Cinema Becomes Her: Allison's Movie Blog

Top Seven Films of December, 2011

2012-01-08T13:28:00.000-08:00

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)

Shall We Dance (1937)

Additional Films:
Le Horla (1966)
La promesse (1996)
Bhowani Junction (1956)
Ponette (1996)
Die Blechtrommel/Tin Drum (1979)

Top Ten of 2011

2011-12-31T16:55:00.000-08:00

1. Midnight in Paris
2. Tomboy
3. We Need to Talk About Kevin
4. Hadewijch
5. Le gamin au vélo/The Kid With a Bike
6. La princesse de Montpensier
7. Ma part du gâteau/My Piece of the Pie
8. Hanna
9. Melancholia
10. La piel que habito/The Skin I Live In

Honorable Mentions:
Jane Eyre
Café de flore
Bobby Fischer Against the World (documentary)
Unknown
Beginners

Top Six Films of November, 2011

2011-12-03T08:58:00.000-08:00

I Love Melvin (1953)
Debbie Reynolds co-stars with Donald O'Connor, the supporting actor in Singin' in the Rain. The songs and the dance routines are pretty amazing, however this film is practically unknown. Why? O'Connor's lack of star power? He tap dances on roller skates for crying out loud! Melvin is fun and emotionally touching. More people should give it a chance.

We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011)

See blog post.

Hopscotch (1980)
Finally, a funny thriller about a CIA agent. Ronald Neame directs Walter Matthau, Glenda Jackson and Sam Waterston and they have never been better!

Sweet November (1968)
I love everything I see Sandy Dennis in! At first, I thought Up the Down Staircase could be a fluke, but no! She's always amazing. In 2001, this film was remade. It was so bad, that I could never imagine the original would be so good. It's funny, quirky, charming, and heartbreaking.

Heat and Dust (1983)
James Ivory has too many good films that are unknown. In fact, I almost overlooked this film, but I'm glad I didn't. In order for Anne (Julie Christie) to understand herself better, she looks into the life of her grand-aunt Olivia (Greta Scacchi). Anne is a free-spirit who loves living in India and embraces life to the fullest. Definitely recommended for those who love other cultures and who love films about the search for greater meaning.

Höstsonaten/Autumn Sonata (1978)
Eva (Liv Ullmann) and Charlotte (Ingrid Bergman) duke it out emotionally in Ingmar Bergman's masterpiece. I've decided that it's probably my second favorite Bergman film next to Persona. Perhaps Mike Leigh is the only other director I've known that explores family issues so deeply. Bergman definitely digs up the dirt, yet does not give us any easy answers nor an ending that is wrapped up neatly with a bow. Definitely recommended.

Honorable mention:
Vie privée/A Very Private Affair (1962) Louis Malle certainly knew what to do with Brigitte Bardot here and in Viva Maria! (1965).
The Story of Three Loves (1953) The first segment is great, but not for those who can't handle unhappy endings. The third segment seems like A Girl on the Bridge's predecessor. There are several things different about it. However, both films feature a girl who joins a dangerous act after a suicide attempt.

Lynne Ramsey's We Need to Talk about Kevin

2011-11-11T17:15:00.000-08:00

The best movie I saw at AFI Fest this year was Lynne Ramsay's We Need to Talk about Kevin (2011), which incidentally happened to be the last screening I attended. With dialog such as "Nyah-nyah-nyah-nyah-nyah" and great performances from Tilda Swinton and company, tough issues were dealt with splendidly. The movie even had some great, happy moments, despite the fact that a lot of people wouldn't want to see a movie about a massacre at a school through the eyes of the killer's mother.

Though not specified, the setting was supposed to be Colorado. Since the Scottish director wanted to make this film, she almost had to set it in America. If violent outbursts in schools occur in Europe, they are extremely rare. Europeans have more limited access to guns. However, Kevin's weapon of choice isn't a gun.

His parents aren't indifferent. His upbringing could be called privileged. Despite the family friction, his mother always makes an effort to be there for him. But even though there are tell-tale signs, his parents never threaten him with punishment or military school or things that might steer him away from what he is about to do.

The main problem is that his father is completely oblivious to his son's problems; Kevin always smiles around him and acts like a perfect son. The father's trust is his undoing, as Kevin doesn't care for anyone but himself. A great character study, with no cliches. Definitely recommended. 8.5/10

Top Five Horror Films of October, 2011

2011-10-31T13:17:00.000-07:00

[ Let's Kill Uncle ]

In October, I embarked on a quest to see as many horror films as possible. Here are my top finds:

The Amityville Horror (1979) Stanley Kubrick must have seen this film, because at least two things were lifted and put into The Shining just a few years later (including the father hacking his way into the bathroom with an axe). With an upside down cross and a priest who is attacked by physical pains whenever he tries to go near the house, it's interesting and well thought out. The fact that it's based on a true story adds to the mystique.
The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (1976) Jodie Foster was a young teenager when she acted in this film. Her character is smart and her potential assailant is Martin Sheen, who is naturally creepy.
House of Wax (1953) I've never been that impressed by Andre de Toth before, but this film is truly scary and features a great chase scene that I was sure to watch twice.
Let’s Kill Uncle (1966) So bad that it’s great! The premise is this kid discovers his uncle wants to kill him to inherit his millions. So he decides to kill him first. The movie is directed and produced by William Castle and is in color.
I Married a Monster from Outer Space (1958) A woman marries a man and he acts completely different once they're married. It's hysterical and true to life at the same time... except for the fact that people in town are being taken over by space aliens. Their exteriors remain the same, but they are possessed by something that leaves them cold and soulless.

For a complete list of recommendations, see my complete list.

Top Five Films of September, 2011

2011-10-04T17:54:00.000-07:00

Up the Down Staircase (1967, Robert Mulligan)
Sandy Dennis is amazing as a teacher who tries to get through to her students. I was surprised at the quality of this film, directed by Robert Mulligan, although I probably shouldn't have been. It's just that no one really talks about this film, even though it is an "iconic" teacher movie in the same way that To Sir With Love, Stand and Deliver, or Dangerous Minds are.

Changement d'adresse/Change of Address (2006)
Emmanuel Mouret is really a top comedy director in France. This film is perhaps not as well-known as Shall We Kiss? (which received distribution in the United States), but is perhaps even more funny and charming. Truly a gem. If you wish that Woody Allen was French and young again, perhaps you'll find what you're seeking in Changement d'adresse.

Les belles de nuit/Beauties of the Night (1952, René Clair)
This film reminded me of three films: It Happened Tomorrow (1948), Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989), and Midnight in Paris (2011). It Happened Tomorrow was also directed by René Clair and seems to explore themes of time travel. The ensemble of historical characters featured reminded me a lot of Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. And last, but not least, Midnight in Paris' characters wished they were a part of another time and place, much like the characters in Les belles de nuit. So, this film had elements from a bunch of different films that I liked. I couldn't dislike it at all.

Ça commence aujourd'hui/It All Starts Today (1999, Bertrand Tavernier)
The plot may seem tired or boring: A schoolteacher doesn't have enough resources for his students. But Bertrand Tavernier is a master, so never underestimate him. This movie was phenomenal. I was surprised to find it on DVD at my local library. Definitely check around for this movie. It exists and it worth tracking it down.

The Bostonians (1984, James Ivory)
TCM cast the spotlight on director James Ivory in September. I had enjoyed the films I had seen from him before (which are typically produced by Ismail Merchant and written by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala). However, I thought I had seen all his best films. I, of course, was wrong. Based on the novel by Henry James, The Bostonians explores a world of liberal New Englanders who vie for truth, friendship, and love. At first, Christopher Reeve seems out of place as a Southern lawyer. Strangely enough, his melds into his character with the disguise of his mustache and Southern accent. You almost forget for a minute that at one time he played Superman. Almost. Finally, there's Vanessa Redgrave, who was nominated for an Oscar for this film. She did not win (she lost to Sally Field who won for Places in the Heart). Her subtlety is amazing. Her character is Olive Chancellor, who is stronger than Verena Tarrant, who the movie almost seems to be more about. Olive is Verena's mentor and takes over her life in a Svengalian fashion. So, above all, I'd recommend this film for the great characters.

Honorable mention:

Les aventures de Rabbi Jacob/The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob (1973) What can I say? Just a very, very funny French film.

Top Five Film Noirs of August, 2011

2011-09-08T16:22:00.000-07:00

[Vicki, 1953]

I love the shadows. The snappy dialogue. The femme fatales. The handsome detective with no past who wanders in over his head.

In August, I decided to concentrate watching movies in the film noir genre. It was great to catch up on several I hadn't seen and to have completed 90% of TSPDT's 250 Quintessential Noir Films List.

I'd love to share the top 5(+) films I saw last month:

I Wake Up Screaming (1941) and its solid remake: Vicki (1953)
Where Danger Lives (1950)
Somewhere in the Night (1946)
Danger Signal (1945)
I Walk Alone (1948)

La piel que habito/The Skin I Live In

2011-08-31T10:53:00.000-07:00

The most interesting thing about Almodóvar's new film is how polarizing the reviews I read on IMDB are. It's his best film. His worst film. It's horror. It's definitely not horror. The only thing most people can agree on is the fluidity of the camerawork by Jose Luis Alcaine. In one scene, Marilia (Marisa Paredes) runs through the room at a sideways angle that confirms the urgency of the scene, in addition to being innovative and beautiful.

Perhaps this is Almodóvar's most unusual film. Oddly enough, the film takes place in the not so distant future (2012) and the not so far off past (six years ago). The comparisons to Georges Franju's Eyes Without a Face are not unjustified. Both girls, La piel's Vera and Eyes' Christiane, both wear strange and practically identical masks. Also, each film features a father that over obsesses about the well-being of his daughter who has been damaged.

However, never once did I feel that this was a horror film. It has tension and suspense; at times it is hard to watch because of the subject matter. I wouldn't be perplexed if someone thought this was a horror film, but I would describe it more along the lines of thriller and drama. The music set the mood, which wasn't as scary or kitschy as something you would expect from a horror film. It also did not go for cheap thrills.

Similarities to Almodóvar's other work pervade his film. Like in Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!, Talk to Her, Broken Embraces, Bad Education, and Volver, there is rape. There are so many rape scenes and replayings of the rape of Norma in La piel, that one almost loses count. Yet it is strange how Vicente's rape of Norma (Blanca Suárez) could be interpreted. Her faulty last-minute "no" almost leaves you wondering if the audience is meant to sympathize with the rapist and if the victim should have protested sooner. All of this is very delicate subject matter that Almodóvar tears wide open.

The movie will be discussed in detail and there might be spoilers below:

Dr. Robert Ledgard (Antonio Banderas) plays a scientist that decides to take revenge on Vicente. He abducts him and with the help of his associates (who are none the wiser), Ledgard performs a sex-change operation on Vicente, who becomes Vera.

Vera defies her captors and tries to escape at the first chance she gets. Eventually, she becomes domiciled, almost tame. Perhaps the audience might believe she has been struck with Stockholm Syndrome when she begs to share Dr. Ledgard's room with him. But perhaps this is the reverse of Stockholm Syndrome: Dr. Ledgard hated Vicente for what he did to his daughter and kept him in a locked room. Instead of Vicente now Vera, falling in love with him, the actual captor, Dr. Ledgard, seems to be the one falling for his captive.

By the end of the film, we are faced once again with sympathizing with Vicente, the rapist, the original offender. His life has been unjustifiably transformed and he is now Vera. The audience might be left feeling uncomfortable. Dr. Ledgard took irreversible measures and now Vicente must regain his life back as Vera. Can she? Will she? Vera was as emotionally strong as Norma was not. It seems as if Vera will make a new start and move on with her life, because she has the survival instinct and refuses to let this traumatic stint in her life keep her from living.

Top Five Films of July, 2011

2011-08-10T05:28:00.000-07:00

Secrets (1933)
Frank Borzage has done it again. It starts out with John (Leslie Howard) and Mary (Mary Pickford), a young couple in love. John comes from nothing and Mary's snotty rich parents do not approve. Over time and hardship, they prove their love. They escape their snooty home back east and head for the west and face off with outlaws. Many years pass and John is back in the east running for governor. Unfortunately, he had a fling and the other woman threatens to ruin his reputation. However, Mary stands by him and they are stronger than ever. Then, like they barricaded themselves from the outlaws, they barricade themselves from their children about 50 years later. They are about to retire and want to spend more time with just each other, but the children do not approve. A charming and heart-warming tale, it really got to me. Frank Borzage gives us an incredibly skilled and mature story of love (he was around 40 when this film was released). You won't find a movie like this in today's theaters, so thank goodness for Turner Classic Movies.

Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed (1926)
This feature-length animated film by Lotte Reiniger was a revelation. Again, despite the fact that technology wasn't as advanced in the twenties as it is today and that this film was produced during the silent film period, it is an astounding feat. You can watch the video HERE.

Les dimanches de Ville d'Avray (1962)
This is definitely a wonderful, but creepy film which words almost cannot describe. It is about an abandoned girl who takes solace in the friendship of an adult man. Their relationship is extremely inappropriate, and it is judged so by people who encounter them. Like the film below, we almost do not see enough evidence to make an educated decision on what happened at the end. I would have liked to believe that the people responsible for the final decision were wrong. However, the man in question was seriously disturbed. It's possible that despite the fact he was pretending to be her father and that they were able to provide for each other the kind of social connection that was missing from their lives, that the relationship was still very wrong and they should have never ever met more than once.

They Won't Forget (1937)
TCM showed this film right after the Casey Anthony verdict, a choice that I found interesting. In the movie, the viewer is never shown who the actual killer is and yet, everyone seems to "know" who it is. (SPOILER) Eventually, even a lynch mob demands satisfaction.

Mon oncle d'Amérique (1980)
Despite Alain Resnais having so many masterworks, this film is extremely important and groundbreaking. I'll admit that the first time I tried watching this, the intro seemed very slow and I couldn't take it. But the second time, the film was mesmerizing. It takes into account the modern dilemma of having to behave human and civilized in a world that chips away at our souls every day. The film gave an intricate profile of all three of the main characters (played by Gérard Depardieu, Nicole Garcia, and Roger Pierre). It was beautiful to see how they all related to one another. The movie probably requires two or more viewings to get all out of it that Resnais intended. It is layered and carefully constructed. Definitely recommended for those who might be interested in a psychological study of humans trapped in the confines of modernity.

Honorable Mention (two additional shorts that are worth watching):
Kurt Kren's 31/75: Asyl (1975)
Marie Menken's Go! Go! Go! (1964)

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2011-08-07T22:54:00.000-07:00

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Top Four Films of June, 2011

2011-07-04T06:51:00.001-07:00

Validation (2007)
I give top scores to very few films, but this is definitely a 10/10. The short is available to watch on Youtube, so no one really has any excuses not to watch it. After checking out other worth by the director, I discovered that he also directed Dear Zachary, another essential film. Definitely check both films out if you can.

Tomboy (2011)
See my blog post.

The Unbelievable Truth (1989)
I had pretty much given up on Hal Hartley. However, I did not know about this spectacular early film of his. It was one of those moments: "Oh, so this is why everyone likes Hal Hartley."

Slums of Beverly Hills (1998)
When Tamara Jenkins was promoting her film The Savages, she kept mentioning her first feature-length film, Slums. More than a few years later, I finally checked it out. There was a realness to it, as well as an other-worldly feel that really made a close-to-perfect movie. The cousins (played by Natasha Lyonne and Marisa Tomei) have their own language and their fathers have this incredible dynamic. Everything is paced wonderfully, it made sense, and also had an emotional impact. I had no expectations for this film, but if I had, they would have been exceeded.

Two honorable mentions:

Girl with Green Eyes (1964)
A friend recommended this awhile back and it just happened to be playing on TCM. I was glad to catch it. It was a remarkable coming-of-age story. While we've seen it all before practically, the story is incredibly fresh. And the film is from 1964! It's almost if nothing has changed. That being said, it reminded me of An Education a few times (the English setting, older man/younger student dynamic, the ending). However, Girl with Green Eyes is definitely a different story and is to be recommend.

Partir/Leaving (2009)
Director Catherine Corsini is a favorite of mine, however she has two problems: she hasn't made enough films and her endings are typically abrupt. Partir (or Leaving as it is known in English language markets) pretty much solves both of those problems. Kristin Scott Thomas is great in this film and I believed Yvan Attal when he got angry. The characters felt so real that it was scary. Of course, Corsini's characters always do. That's why I recommend Partir, La nouvelle Ève, and La répétition.

Larry Crowne (Tom Hanks, 2011)

2011-07-02T21:02:00.000-07:00

as posted on Examiner.com

Tom Hanks directed, produced, and co-wrote the Larry Crowne script with Nia Vardalos (My Big Fat Greek Wedding). Hanks is not really accomplished as a screenwriter. The rule in Hollywood is that you either place normal people in an extraordinary situation or extraordinary people in normal situations. The film is about an adult man who works at U-Mart (the equivalent of Wal-Mart in this film's universe) and decides to go to college for the first time after being laid off for his lack of education. A normal person in a normal situation doesn't usually thrill moviegoers.

Let's take a look at Tom Hanks' earnings for three of his recent films:

-$15 million for Toy Story 3
-$50 million for Angels & Demons
-$18 million (plus profit participation) for The DaVinci Code

It's funny how his divorced character that works at U-Mart can afford such a big house. Perhaps Hanks wrote this movie as an attempt to connect with Americans who are in the midst of an ongoing recession. That's nice. So he trades in his SUV for a scooter and joins a scooter gang. So a friend sets him up with a job that will work around his schedule for the most part. There are other concessions he has to make. Overall, Larry Crowne seems rather constructed in terms of character and plot. It doesn't flow naturally or uniquely.

Despite the limitations of the film, a definite effort was made in the creation of the Larry Crowne: he is upbeat, has a positive attitude and an optimistic outlook. At times he is a little over-the-top, but at least his antics save us from what would be a boring movie otherwise.

Tom Hanks must have been a really nice guy to bounce dialogue off of in Charlie Wilson's War, because Julia Roberts is working with him again. Maybe her die-hard fans will appreciate her in this film. Those who never cared for her much in the first place might be able to handle her character as a woman with top qualifications who is stuck teaching at "East Valley College" and drinks to alleviate her pain. She also has a deadbeat husband who watches porn. It's funny. Since the movie is rated PG-13, the imagery that pops up on her husband's computer is nothing more than women in bikinis. If it was supposed to have been actual porn, the audience might have benefited by not being able to see what the husband was regarding in order to keep in line with the rating while leaving the worst to the audience's imagination.

Still, Larry Crowne is a completely harmless film. Even if it is not that brilliant, it might be relevant and moderately entertaining.

Céline Sciamma's Tomboy

2011-06-20T16:35:00.000-07:00

as published on Examiner.com

Céline Sciamma's breakthrough film, Water Lilies, was a beautiful coming of age story that attracted a fair amount of attention due to word-of-mouth and popularity at film festivals.

Sciamma's second film,Tomboy, is a different animal, but has lots of similarities to its predecessor: swimming scenes abound and it is about a family that moves to a new neighborhood. It is about a girl named Laure who dresses as a boy and calls herself Mikael, deceiving the new children she meets. Initially, it didn't necessarily sound appealing to me, but based on Sciamma's last film, I needed to see it immediately.

The best part about Tomboy is how Céline Sciamma reveals Laure's secret to those around her. Laure pleads with her father (Mathieu Demy) for them to move again because she is thoroughly ashamed, while her mother takes harsh measures to correct her daughter's error, which is small compared to the punishment.

The questions that appear may seem to relate to gender and identity at first, but something greater here is at stake. There is also the issue of humanity vs. cruelty. Perhaps everyone has some kind of secret, because of the intolerance of their neighbors and friends around them.

At first, I thought that Tomboy would not be able to top Water Lilies. However, the film moved me more than I expected it to. Tomboy has more depth and heart than perhaps any film in the last several years. In addition, the characters are well-developed and well-acted and they do not have any cheesy or quirky lines that other films might contain.

This film might be slightly less marketable, because it refuses to sellout or do anything tacky or cutesy in order to make it more marketable. It's definitely worth checking out though, when it comes to a theater near you.

Tomboy played at the L.A. Film Festival in June. Further distribution dates for the U.S.A. will be announced here later.

Love Crime at the L.A. Film Festival

2011-06-14T21:10:00.000-07:00

as published on Examiner.com

When director Alain Corneau passed away August 29, 2010, his final film, Love Crime, was still showing in theaters in France. It is perhaps one of his finest works to date, holding its own against his classics: All the Mornings of the World and Fear and Trembling.

In the beginning of the film, Isabelle (Ludivine Sagnier) seems quite enamored with her boss, Christine (Kristin Scott Thomas). Perhaps there is even a bit of sexual tension that leaves the viewer thinking that Isabelle might be a lesbian. Yet as the film unravels, we find out that Isabelle and Christine have had an affair with the same co-worker.

In the story, Christine not only takes credit for Isabelle's work, but is bent on humiliating her. Despite Isabelle's admiration for the woman, she can only take so much before she enacts her quite brilliant revenge. There is perhaps an unbelievable moment or two, but the film remains buoyant and succeeds in pleasing the audience without pandering to it.

It is too bad that Alain Corneau is not here to promote the film in Los Angeles. May 30, 2009, Corneau spoke at LACMA after a showing of Police Python 357, an older film of his that starred Yves Montand. In his discussion, he spoke tenderly about the late Patrick Dewaere, who starred in his film, Série noire.

Love Crime will be showing at the L.A. Film Festival on Friday, June 24th, 2011 (7:10 PM) and Sunday, June 26th, 2011 (1:10 PM). The Consulate General of France in Los Angeles has announced that Ludivine Sagnier will attend both screenings. You may buy your tickets here.

Debunking the Myth That Foreign Films Are Boring And Going With the Flow

2011-06-12T21:10:00.000-07:00

Note: I am writing articles on foreign film for Examiner.com now. I will post my articles here as well. Click on the link at the bottom of this article to view the Examiner's website.

Getting into foreign films can be a challenge, especially when they live up to their stereotype of being weird and/or boring. Foreign films aren't as palatable as American films sometimes, but the good thing is they often aren't as condescending or formulaic.

When you take the differences of the language and culture into consideration, two things might occur: you might be enlightened by a new perspective or you might be alienated by it.

Here are two examples of foreign films that made me scratch my head at first: That Obscure Object of Desire and Last Year at Marienbad.

[That Obscure Object of Desire]

That Obscure Object of Desire is Luis Buñuel's final film and it came out in 1977. It was a work full of mastery and even perhaps his best. However, upon a first viewing, I didn't know what to make of the Conchita character. After all, she was played by two actresses: Ángela Molina and Carole Bouquet. The more I researd why Buñuel used two actresses, the more I was confused.

Finally, I learned that Ángela Molina had bailed on Luis Buñuel during the making of the film. According to his book, My Last Sigh, Buñuel recounts how there was not enough funding to start the film over. So over a dry double martini, he arrived at the conclusion that he should just hire another actress to finish the film. Here I was trying to figure out what he meant stylistically, when there was no mystery whatsoever.

[Last Year at Marienbad]

When I watched Last Year at Marienbad for the first time, I have to admit that I just couldn't get it despite the fact that It is perhaps Alain Resnais' most acclaimed film to date and it was certainly ahead of its time. Nothing made sense and it seemed to be so far out there that I didn't understand it at all. Finally, someone explained that Last Year at Marienbad wasn't meant to be understood and that I should watch it again, go with the flow, and not try to make anything out of it. So I did. And it worked.

Foreign films may be harder to decipher sometimes. However, it would be a shame to throw out the baby with the bathwater and avoid them all. It's helpful to start with a list like IMDB's Top 250 of the films in the Criterion Collection. I recommend looking into additional lists at ICheckMovies.com. The key is to discover what kind of films you like and watch more titles by the same filmmaker or from the same country.

As published on Examiner.com

Top Three Films of May, 2011

2011-05-31T22:03:00.000-07:00

Days of Wine and Roses (1962, Blake Edwards)
Just jaw-droppingly amazing. I mean, come on, where was I this whole time! Over the past several years I've come close to watching this movie, yet I haven't. Then I did and it was an EXPERIENCE.

Midnight in Paris (2011, Woody Allen)
See my blog posting for this one.

Slogan (1969, Pierre Grimblat)
Perhaps this film should be recommended to Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg fans only. It was the film where they met, fell in love, and two years later Jane would give birth to their only daughter together, Charlotte Gainsbourg. The film has a very sixties feel and not everything is sunshine and roses. But I enjoyed every second of this film nonetheless.

Midnight in Paris (2011, Woody Allen)

2011-05-27T10:46:00.000-07:00

The film starts out with Gil (Owen Wilson) and Inez (Rachel McAdams) playing an engaged couple visiting Paris. Alas, just because they are getting married doesn't automatically mean they are happy. In fact, Inez spends most of her time with her friends visiting from out of town: Carol (played by Nina Arianda, a Carol Kane look-alike) and Paul (who reminds me of Lester from Crimes and Misdemeanors). Of course, Gil cannot stand Paul and finds any excuse not to be around him.

So one drunken night when Gil is left to his own devices, he takes a walk down a street that must have been Rue du Cardinal Lemoine (the movie does not advertise this fact). The only reason it is worth mentioning is because Ernest Hemingway used to live on this street at #74.

In Allen's The Purple Rose of Cairo, a character played by Jeff Daniels jumps out of a movie screen into reality, entering an entirely new world. Ironically, the name of the actor of this character is named Gil as well. In Midnight in Paris, Owen Wilson's Gil is transported by an old-fashioned automobile into 1920s Paris. We don't ask how or why he got there and neither does he. However, his reactions (pictured above) are priceless, as he cannot quite believe what he is encountering.

He meets a number of historical characters, in addition to the lovely Adriana (Marion Cotillard) who by all means must be fictitious (although in the film she plays mistress to Picasso and Modigliani among others). The more conflict Gil has with Inez, he begins to wonder if Adriana might be the perfect woman for him. He notes how the French balance their wives and mistresses with ease, but being an American and hopeless romantic, he knows he is going to have to choose.

As the movie unfolds and we find out more about Adriana, the movie goes in a completely unexpected direction. Yet the movie never disappoints. The ending is lovely and the audience should be satisfied unless they wanted a more devastating Annie Hall ending.

Each character is adorably crafted and there are some stand-out performances:

Corey Stoll, who plays Ernest Hemingway, is absolutely amazing.

Alison Pill as Zelda Fitzgerald is over-the-top, but in an incredibly wonderful way.

Carla Bruni is a museum guide at the Rodin Museum. The role is short and sweet. I am not sure that she necessarily has an acting career ahead of her or if she is as talented as her sister/actress Valeria Bruni Tedeschi. However, she was a familiar face and her character was fun.

Kathy Bates plays Gertrude Stein like it is second nature for her. Seriously, she acts like she was born for the part.

Léa Seydoux has already wowed audiences with La Belle Personne and had a bit part in Inglourious Basterds. Her role in this movie is small, but charming as Gabrielle, a girl who sells old records and memorabilia in the street market.

In closing, I thought I was obsessed with Hemingway, but Woody Allen takes the level of fandom about five notches further. He cast Ernest Hemingway's granddaughter (Mariel Hemingway) in his 1979 film, Manhattan. It is also quite possible that Vicky Cristina Barcelona is a reference to Hemingway's The Garden of Eden. Vicky and Cristina are vacationing in Barcelona when Cristina decides to stay behind with her lover and embarks on a romantic journey with him and his ex-wife. While, in The Garden of Eden, a man and woman who are on their European honeymoon fall in love with the same woman. The comparison could be a stretch, but it is worth mentioning.

Overall, Woody Allen's love of Hemingway and Paris shine through in this absolutely beautiful eye-opening masterpiece. It is for hopeless romantics who also don't mind a dose of reality or a bit of time-traveling.

Female Directors

2011-05-21T17:01:00.000-07:00

Since 2008, I have dedicated every March to discovering films directed by women. I have made some great discoveries, as you can see in my related post: Favorite Films Directed By Women.

However, I have created a list of films directed by women to bring attention to their films. Feel free to suggest any female filmmakers. In time, this page will have more links and information on each individual's films. For now, I have the links for the women whose work is on UBUWeb, a great online resource.

Jennifer Abbott
Perry Miller Adato
Anne Aghion
Chantal Akerman (MUBI List)
Karin Albou
Natalia Almada
Suzana Amaral
Allison Anders
Jane Anderson
Laurie Anderson
Madeline Anderson
Louise Archambault
Gillian Armstrong
Andrea Arnold
Jacqueline Audry
Florence Ayisi
Saphia Azzedine
Josiane Balasko
Mirra Bank
Laurence Ferreira Barbosa (MUBI List)
Aida Begic
María Luisa Bemberg
Sadie Benning
Julie Bertucelli
Susanne Bier
Icíar Bollaín
Catherine Breillat (MUBI List)
Zabou Breitman
Margaret Brown
Sophie Calle
Jane Campion (MUBI List)
Celeste Carrasco
Raymonde Carasco
Zoe Cassavetes
Liliana Cavani
Sylvia Chang
Mabel Cheung
Clara Chichin
Lisa Cholodenko
Joyce Chopra
Vera Chytilová
Michelle Citron
Shirley Clarke
Claire Clouzot
Isabel Coixet (MUBI List)
Laetitia Colombani
Catherine Corsini (MUBI List)
Emma-Kate Croghan
Gemma Cubero del Barrio
Cherien Dabis
Jocelyne Lemaire Darnaud
Julie Davis
Josée Dayan
Donna Deitch
Claire Denis (MUBI List)
Anne Depetrini
Maya Deren (UBUWeb)
Saba Dewan
Leticia Dolera
Sara Driver
Yolanda DuLuart
Marguerite Duras
Ildikó Enyedi
Heidi Ewing
Safi Faye
Anne Fontaine* (MUBI List)
Andrea Fraser
Su Friedrich
Nicole Garcia
Julie Gavras
Gwyneth Gibby
Sandra Goldbacher
Lisa Gottlieb
Marleen Gorris*
Lucile Hadzihalilovic
Barbara Hammer
Mia Hansen-Løve
Mona Hatoum
Jessica Hausner
Joanna Hogg (Films: Archipelago, Unrelated)
Agnieszka Holland (MUBI List)
Nicole Holofcener
Ann Hui
Danièle Huillet
Sarah Jacobson
Agnès Jaoui
Tamara Jenkins
Astrid Henning-Jensen
Mary Jordan
Wanuri Kahiu
Nelly Kaplan
Naomi Kawase
Sarah Kernochan
Barbara Kopple (MUBI List)
Ester Krumbachová
Diane Kurys* (MUBI List)
Sophie Laloy
Evelyn Lambart
Clara Law
Lauren Lazin
Caroline Leaf
Isild Le Besco
Julia Leigh
Frieda Liappa
Caroline Link
Claudia Llosa* (MUBI List)
Barbara Loden
Kim Longinotto
Julie Lopes-Curval
Angela Ricci Lucchi
Alison Maclean
Maria Maggenti
Hana Makhmalbaf
Sarah Maldoror
Tonia Marketaki
Lucrecia Martel
Laetitia Masson
Diana Matuzevičienė
Elaine May (MUBI List)
Nana Mchedlidze
Nancy Meckler
Nina Menkes
Agnès Merlet
Márta Mészáros
Karen Moncrieff
Meredith Monk
Jocelyn Moorhouse
Laura Mulvey
Kira Muratova
Jehane Noujaim
Annette K. Olesen
Jenni Olson
Fatima Jebli Ouazzani
Suzan Pitt
Maria Procházková
Lynne Ramsay
Kelly Reichardt
Lotte Reiniger
Leni Riefenstahl
Marta Rodríguez
Françoise Romand
Mariana Rondon
Jenna Rosher
Katarzyna Roslaniec
Patricia Rozema
Barbara Rubin
Angela Schanelec
Lone Scherfig
Céline Sciamma (MUBI List)
Aparna Sen (Wiki)
Coline Serreau
Jana Sevciková
Larisa Shepitko
Mina Shum
Floria Sigismondi
Claire Simon
Barbra Streisand
Susan Streitfeld
Julie Taymor
Suzie Templeton
Stella Theodoraki
Daniela Thomas
Helena Trestikova
Nadine Trintignant
Ann Turner
Agnès Varda (UBUWeb/MUBI List)
Margarethe von Trotta
Susan F. Walker
Claudia Weill
Lina Wertmüller (MUBI List)
Jessica Yu
Jasmila Zbanic
Marina Zenovich

Silent Film Directors:
Dorothy Arzner (MUBI List)
Germaine Dulac
Alice Guy-Blaché (MUBI List)
Ida May Park
Lois Weber

“Hollywood” directors:
Kathryn Bigelow*
Martha Coolidge
Sofia Coppola (MUBI List)
Nora Ephron
Catherine Hardwicke
Mary Harron
Amy Heckerling
Callie Khouri
Mimi Leder
Penny Marshall (MUBI List)
Nancy Meyers
Mira Nair
Kimberly Peirce
Sally Potter
Penelope Spheeris

Actresses who have tried their hand at directing:
Anne Bancroft
Drew Barrymore
Sandrine Bonnaire
Julie Delpy
Jodie Foster
Lillian Gish
Anne Heche
Diane Keaton
Ida Lupino (MUBI List)
Jeanne Moreau
Samantha Morton
Sarah Polley
Adrienne Shelly

UBU Web (female directors that are mainly underground or experimental):
Peggy Ahwesh
Beth B
Zoe Beloff
Valie Export
Suzanne Lemaître
Marie Menken
Tracey Moffatt
Sarah Morris
Vanessa Place
Yvonne Rainer
Martha Rosier
Cindy Sherman

Favorite Films Directed By Women

2011-05-19T14:01:00.000-07:00

Every March, I focus on watching films directed by women. I've made numerous wonderful discoveries that I hope to share with others.

There is the question of distinguishing between genders of a director. That most likely should not be done, as the work usually speaks for itself. However, being that women are often underrepresented and/or ignored, I feel I should pick up the slack.

Kyle Meyers asked me about my favorite films directed by women, so here is my top list:

Cléo de 5 à 7/Cléo from 5 to 7 (Agnès Varda)
Les demoiselles de Rochefort (Agnès Varda, co-directed with husband Jacques Demy)
Les gens normaux n'ont rien d'exceptionnel (Laurence Ferreira Barbosa)
Museum Highlights (Andrea Fraser) the sole film on my list not on IMDB
Merrily We Go to Hell (Dorothy Arzner)
My Life Without Me (Isabel Coixet)
Nathalie... (Anne Fontaine)
La teta asustada/The Milk of Sorrow (Claudia Llosa)
An Education (Lone Scherfig)
Mères et filles/Hidden Diary (Julie Lopes-Curval)
La répétition (Catherine Corsini)
Une vraie jeune fille (Catherine Breillat)
Sedmikrásky/Daisies (Vera Chytilová)
Naissance des pieuvres/Water Lilies (Céline Sciamma)
White Material (Claire Denis)
Film d'amore e d'anarchia, ovvero 'stamattina alle 10 in via dei Fiori nella nota casa di tolleranza...'/Love and Anarchy (Lina Wertmüller)
Working Girls (Dorothy Arzner)
Les glaneurs et la glaneuse/The Gleaners & I (Agnès Varda)
Coup de foudre/Entre Nous (Diane Kurys)
Chaos (Coline Serreau)

Please stay tuned for a list of female directors that I will post soon.

Top Five Films of April, 2011

2011-05-02T15:31:00.000-07:00

White Dog (1982)
Considered to be an essential film by Jonathan Rosenbaum, I figured that this film couldn't be too bad. Directed by Samuel Fuller and based on a story by Romain Gary, this movie was excellent. Definitely check out the extra features on the Criterion disc. Curtis Hanson talks about co-writing the script and there is also an interview with Fuller's widow.

This Property Is Condemned (1966)
This is definitely the best film I have seen this month. Natalie Wood and Robert Redford also co-starred in Inside Daisy Clover, which happens to be one of my favorite films, as well as a forgotten classic.

Species (1995)

Un poison violent/Love Like Poison (2010)
Katell Quillévéré's feature film was an unexpected, but welcome surprise at this year's COLCOA fest in L.A. It's a coming of age story with a vengeance and manages to avoid being cliched.

Les petits ruisseaux/Wandering Streams (2010)
This was another COLCOA favorite. It's about an older man who learns to live after his friend's death.

A couple of honorable mentions from the COLCOA fest include:
-Ces amours-là/What Love May Bring (2010)
-La tête en friche/My Afternoons with Margueritte (2010)

Juliette Binoche's Top 10 Films

2011-04-22T16:39:00.000-07:00

I watched Copie Conforme with a friend and we were trying to figure out how it ranked out of all her performances. Now that I think about it, it could be her very best. But so could Blue or The English Patient – or Summer Hours.

In effort to actually take a stand and not be wishy-washy, I made a top 10 list. There are probably a couple more films worth mentioning like Breaking and Entering or the version of Wuthering Heights that she did with Ralph Fiennes. Okay, so I’ve mentioned them too!

Now let’s get this party started…and watch the top 10 best films that Juliette Binoche has done according to me!

L’heure d’été/Summer Hours (2008)
Copie conforme/Certified Copy (2010)
La veuve de Saint-Pierre/The Widow of Saint-Pierre (2000)
The English Patient (1996)
Chocolat (2000)
Caché (2005)
Paris (2008)
Trois couleurs: Bleu (1993)
Code inconnu: Récit incomplet de divers voyages/Code Unknown (2000)
Damage (1992)

Top Five Films of March, 2011

2011-04-01T10:15:00.000-07:00

Copie conforme (2010) (Saw in the theater: IFC Center, New York, New York)
Abbas Kiarostami has been on my radar for awhile, but this is by far the best film I've seen by him. I have been traveling lately, so I saw this film in New York. After I saw a preview for it in Pittsburgh, which made it seem like a quaint and almost dull romantic comedy. That is kind of dangerous, because the movie really plays with and distorts reality, and never reveals whether Juliette Binoche is psychotic or deranged (although we strongly suspect it). If you're interested in subversive films, perhaps you should check out this quiet masterpiece. While it was at Cannes, it still might go under a lot of people's radar.

Here is also a clip of new actor William Shimell singing opera (his background):

The Scenic Route (1978) (Saw in theater: Anthology Film Archives, New York, NY)
Part Mulholland Dr. , this film has an air of pending doom. As Darryl James describes in his blog, there is a "Dr. Love" dance sequence. It reminded me of Ozon's Water Drops on Burning Rocks - and of course The Scenic Route came first. It's quite unique and a fun experience as well.

California Suite (1978)
Great dialogue and several funny situations.

"Carlos" (2010)
Really an epic movie.

Crush (1992) Alison Maclean
Every March since 2008, I dedicate the month to watching films directed by women. The surprise was this film. I didn't have any expectations and it features a wild insane performance by Marcia Gay Harden. If you are in the U.S.A., you can watch this movie for free on HULU.

Top 25 Films of 2010

2010-12-31T12:01:00.000-08:00

[Wild Grass]

Note: Due to being in several different countries this year, the release dates are all funky. In fact "Sarah's Key" will be released in the U.S.A. in 2011. Have hope and wait a little bit and hopefully you'll get to see all these films!

Wild Grass (Alain Resnais) Saw twice. I have never been an Alain Resnais film, so it is with great surprise that his last two films have become instantaneous favorites of mine. The crazier this film got, the more I fell in love with it. A great success!
White Material (Claire Denis) Again, I don't always get the hype surrounding Claire Denis despite the fact that 35 Rhums was great. But I think more people should make films about how possessions and money destroy people. This was just too good.
Eccentricities of a Blonde-haired Girl (Manoel de Oliveira) Now our beloved director is 102 years old. And he is making the best films of his career. This film was a little short, and frankly, I could have done with the characters being more eccentric. However, the ending was amazing and exactly what should have been delivered.
The Ghost Writer (Roman Polanski) There are too many good things I could say about this movie. Amazing performances, especially from Olivia Williams and Eli Wallach. A very non-traditional ending. Amazing direction. Unfortunately, there was a chase scene that reminded me too much of the one in The Ninth Gate. However, overlooking this small detail, it was another masterpiece from Polanski.
Shutter Island (Martin Scorsese) It's kind of funny how much some people hate this movie. It was also a shame that the release date was pushed back to early 2010. It could have been a serious contender at the Oscars. It was not silly and had some great dramatic moments.
Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno (Serge Bromberg) As a Clouzot fan, it's a dream that his lost film would turn up. The documentary-like style pulled the story along. Some restorations that show stills to account for the missing scenes really suck. I'm glad this was different and well-directed.
Sarah's Key (Gilles Paquet-Brenner) Basically I cried and cried and cried. And the stupid critic who gave it two stars in Premiere should be fired and they should find a new career.
Les invités de mon père/My Father's Guests (Anne Le Ny) The plot actually sounded dumb, but was extremely well-done and several unexpected things happened. It seemed really relevant. Whenever a story is focused on human emotion, it cannot go wrong.
Alice in Wonderland (Tim Burton) Saw twice. Had extremely low expectations due to really bad feedback from friends. Interesting circumstance: Saw on Easter Sunday in L.A. and an earthquake actually took place during the screening.
The Tree (Julie Bertucelli) Another movie where I just cried and cried. Bertucelli is a burgeoning talent and this film just foretold that there are several more beautiful films to come from this director. Definitely unconventional and smart, another emotional film that will impact you, especially if you have lost someone and have reason to hang on to them.
Gainsbourg, la vie heroique (Joann Sfar)
Gainsbourg, l’homme qui aimait les femmes (2010)
Of Gods and Men (Xavier Beauvois)
Crime d'amour/Love Crime (Alain Corneau)
Copacabana (Marc Fitoussi)
Bluebeard (Catherine Breillat)
Greenberg (Noah Baumbach)
Fish Tank (Andrea Arnold)
You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (Woody Allen)
Heartbreaker (Pascal Chaumeil)
Micmacs (Jean-Pierre Jeunet)
Restrepo (Sebastian Junger)
Special Treatment (Jeanne Labrune)
Another Year (Mike Leigh)
The Clink of Ice (Bertrand Blier)

Top Five Films of November, 2010

2010-12-01T01:23:00.000-08:00

"Did I say something that hurt you?"
Daddy Nostalgie (1990, Bertrand Tavernier) - This film's delicate poignancy made this film very special and tender.

Ana y los lobos (1973, Carlos Saura) - Being a "nanny" and experiencing weird stuff, it was kind of an odd wake-up call watching this movie. That's all I can say!

"He would still be alive if he hadn't given into his fear."
Viy (1967, Georgi Kropachyov, Konstantin Yershov) - Really, I felt that this film was really close to Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (which would come out three years later). However, the end was kind of a surprise, because of its message.

La proie du vent (1927, René Clair) - The Cinémathèque française put on a "cine-concert" and showed this film with live jazz music led by Ibrahim Maalouf. This was a very strange movie almost seemed jumbled at times. However, it was very entertaining and had several impressive cuts and tints. The acting could be melodramatic at times, but overall this was an impressive early film from Clair.

Une chambre en ville/A Room in Town (1982, Jacques Demy) - I wondered if the pregnant girl in this story was based on Agnes Varda and her child from a relationship previous to Jacques Demy. However, the plot of the film would hopefully be an intense exaggeration, because the ending sort of left me reeling. The ending was quite similar to François Truffaut's La femme d'à côté/The Woman Next Door, which came out the previous year in 1981. However, of course, Jacques Demy took it up a couple notches, which is saying something, because the ending to the Truffaut film has haunted me ever since I saw it (about 6 1/2 years ago).

Actors Who Have Worked With Both Truffaut and Godard

2010-11-23T09:23:00.000-08:00

Despite Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut’s bitter dispute which left left them on a permanently non-speaking basis, there are several actors that worked with both directors. For more information on their brutal fight, Truffaut’s letters to Godard have been typed up on the net and they’re well-worth reading.

On October 21, 1984, François Truffaut died of brain cancer. Unfortunately, these two men would never reconcile.

I am not including the actors who starred in Une histoire d’eau (1961), which was a short film directed by both men.

Jean-Pierre Léaud
-Truffaut: Les quatre cents coups (1959), Antoine et Colette (1962), Baisers volés (1968), Domicile conjugal (1970), La nuit américaine (1973), L’amour en fuite (1979)
-Godard: Alphaville, une étrange aventure de Lemmy Caution (1965), Pierrot le fou (1965), Masculin féminin: 15 faits précis (1966), Made in U.S.A. (1966), La chinoise (1967), Week End (1967), Segment of Le plus vieux métier du monde: “Anticipation, ou l’amour en l’an 2000” (1967), Le gai savoir (1969), Détective (1985), Grandeur et décadence d’un petit commerce de cinéma (TV episode 1986 #1.21)

Jean-Paul Belmondo
-Truffaut: La sirène du Mississipi (1969)
-Godard: Pierrot le Fou (1965), Une femme est une femme/A Woman is a Woman (1961), Charlotte et son Jules (1960) , À bout de souffle (1960)

Nathalie Baye
-Truffaut: La nuit américaine (1973), L’homme qui aimait les femmes (1977), La chambre verte (1978)
-Godard: Sauve qui peut (la vie) (1980)

Gérard Depardieu
-Truffaut: Le dernier métro (1980), La femme d’à côté (1981)
-Godard: Hélas pour moi (1993)

Jean-Claude Brialy
-Truffaut: Les quatre cents coups (1959), La mariée était en noir (1968)
-Godard: Une femme est une femme/A Woman is a Woman (1961), Charlotte et Véronique, ou Tous les garçons s’appellent Patrick (1959)

Alexandra Stewart
-Truffaut: La mariée était en noir (1968), La nuit américaine (1973)
-Godard: Segment of Ro.Go.Pa.G.: “Nuovo mondo, Il”) (1963)

Charles Denner
-Truffaut: La mariée était en noir (1968), Une belle fille comme moi (1972), L’homme qui aimait les femmes (1977)
-Godard: Segment of Les plus belles escroqueries du monde (1964): “Le Grand Escroq”

Claude Brasseur
-Truffaut: Une belle fille comme moi (1972)
-Godard: Détective (1985), Bande à part (1964)

Xavier Saint-Macary
-Truffaut: La nuit américaine (1973), Vivement dimanche! (1983)
-Godard: Détective (1985)

Castel Casti
Note: Castel Casti only worked on these two films her entire career.
-Truffaut: Vivement dimanche! (1983)
-Godard: Tout va bien (1972)

Jean-Pierre Kalfon
-Truffaut: Vivement dimanche! (1983)
-Godard: Week End (1967)

Danièle Girard
-Truffaut: Domicile conjugal (1970), Une belle fille comme moi (1972)
-Godard: Bande à part (1964)

Michel Delahaye
-Truffaut: Une belle fille comme moi (1972)
-Godard: Bande à part (1964), Alphaville, une étrange aventure de Lemmy Caution (1965)

Daniel Boulanger
-Truffaut: Tirez sur le pianiste (1960), La mariée était en noir (1968), Domicile conjugal (1970),
-Godard: À bout de souffle (1960)

Paul Pavel
-Truffaut: Baisers volés (1968), La mariée était en noir (1968)
-Godard: Vivre sa vie: Film en douze tableaux (1962)

Gilles Quéant
-Truffaut: La mariée était en noir (1968)
-Godard: Vivre sa vie: Film en douze tableaux (1962)

Claude Mansard
-Truffaut: Les quatre cents coups (1959), Tirez sur le pianiste (1960)
-Godard: À bout de souffle (1960)

Jean-Louis Richard
-Truffaut: Jules et Jim (1962), La peau douce (1964), Le dernier métro (1980), Vivement dimanche! (1983)
-Godard: À bout de souffle (1960)

Michel Subor
-Truffaut: Jules et Jim (1962)
-Godard: Le petit soldat (1963)

Nicole Berger
-Truffaut: Tirez sur le pianiste (1960)
-Godard: Charlotte et Véronique, ou Tous les garçons s’appellent Patrick (1959)

Serge Davri
-Truffaut: Tirez sur le pianiste (1960), Tire-au-flanc 62 (1960)
-Godard: Segment of Paris vu par…: “Montparnasse-Levallois”)

Note 1: Jeanne Moreau appeared in Truffaut’s Jules and Jim and also made a cameo appearance in Godard’s A Woman is a Woman.
Note 2: Tire-au-flanc 62 (1960) is a lost film.

Top Five Films of October, 2010

2010-11-03T08:48:00.000-07:00

Fear, Anxiety & Depression (1989) I've watched 3 films of Todd Solondz's in reverse chronological order. I hated the first film I saw (Happiness), thought the second one was a little better than okay (Welcome to the Dollhouse) and then absolutely loved Fear, Anxiety & Depression. In fact, it came off as a second-rate Woody Allen rip-off. However, I laughed throughout the whole thing, so it definitely struck a chord and I gave it a high rating.

Elle s'appelait Sarah/Sarah's Key (2010) I was on my way home, when I decided to check the showtimes at the movie theater across from the train station. It happened that this film was about to start. Basically, it was one of the best films I've seen in awhile, switching back to an occurrence that happened during WWII and the present day.

Dulces horas/Sweet Hours (1982) This film was reminiscent to Sarah's Key, as well as a film with Romy Schneider called La passante du Sans-Souci/The Passerby (1982). Basically, a boy is innocently in love with his mother.

The Famine Within (1990) Although, I was thinking this film was a tad outdated while watching it, the next day I realized that most of the key points are relevant. Perhaps it would be nice to have current data, as the film is 20 years old. Basically, the film explores women and their weight issues and their quest for not only attaining the ideal weight, but for being accepted by society and desirable.

Gerald McBoing-Boing (1951) It's hard to narrow down the best shorts I saw this month. However, this one is probably the best. I saw it twice: once by myself and the second time with a six year-old boy who likes Dr. Suess (the film is based on a story by the author). It was very entertaining.

Highlights:
It may seem excessive, but I saw 84 shorts this month. The reason: to ameliorate the number of films I'd seen for icheckmovies.com. Also, I explored Sacha Guitry's filmography and saw a couple films with Emmanuelle Devos.

Top Two Films of September, 2010

2010-10-04T13:13:00.000-07:00

This month was a strange month. I only saw two stellar films. However, I also saw a bunch of good but not great films. I'll list those as honorable mentions.

Also, Claude Chabrol died, so I saw several films by him that I hadn't seen. I was forced to see several of them without subtitles. Unfortunately none of those made the top list or the honorable mentions, because I had seen all his great films already. But it is still worth mentioning.

In fact, the top films I saw in September were directed by Julien Duvivier. I decided to explore his oeuvre this month, and I was not disappointed.

TOP FILMS:

"How rotten you are..."
Chair de poule (1963)

Flesh and Fantasy (1943)

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

Malina (1991)
Notre histoire (1984)
Un autre homme, une autre chance (1977)
La vie est un roman/Life Is a Bed of Roses (1983) My last feature-length Alain Resnais film.
La gifle/The Slap (1974)
Voici le temps des assassins.../Deadlier Than the Male (1956)
Marie-Octobre (1959)
Lydia (1941)
La fin du jour (1939) A sweet movie about elderly actors who are about to be turned out of their retirement home.
Doa al karawan/The Curlew's Cry (1959) Egypt http://www.youtube.com/user/DrStrangefilm#grid/user/B2CC690199D51248
J'ai faim, j'ai froid (1984)
Les mystères du château de Dé (1929) Man Ray The word "Piscinema" flashed upon the screen which basically means "Swimming Pool/Cinema". It was filmed at the house of Charles and Anne-Marie de Noailles and was inspired by the poem by Mallarme which reads, "A throw of the dice will never abolish chance!" Images of a dice are displayed at the end to illustrate this. Also, the point was to show the guests at the house as ghosts.

Claude Chabrol (June 24, 1930 – September 12, 2010)

2010-09-12T12:43:00.000-07:00

Claude Chabrol was my favorite French film director. His films usually cover the downward spiral of an ordinary person’s life until everything is out of control.

Here is my ranked list of his work. It will be updated as necessary.

Tier One
1. La Ceremonie / Judgment in Stone (1995)
2. Que la bête meure / This Man Must Die (1969)
3. Le Boucher (1970)
4. La Rupture (1970)
5. Le Cri du hibou / Cry of the Owl (1987)
6. Une Affaire de Femmes / The Story of Women (1988)
7. La Fille coupée en deux / A Girl Cut in Two (2007)
8. La Demoiselle d’honneur / The Bridesmaid (2004)
9. Inspector Lavardin (1986)
10. L’oeil du malin / The Third Lover (1962) not in the database
11. Violette Nozière (1978)
12. Bellamy/Inspector Bellamy (2008)
13. Betty (1992)
14. “Redoutables, Les” (2001) Episode: “Coup De Vice” not in the database
15. La Femme infidèle / Unfaithful Wife (1969)

Tier Two
16. Merci Pour Le Chocolat (2000)
17. À Double Tour (1959)
18. Les Bonnes Femmes (1960)
19. Les Biches (1968)
20. Au coeur du mensonge /The Color of Lies (1999)

Tier Three
21. “Chez Maupassant: La parure (#1.2)” (2007)
22. Masques / Masks
23. Cyprien Katsaris (1996) [TV]
24. Le Beau Serge / Handsome Serge/Bitter Reunion (1958)
25. M. Le Maudit (1982) not in the database
26. Les Cousins (1959)
27. Les godelureaux/Wise Guys (1961)
28. Les fantômes du chapelier /The Hatter’s Ghost (1982)
29. La ligne de démarcation/Line of Demarcation (1966) not in the database
30. “Chez Maupassant: Le petit fût (#2.4)” (2008) not in the database
31. Les plus belles escroqueries du monde (1964) not in the database
32. Les Magiciens/Death Rite (1976)
33. Madame Bovary (1991)
34. Les innocents aux mains sales / Innocents with Dirty Hands (1975)
35. Juste avant la nuit / Just before nightfall (1971) not in the database
36. Marie-Chantal contre le docteur Kha (1965) not in the database
37. Le tigre aime la chair fraiche (1964) not in the database

Tier Four
38. Alice ou la dernière fugue (1977)
39. L’oeil de Vichy (1993)
40. Ophélia (1963)
41. La décade prodigieuse/Ten Days Wonder (1971)
42. Le scandale/The Champagne Murders (1967)
43. L’Ivresse du pouvoir / Comedy of Power (2006)

Tier Five
44. Jours tranquilles à Clichy/Quiet Days in Clichy (1990)
45. Le tigre se parfume à la dynamite (1965)
46. Les Noces rouges / Wedding in Blood (1973) not in the database
47. L’Enfer / Hell (1994)
48. La Fleur du mal / Flower of Evil (2003)
49. “L’Avarice”
50. Folies bourgeoises/Twist (1976) not in the database
51. Rien na va Plus / The Swindle (1997)
52. Docteur Popaul / High Heels (1972) not in the database
53. Nada (1974) not in the database
54. Poulet au vinaigre / Cop au vin (1985)
55. La Route de Corinthe / Who’s Got the Black Box? (1967) not in the database
56. Une partie de plaisir (1975)
57. Les Liens de sang / Blood Relatives (1978)

Tier Six
58. Landru/Bluebeard (1963)
59. Le sang des autres/The Blood of Others (1984)
60. Dr. M (1990)

French Actors

2010-09-03T03:18:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the finest actors of yesterday and today whose faces define the cinema of France.

Note: Despite Gérard Depardieu’s recent outburst, I’ve included him in this list as planned.
Note #2: This list is loosely ranked. I couldn’t put everyone at #1, but then again, if an actor is on the list at all, they are worthy of attention.

Jean-Paul Belmondo

Jean-Louis Trintignant

Grégori Derangère

Daniel Auteuil

Gérard Depardieu

Jean Reno

François Cluzet

Dany Boon

Mathieu Almaric

Gad Elmaleh

Guillaume Canet

Stéphane Freiss

Jacques Dutronc

Patrick Bruel

Jacques Gamblin

Roschdy Zem

Benoît Magimel

Melvil Poupaud

Gilles Lellouche

Fabrice Luchini

Jean-Pierre Léaud

Kad Merad

Pierre Arditi

François Berléand

Philippe Noiret

Yvan Attal

Maurice Bénichou

Denis Podalydès

Lambert Wilson

Alain Delon

Michel Piccoli

Jean Gabin

Edouard Baer

Lino Ventura

Dominique Pinon

André Dussollier

Hippolyte Girardot

Jean Rochefort

Jean-Claude Brialy

Top Five Films of August, 2010

2010-08-31T23:45:00.000-07:00

Girl with a Suitcase (1961)

The Tree aka L'arbre (2010)

The Legend of 1900 (1998)

The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990)

The Pear Tree (1998)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xVmf8-xeZg&feature=PlayList&p=946E7FFC8EEA3339&playnext_from=PL&index=0

2010-08-17T09:20:00.000-07:00

A list of my top 10 favorites and my top 10 favorite obscurities was featured on José Sarmiento Hinojosa's blog. Check it out! There are others that contributed to the blog as well.

French Actresses

2010-08-15T13:19:00.000-07:00

The French have that certain je ne sais quoi. Here is a guide to some of the most beautiful and talented French actresses in history.

Note: If the actress’ home country is not France, it will be listed in parentheses next to the name. The reason the actress is on this list is because of their extensive work in France.

Dedicated to Max J. Pell, who asked me to make this list.

Isabelle Adjani

Isabelle Huppert

Irène Jacob

Noémie Lenoir

Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi

Carla Bruni set to be in the new Woody Allen film

Brigitte Bardot

Catherine Deneuve

Laetitia Casta

Carole Bouquet

Ludivine Sagnier

Alice Taglioni

Sandrine Kiberlain

Isabelle Carré

Anna Karina (Denmark)

Anna Mouglalis

Eva Green

Béatrice Dalle

Jeanne Moreau

Fanny Ardant

Marie Trintignant

Charlotte Gainsbourg (UK/France)

Jane Birkin (UK)

Léa Seydoux

Marie-France Pisier

Romy Schneider (Austria)

Marie-Josée Croze (Canada)

Cécile de France (Belgium)

Simone Signoret

Stéphane Audran

Vera Clouzot

Michèle Morgan

Juliette Binoche

Anouk Aimée

Marion Cotillard

Emmanuelle Béart

Emmanuelle Devos

Clémence Poésy

Émilie Dequenne

Virginie Ledoyen

Sandrine Bonnaire

Danielle Darrieux

Anne Wiazemsky

Corinne Marchand

Laura Smet

Nathalie Baye

Brigitte Fossey

COMING SOON: FRENCH ACTORS

Top Five Films of July, 2010

2010-08-01T07:10:00.000-07:00

Parlez-moi de la pluie/Let It Rain (2008) - Agnès Jaoui's films are usually a lot weaker than this, and I hesitated seeing it. However, it was her best movie yet, by far. It explored people's motivation for doing things and the relationships between the older and younger generation and the white noise between them.

The Paper Chase (1973)

L'acadie, l'Acadie (1971) - This film was absolutely amazing. Not only did it provide an amazing look into the history of the use of language in Canada in the Acadian territories, but was insightful about life choices as well.

Dead of Winter (1987) - This movie was messed up. A thriller that was half Vertigo, half Misery, I have to wonder why this film isn't brought up more.

To Shoot a Mad Dog: The Making of 'Mad Dog Morgan' (2003) (V)

Top Two Films of June, 2010

2010-07-01T13:28:00.000-07:00

This month has been a little drier than usual, but I still saw some incredible films. I also saw several good films that just didn't make the cut to be deemed amazing.

Singularidades de uma Rapariga Loura/Eccentricities of a Blonde Haired Girl (2009) (Theater)

White Material (2009) (Theater)

2010-06-09T12:17:00.000-07:00

Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky (2009)

Although the thought of another Coco Chanel movie seems superfluous, there are two things that stand out about this particular film. First of all, Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky takes place in the time period after Coco Avant Chanel. It is more of a continuation, than a repeat of the same story. Secondly, Anna Mouglalis delivers in her role as Coco; her acting is quite close to perfection.

Unfortunately, there is nothing spectacular about the story. It is kind of interesting to get a taste of Igor Stravinsky's music and a glimpse into a particularly difficult time in his career. Other than that, it's just another sordid affair and the characters are Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky this time.

Certainly, Francophiles or Russian music enthusiasts will enjoy it the most. Also, Coco Avant Chanel and this film went into production at roughly the same time. Audrey Tautou may be the more recognizable name, but Coco Avant Chanel was not quite to my liking either and probably the weakest of all of Anne Fontaine's films. This film will probably suffer in the box-office due to Anna Mouglalis not being a huge name. She definitely should be, though. She was also in Claude Chabrol's Merci pour le chocolat and in Joann Sfar's Gainsbourg (Vie héroïque) (in which she was marvelous as Juliette Gréco). Hopefully someday soon she will get a breakout role like the one that was afforded to Marion Cotillard: La Vie en Rose. However, Cotillard's career choices are getting more and more boring and Anna Mouglalis seems to only become more and more exciting with time.

Rating: 7/10

Top Six Films of May, 2010

2010-06-01T12:47:00.000-07:00

Freeway (1996)
Dishonored (1931)
Desperate Living (1977)
The Last Days of Disco (1998)
Les herbes folles (2009)
Prête-moi ta main aka I Do (2006)

More pics later.

Great New Features

2010-05-25T06:31:00.000-07:00

Usually I don't post "housekeeping" news, but a couple of great things are coming up. I will soon have my own domain and will post my reviews and lists there.

In the meantime, you can start following my cinematic updates on Twitter. I'll post every time I update the blog and will post more info on the new domain. Hope to see you there!

AlliCinema on Twitter

Humoresque (1920, Frank Borzage)

2010-05-06T12:39:00.000-07:00

The last surviving copy of the film was a nitrate print from Jack Warner's private collection and was able to be copied, although minor damage prevented the print from being totally pristine. That was okay.

The story is about Leon Kantor, a young Jewish boy who has a passion for music and lives in the
ghetto of New York City. He grows up to be a famous violinist, yet a strong duty to his family and country remains. The silent film was accompanied by Cliff Retalick (piano/organ) and Grace Gabe (violin). The irony was that Ms. Gabe was playing the violin parts for a character who earned thousands of dollars per performance, while she was offering her musical services that night for free.

Leon's father, who is now a grandfather due to his other children being grown and having their own children, encourages his grandchildren to practice their music so they can make as much money as Uncle Leon. I find this interesting too, because writer Frances Marion and/or Frank Borzage make a specific point that the reason Leon was successful and earned as much as he did was because of his passion for music. That is the link between him and his audience that made him so beloved. Leon even wanted to play the violin when his father was initially opposed the idea: he thought his son would not be able to make a decent living out of it. Even if the grandchildren did practice, a strong love of music was absent. They probably would not be successful, because they did not have the same tenacity that Leon did.

Leon has two women in his life: his mother and his sweetheart Gina (whom he has known from childhood). Gina used to be a cripple and we know she will love Leon no matter what when he signs up to fight for Uncle Sam. His mother has always been loving. In an awkward yet moving scene before Leon departs, she begs him to sit on her lap and be her little baby one more time. The mother perhaps is too devoted and clingy to Leon, however never once have we seen the mother when she is unkind or does not support Leon. She has always been proud of him, and Leon willingly obliges his mother whom he loves. You would have to see it to believe it, though.

The end is a little melodramatic. Frank Borzage always infuses his movies with reality. He is not going to mislead us into thinking that although thousands of boys died in World War I, our hero will remain unscathed physically and emotionally. Both Gina and Leon's mother will ache when they face disappointments, but they are strong and admirable women with little thought for themselves.

While this film is not among Frank Borzage's greatest accomplishments, it is still a solid effort. Film historian Cari Beauchamp spoke at the showing and noted that screenwriters had greater power than directors in those days. Frances Marion adapted the story and was responsible for casting Vera Gordon, who played Leon's mother. Still, Borzage showed signs of greatness even in this early film and would go on to direct great features, such as: Big City, History is Made at Night, Street Angel, and 7th Heaven.

Top Seven Films of April, 2010

2010-04-30T07:39:00.000-07:00

The Locket (1946) Amazing film noir film that I saw as a double feature. In addition to the secrets and lies, there are flashbacks within flashbacks (...within flashbacks) and a young Robert Mitchum who gives an amazing performance. [ANOTHER REVIEW]

The Matinee Idol (1928, Frank Capra)

Alfie (1966)

Mères et filles/Hidden Diary (2009, Julie Lopes-Curval)

Les invités de mon père (2010)

L'enfer d'Henri-Georges Clouzot/Inferno (2009)
Amazing film about the madness of a director. Henri-Georges Clouzot was making the film and had an unlimited budget, an excellent crew, and top actors, yet the film still went completely wrong and was never released. Serge Bromberg takes the original footage, goes behind the scenes and has actors Jacques Gamblin and Bérénice Bejo act out unfilmed scenes straight from the script. Since I have a keen interest in Clouzot's work, I was thrilled to see this film. However, if you'd like to know more about this adventurous director who pushed the limits of cinema and was a true auteur, I would suggest you check it out.

The Thin Red Line (1998)
"Sir I must tell you that I refuse to obey your order." Wow, this film was very good. It was about an hour too long. However, I wasn't expecting it to be as good as everyone said. It was much better than The Hurt Locker. Also on Jonathan Rosenbaum's 1000 Essentials list.

Top Seven Films of March, 2010

2010-04-01T21:50:00.000-07:00

In no particular order. They all rocked!

Mona Lisa (1986, Neil Jordan)

Film d'amore e d'anarchia, ovvero 'stamattina alle 10 in via dei Fiori nella nota casa di tolleranza...' /Love and Anarchy (1973, Lina Wertmüller)

Jenseits der Stille/Beyond Silence (1996, Caroline Link)

Young America (1932, Frank Borzage)

Death and the Maiden (1994, Roman Polanski)

Our Daily Bread (1934, King Vidor)

House of Games (1987, David Mamet)

Visit To La Cinémathèque française

2010-02-16T13:09:00.000-08:00

Founded by Henri Langlois
Co-founded by Georges Franju and Paul-Auguste Harlé (the Cinémathèque’s first president)
This isn’t the original Palais Royal location. The Cinémathèque is now located in the Bercy area in the 12th arrondissement.

Note: this is a long-winded review of my January 17th visit (2010).
Also, no photography was allowed.The pics included below may not be of the actual artifacts.

Musée du Cinéma
Walking in, you could see a replica of (long story short) a Zoetrope.

It was lifesize. You know in those museums you went to as a kid, and they used to have those “wishing wells” where you throw in a coin to see it spin and it would be donated to charity? Well, it was as big as that, and the pictures were of birds. It was kind of neat and I spun it for awhile on my way in and/or on my way out.

It turns out that there is this guy named Will Day. He was probably the first “collector” of movie-related items. I thought, what if there were others. But actually his collection was on such a large scale that it ended up blowing my mind. After his death, a lot of the items were donated to the Musée du Cinéma including posters, artifacts, costumes, stills, and even outdated projectors which would be beneficial to film historians.

In early January, I viewed a film that was a stunning revelation: Eadweard Muybridge, Zoopraxographer (1975) (on Jonathan Rosenbaum’s 1000 Essentials list). Only to reinforce my excitement for this forefather of cinematic development was a display of some of Muybridge’s photos.

In addition, there was also a zoopraxiscope on display. Eadweard Muybridge would project his images on a glass plate. Obviously, glass is inflexible and the Lumiere Bros. ended up creating a much more practical projector.

Muybridge also influenced Etienne-Jules Marey a renowned physiologist. Muybridge originally started taking photos to study the movement of the human body (and horses and other animals too).

Other outdated projectors:
(Hand-cranked) Mutoscope (Got to fool around with it. A hand tinted film like and from the same time period of Le farfalle (1908) was available to view on it. It was also brown and wooden like the picture below.)

Actually I think there were two of them. My notes read that there may have even been a third and red mutoscope in a different part of the museum.

There was also a “projecteur + en rouleuse pour film” (a 35mm projector from the Lumiere Bros.)

Apparently, William Friese-Greene directed films before 1889 (although IMDB lists him with one sole credit from 1889. I trust the Cinémathèque). WIKI (link above) lists him as the creator of “cinematography”. On display was a biophantic lantern aka phantoscope.

Other cameras/projectors:
-La Caméréclair – Jean Méry (isn’t this thing incredibly wild?)

-Lanternes de projection (Phantasmagoria Lantern) by Philip Carpenter and William Westley

-Camera Parvo from Andre Debrie from Paris 1928 (Murnau filmed Nosferatu with one of these)
-Megaletoscopio aka Megalethoscope Designed by Carlo Ponti of Venice circa 1870. There was no indication that this wasn’t Sofia Loren’s Carlo Ponti, so I have just found out now that this Carlo Ponti was an entirely different man altogether.
-Lantern magique polychrome (Polychrome projector) aka Lantern Carrée by Auguste Lapierre

-Boite optique de salon (1820) there were two on display.
-Boite d’optique en forme de livre (France, 1780)
-Boite d’optique de colporteur The prints had religious themes: Mircusse / Eve et Adam / L’anamorphose (circa 1780)
-Phonoscope by George Dumeny, Otto Lund 1892
-Etienne-Jules Marey: Camera Chronophotographique (it plays trichrome) and Fusil chronophotographique electrique (below)

-Praxinoscope-Theatre by Emile Reynaud (1879) and there was another Praxinoscope that featured a boy in a circus with a ring and two French poodle (to jump through the ring I suppose)

-Kinematofor oder Lebensrad (contrefacon du praxinoscope counterfeit of the praxinoscope)

Also:
-The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari storyboard sketches (maquette de décor) from Robert Weine
-Faust 2 storyboards (maquette de décor) by Robert Herith
-Metropolis sketches (maquette de décor) from Erich Kettelhut and boi peint (silver metallic robot)
-Charlie Chaplin autoportrait *and *wheels from Modern Times (medium-sized)
-Cinematographe article by George Franju on “Le Style de Fritz Lang (The Style of Fritz Lang)”
-An old ticket to the Cinémathèque – Adminission was 1 franc for Musée du Cinéma (a franc was approx. 1/6 of a dollar)
-Old Cinémathèque schedule *"Festival David Ward [sic] Griffith: La naissance d’une nation [Birth of a Nation]"
-Autoportrait of Astra Nielsen* (1920, Denmark) star of Hamlet
-Bicyclist’s box from Un chien andalou
-Statue of Ève Francis (France, 1926) from La fête espagnole (Germaine Dulac, 1920)
-Statue of Louis Delluc (1923), married to Ève Francis
-Keepsakes from L’etoile de Mer (Man Ray): scenario/outline and starfish in a jar

More posters:
-Jacques Feyder’s Gribiche (1926), Le Grand Jeu (1934), and Carmen (1926)

-Holiday Rambles in the Isle of Man (A.H. Vidler) Neither the film nor auteur is on IMDB. That is too bad. The poster reads “The most exciting set of FIRE SCENES [sic] ever photographed.”
-Life of a Collier (Vidler) Seems to be quite a shame that none of these titles are turning up on IMDB or Google. The poster reads: “Six in bed! A comic of the light kind.”
-Marcel L’Herbier’s L’épervier (1933), Feu Mathias Pascal (1926) (also maquette d’affiche/set design drawings by Erik Aaes), L’inhumaine (1924)
-Les aventures de Robert Macaire (1925)
-Les Vampires (Feuillade) One of the coolest and most mysterious posters. It read simply “Qui Quoi Quand Ou…(Who What When Where…)”
-Espoir Sierra de Teruel (Andre Malraux)
-La proie du vent (René Clair, 1927)
-Abel Gance’s La Roue (hand-drawn poster) signed by Yves Alix and Le nègre blanc (1912)

There were beautiful costumes on display from the following films:
-Peau d’ane donkey costume
-Stavisky… (1974) Dress worn by Anny Duperin
-Belle of the Nineties (Leo McCarey) Mae West’s hat (it has a snake on top).
-Titanic Barbara Stanwyck’s black lace over gray dress (her name was misspelled as Stanwick, who knows someone over at the Cinémathèque that can fix the description card for us?)
-L’argent (Marcel L’Herbier, 1928) White dress with soie portée (silk)
-Le Vertige (Marcel L’Herbier, 1927 (IMDB) 1926 (Cinémathèque)) black dress with a gold hem at the bottom with flowers (very beautiful)
-*L’assassinat du duc de Guise *aka *The Assassination of the Duke de Guise *(1908) Albert Lambert’s velours et soie costume (velvet and silk)

In addition there were bracelets (boucles d’escarpins) worn by Louise Brooks, assorted jewelry (bijoux portes) from Theda Bara, and a white sequined dress from the premiere diva Francesca Bertin (IMDB says "Bertini"). I had never heard of Bertin(i), however, if you had seen this dress, you’d believe she was the grandest actress in the whole entire world at one point.

They also had some of Oskar Fischinger’s hand-drawn disks from 1930:

While I was aware of this man’s beautiful work, I had not yet seen any of his films. I have since remedied that.

Nearby were Marchel Duchamp’s “ready mades” (roto reliefs). He began creating these on bicycle wheels.

Upstairs:
-Video of Alfred Hitchcock praising Henri Langlois: “He has done so much for film.”
-Video of Henri Langlois receiving honorary Oscar in 1974
-Telegrams protesting the dismissal of Langlois: Cukor, Kubrick, Bunuel, Dreyer, Minnelli, Lang, and a collective of Japanese actors/directors including Kurosawa, Oshima Nagisa, Mifune and Naruse (all of the prominent directors’ names were underlined except Naruse, it was strange)

Additional notes:
-Henri Langlois preferred _"300 ans de cinema":http://www.effets-speciaux.info/article?id=318 _by Athanase Kircher (b. 1601) to the Lumiere Brothers. I’m still trying to figure out what this is and who Athanase Kircher is, so please have patience.
-Dieu a choisi Paris (1969) poster I think
-Picasso cineaste in 1914 (probably a photograph)
-Poster for *Parade, ballet *(Jean Cocteau, 1917) Theatrical production according to wiki: music by Erik Satie, choreography by Léonide Massine
-In silent films, red coloring was used to signify fire and blue meant night.

Salle Henri Langlois

In addition to going to the museum, I went to the showing of the Gordon Douglas film So This is Love . The spirit of film preservationist Henri Langlois lived on. You had to go up to the mezzanine level to go to the main theater named after him; it was cool.

There are theaters named after Georges Franju and Jean Epstein as well.

In closing, I hope this was like a virtual tour of the Cinémathèque for you. If you are ever in France and a lover of cinema, the Cinémathèque is not to be missed. Visiting the Cinémathèque was like going home. I wish I could go every night!

FIN

Seven Great Films I Saw in the Month of January, 2010

2010-02-01T08:55:00.000-08:00

Les gens normaux n'ont rien d'exceptionnel/Normal People Are Nothing Special (1993)

Un prophète/A Prophet (2009)

Ruggles of Red Gap (1935)
List: Jonathan Rosenbaum Essentials
Spotlight on Leo McCarey

Shadows (1959)
List: Jonathan Rosenbaum Essentials

Twentieth Century (1934)
List: Jonathan Rosenbaum Essentials

The Eddy Duchin Story (1956)
List: Jonathan Rosenbaum Essentials

Museum Highlights: A Gallery Talk (1989)
in color, no additional stills available on the web

2010-01-25T13:01:00.000-08:00

Boudu Saved From Drowning

The Criterion Collection #64
Jonathan Rosenbaum's Essential Films #116
They Shoot Pictures, Don't They #635

Review contains spoilers:

Out of all Jean Renoir films, this one reminds me of The Rules of the Game the most. While Rules is about rich people acting crazy, Boudu is more about a bourgeois man's experiment. In both cases, the characters are mad throughout the film. Lestingois saves a tramp from drowning. Like Pygmalion, he tries to reform the mess of a man. However, Boudu's nature and ingratitude does not make his benefactor's efforts worthwhile. Boudu is no Eliza Doolittle.

I wonder about its relevance today. Apparently when the film was released, people were shocked that Boudu tried to shine his shoes on the satin bedspread. Nowadays, who cares? My biggest problem with Boudu is that it's ultra cynical. If one were to take it seriously, the message could be construed as being, "Do not help the poor. They will not appreciate the charity, nor will they change. The road to hell is paved with best intentions, so Lestingois should have let Boudu drown."

Of course, Renoir's great filmmaking cannot be ignored. It is entertaining. The actors are capable. The story is coherent. While it did not blow me away, neither was I disappointed.

2010-01-11T12:42:00.000-08:00

REMEMBERING ERIC ROHMER:
THE PHILOSO-FILMMAKER

[Picture from Claire’s Knee ]

1. L’amour l’après-midi / Chloe in the Afternoon (1972)

It’s funny how I have the most fondness for the first Rohmer I watched. If this movie were made today or by anyone less capable than Eric Rohmer, the film might have seemed preachy instead of powerful.

2. Le Beau Mariage / The Good Marriage (1978)

If I were braver, I’d list this film as my favorite Rohmer. It is a scream, a riot. I recommend it to no one. It is just too insane and too many people outright hate it. However, Rohmer brings back lots of actors with whom he worked with previously. If you have seen most of his other films, this is like one big happy reunion. J’adore!

3. Pauline à la plage / Pauline at the Beach

People accuse Rohmer of being too talky sometimes. But in this film he provides us with a beautiful beach setting. Things that are supposed to be perfect get out of hand. That’s why I like it!

4. Le Genou de Claire / Claire’s Knee

This movie took me forever to figure out. It’s about a middle-aged man who wants to get his hands on a young teenager whose mother encourages all this to take place. When I found out it was shocking, even for France, I was somehow relieved!

5. Le Signe du lion / The Sign of Leo

I’ll mention again that Rohmer’s films are talky. Every film I have seen except this one, is decidedly locquacious. This was an earlier effort and is the closest to a “real” movie out of any of his films. It is a beautiful story, about a guy who is blessed and cursed by being born under the sign of Leo. So, still it contains some of his constant themes such as happenstance. Sure, there is talking, but the characters speak normally and there is no excess of dialog.

6. Conte d’hiver / A Winter’s Tale

Absolutely brilliant. People often complain that films are predictable. However, with the French you really have no clue. There are two drastic ways this film can go. When Rohmer chooses his ending, he goes hog-wild with it! Really, seriously one of the best endings. Ever.

7. Conte d’été / A Summer’s Tale

This would be about the best movie of all time. I did think the sea chanties were a bit lame and took away from the movie. But it is about a guy who can’t find a girlfriend and all of a sudden there are three females clamoring for his attention.

8. Ma nuit chez Maud / My Night at Maud’s

This is among Rohmer’s most famous films, in his body of work. It is about a man who has a specific preference for a type of woman. Sometimes Rohmer’s characters surprise us, and it looks like our main guy played by Jean-Louis Trintignant just might. However, this is a character study of a man who just can't seem to break away from what he likes.

9. Les nuits de la pleine lune / Full Moon in Paris (1984)

This film features two of my favorite characters: Fabrice Luchini and Pascale Ogier. Rohmer may have excellent dialog, however when placed in the hands of extremely capable actors, his work absolutely soars. For the most part, Rohmer stayed away from very well-known actors. Whether it was due to budgetary restrictions or his own inclination, it still works for the most part. But the acting in this one is out of this world.

10. Die Marquise von O / The Marquise of O

If this film does not leave you speechless, there is no hope for any of us.

11. L’Anglaise et le duc / The Lady and the Duke
12. Suzanne’s Career
13. Les Rendez-vous de Paris
14. L’Ami de mon amie / Boyfriends and Girlfriends
15. La Collectionneuse / Collector Girl (1967)
16. La Femme de l’aviateur / The Aviator’s Wife (1981)
17. Les amours d’Astrée et de Céladon / Romance of Astree and Celadon
18. Conte de printemps / A Tale of Springtime (1990)
19. La Boulangère de Monceau /The Girl at the Monceau Bakery
20. Triple agent
21. Le Rayon vert / The Green Ray
22. Conte d’automne / Autumn Tale
23. Perceval le Gallois (1978)
24. 4 aventures de Reinette et Mirabelle

Before I ever saw a Rohmer film, I saw Night Moves. Gene Hackman’s character says, “I saw a Rohmer movie once. It was kind of like watching paint dry." I have to blatantly disagree with this remark.

When I first saw Chloe in the Afternoon, it was evident that Rohmer’s films were coherently intelligent, and even more importantly, they contained a magical spark.

Cheers, Rohmer! Thank you for creating some of the most flavorful and lucid films ever created.

Five Great Films I Saw in the Month of December, 2009

2010-01-01T06:23:00.000-08:00

Cría cuervos (1976)

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)

Le nouveau testament (1936)

Holiday Affair (1949)

Les amants du Flore (2006) (TV)

2009-12-28T18:04:00.000-08:00

PROFESSOR RUSSELL JOHNSON'S "MY ANCESTORS CAME OVER ON THE MINNOW" THANKSGIVING/CHRISTMAS MOVIE QUIZ

Note from Allison: Any question I didn't have time for, I deleted. ;)

1) Second-favorite Coen Brothers movie.
Hudsucker Proxy. It used to be my favorite, however, I finally had to admit to myself that Fargo was the much better movie. A Serious Man also killed me, but I'd have to rewatch it to make sure I didn't love it better than the aforementioned films.

2) Movie seen only on home format that you would pay to see on the biggest movie screen possible? (Question submitted by Peter Nellhaus)
La double vie de Véronique. They played it at LACMA the weekend I went to visit my grandmother in Arizona. I was kind of sad, because it's my favorite film.

3) Japan or France? (Question submitted by Bob Westal)
France. I subscribe to TV5Monde and watch everything from France I can get my hands on; the highlight of my year is when the French film fest takes place in Los Angeles.

4) Favorite moment/line from a western.
Pursued. (scroll over the text to see the spoiler) When Teresa Wright's character married Robert Mitchum's character to get revenge on him.

5) Of all the arts the movies draw upon to become what they are, which is the most important, or the one you value most?
The novel. It is sincerely overrated. It seems that books are only still published these days in the hopes a film will be made out of it. Seriously, there are many novels I'd adapt, but few short stories or plays and even fewer comic books.

6) Most misunderstood movie of the 2000s.
May. Heck, I probably misunderstood it, probably.

7) Name a filmmaker/actor/actress/film you once unashamedly loved who has fallen furthest in your esteem.
Gwyneth Paltrow. Probably.

9) Which is your least favorite David Lynch film (Submitted by Tony Dayoub)
Inland Empire. The worst is probably Dune, but I didn't have the patience to sit through it. I paid $25 apiece for my friend and I to watch it at the AFI Fest when it came out. Basically, it is a complete waste of talent and effort and I hope David Lynch completely changes after this. It looked so terrible on the big screen.

11) Second favorite Don Siegel movie.
The Lineup. It's tough, because I like noir more than westerns, but perhaps my favorite Siegel film is The Shootist, but just by a margin. I rated them both 7/10 on IDMB.

12) Last movie you saw on DVD/Blu-ray? In theaters?
VHS: Senso.
DVD: The Grocer's Son.
Theater: It's Complicated.

13) Which DVD in your private collection screams hardest to be replaced by a Blu-ray? (Submitted by Peet Gelderblom)
N/A - I for one am not buying into the Blu-ray craze.

15) Actor/actress who you feel automatically elevates whatever project they are in, or whom you would watch in virtually anything.
Actor: Steve Martin
Actress: Isabelle Huppert

16) Fight Club -- yes or no?
Yes. Mainly, but depending on my mood. The first time I tried to watch it, I went to bed exhausted and asked my brother what happened in the morning. I was shocked, because I knew he could never make up something like that.

17) Teresa Wright or Olivia De Havilland?
Teresa Wright. Thank you for asking, because I have never found Olivia De Havilland too appealing. That, and Teresa Wright's in Shadow of a Doubt, one of my favorite films.

18) Favorite moment/line from a film noir.
Gilda. When Rita Hayworth tells Glenn Ford how exciting of an emotion hate is.

19) Best (or worst) death scene involving an obvious dummy substituting for a human or any other unsuccessful special effect(s)—see the wonderful blog Destructible Man for inspiration.
Meet Joe Black. I watched the death scene five hundred times because I was so amused by it.

20) What's the least you've spent on a film and still regretted it? (Submitted by Lucas McNelly)
The Cell. I pretty much walked into the theater and out, but I was still disturbed. I worked at a theater at the time, so I took chances. (Not sure whether the question was in regard to $ or time.)

22) Favorite Alan Rudolph film.
Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle. By default. I am dying to see Songwriter, though. Perhaps that is the one I'll really like.

23) Name a documentary that you believe more people should see.
Harlan County, U.S.A. It's classic without being deceitful or emotional, but has a great soundtrack as well.

24) In deference to this quiz’s professor, name a favorite film which revolves around someone becoming stranded.
Castaway. If only more people talked to volleyballs.

25) Is there a moment when your knowledge of film, or lack thereof, caused you an unusual degree of embarrassment and/or humiliation? If so, please share.
Yes. I was embarrassed when I saw the movie A Clockwork Orange, so the first time someone asked me if I had seen it, I lied and said no.

26) Ann Sheridan or Geraldine Fitzgerald? (Submitted by Larry Aydlette)
Geraldine Fitzgerald. Right now I'm working on Jonathan Rosenbaum's 1000 Essential Films. There was a very good film on the list called Good Sam. Gary Cooper was great in this, but Ann Sheridan plays his less than sympathizing wife. I didn't really like her delivery (she drove me up the wall the whole time). Geraldine Fitzgerald was in this great episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour called "Power of Attorney" (click on the link to watch).

27) Do you or any of your family members physically resemble movie actors or other notable figures in the film world? If so, who?
Yes. My grandfather (now deceased) resembled Clint Eastwood. My grandfather lives on through him.

28) Is there a movie you have purposely avoided seeing? If so, why?
Rocky. The sequels were so bad I just can't bring myself to watch the first.

29) Movie with the most palpable or otherwise effective wintry atmosphere or ambience.
Frozen River. I just say this because this guy I dated really didn't like this movie and was kind of rude about it, so I chose not to continue to see him.

31) The best cinematic antidote to a cultural stereotype (sexual, political, regional, whatever).
Gentleman's Agreement. Gregory Peck is the best he's ever been in this!

32) Second favorite John Wayne movie.
The Quiet Man. My first would have to be The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.

33) Favorite movie car chase.
The French Connection. Any other car chase would be inferior.

34) In the spirit of His Girl Friday, propose a gender-switched remake of a classic or not-so-classic film. (Submitted by Patrick Robbins)
Yes, I think I will tell my thoughts on this much later.

36) Favorite Andre De Toth movie.
Veronica Lake was my favorite wife of his.

37) If you could take one filmmaker's entire body of work and erase it from all time and memory, as if it had never happened, whose oeuvre would it be? (Submitted by Tom Sutpen)
Fred Zinnemann, with Harmony Korine being a close second.

38) Name a film you actively hated when you first encountered it, only to see it again later in life and fall in love with it.
Breakfast at Tiffany's.

41) Your favorite movie cliché.
When the bad guy explains the reason for everything to the good guy (when he's tied up), only for the good guy to later escape.

42) Vincente Minnelli or Stanley Donen? (Submitted by Bob Westal)
Robert Wise or Alfred Hitchcock.

43) Favorite Christmas-themed horror movie or sequence.
Holiday Horror, the script I wrote that was never produced.

44) Favorite moment of self- or selfless sacrifice in a movie.
Bruce Willis in Armageddon. I am laughing so hard as I write this.

45) If you were the cinematic Spanish Inquisition, which movie cult (or cult movie) would you decimate? (Submitted by Bob Westal)
Rocky Horror Picture Show.

47) Favorite eye-patch wearing director. (Submitted by Patty Cozzalio)
John Huston. I can't think of anyone better.

48) Favorite ambiguous movie ending. (Original somewhat ambiguous submission---“Something about ambiguous movie endings!”-- by Jim Emerson, who may have some inspiration of his own to offer you.)
Crimes and Misdemeanors. I always felt Woody Allen could have wrapped that movie up in another 30 minutes and was surprised when it ended. I imagined the best ending to it of all time.

49) In giving thanks for the movies this year, what are you most thankful for?
Cria Cuervos. Porque te vas.

Top Films of 2009

2009-12-21T15:10:00.000-08:00

[Magaly Solier in La teta asustada/The Milk of Sorrow (2009).]

1. A Serious Man
2. The White Ribbon
3. The Milk of Sorrow
4. Adoration
5. La Belle Personne
6. Un prophète
7. An Education
8.The Messenger
9. In the Electric Mist
10. 35 Rhums
11. Love Exposure
12. The Class
13. Inglourious Basterds
14. The Brothers Bloom
15. Broken Embraces
16. Faubourg 36 / Paris 36

100 Favorite Films of the Decade (The Noughts)

2009-12-10T11:03:00.000-08:00

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
Bon voyage (2003)
Synecdoche, New York (2008)
Le scaphandre et le papillon/ The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)
Confidences trop intimes/Intimate Strangers (2004)
Happy-Go-Lucky (2008)
Memento (2000)
My Life Without Me (2003)
Mulholland Dr. (2001)
Amores perros (2000)
Das weisse Band - Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte/The White Ribbon (2009)
Tideland (2005)
Wo hu cang long/Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)
Volver (2006/I)
Broken Flowers (2005)
I Heart Huckabees (2004)
Mystic River (2003)
C.R.A.Z.Y. (2005)
Coeurs/Private Fears in Public Places (2006)
Adoration (2008)
The Pianist (2002)
Fa yeung nin wa/In the Mood For Love (2000)
Gosford Park (2001)
Hable con ella/Talk to Her (2002)
You Can Count on Me (2000)
A Serious Man (2009)
La belle personne (2008)
Il y a longtemps que je t'aime/I've Loved You So Long (2008)
Babel (2006)
Les choristes/The Chorus (2004)
Caché (2005)
L'heure d'été/Summer Hours (2008)
An Education (2009)
Roman de gare (2007)
Le fantôme d'Henri Langlois/Henri Langlois: The Phantom of the Cinematheque (2004)
The Visitor (2007/I)
Après vous... (2003)
La mala educación/Bad Education (2004)
Capote (2005)
The Dreamers (2003)
5x2 (2004)
The Squid and the Whale (2005)
De fem benspænd/The Five Obstructions (2003)
Corpse Bride (2005)
Billy Elliot (2000)
Chaos (2001)
About Schmidt (2002)
The Aviator (2004)
In Her Shoes (2005)
Slipstream (2007)
Elegy (2008/I)
Sideways (2004)
Les glaneurs et la glaneuse/The Gleaners and I (2000)
A History of Violence (2005)
El laberinto del fauno/Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)
Sur mes lèvres/Read My Lips (2001)
Nueve reinas/Nine Queens (2000)
The Messenger (2009/I)
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005)
The Bourne Identity (2002)
Big Fish (2003)
Last Chance Harvey (2008)
In the Electric Mist (2009)
Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
Death at a Funeral (2007)
Enigma (2001)
Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)
The Brothers Bloom (2008)
Little Lady Fauntleroy (2004)
Paris, je t'aime (2006)
35 rhums (2008)
Rois et reine (2004)
Feast of Love (2007)
Entre ses mains/In His Hands (2005)
The Hours (2002)
Le placard/The Closet (2001)
La veuve de Saint-Pierre/The Widow of Saint-Pierre (2000)
Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001)
Ai no mukidashi/Love Exposure (2008)
Adaptation. (2002)
Naissance des pieuvres/Water Lilies (2007)
Grizzly Man (2005)
Pay It Forward (2000)
Baarìa (2009)
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Finding Forrester (2000)
Los abrazos rotos/Broken Embraces (2009)
Down from the Mountain (2000)
Hearts in Atlantis (2001)
Der Baader Meinhof Komplex (2008)
The Luzhin Defence (2000)
El orfanato/The Orphanage (2007)
Donnie Darko (2001)
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (2002)
Unbreakable (2000)
The Transporter (2002)

Honorable Mention: May (2002)

Six Great Films I Saw in the Month of November, 2009

2009-12-01T13:23:00.000-08:00

The Merry Microbes (1909)

Der Baader Meinhof Komplex (2008)

The Messenger (2009)
Moving. [ Blog ]

Deux jours à tuer (2008)

Baarìa (2009)

5th Ave Girl (1939)

2009-11-04T14:39:00.000-08:00

Last night I saw a film that utterly and brutally got to me: The Messenger (2009). It was so well done.

Basically, it is about a Sergeant and a Captain assigned to personally deliver the news of fallen soldiers to their families. In the film, they said that during Vietnam, families were notified of their sons' death through a telegram. In this day and age, why not an email or a telephone call? Every "delivery" was a stunning revelation of human behavior.

Steve Buscemi plays the father of one of the soldiers who has died. His reaction is unexpected and intolerable. This may be a spoiler, but, I'll say it anyway: he does not go away. He comes back later in the film and wow, his performance just blew me away.

In the preview, it seems like this may be a romance between Ben Foster and Samantha Morton. It should have been developed that way possibly, or not promoted as a romance, and maybe more of a bromance between Woody Harrelson and Ben Foster. One of my friends thought that this was completely deceitful. However, if Hollywood is able to overlook that this film is semi-related to the Iraqi War, then maybe, just maybe it could be a contender for Best Picture. Maybe some of the actors will be nominated. It IS a longshot. However, the quality completely exceeds any misconceptions I had about the movie.

On a personal note, my brother did two tours in Iraq, and volunteered for a third. Everytime my mother called during those two years (approximately), I would be jumpy. And she called a lot! I can just imagine getting the news and being as destroyed and incredulous as some of the people in the movie. At least two of the women in the movie screamed their guts out upon finding that their sons or husbands had been killed.

It's highly recommended. However, if you don't like emotional dramas, this is not for you. I can say that I haven't loved any other of the Iraqi war movies. I liked Lions for Lambs, but it did not do well at the box office, and Tom Cruise gets on my nerves. The Kingdom wasn't that great, with the exception of a few performances. Grace is Gone was a tad boring, kind of alright, but definitely not to die for.

However, this film isn't about the Iraqi War, per se. It's just about humans. The movie has the perfect imbalance of humor and drama. From the beginning, it's a tearjerker. When it finally lets up, and I mean finally, there is a scene or two of intense humor. I have to say the ending might be a letdown, however, I have already explained that Ben Foster and Samantha Morton's relationship is not the focus.

See it or don't. If the Academy ends up nominating it, take their word and not mine.

2009-11-02T22:06:00.000-08:00

Five Great Films I Saw in the Month of October, 2009

It Happened Tomorrow (1944)

High Hopes (1988)

35 rhums (2008)

Dialogue avec mon jardinier / Conversations with My Gardener (2007)

Toni (1935)

Six Great Films I Saw in the Month of September, 2009

2009-10-01T20:50:00.000-07:00

Das weiße Band (2009) Germany's Official Selection for the Academy Awards

An Education (2009)

Paris (2008)

All or Nothing (2002/I)

Secrets & Lies (1996)

Life Is Sweet (1991)

2009-09-17T13:28:00.000-07:00

Paris (2008, Cédric Klapisch)

Cédric Klapisch has created Paris, a little masterpiece. All his other films are light and perhaps trivial. I did not have high hopes for Paris, yet it excelled in so many ways.

First, you would be hard-pressed to find a better cast. Fabrice Luchini (very good with conveying emotion), Francois Cluzet (his "normal" character has unusual depth), Karin Viard (plays a manic character which is extremely against type for her), Maurice Bénichou (the reserved psychologist who has a little laugh), and Juliette Binoche (the aging single mother who only needs a little time for "herself" to help out her brother).

Secondly, though the subject matter is extremely serious and darker than a normal Klapisch film, it still has many humorous moments. Fabrice Luchini's character's fascination with a female student (played by Inglourious Basterds' Mélanie Laurent) poses many awkward and charming moments. Even Romain Duris' character is able to laugh about things despite his impending death (it could be tomorrow or it could be decades from now).

Overall, it miraculously causes the audience to think and to be entertained at the same time. Pretty good. Recommended.

2009-09-03T19:37:00.000-07:00

Das weiße Band / The White Ribbon Q&A (2009, Michael Haneke)

Germany's Official Selection for the Academy Awards

-Sir, do dreams come true?
-Say your dream is being a good student. If you study and work hard, maybe you'll get to the top of your class.

[The above dialogue takes place between the schoolteacher/narrator (left) and Erna (not shown), the sister of Eva (right).]

Michael Haneke explained that he first wrote The White Ribbon as a book almost ten years ago. Financiers weren't eager to produce the film, so he waited for the opportune moment. He told the audience that his choice to shoot the film in black and white was to get the look of old photographs and used narration to put some distance between the film and the audience. The movie is as close to a novel as can be though, with the careful introductions of each character.

While an audience member thought Bergman's influence was present in a scene where a child dares God to kill him, Haneke persisted that he was more influenced by the likes of Bresson. Haneke explains his reasoning behind this film: to show how children are the lowest in society's hierarchy, but they also our future. Some children seem like they're destined to be S.S. Officers, while Haneke insists that most of the youngsters are actually well-behaved.

Still, even the peaceful children are not exempt from terrible fates, strange punishments from parents, or emotional suffering from the death of a loved one. In a touching scene, a young four or five year-old boy named Rudi questions his older teen sister, Anni, about death. Haneke claims he tried to recount how a "young Michael" might have felt when trying to write out this moment.

Violence is always a central theme in Michael Haneke's films. He says, "If violence is normal, it's dangerous." He spoke that his intention of Funny Games was to be "a slap to the face" to make desensitized American audiences realize how cruel, rampant, and real violence is.

Haneke doesn't always show violent acts in his films, but always reveals the terrible aftermath. The imagery and emotions The White Ribbon evokes makes you realize how screwed up random acts of violence really are and how lasting the effects are.

Haneke confirms that he "forces the audience to think instead of just consume", but at the same time his "goal is to be indirect". Still, it's all too clear that the seemingly brutal attacks on the small village are about to be expanded a hundred-fold when life becomes a living hell for not only the village but the world around them.

As a film professor, he gives advice to future filmmakers:
"80% of good directing is preparation."
"The style should never be more important than the story the movie contains."
"Some are influence by people they admire, but you can only be worse as a copy-cat."

He insists that the most important thing for his students is to find their voice in explaining the world, as he doesn't "want a bunch of little Hanekes running around". It is true that as daring and provocative as Haneke is, it would be very tempting but disturbing to have hundreds of his clones on the loose.

I was sad for the night to end, but now am eager to see Haneke's next unwritten (as of now) project: about how society's view of people changes once they become elderly and decrepit. His idea mirrors the mid-wife character in The White Ribbon, who realizes that growing older will make her less desirable.

Top 100 Favorite Films

2009-08-14T20:01:00.000-07:00

Double vie de Véronique, La/The Double Life of Veronique (1991, Krzysztof Kieslowski)
A Star is Born (1937, William A. Wellman)
Trois couleurs: Rouge/Three Colors: Red (1994, Krzysztof Kieslowski)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004, Michel Gondry)
Bonnie and Clyde (1967, Arthur Penn)
Network (1976, Sidney Lumet)
Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989, Woody Allen)
Sunset Blvd. (1950, Billy Wilder)
Bon voyage (2003, Jean-Paul Rappeneau)
La Cérémonie/A Judgement in Stone (1995, Claude Chabrol)
Sense and Sensibility (1995, Ang Lee)
Shadow of a Doubt (1943, Alfred Hitchcock)
Roman Holiday (1953, William Wyler)
Cléo de 5 à 7 /Cleo from 5 to 7 (1962, Agnes Varda)
The Royal Tenenbaums(2001, Wes Anderson)
Angst vor der Angst /Fear of Fear (1975, Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
Goodfellas (1990, Martin Scorsese)
Vertigo (1958, Alfred Hitchcock)
Dangerous (1935, Alfred E. Green)
All About Eve (1950, Joseph L. Mankiewicz)
Todo sobre mi madre/All About My Mother (1999, Pedro Almodóvar)
Confidences trop intimes/Intimate Strangers (2004, Patrice Leconte)
My Life Without Me (2003, Isabel Coixet)
M (1931, Fritz Lang)
Cet obscur objet du désir, That Obscure Object of Desire (1977, Luis Buñuel)
Vivement dimanche! (1983, François Truffaut)
Ensayo de un crimen/The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz (1955, Luis Buñuel)
À bout de souffle/ Breathless (1959, Jean-Luc Godard)
Witness for the Prosecution (1957, Billy Wilder)
Camille Claudel (1988, Bruno Nuytten)
Memento(2000, Christopher Nolan)
Casablanca (1942, Michael Curtiz)
La Fille sur le pont/The Girl On the Bridge (1999, Patrice Leconte)
Quai Des Orfèvres/Jenny Lamour (1947, Henri-Georges Clouzot)
Au hasard Balthazar (1966, Robert Bresson)
(Nuovo) Cinema Paradiso (1988, Giuseppe Tornatore)
Demoiselles de Rochefort, Les/Young Girls of Rochefort (1967, Jacques Demy/Agnès Varda)
The Graduate (1967, Mike Nichols)
My Man Godfrey (1936, Gregory La Cava)
The Bad and the Beautiful (1952, Vincente Minnelli)
Laura (1944, Otto Preminger)
The Sweet Hereafter (1997, Atom Egoyan)
It Happened One Night (1934, Frank Capra)
Alice (1990, Woody Allen)
The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985, Woody Allen)
Another Woman (1988, Woody Allen)
Coup de torchon/Clean Slate (1981, Bertrand Tavernier)
The French Connection (1971, William Friedkin)
L.A. Confidential (1997, Curtis Hanson)
Inside Daisy Clover (1965, Robert Mulligan)
Antoine and Colette (1962, François Truffaut)
Volver / To Return (2006, Pedro Almodóvar)
Gilda (1946, Charles Vidor)
Mulholland Dr. (2001, David Lynch)
Three Days of the Condor (1975, Sydney Pollack)
The Thin Man (1934, W.S. Van Dyke)
Now Voyager (1942, Irving Rapper)
The Godfather (1972, Francis Ford Coppola)
The Godfather: Part II (1974, Francis Ford Coppola)
Bringing Up Baby (1938, Howard Hawks)
The Dead Zone (1983, David Cronenberg)
Singin' in the Rain (1952, Stanley Donen)
Chelovek s kino-apparatom/Man With the Movie Camera (1929, Dziga Vertov)
Les Yeux sans visage / Eyes Without a Face (1960, Georges Franju)
I Heart Huckabees (2004, David O. Russell)
Rushmore (1998, Wes Anderson)
Shopgirl (2005, Anand Tucker)
The Squid and the Whale (2005, Noah Baumbach)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975, Milos Forman)
Amadeus (1984, Milos Forman)
Leon: The Professional (1994, Luc Besson)
Mystic River (2003, Clint Eastwood)
Lolita (1962, Stanley Kubrick)
Scaphandre et le papillon, Le/The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007, Julian Schnabel)
Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961, Blake Edwards)
Lola (1961, Jacques Demy)
Fem benspaend, De /The Five Obstructions (2003, Jørgen Leth)
You Can Count on Me (2000, Kenneth Lonergan)
Broken Flowers (2005, Jim Jarmusch)
Bitteren Tränen der Petra von Kant, Die/ The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant (1972, Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
Scarface (1983, Brian De Palma)
All the President's Men (1976, Alan J. Pakula)
Something's Gotta Give (2003, Nancy Meyers)
Angst essen Seele auf /Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974, Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
Amores Perros (2000, Alejandro González Iñárritu)
His Girl Friday (1940, Howard Hawks)
Underground (1995, Emir Kusturica)
Tess (1979, Roman Polanski)
Persona (1966, Ingmar Bergman)
Bad Timing (1980, Nicolas Roeg)
Jeanne la Pucelle - Les prisons (1994, Jacques Rivette)
Heavenly Creatures (1994, Peter Jackson)
Coeurs/Private Fears in Public Places (2006, Alain Resnais)
Se7en (1995, David Fincher)
Les Diaboliques (1955, Henri-Georges Clouzot)
The Untouchables (1987, Brian De Palma)
Deserto rosso, Il /The Red Desert (1964, Michelangelo Antonioni)
Angèle (1934, Marcel Pagnol)
The Night of the Iguana (1964, John Huston)
Synecdoche, New York (2008, Charlie Kaufman)

2009-06-09T08:31:00.000-07:00

Estate violenta (1959)

A very nice surprise from out of nowhere. Starring Jean-Louis Trintignant (who plays the ladies man, surprise, surprise) and an underrated Eleonora Rossi Drago, it's a very rare and captivating love/war story from Italian director Valerio Zurlini.

I'll have to see more from him! It turns out I saw A Family Portrait / Family Diary on TCM, but it was dubbed or something was severely wrong with it, because I didn't enjoy it much at all. I'm expecting that I'll love his other movies more. He was also a writer on The Garden of theFinzi-Continis.

2009-06-07T09:16:00.000-07:00

Obsession (1976, Brian de Palma)

Rating: 6.5/10

With a manic nod to Vertigo, Brian de Palma even borrows frequent Hitchcock composer Bernard Hermann. With a screenplay from Paul Schrader, the movie was bound to be a hit. So what went wrong? Or maybe what went right?

The ending was more impressive than I was expecting, but it was still a bit of an eyeroll. Still, Brian de Palma succeeds in what he set out to do: make a pretty decent film. It was cheesy in that seventies way, but all in all it could have been a lot worse. I am intrigued to see more movies with Academy Award winning actor, Cliff Robertson.

2009-05-24T22:35:00.000-07:00

Pierrot le Fou (1965, Jean-Luc Godard)

I.
I'll start off by saying that upon viewing the film a second time, I noticed how either other filmmakers ripped off this work of Godard's or Godard's ideas pre-dated what was to appear in the future. Please be warned that this is an exploration of Pierrot le Fou the movie, so please do not read if you don't like spoilers.

Anna Karina's hairstyle is reminiscent of Princess Leia's in Star Wars.

The constant repeating of ads reminds me of The Truman Show.

Samuel Fuller tells Jean-Paul Belmondo that he is in Paris to make a film called Flower of Evil. Samuel Fuller never made a film by that name, but Claude Chabrol did.

JPB & Anna K. drive into the ocean, much like Jack Nicholson and Shirley MacLaine do, in Terms of Endearment.

I'm sure I missed other filmmaker's overt references to this film. Please let me know if you think of any.

II.

In the film Meetin' WA (1986), Woody Allen notices how Godard's films are pure cinema and haven't been influenced by other art forms like other films. I was stunned, because I had never noticed it. Now, however, I realized I never noticed this, because it is not true.

Godard references other mediums plenty. Brigitte Bardot in Le Mepris and Jean-Paul Belmondo in this film, Pierrot le Fou, both read aloud to other people from books and in the bathtub, no less. If that isn't directly borrowing from another art form, I don't know what is. The film within the film in Le Mepris is based on Homer's The Odyssey.

Jean-Paul Belmondo realizes that Flower of Evil is a Baudelaire reference and later talks about how he could write a better version of a type of novel that (James) Joyce had written. Jean-Paul Belmondo narrates by saying she had the eyes of both Aucassin and Nicolette, the title characters of a medieval story. Balzac, Jules Verne, the detective novel... Why all these allusions to literature, if Godard is pure cinema?

I know that Woody Allen meant the structure of the story. The words, the music, it's all unconventional, yes. And while he's an innovative filmmaker and the plots are oblique, I'm not sure that Godard is much different than his contemporaries: Truffaut, Chabrol, Rivette, Rohmer, etc. But man, his essay films get on my nerves! I'm glad that this isn't one of them.

III.

Godard loves finding words within words for some reason. In this film, Marianne finds words within her name. Ferdinand/Pierrot changes the word art (l'art) into death (le mort) with one doodle or two with his pen. The amazing thing is how words can change between languages. When I was watchingFrance/tour/détour/deux/enfants the other day, Godard tried asking a kid what verbs he could find in "découvrir" (to discover). The child failed to find "ouvrir" which means open. In French, the words within words are positive: "to discover". In English, the prefix is a negative: "dis-" and the root word: "cover" is negative, obviously meaning "to hide". DIS/COVER. A double negative is a positive. In Masculin Feminin, Godard finds the words "mask" and "ass" inside the French word "masculin", but doesn't find any inside the word "feminin". In English, the word is very similar: "masculine". An "e" is added. What words can be found inside of "masculine"? "as" and "line". Very different than “mask” and “ass” if I may say so myself. Maybe French is a language with more meaning. Maybe the words within words have little meaning. Maybe Godard is onto something. Maybe he never found what he was searching for with the words in between words.

Conclusion.

This movie is a lot of nonsense and fun. Some people may take it more seriously than it's meant to be. Since rewatching Le Mepris and Pierrot le Fou at around the same time, I've noticed that it's very similar. Marianne and Pierrot die violent deaths at the end. While they are criminals on the run, the cause of their deaths are very different from Camille's (Brigitte Bardot) and her lover's. However, Pierrot film seems like another incarnation of Mepris, like Godard hadn't yet quite expressed himself or gotten a point across in the way he wanted to. Or maybe he was simply repeating himself.

With a beautiful, special cameo from Jean Seberg (in the film within a film).

2009-05-22T13:36:00.001-07:00

The Brothers Bloom (2008, Rian Johnson)

What could have been uninteresting or a disaster actually turned out to be a pleasant surprise.

The preview looked like it was about idiots gallivanting around Europe:
-Penelope the heiress who crashes her car every 5 seconds
-Bang-Bang the pyromaniac
-The Brothers Bloom, the inseparable con-artists with a lame plan we've seen 1,000 times before.

Right? Well, wrong.

It would be very easy to oversimplify the plots and characters, only because so much is going on.

The aforementioned Penelope (played by Academy Award winning Rachel Weisz) "collects hobbies". Thankfully the writer/director Rian Johnson (Brick) actually put some thought into the script or this could have been a snooze-fest. Along with Penelope's bottomless well of hidden talents, is a person aching to make a connection with the rest of the world, and not sure how to do so.

The story of the brothers starts from their childhood, when they develop a plan to rip off the local children who suffer from being too-well provided for. Their masterplan is a barrel of laughs and quite well thought out.

Mark Ruffalo plays the brother who is the brain and the true criminal. Adrien Brody plays the crook with the soft spot: always remaining close to his brother while looking for his one true love. Relationships are key for him.

Things get complicated fast, and while we're aware that things aren't all what they seem, neither are we exactly sure what lies ahead.

I can safely recommend The Brothers Bloom for its wit, charm, and nearly silent performance by outstanding Academy Award nominated Rinko Kikuchi (Bang-Bang). Don't hesitate to run to the theater, because it won't disappoint.

Rating: 83/100

2009-04-25T08:35:00.000-07:00

La belle personne (Christophe Honoré, 2008)

Christophe Honoré film's shock. La Belle Personne is no exception, however it it among his most tasteful.

Louis Garrel plays Nemours, a young teacher that seems to be quite appealing to the ladies. We are not only worried for Junie (Léa Seydoux), a transfer student, but for every other female on-screen. But at no time does his character seem overdrawn or cliché. He is somewhat likeable and I somehow hoped one of his relationships would work out for him.

By the time Léa Seydoux's character shows up, I had this eerie feeling Nemours would encroach on her territory. However, he stalks his prey quietly. While we are waiting for him to pounce, Junie develops an endearing relationship with Otto, a quiet and well-meaning boy. Still, Junie makes him hold his breath and starts playing hard to get.

Léa Seydoux reminds me of a young Isabelle Adjani. Same features, same emotional depth. She still has room to develop, but so far, so good. Christophe Honoré got lucky while casting. In fact, the rest of the students are capable as well. The interactions are quite reminiscent of Entre Les Murs. However, Christophe Honoré makes this film his own and has a different end goal in sight.

The previous reviews I read led me to believe that Junie was a precocious girl that goaded her teacher into a tawdry affair, making you wonder who was the victim. Not so. Throughout the film, we are never presented with any other facts about Nemours, except that he is sleazy and unconcerned with the ages of the women he pursues.

The film is filled with surprises. Everyone has a secret, including Matthias, Junie's cousin and protector. When a misunderstanding drives an essential character over the edge, Junie makes a brilliant, but severe choice. The ending was one of the best I'd seen in awhile. I know Christophe Honoré has many more great films inside of him and I can't wait to see his and Léa Seydoux's careers continue to unfold.

2009-04-06T19:22:00.000-07:00

Faubourg 36 aka Paris 36 (2008)

Christophe Barratier follows up his wonderful film The Chorus with an enchanting story about reviving "The Chansonia", an old-time music hall.

Nora Arnezeder plays Douce, a starry-eyed singer aching to make her debut. Nora is no Marion Cotillard or Ludivine Sagnier, however she is a decent newcomer with a penchant for Woody Allen.

Familiar faces fill the screen: Gérard Jugnot from The Chorus, Clovis Cornillac from La Femme de Gilles and many others, and Kad Merad from Welcome to the Land of the Ch'tis (and of course he was in The Chorus as well).

Overall, it's a charming film that has been mercilessly underrated by the critics. Everyone should give the lovely Paris 36 a chance.

2009-03-18T12:21:00.000-07:00

The Great Buck Howard

Rating: 7/10

Although it is quite better than I might have imagined, it also drags towards the end. Colin Hanks is not the most charming actor, but from all those who have benefited from nepotism in Hollywood, he is far from the worst.

Emily Blunt was charming as usual, but it was disturbing that she's had love scenes with both Tom Hanks (Charlie Wilson's War) and now his son in this film. Oh well. Her character was kind of slutty, and the writer says she was completely made-up.

John Malkovich was mainly good. However, sometimes when he was chewing Colin Hanks out, I wish he would have made me tremble out of fear a bit more. While it is not as unmissable as the guys from At the Movies would have you believe, I still had a great time, and made the guy next to me uncomfortable from laughing so much.

Alfred Hitchcock Presents

2009-03-04T13:50:00.000-08:00

Reprinted from The Life Cinematic Magazine (now-defunct):

Alfred Hitchcock, master of suspense in the cinema, was offered his own television show by Lew Wasserman at Universal-International after the raging box-office success of Rear Window (you can still see Hitch’s office if you take the tour at Universal Studios). It was an ingenious idea. Hitchcock would invade the home each week, establishing himself as an icon. His introductions and closing remarks for each episode were witty delicacies penned by James Allardice, and he nailed his morbid lines with deadpan delivery.

He would put some of his own ideas for stories into motion, but above all he had script approval, which resulted in top-notch quality for the show as a whole. Granted, he directed his show very rarely, but two episodes he directed were nominated for Emmys (”The Case of Mr. Pelham” and “Lamb to the Slaughter”) and are pretty phenomenal. Other directors included Robert Altman, Robert Stevens (who directed a large number of the shows), and Stuart Rosenberg (director of The Amityville Horror and Cool Hand Luke).

Hitch was able to attract big stars because of his excellent standards: Barbara Bel Geddes (whom he would later cast in Vertigo), James Mason, John Cassavetes, Gena Rowlands, Claude Rains, Peter Lorre, Robert Redford, Joan Fontaine, Lillian Gish, Walter Matthau, Bette Davis, and Steve McQueen. The list goes on and on. He even featured his daughter, Patricia Hitchcock, in ten episodes. And she was a decent actress too!

Alfred Hitchcock Presents lasted for seven seasons. The Alfred Hitchcock Hour followed for three years after that. In my opinion, Hour seemed less crafted and was nowhere near as good as his initial venture into the television world.

There are several standout episodes I’d like to recommend. If you have a chance to rent these DVDs from your video store or library or to buy them online, I’d encourage you to do so ASAP. Television has never been more entertaining. Not only do these shows have the morals of the fifties instilled within them, but they also have gruesome twist endings that M. Night Shyamalan only wishes he could surpass somehow.

I have briefly talked about my favorite episodes below. Note that while I would never give away the twist-endings, there may be more information than some would like. If you would like to be surprised, grab a random Alfred Hitchcock Presents DVD. Otherwise, read below for a preview.

Season 1, Episode 1: “Breakdown”
This episode starring Joseph Cotten is one of the most well-known ones. If you are going to see one, see this one. I love how Alfred Hitchcock cast the handsome Joseph Cotten in Shadow of a Doubt as a man his family should trust, but whose dark past catches up with him and threatens those around him. This episode is different, but builds on their past collaborations together. Cotten plays a businessman who gets out of hand. The ending is one to keep people talking for years. In fact, Stephen King wrote a variation of this tale in a short story entitled Autopsy Room Four, contained in the book Everything’s Eventual.

Season 2, Episode 22: “The End of Indian Summer”
This is a fun battle of the spouse killers episode. It brings to mind Double Indemnity, featuring an insurance agent who suspects a sweet, elderly lady to be a habitual husband killer, only to find more than he bargained for. An extreme amount of fun.

Season 2, Episode 34: “Martha Mason, Movie Star”
This episode is about a delusional woman who is probably based on the character of Norma Desmond from Sunset Blvd. Instead of being a crazy movie star, she is just plain crazy. Still, she’s very charming, although clearly in need of more brain power. When we realize she is beyond hope, it is still easy to root for her.

Season 3, Episode 11: “The Deadly”
This episode will probably make your blood boil, as you witness a plumber trying to take advantage of a housewife through extortion. When she finds that he has been threatening the whole neighborhood, she and her friends rise to give this man a proper payback.

Season 3, Episode 33: “Post Mortem”
A woman’s husband mysteriously dies. Some suspect foul play, but she is cleared and remarries. She begins to suspect that her new husband may have murdered her former husband and may even be out to get her. She tells her story to a police detective, but with no hard proof, she may be murdered before enough evidence is gathered to put him away.

Season 7, Episode 2: “Bang! You’re Dead”
This is one of the scariest episodes, involving a kid finding a gun. He promptly goes out, pointing the gun at everyone he sees. The kid thinks the gun is a toy, and so do the people who see him. When his parents find that their son and the gun are missing, they are so frantic, that it nearly drives the audience to experience a major breakdown.

It would take much more time to talk about my favorite episodes. Trust me when I say, though, that if you are sick of watching boring films with drab dialogue or the unremarkable television programs of today, you can’t miss with an Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode. You can savor each one or devour them twenty at a time. I have done both, and each way works extremely well.

Time for the Oscars

2009-01-22T09:44:00.000-08:00

For a complete list of Oscar nominations, go to: http://www.oscar.com/nominees/?pn=nominees

My picks are in bold. They may not win, but based on what I've seen they seem like the best picks.

Best motion picture of the year
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), A Kennedy/Marshall Production, Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall and Ceán Chaffin, Producers
“Frost/Nixon” (Universal), A Universal Pictures, Imagine Entertainment and Working Title Production,Brian Grazer, Ron Howard and Eric Fellner, Producers
“Milk” (Focus Features), A Groundswell and Jinks/Cohen Company Production, Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen, Producers
“The Reader” (The Weinstein Company), A Mirage Enterprises and Neunte Babelsberg Film GmbH Production, Nominees to be determined
“Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), A Celador Films Production,Christian Colson, Producer

Performance by an actor in a leading role
Richard Jenkins in “The Visitor” (Overture Films)
Frank Langella in “Frost/Nixon” (Universal)
Sean Penn in “Milk” (Focus Features)
Brad Pitt in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.)
Mickey Rourke in “The Wrestler” (Fox Searchlight)

Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Josh Brolin in “Milk” (Focus Features)
Robert Downey Jr. in “Tropic Thunder” (DreamWorks, Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount)
Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Doubt” (Miramax)
Heath Ledger in “The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.)
Michael Shannon in “Revolutionary Road” (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount Vantage)

I don't think any of these actors deserve a nod. Haven't seen: Tropic Thunder.

Performance by an actress in a leading role
Anne Hathaway in “Rachel Getting Married” (Sony Pictures Classics)
Angelina Jolie in “Changeling” (Universal)
Melissa Leo in “Frozen River” (Sony Pictures Classics)
Meryl Streep in “Doubt” (Miramax)
Kate Winslet in “The Reader” (The Weinstein Company)

-Wasn't impressed by Kate Winslet
-Haven't seen Rachel Getting Married (want to) or Changeling (don't want to)
-Seeing Frozen River next week before I make a final decision

Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Amy Adams in “Doubt” (Miramax)
Penélope Cruz in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” (The Weinstein Company)
Viola Davis in “Doubt” (Miramax)
Taraji P. Henson in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.)
Marisa Tomei in “The Wrestler” (Fox Searchlight)
I'm split on this one.:
-Viola Davis is probably the best.
-Penélope Cruz's best role was Volver and she probably should have won that year. However, she was very good in Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
-Marisa Tomei was good, especially with a role that most other actresses would have played two-dimensionally.

Best animated feature film of the year
“Bolt” (Walt Disney), Chris Williams and Byron Howard
“Kung Fu Panda” (DreamWorks Animation, Distributed by Paramount), John Stevenson and Mark Osborne
“WALL-E” (Walt Disney), Andrew Stanton

I guess Wall-E will win, but I am not excited about any of these features.

Achievement in art direction
“Changeling” (Universal), Art Direction: James J. Murakami, Set Decoration: Gary Fettis
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Art Direction: Donald Graham Burt, Set Decoration: Victor J. Zolfo
“The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), Art Direction: Nathan Crowley, Set Decoration: Peter Lando
“The Duchess” (Paramount Vantage, Pathé and BBC Films), Art Direction: Michael Carlin, Set Decoration: Rebecca Alleway
“Revolutionary Road”(DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount Vantage), Art Direction: Kristi Zea, Set Decoration: Debra Schutt

-Haven't seen Changeling and Duchess.

Achievement in cinematography
“Changeling” (Universal), Tom Stern
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Claudio Miranda
“The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), Wally Pfister
“The Reader” (The Weinstein Company), Chris Menges and Roger Deakins
“Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Anthony Dod Mantle

Achievement in costume design
“Australia” (20th Century Fox), Catherine Martin
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Jacqueline West
“The Duchess” (Paramount Vantage, Pathé and BBC Films), Michael O’Connor
“Milk” (Focus Features), Danny Glicker
“Revolutionary Road” (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount Vantage), Albert Wolsky

-Haven't seen: Australia or The Duchess.
-Not impressed: with Milk or Revolutionary Road.

Achievement in directing
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), David Fincher
“Frost/Nixon” (Universal), Ron Howard
“Milk” (Focus Features), Gus Van Sant
“The Reader” (The Weinstein Company), Stephen Daldry
“Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Danny Boyle

Best documentary feature
“The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)” (Cinema Guild), A Pandinlao Films Production, Ellen Kuras and Thavisouk Phrasavath
“Encounters at the End of the World” (THINKFilm and Image Entertainment), A Creative Differences Production, Werner Herzog and Henry Kaiser
“The Garden” A Black Valley Films Production, Scott Hamilton Kennedy
“Man on Wire” (Magnolia Pictures), A Wall to Wall Production, James Marsh and Simon Chinn
“Trouble the Water” (Zeitgeist Films), An Elsewhere Films Production, Tia Lessin and Carl Deal

-Missed The Betrayal darn it.
-Haven't seen any.

Best documentary short subject
“The Conscience of Nhem En” A Farallon Films Production, Steven Okazaki
“The Final Inch” A Vermilion Films Production, Irene Taylor Brodsky and Tom Grant
“Smile Pinki” A Principe Production, Megan Mylan
“The Witness - From the Balcony of Room 306” A Rock Paper Scissors Production, Adam Pertofsky and Margaret Hyde

-Haven't seen any.

Achievement in film editing
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
“The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), Lee Smith
“Frost/Nixon” (Universal), Mike Hill and Dan Hanley
“Milk” (Focus Features), Elliot Graham
“Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Chris Dickens

Best foreign language film of the year
“The Baader Meinhof Complex” A Constantin Film Production, Germany
“The Class” (Sony Pictures Classics), A Haut et Court Production, France
“Departures” (Regent Releasing), A Departures Film Partners Production, Japan
“Revanche” (Janus Films), A Prisma Film/Fernseh Production, Austria
“Waltz with Bashir” (Sony Pictures Classics), A Bridgit Folman Film Gang Production, Israel

-Haven't seen any, but am excited perhaps about The Class.
-Really want to see all of the choices though.

Achievement in makeup
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Greg Cannom
“The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), John Caglione, Jr. and Conor O’Sullivan
“Hellboy II: The Golden Army” (Universal), Mike Elizalde and Thom Floutz

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Alexandre Desplat
“Defiance” (Paramount Vantage), James Newton Howard
“Milk” (Focus Features), Danny Elfman
“Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), A.R. Rahman
“WALL-E” (Walt Disney), Thomas Newman

-Love Alexandre Desplat but wasn't overwhelmed by the music in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
-Slumdog Millionaire's music was great.

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
“Down to Earth” from “WALL-E” (Walt Disney), Music by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman, Lyric by Peter Gabriel
“Jai Ho” from “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Music by A.R. Rahman, Lyric by Gulzar
“O Saya” from “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Music and Lyric by A.R. Rahman andMaya Arulpragasam

-One of the Slumdog songs should win.

Best animated short film
“La Maison en Petits Cubes” A Robot Communications Production, Kunio Kato
“Lavatory - Lovestory” A Melnitsa Animation Studio and CTB Film Company Production, Konstantin Bronzit
“Oktapodi” (Talantis Films) A Gobelins, L’école de l’image Production, Emud Mokhberi and Thierry Marchand
“Presto” (Walt Disney) A Pixar Animation Studios Production, Doug Sweetland
“This Way Up”, A Nexus Production, Alan Smith and Adam Foulkes

-Haven't seen any.

Best live action short film
“Auf der Strecke (On the Line)” (Hamburg Shortfilmagency), An Academy of Media Arts Cologne Production, Reto Caffi
“Manon on the Asphalt” (La Luna Productions), A La Luna Production, Elizabeth Marre and Olivier Pont
“New Boy” (Network Ireland Television), A Zanzibar Films Production, Steph Green and Tamara Anghie
“The Pig” An M & M Production, Tivi Magnusson and Dorte Høgh
“Spielzeugland (Toyland)” A Mephisto Film Production, Jochen Alexander Freydank

-Haven't seen any.

Achievement in sound editing
“The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), Richard King
“Iron Man” (Paramount and Marvel Entertainment), Frank Eulner and Christopher Boyes
“Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Tom Sayers
“WALL-E” (Walt Disney), Ben Burtt and Matthew Wood
“Wanted” (Universal),Wylie Stateman

Achievement in sound mixing
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Mark Weingarten
“The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo and Ed Novick
“Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke and Resul Pookutty
“WALL-E” (Walt Disney),Tom Myers, Michael Semanick and Ben Burtt
“Wanted” (Universal), Chris Jenkins, Frank A. Montaño and Petr Forejt

Achievement in visual effects
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton and Craig Barron
“The Dark Knight” (Warner Bros.), Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Tim Webber and Paul Franklin
“Iron Man” (Paramount and Marvel Entertainment), John Nelson, Ben Snow, Dan Sudick and Shane Mahan

-Haven't seen Iron Man.

Adapted screenplay
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.), Screenplay by Eric Roth, Screen story by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord
“Doubt” (Miramax), Written by John Patrick Shanley
“Frost/Nixon” (Universal), Screenplay by Peter Morgan
“The Reader” (The Weinstein Company), Screenplay by David Hare
“Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Screenplay by Simon Beaufoy

-Amazing how Slumdog was adapted from the book to make it what it is.

Original screenplay
“Frozen River” (Sony Pictures Classics), Written by Courtney Hunt
“Happy-Go-Lucky” (Miramax), Written by Mike Leigh
“In Bruges” (Focus Features), Written by Martin McDonagh
“Milk” (Focus Features), Written by Dustin Lance Black
“WALL-E” (Walt Disney), Screenplay by Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon, Original story by Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter

-Haven't seen Frozen River or Happy-Go-Lucky. Waiting to make a decision.

2008: A Year in Review

2009-01-12T07:55:00.000-08:00

(Philip Seymour Hoffman being directed by Charlie Kaufman in Synecdoche, New York)

2008 - Top 10 Theatrical Releases

2008 - Top 25 Viewed & adored for the first time

Honorable Mention

20 Favourite Actors

2009-01-08T18:39:00.000-08:00

Meme borrowed from the idea "20 Favourite Actresses"

01. Daniel Auteuil
Key roles:
La Fille sur le pont
Le Placard
Caché
Après vous...
Le Huitième jour

02. Humphrey Bogart
Key roles:
Casablanca
High Sierra
Sabrina
The Harder They Fall
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

03. Anthony Hopkins
Key roles:
The Silence of the Lambs
Shadowlands
The Elephant Man
Surviving Picasso
Nixon

04. Gérard Depardieu
Key roles:
Bon voyage
Jean de Florette
Camille Claudel
Quand j'étais chanteur
La Môme

05. Cary Grant
Key roles:
His Girl Friday
North by Northwest
An Affair to Remember
The Bishop's Wife
Bringing Up Baby

06. Owen Wilson
Key roles:
The Royal Tenenbaums
Shanghai Noon
The Darjeeling Limited
Meet the Parents
Zoolander

07. Dustin Hoffman
Key roles:
The Graduate
Midnight Cowboy
Little Big Man
Straight Time
I Heart Huckabees

08. Clive Owen
Key roles:
Shoot 'Em Up
Greenfingers
Gosford Park
The Bourne Identity
Elizabeth: The Golden Age

09. Bill Murray
Key roles:
Broken Flowers
Rushmore
The Royal Tenenbaums
What About Bob?
Groundhog Day

10. Grégori Derangère
Key roles:
Bon voyage
L'Équipier
The Murder of Princess Diana
Mille millièmes

11. Joseph Cotten
Key roles:
Shadow of a Doubt
The Magnificent Ambersons
Citizen Kane
Love Letters
Niagara

12. William Holden
Key roles:
Sunset Blvd.
Sabrina
Stalag 17
Network
The Moon Is Blue

13. Elliott Gould
Key roles:
The Long Goodbye
Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice
California Split
Beröringen
Little Murders

14. Kevin Spacey
Key roles:
L.A. Confidential
Pay It Forward
Se7en
American Beauty
Beyond the Sea

15. Fabrice Luchini
Key roles:
Confidences trop intimes
Le Bossu
La Discrète
Les Nuits de la pleine lune
Beaumarchais, l'insolent

16. Paul Giamatti
Key roles:
Sideways
American Splendor
Shoot 'Em Up
Duets
My Best Friend's Wedding

17. Steve Martin
Key roles:
Shopgirl
A Simple Twist of Fate
Roxanne
Grand Canyon
Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid

18. Jason Schwartzman
Key roles:
Shopgirl
I Heart Huckabees
Rushmore
The Darjeeling Limited
S1m0ne

19. Jean Reno
Key roles:
Léon: The Professional
Wasabi
French Kiss
Décalage horaire
Ronin

20. Jean-Louis Trintignant
Key roles:
Trois couleurs: Rouge
Vivement dimanche!
Ma nuit chez Maud
Les Biches
Il Conformista