|
|
Your Vice is a Locked Room & Only I Have the Key
|
[Tuo vizio è una stanza chiusa e solo io ne ho la chiave]
1972 - Italy
Director
Sergio Martino
|
Well, shocking no one, giallo is confirmedly not the genre for me, but all things considered I have to admit that I liked it! I mean, it is unpleasant: gore, and not particularly well-done gore (to a “modern viewer” I suppose). And then, all the out-of-nowhere, rather nasty sexual escapades (including Fenech’s character, who has no discernible agenda; exists merely to have sex with every other character). And if this is the giallo with the most character development, I can only conclude it’s a genre that simply does not put a very high premium on that virtue. And yet… I liked it: it’s a superlative “crazy bitch” film of course, and it begs to have a term paper written about it, full of characters who never moved beyond Lacan’s mirror phase…
|
Screencaps
    
    
|
|
On imperfect viewing conditions.
Posted 14 July 2007 in
|
I watch films on my laptop. I watch films while under the influence. Sometimes (tonight) I do both simultaneously…
Can I say that I have fully viewed a film seen this way? Well, compare Pan’s Labyrinth with The Devil’s Backbone: truly, such films benefit from the full theatrical experience, and Devil’s would have been even more affecting had I seen it properly. But as with a good book, I’m convinced that I can extrapolate from the material in front of me a fuller visual world, despite the limitations of a particular viewing experience. Can I depend on my imagination to take Lawrence of Arabia on a 2″ sq. iPod screen and turn it into the full cinematic experience? If forced to… perhaps…
Is there any defense I can give for viewing “serious” films while not quite in my right mind? Only to the extent that I can recognize an influence — and feel I essentially retain the upper hand over it. Alcohol is no more damaging to my opinion than watching a film under the influence of friends, whose responses, long before they are vocalized, begin to sway my judgment. In theory, the best practice would be to view all movies on filmstock, on a big screen, in isolation. But I so value the experience of watching a movie — not just the movie itself, but everything in my life at that time, everything going on around me, everything I feel outside the film — that I would hate to remove other influences so categorically…
This is part of my refusal to judge films purely objectively, and part of my insistence upon mixing my self into the viewing experience… everything I am and what I bring to it is part of my rating for any film — in that moment — and I will remember those things… viewing films becomes something akin to note-taking for autobiography…
But what the hell am I rambling on about? I’m drunk.
|
|
Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix
|
2007 - UK/US
Director
David Yates
Starring
Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Alan Rickman, Michael Gambon, Maggie Smith, Emma Thompson, Gary Oldman, David Thewlis, Julie Walters
|
I don’t know how to review this film as a film, as opposed to a Harry Potter adaptation. I was off the wall talking about it with my HP friends — but what can I say to you? Well, it’s a distant second to Cuaron’s contribution in my mind, which still stands alone as the only very good film to come out of the franchise. This is one of the most serviceable adaptations, though, condensing the material heavily but in clever ways. I enjoyed everything about it until the last 20 minutes, but… this is where I start talking HP rather than film so I’ll spare you.  Anyway, a very enjoyable experience I highly recommend to anyone who even passingly likes Potter.
|
[Reinas]
2005 - Spain
Director
Manuel Gómez Pereira
Starring
Carmen Maura, Marisa Paredes, Veronica Forque
|
This is a film full of cliches and contrivances, borrowing heavily from all the ensemble romance comedies of recent years and perhaps from Almodovar (certainly from his cast list — no complaints there). And yet, for a lighthearted comedy, I don’t need a whole lot more. This was certainly far from offensively derivative, and it was enjoyable from start to finish. My favorite Almodovar girls are in it, giving the film all its soapy and zany fun, and there are plenty of modelesque young gay men in it, which is self-evidently fun, no? Everyone gets a little action: Carmen even makes out with another chica for a couple seconds. Yes of course I enjoyed this silly little movie.
|
Screencaps
   
   
1948 - US
Director
Preston Sturges
Starring
Rex Harrison
|
My dark horse candidate for greatest 40s comedy. Rarely have I had a pleasure as great as Rex Harrison spitting and pattering out Sturges’ dialogue (on par with Burton doing Albee, only hilarious — well, less horrifically hilarious — well… after all it’s almost the same thing!). Every strand of American comedy is in this, superlatively realized.
|
2001 - Mexico
Director
Alfonso Cuaron
Starring
Gael Garcia Bernal
|
Well this was much better-received, and perhaps exactly because (as I wrote last night) my expectations were somewhat low: I thought it would be my least-favorite Cuarón and by a long shot. The premise just sounds so preposterous and dull (an older woman runs off with two adolescent boys for a five-day sex romp), but out of it he crafts three thoroughly realized characters who are coarse and human and pained: their actions, on paper so ridiculous, are utterly believable and consistently both moving and hilarious. Cuarón knows how to keep a swift pace and vary his tone to great effect. Small moments of searing truth are well balanced with outbursts of suitably juvenile humor — the final sum is just real. This also serves as a lively love-letter to the Mexican landscape and all its classes of people. Doesn’t matter how I rank my four Cuaróns now: they’ve all been fantastic.
|
1953 - Italy
Director
Federico Fellini
|
This film suffered a bit from my expectations — hate it when that happens, though it’s almost unavoidable. On the one hand, though it’s a hopeless comparison, the plot reminded me of my absolute favorite novel, Woolf’s The Waves: childhood friends at a turning point in their lives, set against the backdrop of a coastal town… On the surface they’re similar, but I say hopeless because there’s no way any real technical or thematic overlap would occur between a conventional neorealist film and a radical modernist prose-poem. And at the same time, I wanted this movie to resonate deeply with my own life: as I am a young person at a turning point in my life, stuck in my habits with no real ambition or edge, aimlessly flailing about and constantly plotting escape.
And I know if I’d approached the film as exactly what I knew it would be (a conventional neorealist early Fellini) I would have appreciated it on its own terms. On the whole it is a well-constructed narrative full of compelling characters — and it’s light-hearted and full of life. I should know better: based on my recent cinematic loves and choices, I should be watching wild, broad Fellini, not this. I’d need a month-long immersion in neorealism to remember how to properly relate to it. I’m still rating this highly: it’s an exquisite film. Just another that came at a slightly wrong moment…
|
Screencaps
    
    
1960 - Italy
Director
Federico Fellini
Starring
Marcello Mastroianni, Anita Ekberg, Anouk Aimee
|
Happily surprised by how similar this felt to 8 1/2, in tone, visuals and structure. You know, wild episodes, gorgeous nighttime cinematography, girls girls girls. I did love it, actually, (now disjointed images come back to me, and I’m delighted by each one) — I wasn’t in the right mood. That must be it. MOVIES: come to me at just the right moment, or forcefully bend me to your will! I don’t want to learn to love you. Grab me by the shoulders and shake me and make me love you! Oh, movies…
Yes, this is awesome: it is Marcello, and it is gorgeous, and it is three hours of miscommunication and missed connections (you know how I love it). Great film, great film… but why not rapturous?
|
|
About TLC
Films: All reviewed | Favorites
Actors: Profiles | Favorites
Directors: Profiles | Favorites
Screencap galleries
All films by year
2008 Viewing log
Waterloo Bridge 1931, James Whale
Red-Headed Woman 1932, Jack Conway
Millie 1931, John Francis Dillon
The Woman Accused 1933, Paul Sloane
So Big! 1932, William A Wellman
The Awful Truth 1937, Leo McCarey
Conquest 1937, Clarence Brown
It’s Love I’m After 1937, Archie Mayo
The Mad Miss Manton 1938, Leigh Jason
Algiers 1938, John Cromwell
A short digression on Charles Boyer…
Yes, I am endeared. I am, in fact, ensorceled. His inhumanly arched eyebrows, his little winks and half-smiles, and that ability to at once maintain full control of his material while shining the spotlight on his costar: yes, that is talent; yes, this is love. And no, Cluny Brown, it’s not just the cocktails giving you that persian cat feeling… I think we both know too well it has a bit to do with Mr Charles Boyer. Rawr.
Pre-Code Hollywood
» Waterloo Bridge 1931 James Whale
» Red-Headed Woman 1932 Jack Conway
» Millie 1931 John Francis Dillon
» The Woman Accused 1933 Paul Sloane
» So Big! 1932 William A Wellman
Previous & ongoing
30s Cinema
Maestresses
The Lubitsch Race
In-transit romances
Nothing better suited to Hollywood romance than three weeks out of time, away from life, falling in love with a stranger, spending days idly and nights actively.
Currently reading
On the shelf
| |
Allure
Awards Daily
Bright Lights Film Journal
Cinemaniacal
Cinema Talk
Classic Cinema Online
Collective Contemplations on Cinema
Critical Culture
Criticker
Fataculture
Film Comment
Film Int
Greenbriar Picture Shows
House of Mirth & Movies
If Charlie Parker Was a Gunslinger...
Jump Cut
Mango Grove
Not Coming to a Theater Near You
The Pagan Agenda
Pop Matters
Rants & Musings
Reverse Shot
Self-Styled Siren
Senses of Cinema
Shining a Light on the Forgotten Classics
Sight & Sound
Sin in Soft Focus
TCM schedule
They Shoot Pictures, Don't They?
Through a Blog Darkly
       
Friend me
|
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
