Michelangelo Antonioni: L'Avventura

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.