Risselada Blog

director introductions - Otto Preminger - Anatomy of a Murder

Risselada — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:47:31 GMT

This is the first film I've seen by director Otto Preminger.

A good courtroom drama, but less for the reasons that I would have expected. At some point finding out what really happened and who is guilty or innocent is not quite as important as just watching all of the different characters involved, their motives, methods, and relationships.

Also notable for being one of the earliest major screen appearances from the great George C. Scott. His talent and skill as a distinct actor were already developed at this early stage of his film carreers.

Also interesting as one of the only major films I've ever seen that takes place in the Michigan Upper Peninsula.

What also sticks out about the film is how open it is about talking about and investigating such disturbing crimes as violence and rape. The word rape is used quite openly, along with many details surrounding the incident. The crime was not made light of, yet we see how it can become more matter of fact or be examined in a more logical way when the subject of this kind of investigation which has so many other motivations and factors surrounding it. This will not only strike audiences still today, but even more so when you realize this film was released in 1959 and how much more rare it was to see such things discussed in films this way back then.

My only recommendation for people who are seeing this because they like a good courtroom drama is to realize that the path this movie takes is sometimes more about characters and a lot of other issues that can surround a case than the actual case itself.

Rating: 9/10

Moral Tales, Filmic Issues

Risselada — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:24:25 GMT

Moral Tales, Filmic Issues

This one isn't in the Spout database but I thought I'd mention it because I enjoyed it. You can see this on disc one of the Criterion Collection set of Eric Rohmer's Six Moral Tales. The first film in the set The Bakery Girl of Monceau is so short at 23 minutes that it would have seemed kind of wasteful to have nothing else on the disc. So we get this fantastic 84 minute long dialogue with Eric Rohmer and Barbet Schroeder. These guys are as wonderful to hear talking to each other as it is to hear the characters in Rohmer's films talking to each other. Even though I had not hardly any of the films he was referring to I found it fascinating. I will have to revisit this interview some day after I have seen more of his oeuvre.

Rating: 9/10

director ratings - Andrzej Wajda - Kanal

Risselada — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:29:59 GMT

This is the second feature length film I've seen by director Andrzej Wajda. I chose to watch this film based on previous good ratings I've given other films by this director and to better my favorite directors by algorithm listing.

Kanal

I'm always so thrilled to find new movies as great as this. It's not great because everything that happens in it is so pleasant, but because (like several of my favorite movies) it is so apt in portraying the true horrors war and revolution, and more specifically what this particular moment for people like this in the Warsaw Uprising may have been like. In some ways realistically and in some ways more poetically.

It's an excellent ensemble movie like a lot of good war movies are, but this one really steps it up to the highest level. So many emotions. You are there with the characters, feeling the will to keep going on, and at the same time the desperation that the efforts will most likely all be useless. Also, add this one to the short list of the most memorable final images.

Even better than the amazing A Generation which precedes it in Wajda's thematic war trilogy, I'm quite excited now to see the final film Ashes and Diamonds.

Andrzej Wajda:
Total feature length films seen: 2
Previous average film score: 9
New average film score: 9.5

Rating: 10/10

Snow White

Risselada — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:00:16 GMT

Snow White

The final feature length film from the DVD set "Treasures From American Film Archives" is a classic tale, but set some of the future standards of cinematic interpretations. Or at least it is known to have been a considerable influence on Walt Disney in his inspiration and execution of his own version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. My biggest complaint is that there seems to be moments that jump over major scenes or plot points. I don't know if part of the film is missing or the filmmakers just assumed people were familiar with the story enough to know what wasn't being shown. Otherwise it's a fun example of very early American fantasy filmmaking.

Rating: 7/10

The Chechahcos

Risselada — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:27:43 GMT

The Chechahcos

From disc three of the DVD set "Treasures From American Film Archives". An interesting silent feature set in the Alaska gold rush from director Lewis H. Moomaw. This is his only surviving film. Some action, romance, drama. The different settings like the boat, the lodges, and especially the Alaska landscapes are major points of interest as well though. It was said Chaplin got some ideas from this film for The Gold Rush.

Rating: 7/10

director ratings - Joel and Ethan Coen - A Serious Man

Risselada — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:16:14 GMT

This is the forteenth feature length film I've seen by directors Joel and Ethan Coen. I chose to watch this film based on previous good ratings I've given other films by this director and to better my favorite directors by algorithm listing.

A Serious Man

It's a special moment that seems to have come around once a year in the fall season the last few years when I get to watch another new Coen brothers film. Since they are my favorite filmmakers, and being a film lover, there are few moments of cinematic anticipation as big as this for me.

My love and admiration for their films always ends up being massive. Sometimes immediately, and sometimes as it sinks in. Last year's Burn After Reading was pretty much instantaneous. A Serious Man I knew I liked just as much, but took me a while longer to figure out completely why. The reason it took me a while, is actually the reason why it's so great.

It has a lot of the wonderful and distinctive Coen brothers characters and dialogue. But in trying to make sense of the plot, the viewer is doing exactly what the protagonist is trying to figure out about his life. A lot of things and events occur in Larry's life that either seem like they have some kind of meaning or otherwise at least incite a search for their meaning. The same thing holds true about things and events in the film that incite the viewers to deeply question their meaning. It's like the story within a story of the goy's teeth. The Rabbi telling the story loves to tell it with enthusiasm, punctuating every detail, and seemingly building it up to a climax so that any average listener assumes there is some meaning behind the story that will be revealed. When in actuality the point is never reveal as anticipated and the story teller's reason for even telling the story seems ambiguous beyond just enjoying telling the story.

I think the Coens see themselves as story tellers like this, and maybe they even sometimes see God as a story teller like this. Either way, they will point out that life can be like a good story where certain events seem to stick out as if they have some kind of important meaning or foreshadowing that we are meant to investigate. But a lot of times in life that meaning is never quite found, so why should a good story feel like it needs to give a clear answer or meaning in the end either?

As an extra comment about the film, all of the scenes where Larry is in his office are my favorite. Be it either talking to the student Clive, or to his boss about his tenure, or on the phone with a representative from Columbia house. These scenes should be added to the huge list of other sublime moments from the Coens' spectacular oeuvre.

Joel and Ethan Coen:
Total feature length films seen: 14
Previous average film score: 9.9231
New average film score: 9.9286

Rating: 10/10

The Toll of the Sea

Risselada — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:14:03 GMT

The Toll of the Sea

Another one from the DVD set "Treasures From American Film Archives". This was the first "successful" feature film to use the two-tone Technicolor process through its entirety. It is doubtful that the film would have had even a small fraction of the notoriety it does not if it weren't for that distinguishing fact, although it isn't a horrible film. The only other notable aspect of the film is actress Anna May Wong. It was rare for Asian American women to have starring roles in American films, and she does a praiseworthy job. Her appearance and performance along with two other secondary Asian American actresses and the sets filmed in the early Technicolor process would be my only primary reasons to recommend the film.

Rating: 5/10

director ratings - Joseph L. Mankiewicz - All About Eve

Risselada — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:15:17 GMT

This is the second feature length film I've seen by director Joseph L. Mankiewicz. I chose to watch this film based on previous good ratings I've given other films by this director and to better my favorite directors by algorithm listing.

All About Eve

I don't have too much to say about such a famous movie mostly because I feel like it must have all been said before, and I would tend to agree with the general sentiments surrounding it. If you rent the DVD for this movie, you will get more special features than you can almost handle. I watched them all because I'm compulsive. I enjoyed them, but now I've heard so much about this movie, that I can't stand to take too much time to write much more about it.

I usually tend to shy away from movies about backstage theatre drama, especially involving selfish divas. People tend to write about what they know, so there are a highly disproportionate amount of backstage subject matters in movies and plays. But when the writing, acting, and everything else are the best, I guess it doesn't matter what the subject is, as long as it's the best for what it is. Mankiewicz loved the theatre yet was one of it's most its most harsh and savvy critics.

Joseph L. Mankiewicz:
Total feature length films seen: 2
Previous average film score: 10
New average film score: 9.5

Rating: 9/10

director introductions - Claude Chabrol - Le boucher (The Butcher)

Risselada — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:54:48 GMT

This is the first film I've seen by director Claude Chabrol.

Le boucher (The Butcher)

I first read about Charbrol as a master of suspense like Hitchcock or Clouzot, but with his own kind of psychological, sociological, and political slant. And he is kind of coming out of the French New Wave so there's that kind of feeling about it.

I'll admit the suspense and mood were done well, but the story itself was not that great. I understand that the story was kind of commenting on and playing on conventions and the main point was the examination of characters. But I didn't connect with any of the characters, especially not the protagonist played by his wife and muse Stéphane Audran, Charbrol's muse and wife. She creeped me out from the very beginning. Something just about the way she dressed and her makeup might have been part of it. I understand the characters were supposed to be a bit creepy and enigmatic, hiding stuff from their past. I can understand what he was going for by stepping away and examining it, but if I'm bored to death through all of it up to the end, then I'm just not going to give it a very high rating.

4/10

director ratings - Man of Aran - Robert Flaherty

Risselada — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:27:32 GMT

This is the second feature length film I've seen by director Robert Flaherty. I chose to watch this film based on previous good ratings I've given other films by this director and to better my favorite directors by algorithm listing.

Man of Aran

I've heard him called the "Father of the documentary" (although a quick search of the phrase shows more hits for John Grierson), his films are actually more constructed and narrative than in a method that required a lot more effort than filming what we would consider to be more of a strict documentary today.

The locations are real. The people are usually native, but their relationships may not be. And while their actions may be inspired by the more interesting parts of reality, they are still acted out for the camera.

The most exciting part of this film, the shark hunt was a recreation of a practice that had been abandoned for a generation or more. People still had all of the equipment, but didn't exactly know what they were doing. It was all constructed for the camera and for editing. (When the kid found the basking shark though, I found that to be some creepy shit!)

There is a documentary on the DVD called "How the Myth Was Made" which revisits the Aran islands decades after the film was made. It includes conversations with some of the crew, reactions from natives to how they view the film today, and interesting stories about how stuff was shot. It also notes how a lot of aspects of life on the islands were intentionally not shown or mentioned at all in the film in a kind of manipulative way, but that's Flaherty's way. People said he was more of a visual poet than a documentary filmmaker because he honestly wasn't trying for reality as a kind of cinematic poetry inspired by reality.

Robert Flaherty:
Total feature length films seen: 2
Previous average film score: 9
New average film score: 8.5

Rating: 8/10