The Apartment (Wilder, 1960)
The Apartment is a film that plays right to Jack Lemmon's strengths, and it's his performance that gives the film it's character. He plays C C Baxter, a low ranked worker in a huge insurance company who gets promotions by letting managers bring their mistresses to his apartment. Personally he hates what they're doing, but he doesn't feel like he's better than them either. He's willing to play the playboy to his neighbors, even repeating the lines given to him by his bosses ("Take them out a few times and immediately they assume you're thinking about marriage!")
He meets and falls in love with a girl who works the elevator in his building. Only, she used to be the mistress of one of the managers who uses his apartment and is trying to get her back as his mistress. He keeps teasing the idea of marriage but clearly has no intention of leaving his wife. Baxter finds this awful, but his own history has made him cynical enough that he just plays along and makes things easy for them.
The way it's framed is pretty predictable, but it's done well enough that it works. The audience roots for Baxter and the girl to get together, and there are a series of almost-happens that lead to misinterpretations that lead to the girl going back to the manager or Baxter retreating into his cynicism. Lemmon plays it all well enough for the movie to be entertaining.
The only problem I have with the film is that it can be a little self righteous and preachy. But you can forgive it, first because it was made in the 60's, and second because it's a comedy.
44/101
Next: The Searchers, Chinatown
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
#100: Duck Soup
Duck Soup (McCarey, 1933)
What can I say about it? It's Marx Brothers. If you've seen any Marx Brothers that should tell you all you need to know about it. They're very good at what they do. Some parts are hilarious, but those are mostly the parts where it's just Groucho rattling off one liners or Harpo screwing around with someone. The funny parts have nothing to do with the ridiculous plot. It's not a movie you generally watch when you're over ten, unless you're slavishly following a critics' list like I am.
Rating: ** / 5 for adults, **** / 5 for kids
43/101
What can I say about it? It's Marx Brothers. If you've seen any Marx Brothers that should tell you all you need to know about it. They're very good at what they do. Some parts are hilarious, but those are mostly the parts where it's just Groucho rattling off one liners or Harpo screwing around with someone. The funny parts have nothing to do with the ridiculous plot. It's not a movie you generally watch when you're over ten, unless you're slavishly following a critics' list like I am.
Rating: ** / 5 for adults, **** / 5 for kids
43/101
Thursday, April 22, 2010
#83: Stagecoach
Stagecoach (Ford, 1939)
A pretty straightforward Western. There's a stagecoach of people trying to cross from one town to another, and there are Indians trying to kill them. What strikes me most about the film is that there's no actual gunplay until over an hour in. The first hour is spent on character development, and it's very good character development. The characters are set up as opposites to each other. A refined lady and a prostitute, a Union soldier and a Confederacy soldier. And then John Wayne, a criminal escaped from prison to kill the guys who killed his father. They fight, then Indians attack them, then they've bonded. It's pretty simple, but John Ford and John Wayne play it well enough that it works.
Rating: **** / 5
42/101
Next: The Apartment, Duck Soup
Others:
Amores Perrors: **** / 5
A perfect example of multilinear storytelling done right.
Dancer In The Dark: *** 1/2 / 5
A musical it's okay for guys to like. Depressing as hell. The music is written by Bjork.
The Taste Of Others: *** / 5
A French comedy of impressions about a lot of people with different points of view. The characters are brought together in intertwining ways, and in every case, you can tell each character has a completely different interpretation of the situation. It works, but it's a little boring.
Newer movies:
The Secret In Their Eyes: 5/10
A former detective is writing a novel about a rape/murder case twenty years ago, and in doing so reconnects with a woman he worked with. The acting is good. The director likes the shaky cam a little too much. Not all the plot twists are believable.
A pretty straightforward Western. There's a stagecoach of people trying to cross from one town to another, and there are Indians trying to kill them. What strikes me most about the film is that there's no actual gunplay until over an hour in. The first hour is spent on character development, and it's very good character development. The characters are set up as opposites to each other. A refined lady and a prostitute, a Union soldier and a Confederacy soldier. And then John Wayne, a criminal escaped from prison to kill the guys who killed his father. They fight, then Indians attack them, then they've bonded. It's pretty simple, but John Ford and John Wayne play it well enough that it works.
Rating: **** / 5
42/101
Next: The Apartment, Duck Soup
Others:
Amores Perrors: **** / 5
A perfect example of multilinear storytelling done right.
Dancer In The Dark: *** 1/2 / 5
A musical it's okay for guys to like. Depressing as hell. The music is written by Bjork.
The Taste Of Others: *** / 5
A French comedy of impressions about a lot of people with different points of view. The characters are brought together in intertwining ways, and in every case, you can tell each character has a completely different interpretation of the situation. It works, but it's a little boring.
Newer movies:
The Secret In Their Eyes: 5/10
A former detective is writing a novel about a rape/murder case twenty years ago, and in doing so reconnects with a woman he worked with. The acting is good. The director likes the shaky cam a little too much. Not all the plot twists are believable.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
#92: Pierrot le Fou
Pierrot le fou (Godard, 1965)
I can appreciate Godard as one of the great innovators of style. He had a lot of great ideas and had a lot of interesting things to say. Unfortunately, it's often the characters saying them directly to the camera. The actual substance of his films are a tedious, self indulgent mess.
The film starts with Pierrot/Ferdinand at an upper class party. His boredom with the whole life style is beautifully illustrated by some color filtered shots of pretentious people standing around talking bourgeousis nonsense, so he decides to run off with his babysitter who is also involved in gun cartels and a murderer. The movie covers themes such as how the images we have of people are different from who those people actually are, and the casual ambient violence of the world, and those are very interesting, intelligent themes. But the film expresses those themes by sometimes having characters just address the camera directly, or by just kind of wandering around screaming things out randomly. The characters' behavior rarely makes sense, the plot is a mess, and the movie in general is just difficult to get through.
I would sell the movie on ebay right away. But, it's about to go out of print. So instead I'll wait a few weeks then sell it.
Rating: ** / 5
41/101
I can appreciate Godard as one of the great innovators of style. He had a lot of great ideas and had a lot of interesting things to say. Unfortunately, it's often the characters saying them directly to the camera. The actual substance of his films are a tedious, self indulgent mess.
The film starts with Pierrot/Ferdinand at an upper class party. His boredom with the whole life style is beautifully illustrated by some color filtered shots of pretentious people standing around talking bourgeousis nonsense, so he decides to run off with his babysitter who is also involved in gun cartels and a murderer. The movie covers themes such as how the images we have of people are different from who those people actually are, and the casual ambient violence of the world, and those are very interesting, intelligent themes. But the film expresses those themes by sometimes having characters just address the camera directly, or by just kind of wandering around screaming things out randomly. The characters' behavior rarely makes sense, the plot is a mess, and the movie in general is just difficult to get through.
I would sell the movie on ebay right away. But, it's about to go out of print. So instead I'll wait a few weeks then sell it.
Rating: ** / 5
41/101
Thursday, April 15, 2010
#78: Madame De...
Madame De... (Ophuls, 1953)
The movie starts with the main character surrounded by luxury going through her jewelery trying to find something she wants to sell. She settles on selling her diamond earrings. She doesn't need the money, because anything she wants will be provided by her husband. The attempted sale of the jewelery was an attempt at independence and to escape the spiritual possession by her husband.
This is the major theme of the movie. Her husband is not abusive; he handles everything with the detached dignity of the upper class. She goes to the theater and, to justify the earrings disappearing, tells her husband she dropped them and they were stolen. When the man she sold the earrings to comes to him the next day, he quietly gives them off to a mistress he's cutting off and sending to Constantinople. He chooses the way of handling his wife's deception in the most emotionless and unscandalous way possible, which is how he handles everything in the movie. She repeatedly makes attempts to find things for herself outside the role of 'The general's wife', but nothing makes her happy, and her husband continuously finds quiet dignified ways to pull her back into his possession.
While the characters are very well and subtly defined, that only goes so far in terms of actual enjoyment of the movie. The character development is only interesting to a point, and it doesn't have much of an entertainment factor either. So while I would call it a good movie, it's one you'll only enjoy if you're a really big old school buff.
Rating: *** / 5
40/101
The movie starts with the main character surrounded by luxury going through her jewelery trying to find something she wants to sell. She settles on selling her diamond earrings. She doesn't need the money, because anything she wants will be provided by her husband. The attempted sale of the jewelery was an attempt at independence and to escape the spiritual possession by her husband.
This is the major theme of the movie. Her husband is not abusive; he handles everything with the detached dignity of the upper class. She goes to the theater and, to justify the earrings disappearing, tells her husband she dropped them and they were stolen. When the man she sold the earrings to comes to him the next day, he quietly gives them off to a mistress he's cutting off and sending to Constantinople. He chooses the way of handling his wife's deception in the most emotionless and unscandalous way possible, which is how he handles everything in the movie. She repeatedly makes attempts to find things for herself outside the role of 'The general's wife', but nothing makes her happy, and her husband continuously finds quiet dignified ways to pull her back into his possession.
While the characters are very well and subtly defined, that only goes so far in terms of actual enjoyment of the movie. The character development is only interesting to a point, and it doesn't have much of an entertainment factor either. So while I would call it a good movie, it's one you'll only enjoy if you're a really big old school buff.
Rating: *** / 5
40/101
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
#89: Jaws
Jaws (Spielberg, 1975)
A big shark eats a bunch of people, and they go out to kill it.
I probably could end the writeup with just that one sentence. It's pretty typical for Spielberg. Great production value, great effects. One dimensional cliches for characters. The action of the film isn't that exciting anymore because simple scenes like that have been ruined by modern CGI. You could predict who was going to live and die pretty much from the beginning. The one interesting thing about the plot was the 'Politics of mass hysteria' angle, where the girl gets killed and they don't want to call it a shark attack because it would terrify people. Unfortunately that angle is represented by a cliche 'Stubborn idiot politician' character.
Rating: ** 1/2 / 5
39/100
Next: Madame De…, Pierrot le Fou
New films:
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo: 7/10
A crime thriller about a reporter who was being sent to jail after being set up for a libel case, who's hired by a member of a rich family to investigate a fourty year old murder. There's also a woman (With the dragon tattoo) who's had a history of violence and mental instability, but who's also a genius investigator. The plots start out separate but after about an hour she gets involved in the investigation to. The characters are interesting, the mystery is compelling, and the conclusion satisfying. There's heavy themes of abuse and misogyny. The only thing about the film that was weak was the directing style. The plot itself is really good, but the film doesn't add anything to the core events of the plot so much as just show them to you. Nothing in the film is that stylistically or cinemotagraphically interesting, so the whole two and a half hours of it can a times be tough to get through. Fortunately, the plot keeps you interested enough in the mystery to pull you through.
A big shark eats a bunch of people, and they go out to kill it.
I probably could end the writeup with just that one sentence. It's pretty typical for Spielberg. Great production value, great effects. One dimensional cliches for characters. The action of the film isn't that exciting anymore because simple scenes like that have been ruined by modern CGI. You could predict who was going to live and die pretty much from the beginning. The one interesting thing about the plot was the 'Politics of mass hysteria' angle, where the girl gets killed and they don't want to call it a shark attack because it would terrify people. Unfortunately that angle is represented by a cliche 'Stubborn idiot politician' character.
Rating: ** 1/2 / 5
39/100
Next: Madame De…, Pierrot le Fou
New films:
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo: 7/10
A crime thriller about a reporter who was being sent to jail after being set up for a libel case, who's hired by a member of a rich family to investigate a fourty year old murder. There's also a woman (With the dragon tattoo) who's had a history of violence and mental instability, but who's also a genius investigator. The plots start out separate but after about an hour she gets involved in the investigation to. The characters are interesting, the mystery is compelling, and the conclusion satisfying. There's heavy themes of abuse and misogyny. The only thing about the film that was weak was the directing style. The plot itself is really good, but the film doesn't add anything to the core events of the plot so much as just show them to you. Nothing in the film is that stylistically or cinemotagraphically interesting, so the whole two and a half hours of it can a times be tough to get through. Fortunately, the plot keeps you interested enough in the mystery to pull you through.
Monday, April 12, 2010
#90: A Clockwork Orange
A Clockwork Orange (Kubrick, 1971)
The big challenge with watching the movies of books I've already read is that it's hard not to compare the movie to the book. Any book of reasonable length can't be fit into feature film length without changing the plot a little. So every time I have to suppress the following reaction: "But…that part was important! Now you see the character completely different!" Actually, in the case of A Clockwork Orange, the last chapter was cut out of the original print by the editors. In the last chapter, Alex runs into Pete, who is married with a child and has moved beyond being a thug. Then he realizes he's bored being a 'droog' and quits his new gang. Which drives home the point, youth ends and people grow up. The major change between the book and the movie is that Kubrick decides not to make that point, and instead focuses on the politics of punishment and the inherent hypocrisy of intellectualism on the subject.
A Clockwork Orange is stylized like a Kubrick film. The settings are filled with post modern decor, matching the post-modern attitudes of the characters. Alex is a thug running around committing assault, rape, robbery, and then unintentionally a murder. But he lives in a society that doesn't see him as a person who made a choice. It diagnoses him as a disease to be cured. To their post-modern mindset, taking away Alex's ability to choose between good and evil is equal to him becoming a good person. But, none of them are thinking for themselves. They're hopping on intellectual bandwagons and believing whatever is popular to believe at the time. The governor endorses Alex's radical treatment while it's popular, then when it becomes unpopular, denounces it, in both cases using him as a tool to further his popularity. His parents denounce him when he's an embarassment, then accept him when he's a nationally renouned victim of persecution. Nobody in the film is honest to himself except Alex. Kubrick takes the plot and characters of A Clockwork Orange and bends them to serve his intellectual vendetta against the media and Hollywood mind control, and it works. (Although, I get the feeling the excess nudity was thrown in purely for shock value's sake.)
Rating: **** / 5
38/101
Others:
Umberto D: **** / 5
A film that clearly and directly influenced the recent indie film Wendy and Lucy, Umberto D takes place in postwar Italy, and shows a very realistic view of poverty. Umberto is a pensioner who is being evicted from his dirty apartment because he can't pay his rent. He tries to find ways to get money without having to sacrifice his pride. The writing is emotionally real, and the frustration universal to humanity.
The big challenge with watching the movies of books I've already read is that it's hard not to compare the movie to the book. Any book of reasonable length can't be fit into feature film length without changing the plot a little. So every time I have to suppress the following reaction: "But…that part was important! Now you see the character completely different!" Actually, in the case of A Clockwork Orange, the last chapter was cut out of the original print by the editors. In the last chapter, Alex runs into Pete, who is married with a child and has moved beyond being a thug. Then he realizes he's bored being a 'droog' and quits his new gang. Which drives home the point, youth ends and people grow up. The major change between the book and the movie is that Kubrick decides not to make that point, and instead focuses on the politics of punishment and the inherent hypocrisy of intellectualism on the subject.
A Clockwork Orange is stylized like a Kubrick film. The settings are filled with post modern decor, matching the post-modern attitudes of the characters. Alex is a thug running around committing assault, rape, robbery, and then unintentionally a murder. But he lives in a society that doesn't see him as a person who made a choice. It diagnoses him as a disease to be cured. To their post-modern mindset, taking away Alex's ability to choose between good and evil is equal to him becoming a good person. But, none of them are thinking for themselves. They're hopping on intellectual bandwagons and believing whatever is popular to believe at the time. The governor endorses Alex's radical treatment while it's popular, then when it becomes unpopular, denounces it, in both cases using him as a tool to further his popularity. His parents denounce him when he's an embarassment, then accept him when he's a nationally renouned victim of persecution. Nobody in the film is honest to himself except Alex. Kubrick takes the plot and characters of A Clockwork Orange and bends them to serve his intellectual vendetta against the media and Hollywood mind control, and it works. (Although, I get the feeling the excess nudity was thrown in purely for shock value's sake.)
Rating: **** / 5
38/101
Others:
Umberto D: **** / 5
A film that clearly and directly influenced the recent indie film Wendy and Lucy, Umberto D takes place in postwar Italy, and shows a very realistic view of poverty. Umberto is a pensioner who is being evicted from his dirty apartment because he can't pay his rent. He tries to find ways to get money without having to sacrifice his pride. The writing is emotionally real, and the frustration universal to humanity.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
#20: The Passion Of Joan Of Arc
The Passion of Joan Of Arc (Dreyer, 1928)
This is the fourth Dreyer film I've seen, and the first I've liked. The film portrays the final days of Joan of Arc, after she's captured when she's put on trial and subsequently killed. It portrays a lot of religious intellectuals trying to debate, trick and threaten Joan into confessing she is not a messenger from God. They give her fake letters from her king, they offer her religious services in exchange for confessing and then call her evil for turning down the religious services. Through it she's terrified and confused, but stays true to her belief that she's a messenger from God and will be rewarded for her suffering through acceptance into heaven. What really strikes me about the film is the amount of emotion it manages to portray with only facial expressions. You can see precisely what Joan and her prosecutors are thinking, and you can clearly make the distinction between their stated agenda and their obvious hidden agenda, whatever their current ploy is.
Rating: **** 1/ 2 / 5
37/101
This is the fourth Dreyer film I've seen, and the first I've liked. The film portrays the final days of Joan of Arc, after she's captured when she's put on trial and subsequently killed. It portrays a lot of religious intellectuals trying to debate, trick and threaten Joan into confessing she is not a messenger from God. They give her fake letters from her king, they offer her religious services in exchange for confessing and then call her evil for turning down the religious services. Through it she's terrified and confused, but stays true to her belief that she's a messenger from God and will be rewarded for her suffering through acceptance into heaven. What really strikes me about the film is the amount of emotion it manages to portray with only facial expressions. You can see precisely what Joan and her prosecutors are thinking, and you can clearly make the distinction between their stated agenda and their obvious hidden agenda, whatever their current ploy is.
Rating: **** 1/ 2 / 5
37/101
Thursday, April 8, 2010
#88: Playtime
Playtime (Tati, 1967)
One of the more beautiful films on the list to look at, everything in Playtime is very modern-styled. A lot of white/grey/silver/black color palettes, smooth glass and metal surfaces, lines at right angles to each other. Shots tend to have wide open spaces with lots of activity going on in the background. The staging shows you the modern world that's replacing the old world, in a subtly humorous way. You get the idea that everybody is just as alienated as you are, but they're bluffing their way through and playing along, because this is how the world is now.
You should be warned, Playtime's not the kind of movie with a strong central plot. It doesn't tell a story, and doesn't try to. It's unapologetically an art movie. It's a collection of loosely collected scenes. The action is chaotic and offbeat, with a tremendous amount of detail in the action going on in the background. Anyone who doesn't care that the movie doesn't have a plot should see it tomorrow.
Rating: ***** / 5
36/101
Next: The Passion of Joan of Arc
One of the more beautiful films on the list to look at, everything in Playtime is very modern-styled. A lot of white/grey/silver/black color palettes, smooth glass and metal surfaces, lines at right angles to each other. Shots tend to have wide open spaces with lots of activity going on in the background. The staging shows you the modern world that's replacing the old world, in a subtly humorous way. You get the idea that everybody is just as alienated as you are, but they're bluffing their way through and playing along, because this is how the world is now.
You should be warned, Playtime's not the kind of movie with a strong central plot. It doesn't tell a story, and doesn't try to. It's unapologetically an art movie. It's a collection of loosely collected scenes. The action is chaotic and offbeat, with a tremendous amount of detail in the action going on in the background. Anyone who doesn't care that the movie doesn't have a plot should see it tomorrow.
Rating: ***** / 5
36/101
Next: The Passion of Joan of Arc
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
#11: Tokyo Story
Tokyo Story (Ozu, 1953)
Tokyo Story is an early example of the Japanese style of films with introverted protagonists and reflective critiques on modern society. It's one of the films that popularized the style but now it's all over the place. Films like Yi Yi, Nobody Knows and Still Walking take the same approach. They have a way of implied character development where characters express their thoughts and motives through subtleties of their expressions and actions. Characters are rich and realistic, and ask you to make the effort to figure them out, without the usual melodrama.
The plot is about an aging couple who travel to Tokyo to visit their children. They want to have a full week of fun and family reconnection, but their children don't have the time in their lives to spend entertaining them. They treat them like a burden and calculate ways to entertain them while putting in the least money and effort. The parents are stoic and patient, never revealing their frustration, except for one scene where the father gets together with old acquaintances and gets drunk.
I was prepared to give the movie five stars, but near the end the movie betrays it's subtlety by stating it's whole point a little too outright. The first ninety minutes of the film expressed it's point so beautifully without any big speeches, then suddenly at the end, the youngest child makes a big speech saying outright everything you already got from the rest of the movie.
Rating: **** 1/2 / 5
35/101
From now on when I talk about new movies, I'm going to do it on a 1-10 scale instead of rating against the 'best movies of all time' standard I'm using for the top 100.
Vincere: 6/10
Vincere is a movie about a mistress of Musollini's who refused to deny that Mussolini was her child's father, and got put in a mental institution for it. The cinematography and the music are incredible. Unfortunately not a whole lot happens in the movie you couldn't have guessed from a thirty second summary. I also have questions about some of their historical assumptions.
Tokyo Story is an early example of the Japanese style of films with introverted protagonists and reflective critiques on modern society. It's one of the films that popularized the style but now it's all over the place. Films like Yi Yi, Nobody Knows and Still Walking take the same approach. They have a way of implied character development where characters express their thoughts and motives through subtleties of their expressions and actions. Characters are rich and realistic, and ask you to make the effort to figure them out, without the usual melodrama.
The plot is about an aging couple who travel to Tokyo to visit their children. They want to have a full week of fun and family reconnection, but their children don't have the time in their lives to spend entertaining them. They treat them like a burden and calculate ways to entertain them while putting in the least money and effort. The parents are stoic and patient, never revealing their frustration, except for one scene where the father gets together with old acquaintances and gets drunk.
I was prepared to give the movie five stars, but near the end the movie betrays it's subtlety by stating it's whole point a little too outright. The first ninety minutes of the film expressed it's point so beautifully without any big speeches, then suddenly at the end, the youngest child makes a big speech saying outright everything you already got from the rest of the movie.
Rating: **** 1/2 / 5
35/101
From now on when I talk about new movies, I'm going to do it on a 1-10 scale instead of rating against the 'best movies of all time' standard I'm using for the top 100.
Vincere: 6/10
Vincere is a movie about a mistress of Musollini's who refused to deny that Mussolini was her child's father, and got put in a mental institution for it. The cinematography and the music are incredible. Unfortunately not a whole lot happens in the movie you couldn't have guessed from a thirty second summary. I also have questions about some of their historical assumptions.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
#3: Rules of the Game
Rules of the Game (Renoir, 1939)
What originally pushed me to want to see classic films was a movie poll on a forum I frequent. This happened in August, and because it was the highest on TSPDT I hadn't seen yet, Rules of the Game was one of the first ones I picked up. Back then I didn't get it at all. I didn't have any of the context I needed, so I watched it with the perspective of expecting it to be like a more plot driven movie. Coming back to it now after having seen a lot more French films and a lot more art films, I do get it more.
Rules of the Game is about a bunch of rich people who are all having affairs with each other, but pulling it off with the air of upper class dignity people expect from them. I missed the point completely the first time, because I thought I was supposed to get swept up in the melodrama and care how their relationships turned out. No, the point is, these people are just doing whatever the hell they feel like doing all the time, then justifying it by abiding by some tacitly understood moral code. But all that moral code really is is 'Everyone keep up the appearance of classiness'.
What really sets the movie apart though is the way the scenes were staged. Characters do what rich people do at parties in the 1930s. They hunt for game, they dance, they entertain themselves, they exchange pleasantries. And while everybody is going through these motions, the movie juggles several different subplots at once. It's chaotic while still seeming concise. Everybody is just going around acting on their own personal whims, but it never seems 'All over the place'. It handles multilinear storytelling better than any other movie I've seen.
Without giving away too much about the ending, I'll say that there's a tragedy that is a result of several plotlines coming together in a choatic mass-misinterpretation. And then we see just how little all these people care about anything except presenting the appearance of class.
Rating: **** / 5
34/101
Next: Tokyo Story, The Apartment
Others:
The Obscure Object Of Desire: **** / 5
Bunuel started making films in the 20's. This is his last one, released in 1977. This is the swan song to one of the longest directing careers there is. Unlike most of his other films, it has nothing to do with catholicism being stupid. It's about a rich man who falls in lust with a woman, and spends the whole movie chasing her, where she spends the whole movie giving him just enough to entice him, but not so much that he's satisfied. They talk about love, but really he's in love with chasing her and she's in love with being chased. Also, the woman is played by two different actresses who constantly switch back and forth without anyone noticing anything, which is a really nice touch.
Close-Up: *** 1/2 / 5
An Iranian documentary-ish reenactment of a legal case using the actual people involved as actors. A man was on trial for fraud. He was pretending to be a famous movie director, and he strung a family along for weeks, convincing them he was the director, and telling them he wants to shoot a movie in their house. When he gets caught, they accuse him of attempted burglary and bring him to trial. In the trial, they talk through his actual motives for the farse. It's a really interesting movie to watch, but not one I'd recommend to someone who isn't really interested in seeing something different.
What originally pushed me to want to see classic films was a movie poll on a forum I frequent. This happened in August, and because it was the highest on TSPDT I hadn't seen yet, Rules of the Game was one of the first ones I picked up. Back then I didn't get it at all. I didn't have any of the context I needed, so I watched it with the perspective of expecting it to be like a more plot driven movie. Coming back to it now after having seen a lot more French films and a lot more art films, I do get it more.
Rules of the Game is about a bunch of rich people who are all having affairs with each other, but pulling it off with the air of upper class dignity people expect from them. I missed the point completely the first time, because I thought I was supposed to get swept up in the melodrama and care how their relationships turned out. No, the point is, these people are just doing whatever the hell they feel like doing all the time, then justifying it by abiding by some tacitly understood moral code. But all that moral code really is is 'Everyone keep up the appearance of classiness'.
What really sets the movie apart though is the way the scenes were staged. Characters do what rich people do at parties in the 1930s. They hunt for game, they dance, they entertain themselves, they exchange pleasantries. And while everybody is going through these motions, the movie juggles several different subplots at once. It's chaotic while still seeming concise. Everybody is just going around acting on their own personal whims, but it never seems 'All over the place'. It handles multilinear storytelling better than any other movie I've seen.
Without giving away too much about the ending, I'll say that there's a tragedy that is a result of several plotlines coming together in a choatic mass-misinterpretation. And then we see just how little all these people care about anything except presenting the appearance of class.
Rating: **** / 5
34/101
Next: Tokyo Story, The Apartment
Others:
The Obscure Object Of Desire: **** / 5
Bunuel started making films in the 20's. This is his last one, released in 1977. This is the swan song to one of the longest directing careers there is. Unlike most of his other films, it has nothing to do with catholicism being stupid. It's about a rich man who falls in lust with a woman, and spends the whole movie chasing her, where she spends the whole movie giving him just enough to entice him, but not so much that he's satisfied. They talk about love, but really he's in love with chasing her and she's in love with being chased. Also, the woman is played by two different actresses who constantly switch back and forth without anyone noticing anything, which is a really nice touch.
Close-Up: *** 1/2 / 5
An Iranian documentary-ish reenactment of a legal case using the actual people involved as actors. A man was on trial for fraud. He was pretending to be a famous movie director, and he strung a family along for weeks, convincing them he was the director, and telling them he wants to shoot a movie in their house. When he gets caught, they accuse him of attempted burglary and bring him to trial. In the trial, they talk through his actual motives for the farse. It's a really interesting movie to watch, but not one I'd recommend to someone who isn't really interested in seeing something different.
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