[reposted from RottenTomatoes film orgy recommendation thread]
Directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
Starring Deborah Kerr
Recommended by Immaculate Reception
To be perfectly honest, I didn’t think Powell and Pressburger would ever come close to the greatness of The Red Shoes, but here they’ve done it. In one of the most beautiful films I have ever seen, the duo have come up with a psychological horror set in the mountains of northern India. A group of nuns, led by Sister Clodagh (Kerr), have succeeded in acquiring an old windy palace just outside of Darjeeling, and intend to establish a school for children and girls, as well as a hospital for the locals. Little do they know how the palace will effect them…
Tempted by the clear air, the rude Mr Dean, and the presence of a prince, the nuns slowly lose their connection to their convent, and to God, as they succumb to life’s pleasures one by one. The power of life is enhanced by this eerie castle perched on a cliff, and slowly drives them, as believers in abstinence and God’s way, insane. The beauty of this place is enhanced by some of the best cinematography I ever seen, by Jack Cardiff, as the colours, the heights, the shadows come to life before your eyes. The sets, make-up and costuming all enhance this as well, however the film is really all about Cardiff’s wonderful work. He brings the film to an entirely new level.
Overall, I’d highly recommend this to anyone and everyone wanting to watch a great film. Thanks to Immaculate for finally getting me to watch it. Definitely an instant favourite.
10
A great month, and some hard choices. Alphabetical order, first time viewings only.
(500) Days of Summer (Marc Webb, 2009)
”She took a giant shit on my face. Literally.”
“Literally?”
“Well, no, not literally. That’s disgusting.”
All About Eve (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1950)
“Lloyd, honey, be a playwright with guts. Write me one about a nice normal woman who just shoots her husband.”
Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (Stanley Kubrick, 1964)
“Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here! This is the War Room.”
Good Will Hunting (Gus Van Sant, 1997)
“You’re not perfect, sport, and let me save you the suspense: this girl you’ve met, she’s not perfect either. But the question is whether or not you’re perfect for each other.”
Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)
“Oh, someone has seen her, all right. Someone always sees a girl with $40,000.”
Honourable Mention:
The Departed (Martin Scorsese, 2006)
“One of us had to die. With me, it tends to be the other guy.”
Directed by: Wong Kar-Wai
Starring: Tony Leung, Faye Wong, Brigette Lin, Takeshi Kaneshiro
A film exploring love, and it’s consequences, Chungking Express depicts two nearly unrelated stories following two couples and their connection. The cinematic style and presentation of the story is thrillingly original, and gorgeous to look at. We see the blurry, fast-moving city of Hong Kong, clearly a soft spot with the director, and see how the surroundings interact with it’s inhabitants, namely our four main characters. It is an essentially beautiful film that feels more like a painting or a documentary trying to capture the wonders of a certain time and place.
The first story is that of a woman in a blonde wig (Lin) and cop 223 (Kaneshiro), she a drug dealer who has been involved in an operation gone bad, and he a cop who has just broken up with his girlfriend. This story mainly centres on the cop and his obsession over his ex, May, which is released through his dedicated purchase of a can of pineapple every day that will expire on the 1st of May (his birthday). He feels his love will expire on that same day, a month after the split, should she not change her mind. The woman in the blonde wig appears just as cop 223 has decided he will fall in love with the next woman he sees, and she then sleeps all night as he watches old movies by himself in their hotel room. Their relationship represents the sad side of love. The kind that isn’t reciprocated, nor consummated, and never even really existed. This love just appeared to help cop 223 move on with his life – a rebound relationship. They barely even interact, yet they both have a lasting effect on each other’s lives. I personally much less prefer this half, mainly due to the poor characterisation of the woman in the blonde wig, who we only really know as an ice queen who wants her drugs back and has the power to kill. Cop 223 is, however, greatly drawn, and I really felt for him at several points, though couldn’t really believe his infatuation with the woman in the blonde wig. He had a very believable persona, and I know many people would be able to relate to him and his pain.
At the end of this story, we are introduced to Faye (Wong), a new worker in the corner store that Cop 223 visits regularly. Completely moving on to her and now ignoring the previous main characters (who disappear), we see her spot cop 663 (Leung), another regular at the store. He, during her time observing him, is left by his air hostess girlfriend. The ex visits the store and leaves a letter for cop 663, which, of course, everyone reads. A set of keys to the apartment to cop and the air hostess shared is left in the envelope, which Faye then takes advantage of using once she realises the cop doesn’t want to have the letter. Soon, Faye is spending most of her spare time sneaking into his apartment and cleaning things up for him to try and make him feel better, satisfying her obsession with him. Her free-spirited, friendly, and eccentric nature make her a very lovable character, and the way she bumbles about his apartment like it’s hers is very cute. Whilst we have the slightly sadder overtones of cop 663 grieving over the loss of his girlfriend, it’s portrayed humourously as he talks to random objects in his house as if they’re people. This is the real love story of the film, and the best aspect of it. It’s sweet, unassuming, natural and a little bit strange – which makes it all the more believable.
Altogether, whilst I prefer the happier and more realistic take on love that was provided by the second half, the film would’ve felt incomplete without the character of cop 223. It’s gorgeous as it is, not only in it’s message and characters, but in the innovative cinematography. Wonderful on the eyes, as well as the heart. A great film.
9
What a crazy month. Sorry for being a horrible blogger. School holidays have literally just started and I have A Boy and His Dog and Chunking Express lined up for this weekend to make up for it (hooray). The usual format – alphabetical order, first time viewings only. I only saw six movies for the first time this month, so it includes one film I wouldn’t have otherwise included.
District 9 (Neil Blomkamp, 2009)
Grease (Randal Kleiser, 1978)
Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino, 2009)
Point Break (Kathryn Bigelow, 1992… This was the one I wouldn’t have otherwise included)
The Scent of a Woman (Martin Brest, 1992)
Filed under: 5 Best of the Month, Film | Tags: 1965, 2004, 2008, Changeling, Clint Eastwood, Diarios de Motocicleta, For A Few Dollars More, Gran Torino, Jonathan Demme, Rachel Getting Married, Sergio Leone, The Motorcycle Diaries, Walter Salles
The usual. First time viewings only, alphabetical order. Please note, this month was pretty sucky.
Changeling (Clint Eastwood, 2008)
Diarios de Motocicleta [The Motorcycle Diaries] (Walter Salles, 2004)
For a Few Dollars More (Sergio Leone, 1965)
Gran Torino (Clint Eastwood, 2008)
Rachel Getting Married (Jonathan Demme, 2008)
Filed under: 1960's, Film, Sergio Leone | Tags: Clint Eastwood, Gian Maria Volontè, Lee van Cleef, Sergio Leone, Spaghetti Western, Western
Directed by: Sergio Leone
Starring: Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, Gian Maria Volontè
A simply classic western, For a Few Dollars More proves a very enjoyable watch, with double-crossing, bank-robbing, and bounty hunting galore. Whilst bogged down by the various spoofs and copies made over the years, it is still a very enjoyable film to watch, and would do so again without hesitation.
For a Few Dollars More is about two bounty hunters, Monco a.k.a. The Man With No Name (Clint Eastwood) and Colonel Douglas Mortimer a.k.a. The Man In Black (Lee Van Cleef), and their attempts to kill the notorious El Indio and claim the $10,000 bounty on his head. After going it alone for a while, the pair decide to team up in order to take on El Indio and his gang, who are collectively worth $27,000. Monco on the inside, the Colonel on the outside. But with crooks all around, and being crooks themselves, will someone sniff them out? Who can they trust?
One thing I was not expecting going into this was for it to be so technically accomplished. The cinematography was absolutely gorgeous, with rich shots of the wonderful desert location stealing the show. Massimo Dallamano also constructed some beautiful shots inside, as well as out, which really heightened the tension in some scenes. The colours in particular were delightful. The score, of course, speaks for itself. The classic whistled line by Ennio Morricone is really quite effective, and he other parts of the score just as good. To be completely honest, the film would have probably been excessively boring without the score, as it really creates interest in the scene, the characters and the situation – just as a good score should. I know this is probably a pretty strange thing to comment on, but the dubbing was actually pretty good. Usually I find dubbed films really annoying and unbearable, but this was pretty alright. Quite pleasant, and not as jarring and obvious as other dubbing attempts I’ve seen.
Altogether a fun, violent, and excessively awesome film, For a Few Dollars More proves an all around good watch for anyone and everyone.
8
Filed under: Film, Other | Tags: Alien, Aliens, Avatar, James Cameron, New Movie, The Terminator, Titanic, Trailer
James Cameron, director of Titanic, The Terminator, and Alien, is set to release his new film Avatar worldwide on December the 17th. This looks so super-freaking-awesome it’s unreal.
Filed under: 2000's, Clint Eastwood, Film | Tags: 2008, Angelina Jolie, Bee Vang, Changeling, Christopher Carley, Clint Eastwood, Colm Feore, Jason Butler Harner, John Malkovich, Oscar Nomination
In recent days I watched two of Eastwood’s films, and given my lack of posting lately, I’ll do a little summary of my thoughts.
Changeling (2008)
Starring: Angelina Jolie, John Malkovich, Colm Feore, Jason Butler Harner
Contrary to what I had heard about this film, it was actually very good. Jolie gave a very good and convincing performance, and actually deserved her Oscar nomination in my opinion (however I haven’t seen a few of the performances that were considered more worthy than hers – Sally Hawkins for one). Overall, it was just a very well-done and accurate film. The sets were absolutely extraordinary – they literally recreated parts of the old Los Angeles tram lines – and the locations were all perfect for the time. The costumes were also amazing, and very much moved with the fashion of the time, as well as suiting the individual characters – I’m very much surprised it didn’t get a nomination. But anyway, in terms of the actual story, I found the whole thing rather compelling. The mystery of where her son was, the outrage at what had happened to her, and just the general horror at what was going on unnoticed by the police because they couldn’t afford the embarrassment. The entire thing proves very thought-provoking and, while the ending is overly hopeful, real.
8
Gran Torino (2008)
Starring: Clint Eastwood, Christopher Carley, Bee Vang
Now THIS was hilarious. The asian actors may have been completely horrible, but the characters and the script were so amazing that I didn’t care. The old asian grandma and the priest who drank beer were the highlights in that department for me. The character of Walt and the way he goes about his life is just so badass and old-fashioned, and at the same time hilariously funny. The scenes between him and his barber when they toss racial jokes and various other cutting comments back and forth are just pitch-perfect. There are so many other moments I should mention, but I don’t really want to spoil all the jokes. I mean, I’m not a racist person, but the combination of the old veteran and the young Hmong gang just produces heaps of laughs, as well as some more hard-hitting stuff nearer the end. The gang plot just leers over the main story of Walt and his introduction to Thao and his family and friends. The gang and Walt’s history in the Korean War are real dark spots that balance out this otherwise fairly light film, which is really good because I wouldn’t have liked it anywhere near as much had it have been all laughs and no substance. All-in-all, a really good film, with only the acting on the chopping block.
8
(for your consideration, ranked and rated films from 2008)
Adventureland (Motolla, 2009)
“What the hell was that?”
“It’s just my life.”
American Beauty (Mendes, 1999)
“It was one of those days when it’s a minute away from snowing and there’s this electricity in the air, you can almost hear it. And this bag was, like, dancing with me. Like a little kid begging me to play with it. For fifteen minutes. And that’s the day I knew there was this entire life behind things, and this incredibly benevolent force, that wanted me to know there was no reason to be afraid, ever…
Sometimes there’s so much beauty in the world I feel like I can’t take it, like my heart’s going to cave in.”
Annie Hall (Allen, 1977)
“Hey, don’t knock masturbation! It’s sex with someone I love.”
Blue Velvet (Lynch, 1986)
“That’s a human ear all right.”
Milk (Van Sant, 2008)
“This is Harvey Milk speaking on Friday November 18th. This is to be played only in the event of my death by assassination. During one of the early campaigns, I started opening my speeches with the same line and it sort of became my signature… Hello, I’m Harvey Milk, and I’m here to recruit you.”
HM:
Samson & Delilah (Thornton, 2009)
Filed under: Miscellaneous
Maybe I should go away more often, given I got more views in this past month than I have in basically the rest of the year. Thanks?
Will update viewing log soon, though I didn’t see an awful lot.
