El Amor brujo

Unlike Blood Wedding, I don’t think I would say this is very compelling for a viewer who isn’t a fan of flamenco. BW delves into the lives of the dancers, and when it gives way to performance in the second half, it’s an absorbing story excitingly told. This one’s all narrative and a flimsy one at that between bouts of song and dance of varying flair, some afflicted by the decade it was produced in. The dance aspect is just not as intense as in BW, and there is no meta-narrative on top of it. So good stuff for performance/flamenco fans. Not enough transcending that to fully engage anyone else.

After the Wedding

Brilliant: I spent the first hour grumbling about how contrived and convenient the story was. Soon enough, the viewer finds out one character has engineered everything that way. Because of this, I don’t know how much I can say about it without spoiling delicious bits. But perhaps keep this in mind so you can watch events unfold a little less skeptically from the start.

What can I say without giving it all away? It turns out to be a searing, moving human drama, exploring the extent to which we can control our lives and deaths, the choices we make, and the connections we forge. Oh, in my purposeful vagueness I’m making it sound banal as hell! “Control” is the essential word: “engineering,” too. And these characters are marvelous when they finally reveal all their secrets.

About the only thing I didn’t love about this film is Bier’s wobbly camerawork, obsession with retinal close-ups, and bizarre penchant for cutting to mounted deer heads during emotional climaxes. She didn’t spoil anything, but I wouldn’t say I’m a fan of her technique.

Shanghai Express

Finally a Dietrich/Von Sternberg film that excels as usual on every technical level but for once is married to a story both interesting to me (where Blue Angel may have failed) and high in quality (ohhh, Blonde Venus). This is a rapturously exciting tale, cannily introducing the viewer to a small group of interesting if stock passengers and crafting a surprisingly compelling romance. It’s the best of Hollywood plus Von Sternberg’s expressionist visual work plus Dietrich’s half-bored sultry strutting (I remember reading now that Gena Rowlands had modeled herself on Dietrich a bit and for the first time I recognized more than a couple signature gestures :)). Clive Brook is also surprisingly good in this, ever the stuffy and weary Brit, looking pissed off at his bad fortune to fall for “Shanghai Lily.” Excellent all around.

Mélo

Resnais can take the most straightforward stage pieces and turn them to his magnificent formal experiments and existential ruminations. His camerawork and Marienbadesque blocking take this beyond the simple stage production it appears to be. It turns into a staggering emotional drama among four faithless, terrified, passionate people — think Coeurs writ small. Resnais’ regulars, Azema, Dussollier and Arditi make it mesmerizing. His films just can’t fail to hit me.

Blonde Venus