News from home

This is another of Chantal Ackerman's experimental avant-garde films from the mid 1970's - mainly long still shots of New York streets with Ackerman reading voiced over letters from her mother (back in Belgium). You have to be in the right frame of mind for such 'difficult' movies, and I wasn't, though I think I may watch it again (knowing now what to expect) and as a result of a review comparing it to the paintings of Edward Hopper. 

Whiplash (part 2)

As mentioned in a previous blog, I saw the start of the film Whiplash on a plane, and really liked it, and have been waiting for it to be available on Virgin Media movies thing - which it now is - and so I was able to watch the full film - and it was truly amazing! I don't really know what the underlying message is - it's of course the story of a student drummer being pushed to (and beyond) his limits by a sadistic music teacher - is the film trying to make the case that if you don't push talented people will they never achieve their full potential? Is that really true?? Anyway fantastic performances by Miles Teller and JK Simmons - almost made me want to take up the drums - or perhaps I'll go back to the piano - which I started to learn when I retired and then gave up - still plenty of time..... 

Top 10 films

.. and while we're on the subject of The Draughtsman's Contract, I thought I might try and put together my top 10 favourite films - as of today - as inevitably I'll think of others and change my mind tomorrow - perhaps we'll re-visit this list occasionally. So, we have to have the aforementioned Draughtsman in there, and something directed by the Coen Brothers, and David Lynch, and Alfred Hitchcock, and Billy Wilder, and Stanley Kubrick, and Mel Brooks, and Robert Altman, and Wim Wenders, and Powell and Pressburger, and Federico Fellini, and Werner Herzog, and Pedro Almodovar, and John Cassavetes, and Quentin Tarantino, and  Woody Allen, and something starring Susan Sarandon, and Steve Martin, and Lee Marvin, and Dennis Hopper, and Bill Murray, and Jack Nicholson, and Michael Caine, and Ben Gazzara, and George Clooney, and Gene Hackman, and Jean-Louis Trintignant, and Steve McQueen, and Walter Matthau, and Isabelle Huppert...

So, here you go, in no particular order (as that would be doubly difficult!):

• The Draughtsman's Contract
• The Man with 2 Brains
• Primer
• The Duellists
• The Fall
• Morgan, a suitable case for treatment
• Point Blank
• Blood Simple
• Mulholland Drive
• The Headless Woman

Crikey, 10's not nearly enough... what about 2001, and Apocalypse Now, and Repo Man, and Wings of Desire, and The Producers, and The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, and Juliet of the Spirits, and Groundhog Day, and An American Werewolf in London, and Five Easy Pieces, and Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and Annie Hall, and Blazing Saddles, and Bullitt...... 

26 bathrooms

Whilst, of course, everyone knows that Peter Greenaway's The Draughtsman's Contract is the best film in the world ever, I've also always loved one of his early shorts '26 bathrooms' from 1985 (surprisingly 3 years after Draughtsman') which I recorded off the telly on VHS tape (and still have somewhere no doubt) but of course no longer have a VHS player, and it's not on any of the DVDs with early Greenaway short film compilations.

However, some kind soul has put it on vimeo - mwah! Sit back and enjoy!
https://vimeo.com/66720845

Clouds of Sils Maria

I don't quite understand the title of this film, as there is a place called Sils-Maria (with a hyphen):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sils_im_Engadin/Segl

which is where the phenomena of clouds rolling down the valley (the Maloja snake) can be sometimes witnessed - see this film from 1924 which is also featured in the current film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQMT5v0yk9o

but as Maria is the main character in the current film does the 'Maria' in the film title refer to her? Who knows? Anyway, ignoring all that, Juliette Binoche is Maria, an older actress with a younger PA, who is considering reviving her role in a play about an older woman and a younger PA, although whilst originally she played the younger PA, she is now going to be playing the older woman! Phew - get that? The film is about the overlap between reality and the play, but it's all a bit theatrical, though they do hang out in a very picturesque part of Switzerland, and check out the Maloja snake. Strangely I didn't think there were any opening titles, but halfway through it announced 'Part 2' and then at the end there is (I think) an entirely unnecessary 'Epilogue'. Why do so many films go on too long - why not let the audience sometimes remain hanging - I must go back and watch The Headless Woman again, as that perhaps went too far the other way, and seemed to stop in the middle of a scene!

A girl walks home alone at night

Billed as the first Iranian Vampire Western, this is a terrific atmospheric debut from director Ana Lily Amirpour shot in stunning black and white. So, welcome to the new Iran - sex, drugs, rock n roll, as well as a tattooed gangster, and a lone female vampire on a skateboard! Great acting by the cat too!  

The New Girlfriend

Thursday afternoon in the Phoenix seeing The New Girlfriend, the new film by Francois Ozon (see also The Swimming Pool, with Charlotte Rampling) - which centres around Claire, married to Gilles, and best friend (since they were 7) Laura, married to David, with baby Lucie. When Laura dies, Claire seems to be thrown into a quandary - did she love Laura, does she love Gilles, does she love David, does she love David when he's dressed as a woman - she decides the latter - there I've given the plot away so that you don't have to waste your sunny Thursday afternoon seeing the film. It all seemed very odd and inconsistent - but then I'm not gay, or a transvestite, or a woman. So here's a nice photo of Anais Demoustier (Claire).

The Thief of Bagdad

Another of my '100 films you've never heard of': The Thief of Bagdad (or should that be Baghdad?) and as it won 3 Oscars (cinematography, art direction, and special effects), you probably have heard of it - as well as the Douglas Fairbanks silent version from 1924 (see photo).

The King of Comedy

Scorsese and de Niro follow up Mean Streets, Taxi Driver and Raging Bull with something a little more cerebral - The King of Comedy - which I watched last night as part of my 100 Best Films project - stalking, obsession, kidnapping - hardly the stuff of comedy! 

Big Wednesday

Last night watched Big Wednesday, the 83rd film for my other blog http://patrese2.blogspot.co.uk - only recommended for fans of bare-chested blokes posing with their surf boards gazing into the distance - not my cup of tea therefore.

Je Tu Il Elle

The film equivalent of 'watching paint dry' - for the first half hour of this art house black and white film by Chantal Ackerman, a girl (Ackerman herself), in a almost empty room, lies on the bed, eats sugar, writes letters, and gets naked. Later, hitch-hiking, she is picked up by a truck driver, and finishes up at the house of a girl-friend where they have sex. It's very slow, but almost hypnotic, almost. 

Academy cinemas

With reference to my earlier blog, here's a photo of the Academy Cinemas in Oxford St:

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Birdman (again)

Just realised that Birdman (see my earlier blog) got the OSCAR for Best Picture - ho hum...  

The Round Up

Brownie points to MUBI for selecting The Round Up as their film of the day. I remember seeing this when it came out, in 1966, at one of the Academy cinemas in Oxford St - at the time one of the only places you could see less mainstream films. I probably went as a result of reading a review by Dilys Powell in the Sunday paper - I think I may even still have the review somewhere in a box in the loft, as the film made a great impression on me. I guess, at the time, it was something completely different - and it still packs a punch - somewhere in Hungary the army is trying to track down outlaws (opposition resistance leaders) and so rounds up all the local men (shepherds mainly), keeps them in a specially constructed prison in the middle of a huge plain and uses all sorts of psychological methods to identify the outlaws from the innocent shepherds - it's all very still and quiet and alien and strangely disturbing - but shot in such stunning black and white (the blacks are really black and the whites and really white) that it is just beautiful to watch. Lovely to see it again (for the first time since 1966) though I note you can get it these days on DVD. Thoroughly recommended. Trying to remember other films I saw around the same time that I was similarly affected by - Closely Observed Trains possibly, and Juliet of the Spirits and, well I'm sure others will come to mind. 

C.R.A.Z.Y.

Another attempt to watch the film that was about to fall off the bottom of the MUBI list failed - as it turned out to be rather long and I gave up and went to bed and then couldn't access it the next day - doh! Anyway, really liked C.R.A.Z.Y. as far as it went - this is a Quebec-based coming of age story, about Zac growing up and his struggles with his father, his brothers, and his sexuality. It reminded me a bit of Boyhood - it goes on a bit long but you do get drawn into wanting to know how things turn out - but I'll have to get the DVD now to find out!! There's also a great soundtrack - from Zac's father's obsessions with Patsy Cline and Charles Aznavour, through Zac's love of David Bowie. 

Bubbles

Forgot to mention that I was delighted to be invited to the premiere of Nasheed Faruqi's short film 'Bubbles' at the Notting Hill Gate cinema a couple of weeks ago. Nasheed is the friend of my wife's friend's daughter, and raised some of the funding for her film through Kickstarter, hence my minimal involvement (a small donation) and invitation. Here's the synopsis from the Cannes Short Film Catalogue: Set in a British-Pakistani home. About a little girl who witnesses an act of horrible violence at home, and how it beaks her heart. Faruqi conjures up a real sense of claustrophobia and tension, and of things coming to the boil (in more senses than one!). I'll keep my fingers crossed that it makes an impact in Cannes!

100 films you've never heard of...

The continuing saga of trying to find and watch (and blog about, see: http://patrese2.blogspot.co.uk) all the films in David Meyer's book 'The 100 best films to rent you've never heard of' led me today to:
'Robin and Marion' Richard Lester's excellent film about Robin Hood's later life, the core of which is the revival after 10 years away fighting in the Crusades, of his love affair with Maid Marion (and inevitably his continuing feud with the Sherriff of Nottingham - do they still have a Sherriff of Nottingham?? - can't be a popular position to hold!)
and
Predator - the Annie Schwarzenegger rumble in the jungle with guns, aliens, and muscles - blah!

So that means I've seen 82 of the 101 films (101 because Meyer lists both versions of The Wages of Fear (the remake confusingly titles Sorcerer). It's been a disappointingly slow process as I started in July 2011 and had high hopes of zipping through the 100 films in a couple of years - I've even collected several other books with similar titles in the expectation that I'd work my way through them too - la di da...

MUBI

Just joined MUBI, the online film series promoted by Picturehouse - a new film every day, with 30 days to watch them - but as one is added, one falls off the bottom - so as Tarsem Singh's 2008 film 'The Fall' was about to disappear I choose to watch it - I'm embarrassed to admit I'd never heard of it - but it was wonderful - visually sumptuous - and I urge everyone to go find it and watch it!

Films to and from Beirut

Fantastic couple of days in Beirut - and the 5 hour flight allowed me to watch a few films:

Birdman - film about putting on a Broadway play - very theatrical - didn't really get it - seemed to be shot in one long take - but that made it relentless - no gaps - no time to breathe..

The Imitation Game - breaking the Enigma code - but really more of a biopic about Alan Turing - didn't like the switching between times - would have liked to know more about how the computer actually worked - what they put in what they got out - and why it took them so long to realise that if every German message ended Heil Hitler that that might be an easy (easier) way to crack the code

Nighcrawler - creepy main character spoilt an interesting film about the film crews that ambulance chase around LA

Whiplash - drumming - only able to watch half an hour before we landed - but easily the best half an hour of the flight..

Discover Tuesdays at the Phoenix

So, the idea here is just to list and very briefly comment (100 words) on films I see (and to label and cross-reference and rate them).

Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter. Kumiko is a sad depressed 29 year old single office lady in Tokyo who finds the DVD of Fargo and believes it is real and that she has discovered the location of the buried suitcase full of cash. When given the company credit card (to pick up her boss' laundry) she uses it to fly to Minnesota, and despite little having English and little money, kindly folk help her to her destination, although her trip is always doomed.  It’s about depression and delusion, though uplifting in a way, seeing her doggedly following her fate.

New Blog....

I have no idea what's going on....