Terrence Malick: Badlands

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

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

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

"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

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

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

"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.