SEVEN SAMURAI (1954)
IRREVERSIBLE (2002)
More on these later...
And really, honestly, I will cut off all my candidates for the top 10 movies of 2010 at midnight Dec. 31st. That means there might be some really good ones that I'll see this weekend that will just have to be powerful enough to stay in my memory a year from now. All the more incentive to see True Grit as soon as I leave work!
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Tueday penultimate of 2010
A special trip to see this one... well coordinated with other things in Chicago, but still.
BLACK SWAN (2010)
The latest from Darren Aronofsky is enough to get excited about... but that creepy and beautiful poster? I was waiting and waiting for this movie to come up to Rockford (Natalie Portman as a ballerina? C'mon, that's mainstream enough!) but I couldn't wait any longer. This movie delivers incredibly well, staying within the scope of an artistic struggle while layering just as much psychological, surreal, and dark elements as can be handled into a perfect suspensful mix. After leaving the theater, I realized that I could judge this film based on whether or not I'm interested in this type of story, and in a way that COULD bring it down a few pegs, just because ballet and the torments of artistic endeavors don't pack a real power to me. As the best films do over time, I started to contemplate Black Swan even more, and it's themes began to haunt me more. Because the symbology and just fanstasticalness of the ballet Swan Lake create a very dramatic and cinematic framework to demonstrate the main character's personal struggle, and it's executed perfectly. However, what lengths would you go to in order to achieve a perfect victory, at work, in a personal situation, or in a project that has meaning and power to other people? To completely succeed in her endeavor, Natalie Portman's character had to open up the whole spectrum of her repressed emotions and memories, and in her physical sacrifices she had to make moral sacrifices as well to do a perfect performance. When you see multimillionaires achieve greatness, yet remain unhappy and morally compromised through their personal actions, it makes you think at what point does the struggling to achieve something end and the morally questionable actions or philosophies to reach that accomplishment begin. Slowly but surely, Black Swan became personal to me.
More about this, for sure, in my top 10 wrap up of the year coming as soon after Dec. 31st as possible.
BLACK SWAN (2010)
The latest from Darren Aronofsky is enough to get excited about... but that creepy and beautiful poster? I was waiting and waiting for this movie to come up to Rockford (Natalie Portman as a ballerina? C'mon, that's mainstream enough!) but I couldn't wait any longer. This movie delivers incredibly well, staying within the scope of an artistic struggle while layering just as much psychological, surreal, and dark elements as can be handled into a perfect suspensful mix. After leaving the theater, I realized that I could judge this film based on whether or not I'm interested in this type of story, and in a way that COULD bring it down a few pegs, just because ballet and the torments of artistic endeavors don't pack a real power to me. As the best films do over time, I started to contemplate Black Swan even more, and it's themes began to haunt me more. Because the symbology and just fanstasticalness of the ballet Swan Lake create a very dramatic and cinematic framework to demonstrate the main character's personal struggle, and it's executed perfectly. However, what lengths would you go to in order to achieve a perfect victory, at work, in a personal situation, or in a project that has meaning and power to other people? To completely succeed in her endeavor, Natalie Portman's character had to open up the whole spectrum of her repressed emotions and memories, and in her physical sacrifices she had to make moral sacrifices as well to do a perfect performance. When you see multimillionaires achieve greatness, yet remain unhappy and morally compromised through their personal actions, it makes you think at what point does the struggling to achieve something end and the morally questionable actions or philosophies to reach that accomplishment begin. Slowly but surely, Black Swan became personal to me.
More about this, for sure, in my top 10 wrap up of the year coming as soon after Dec. 31st as possible.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
post number 100 Tuesday report
Ah, let's here it for commitment! I didn't finish those 'film snob' essays (someday) but keeping this up at a minimal level is a good thing.
With business as usual...
THE CONVERSATION (1974)
This movie was not on any special list that I keep of films to see. It was just a well-revered classic that also had to be watched in traditional disc form since it wasn't available instantly. Given Francis Ford Coppola's reputation as The Godfather maker, it was surprising to see such a restrained thriller that creates an environment that isn't full of lush set pieces. Rather the sound, the direction and the emotional distance the characters have to keep create an environment where sensory perception in enhanced in some ways but creates such deception in other, more important ways.
I also want to mention that totally awesome tingle moment that comes with revelatory, perfect moments in film (and books, TV, and other mediums). That physical reaction to something so mesmerizing, conclusive, or expressive, that would normally be contained in just the mental realms is such a mysterious sensation, and it seems to happen only in those rare moments where I truly didn't see such a twist coming. There was one of those twists in The Conversation, and it shook me to the core... it seemed to actually be toying with my brain and I how I hear and understand things. Definitely hard to describe as you can see, but that twist wouldn't have been so amazing if the film wasn't made so perfectly.
I think I need to give it 5 stars on Netflix instead of 4.
Jonah
With business as usual...
THE CONVERSATION (1974)
This movie was not on any special list that I keep of films to see. It was just a well-revered classic that also had to be watched in traditional disc form since it wasn't available instantly. Given Francis Ford Coppola's reputation as The Godfather maker, it was surprising to see such a restrained thriller that creates an environment that isn't full of lush set pieces. Rather the sound, the direction and the emotional distance the characters have to keep create an environment where sensory perception in enhanced in some ways but creates such deception in other, more important ways.
I also want to mention that totally awesome tingle moment that comes with revelatory, perfect moments in film (and books, TV, and other mediums). That physical reaction to something so mesmerizing, conclusive, or expressive, that would normally be contained in just the mental realms is such a mysterious sensation, and it seems to happen only in those rare moments where I truly didn't see such a twist coming. There was one of those twists in The Conversation, and it shook me to the core... it seemed to actually be toying with my brain and I how I hear and understand things. Definitely hard to describe as you can see, but that twist wouldn't have been so amazing if the film wasn't made so perfectly.
I think I need to give it 5 stars on Netflix instead of 4.
Jonah
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Tuesday Night
A deadline for Instant Netflix viewing was approaching for one 2009 WIFF selection... and that was the movie I saw this past week.
LION'S DEN (2008)
This film sets up an very compelling situation which is almost, in and of itself, fascinating enough to watch exist regardless of the whatever kind of narrative or plot exists. There's a special block of a women's prison for pregnant women, who are then allowed to raise their children in their cells until the kids turn 4 years old. These cells are decorated like children's rooms and the kids run around playing like there is nothing different from their play area as any other. The bonds between the inmates are explored and the main character goes through some struggles. Over time this movie drags with a lack of a narrative with gravitas, as the oddness of the situation subsides and the mother-offspring instincts are expressed a little too obviously. As an expression of something I've never seen on film before (and isn't that what makes up for even the weakest of film festival fare?) it succeeded.
I always want to watch more, especially on a cold weekend where I stayed away from day trips to Chicago, but that's it.
LION'S DEN (2008)
This film sets up an very compelling situation which is almost, in and of itself, fascinating enough to watch exist regardless of the whatever kind of narrative or plot exists. There's a special block of a women's prison for pregnant women, who are then allowed to raise their children in their cells until the kids turn 4 years old. These cells are decorated like children's rooms and the kids run around playing like there is nothing different from their play area as any other. The bonds between the inmates are explored and the main character goes through some struggles. Over time this movie drags with a lack of a narrative with gravitas, as the oddness of the situation subsides and the mother-offspring instincts are expressed a little too obviously. As an expression of something I've never seen on film before (and isn't that what makes up for even the weakest of film festival fare?) it succeeded.
I always want to watch more, especially on a cold weekend where I stayed away from day trips to Chicago, but that's it.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Irregularly Scheduled Tuesday report
Hey there:
With a vacation schedule, available movie watching chunks go by the wayside (as well as access to my nice TV, one of the few things I miss while on vacation).
So here's a Wednesday movie report...
A Turkish film whose deadline for availability on Netflix Instant fast approached, I watched this the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. And like Lake Tahoe it awards patience and the appreciation of a steady pace, although there are definitely more cinematic vistas that are highlighted in this movie, that seem to replace most dialogue in suggesting the tension between the three main characters. I still did find this compelling enough to recommend as a gateway into artsy foreign films.
Available via Comcast On Demand at my parent's house, this is one bleak film. It's pretty much an incredibly downward spiral from the botched heist that begins the movie, and I am a little tired of movies that inflict dire consequences on people for deciding to go morally astray through criminal activity. But this is fairly invigorating to watch because of the performances (although I'm sick of Philip Seymour Hoffman always mumbling) that include a non-irritating Ethan Hawke! Additionally the mixed up chronology is incredibly exciting, as scenes are repeated and revisited again to both offer deeper context and a reminder of the horrible situation this characters have put themselves in. This movie dares to double punch you in the gut with devastation, but in a tastefully directed way.
Watched this in fragments via Comcast OnDemand, as different things were going on around my parent's house. Very stylized movie at the peak of Spike Lee's powers (let's see, I've seen Do the Right Thing, Crooklyn, Summer of Sam, and this one), I know for sure this movie was inventive for its time, but between all the expressions of drug dealer amorality and ghetto life that I've seen since this movie was made (most recently the miniseries The Corner) I don't see much new here. Of course, the kind of free flowing directing improvisation and style mix-ups that I remember in the other Spike Lee movies make this stand out despite the subject matter, and the ending offers as ambiguous sense of hope as the best of them.
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