's house on the hill and his success is a part for all to see.

After a lengthy meeting narrowing down payphone locations and paint samples of the stolen car they narrowed down six stolen vehicles - one that has a gray color like the paint scratch left at the scene. They have the license plate number and a possible lead. They also compile a list of money with the serial numbers given out. One detective says he saw a man with a boy in his car sleeping heading to Fujisawa. Chief Detective Toguchi feels the executives were behind the kidnapping to force Gondo out and take control of the company.

When one of the detectives listens to the tapes again they hear a trolley and show it to the employees who work there who point out where it is. It is on the Enoshima Line. Aoki has Shinichi now and drives him around to see if he remembers the location of where he was taken. He does with luck and the detectives meet with them before entering the house. The two accomplices are dead from heroin overdose. Detective Nakao rules that is was homicide due to the unusually high purity.

Back at Gondo's apartment they see a pink smoke in the distance and Chief Detective Taguchi rushes to the garbage dump and questions the man working there. He tells him a man brought a box to be burned. They trace the man from the worker's assertion that the guy works in Internal Medicine. There they see a man with a cut on his hand - the same that little Shinichi drew.

The detectives forge a letter from his accomplices demanding more drugs or else they will call the police. This will lead the detective to arrest him for a more serious crime than kidnapping. They tail him as he buys a red carnation as a sign for the drug dealer. As they dance they cleverly hold hands to exchange money and dope. He goes to a slum and picks up a junkie and takes her to a small inn. He uses her desperation to test the drug on her which she dies. The suspect notices Gondo looking at shoes in a storefront window. When Takeuchi, the kidnapper, returns home the detectives ambush him. They arrest him and seize almost all the money he stole before.

In the newspaper it says Takeuchi will get the death penalty. In jail he requests to talk to Gondo. They talk and Gondo tells him he's working in a small shoe company to rival National Shoes. He tells Gondo his small room was so hot in the summer and so cold in the winter and looking up at Gondo's house looked like heaven. He tells Gondo he hates him for this. He tells Gondo his life from the beginning has been hell. In the two sided window we see reflections of each other behind each character. What can be interpreted by this is that inside Gondo is a peasant afraid to be poor which drives him to be rich. Inside Takeuchi is a man desperate using whatever threats to be powerful and placed behind him is a man brought down to fear who has nothing to fear.

Ingmar Bergman: Persona

2010-07-29T13:48:00.000-07:00

Persona begins with an assault to the senses of a film reel lighting up to the backdrop of a light bulb coming alive. A spider tortures the screen hinting at the conception that is witnessed in Bergman's Through a Glass Darkly. Images rape the senses as we see hands nailed to a plank of wood in agony. Bergman like no other director knows staging and movement as he was a theatre director before moving to film-making. His films deal with spiritual longing, abandonment, tense relationships between individuals and family dynamics. Most of all he deals with people having the inability to communicate with one another. No other director can so strikingly show the naked soul in his trademark close-ups of the face - something that is also seen in the flawless film The Passion of Joan of Arc by Carl Theodor Dreyer.

Persona begins with two dead people starkly contrasted with white backgrounds and shadowed skin. The story begins as Elisabeth Vogler becomes silent during a play she was performing in. Alma determines she is fine mentally and physically. The nurse introduces herself to Elisabeth smitten by her fame. She tells her she became a nurse two years ago which Elisabeth is indifferent to.

Alma refutes her silence as illness but rather as strength as it takes discipline. Alma plays the radio for Elisabeth trying to cheer her up to no avail. Alma tells the doctor, played by Margaretha Cook, she feels she is not experienced enough to take care of her. Alma turns on the radio to a broadcast of a woman speaking about compassion which brings Elisabeth to laughter. As Elisabeth listens to the new classical station it relieves her because of the association to her job as an actress and the eroticism it evokes.

Elisabeth paces the room listening to a news program on TV about the Vietnam War. She sees the images of the monk burning himself on the street which terrifies her. It is her first notable emotions for the first time. She can hardly breathe. Alma read a personal letter from someone to Elisabeth. She grows more curious about her throughout her stay. Elisabeth takes the photo of her son and tears it apart.

The doctor tells Elisabeth she thinks she and sister Alma should leave the hospital to join her at her house. She tells Elisabeth she understands her constant struggle with being and not seeming. As an actress she plays many roles and starts to question her identity and worth. Her blanking out at the theater performance adds to her anxiety and silence. Is she herself or just words from a script? Are her emotions her own or do they belong to her character? The doctor goes on to tell her, "Every tone of voice a lie, every gesture a falsehood, every smile a grimace." The doctor tells her she falls on silence as to not be a lie - to for once be herself.

One part of the film where Alma talks about her disappointing marriage and its inevitable pain - her identity starts to converge with that of Elisabeth. She takes on a role and becomes a part in her own theater in her mind concerning her life. She speaks constantly and constantly of her husband Karl-Henrik. She tells Elisabeth a story about her and a friend sunbathing nude on the beach. Two young men watch them but they pretend not to notice. They come in closer to watch them. Katarina calls him closer and lets him make love to her. He does the same to Alma. When Karl-Henrik returns she tells Elisabeth it's not as good as before and hasn't since been. She is guilt ridden for cheating.

Elisabeth finds Alma's pain and vulnerability attractive and comforts her. When Elisabeth first speaks she tells Alma should go to sleep or else she will fall asleep at the table. Her voice is soft and reassuring. As Alma sleeps Elisabeth enters the room and their identities have seem to have switched. Elisabeth is now the caretaker of Alma's sensitive stories and fragile state of mind. Her talkativeness highlights her loneliness and a need to feel connected to someone.

Alma takes Elisabeth's mail to deliver and sees one addressed to Karl-Henrik. Alma reads it seeing that Elisabeth is enjoying her life in silence. She tells Karl-Henrik private things about Alma such as her infatuation with the actress and her orgy at the beach. She says she is an interesting study for her. Alma is nothing short of shocked. Alma accidentally breaks a glass and leaves it on the ground so that she can step on it. She becomes jealous of Elisabeth and is angry towards her indifference. For an Ingmar Bergman film it is unique that he interjects some surrealistic intercuts in the beginning and middle showing the fractured states of minds both women are having. They begin trading identities of sorts and power is shifting as trust is given away. Illusion and insanity set in in an out of focus shot. It is becoming clear Elisabeth's silence is one of rejection of the outside world. The pressures, stress and unfulfilled life make it that her own little bubble is tolerable. She is in self-induced exile.

Alma's neediness turns Elisabeth off as she constantly needs attention and interaction. Elisabeth begins to play this in her favor. Elisabeth is shocked when Alma tells her she read the letter. Elisabeth's narcissism takes Alma's anger as a compliment - one that stems from admiration and fandom. Her loneliness is terrifying and the motivation to dissipate it are even more haunting. In her dream she sees Karl-Henrik. He mistakes Elisabeth for Alma - showing her sense of low self worth. Elisabeth is also in her dream so she can witness Alma's hardship and hopefully build a connection to her. She wants Elisabeth and her both to have enough hardship to feel similar and therefore bond but this doesn't bode well for Elisabeth. Alma takes on Elisabeth's identity in the dream and asks to be discarded as she is just lies and imitation.

Alma recounts Elisabeth's time when someone says to her, "Elisabeth you virtually have it all in your armory as a woman and artist. But you lack motherliness." Alma tells her she thought about this. Elisabeth regrets being tied down by a son, the responsibility and the burden of leaving the theater.

Alma inhabits Elisabeth's soul to understand her and is no longer afraid or mystified. She has come full circle. She subjects herself to unimaginable pain because suffering is weakness leaving the body. Alma makes her say the word, "nothing" to accept her version of reality. The ending shows a boy touching the movie screen trying to know who this mysterious women really is. Can she be anything other than a role?

Buster Keaton: Sherlock Jr.

2010-06-14T11:23:00.000-07:00

Director - Buster Keaton
Writers - Jean C. Havez & Joseph A. Mitchell

Cast Character

Buster Keaton ... The Boy/Sherlock Jr.
Kathryn McGuire ... The Girl
Ward Crane ... The Villain
Joseph Keaton ... The Girls’ Father
Erwin Connelly ... Handyman/Thief
Ford West ... Theater Manger/Gillette

A movie projectionist and janitor (Buster Keaton) who is studying to become a detective is in love with a beautiful girl (Kathryn McGuire). On a date he presents her with chocolates and an engagement ring. However, there is another man who's also interested in his girl (Ward Crane).

One day he is accused of stealing his girlfriend's father's watch. He falls asleep on the job and dreams that he is a Sherlock Holmes-type detective, solving the case of who stole a valuable pearl necklace. - Wikipedia

Buster Keaton like no other director is a master or improbability, chance, surrealism and ingenious naivety. He is socially awkward and obsessively inventive. His small stature is no match for his determination and heart which are beating hard underneath his cool exterior. One always asks what is he thinking? He makes use of his calm demeanor in the toughest of situations and never looses his cool. He always thinks things out first before coming up with his wildly illogical and unpredictable solutions and inventions to solve the simplest of tasks. One movie that illustrates this is in his film The Boat when there is a hole in the ship and in his logic drills a hole in the side of the ship so the water can goes from one hole to the other. This makes sense in his completely rational mind but of course the ship leaks with water even more causing it to drown. This is one example why Buster Keaton is so funny. Other aspects include his use of vaudeville passed on from his parents as a tumbler which he worked for when he was young. He could take any fall and did all his own stunts and even broke his own neck in this film to which he found out much later in his career. The surrealist aspects which add to his absurd humor include painting a coat hanger on the wall to hang his jacket on. What is best about him is that he played working class characters that never resorted to cheating others to get ahead. He always had a decency about him in accomplishing his goals. He is funny because he takes things so literally oblivious to social clues and has an illogical way of viewing and figuring out things. He was ahead of his time and is still ahead of today's comedians. He never short changes himself on cheap gags and knows pacing, timing and how to build up a joke to hit the appropriate nerve to make you laugh.

Sherlock Jr. is his most surrealist film to date combining dreams, cinema and detective work. Being a detective at least in the movies is one of the most exciting professions there is. Buster's character of The Boy/Sherlock Jr. works in a cinema wanting to make his life of movies and fantasy a reality.

The film begins with the caption, "There is an old proverb which says: Don't try to do two things at once and expect to do justice to both." Our hero the projectionist tries to do both. He works at a movie theater while he studies to be a detective. He reads his How to be a Detective book with great interest. On his break the projectionist goes to the chocolate store looking for some treats to give to his girlfriend played by Kathyrn McGuire.

He sweeps the trash and finds a piece of trash stuck to his hand. The only way he can get it off is by putting it on the ground so someone can step on it. He finds a dollar now being able to afford that chocolate only to have a girl come to say she lost it. He tells her to describe it with the girl looking over his shoulder to see the eagle. She then describes to his request one of the most famous pieces of paper one can ever see and the projectionist gives it to her. Another woman says she lost a dollar and the projectionist, Buster Keaton, reluctantly gives her his own dollar. He appropriately takes her handkerchief to wipe off his tears now losing two dollars. Just to the projectionist's even further bad luck a tough looking man comes up and the projectionist gives him his dollar but the man refuses and looks in the trash to find a wallet full of cash. The projectionist goes crazy looking in the trash obsessively.

The projectionist uses his one dollar to buy a box of chocolates for the girl and changes the one on the box to a four so the gift looks more expensive being able to impress the girl. He meets her and they are both shy. He gives her the chocolates without ever changing his facial expression and flips the box so she can see the expensive price. Smooth. The villain played by Ward Crane enters and watches them later to steal Kathryn's father's watch.

The projectionist puts a ring on the girl's finger which she excitedly sees. When she looks at it she can't see the diamond so the projectionist pulls out his magnifying glass to show her. She tries to act thankful. The two touch hands nervously to have the villain come inside with a bigger box of chocolates taking her to another room. The villain gives the projectionist a banana and tells him to scram. The projectionist puts the banana peel on the ground and calls over the villain, trying to get him to slip on it which doesn't work. When he sees the villain touch his girlfriend he rushes back and slips on his own banana. Kathryn's father says someone stole his watch, so projectionist pulls out his trusty, "How to be a Detective" book. The villain gets worried so he plants the pawn receipt in the projectionist/Sherlock Jr.'s pocket. They see the pawn receipt and for the watch was four dollars and the price of his chocolates to the girl was the same - after he changed it. Now the villain has successfully framed him. The father kicks him out and the girl gives projectionist back his ring.

Sherlock Jr. now suspicious of the villain looks at his detective guide and sees Rule 5 - "Shadow your man closely." He does that literally. He walks one foot behind him ever so obvious. One great part is when the villain picks up a cigarette to smoke, takes a few drags and throws it behind him to have Sherlock Jr. catch it effortlessly and do the same. He even trips on cue with the villain. When the villain catches wind of Sherlock Jr. he locks him in the train car. Sherlock Jr. runs on the moving train cars, catches the water pipe from above and falls wet on the train tracks below. In real life Buster Keaton broke his neck and didn't find out until years later.

He goes back to his day job at the movie theater. The girl goes to the pawn shop and learns it was really the villain who sold the watch. Sherlock Jr. falls asleep and awakens from his body in a dream state. The next shot is clever because they overlapped two film negatives onto one another to give the illusion of Sherlock Jr. detaching from his body in his dream-state.

He watches the film and now he is transported as a character in a film within a film showing Buster Keaton's surrealist side. The two characters on screen become the villain and the girl. The dream Sherlock Jr. tries to wake up the sleeping Sherlock Jr. but it doesn't work. Sherlock Jr. rushes to the movie screen jumps into the movie once he sees the villain hold his girl's hand. The villain throws him out of the movie and into the audience.

Sherlock Jr. now interacts with a montage of images that put him in danger. As he tries to sit down the bench disappears to a new scene and he crashes on the floor to a new shot where cars almost hit him on the road. He goes from the edge of a cliff to a jungle with lions and dodging a train in the next shot. The camera dollies in and we enter in the film within the dream film of Sherlock Jr's mind. The father is missing some pearls and the villain and butler are working together. Here the villain is finally scared saying, "We are lost! He is sending for the world's greatest detective - Sherlock Jr.!" In our dreams we can be anything and no longer is the projectionist a meek worker - here is a grade A gumshoe.

The butler shows his secret weapon - exploding billiards balls and a latch under a seat to trigger a falling axe to kill Sherlock Jr. Enter in Sherlock Jr. dressing snappy and commanding the respect he so hungrily wants. People are awestruck by him in his dream state. He inspects each person with his sullen eyes. He tells the father not to bother explaining as this is an easy case for him. The butler tries to lure him to the trap chair but Sherlock Jr. straightens himself up. Sherlock Jr. avoids drinking the poisoned drink and trap chair and now begins playing billiards with the exploding ball. This now turns into a Clue like game. Sherlock Jr. begins hitting all the balls in except the explosive one adding to the absurdity. It's amazing to see how they shoot all the billiards balls in a way that the exploding ball is not once moved. Buster Keaton proves himself to be quite a pool player and most humorously misses the easiest shot making the cue ball sink in the pocket.

To the surprise of the villains the rigged ball doesn't explode. As the story progresses we see the caption: "By the next day the mastermind had completely solved the mystery - with the exception of locating the pearls and finding the thief." Gillette his assistant, a Watson type, helps him in his quest. The next shows Buster Keaton flirting with surrealism as he opens a safe door and enters outside in the daytime - when his previous scene is in the nighttime. Keaton is in love with absurdity and this is the fuel to his comedy. His characters are always sensibly illogical - their own worlds make sense to them with applicable laws and logic but not to the outside world.

He sees the villain and tails him again right behind him with no subtlety or restraint. The villain leaves his hat near a ladder upstairs to the roof to throw Sherlock Jr. off. Sherlock Jr. takes the bait and the villain locks him on the roof. Keaton shows his acrobatic skills as he grabs the train stop sign from the roof and using it to lower himself precisely as the villains car moves toward it landing him in the backseat. The timing is fluid and flawless. Sherlock Jr.now relaxes in the backseat cool and comfortable.

Sherlock Jr. finds a circular suitcase with a costume in it and places it on the window. The villain snatches Sherlock Jr. from outside and shows him a detective in a cage and threaten that when he is dead Sherlock Jr. will replace him. They tell him, "And now I'll tell you where our little sweetie is this minute!" We now see the henchmen bring in the girl to another location.

When the villain shows the pearls that were stolen earlier Sherlock Jr. grabs them, jumps through the window with the dress attached and seamlessly has it on him turning him incognito. As Sherlock Jr. walks away a man looks at the disgusted person's face and Sherlock Jr. makes a run for it. The next shots are something unexplainable in effects. This may be something Buster Keaton learned with his family in vaudeville. Sherlock Jr. sees a woman with a cart on her neck selling products - as she motions for him to come forward. He jumps into her chest and through the wall behind her without a camera cut.

As she walks away they inspect the wall and it turns revealing Sherlock Jr. who locks the wall in place trapping the men on the other side. Sherlock Jr. is now being chased on the highway and meets an undercover cop who helps him and lets him ride on the handlebars of his motorcycle. The undercover cop hits a bump and falls off to have Sherlock Jr. ride alone unaware. He weaves in and out of traffic saying to slow down but no one is driving the motorcycle. Adding to the ridiculousness his bike catches a tug-of-war competition and drags two men through the river. The next shot is superbly choreographed as Sherlock Jr. rides on a bridge to a missing chunk in the middle. Two trucks with flat tops ride through the missing area creating a floor so Sherlock Jr. can pass through. The last section of the bridge falls and has Sherlock Jr. land on the ground without special effects.

After dodging a train Sherlock Jr. looks behind him to be shocked no one is there. The butler who kidnapped her now gets fresh with her but our hero lands through the window kicking him to the ground. The car chase ensues and Sherlock Jr. throws the exploding 13 ball he saved to destroy the car behind him. He now lands in the water with his car that can float. He pulls up the convertible top to use as a sail and create his own sailboat. As he awakens he is back in the projector room in the movie theater. The girl visits him and tells him her father made a mistake about the stolen watch. They are both shy and Keaton looks to the hero on screen romancing the actress. He takes his cue and emulates him. He holds her and Sherlock Jr. holds the girl's hands. He looks to the character on screen and sees him put a ring on her finger to which Sherlock Jr. copies. Finally he sees the onscreen character give a kiss and he does the same. The next shot has the onscreen movie characters with a big family and Sherlock Jr. is finally confused.

Luis Buñuel: Belle de Jour

2010-06-06T20:03:00.000-07:00

Director - Luis Buñuel
Writers - Luis Buñuel (adaptation) and Joseph Kessel (novel)

Catherine Deneuve as Séverine Serizy, alias Belle de Jour
Jean Sorel as Pierre Serizy
Michel Piccoli as Henri Husson
Geneviè ve Page as Madame Anaïs
Pierre Clémenti as Marcel
Georges Marchal as Duke
Françoise Fabian as Charlotte
Macha Méril as Renée
Marguerite Muni as Pallas
Maria Latour as Mathilde

What is the real reason to go to a prostitute? The sex is the last reason one goes to see one. One goes to avoid responsibilities of a normal relationship, to escape into a fantasy world, to become something else. One can use aggression and say anything to her without recourse or second thought. There are no apologies, no compromise and no boundaries. One can exercise his most most unusual fetishes. One doesn't have to show intimacy or warmth. One doesn't ned to be anything other than a form of payment. He is the money and she is the drug. The drug is not sex, the drug is the fantasy of importance to satisfy one's ego and pride. Most importantly is the ability to get something without dealing with it and its after effects. The sex is irrelevant and useless - it's just the fantasy that matters, the escape. One can forget about the other once the act is finished.

Belle de Jour begins on the countryside with a horse and carriage riding through. The two are husband and wife Severine and Pierre. He tells her, "Can I tell you a secret, Severine?" I love you more each day." He tells her she feels this coldness from her and she backs off. He tells her he cares about her but she says, "What good is your care?" She apologizes. Pierre stops the carriage and tells her to get out. The carriage riders tell her to shut up and tie her up. Pierre rips her clothes off while the carriage riders whip her. Pierre then says they can have sex with her. She wakes up from her daydream escaping from her bored marriage to have her husband ask, "What are you thinking?" She tells him she dream of being in a horse and carriage. They exchange, "I love you's" and sleep in different beds.

We see another couple who is bored. The husband's name is Henri Husson, her name is Renee. They exchange pleasantries. Henri Husson notices two beautiful women and says, "Look at that. Two beautiful sights." Pierre replies, "Why do you say that? Do you know them? Is that all you are interested in?" Henri Husson says, "Yes everything else is useless. A lot of waste time." Renee tells Severine that Henriette is working at a whorehouse several times a week. Severine says that must be terrible. The taxi driver tells them things have changed and they aren't so bad like they used to be like that before the war.

Severine arrives at her house to find a dozen red roses waiting for her. She asks who sent them and the housekeeper says, "Husson." She accidentally breaks the vase of roses showing her disregard for romance anymore. She asks her husband, Pierre, if he went to whorehouses before he met her. He says not often. She is curious about them and ask if they still exist. He tells her now they are clandestine. She asks him what happens. He jokingly tells her,"You pick one girl, spend half an hour with her and are depressed the rest of the day."

She play tennis and encounters Husson again. She sees Henriette leaving. He tells her most women who are working girls do it for the money. She says she doesn't understand and is wrestling with her own feelings concerning this profession. Husson says he goes often and glamorizes the place as a sort of place of desires. He tells her one that is near the opera called Madame Anois. She goes to the address curious and sees a woman who is most likely a working girl go into the building. Severine is scared and leaves.

She goes to the park and watches some kids play to try to return some purity to herself. It is autumn and the leaves have fallen dead around her much like the way she feels. She has everything in her life - money, friends and a stable husband but is bored and emotionally comatose. She visits the brothel and talks to Madame Anais. She gets immediately to business and tells Severine she will split the money half and half. Severine tells her she can only work two to five fearing her husband will find out. She goes to his hospital where he works as a doctor and offers lunch for him to keep the appearance of a normal wife intact.

She meets Madame Anois again and tells Severine she must be polite and cheerful. She has to enjoy her work. Madame Anois tells her if she likes the name "Belle de Jour" which Severine says it's okay. She sees the first client with two girls and cannot believe the situation she has put herself in. The client funnily makes a toast with champagne and says, "To the person I care most about! Me!" Severine cannot warm up to the touch of her first client. Severine is already cold to the touch to begin with and prostitution certainly won't help.

She goes home to take a thorough shower, making herself presentable to her husband. She burns her underwear and bra out of shame. She sleeps and finds herself in another fantasy. Pierre eats soup with Henri Husson. Pierre asks if the bulls behind him have names. Husson says one bull's name is expiation and another is remorse. They put their heads down in shame - particularly Husson who introduced Severine to her new career. Next Severine is tied up and Husson berates her calling her a bitch and a slut. Husson throws mud on her while Pierre watches. She wears white showing Pierre's vision of her purity while wanting to sexually corrupt her.

Severine goes back to work for Madame Anais. Severine/Belle de Jour meets a professor who gets into character which confuses Severine. Madame Anais shows her a peephole so Severine can learn. Charlotte performs the role that the Professor looks for. They role-play him being the incompetent servant, her being the angry boss. This turns him on. Every person's fantasy however strange is unique to them. Severine/Belle de Jour is shocked and disgusted at the degradation that turns this client on. She doesn't have to understand it but her character she plays does.

Severine, now Belle de Jour, meets a man who she warms up to and begins to loosen up. After she performs and lies in bed she seems to have finally enjoyed herself. She meets a client, the Duke, at a cafe and rightfully assumes her new identity, Belle de Jour. He is high class which makes Belle de Jour comfortable being a socialite. He invites her to his house for a ceremony that is important to him. His servant presents her with black clothes. The Duke films her as she pretends to be dead in a coffin. He brings her flowers to relive seeing his wife again. The man uses her as a vessel to communicate his feelings for his dead wife. It is the only way to express love to someone who is no longer there. His servant however throws her out into the rain once everything is finished.

When she sees her husband again she finally has some enthusiasm for sex after all the strange people she has met. Her desire for intimacy returns. Husson visits her at her home and tells her maid to tell him she is not there. In the next fantasy scene Husson and his wife Renee meet Pierre and Severine. Severine and Husson make a deal as if no one is there. He gives her an envelope and they have sex under the table. Renee tells Pierre Husson is giving her an envelope under the table. Pierre is unaware if what his wife is doing.

A gangster, Marcel, robs a man with his partner Hyppolite. They take off and leave. Hyppolyte visits Madame Anais. Marcel chooses Belle de Jour. He becomes immediately obsessed with her. He interrogates her with questions. She likes him and says she won't charge him. He cockily says, "Many girls would love to be in your place." She warms up to him because he only wants normal sex.

Marcel calls Anais to see if Belle de Jour is there. When she sees Marcel it is the first time she is happy in the film. He is immediately jealous knowing she has left for a few days. He should know you can never possess someone especially a prostitute. She confesses she loves her husband but still sleeps with him - it works well for her husband because her happier mood makes him think he is a result of it.

Husson comes to the brothel and sees Severine to her embarrassment and shock. He has found her out. She refuses to sleep with him being her husband's friend but is forced to by Madame Anais. She says she cannot resist what she does, she cannot live without it. He says he was attracted to her virtue. He says he can introduce some friends of his to her to humiliate her and chooses not to have sex with her. Never has she felt so naked now that a real threat is around her.

The next fantasy scene has two groups of carriages - among them is Pierre. They load guns, take paces back to back and draw fire on one another. Severine is tied up to a tree. Pierre rescues her and found she is shot. She needs her husband now more than ever to make things right. Severine chooses to leave her job. Marcel goes to Severine's house making her angry. He says he wants to see her again which she says is impossible. He say he expects to see her in three days at a hotel.

Marcel kills Hyppolite and makes a run for it. Marcel is shot and taken to the hospital. The doctor tells Severine he is in a coma. She goes back home to assume the role of the housewife again after Pierre has an accident. He is now in a wheelchair and blind. He needs her now and she is the one trying to cheer him up.

Husson visits Severine and says he will tell Pierre everything about her. She waits outside while the worst is done. He cannot talk and is physically incapable to. He only cries. He comes alive again in her fantasy and they are happy again. She looks outside and sees a house and carriage.

Death of a Cyclist

2010-06-06T18:16:00.000-07:00

Director - Juan Antonio Bardem
Writers - Juan Antonio Bardem & Luis Fernando de Igoa

Cast Character
Lucia Bosè ... María José de Castro
Alberto Closas ... Juan Fernandez Soler
Otello Toso ... Miguel Castro
Bruna Corra ... Matilde Luque
Carlos Casaravilla ... Rafael "Rafa" Sandoval

While returning to Madrid after an illicit tryst, a wealthy socialite housewife and a university professor accidentally strike a bicyclist with their car. Although they see that he is still alive after the accident, they know they cannot summon help for him without their affair being revealed. They drive away and leave him to die. After the bicyclist's death is reported in the newspaper, the pair deal with ever-rising tension, borne from their fear that their deeds will be exposed. - Wikipedia

Why does one cheat? A man cheats because he is biologically programmed to do so. It is in his DNA. In order for his children to survive he hardwired to inseminate as many women as possible. Desirable men attract desirable women and vice versa because in our DNA we see that an attractive person has the most capability of being impregnated. Taller and stronger men are seen to be more protective therefore more sexually attractive while women with bigger breasts are seen to be better suited to milk and raise their children. This goes back to caveman days and is unconscious. He also cheats because a man is always yearning for freedom and commitment does not fit into that equation. Women often cheat while ovulating and according to the Sperm Wars writer Robin Baker 10% of people have fathers who they are unaware of. It is now said that number maybe up to 20%. So women unconsciously seek men who are able to give them a baby who will most likely survive and that is with a stronger mate. Men and women also use "peacocking" to demonstrate high status and desirable traits but body language cues to power. The funniest of these is when someone sees some they are attracted to is by taking up more space - leaning back, straightening one's posture and preening by women. Peacocking is also referred to wearing jewelry or physical items to stand apart and to "self decorate."

The film Death of a Cyclist begins as a an adulterous couple accidentally run over a cyclist and decide to to leave him there dying for fear of their relationship being exposed. Juan wants to go back but Maria tells him to leave. She enjoys a party with her husband and friends along with Rafa, the piano player. He plays music which entices Maria. She asks him what's it called? He says, "Blackmail." He tells her he saw her last night in her Fiat and she is not sure whether he means the accident or the affair.

The film hints at Film Noir with a despairing world, irredeemable characters and high contrast lighting. Jorge and Carmina are dating creating a tension of power as Juan is Carmina's brother who wants to rise above his assistant professor status in the university he teaches. Jorge is the dean and the only person who can make that happen. The next scene has Carmila lamenting that her brother is a failure because he doesn't want to do anything. Juan is disgusted and jealous seeing a newsreel at the movie theater about his dean and brother-in-law. He sees how powerful and far reaching his influence is.

In Maria Jose's and Miguel's room there are hieroglyphic characters on the wall showing there is some code they use to keep each-other in the dark. Her guilt of accidentally killing a cyclist is nonexistent whereas Juan can barely sleep. She disassociates from her feelings. Meanwhile Matilde at the university does a problem on the board while Juan reads a newspaper. He sees the headlines Death of a Cyclist and the tension rises with a close-up to his face. This is the perfect place to feel vulnerable because he is in front of all his students in the class feeling naked.

When Juan reveals to Maria Jose that the cyclist died it is appropriately at the horse track showing they are gambling with their life and their chances of getting away clean are decreasing. Rafa asks Maria Jose if she has seen the paper and reads the headline, "Death of a Cyclist" to show her he knows what they did. Juan hears this too. Only Maria understands that Rafa is threatening them. They go to a children's show to talk privately and lighten their sense of guilt. They go to regain their innocence.

Matilde Luque says she failed the exam because Juan was reading the newspaper while she was trying to show her presentation. He failed her not paying attention to what she was doing. Now she pleads with him to change the grade. He tells her to see the dean. He says his personal problems distracted him but Matilde calls him selfish and walks out.

The greatest tension in the film is Maria's dilemma finding out whether Rafa knows that she and Juan accidentally killed someone or that they are having an affair. The latter would be better but is still bad enough. It is appropriate that he threatens her at an abstract art exhibit because he is vague in what he is blackmailing her about. This adds to her anxiety. He tells her he wants money and to have her.

Juan, now doing his reporting work, visits Ms. Tejedor in a slum to ask some questions for a local paper. He learns from the landlord that a car hit Ms. Tejedor's husband. She tells him secret police talked to her. Maria tells Juan she hates Rafa because he is always gossiping. She tries to subtly convince him that there is more going on with what Rafa is doing but Juan doesn't pick up on this. Juan calls her to calm her down and an interesting shot shows Maria's face hidden with the mirror showing Rafa's conniving presence in the background outside.

When Maria and Juan talk again he says he would have married her if he didn't have to go to war. He is angry she didn't wait for him and instead married the rich Miguel. They talk about their complicated affair and what would happen to both if they were exposed. When she is with her husband they talk about how once Juan was a sweetheart of Maria's. The way they are framed is interesting with Miguel behind her not seeing each-other's faces. Miguel hints that a family name can be so easily tarnished especially with a murder. Her husband goes on the tell her a story of a prominent couple who lost everything because the woman cheated on her husband. The husband left her without a penny. She asks him who told him the story. He says Rafa.

The movie is frightening because it deals with upper class elites maintaining their manners and demeanor while being paranoid about being exposed of having an affair and an accidental murder. The frequent social parties they have to attend adds to the tension as the couple talk and try to fit into their pre-made roles. Maria and Juan confront Rafa trying to get information and Miguel sits with Rafa. Soon we see they are at war. Rafa hits the high key on the piano to build tension and to mock both Juan and Maria. In the hallway Juan confronts Rafa to get information and Rafa now drunk says he knows despicable things about him.

He goes inside to watch a flamenco performance and the high emotion of the music coincide with the intensity of what Juan is going through. Rafa whispers in Maria's and Miguel's ear something which cannot be heard. Rafa finally reveals what he knows and says he saw the cyclist on the road with Juan and Maria. Miguel is convinced his wife has done nothing.

Things compound as a riot erupts because Matilde was failed by Juan and they want answers. Instead of being angry Juan is joyed at the riot because they are fighting for Matilde in a just cause. It is the only thing right and pure in his life right now. The solidarity and justice he sees gives him something to yearn for in his corrupted life. He tells her he is not angry at her and she is relieved.

When Maria and Juan meet at the church she is happy and tells him Rafa knew nothing. Miguel believed nothing about Rafa. They use this setting as a way to absolve guilt like that of a confessional. She wants to do the right thing and send some money to the widow. Juan runs into Matilde and gives her an envelope with his resignation inside. He calls Maria and she tells him Miguel will take her on a trip abroad. he tells her that should turn themselves in to the police. She says she will go with him.

Miguel tells Maria she is selfish, greedy and lustful only caring about what he represents and not him as a person. He tells her he gave everything to her particularly her lifestyle and he can take it away. He gives her a time when the plane will leave and says she must make a decision - him or Juan. The next scene has Juan and Maria together and Juan takes comfort in re-instilling some dignity to his life after his crime. She asks him what he would do if she refused to see the police. He says he'd still go.

Matilde gives Juan's mother the resignation letter and warns he might be in danger because of something he said. Juan and Maria go to the spot where the cyclist died and feels relieved he is going to do the first right thing in so long. Fearing the worse Maria does the unthinkable and shows her true colors. Her worries proved to be of her own concern rather than the repentance Juan sought.

Charade

2010-06-05T20:12:00.000-07:00

Director - Stanley Donen
Writer - Peter Stone

Cast Character

Carey Grant ... Peter Joshua/Dyle
Audrey Hepburn ... Regina Lampert
Walter Matthau ... Hamilton Bartholemew
James Coburn ... Tex Panthollow
George Kennedy ... Herman Scobie
Dominique Minot ... Sylvie Gaudet

Romance and suspense in Paris, as a woman is pursued by several men who want a fortune her murdered husband had stolen. Who can she trust? - IMDB.com

Charade begins in the dark landscape with a man murdered and thrown out of a train, he is Charles Lampert - Regina's husband. We learn later he is embroiled in a conspiracy to obtain $250,000 he and three other men who were with him in the military planned to split once they were released. The next scene is in the French Alps with a bratty kid who squirts Regina Lampert, played by Audrey Hepburn, in the face. He is her nephew. She tells her friend Sylvie she is getting a divorce and cannot get go on any more. Sylvie tells her not to get a divorce because her husband is rich. Love, Sylvie foolishly suggests should not be an aspect in marriage despite Regina telling her they don't love one another. She tells Sylvie her husband Charles is hiding something frightening from her, she can feel his lies.

Peter Joshua, Played by Cary Grant, retrieves Sylvie's child and introduces himself. The kid squirts Peter with his squirt gun. Peter asks her if there is a Mr. Lampert and she says they are getting a divorce. She asks him the same and he charmingly says they are getting a divorce as well. He asks her if there is only one Charles Lampert in the telephone book to which she wittily replies, "I hope so." She says goodbye to the child and finds her apartment is barren and empty - she has either been robbed or had her things stolen by her late husband. Inspector Edouard Grandpierre asks her to come with him ad reveals her husband is dead in the mortuary. She identifies the body.

Her husband was trying to leave the country but didn't make it as seen in the train incident. Her husband, Charles, sold all the things they owned in the house in a public auction. Now there is $250,000 missing from him and the only thing they find is one bag with personal items - his wallet, notebook, and a letter. She signs the list and the inspector shows that he has several passports. He is most likely in some intelligence bureau. Peter visits her and talks to her with a shadow covering his face. He is mysterious and most likely hiding a secret. Peter offers to find her a hotel. She attends his husbands funeral to which no on attends. One man comes in to look at the body and sneezes uncontrollably. Sylvie remarks, "He must have been allergic to him." - hinting at his possible less than pleasant demeanor. Another man puts a small flower on his body and mysteriously tells Regina, "Ms. Lampert mam, Charlie had no call of doing it that way." Man number three comes in all business and sticks a pin in hid body and throws it at him. A bald man gives her a letter from the American Embassy. Her husband was a very disliked individual. Hamilton Bartholemew, played by Walter Matthau, asks her if she knows what the CIA is. She finds her husband was wanted by the U.S. government.

He hands her photos of his husband and other men - all of whom were at the funeral. He tells her she is lead to what they want. They are after the money from the auction. Hamilton tells her that money belongs to him and the agency. He tells her to be careful and try to retrieve the money. Peter meets up with her at a children's show. She confesses that Charles was mixed up in something terrible. Peter tells her to make him Vice President in cheering him up. They go to a nightclub show and play a game to pass an orange from one person's neck and body to another. This builds a natural attraction between she and Peter. A man playing the game threatens her in the phone booth. Peter comes to her and finds her shaken up. Peter tries to know what is wrong with her but the only thing she can ask is, "Do you know what is wrong with you? Nothing."

She encounters a man in her room with a hook fist which Peter comes to the rescue. Peter climbs the terraces and comes into the room with the three men before and it is revealed he is in on their scheme. He tells them she can trust him. Peter is after the money as well. His buddies tell him not to forget about them. The music is pitch perfect to the new revelation. He asks her if she knows where the money is. She tells them men are chasing her. Charles, her dead husband, probably didn't have it on the train. The henchmen calls her and asks if Dyle is there? He tells her not to trust him fearing that Dyle will make off with the money once he gets it.

Regina tells him if she doesn't get the money Tex will kill her. Peter tries to comfort her and tells her not to worry - that he has taken a room next to hers. Now she knows she is pinned helpless. She calls Hamilton and she tells him there must have been another person in the photograph who is Peter. She tells Hamilton she will leave but he says he can meet her in 15 minutes. She looks through Peter's keyhole and sees he has a gun.

After meeting Hamilton he tells her Dyle is dead and in 1944 5 members of the OSS were ordered to deliver $250,000 in gold to the French underground. The five members were her husband Charles, the three men who came to her funeral and lastly Peter - Dyle. Instead of delivering the gold they stole it. Unfortunately for the others the real Dial died and Charles stole all the money before splitting it with the other three. She tells him she will leave Paris tonight. Hamilton wants information on Dyle. So now she is in charge of following him.

Regina calls Dyle after finding his true name. He reveals the real Carson Dyle was his brother. He says he is on her side. When she goes to try to find him, he is gone. Herman catches up to him and walks him up to the stairs. They fight on the rooftop. Dyle dodges Herman which he flies off the roof to hang tightly on the ledge.

When Regina sees him again they get down to business. They get a phone call and they have kidnapped her nephew. They search eachother's rooms to see thinking one of them has it hidden. Regina finds the suitcase but hides it in time. They find Herman dead in his bath.

The inspector threatens everyone that in his country they use the chopping blade as execution. He tells them he hopes they don't have to find out what death feels like. He tells her not to cry wolf as she does to get him out of the bathroom. He entertains her as he takes a shower in his clothes. Hamilton calls and tells Regina to be careful as Carson Dyle has no brother.

They go to a drink on a boat ride and she tells him she might be next dead. He tells her when he was younger he could have chosen to sell umbrellas or become a thief. He chooses the more lucrative career.

Gideon gets a phone call and agrees to meet a man which kills him. Tex calls Dyle and tells him he wants his money. Dyle accuses Regina of having the money now that only three people are alive that want it. Dyle looks at her receipt and finds she is missing Charles's agenda book that could lead to the $250,000. They remember he had an appointment Thursday at 5pm and look for any sort of clue. Tex is there as well looking about. Tex looks at the stamps and makes a connection. Dyle makes the same connection as he sees valuable stamps being bought and sold around him. He runs frantically back to the hotel.

Sylvie tells Regina that her nephew is trading in stamps at the fair. Regina freaks out realizing that the stamps are the prize. He tells Regina a man gave him a prize for the stamps. They find Felix who has the stamps now. He gives the stamps back to Regina. Later Regina finds Tex dead in his room with the word Dyle written on the ground. Regina calls Hamilton and tells him what just happened. She tells him Dyle killed everyone. He agrees to meet her. When Dyle sees her he chases after her. He chases her to the subway station. He makes it on the subway car in time looking for her. He exits looking for her. She hides in the phone booth and calls the American Embassy. She runs out trying to find an exit.

Dyle spots her and she runs out to the plaza. Dyle sees Hamilton and says Hamilton is Carson Dyle. They accuse each-other of lying. She can't decide who is telling the truth. While Hamilton explains what he went through in the military prison camp to Regina, Dyle maneuvers himself through the columns looking for a shot. They shoot at each-other missing through the columns.

The chase moves them to a theater auditorium. Hamilton spots Regina in one of the orchestra composer boxes. Dyle looks at the controls of the floor boxes and tries to guess where he is stepping and what latch will open the floor board to Hamilton's correct spot. He guesses correctly and Hamilton falls dead and Dyle guesses right.

Regina decides to return the stolen stamps to the Treasury department. She goes to Mr. Crookshaw's office and walks in to see the man who was formally known as Mr. Dyle. She demands to know what his real name is. He tells her he will prove his real name to her on their marriage license.

Ken Ichigawa: Fires on the Plain

2010-06-04T20:40:00.000-07:00

Director - Ken Ichigawa
Writer - Shohei Ooka (novel) & Natto Wada (writer)

Cast Character
Eiji Funakoshi .... Tamura
Osami Takizawa .... Yasuda
Mickey Curtis .... Nagamatsu
Mantaru Ushio .... Sergeant
Kyu Sazanka .... Army Surgeon

Fires on the Plain is a film without pretense or agenda. Its sole purpose is to show the reality and futility of war. The film starts with a Japanese army officer being hit by his superior for insubordination. His superior tries to explain the gravity of their situation being under fire. He tells him they have already lost two thirds of their men. The men are weak and the soldiers are looking for food. The desperation begins to sink in to the berated soldier as he senses his superior's dilemma. Tamura has tuberculosis and is next to useless. He can't even concentrate to the complaints he is given. He promises to return to the hospital to not be a waste and eat rations from the platoon.

They spend all day digging air-raid shelters. They dig shelters while the superior searches the forest for food. He tells the platoon the CO ordered him to the hospital again, they tell him not to give up despite his illness. He seems more than dead already. He goes en route to the hospital and sees smoke and possible the enemy. He encounters a man, a Filipino native, who offers him food. The native then disappears while saying he will get some food. The soldier finally finds the hospital and is rejected because he is not seriously injured. They are stationed in Ormoc City, Philippines. They sit and wait while the island they are defending gets shot up. They are short on soldiers and hardly get food.

They fight and complain of people trading food jealous of what little each other have. Men greedily eat what little rice they have growing delirious. The music heightens their desperation. One of the soldiers is caught stealing yams and is thrown out of the infirmary.

They see smoke and know the enemy is close. Explosions break way and they assume position. Desperation mounts higher as one soldier drinks water out of a river. One man is overjoyed as he finds a grenade which is like gold to him. The cinematography is really effective here as the high contrast shows the severity of their situation. There is only victory or failure and they are clearly running out of food and sanity. Tamura sees a reflected light and goes to a village finding no one. He finally finds corpses all in one pile and breaks down. He follows a couple into a hut which they are scared speechless of him. The woman screams alarming him which he shoots. She is dead and he cannot fix his weapon letting her boyfriend escape in time. He throws his rifle in the river ashamed of the murder he committed. His first in the entire war.

The soldiers Tamura encounters ask where his rifle is. He says he lost it. He tells Tamura all units are retreating to Cebu. They see he has salt and offer to take him along for a share of the salt. He obliges. They wait to go to the village where he found the salt but he is afraid they will find the woman he shot. They are suspicious of him.

Soldiers on the march play dead to a plane they hear but it happens to shoot a few of them dead. The rest of the group get up as if nothing happened and continue marching. Tamura refuses to look at the dead soldiers keeping his eyes on the prize - Cebu.

Tamura ditches his boots to enjoy the water on his feet. American troops come in by jeeps and Tamura hides to watch them. This is the first time he and his fellow troops have seen them up close. Tamura finds his squad leader. The guy who asked for salt from him again asks for some salt desperately. Tamura gives him a few pieces and the soldier gives him some advice. He tells him not to trust the squad leader and he will leave him high and dry once he has taken whatever is valuable from him. Tamura should have taken his advice more gravely. The squad leader heads to Palompon.

Tanks patrol and soldiers run away, they are revealed. Explosions burst the ground while lights search the ground. The next shot shows all the dead men and ripped trees. American medics make way and check dead bodies. Tamura makes a surrender flag just in case. An American jeep comes up and one Japanese soldier surrenders which the Americans kill. Surrender has just left his mind. He walks through the field of dead bodies. He meets one of his fellow soldiers and once he dies he takes his boots. Another soldier he talks to grows delirious and eats dirt in absolute hunger. The soldier offers his arm to eat when he is dead and Tamura looks tempted.

Tamura gives a soldier monkey meat but the soldier's teeth fall out when he eats it. Later Tamura collapses and Nagamatsu carries him to a tent. They kill monkeys to eat - the only way for them to stay alive. They ration the monkeys carefully - three pieces a day - breakfast, lunch and dinner. They eat raw grass when the meat is gone. Their desperation is heightened at every moment.

Namagatsu doesn't sleep next to his comrade, Yasuda, because he is afraid he will steal he rifle. Yasuda asks to look at Tamasura's grenade which Yasuda steals. Tamasura tried to get it back but Yasuda pulls out a knife showing he means business. Everyone grows desperate for any food or ammunition available. Yasuda calls for Nagamatsu and Tamura. He apologizes and says he has the grenade hidden. Nagamatsu shoots him dead. Nagamatsu desperately cuts Yasuda's body for food which disgusts Tamura. Tamura gets the gun and kills Nagamatsu. Tamura walks into the enemy controlled land lets the enemy fire and chooses to die.

Krzysztof Kielslowski: The Double Life of Veronique

2010-06-03T07:31:00.000-07:00

"If I have a goal, then it is to escape from this literalism. I'll never achieve it; in the same way that I'll never manage to describe what really dwells within my character, although I keep on trying."

Director - Krzysztof Kielslowski
Writer - Krzysztof Kielslowski & Krzysztof Piesiewicz

Cast Character

Irene Jacob ... Weronika/Veronique
Halina Gryglaszewska ... La Tante
Kalina Jedrusik ... La femme Barjolee
Aleksander Bardini ... Le ched d'orchestre
Wladyslae Kowalski ... Le pere de Weronika
Jerzy Gudejko ... Antek

"That's the star we're waiting for to start Christmas Eve. You see it?"

A little girl hangs upside down from her mother looking at the Polish sky and city upside down showing a duality in the world - a connection to something or someone else in the horizon that must be fulfilled. The next scene has a little girl playing with a leaf that her mother explains to her. She talks about the veins of the leaf hinting at t connection like veins between organs and of these two individuals from different places of the world. These two individuals are Weronika and Veronique.

The beginning of the film we see Veronique singing with rain coming down on her face. Inside he tunnel she kisses her boyfriend like that of sexual penetration. The colors are earthy and natural with a green hue on their bodies. Weronika awakens to see her father doing a house painting. She tells her father she feels she is not alone. Green colors flash on her face as if the cosmos tell her something is out there.

She visits her aunt, a tarot card reader, and tells her she knows she made love to a man in the passageway. She watches a choir sing and join in. As she walks past the crowd she notices a red bus and a woman who looks just like her. She wears the same color as Weronika. After she has her audition she walks home and almost collapses. The colors around her are brown and dead. The table inside the auditorium is red like the color she constantly wears. The judges tell her she has won the competition. In her apartment it is completely red as well like the colors of Cries and Whispers.

Her boyfriend follows her bus to give her a present. He tells her he loves and his room number at a hotel. She chases after him and catches a ride to her apartment. She looks out the window to see on old woman passing by. She offers help to which the woman ignores.

Next she is singing in a choir with the symphony conductor who trained her. She dazes in and out of consciousness to fall and die on stage. Her soul floats above the crowd and sees herself being buried. The camera moves to a new couple with Veronique - her double. The camera is in obscura as we are transferred into her complementary double. She is sad telling her lover she is somehow grieving for someone.

She sees her music coach and tells him she is quitting. He is angry saying she is wasting her talent. She goes to a school to teach a class and is told the room is taken. The children watch a puppeteer performance. The natural green light of the audience shows a naturalness to the talents the inhabited puppet has. A girl in the audience is scared and the realization is frightening as like the magician in Fanny and Alexander. She sees the puppeteer and feels a love she cannot explain.

She gets a phone call with the symphony before Weronika dies. She doesn't understand what she is hearing. Later it is revealed she has been put in a hypnosis of sorts to come to a place where the sounds of the tape take place.

Her friend asks if she can go to court and lie for her saying she slept with a man 13 times. She wakes up to a kid reflecting a light from a mirror in her window. The kid is gone but the light goes on a mysterious book. She asks her friend the name of the puppeteer. He is Aleksandre Fabbri. She reads the books he has written becoming fascinated by him.

As the postman comes in she guesses she will get an empty box of Virginia Cigars and is correct. Kielslowski is obsessed with chance encounters and atmosphere. Colors accentuate the mood and the direction of the film and are a character in itself. Veronique receives a tape in the mail. She looks out the window again and sees the same old woman from before. She listens to the mysterious tape she gets and it is of the opera of Weronika. Veronique seems to enjoy the effort made into the tape. She is not scared.

She looks at the envelope and sees it came from Paris. She goes to a restaurant and sees tapes and a recorder on a table. She infers this from the station said on the recording. The man emerges. He tells her he would have waited two more days for her. This startling hypnotic effect on her he has shows one of the film's central themes - that of lack of free will. Something outside oneself in control. She runs from him scared out of her mind. She takes the first cab she can to get out of there.

The puppeteer apologizes and sleeps on her bed. He says he loves her and she says the same back. She sees the photo of Weronika and cries knowing she is dead. She tells him she now knows why he did everything. It is his way of saying to surrender to him. To not be afraid anymore. She goes to his room and sees him making puppets. She understands now his revelation to her. She is not scared, she is joyful.

He reads her something he wrote. "November 23, 1966, was the most important day of their lives. That day, at 3:00 in the morning, they were both born, each in a different city on a different continent. They both had dark hair and brownish-green eyes. At two years old, when both knew how to walk, one of them burned her hand on a stove. A few days later, the other reached out to touch a stove but pulled back just in time. Yet she couldn't have known she was about to burn herself."

She now realizes sadly how utterly powerless she is to the puppeteer. She touches a tree softly and her father feels it. Part of that power is now hers.

The film's main them is the lack of free will concerned with the puppeteer. When he first does his performance at a school a little girl is terrified understanding his power. He uses it to bring Veronique in and show her who he is and what he is capable of which terrifies her as well. As she surrenders she gives up hope only to console her father stroking the tree to keep him in a cloud of security.

A similar situation is seen in Fanny and Alexander when the magician shows Alexander controlling a real human corpse giving him life. Alexander is terrified but grows accustomed to the power around him.

Francis Ford Coppola: The Conversation

2010-06-02T12:27:00.000-07:00

Director/Writer - Francis Ford Coppola

Cast Character
Gene Hackman .... Harry Caul
John Cazale .... Stan
Allen Garfield .... William P. "Bernie" Moran
Frederic Forest .... Mark
Cindy Williams .... Ann
Harrison Ford .... Martin Stett
Robert Duvall .... The Director

The Conversation starts in San Francisco as we see the camera slowly zooming in on a crowd to a mime playing with people. Harry ignores the mime as he follows him. His team is keeping surveillance on a couple. Harry follows the couple as his crew watch from the building and surveillance van.

They are being ordered to follow them. His apartment has 3 locks and a high tech alarm system. As he motions in he sees a gift waiting for him. He calls the landlord paranoid on how she put it in his apartment. She tells him she has an extra key. Instead of being happy for the gift he is paranoid about the situation because of his job keeping tapes on others. He is a perfect example of one becoming their job. Harry plays jazz on his spare time. He is rather good. Stan, his coworker, played by John Cazale reads him an article about Harry in a Magazine concerning surveillance and wiretapping to cheer him up.

Harry syncs up all the tapes to create a clear sound reproduction. Harry is so paranoid he doesn't use his house phone if he has one. He goes to a payphone instead. He is stressed, guilt ridden. He probably doesn't like or agree with what he does but fortunately he is the best in his field.

He meets his girl and they have wine. He has a hard time relaxing with her because his job involves infringing on people's rights and privacy. He knows what he does is wrong but comforts himself knowing it's his job - or rather excuses himself. He pays her rent hinting she might be a working girl.

He meets Martin Stett played by Harrison Ford and says he will give Harry's tape to his employer. He takes the tapes back not wanting to anger his employer or make a mistake. He sees the same man in the building they were watching before and the woman on another floor. Harry moves away from her on the elevator not wanting to have a personal connection to someone he is eavesdropping on.

Harry goes back to the tapes to analyze them. He tries to figure out who she thinks has been recording her telephone calls. He makes out what he says and the man says, "He'd kill us if he got the chance." The couple is having an affair and embroiled in some financial scheme. The husband is a very powerful man. Harry goes to an electronic surveillance convention and a guy recognizes him because Harry is a celebrity in his field. Harry tests the equipment. A guy brags about his invention and tries to sell it hard. Later they bring some friends and girls to their work station and the same man before brags about his career. Harry meets a girl who has a an itch needing to be scratched. He doesn't pay much attention to her though. His work constantly watching people makes him unable to communicate with them on a personal level. He hides behind his technology which he thinks gives him an advantage but it is the ultimate disadvantage. His work consumes and infects him and has lost his inner child.

The guy from the convention wants to work with Harry and team up but Harry doesn't want to listen. Harry says he doesn't need the money. Harry has a pen in his jacket pocket that was a wiretap and feels violated and hustled by the man from the convention. He tells him to get out and the party is over.

Even as the girl is still there waiting for him to seduce her he is still listening to his tapes. His job corrodes his personal life and makes him a bit of a social robot. She tells him he doesn't have to feel anything towards her. He is still listening to the surveillance tapes in the most cold seduction ever seen. He is unable to connect to her and there is little rapport.

In his dream he tries to explain himself to the woman that is under surveillance. It is foggy showing the deception he is ashamed of using concerning his job. He rambles to her as she listens. She disappears. It is tense and taut.

As he awakens he looks for Meredith. He realizes the woman stole his surveillance tapes and he is more than angry. Martin Stett calls him and tells him he has the tapes and will pay him in full. He sees the director who the tape is about. Harry cannot keep his composure as he keeps hearing the lines from the tape, "He'd kill us if he got the chance."

He takes a room next to the one the couple said they'd say and puts a eavesdropping device to the next room where they are staying. He envisions her being killed and breaks down. He is able to sleep it off later. He lock-picks into the room out of curiosity and more-so to see if they are safe but he is abusing his power unjustifiably. He checks the shower to make sure she is not inside dead. As he flushes the toilet it overflows with blood and he runs out.

As he he goes back to his boss's building they don't let him up and is told to get out. He is too close to the truth now. The newspaper reveals that her husband is killed in a car crash and now she is taking full control of his company which is very lucrative. Harry imagines all the scenarios of who was involved and if the couple having the affair were involved with the murder.

Harry plays some jazz to take his mind off of what he now presumably knows. Now that Harry knows Martin Stett reveals he has been bugged and not look any further in the presumed murder. Harry looks everywhere for wiretaps and bugs. He shreds his apartment apart looking for bugs. He plays jazz again to forget about the complete mess he is in, that is all he can do.

Terrence Malick: Badlands

2010-06-01T10:37:00.000-07:00

Director - Terrence Malick
Writer - Terrence Malick

Cast Character
Martin Sheen ... Kit
Sissy Spacek ... Holly
Warren Oates ... Father
Ramon Bieri ... Cato

Badlands begins with a girl called Holly remembering how her mother died. Her mother dies of pneumonia and her father moved from Texas to South Dakota. A garbage truck comes onto the road and we see Kit doing his work. As he smokes his cigarette he notices Holly twirling her baton. He asks Holly to take a walk with him. His friend tells him he has been fired and goes looking for another job. Holly thinks he is handsome and they make small talk.

He asks if she wants to go for a ride with and she goes on with him. Even though she doesn't have a lot to say he still likes her. He likes her maturity and that she isn't giggly. They share each-other's eccentricities and habits. Kit makes a vow he will always be with her. He wrote this down, put it in a box and sent it off in a balloon he found on his route. He tells her that these happy days are only temporary and will be gone forever. He is realistic and not blind to the emotion of love. She although awestruck is simple and practical. They don't have grand yearnings only to enjoy what is both feasible and attainable.

Her father finds out she has been seeing this guy and in punishment he shoots her dog. He puts her in extra music lessons after school and picks her up so she can't see Kit. Kit visits her father to have a talk. He tells him Holly means a lot to him. He tells him he has respect for her. Her father tells him he isn't good enough for Holly and that he doesn't want to see him again. Kit goes to Holly's house and packs her clothes. The father sees him in the house and tells him to get out of there.

The father says he will turn him over to the police and Kit says he won't let him do that. Kit shoots hm dead. Kit smokes a cigarette like nothing happened. Holly tells her father strangely that everything will be okay even though he is dead. Holly wants to call the doctor not accepting he is dead. Later she hits Kit finally accepting the death of her father. He leaves her in her house. She looks out the window and sees two children outside playing and realizes that's what she and Kit are. He records and burns the house down. They change their names to James and Priscilla and decide to go up north.

They build a house in the trees and learn to survive with only what nature provides. They find uses for everything. They survive by stealing chickens or melons and live without rules as children again. They build traps and Kit teaches her how to use a gun in case she needed it. She reads to him and he catches fish in the river with a wooden net he built. She wonders what life would be like if all this never happened.

Kit and Holly see a man with a gun and hide. Kit stays underground in a hole he built and shoots the three sheriffs dead. They leave their whole little built town behind. Kit didn't feel bad because he overheard them talking about a reward.

They visit Cato, an old friend, and give him a chicken. The man tells them there are sine coins a man found in the fields. He sees the man running to the house suspiciously and Kit shoots him knowing he will turn him in. Holly gets used to his shootings and introduces herself to the shot Cato. They meet a couple coming to the house and Kit locks him in an outdoor cellar.

Kit is beginning to realize how stupid some of his decisions were. In her dream world Holly imagines the screen going Sepia brown and the town closes down, people hide in their homes and a detective comes down from up north to find them. Her only way of coping with Kit and his maniacal behavior is to turn inward and imagine it is all a movie.

He goes to a rich man's house and wants to stay there a couple of hours. The man complies. Kit records his ironic beliefs in the old fashioned dictaphone despite all the murders he has committed, "Listen to your parents and teachers they got a line on most things so don't treat them like enemies. There's always an outside chance you could learn something. Try to keep an open mind. Try to to understand the viewpoints of others. Consider the minority opinion but try to get along with the majority opinion once it's accepted."

He takes the man's car and miraculously doesn't kill him and the maid. They look at the Great Plains on their way to Montana while Holly reads him celebrity gossip. Holly tells him they cannot keep living in the wilderness going from town to town. He buries their possessions to show that he is leaving his emotional baggage behind and starting fresh. They keep driving up north and Holly feels a block between them A helicopter comes before he can rob a man of fuel. Holly decides not to escape with Kit. They fire at Kit but he escapes giving Holly a time and place where they will meet again.

Kit fills his gas up again but flees the cops dodging cows on the road speeding away. They shoot at Kit in a car chase all throughout the desert until the cop car flips over. Another group of cops find him and he surrenders. The sheriff asks him if he likes people and Kit says, "They're okay." The the cop asks him," then why did you do it?" Kit says, "I always wanted to be a criminal just not this big of one."

He tells Kit he looks like James Dean which Kit takes as the compliment of the century. He's friendly and confident with the police loving the attention. Kit sees Holly crying not fully realizing she is the only one in the world who loves and cares about him. He is just too self-centered and immature to care. He signs all his arrest papers and is taken away by plane savoring his last moments of fame.

Ghost in the Shell

2010-05-30T09:55:00.001-07:00

Director - Mamoru Oshii
Writers - Kazunori Ito and Masamune Shirow

Cast Character
Atsuko Tanaka ...Major Motoko Kusanagi
Richard Epcar ... Bateau
Akio Otsuka ... Bato
Tamio Oki ... Cheif Aramaki
Iemasa Kayumi ... The Puppet Master
Koichi Yamadera ... Togusa

The beginning of Ghost in the Shell warns of advancement in computerization that could wipe out nations and ethnic groups. Its heroes Major Kusanagi and Bateau are cyborgs working for Section 9 in an anti-terrorism task-force. Their nemesis is the infamous Puppet Master who can hijack into people's ghosts or consciousness in order to control them. As they progress further Major Kusanagi battles her reliance on her robotic parts and whether she is fully human outside of her ghost. There is also an aspect of these police that overly rely on their ghost rather than instinct. Or are the two one and the same?

The film begins with Major Kusanagi who listens in on a politician with possible ties to the ghost hacker AKA The Puppet Master. Section 9 is the like the FBI who is the muscle whereas Section 6 in the film is like the CIA investigating matters before they are pulled off. The man being investigated has taken a classified programmer outside the country which a serious violation in international laws. Before he finishes hearing his rights being read to him Kusanagi blows his head up through the window.

The Section 9 Chief Aramaki meets the head of Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He is protecting a man seeking political asylum because of his connections to funding he helped with before. Section 9 finds the Minister's interpreter whose brain was ghost hacked by the Puppet Master. He is most likely trying to get classified information from the Republic of Gavel's meeting that will take place and assassinate key delegates.

Kusanagi explains to Bato she picked him because he is honest, never stepped out of line and is a family man and is almost completely human save for the brain augmentation. She doesn't want a predictable task-force to take down criminals. A garbage man hacks into many terminals on the garbage route that has raised suspicion to the task-force. He has been ghost hacked by the Puppet Master. The Puppet Master is revealed as he leaves a chip under the phone for the brainwashed garbage man to pick up. He uses high velocity bullets to tear the police van in shreds.

On top of that he uses an invisibility camouflage/therm-optics just as Major Kusanagi did earlier. The manhunt scene is one of the best in the movie. Bateau chases the Puppet Master on the boats while Kusanagi fires at him from the rooftops. Kusanagi finds him as he thinks he is free and uses her invisibility cloak to finish him off. As he lies there he says he won't give up any information to which Kusanagi says, "Can you remember your mother's name or what she looks like? Or how about where you were born? Do you even know who you are?" He looks blank as his mind has been ghost hacked. They realize he in fact is not the Puppet Master but a puppet himself.

They interrogate the garbage man and explain all his memories are simulated experiences. None of them are real. They were created in order to execute jobs ordered by the Puppet Master. They cannot fully repair his old memories. Because most of the characters in the film are cyborg their memories are fragile like files on a computer. Ghost hacking is similar to brain damage as seen in trauma. So even though you can make multiple copies of a file, a bad file can only be copied as a bad file. This is why the Puppet Master is such an enormous threat to Section 9. A way to deal with memory issues is to reinforce them with external things and experiences in order for them to be more believable and stronger such as one's employment, surroundings and day to day activities. These concrete places validate that their environment and experiences are real and not simulated. So they in fact are as human as possible even with their robotic parts.

Kusanagi after having a long talk with Bateau explains how she feels lucky to be a cyborg - having enhanced brains, cybernetic bodies and controlled metabolism. Even though she is a machine her thoughts ad memories are unique to her with a sense of her own destiny. When asked about what it is like to scuba dive as a cyborg she says, "I feel like I am becoming someone else." Here she alludes to the future entity in the story she merges to create a new being - one that is connected with everything around her. She has a new computerized DNA because of it. Now she is no longer a lonely individual but an equal part of the community and net. This gives her a stronger equanimity and freedom to create herself as a new entity in the net to go anywhere and have a true purpose about her.

A truck hits a cyborg which Section 9 recovers. They run tests to find it was most likely ghost hacked that came from Megatech. The body took off on its own. Even though this cyborg is completely synthetic it shows trace remnants of having a ghost. The strongest concern for the group is that the body they recover is the same make and model of Kusanagi's.

Aramaki and a man talk about the Puppet Master and he explains to Aramaki he is the most dangerous and brilliant hacker in cyber-crime. Kusanagi looks at him and is attracted to the possibilities. They lure him to a body and capture him. The Puppet Master awakens and explains himself to be sentient life form and demands political asylum. After his polite and detailed explanation on how he gave self birth to himself in a sea of information he escapes by overloading the computer systems.

Bato fires an electronic tracker bullet to follow the car. Later Aramaki's inside guy tells him that Dr. Willis was a top researcher of a company that researched in Artificial Intelligence. Section 6 tried to stop Mr. Daito from defecting explains Aramaki's investigator. He tells Aramaki the Puppet Master most likely is connected to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and is used to get his way with things. If the Puppet Master explains this to the world there would be a huge international outcry over this. Official heads would be convicted. This is why they are so hellbent on finding Project 2501, The Puppet Master.

Bateau drops off Kusanagi to the empty building the Puppet Master is believed to be in. A camo cloaked tank shoots at her in one of the most explosive finales in an anime movie. Kusanagi tells the helicopter to back off because she will dive into it. She does so not because she wants power but because she needs freedom. She needs to be more than a shell inhabiting a ghost. She wants to merge with a collective whole. She dodges the bullets long enough for it to run out of ammo.

She tries unsuccessfully to rip out the head of the tank ripping her arms off. Bateau shoots at the head off the tank enough to stall it rescuing Kusanagi life. They find the Puppet Master's body in the car inactivated. Kusanagi tells Bateau she will jack into him. As they communicate The Puppet Master reveals the whole time he was looking for her. He says he wants to meet her because although he is a sentient being he lacks the ability to give birth and die. Kusangi argues he can copy himself to which he counters that a copy does not have the ability to have organized ideas or diversity. On top of that a virus could make a copy.

He wants to unify with Kusanagi to create a new being one that is stronger and can provide survival for his electronic DNA. He explains he chooses her as she is his counterpart in psyche. They are mirror images of one another. They create a new being on the net which is indestructible. Her new ghost is put in a younger body representing rebirth and a new start. She says she is no longer Kusanagi or The Puppet Master. She is a new being - choosing to be called 2501.

The film deals with many issues such as the increasing inter-connectivity and advancement in evolution because of technology. Such themes are further explored in Spielberg's A.I.

The Spirit of the Beehive

2010-05-17T06:10:00.000-07:00

Director/Writer - Victor Erice

Cast Character
Fernando Feran Gomez ... Fernando
Teresa Gimpera ... Teresa
Ana Torrent ... Ana
Isabel Telleria ... Isabel
Ketty de la Camara ... Milagros, la criada

The Spirit of the Beehive is about the spirit of the people in a country of unknown future. It captures the innocence of youth, the bleakness of the unknown and the toil of the working class. The movie starts in the Castilian plain around 1940. A truck comes in bringing reels of film to which children all dance in excitement to. The man tells the kids it's the best film to come to their town and it's a horror film- Frankenstein. As everyone comes in they are all excited as this small town doesn't have much. They load the film and the character on the movie projector warns the audience of the film's theme of life and death and it's horrifying images in the film. He tells them not to take it too seriously.

A beekeeper takes the honeysheets out and places them inside a box. He looks at the bees which symbolize the people all doing their assigned tasks as he symbolically is the fascist government. The bees have order and are organized but they lack creativity and imagination. Most importantly though they lack freedom because they know no other way to be.

The movie Frankenstein which is screened for the villagers is a warning for the justification of killing a godless thing, Frankenstein, in order to protect the people. This is the government's way of justifying their takeover by the Franco regime. As the beekeeper walks by he looks tentatively at the theater as it reveals these secrets. He is afraid of the knowledge it will reveal to the people.

Recalling the symbolism of the beehive before we see inside Fernando's room which has a window that looks very much like the inside of one with its hexagonal shapes. He symbolizes power and knowledge with many books in his room. He opens the window to hear people outside talking like that of government listening in on its people. They say, "What if we never went beyond the limits of the unknown?" This is a threat to the Fernando, the beekeeper, as the people start asking questions and realizing they are oppressed. They are fighting against fascism and the nationalism it protects itself under. The camera dollies in to the beekeeper outside behind the honeycomb door. He is hiding behind his power while pretending to listen the people.

In the next scene they watch the clip from the film Frankenstein. The girl in the film offers him a flower and Ana from the audience is terrified. The monster is innocent yet powerful. Ana is scared because Frankenstein kills the girl and he is killed in return. Isabel, her sister, tells her it's all a trick because it's a movie.

The beekeeper writes in his diary of the toils, work and repetition of the bees only to die. Each day they work and undo the progress from the previous day. They are hardwired and slaves to their DNA. He describes them as a main gear of a clock - toiling, pointlessly for others. In his mind he thinks, "Someone who observed these things, after the initial astonishment had passed, quickly looked away with an expression of indescribable sadness and horror." He realizes that a person's place outside this world is meaningless outside the collective whole.

The next scene has the teacher showing her students the internal parts of the body and asking them what they do. The mannequin name they use is Don Jose to which the teacher asks, "Ana, what is he missing?" She tells her, "his eyes." Ana is the purity and untarnished observation of Spain. She gives vision to the people.

Later Ana and Isabel tread to an abandoned house. It is empty, barren and stark. It holds uncertainty as Spain did after the Civil War. Ana looks into the well which is her quest for knowledge. She then sees a big footprint reminding her of the Frankenstein movie which terrified her. At home she talks to Isabel in bed.

Many times in the film the two girls wait for the train to come. They place their ears to the rail to sense the vibrations. Ana is slightly braver as she waits longer with her head to the tracks in order to face her fears. Isabel is the distant protector. She likes to annoy her sister in good fun. Ana is more somber and wise.

Building on this a girl in class reads a poem. "Now neither malice nor hatred, nor even the fear of change. I only fear thirst, a thirst for I know not what. Rivers of life, where have you gone?Air, I need air. What makes you see in the darkness that makes you silently tremble? I see not but only stare like a blind man facing straight into the sun. I shall fall where the fallen never rise." This girl and the poem she reads represents the desire to break free from Fascist rule and influence. The people want to break free from pre-packaged beliefs and ideologies fed to them in order to keep them subservient and docile. Furthermore the barren fields in the film show little hope for what these people went through.

Ana plays around in the well again in the film showing her desire for knowledge. The water sustains life and she no longer wants to be imprisoned. Her sister plays a prank on her pretending to be hurt while Ana runs for help. She uses fear to control her similar to what government will do when there is economic problems and bleak foresight. Ana represents the innocence and younger republic of Spain. Isabel and her lies are the Nationalists obsessed with wealth and power.

A soldier jumps out the train and stays in the abandoned house Ana visited before. He has a gun and Ana gives him an apple. She later brings him some honey, bread and a jacket. She is the love of the people protecting their soldiers. Her innocence and purity bring truth and wisdom to those who can see it. Like the girl in the movie she is unafraid of the monster, Frankenstein, because she is incapable of sin. The man she helps protect is the spirit of the republic she wished to return. He is later shot dead where he stayed. The police call in the beekeeper and show the jacket and watch that belonged to him which Ana gave him. Fernando looks at his daughter, Ana, and knows she gave the soldier these things. Ana revisits the sight and sees the blood of the soldier. Fernando follows her to the place the soldier was but she runs away. They look after her as she goes into the forest. She looks in the water and behind her emerges Frankenstein in her mind. He frightens her to faint.

Her family finds her and returns her home. As she awakens she walks to the window, closes her eyes and summons the spirit by saying, "It's me Ana." She hears the sound of a horse and knows all is well.

Robert Bresson: Diary of a Country Priest

2010-04-30T00:23:00.001-07:00

"Painting taught me to make not beautiful images but necessary ones." - Bresson

Director: Robert Bresson

Writer: Robert Bresson & Georges Bernanos (novel)

Cast Character

Claude Laydu ..... Priest of Ambricourt

Jean Riveyre .... Count

Adrien Borel .... Priest of Torcy

Rachel Berendt .... Countess

Nicole Maurey ..... Miss Louise

Nicole Ladmiral .... Chantel

The film Diary of a Country Priest starts from the diary of the priest from Ambricourt, played by Claude Laydu, as he journals his thoughts. A middle aged couple embraces and sees him with hostile looks. He is an outcast, new in this town - already abandoned. He is shot with the camera looking at him behind a gate - as if he is jailed behind bars in this town with no escape.

This is Ambricourt's first parish and in his diary he refuses to acknowledge his crippling stomach illness. He is fighting his alcoholism. He eats nothing but bread dipped in wine. Symbolic to his devotion as a priest avoiding all worldly pleasures.
As he meets the Priest of Torcy he tells Ambricourt, "A true priest is never loved. The Church doesn't care whether you're loved my son. Be respected, obeyed." He further tells him "The night undoes the work of the day." Torcy only cares that the Priest of Ambricourt gets results.
He clearly expresses to the Priest of Ambricourt he is there to mop up the mess left behind and his job will be less than satisfying.

Claude Laydu has such a magnificent, sorrowful expression in his eyes. The weight of the world and his small impact really resonate behind them. He gets electricity from a cabaret owner that will be ready in three to four months. He teaches kids about the meaning of the Holy Eucharist. He gains hope when one child, Seraphita, gets the answer right. No one accepts him despite his constant efforts to help others. His life is a test much like his faith.

The Priest of Ambricourt visits the manor the see the Count in order to maybe get a youth club and sports program. She is wealthy and influential. He is ill and at need. The Count says he likes the priest's ideas but to not put them in practice because people there are malicious. He tells the Count he is concerned about his daughter, Chantel's sadness. He is stern and unforgiving whereas The Priest of Ambricourt seeks compassion and understanding.

The Count gives him a rabbit but he cannot eat because of his stomach illness and his crippling alcoholism. He can only eat bread dipped in wine, symbolic of his need for a transubstantiation of Christ. In his mind he says, "I didn't dare tell him my stomach only tolerates dry bread." He is concerned with only substance and that which gives life. He has no time for frivolity.

He goes to see Dr. Delbonde to whom he tells Laydu he is of a rare race - the type who hangs on. His faith will come into testing as Dr. Delbonde foreshadows. Seraphita drops her bag and the Priest of Ambricourt returns it only to find her mother is as cold and unwelcoming as her daughter. He is an outsider unable to connect with these people due to his inexperience, naivety and lack of leadership. He suffers stomachaches throughout the film which indicate his ineffectualness to bring faith to others.

The Priest of Torcy tells the Priest of Ambricourt he is ineffectual because he is too fussy. He cannot accept things the way they are as he is too ambitious. His ambition stems from trying to feel useful rather than pride. He is disconnected. He receives a letter to leave the parish and later finds a book with the same handwriting as Miss Louise.

The following scene has effective cinematography with the camera dollying in to his face - his eyes in the shadow - unable to see the reality around him. It is a subtle camera move that is simple and effective. He is pressured to leave but he stays by some sense of obligation and moral responsibility.

The Priest of Ambricourt surrenders himself to solitude in order to hear the Voice which might lead him but like his past he hears nothing and is lost. He feels God's silence.

Dr. Delbonde is found near the woods shot in his head. The Priest of Torcy and Ambricourt discuss Delbonde's suicide, contemplating his fate. As the camera moves to Laydu his black cloak hints at him being a grim reaper - collecting the souls of the dead. When Chantel tells
The Priest of Ambricourt of her parents' possible affair she is standing above him saying she wants to disgrace their family name for revenge. As he convinces her to give him the letter she steps down staged beneath him returning the power to him. This same technique was seen in the film Rebel Without a Cause when James Dean is fighting with his parents in the stairwell.

The Countess hints to The Priest of Ambricourt of her husband's possible affair with a governess. She says he can do what he like. The Priest of Ambricourt offers incredible restraint not pushing advice or doctrine onto the countess. He offers advice without judgment trying to show her options of coping.

Many times in the film The Priest of Ambricourt suffers psychosomatic illness stemming from his guilt. The world overwhelms him. He warns her that people's inter connectivity controls good and evil - in that a single person could control the world. He tells her there is no kingdom between the living and the dead - only one that they are living within.

He hints her anger towards God is synonymous with love stemming from hurt. She is disappointed - this came from originally having faith in something that was abandoned. He tells her she must forgive herself. It is no way to live without it. The countess dies symbolizing her will to make peace with herself.

The Priest of Torcy visits him and offers advice - to stop drinking and eat better. The Count says the same because The Priest of Ambricourt unfortunately has such a submissive character. He looks within in all things never thinking the environment shapes human behavior. The Priest of Ambricourt represents the paradox and conflict of needs vs. obligations. He needs others to trust in him as a priest in order to give them collective resolve and calm. He needs them to give him a chance but they all remind him that he is an outsider.

The Priest of Ambricourt is saddened talking to the Priest of Torcy because it reminds him of his futile existence and powerlessness in this town. He is a mere set-piece, a thing to talk to. The Priest of Torcy represents idealism to not stir the waters. Laydu's character Ambricourt wants to wake people up from their spiritual slumber. He takes chances and is rejected for that. People always say they want something new but what they really want is a new color of paint over the same thing.

The Priest of Torcy reminds him to do little things everyday that will bring peace. The Priest of Ambricourt tries hard to bring faith in others as seen with the Countess before her death but as he talks to the Priest of Torcy he loses that sense of power and faith. He tells The Priest of Ambricourt to pray to the Holy Virgin as she is the mother of mankind but also its daughter. This dynamic is powerful and is also reflected as The Priest of Ambricourt confronts his own quest for divinity as Dafoe's character of Christ in The Last Temptation of Christ confronts his own humanity.

Bresson likes to use dolly shots in the film to intensify the inner turmoil of his characters. It is stark, unrelenting and claustrophobic. The Priest of Ambricourt must go to Lille to treat his stomach so he catches a ride with a man on a motorcycle. The soldier who gave him the ride tells him of a priest who was in the military with him who died. He reminds The Priest of Ambricourt that, "if God doesn't save all soldiers precisely because they're soldiers, then what's the use?" This scary notion reminds one that one person cannot play for two teams.

After seeing Dr. Lavigne he learns he has stomach cancer. He talks to another ex-priest who left in order to pursue an intellectual life. The Priest of Ambricourt is confused by this and says he would only leave the priesthood for a woman. As he wakes up he sees a woman who can validate his previous desire.

Spoilers

"All is grace" is The Priest of Ambricourt's last words. All things favorable or unfavorable validate one's core values, beliefs and principles no matter what they are. Opposition solidifies one's purpose. Support strengthens your faith. All is grace.

Akira Kurosawa: Ikiru

2010-03-14T07:32:00.001-07:00

Director: Akira Kurosawa

Writer: Akira Kurosawa & Shinobu Hashimoto

Cast Character

Takashi Shimura... Kanji Watanabe

Shinichi Himori... Kimura

HaruoTanaka... Sakai

Minoru Chiaki... Noguchi

Miki Odagiro... Toyu Odagiri

Bokuzen Hidari... Ohara

The story Ikiru (to live) is about a man bogged down by his responsibilities as a bureaucrat. He loses all enthusiasm and joy with his monotonous job and routine. Each day he he gets one paper to sign off on only to be reintroduced to another. One particular scene in the beginning which strikes you is when the other office workers tell a joke to which they all laugh and Kanji looks at them stunned, as it joy and humor were real things. He tirelessly stamps documents not even having enough energy to enjoy other people. He is comatose.

A person in the office wisely says, "The best way to protect your place in this world is to do nothing at all." People at work redirect people's complaints to other government offices to avoid helping others. They do this they are partly lazy and because they don't have the funds to help everyone so they just deny everything that is asked. The problem though is that no one tries to do anything and their ideals are damaged from when they first began their jobs. In the hospital he listens to a man who complains about his pain. Kanji Watanabe is stuck with a life having to listen to others which is painful as it is.

The doctor tells him he has a harmless ulcer. When he leaves the doctor tells the nurse he has 6 months to live. His office workers talk about him and his unchanging routine. He even eats the same noodles everyday. Some comment that a few people there are glad he is missing. A fellow patient tells him that is the doctor tells him he has an ulcer he has less than a year to live. The patient tells Kanji of all the possible side effects and reactions he will get. He also tells him of the codes and euphemisms the doctor says to patients so they won't be scared. Kanji uncomfortably tries to distract himself from this insensitive man. It isn't that he is a bad person but he is without any sort of life inside that he is frightening to watch.

His children don't care about him and want him to retire so he gets a pension to buy a bigger house. They scheme to get his money and talk at length at night in the house they they are sick of the small house they are in and that he will be dead soon. When they change rooms they turn on the light and see Kanji there having listened to it all. Kanji doesn't care as he he is used to his son and daughter-in-laws indifference. The only thing he has some warmth to is his dead wife who passed away. He pays respect to her in the shrine built in their house.

Knowing time is short and he will die soon Kanji goes missing, doesn't call in to work and withdraws 50,000 Yen. His family talks about him and thinks he has found a new woman and escaped somewhere. He goes to a bar and drinks with a customer to forget his pain telling him his story. He tells the guy he wants to spend 50,000 Yen and asks him how to do it. The guys says to be greedy with life and experience it rather than wait. He tells Kanji he will reclaim his wasted life. They drink and visit every corner of the city. He goes to a swing jazz club and has to get back his constantly stolen hat from one the singers who playfully teases him.

Kanji picks an old love song to sing to to which all the people in the club stare in disbelief at his sadness while singing. They stop dancing to watch and let him grieve over his dead wife and empty life at that. The tragedy with Kanji is not his pain or sadness but his inability to feel anything. He is a walking corpse. He goes to a maraca band and dances the night away with his new friend from the bar and does more in one night than he did in his whole life. Kanji's eyes are so big and expressive with emotion throughout the whole film. It is as if they cannot hold all the misery he is carrying. Kurosawa's pick of this actor was superb.

As he walks home he seems unchanged with heavy burden in his eyes. He realizes partying and chasing things doesn't improve anything. Toyo, the office girl he works with, greets him and walks with him to his home. She tells him how she can't understand how he spent 30 years in such a boring, dreadful place. He tells her no matter how busy he was, he was actually always bored. she is happy he understands.

She asks him if he is sick and is friendly but even at home he does paperwork. He is an undying workaholic. She wants to connect with him but he doesn't see it. They leave together to which his son and daughter-in-law think it's his new girlfriend. He buys her some stockings after seeing the holes in hers.

They spend the day together playing games, ice skating and seeing an amusement park. When they get home he tells her why he is a "mummy", the nickname she affectionately gave him. His says it's because his son doesn't care about him anymore. She tells him despite that he still cares for his son. Next we see Kanji trying to forgive his son for his assholism. He tries to tell his son he has cancer but son interrupts and criticizes him for bringing a girl like Toyo home.

When they go out again she sees everyone having fun and his sullen mood. She gets sick of it and says she is bored with him. She tells him she quit her job to make toys because it gives her joy imagining all the kids it will make happy and he should do the same. He should make something instead of signing forms all day.

Kanji eventually dies but did at least try to clean the sewage park he neglected for so long. He tries to help the people he was paid to neglect before. The Deputy Mayor tries to take credit for the park that was built that Kanji's passion was responsible for. The reporters criticize the Deputy Mayor at the funeral of Kanji for even mentioning Kanji's name during the opening ceremony of the park.

At Kanji's funeral the people he finally helped all cry and burn incense for him. During the wake at the funeral the bureaucrats ask the son if he was aware his dad knew he has stomach cancer. His son tells them he didn't since he would have told him. What his son doesn't realize is that Kanji hated him.

Everyone at the funeral tries to figure out why the drastic change in Kanji. One man thought it was because of a young woman he saw that made him happy. What the biggest question in the movie is whether he pushed to make the park to make a difference or if he made it to have some of the happiness Toyo had. She said she was so happy at her new job making toys for kids because she would know they would love them and imagined herself being them. Kanji so miserbale wanted to emulate her happiness and find out she herself did it.

In a flashback scene to when he was alive it shows some Yakuza hoods threatening him to back down because his plans interfere with their restaurant. When they threaten him he smiles for the first time in the movie because now he has something worth dying for. He has a mission to accomplish building the park.

At the funeral wake they continue talking about him and his outrageous behavior and passion and concluded he acted this way because he must have known he didn't have a long time to live. They recall him watching a sunset for a few minutes and then walking away saying he mustn't waste time. They recall their past ideals and how they went sour because "doing anything but nothing is radical" as one bureaucrat said it best. His fellow employees vow to serve others like Kanji Watanabe-san did. They get drunk ad make false promises. The next day a sewage problem happens and the new Section Chief tells his subordinate to redirect the complaint to the Engineering department. Nothing has changed except the park that Kanji built that the community now enjoys.

Jean-Pierre Melville: The Red Circle

2010-03-12T07:55:00.000-08:00

Director/Writer - Jean Pierre Melville

Cast Character

Alain Delon ...Corey

Bourvil ... Le Commissaire Mattei

Gian Maria Volonte ... Vogel

Yves Montand ... Jansen

Paul Crauchet ... Le Receleur

Paul Amiat .... L'inspecteur

The Red Circle is the perfect example of of a film with minimalism, timing and atmosphere that drive the suspense in this heist flick. What makes this film so great is the tension, cinematography and lack of dialogue that bring bring you closer into the details of the movie. The film starts out with four men in a car racing to a building. We see both men going to a train handcuffed to one another. There is silence. Like There Will Be Blood the first 10 minutes or so lacks dialogue. The jail guard gives Corey, the main thief, a tip off of him being released tomorrow with a job for him. The camera takes a minimalistic view. Every shot is patient and carefully planned. The shots are so crystal clear and lush with color. Many older films lose some picture quality from age and scratched negatives but this seems to have gotten better with age.

The guard tells Corey there is a new security system installed for his brother in a law firm. Corey doesn't want to go back to jail but he has no other options or skills for that matter than to be a thief. He collects his things before leaving the jail but leaves the picture of his old woman behind.

The attention to detail is pure Melville as his minimalistic shots heighten the action. This is seen when the prisoner escapes the train after patiently lock-picking his handcuffs. He escapes with no problem. He visits a man who owes him a favor and quickly finds a safe behind a painting. Delon always has an ice cold look to him with his blue eyes that are emotionless. He is hard to read and mysterious. He is always focused on the job at hand and has very little desires or distractions. He leaves a photo of the woman he used to be with with the man who she is with now.

There is very little dialogue in this film similar to that of Le samouraï. Corey is so calm and cool nothing fazes him. Even after he kills a guy a guy after playing billiards after ripping his ex-employer off he pulls the telephone wire out so the manager can't call the police. He does this without any fear or anxiety.

Vogel, the fugitive, sneaks into the trunk of Corey's car and at the road-stop Corey can't open his trunk because the man who sold it to him gave him the wrong key. After Corey pulls over and sees Vogel who snuck in his car they exchange words and Corey gives him a cigarette taking one as well. This is seen is two counter shot close-ups of each person's face to show that they are equals - as Corey himself is a criminal.

After being cut off by another car two men hired by his ex-employer chase after him for his money he stole. Vogel quietly emerges from the trunk and shoots both men.

At this point Mattei, the lead detective, desperate to catch him tries to guess what he likes in order to bait him. They know very little of him and cannot use any friends or acquaintances to get to him.

The cops find the two dead bodies from before and also the few thousand francs left behind. They think they fought over the money. They end up wiretapping Santi, bar owner, to get information but he refuses to be an informant. They case a jewelry building to plan their heist. While pretending to look at bracelets inside one of the team notices a camera and the case holding the jewelry case. He sees the key holder on the wall. He is meticulous and subtle. The rack focus between the jewelry in his hand and the sensors in the case in effective for this subtlety.

Corey and Vogel climb to the rooftop. The painstaking care they take to break in channels the skill and disciplined approach of Robert Bresson. Jean-Pierre Melville is a master of detail and cuts any unnecessary shots from his films that don't serve tension or progress story or character. His films are all meat and no fat. They knock out the guard before he sees them. The sharpshooter hits a button on the wall to turn off the alarm. The scene is tense and never lets up. What is interesting about this part is that there is no dialogue during the heist which lasts 25 minutes. This brings the audience deeper into film. The tied up guard finally hits the alarm button and the three escape. Corey returns to his jeweler and finds he won't buy his merchandise because it's too hot.

The sharpshooter turns down his cut. He thanks Corey to which Corey says he needed him more but Corey gave life in him by giving him a battleground to prove his skills once again, rather than rotting in his apartment.

The jazz score shows the film's improvisational chances . The unknown is just around the corner and one should expect uncertainty. In the end we see Mattei working with Corey's buyer for an interesting twist.

Theo Angelopoulos: The Weeping Meadow

2010-02-25T10:35:00.000-08:00

"You cannot step twice in the same river." - Heraclitus

Director/Writer - Theo Angelopoulos

Cinematographer - Andreas Sinanos

Cast Character
Alexandra Aidini .... Eleni
Nikos Poursanidis .... Mihalis
Giorgos Armenis .... Nikos
Vassilis Kolovos .... Spyros
Eva Kotomanidou ..... Kassandra

Theo Angelopoulos, Greece's most acclaimed director, shows the human soul through the environment and the zooms within long shots patient to reveal and are never forced. Like Terrence Malick he uses the environment sublimely to react to his characters and show their innermost character. He is concerned with the family and the identity they must adopt in order to come to a new land. His films are poetic in dialogue and in the way they unfold. They are epic like a Greek tragedy heavily entranced with the belief in fate. Watching one is a spectacle in sheer craftsmanship and cohesiveness.

The film opens opens with a narrator explaining these refugees coming from Odessa to Thessaloniki because the Red Army forced them out. It is a long take done in one shot to show the effort these people made from one land to another. Time and effort are what is represented in this shot. Likewise the language in the film is deliberate, meditative and poetic as seen in The Thin Red Line. These immigrants come in tattered and worn with just suitcases and clothes on their backs. Their reflections are shown in the water showing they will be watered down versions of their previous selves.

As the Bolshevik revolution spread everywhere Eleni returns to the village. Mihalis sees her again when they were separated. After he deflowers her, we get a close up of her white dress and curtains which hint at her perceived innocence with her crying after showing it is broken.

Eleni runs away from Spyros who took care of her at a young age. She was supposed to marry him but left at the last minute. The woman who takes care of Eleni compares her to the Holy Virgin - pure, innocent and without sin. Although the wedding is consummated she runs off knowing what has happened is sacrilegious. The shots in the film are slow and gradual - ones that build tension and dive deep into the feelings of the characters. We see their faces which are imprinted on the viewer like how Ingmar Bergman does especially seen in Cries and Whispers.

Mihalis takes Eleni from the river. When Spyros sees Eleni's torn dress on the water he falls to the ground in grief because he knows her innocence is gone. Musicians take in Eleni and Mihalis which is fitting due to their sad way of playing which is reflected throughout the film. Mihalis plays the accordion which offers the mood throughout their bleakness.

Nikos takes them to his theatre offering them a place to stay and salvation of sorts in order to hide them from Spyros. When Spyros comes he is a site to behold. He inhabits the room with dread and longing like nothing ever seen before. he calls out to Eleni in the theatre where both Eleni and Mihalis are hiding. He claims it is his wife but he shames himself by lusting after a woman so young. The backtracking shot of him in the abandoned, torn theatre with people watching him in the balconies is powerful. His longings for her are inappropriate but his sorrow is very real.

Nikos takes Mihalis to an abandoned building to which he hears music. The camera moves back making the room seem bigger - the world is opening up for him - his opportunities are expanding. He finds other musicians who can realize his dream.

As the story progresses Mihalis yearns for America. The love scene between Mihalis and Eleni is interesting because it is in total darkness showing their love as private and completely intimate. He reveals he sold his mother's ring to pay for her clothes - so she wouldn't wear rags anymore.

Trying to assemble an orchestra, Nikos offers a job to Mihalis but he fears being found by Spyros. The next scene opens with a landscape of white sheets drying outside symbolizing defeat of all of the musicians. Mihalis steps into frame to reiterate this feeling. It is also a sense of rebirth of new opportunity as he yearns to work and play music in America.

Mihalis gets his big break when Spyros tells him the famous Markos wants to hear him play. He tells Mihalis he hasn't heard such music in such a long time and the opportunity is his. The movie is focused on survival of Greece from the Red Army and the survival of its inhabitants particularly Mihalis and Eleni. Mihalis catches the opportunity of a lifetime when Spyros and Markos say he is invited to America to play for the Greeks there.

The sea is used as a transitional plane and a symbol of strength in Mihalis's opportunity. It is no surprise then that scene where many men dance with Eleni is by the sea as well. The film is unique in that the two protagonists, Eleni and Mihalis, don't age. We are introduced to their two twin sons who are about 10 each. They are introduced by the ocean where they want to play. They are hesitant near their parents but take comfort near the water. This is the foreshadowing and desire of both Eleni and Mihalis to make it abroad. They also wear sailor clothes to reemphasize this.

The musicians and citizens form a protest against their fascist government. They play songs in the beer hall as a celebration and refuge for one another. Spyros comes and asks to dance with Elenis to which she agrees and Mihalis obliges by playing the accordion without protest. The camera dollies back giving the old couple space for some bittersweet nostalgia. Eleni's black charade mask is her pain in the forefront. She steps back to reject him again. With great shock Spyros moves out of the room and dies.

Mihalis and Eleni come back to their home to find a their father' sheep all hung dead from a barren tree. This is a warning from the townspeople of how they will be treated from now on. Perhaps it has some meaning in Greek mythology. Soon people begin throwing rocks at their windows. The children in this film serve no other purpose beyond that of foils - to reveal the true nature of Mihalis and Eleni.

A flood comes and causes everyone to pack and leave. When they do leave they stand on the boat similar to the funeral procession that happened earlier on the boats. There is a good shot of a boy dressed in white on the porch alone while it is flooded outside. Three people dressed in black pass him by on a boat showing the death of hope. This is these people's lives for now on migrating from one place to another.

A great scene of a return to innocence for Eleni and Mihalis is when they fatefully walk to the white sheets again. They hear music and see one by one musicians playing - a sign that all is not lost. The musicians return to the sea and play for Mihalis and Eleni - a sign to go to America and become musicians.

When the couple reach the port and cannot board the boat for being late Eleni wants to give Mihalis a sweater. She apologizes for it not being finished so Mihalis pulls the string to make it come undone - his dreams are finished. He experiences humiliation in Ellis Island and plays for some small insignificant bands. He cannot believe he is so unlucky and that is is the real America.

As Eleni finds her dead son who was in the army she is now so lost with nobody left to love after everyone including Mihalis has died.

"Every blade of grass held little drops of dew that fell ever so often on the soft earth. This meadow is the source of the river."

Pain will turn to prosperity.

Michelangelo Antonioni: L'Avventura

2010-02-17T22:20:00.000-08:00

Director/Writer - Michelangelo Antonioni

Cast Character

Gabriele Ferzetti - Sandro

Monica Vitti - Claudia

Lea Massari - Anna

Dominique Blanchar - Giulia

Renzo Ricci - Anna's Father

L'Avventura is a film about loss, alienation and the struggle to place meaning on things that do not necessarily need them. There is quiet solitude between the images and characters throughout the film. They understand and console eachother through the inevitable. The inevitability of their pain, shame and who they are and how they can never change. The film places heavy refection on the ocean and it's power - symbolic of the unconscious mind. The characters are also reflected in the wild ocean through their desires, fears and erratic tendencies.

At the start of the film we are introduced to Anna a sullen woman made even more-so by her father's reminding that her boyfriend, Sandro, will never marry her. He is a playboy and unapologetic at that. Her father represents strength and dignity as he is a politician. The film doesn't show his dealings or his character as he is briefly in the film but by later in the film we can infer he is dignified of sorts.

Claudia lets Sandro take her in the hotel primarily to make her friend Ana jealous. The fast river current under the balcony shows the torrid feelings she has for Anna. As they make there way to the boat trip they head to Aeolian Islands. On the boat Lady Patrizia a self made aristocrat of sorts says, "Islands I don't get them ... surrounded by nothing but water...poor things..." This shows her and the rest of the groups spiritual isolation. They are unreachable, incommunicable even with each other. They talk tritely with one another through fixed lines and prepackaged emotions.

In a funny scene with Raimondo and Patrizia he gropes her after she lights a cigarette. She lights a cigarette before and not after showing her boredom and dissatisfaction with life in having everything. Sandro comments she is faithful not out of obligation but rather laziness. When you have a yacht, money and everything you want nothing can satisfy.

The location they go to, Aeolian island, of all places is cold, rough and uninviting much like the characters. Anna on the island asks Sandro why he hasn't married her. The rocky uninviting island and the choppy water symbolize their uneasy relationship. She wants commitment, he wants freedom.

Soon Anna inexplicably disappears. Claudia looks for Anna. Sandro says it is her typical behavior that drives him mad. Sandro's clothes blend with the rock showing he is part of the background for Anna. Her disappearance is metaphysical, a suicide of the soul, denoting her her unhappiness. She chooses to vanish through her endless frustration.

Claudia looks at two twigs together one intact, one broken, like their ambiguous relationship. Claudia is fine, Anna is damaged. From the scene where they are changing bathing suits one can guess they are lesbians. They take their time when changing clothes not shy to look at each other.

They meet a man who visits the house on the island from Panarea. They question thoroughly thinking he could have kidnapped or taken her but he is bewildered by this. Finally he suggest she might have fallen off the cliff because he had a lamb that did. Ana is like a sacrificial lamb making up for the group's lack of spirituality and emptiness. But more so Ana dies through metaphysical suicide because of her hollowness. Her soul and spirit are dead so her body soon follows. She also avenges Sandro for his lack of seriousness in her.

The story then focuses on Claudia. The tension between she and Sandro starts from concern of Anna then moves to Sandro's attraction to her. This happens rather quickly for him funnily. He replaces one void for another. As Claudia breaks down and cries Patrizia doesn't do anything but just watches her. Many of the conversations and characters' actions throughout the film show the peoples' superficiality and dis-ingenuousness. The best one is when Sandro explains he loathes scuba diving but must conform. Claudia escapes all of Sandro's advances which come at some of the most inappropriate of times including on the island shortly after Anna goes missing. He is shameless and somewhat heroic.

Anna's father arrives by boat and is relieved Anna had a Bible making him believe she didn't commit suicide. As Sandro boards the boat to see Claudia he finally makes a move and kisses her to which she is fearful and tries to escape. The camera angle of the boat rocks left and right showing her dizzy, ambiguous feelings.

Claudia tries to leave by train. Sandro wants to go but she suggests he find Anna because it would complicate things further. She leaves to Milazzo but Sandro chases the train and hops on. He pushes further reminding her to forget Anna but Claudia's guilt is strong. As she sees a guy in the next compartment flirting with a girl it reminds her of Sandro's positive qualities and lightens the mood. As Claudia snaps of her trance she begs Sandro to not look for her. She most likely fears what happened to Anna will happen to her. He reluctantly leaves.

The next scene is filmed in a cinema-verite style reminiscent of the film Battle of Algiers. A funny scene has a loacl celebrity, Gloria Perkins, who is 19 goes to a notions shop to fix her dress which is ripped. Hundreds of men gather in their depravity hoping to see her. She gladly shows off her torn dress to everyone.

Sandro meets Zuria, a newspaper writer who wrote an article on Anna's disappearance. Sandro hopes to get some information on her. He tells hm there are rumors of her spottings in Rome and other cities but nothing is confirmed. He hints she may have sailed away in secret. When Sandro returns to his group they make jokes of her disappearance and carry on like nothing.

Giulia introduces Claudia to Goffredo, the princess's gradson who is 17. He is a stereotypical painter and does only nudes. He gives Giulia some cheesy dialogue to try and seduce her, she plays along. Claudia is the only person in the film concerned about Anna. The rest act their parts to give fake sympathy. Goffredo seduces Giulia in front of Claudia to which Giulia demands she leave.

Sandro continues his search of Anna. The next scene is pretty funny between the dispute between the pharmacist and his wife who argue over the attractive woman who came in. The husband and wife give different descriptions which are useless to Sandro at this point. When the paracist and Sandro are alone he tells him she went to Noto.

Sandro and Claudia go to a church and Claudia calls in:

Clauida: "Hear the echo... Why is it empty?"

Sandro: "Who knows. I wonder why they built it at all."

This is Antonioni's way of showing his characters as empty and searching to fill that void. Sandro has accepted his hollowness and chooses to move on quite fast as we see after Anna goes missing. He wonders why faith is offered when having it offers nothing in return. Claudia is more conflicted. It is as if Claudia is asking God what to do to which he is silent - giving her permission to further the affair.

The next scene has Sandro and Claudia kissing happily - no guilt for the first time. In a funny scene with Claudia around a hundred men followand stare at her once Sandro is away. This is her guilt crawling up again. The men are her subconscious. The men may also reprensent Anna's scorn.

He takes her to a square with magnificant buildings. He explains his profession as an architect and like an architect must convince her their foundation is strong and ready to be built upon. He explains he must do much estimating and cost evaluations - hinting he fools around and that is all part of the game. She is weary. A nun takes them to the top of the roof to show them the roof.

He asks her to get married. She says no. Eventually after much persuading she says yes. The next scene has her dancing and singing in her apartment like a kid again. When he is sullen - she knows he is thinking of Anna and she gets needy again. Her love is primarily based on narcissism and attention. His on power and ego.

One good scene is when inside the hotel Sandro looks out his window. The camera pans around to his view of the church. He closes the window - closig his eyes on ethics - to try to have sex with Claudia without remorse or guilt. She repulses knowing about Anna. They continue looking for her. As they go to a party she meets a friend who she tries to avoid. When they sit down a man above is seen with a rosary in his hand making her uncomfortable as Sandro was uncomfortable with the window open.

The next hotel they feel comfortable as there is heavy curtains up. This obviously shows their guilt for what they are doing. He meets Gloria Perkins at the party.

When Claudia confides in Patrizia about Anna she gives her trite advice. Everyone in the film is hollow and uncaringof one another except Claudia and even she is no saint. She is the only one who keeps searching emotionally and spiritually.

When she finds Sandro with Gloria Perkins she breaks down. When he returns to her he has nothing but visible shame. It is enough remorse for her for forgiveness.

Wong Kar Wai: Chungking Express

2010-02-10T02:54:00.001-08:00

Chungking Express

Director/Writer – Kar Wai Wong

Cast Character

Brigitte Lin Woman in blonde wig

Tony Leung Chiew Wai Cop 663

Faye Wong Faye

Takeshi Kaneshiro He Zhiwu, Cop 223

Valerie Chow Air Hostess

Chen Jinguan Manager of Midnight Express

Chungking Express is not so much a movie about characters and plot, but rather moods and atmosphere. Wong Kar Wai is a master of subtlety navigating your senses through calm transitions of color and camera angles to give you a canvas of raw energy and emotion no other director could touch. His film is more of an impressionistic painting seduced by the music not unlike Godard’s Breathless. He brings you to his charming characters that are arrested in not their limitations but the immobilizing possibility of “what if.” No other film shows this dilemma more masterfully than In the Mood for Love and Chungking Express.

Chungking Express is about two lovelorn cops trying to forget past women without sabotaging new ones that come into their lives. Each cop meets a woman who is fascinating in their own way but preoccupied by their own worlds and whims. They seek the ethereal, the men seek the tangible and real. This creates a believable and engaging chemistry between the actors that is nothing short of hypnotic. All things come to an end and everything has an expiration date even a can of pineapple. Cop 223, He Zhiwu, buys a can of pineapple each month with an expiration of May 1. He waits for the time he will be rejoined with his lost love and repeats this agonizing torture.

Wong Kar Wai uses stop motion photography in his film to add a sense of danger and tension of the unknown and chaos of these people’s lives and their fractured hearts. The film starts with He Zhiwu, Cop 223, calling several women from his past hoping to get a date. It is both hilarious and embarrassing to feel his frustration. He is optimistic and unrelenting despite his failures. He is lovable but very sad. The colors in Wong Kar Wai’s films are so rich and saturated you feel as if they dictate the mood throughout. The same is true for his film Ashes of Time Redux which is equally stunning.

The film is constructed into two parts. One centering on He Zhiwu and his pursuit after the mysterious women in a blonde wig and the second on the distant romance of Cop 663 and Faye. The first two are distant and tense. The second pair is playful but timid.

What is interesting about both couples is that they seem to be the same people. The two men are given police numbers and the two women’s names and Faye and May. Both sets of people may be symbolically the same representing their past and present selves. Their past selves are more tense and frantic their present selves played by Tony Leung and Faye Wong are more accepting of their situation and are playful about it.

Cop 223 vows to buy 30 cans of pineapple for 30 months as due dates for May’s love. She loved pineapple hence the idea. One of the funniest scenes in the film is when after a failed drug smuggling the blonde mysterious woman kidnaps an Indian’s daughter threatening to kill her then takes her to ice cream while the conspirator waits. Chance meetings and interactions detail the film. Just like when Cop 223 bumps into the mysterious blonde, we see Faye exiting a shop buying a bear as the mysterious blonde waits outside.

It is interesting why Wong Kar Wai put a fish tank in the film. Maybe it symbolizes Cop 223 waiting for his ex girlfriend’s love like the fish waiting for the crumbs. The voiceover’s and musings are funny throughout.

Cop 223: We're all unlucky in love sometimes. When I am, I go jogging. The body loses water when you jog, so you have none left for tears.

His birthday is on May 1 and runs to rid himself of tears. It is no coincidence his birthday and love is May. It is little nuances like this that make the movie so enjoyable.

The way the foreigner puts a blonde wig on his worker’s head is like that of the mysterious blonde. Later we see the mysterious blonde kill him and drop the wig transferring herself to the new woman giving up on the potentially ambiguous relationship between the foreigner and her. Most likely he was involved with the drug smuggling where the Indians stole the dope. As he dies there is a funny shot of a can with an expiration date – all things must come to an end.

As the new chapter of the story begins we get Cop 223, played by Tony Leung, who order a chef salad. He and Faye give one of the best conversations in the movie:

Cop 663: You like noisy music?

Faye: The louder the better. Stops me from thinking.

Cop 663: You don't like to think? What do you like?

Faye: Never thought about it.

Cop 663 orders fish and chips and salad for his girlfriend symbolizing options and that he can change for her. But like the rejected food people know what they like and usually never change. When she does try to contact him she goes to Midnight Express to drop off a letter for him. Faye studies her intently to see Cop 663’s type. A hilarious scene follows of everyone in the whole restaurant taking turns reading the letter. She leaves the keys to his apartment in the letter, which will be Faye’s advantage throughout the film.

The fractured stop motion camera shots show Faye and Cop 663 stuck in time. He is lost in his thoughts; she is becoming lost in him. In his apartment he loses himself in his wallows. He talks to his possessions to ease his pain.

Cop 663: Since she left, everything in the flat is sad. Everything needed lulling to sleep.
[to a bar of soap]

Cop 663: You've lost a lot of weight, you know. You used to be so chubby. Have more confidence in yourself.
[to a threadbare wet dishcloth]

Cop663: You have to stop crying, you know. Where's your strength and absorbency? You're so shabby these days.

After telling him she has his letter, she asks for his address to send it to him. Faye yearns for him from afar but puts on her carefree self. What entails is a series of break-ins where she redecorates his apartment. Replacing old things with new symbolizing her want for him to move on emotionally from his ex girlfriend.

When he tries to call out his ex’s name to get out of the closet hoping in his mind she will return. Instead we get the mischievous Faye who actually is in the closet who hides throughout the apartment. When he leaves she calls out to him the same way his air hostess ex girlfriend did leading one to believe they are in fact cosmically the same person. She also plays with the toy airplane the same way his ex did. She goes on to clean his apartment and look at his bed with a magnifying glass to look for women’s hairs. As he tells her earlier that he drinks coffee because he cannot sleep, she breaks into his apartment again and puts sleeping pills in his water. She replaces the old white stuffed animal with a big orange one of Garfield. Again she is trying to subtly put herself in his life and in his subconscious. Before leaving she erases his outgoing answering machine message with his ex girlfriend’s voice.

When she is finally caught in his apartment she gets a cramp and cannot leave. Another funny similarity between Cop 663’s ex girlfriend and Faye are they loved the same song “California Dreamin.” All the similarities between these two women show they are in fact the same person.

Spoilers

When he does finally visit her at the restaurant to ask her out. She is scared after being caught in his apartment. He tells her to meet him at California Restaurant. She seems excited after he leaves but sabotages herself for fear of possible failure. When he goes and waits for her the owner of Midnight Express brings him a note saying she couldn’t make it. This is the same way he was let go by the Air Hostess. Faye becomes an Air Hostess leaves for one year to return later to Hong Kong. Faye tries to become his ex so he desires her more. When she returns the fire is still alive.

Martin Scorsese: After Hours

2010-02-04T03:25:00.000-08:00

After Hours

Director – Martin Scorsese
Writer – Joseph Minion
Cinematographer – Michael Ballhaus

Actor Character
Griffin Dunne Paul Hacket
Rosanna Arquette Marcy Franklin
Verna Bloom June
Tommy Chong Pepe
Linda Fiorentino Kiki
Cheech Marin Neil

After Hours is a comedy that goes 100 miles per hour about a poor shlup on the worst night of his life. Paul Hackett is a typist who lives his life in complete cyclic boredom. He is emotionally comatose and without any sense enthusiasm for anything. His luck, so he thinks changes when one sleepless night he goes to a diner to read a book. He meets an interesting blonde. Scorsese is particularly fond of blondes in is films not unlike Alfred Hitchcock. She begins commenting on the book he is reading and as things progress he agrees to buy her friend’s paperweight at her apartment hoping to get lucky. Paul reads “Tropic of Cancer” in a restaurant that uses a dolly shot that reminds one of the scene in Taxi Driver where Travis Bickle and Betsy are talking in her campaign headquarters. It expresses movement, opportunity and disorder. Scorsese’s movies are frantic with camera angles in order to show the inner turmoil of his characters.

His character Paul played by Griffin Dunne is just a normal guy trying to be happy and trying to get laid. Not demanding goals in life. Everyone around him is a nutcase to which he tries to glide through unaffected. When Marcy, the girl from the coffee shop, invites him to her place the expression on his face is priceless. He looks like he is going to faint from joy. There is an interesting shot on him on the telephone with Marcy. The close-up goes from his mouth to his ear then to his eye. It starts as uncertainty to joy then hesitation again.

Things quickly descend from bad to shit as Paul loses his 20-dollar bill that flies out the taxi window. The scene is shot in a hyper kinetic fashion similar to the scenes with ambulance in Bringing Out the Dead.
He meets Kiki, a plaster sculptress, and in one of the best lines of the movie:

Paul: Is Marcy here?
Kiki: She has to go to the all night drugstore.
Paul: Is she alright?
Kiki: It’s under control.

To further Griffin Dunne’s realistic portrayal of anxiety and paranoia in the film Martin Scorsese told him to not have sex or sleep during the filming of the movie. Every scene he seems agitated and on edge because of this. In the film Paul is a shy horndog trying to get lucky with whomever. As he gives Kiki a massage he tells her a story to which she falls asleep. When Marcy comes in she sees her asleep on the couch with only a bra on with Paul beside her. The tension is so thick in this scene. When he goes to Marcy’s room he sits on the bed while she is in the shower and we see two people having sex in the background out of focus in the next building. It shows what’s constantly on his mind and his frustration. He tries to seduce her but quickly goes into the dry crotch “friend zone.” Instant death.
Marcy tells him a story about being raped:

Marcy: I was raped once. As a matter of fact it happened right here in this very room. I lived here once. He came in through there on the fire escape. He held a knife to my throat and said if I made a move, he'd cut my tongue out. He tied me to the bed... he took his time... six hours.
Paul: My god... Was he, uh... did they get this guy?
Marcy: No. Actually it was a boyfriend of mine. To tell you the truth, I slept through most of it. So... there you are.

He escapes the apartment and her weirdness and as the weirdness ensues a low angle Dutch-tilts show Paul’s impending doom. As he tries to buy a subway ticket he again is down on his luck as the fare went up that night leaving him stranded:

Paul: Couldn't you just give me one token, please?
Subway Attendant: I can't do that. I may lose my job.  [Paul looks around and sees no one else in the station]
Paul: Well, who would know... exactly?
Subway Attendant: I could go to a party, get drunk, talk to someone... who knows?

Spoilers

As he goes to Terminal Bar the bartender agrees to give him subway fare in exchange for a ticket. They exchange keys as a deposit of trust. He goes to his apartment and is accused of being a burglar. After this he goes to Kiki’s apartment he finds Marcy dead overdosed on pills. He goes back to the Terminal Bar finds a woman there who looks as if she stepped out of the 1950s who seems interested in Paul. His luck looks as if it begins to change but everything this guy touches turns to shit. She turns out to be psychotic emotional mess after he makes a joke trying to lighten the mood. He gets her to shut up and stop crying after agreeing he will see her again. She then gives him a bagel paperweight as a reward to returning to him.

He meets Gale who is another nutcase who offers to drive him home in her ice cream truck of all vehicles. Once she sees a sign of Paul as a falsely accused burglar she blows a whistle to the mob and they chase after him. Once atop a stairwell he witnesses a woman murdering her husband and wisely says, “I’ll probably get blamed for that.”

Just as he finds his bartender friend and explains the craziness that has happened, the bartender tells him he will get his keys. He then tells Julie and the angry mob he is in the diner.
He hides in an alternative goth club and tries to seduce the only woman there. He needs anything or anyone to calm his nerves. She helps him hide by putting him in a plaster statue while the mob looks in the bar and her workspace. After everyone leaves Cheech and Chong enter in and steal the plaster statue that Cheech is fond of. Saying:

Pepe: Art sure is ugly.
Neil: Shows how much you know about art. The uglier the art, the more it’s worth.
Pepe: This must be a fortune, man.
They load him in the van and drive across New York having him fall out on the street in front of his job. He brushes himself off as if nothing happened.

What’s so great about this film is how Scorsese can work wonders on a small budget. They use every zany opportunity to torture this poor guy which flows from one situation to the next seamlessly. The camera is always moving adding tension and paranoia throughout the film.

The Hidden Blade

2010-01-28T06:05:00.000-08:00

Hidden Blade (2004)

Director – Yoji Yamada

Writer – Yoji Yamada

Yoshitaka Asama

Cinematography – Mutsuo Naganuma

Art Direction – Yoshinobu Nishioka

Actor Character

Masatoshi Nagase ... Munezô Katagi

Takako Matsu ... Kie

Hidetaka Yoshioka ... Samon Shimada

Yukiyoshi Ozawa .... Yaichirô Hazama

Ken Ogata ... Chief Retainer Hori

The Hidden Blade is a perfect example of minimalist filmmaking excelled through powerful story and believable characters. Everything is restrained and confident in the film including the direction, acting and cinematography. It doesn’t show off or try to be something it isn’t. Even the emotions of the characters are reserved. Much of the lighting in the film is naturalistic as is the cinematography. The depth of focus is even through out the film keeping your attention on the immediate. The foreground and background are equally as important as the characters are with their village and the world. This equality lets all the actors be important through a lack of distracting flashy camera angle. It is remarkably simplistic yet impressive.

The recurring theme is duty vs. individual desire. A constant tension throughout the film

restrains the characters from exercising their desires as seen by the underlying love story between Kie and Munezô. Munezô takes her in as a maid despite her being of a lower caste. He falls in love with her and hides it due to his reputation as a samurai.

One of the most interesting scenes is at the funeral of Munezô Katagi’s mother. His uncle and Bunemon insult him for using firearms in front of the lord. His uncle tells them they should use swords and spears as the require skill whereas cannons do not. “Swords require skills that decide the victor” says his uncle. The discarding of the old weapons which represent tradition for modern one insults the elders as they see their culture diluted by modern practices. They see this as they themselves being replaced. To add insult to injury this is suggested by Munezô who is 40 years old and not married yet. He cannot marry as he is in love with Kie who would tamper his reputation being she is a lowly maid and she is already married.

When Munezô finds out she is deathly sick he is outraged his friends don’t tell him as he is the only one who really cares for her. Her mother-in-law keeps her in a cold little room, tucking her problem away. After a week or so with him she feels better and is cheerful again. The funniest part is when the mother-in-law tells him she is married to which he tells his friend, Samon, to write a statement of divorce.

His deepest friend, Hazama, who left to Edo for an important mission has now been jailed for plotting rebellion. He was involved with the Shogunate. Now Munezô has to see Chief Retainer Hori because of his connection to Hazama. Their connection is that they studied fencing and sword fighting together under Master Toda.

Hazama left in anger when Munezô was chosen by Toda over Hazama to learn the specialized school of the “Hidden Blade.” The overseer questions him and tempts him with a list of names and asks Munezô to tell them who was friendly with Hazama. He refuses. “A samurai does not inform on his fellows.” Munezô chooses honor over opportunity. The risk of death is a bargain over tarnishing his name. A fate he compassionately tries to offer Hazama later in the story.

Munezô’s father follows Bushido code of courage by taking responsibility and his life over a business discrepancy that wasn’t his fault. He sacrifices his life to save his fellow workers without question. This pain leaves Munezô to be a father figure to Kie in return for his father’s bravery.

The film values order and duty. Everyone knows their place and everyone does what they are suppose to do. Questioning this is unthinkable and an insult to authority. Social harmony is more important than individual opinions and differences. This is shown in the sense when Munezô asks Kie to tell him a poem which she shyly does. He enjoys it but her attraction to him intimidates her. He asks her again so she complies. She knows her place, he knows his. Another area duty is shown is when Munezô ordered to kill his closest friend Hazama to which he reluctantly agrees.

The love between Munezô and Kie is strong. Their emotions are subdued as they are from different castes and his almost fatherly role over her. She was his maid for three and a half years. He cannot afford to have rumors of him sleeping with her. This taboo adds to their attraction. On top of that he has a protector personality as seen when he pleads with Hazama to end his life with honor than fight with a tarnished name. The scene where he orders her to leave is excruciating to watch because we know their pain and his reluctance to truly want her gone.

Munezô now under pressure from authorities and rumors of his relationship to Kie caves in and agrees to kill his friend Hazama. He does so more out of duty and his role as a obedient position to his master. He is the only swordsman who capable of defeating him. He is cornered from all sides emotionally.

One of the best scenes from the film is when Munezô goes to his old sensei telling him he must kill his friend. It is the saddest part of the film because his teacher complies as did Munezô when the overseer pressures him. As they train to fight he tells Munezô to relax his body and mind. His teacher shows him to frustrate and anger his enemy as a weapon against him.

Spoilers

Hazama’s wife visits Munezô and asks him for a favor wearing a black cloak. This foreshadows her being a widow. She begs him to let Hazama escape. She even offers herself in desperation. It is humiliating to watch. This is something Cheif Retainer Hori takes advantage of later.

Munezô shows bravery by pleading with his old friend, Hazama, to commit suicide and he will follow in turn out of respect. He tells him if he doesn’t he has to kill him. Munezô pleads with Hazama to accept Hara-kiri, suicide, to protect his name and the reputation of his wife who will be known to have married a criminal.

When Hazama is finished by Munezô, riflemen shoot at him – the most dishonorable way to die – outside the blade.

Munezô talks to the Senior Retainer and explains himself. He asks if Hazama’s wife saw him last night. Chief Retainer Hori promised to let Hazama escape because he slept with her to which he brags to his friend and geishas. He lies to her justifying Hazama’s fate was already sealed and she knew he would die anyways. Munezô keeps his composure in light of Senior Retainer admitting his lie. Munezô redeems himself by standing up to Retainer Hori by killing him later in secret using the secret of the “Hidden Blade.”

As Munezô clears his conscience and responsibility he retreats to the wilderness to find someone special.

What makes The Hidden Blade so good is its subtle performances, restrained cinematography and attention to detail. The set direction and pieces in the film were extremely realistic. The costumes are also very well made and add to this realism. The film never shows off or has pretentious moments.

10/10

Buñuel: The Exterminating Angel - Trading One Hell for Another

2010-01-17T04:43:00.000-08:00

I observed things that moved me and I wanted to transpose those things on to the screen -- but to do so with love I have for the instinctive and the irrational that can reveal itself in anything and everything. I've always been drawn toward the strange and the unknown.

Everyone is free to find in my films anything he likes or whatever is useful to him.

In the name of Hippocrates, doctors have invented the most exquisite form of torture ever known to man: survival.

-Luis Buñuel

The Exterminating Angel

A dinner group becomes inexplicably stuck in a room under mysterious circumstances unable to leave. As they become annoyed by this phenomenon they try to figure out how to leave degrading from pettiness to savagery. The high society group stays here trying to leave until irrational logic saves them from the most unexpected of places.

Buñuel like no other director understands class hypocrisy, religion and surrealistic absurdity. The Exterminating Angel is obsessed with class hypocrisy especially in the elites plight for survival. Survival is stressed here in both physical and social. After being invited to the opera and back home the dinner guests cannot leave due to some inexplicable spell. They ignore this minor inconvenience through fake manners in turn eased by nasty gossip. Buñuel is mocking high society similar to the way Robert Altman did in Gosford Park.

The film starts off on Providence Street, which is ironic given the circumstances that will happen to the elite group in the film. Buñuel here laughs at religion in excellent, parodied foreshadowing of things to come.

The Exterminating Angel takes great lengths to mock superstitious beliefs as well as praise superstitious beliefs as the answers to the problems it brings. The rich cling to their culture and emptiness comforted by its routine. Once they a fed up by this and their life of privilege they emotionally break down and flee to religion to bring meaning back into their lives as represented by the sheep at the end of the film. Strangely it condemns the rational and logical as seen by the characters ignoring the calm and methodical doctor throughout the film. Their misery doesn’t go only transfers. They trade one hell for another.

The symbolic sheep that are tied down representing religion yearn to be free but at the end of the film when they are finally free what do they do? They run right back into church. The symbolism is over the top at times but effective nonetheless. By today’s standards this wouldn’t be that controversial but for a Spanish director filming in Mexico in the early 60s this is huge.

The film likes to point and laugh at the ridiculousness of group thinking from the elite socialites vs. the rationality from the doctor. The high society group in the film degrades slowly into savages rationalizing their behaviors in order to survive. The plight of human survival is a struggle between the reptilian and mammalian brain as represented by the dinner guests vs. the doctor. The dinner guests fight for a drop of water after destroying the walls to get to the water pipes while the doctor insists that they form a line to drink. Their irrational behavior stems from fear for survival both socially and physically. They grow paranoid, distrustful, and obsessive – functions of the reptilian brain. On the other hand their other side which is more compassionate praises Blanca for her piano performance when they are tired and don’t want to listen anymore. The doctor on the other hand is more compassionate and patient. Even as they grow tired of him he tries to offer compassion when they threaten to kill him.

The dinner group also suffers from “group think” and narcissism. They are stuck in the room for two days fearing the world outside has died as the only possible explanation for why they haven’t been saved. This is Buñuel humorous jab at the higher class and its obsession with itself. The only time they refer to other people is when they fear others have forgotten about tem leaving them to be doomed.

A Norse mythical character that appears in the film is the character, Valkyrie. This is interesting considering a Valkyrie decides who dies in battle when she herself is one of the most helpless people in the film. This is Buñuel’s jab at religion and it’s failure for protection to lost souls. Buñuel once famously said, “God and Country` are an unbeatable team; they break all records for oppression and bloodshed." There is a certain paradox here considering how many religious paintings are inside the house. Also one of the first shots of the film has a dolly shot of the outside of the house, which looks remarkably similar to a Catholic church’s architecture. Admiring a thing’s beauty is not synonymous with admiring its function.

The bear in the film was not explained by Buñuel at all. His son was instructed to be vague when interviewers questioned him. Buñuel like David Lynch leaves it up to your interpretation. One way of seeing the bear is as fear from religion and the sheep inside that are tied to the table unable to move.

Throughout the film many of the guests question why they are never able to leave to room. Many say they will leave immediately growing tired, frustrated and fearful. They are like the customs and beliefs they have adopted, unchanging, paranoid and fear inducing. Only when the guests though irrational logic decide to kill Nobile (nobility) do they make any progress. Ethics arrests progress.

As they break the curse and return to the outside the first place they return is to church to atone for their sins. Funnily though they cannot escape church now and the curse is again placed on them. Clinging to one thing entirely destroys oneself as oppose to having a balance.

The film is intelligent and open to endless possibilities for interpretations. Surrealistic aspects are prevalent throughout the film including a humorous severed hand scene that reminds one of the film The Addam’s Family. Multiple viewings are necessary but like true art it is up to one’s own interpretation to make it accessible.

High Noon

2010-01-14T01:55:00.000-08:00

High Noon

Directed by Fred Zinnemann

Starring

Gary Cooper – Marshall Will Kane

Grace Kelly – Amy Fowler Kane

Lloyd Bridges – Deputy Marshall Harvey Pell

Martin: People gotta talk themselves into law and order before they do anything about it. Maybe because down deep they don't care. They just don't care.

High Noon opens with a long shot of a man smoking a cigarette then top another man coming in by horse. These shots are specifically distinctive to westerns – shots that show the power and romanticism of the west. They show the possibility of expansion and freedom.

As the three horsemen come into town everyone watches, everyone is scared. The horse is scared of the Marshall sign though. There is a great backwards tracking shot that is under cranked showing the justice of the peace sign as both Amy Fowler and Will Kane get married. This speed up in cinematography shows the tumultuous relationship they will go through as the bandits come into town.

Marshall Kane (Gary Cooper) turns in his badge after getting married. After Frank Miller is pardoned everyone wants him to leave town. Will Kane though stays in town despite it’s his honeymoon and last day on the job. Amy Fowler (Grace Kelly) begs him to leave but he refuses. His duty is more important than her. Despite threatening to leave him if he stays to defend the town Will Kane chooses his duty unflinchingly.

Amy Fowler Kane chooses to leave town to St. Louis despite Kane. As Kane struggles to find men to fight off Frank Miller, a convicted murderer, he finds no one to help him. He stays though.

On top of all these struggles Kane has to deal with his power hungry second-in-command Harvey Pell who dates Helen Ramirez, Kane’s ex, to gain power. He also tries to manipulate Will Kane for control of the town early on for the glory but Kane fulfills his last day dutifully.

As Kane is alone everyone is also against him. Even an old shopkeeper bets within five minutes he will be dead. No one join his crew because they know they will be dead in such a small band. To make matters even worse Kane sets aside his pride and begs the townspeople in the church to help defend the town. The preacher turns to cowardice as he can’t advocate defending the town as it involved murder. The most influential person who can sway people’s moral judgment and action falters.

Besides Will Kane, Helen Ramirez is the only one with dignity because she tells it like it is when she has to explain that Will Kane is brave going at it alone and Harvey Pell is a coward for falling back. Even Kane’s wife, Amy, is a coward who begs Kane to leave.

The most revealing part of Harvey Pell is when he tries to get Will Kane to leave town to mask his own cowardice and fear. He is persistent and unrelenting in trying to get Kane on the horse and gone./ He fights him when Kane decides to stay but Kane won’t budge because he chooses honor and duty above all else.

There is an excellent shot of doom in the railroad station with the three cowboys in focus in the foreground, midground and background. Their sizes are staged to get bigger from left to right giving a sense of heightened danger. The man on the right only has his gun in the frame providing excellent purpose and tension. They all look at and prepare their guns without speaking.

The tension of the train is intercut with various shots of the cowboys, townspeople bidding farewell and Kane writing his will. Shots of an empty town show the people’s reluctance to stand up and fight. During the shootout there are many low angle shots and over the shoulder close-ups bringing us into the battle as intense as a movie from this decade can get.

White Heat

2010-01-10T16:56:00.000-08:00

Made it, Ma! Top of the world!”

James Cagney – Arthur ‘Cody’ Jarrett
Virginia Mayo – Verna Jarrett
Edmond O’Brien – Vic Pardo
Margaret Wycherly – Ma Jarrett
Steve Cochran – Big Ed Somers

This review contains major spoilers

White Heat opens with an dynamic train shot leaving a tunnel. A shot that is as exciting as those train shots found in Doctor Zhivago. James Cagney stars in this
film that stands up today with its clever use of surveillance, damsel in distress and betrayals. It's opening competes with that of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid in the train robbery scene. Cody Jarrett played by James Cagney is much more brutal and menacing.

The cinematography is sharp making good use of low angle and tracking shots. There is always movement in the movie adding to the tension and progress to the story.
The lines add punch to this classic as well, “if that battery is dead it will have company.” Cody is a ruthless yet charismatic killer but only has one weakness – his domineering mother, Ma Jarrett which is counterbalanced by his power he has over his crew and wife. She is the only one that can get her hooks into him as seen in the drive-in cinema scene. He talks disparagingly to his wife Verna but affectionately to his mother. This tension is seen throughout as they both compete for his attention. She also sits next to him with his wife farthest away symbolizing the level of importance these two women in his life. This is further proven as he kisses his mother goodbye first and then his wife.

After the tunnel robbery of the Federal Reserve train he discusses how he will take the rap for the Springfield hotel robbery job for a lesser sentence. Once inside as an informant Hank is planted by detective Philip Evans to befriend and get information on Cody. Cody suspects him as possible threat of sorts. Hank stuck out considering he didn’t seem like the criminal type despite compensating trough violent behavior as in the line to get the shot. Eventually Cody lets his guard down as Hank saves his life from a falling mechanism in the prison. This leads to Cody’s undoing as Hank sets him and his whole crew up.

This film shows Verna Jarrett, Cody’s, to be less than angelic. She is a blonde dressed in white similar to Martin Scorsese’s character of Ginger in Casino. At first she is introduced as a sleeping naiveté but later is shown to be anything but that. The soft focus shot as she helps Cody plan to kill Big Ed shows her muddled and conflicting feelings for both of them. She flirts with Big Ed and tries to find any angle she can to save herself from Cody’s possible imprisonment. The funniest scene is when she tries to cut a deal with the cops and they ignore her story and send her to jail. She flirts ferociously to try to save herself but nothing works.

The large Xs at the refinery add visual symbolism marking the impending doom and deaths around the corner. They are seen throughout the film adding visual dynamism.

The film deals with heavy use of surveillance and informants to build tension. The best in the car surveillance used to triangulate the location of Cody’s car. Cody’s biggest mistake is letting his guard down with Hank. When Cody finds out his mother is dead hopefully his final weakness died as well but his trust of Hank proved to his ultimate undoing. The scene where he has his meltdown adds some humor to its similarity of the breakdown of Jerry Maguire after being fired in Jerry Maguire. During both meltdowns everyone watches stunned, when they leave they all return to their business, classic. The getaway scene is powerful and is dynamic like that of Michael Mann’s Public Enemies.

How to be a Proper Film Snob

2009-09-04T03:55:00.000-07:00

Never watch foreign films dubbed. Only subtitles with the original language spoken is acceptable. Anything else is sacrilegious.

Any film that makes over 150 million dollars at the box office is shit no matter how much you secretly like it. Admitting you like it is equivalent to killing your first born child.

You must register to sites like DVDAficionado and IMDB bragging about how big your DVD collection is as if the movies you owned were the personal accomplishments you created.

Upon registering to IMDB you must argue incessantly to other people's "shitty" tastes and use words like overrated, underrated, genius and hack constantly.

You must then make a cool username like a movie name + birth year = Heat84. No matter how many people do this the fact YOU are doing this makes it original.

Widescreen format is the only acceptable standard to watch movies. Fullscreen is for simpletons. Fullscreen cuts 20% of the physical movie.

It is called a film and not a movie.

Remakes are all shit, regardless of the few like Insomnia and Bram Stoker's Dracula that surpass the originals.

Define who you are by your artistic likes rather than by your own personal accomplishments.

Alphabetize your DVD collection by director name, genre, actor name or medium format. This is absolutely crucial to any film snob apprentice.

Scoff at anyone who watches movies on PMP, MP3 Player or other similar device.

Claim to love and appreciate film despite stealing thousands of dollars in copyright infringements.

Everything from the 1980s was shit - fashion, music, film and architecture. (Actually these are all true.)

Recognize that the 1970s was the golden age of cinema. It was all downhill from then. Even though the 1960s were far superior.

Criterion DVDs are the only way to go.

The more obscure and random your favorite films and countries of origin that make them the better. Italian Neo-Realism is for beginners. Czechoslovakian New Wave is for pros.

Always arrive at the movies 30 minutes before the starting time. Missing the first 5 minutes is unacceptable as the crucial plot setup has been missed.

Never say the English translation of the title. Always use the native movie title.

Watching DVD director commentaries and having film books are the equivalent of film school.

Recognize Netflix was the greatest invention since the car, computer or wheel.

Be a complete pain-in-the-ass to go to a movie because nothing is good enough. Expect to have to take someone to a independent theater and expect to have to buy their ticket so they can watch your arthouse film. Also expect the person you are taking will never go to a movie with you again. Your friend just won't "get" Strangers With Candy.

Watching independent films doesn't cut it anymore. You have to watch local films.

You must follow the political leanings of your favorite artists no matter how obnoxious and self righteous they are. You look past their abuse of power in influencing weak minded people.

Watch every film from the AFI top 100 lists. This takes time and effort. Completing it should merit a medal or celebration as these lists are are updated.

Meeting other film snobs can be a blessing or a curse. The one who memorizes meaningless trivia and factoids to impress you at the dinner table are the most poisonous. They use their knowledge to to try to outdo you rather than to share a common interest. The more mature film snob gives you a lot of creative energy where you feed off of each other and complement each others styles. Tread lightly.

Being a film snob takes years of effort and must evolve to a personal style of your own - one that no longer emulates others but yearns to seek something you truly enjoy. Good luck film snob apprentices.

Atom Egoyan: The Architect of the Soul

2009-07-23T03:54:00.000-07:00

"Young man, do you know what still causes so much pain? It's not the people we lost, or the land. It's to know that we could be so hated. Who are these people, who could hate us so much? How can they still deny their hatred? And so hate us... hate us even more?" Edward Saroyan

Ararat reflect on one the 20th centuries most unobserved genocides in history, one that took over 1 million lives of Armenians by the Ottoman Turks. What Egoyan does masterfully in his film is using a film within a film as a confessional of his pain and reflections of this part in history. We see this most when the character of Martin Harcourt breaks out of character during filming by an upset Ani played by Arsinee Khanjian when she finds out that parts of the films might not be historically accurate. Egoyan here is asking the audience to sacrifice technical detail for the gravity of the Armenian genocide where Mount Ararat is closer than what might be accurate during the film set. Mount Ararat believed to be the origin of Armenian people is interesting in itself for symbolic reasons. It is so because it is the largest physical peak in Turkey similar to how the Armenian genocide is the biggest physical atrocity to Armenians. This can be shown in the scene where the director's assistant justifies the set backdrop appear closer than what is historically accurate. It brings the pain into focus so people do not forget. It says this is who we are and where we come from.

What is one of the many themes in the film is the subjectivity of truth. Did the Turks relocate the Armenians or were they systemically killed in a planned fashion? Raffi the main protagonist and Ali the Turkish actor playing in the film within a film discuss the Armenian genocide and whether it really was a genocide or not. Ali sensitive to Raffi just wants to be civil but we see his hesitation to fully admit it ever happened. He admits the Armenians were moved but can't bring himself to say they were purposely killed. Being Turkish within an Armenian evironnment of this historical film brings him to question his own beliefs and whether he is betraying his people by associating with such an unfortunate event. It is like damning his own people by admitting guilt. Other instances of this include the purpose of a cause to solidify a a larger truth. That in which Ani says that her husband jumped off a cliff whereas her step-daughter is convinced Ani pushed her step-father off a cliff. It is hard to believe that Ani would do this but we are not sure. She is strangely intuitive and controlling of her son who may be the only person who can bring her closure. For her he is a confessional to which no sins are admitted. Her job as an art professor makes her interesting in the sense that maybe her interpretations of other peoples' art such as Arshile Gorky has sophisticated her own talent in manipulating the truth of the the death of her husband more bearable and manageable. We want to believe she is innocent like Raffi is when questioned by the customs agent but we are not fully sold.

Raffi strangely enough is the most interesting character in the film because of the complex way everyone seems to use and manipulate him to get emotional revenge on others. Although he is ultimately weak and passive he holds a lot of innocent charm that makes him trustworthy and somewhat endearing. He seeks his own version of the truth by going to Turkey to make sense of his father's death as a political fighter. To make the past events of the genocide clearer and perhaps gain a purpose like what his father had. Unfortunately none of this came true and he is more lost than ever. He has conviction but not enough drive to unravel his issues and the projections other people put on him to alleviate their own emotional burdens. This is shown when his mother has a strange jealousy of his girlfriend and vice-versa of his girlfriend using him to infuriate his mother. She does so because she believes his mother pushed her father off a cliff. He is just a tool who is passive and unclear about what he wants and how to achieve it. The absence of a father figure has obviously emasculated him and not given him that male strength to be assertive and this is shown when he is submissive to both his girlfriend and mother. The girlfriend, Cecilia wants to read his book but he tells her she can't read it because he promised him mother. If he had a male rolemodel he most likely would have just told her he didn't want her to read it and not have to justify why.

Christopher Plummer's character David who is a customs officer is a god-like character not judgemental, patient and never emotional. He is like St. Peter to Raffi's ultimate fate. David never antagonises or pushes Raffi too hard. He lets time and Raffi's own anxiety destroy him. He watches him like an unseeing eye. But his position is reversed as he has to deal with his son's questioning as he drills him about not accepting his lifestyle. Here he buckles under pressure and sees the pain of his son to be accepted. This in turn makes him give Raffi the benefit of the doubt during customs to whether or not Raffi was smuggling heroin.

The strongest and most dynamic character is that of Edward Saroyan played by Charles Aznavour. He is unapologetic in his mission as the director in the film working with Ani and Ali in his artistic choices. When Ali (Elias Koteas) who as a Turk in the film asks him what Edward thought of his opinion about the Armenian Genocide Edward just looks at him unwavering and says, "It doesn't matter what you think." He then buys him some champagne to set aside the harsh feelings. Ani also argues about the historical inaccuracy in the film but Saroyan is a vigilant and civil as possible. He appreciates her opinion but doesn't need it. His mind is decided and he doesn't bend or break for anyone.

The depictions of the Armenian genocide within the film include rape, torture and death but the characters themselves are the most tragic. They are heavily flawed, complex individuals who have much shame and turmoil in who they are and how they live. What can be most positively said about this film is that no character is a foil. They all serve equally important roles and complement and expand each other's complex natures even more.

What is best about the film is that it is not over dramatic and heavy handed. It lets you decide for yourself who is ethical and what to believe. Is Raffi innocent? The real tragedy in the movie is when we lose faith in Raffi as he is interrogated by the customs official.

The ending like the photograph the mother gives to her son says it all. Never forget who you are and never forget where you came from.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmNw_7NoWms