Sight and Sound (2002) Greatest Films Club - Page 124

Re: Sight and Sound (2002) Greatest Films Club

I don't hate the ending of Blow Up, I think it's kind of funny and appropriate. but I never really got caught up in the mystery in the first place. :shrug:

Re: Sight and Sound (2002) Greatest Films Club

I think that the toilet would work just fine—as would everything else.

It would just take an hour of discussion as to wheatear it was worth it or not to use the toilet.

Re: Sight and Sound (2002) Greatest Films Club

Two really good ones tonight!

#328 - Love Me Tonight

This put a big smile on my face. A light and breezy musical comedy, with a marvelous anything-goes attitude. From the sounds of the city opening to the fairy tale ending, it's full of carefree little bits of business. Great gags, great songs, great energy. But it wouldn't be half as good without Maurice Chevalier, whose irresistible charm lights up the screen. Jeanette Macdonald is the weak link... she's okay, but she can't compete with Chevalier's infectious disposition. I thought Myrna Loy was a better match for him. Rating: 9


#329 - Il Deserto Rosso

Antonioni isn't necessarily a lot like Bergman, but they kind of dwell in the same realm. And it's no surprise to me that his most Bergmanesque film (at least, of what I've seen) would be my favorite. With its story of a woman veering over the edge of sanity, I couldn't help but think of Through a Glass Darkly, and also shades of Face to Face and perhaps even The Silence. In fact, Monica Vitti even looks quite a bit like Ingrid Thulin. And her performance is riveting (although I'd say Richard Harris was wasted). The whole thing is incredibly thoughtful and nuanced, giving you much to absorb and appreciate without overwhelming you. The cinematography is the best I've seen in an Antonioni film, with bold color and heaps of haunting images. And the sound design is an unsettling mix of industrial hum and electronic noise. I also found this to be the most emotionally involved of his movies, which is one reason why I connected with it more than I usually do. Beautiful and strange and definitely worth coming back to. Rating: 9

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Neither did Antonioni

Re: Sight and Sound (2002) Greatest Films Club

#330 - Rue cases nègres (Sugar Cane Alley)

Euzhan Palcy has distinguished herself (at least, according to iMDB) for being the first black woman to direct a Hollywood movie, A Dry White Season. I saw that one in the theaters and thought it was a decent but unremarkable drama. This earlier work is a bit better. The storyline is somewhat been-there-done-that, and the mise en scene is nothing special, but there is a heartfelt, authentic quality to it. In some ways it was reminiscent of Satyajit Ray's Apu trilogy. The film's greatest asset is the strong characterization: Jose and his grandmother are people who grow on you quickly. Rating: 8


#331 - Bigger Than Life

What at first seems like a rather silly melodrama turns into a wickedly subversive, 1950's version of The Shining. In this case, the evil comes not from a spooky hotel but from Cortisone. James Mason plays a schoolteacher who goes batshit crazy when he starts taking too much of it, and begins to shatter his complacent suburban lifestyle. I'm sure it's no accident that his nickname at his moonlighting job is "Voice", a moniker that becomes especially appropriate as he begins to say the things the rest of us are thinking. It's still a little on the silly side, and it takes a while to get going... but once it does, it's brimming with intensity (thanks to Mason's unbridled performance) and vicious critique. This is my favorite so far from Nicholas Ray, and Mason, too. Nitpick: there's a really obvious mirror gaffe; keep your eyes peeled for a few frames of Ray squatting in front of the camera. Rating: 8

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Bride of Frankenstein (rewatch)

Popular opinion seems to overwhelmingly favor this sequel to the original, but I have to go against the grain on this one. It's much, MUCH goofier with its limp attempts at humor, Dr. Pretorius' miniature creations, and the monster becoming more human. And I was really stunned to discover (since I'd long forgotten the last time I saw it) that the "bride" doesn't appear until the final moments of the film. Perhaps this movie is more nuanced than its predecessor, but I found it less exciting and less entertaining. Rating: 7


#332 - To Sleep With Anger

A slow-burn drama exploring the impact that an unexpected, insidious houseguest has on a family. Danny Glover's devilish performance is wonderful, but to single him out is a disservice to the rest of the cast, all of whom are impressive. I enjoy Mary Alice in pretty much anything, even those godawful Matrix sequels. The writing is beautiful, never overplaying its hand and giving the actors some very well-drawn characters to work with. I wasn't exactly blown away by the film, but I really enjoyed it. Going to check out more by Charles Burnett. Rating: 8

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308 The Rise of Louis XIV
Later in his career, Roberto Rosselini became interested in making historical biographies. His films have a more modernist sensibility than was common at the time, seeking to pare down everything about the "costume drama" to get a more honest depiction that attempts to really get at who these figures were. While the philosophy behind this approach is admirable, the execution in this particular film is not particularly noteworthy. With dramatics removed, almost half the film is spent in set-up, while Louis' "rise to power" is basically him entering a room and rattling off some orders. So despite the lack of flowery speeches and "Lion in Winter" style dialogue, I don't think Rosselini achieved any greater degree of truth here, as Louis comes off as a near perfect figure who always knows what to do in the situations he's faced with and who has his finger on the psychology of his enemies, the nobility and the people.

I've probably made the film sound worse than it is, as it is certainly watchable and has some interesting aesthetics (the building of Versailles set is quite impressive given how little it is onscreen), its just that it pales in comparison to many of Rosselini's earlier films and "watchable" isn't exactly what I'm looking for with S&S films. - B

309 Ashes and Diamonds
My first experience with Andrezj Wadja is this film about an anti-communist assassin caught between duty and love on the day of Germany's surrendar in WWII. While the film sports exceptional b&w cinematography, in particular the lighting, the film's mix of cynical politics, history, philosophy and love story never quite meshes in a satisfying way. There are several strong individual scenes, such as the opening and the scene where the assassin's commander and friend realizes the futility of their cause, but any scene that doesn't feature the two main characters feels undercooked and lacking in energy. The coincidental nature of the ending also feels like it could have been executed better. It isn't quite The Wages of Fear, but it certainly brought that movie to mind. - B-

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#333 - Still Life

A most appropriate title. For people who think Kiarostami is just way too hectic, man. Saless seems to be playing a game of low expectations -- load the film with so much inactivity that it makes the slightest occurrence take on added dramatic weight. But fuck it, it kinda works. I can't explain why, but I was really fascinated by this, and somehow a lot less bored than I was during The Hands of Orlac, which I'd watched just before this. You end up getting rather invested in this old couple. I'm on the fence about this one, the same way I am about a lot of Kiarostami, but I pretty much liked it. Rating: 7

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I started watching this tonight but was way too tired to get through much of it. Though the disc is listed as full frame on the site, it is actually in the proper ratio. It's just not anamorphic so you get a windowboxed picture. Certainly isn't a quality presentation by any means though and the DVD producer saw fit to stamp their name in the lower right corner of the picture.

I also have Life of Oharu from the library and discovered they have a few more than I thought so I may be able to knock out 8-10 more fairly easy.

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#334 - Angel

Not the kind of screwball comedy you expect from Lubitsch, but since I'm not too fond of what I've seen, that was fine with me. There's a few gags, and pretty good ones, but for the most part it's closer to a romantic drama. Think Brief Encounter with a lighter touch. Marlene Dietrich is growing on me, a lot. Her performance is the most interesting aspect of this movie, which is otherwise somewhat uneventful and predictable, without the melancholic elegance of Lean's film. Loved the ending, though. Rating: 7

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#335 - Europa

This is allegedly based on Kafka's "Amerika", which is one I haven't read yet, but I can see the Kafka vibe. Von Trier employs some interesting techniques here: the noir-style black & white photography is punctuated by moments of color to highlight emotional moments, rear projection is used in a very unusual and striking fashion, and the narration (which I didn't realize was Max Von Sydow until the credits rolled) is told in 2nd person. It doesn't always work, but it's effective at creating a kind of nightmarish storybook atmosphere. This is one of LVT's more complex works, morally... a nice relief from his usual sledgehammer approach. There's not as much to annoy here as his later films (the rampant America-bashing, feeble women making absurdly bad decisions) but perhaps the lack of provocation makes it slightly less memorable. I was really impressed by the visual style, though, and overall I really got into it. Rating: 8

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#336 - La Région Centrale

So this guy builds a robot camera and puts it on some Quebec mountain, and programs it to perform a series of routines with different rotations and pans. There's no story, no people, no animals, nothing except a low electronic hum and a robotic moving camera capturing the landscape whizzing by from unusual angles. Now, I support experimental film. Cinema can do a lot more than just straightforward storytelling. I like Stan Brakhage. But Brakhage had the sense not to make his work THREE HOURS LONG. Two critics put this in their top 10 for the 2002 Sight & Sound poll. I submit that they are liars. The idea behind the film is mildly interesting, and there were even brief moments when I found myself hypnotized and intrigued. But let's not kid ourselves, it's mostly a bunch of conceptual wankery. I admit that I fast-forwarded through most of it, can you blame me? There's little difference between seeing the film and simply reading about it. Rating: 3

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#337 - Fires Were Started

A docu-drama following a day in the life of a WWII London fire brigade. The build-up is dreadfully dull, but things get cooking (*snicker*) once the actual firefighting starts. Then there's some excitement (although still oddly subdued) and a few really great shots, especially of the aftermath. Pretty good editing, too. But I sure wish the DVD had subtitles. Most of the dialogue was muffled, competing with the background noise/music, or obscured by heavy accents. It seemed like the performances from the amateur cast were quite good, but it's hard to tell when you're not sure what anyone is saying. The boring first act really drags my score down, and the rest of it wasn't impressive enough to make up for that, but in general the film was okay. Rating: 7


#338 - The Round-Up

In 1860's Hungary, outlaws (and suspected outlaws) are rounded up, encouraged to rat each other out, and discarded for the merest reason. I hate to keep throwing around the word "Kafka-esque", but I have been reading a lot of Kafka lately and the term definitely applies here. It also calls to mind Sergio Leone, and all those barren landscapes blasted by the sun. And also another Jancso film, The Red and the White, where neither side of the conflict is worth rooting for... not to mention more of that impressive, fluid camerawork. It's hard to say which film I like more, both are outstanding, powerful, slightly surreal examinations of moral indifference. Red & White has a broader sweep which covers more thematic ground, but the narrower focus of Round-Up actually lets you get to know a few of the characters (although both have somewhat free-wheeling narrative structures). Both films have their strengths, and both are superb. I need to check out more Jancso. Rating: 9

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Why don’t you tell God to kill the bishop?


Alexander asks his father’s ghost in Fanny och Alexander/Fanny and Alexander, Igmar Bergman’s TV series moved to the big screen. While Bergman makes it clear from the start that we are seeing drama (a play) and not real life, the characters (mostly larger than life) make the movie truer than reality itself. Alexander the withdrawn, young son has two fathers: the first involved with the theater (the world) and his bishop stepfather (the spirit), both of whom are seen as ghosts and neither of whom will Alexander ever be able to escape—nor more than he can escape from his guilt.

This is a 3+-hour movie that keeps one transfixed from start to finish. Brilliant sets brilliantly shot by master cinematographer Sven Nykvist, things are so lavish during the first third of the movie that it is hard to believe one is watching a Bergman film. Not so by the end, however, even with its uplifting (for Bergman) finish.

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#339 - The Devils

Striking a tone somewhere between Caligula and Marat/Sade, Ken Russell's critique of Catholic hypocrisy is a little hard to take seriously. I dislike such blatant button-pushing in films; it only ends up confirming the beliefs of those who already agree with you. And going over the top may be entertaining to some degree, but is it really necessary to do crazy zoom-in-zoom-outs during a scene where nuns are participating in a wild orgy? If a nun jerking off a candle isn't shocking enough for you, I don't think your little zooms are going to push it over the edge. Shock value and preaching to the choir aside, I thought this was fairly interesting. The production was well done (at times reminding me vaguely of The Holy Mountain) with a grand performance by Oliver Reed. But too obnoxious and silly for me to truly enjoy. Rating: 6

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All the online hullabaloo regarding its "will it/won't it be released on DVD" status has made THE DEVILS (1971) something almost beyond criticism. Meaning that the public outcry has now grown to such excessive proportions that, where it to be denounced as a piece of crap in every review from now on, a self-respecting film buff will still be willing to seek it and try it out for himself (if only to satiate his morbid curiosity)!

This is not to say that this is a bad movie; actually, it's certainly one of Ken Russell's major films, arguably Oliver Reed's best-ever performance and, like it or not, a definite censorship milestone. I've owned a Widescreen, uncut print of it on VHS since 1997 and, while I loved it on first viewing, I became less and less enthused with it on each successive viewing (3 in all so far). It's just so grossly overdone most of the time that it's hard for me to keep a straight face throughout anymore.

Even so, the visual contributions of David Watkin and Derek Jarman remain as awesome as ever and I'm quite sure that I'll be adding it to my DVD collection once it does get released and all the rumored enticing extras - audio commentary, "The Rape Of Christ" missing sequence and the "Hell On Earth" documentary - find their place therein.

Still, I can't discuss THE DEVILS without recommending Jerzy Kawalerowicz's extraordinary and austere treatment of the same events, MOTHER JOAN OF THE ANGELS (1961) which, thankfully, is available on R2 DVD (albeit a barely adequate one).

Re: Sight and Sound (2002) Greatest Films Club

1900

There's a really great two-hour movie here. Unfortunately, it's buried in a 5 hour 15 minute movie that has just too many unnecessary or overlong scenes. Still, even at this length, a lot to like, and more deserving of inclusion on the list than many others.

Re: Sight and Sound (2002) Greatest Films Club

#340 - The Silences of the Palace

An excellent melodrama exploring sexual oppression and class domination in Tunisian society. Tlatli directs her first film with grace and confidence, and though I wasn't entirely blown away by it, I can't think of any notable flaws. There were political elements to the story that seemed important, but without much knowledge about the situation, I couldn't really grasp them except on the most basic level. Very good performances from the two women who played Alia at different stages in her life, and the use of music and lyrics throughout is exquisite. Mizoguchi fans in particular will appreciate this film. Rating: 8


#341 - A Moment of Innocence

Outstanding. I've been anxious to see something by Mohsen Makhmalbaf ever since watching Kiarostami's Close-Up. Like that film, this one recreates a scene from Makhmalbaf's life, and if anything, it's even more brilliant in its self-reflexive execution. 20 years earlier, Makhmalbaf stabbed a policeman as an act of defiance against the Shah. Now he (playing himself) has recruited the same policeman (played by someone else, apparently, because the actual policeman just couldn't act) to help him make a film about that event, using young amateur actors. What results is a deceptively simple treatise on memory, regret, truth, perception, idealism, filmmaking and politics. There are some truly astonishing surprises in the story and in the telling of the story. Most startling and moving of all is the freeze-frame ending, a rewriting of history as desired by the actors themselves. And it's all done with a light touch, often delightfully comic. I'm very eager to check out more Makhmalbaf now. Two extremely minor quibbles: "young Makhmalbaf" doesn't cry very convincingly, and "older policeman" has the scariest goddamn eyebrows I've ever seen. Rating: 9


#342 - Hôtel Terminus

"Hotel Interminable" is more like it. With The Sorrow and the Pity, Marcel Ophuls proved he could make a 4+ hour documentary about WWII that's compelling and watchable. Here, he proves he can make one that's dull and confusing. The film goes on endless tangents about specific events, and who knew what, and who blames who, and it's all exceedingly difficult to follow for anyone (like myself) not already familiar with the events and major players. Ophuls also presents himself as a Michael Moore-ish figure, obnoxiously badgering people, pushing his agenda, and trying to be funny. A few parts are interesting, but on the whole I'd recommend only for those intensely curious about Klaus Barbie and the events he was involved in. Rating: 4


Only two left!

Re: Sight and Sound (2002) Greatest Films Club

#343 - Ludwig

Of the films by Visconti I've seen, only The Leopard has truly engaged me. Like that movie, this one is an impressive feat of opulent production. It's packed wall-to-wall with elaborate props, costumes, set dressings, and locations. But it takes more than production design to make a movie. The story of Ludwig isn't dull, but this telling of it isn't very interesting... certainly not for 4 hours. There's a lot of unimportant chaff here, and I wish I'd watched one of the edited versions instead. Maybe it needs a different star; Helmet Berger is passable but uninspiring, running the standard routine for "descent into madness". But I have to place the blame on Visconti, whose work has consistently bored me. If I ever decide to tackle all of the films on the "They Shoot Pictures, Don't They?" top 1000 list, I'm in trouble because there's SEVEN Viscontis I haven't seen yet on there. Oy. Rating: 5


That leaves only L'Enfance Nue. I do have access to this film, but without subtitles. However, I think MoC is releasing this in September, so I should be able to complete the list by the end of the year.

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Pickpocket - 8 of 10
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I was dreading watching this, but was again reminded of how good a filmmaker Bresson is, even if I disliked Lancelot and Balthazar, they had their good qualities too. Here I actually liked the story as well, was enrapt for most of the movie and genuinally tense and on edge for most of the film questioning when or how he would be caught. Beautifully put together from an editing standpoint, particularly the pickpocket montages. And the ending Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)

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The Leopard - 9 of 10
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I watched the longer Italian version, and my only regret is that we don't get to hear Burt Lancaster's voice. It would be fascinating to see the Italian versions of Leone's Eastwood films at some point. This is the first Visconti film I've seen and I'm very impressed. I'll definitely look forward to seeing more of his films. I may wind up liking him more than Fellini if the Leopard is a good indicator of his work.

Burt Lancaster is an aging aristocrat prince around the time of 1860s Italy. Apparently there was a civil war/revolution raging at the time (totally ignorant of Italian history) and the conflict is coming to a turning point. The prince is a shrewd politician who knows how to stay out of the limelight and crosshairs of either side. He's playing both sides to a degree and then moves more towards the side of the victorious revolutionaries because in order for things to remain the same for his family and maintain their elite position everything must change. His nephew, Tancreti, becomes a hero in the war and is destined for great things in Italy. He is unsure if he wants Tancreti to marry and court his shy eldest daughter, though the girl is definitely falling for the rakish war hero.

They move to their country palace and there the local administrator who is a bit of a 'beetle' has a beautiful wife he keeps cloistered and an even more beautiful daughter. It takes but one look between Tancreti and this hot blooded Italian woman for them to fall in love, the forgotten princess and her tightly wound hair left to be despondant.

Things are afoot on the political front and back and forths develop and people change sides, but the old Leopard (the prince) always seems to be a bit ahead of the game, never pulling the strings of anyone directly so much as he avoids the strings altogether and rolls with the tide. And yet he seems sad as well, there's an implication that perhaps he was sympathetic to the rebel cause, and by necessity to preserve his family had to help undermine it. By the end of the film we are filled with regret and sympathy for the prince while being apalled at the ready hypocrisy and callous injustice of supposedly idealistic youngsters such as Tancreti and the entire ruling class. Near the end of the film, there's an extensive ball, and at one point A long chain of dancers sweeps through the room, at first isolating Tancreti and his young wife and then they join in the 'fun' and are swept along with them, an ignorant and ignoble class who still rule in opulance with disregard to their people. Fiddling while Rome burns, so to speak. And although 'everything' has changed, everything has remained the same.

The cinematography of the film was simply astounding. So often, the film looked like a classic painting or fresco that adorn the walls of the palaces we see in the background. From the tone and color palatte of the film to the astonishing costume design the film was a visual feast. I would LOVE to see this on film, particularly in 70mm since hardly any theatres can project a 35mm eight perf Technirama film (basically vistavision with anamorphic lens). Too bad this isn't an american production because a 70mm revival print would have been made in the past couple years if it had.

One other impression struck me, about five minutes into the movie, it was: "this is like Italy's Gone With the Wind."

Re: Sight and Sound (2002) Greatest Films Club

But a far more complex movie than Gone with the Wind, Adam.

For me, this is Visconti's finest film. Don't be disappointed if you don’t find the rest up to this standard. After all Fellini too did not hit a home run every time.

Personally, I’m also pleased with the doubles, singles and even an occasional walk.

Re: Sight and Sound (2002) Greatest Films Club

I found myself watching most of the extremely irritating Bringing Up Baby on TCM the other day (got interrupted.)

For the record... #116 - Bring Up baby (1939) - No rating...

I am so predisposed against this type of annoying slapstick that a rating would be unfair. Just not my cup of tea at all. Bleah.

--
H

Re: Sight and Sound (2002) Greatest Films Club

oh yes, much more complex. the film is going to improve in my estimation over time, I'm certain.

I'm also happy with the singles and doubles too, sometimes though a film that's supposed to be a home run winds up being on the wrong side of the foul ball post for me.

Love Bringing Up Baby, I think it's pretty much perfection and actually have been planning on rewatching it this month.

Re: Sight and Sound (2002) Greatest Films Club

Well, now I'm motivated to rewatch Bringing Up Baby.

Re: Sight and Sound (2002) Greatest Films Club

Anyone who does not like “Screwballs” won’t like Bringing Up Baby. Otherwise the only knock on the film that I’ve come across is Hawks’ own comment that in retrospect he thought that he should have had at least one ‘straight’ person—someone who was not zany.

Even considering this, I think Hawks got it wrong on his own film—one that I think that is close to perfect. Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn at their very best, with a strong supporting cast.

As for the slapstick, may I suggest that you go back and re-watch the scene where they meet again. Perfect timing and laugh-out-loud funny—if you still don’t enjoy the humor, then no doubt this is not the genre for you.

Re: Sight and Sound (2002) Greatest Films Club

I love me some screwball, but just don't find Baby nearly as charming as something like It Happened One Night or The Thin Man (though perhaps those aren't strict screwballs), or The Philadelphia Story nor as intelligent and witty as Sturges or Fields, nor does it top Hawks own His Girl Friday.

Adam, Italy, like Germany, only became a unified nation in the latter half of the 19th century. The war going on is Guiseppe Garibaldi and other revolutionary reformer's successful unification of Italy against monarchist, papal, and other factions who held power in the divided country. Of course as broached in Visconti's film, Garibaldi and the other revolutionaries were sold out to the old guard who couldn't beat 'em, so they joined 'em and subverted the more idealist goals of the movement so they could hold onto their positions.

As for Visconti, many of his films are nothing like The Leopard, coming up during the neo-realist period, Visconti contributed one of the best, and my personal favorite of his films La Terra Trema (The Earth Trembles) about a fishing family trying to better their lot in life by going around the middle men fish buyers and sell their fish themselves. There's Ossessione, an Italian The Postman Always Rings Twice (it preceded the more familiar Hollywood version). Another of Visconti's films I prefer to The Leopard is La Notte Bianche (White Nights, from the Doestoevsky novel), perhaps rivaled by only Letter From an Unknown Woman for classical b&w filmed romantic images.

And then there is a film that is quite like The Leopard, being set in the same time period and also featuring an American leading man, in this case Farley Granger. This film actually was called the Italian Gone With the Wind, since it also features a selfish female protagonist trying to survive a tumultuous wartime period but unable to resist falling in love with a dashing scoundrel. It was also the first Italian film in Technicolor, the gorgeous Senso. I fell in love with it from its earliest images. Unfortunately it lacks a good DVD release. I keep hoping Criterion will take this on...

Another one unlike The Leopard that I'm not too fond of is Rocco and his Brothers about a country family struggling to make it in the big city.

While I'm not the fan of The Leopard that you and Lew are (while I love the final 40m ball sequence, the previous 2 hours+ has several slow points that were difficult for me to get through), a couple of points that were not mentioned is that a good deal of Lancaster's conflict, which Visconti brings out with his filmmaking particulary at the film's ending, is that Lancaster has begun to feel his age, and feels he has become an anachronism. While he can hold onto power now, the landed gentry of the old world with their carefully guarded traditions and etiquette, have no place in the more vulgar modern world.

And also one realizes that Alain Delon and these young soldiers and future men of power will be Lancaster's age or older when it is their turn to be the leaders and money men of Italy, and they will also step aside and compromise themselves by joining the new revolutionary force in an effort to hold onto their positions and wealth. Only the new revolutionaries won't be wearing fancy, gold-braided uniforms, but black shirts.

Re: Sight and Sound (2002) Greatest Films Club

thanks for the enlightening comments, Brook.

Breaking the Waves - 10 of 10
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A masterful, powerful and incredible piece of cinema that hit me very hard. The style of the film as well as the performances and script blended so beautifully and seamlessly together. Outstanding. I'm glad I went into the film not knowing a single thing about it. had I even read the netflix envelope summary I would have likely managed to hate the film. As it was, it was a tremendously difficult film to sit through as it was so wrenching and tender. Bess is a character, and a performance, for the ages.


And I actually watched this before the Leopard but forgot to post here:

Bigger than Life - 9 of 10
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Nicholas Ray's stunning film about a family man who takes an experimental, life saving new medicine that has the unfortunate side effect of removing his socially imposed inhibitions (much like a frontal lobe injury, imo). This starts out with manic actions and saying inappropriate things, then it develops into a more paranoid domineering impulse that endangers the lives of his familiy. The cinematography is utterly stunning (thankfully fox movie channel is running it in widescreen) and James Mason's central performance is spectacular. The film is in the same overall style of heightened melodrama of Rebel Without a Cause but restrains itself from melodramatic excess. A great film I wouldn't mind watching again at any time.

Re: Sight and Sound (2002) Greatest Films Club

The Earrings of Madame De ... Max Ophüls

Certainly a must see for any aspiring cinematographer and film fan, it is also a story that comes across as dated and non-compelling even if it weren't dated.

Of course, people will see it differently from me. Paul Thomas Anderson (who did the film's introduction that's NOT an introduction in the recent Criterion release) empathized with Madame De. I did not. I find it hard to sympathize with a huge man-tease, who uses fainting as a ploy with men, has a big house, servants, boxes of jewelry and closets of clothes who sells jewelry that her husband gave her on her wedding day because she bought too many clothes.

Her husband instead comes across as charming and loving where she does not. Sure he has his own affair but it is discreet, not played out in front of society of Paris AND one could make the argument would not be if he had a wife that returned his affection.

So while I admired the camera work, movement, composition and the many mirrored reflections in the film (I'm a sucker for that) ultimately it comes across as an interesting idea mired because the protagonist was a spoiled bore.

Re: Sight and Sound (2002) Greatest Films Club

I didn't much like the earrings of madame day either. though I'm tempted to give it a revisit.

Solaris - 10 of 10
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I've been impressed by, but not loved, the other Tarkovsky films I've seen, this one knocked my socks off. A fascinating meditation on love and the problem/question of solipsism the film raises many questions but answers few. Oft times such a tact is ineptly done and only leaves the viewer (me) frustrated and annoyed. Here it is perfection, and the lens of science fiction is the perfect medium for exploring and extrapolating upon these philosophical ideas. The performances are amazing and the cinematography is stunning. I'd put this up there as one of the greatest (if not the greatest) scifi films ever made. There is also an interesting bloody conflict between the tangibility of science and the ephermality of thoughts. We are not just pitting logic and clarity against emotion and feeling. The contrast and limitations of linear and nonlinear thinking. The reality of how we live, and choose to blind ourselves by defining what we want to see versus what is actually there. From the first few moments of the film, we're set up to question that what can be observed by our equipment may not represent what can be observed by our selves. The quick clean answer of hallucinations is so fragile and thin as to be almost useless.

We open at the most beautiful place on earth. a meeting is being held to discuss Solaris, an unknown unexplainable mass around a distant sun. Scientists have been studying it for decades but remain stumped. very little is known, much is theorized. At one time the space station supported a large staff, now it is down to a skeleton crew of just three. But before the main character, Kelvin, arrives there, he first meets with the man whose experience first suggested the laughable theory that Solaris is something of a sentient brain mass, capable of interacting with us. This man is accompanied by a small guest, a boy we presume to be his son. He tells and shows us his story, and we come to understand that he was laughed out of his profession and career but still stands by his experiences and personal observations. Just before the Kelvin heads into space to solaris, this man tells us just how significant that young boy may be, and it throws into question all the conclusions the characters make on solaris about their guests.

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