Burns & Johnson

Burns's 2007 Film Log

2007-07-10T14:34:00.000+01:00

Ratings are out of 10. Movies rated 10/10 are highlighted in red.

The Old Dark House (James Whale, 1932) 9/10
The Blues Brothers (John Landis, 1980) 8/10
A Star Is Born (George Cukor, 1954) 9/10
Murder, My Sweet (Edward Dmytryk, 1944) 8/10
And Now the Screaming Starts (Roy Ward Baker, 1973) 5/10
Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (Jacques Demy, 1964) 9/10
12 Angry Men (Sidney Lumet, 1957) 9/10
Gosford Park (Robert Altman, 2001) 10/10
The Shop Around the Corner (Ernest Lubitsch, 1940) 10/10
Roman Holiday (William Wyler, 1953) 9/10
The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb (Michael Carreras, 1964) 6/10
Zodiac (David Fincher, 2007) 9/10
Countess Dracula (Peter Sasdy, 1970) 7/10
Sherlock Holmes in Washington (Roy William Neill, 1943) 7/10
Harold and Maude (Hal Ashby, 1971) 9/10
Hot Fuzz (Edgar Wright, 2007) 8/10
The Lives of Others (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, 2006) 8/10
Guys and Dolls (Joseph L Mankiewicz, 1955) 8/10
Moulin Rouge! (Baz Luhrmann, 2001) 9/10
Ferris Bueller's Day Off (John Hughes, 1986) 8/10
The Hound of the Baskervilles (Terence Fisher, 1958) 9/10
Charlie Chan in Paris (Lewis Seiler, 1935) 7/10
Deadlier than the Male (Ralph Thomas, 1966) 6/10
Daleks' Invasion Earth: 2150 AD (Gordon Flemyng, 1966) 6/10
Dr Who and the Daleks (Gordon Flemyng, 1965) 5/10
Horrors of the Black Museum (Arthur Crabtree, 1960) 6/10
Night of the Eagle (Sidney Hayers, 1962) 8/10
L'Armee des ombres (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1969) 8/10
The Vengeance of She (Cliff Owen, 1968) 5/10
She (Robert Day, 1965) 6/10
The Royal Tenenbaums (Wes Anderson, 2001) 9/10
Targets (Peter Bogdanovich, 1968) 8/10
Billy Liar (John Schlesinger, 1963) 10/10
The House That Dripped Blood (Peter Duffy, 1971) 7/10
Brief Encounter (David Lean, 1945) 10/10
Island of Terror (Terence Fisher, 1966) 7/10
Dracula (Terence Fisher, 1958) 10/10
Man of La Mancha (Arthur Hiller, 1972) 8/10
Son of Paleface (Frank Tashlin, 1952) 8/10
The Paleface (Norman Z McLeod, 1948) 8/10
The Witches (Cyril Frankel, 1966) 7/10
In the Mood for Love (Kar Wai Wong, 2000) 9/10
Top Hat (Mark Sandrich, 1935) 9/10
The Gay Divorcee (Mark Sandrich, 1934) 10/10
Maurice (James Ivory, 1986) 9/10
My Man Godfrey (Gregory La Cava, 1936) 8/10
The Beast Must Die (Paul Annett, 1974) 3/10
Dracula's Daughter (Lambert Hillyer, 1936) 8/10
Dracula AD 1972 (Alan Gibson, 1972) 6/10
Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror (Roy William Neill, 1942) 8/10
Magnolia (PT Anderson, 1999) 10/10
Rio Bravo (Howard Hawks, 1959) 8/10
The Mummy's Shroud (John Gilling, 1968) 6/10
Sugar (John Palmer, 2004) 7/10
The Fog (Rupert Wainwright, 2005) 4/10
Happiness (Todd Solondz, 1998) 6/10
Mystery of the Wax Museum (Michael Curtiz, 1933) 8/10
Whisky Galore! (Alexander Mackendrick, 1949) 8/10
Mon oncle (Jacques Tati, 1958) 10/10
Cours du soir (Nicolas Ribowski, 1967) 7/10
Hot Fuzz (Edgar Wright, 2007) 8/10
Straight on Till Morning (Peter Collinson, 1972) 7/10
Good Morning (Yasujiro Ozu, 1959) 8/10
Twins of Evil (John Hough, 1971) 8/10
Asylum (Roy Ward Baker, 1971) 7/10
Le souffle au coeur (Louis Malle, 1971) 8/10
Fear in the Night (Jimmy Sangster, 1972) 4/10
The Horror of Frankenstein (Jimmy Sangster, 1970) 4/10
Repulsion (Roman Polanski, 1965) 8/10
The Revenge of Frankenstein (Terence Fisher, 1958) 8/10
The Nanny (Seth Holt, 1965) 8/10
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Alfred L Werker, 1939) 9/10
The Phantom of the Opera (Terence Fisher, 1962) 7/10
Le cercle rouge (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1970) 8/10
Our Man in Havana (Carol Reed, 1959) 8/10
Stand by Me (Rob Reiner, 1986) 8/10
Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (Robert Aldrich, 1962) 9/10
Quatermass and the Pit (Roy Ward Baker, 1967) 8/10
Dracula, Prince of Darkness (Terence Fisher, 1965) 8/10
King Rat (Bryan Forbes, 1965) 8/10
Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (Jacques Demy, 1964) 8/10
The End of the Affair (Edward Dmytryk, 1955) 8/10
Dead Poets Society (Peter Weir, 1987). 9/10
Shortbus (John Cameron Mitchell, 2006) 8/10
The Wizard of Oz (Victor Fleming, King Vidor, 1939) 10/10
Tirez sur le pianiste (Francois Truffaut, 1960) 8/10
The Maltese Falcon (John Huston, 1941) 9/10

Johnson's Film Log (2007)

2007-04-22T00:00:00.000+01:00

theatrical releases:

The Fountain (Darren Aronofsky) B-
Hot Fuzz (Edgar Wright) B
The Science of Sleep (Michel Gondry) D
INLAND EMPIRE (David Lynch) C
Sunshine (Danny Boyle) C
The Lives of Others (Florian Von Donnersmarck) B

INLAND EMPIRE (2006)

2007-03-18T11:54:00.000Z

Saw INLAND EMPIRE yesterday afternoon at the Cameo. It's David Lynch's first feature to be shot on Digital Video and it incorporates ideas and material from Lynch's own website. Laura Dern, who's also co-producing, plays wealthy actress Nikki Grace who is warned by her Polish neighbour (Grace Zabriskie) that someone will be murdered if she accepts the part in the film On High in Blue Tomorrows that she has been auditioning for. Nikki goes on to star in the picture which transpires to be a remake of an earlier film that had to be shelved after the murder of its two leads, and the curse of that abandoned film begins to exert its influence on Nikki's life.

At this point, INLAND EMPIRE forsakes any semblance of a traditional plot driven framework and narrative coherence in a straightforward sense and delves deep into a fragmented and abstracted tale in which Lynch deftly blurs the lines between past, present and future, reality, dream and the subconscious seemingly to an even greater extent than in any of his other films. Characters take on multiple identities and move back and forth from one reality/narrative to the next to dizzying effect but other than the stylistic differences, INLAND EMPIRE also seems to depart from the thematically related, cyclic narratives in Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive. Where Lost Highway in particular works as the filmic equivalent of a Moebius strip, INLAND EMPIRE achieves proper closure and, surprisingly so, on a joyous and upbeat note.

The film's look has been something of a minor controversy: Lynch shot the picture on an outdated video camera and although having read enough about the film beforehand to anticipate and brace myself for the downgraded look of DV, it was still a bit of a shock to see the sumptuous images and saturated colours (Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive especially are ravishingly beautiful) that made Lynch's films to date such a feast for the eyes replaced by the murky and unrefined visuals on display here. That said, there are two points to make. Lynch has been so unequivocal about his love for digital video and his horror at the prospect of shooting on film again that we ought to be pragmatic and accept that while his films may never look as good again, we get in return an immediacy that in the long term may prove to enrich his work more than some care to admit right now.

Yes, INLAND EMPIRE looks dreary and ugly in comparison but then Lynch's films have also always been about finding the beauty in ugliness, in the same way that the image of the razorblade cut through the eyeball in Un Chien Andalou is morbidly beautiful. Beyond that, and more crucially, it intensifies mood and tone in INLAND EMPIRE more than it might have ever done on film: the close-ups of Laura Dern and Grace Zabriskie are often disconcertingly huge, lending the film even greater intimacy, while the loss of eyecandy meant, to me personally anyway, I felt less at a distance from the film once I'd gotten used to the changes. Since the image is so stripped down to the essentials, it felt more real and tangible and as a result even creepier, and in its best moments, INLAND EMPIRE is absolutely terrifying. The film's coda is easily among the scariest and most freakish moments not just in Lynch's but anybody's work and together with The Fountain's Garden of Eden sequence an early frontrunner for the best scene of the year.

And yet, while the move to digital seems to enrich Lynch's work in unexpected ways and, if INLAND EMPIRE is anything to go by, has the potential to express his obsessions and concerns even more accurately and truthfully, the freedom and greater flexibility that DV has afforded Lynch can also make him prone to self-indulgence. At just short of three hours, INLAND EMPIRE feels inordinately long: it comes to a stuttering halt as frequently as it captivates, for every moment of sheer brilliance, there are, I hate to say, stretches where it left me rather indifferent, impatient even. As with his other films, it's so rich in details, clues and ambiguities that multiple viewings are essential to make the puzzle fall into place (though Lynch's films are so intricate as to always defy complete rationalisation and one common reading) but while I was able to make enough sense of it to interpret it in a way that seemed logical to me, I find INLAND EMPIRE too undisciplined and not compelling enough as a whole to wanting to see it again, at least anytime soon.

Addendum: totally confused by Lynch's latest mindfuck and dying to have a rational explanation for it? here's a good starting point. (beware: major spoilers)

C

Clint Eastwood interview

2007-02-25T12:57:00.000Z

Today's Observer runs an interview with Clint Eastwood (whose new film Letters from Iwo Jima is out now; I'll be seeing it next week) and the online transcript of it is here.

My week in film...

2007-02-21T12:45:00.000Z

My journey into new Hammer horrors continues apace. Twins of Evil (1971) was an absolute delight, and showed me that I have underestimated Hammer's 1970s output. The photography was wonderful (cinematographer Dick Bush), and new director John Hough showed he could match the gothic atmosphere of the Studio's best work. It was certainly the finest of Hammer's Karnstein trilogy, a series based on the horror stories of Sheridan le Fanu, which opened splendidly with The Vampire Lovers (1970), plummeted severely with the dire Lust for a Vampire in 1971, and ended with this riveting and smartly crafted tale. Peter Cushing inspires both hatred in the early stages and sympathy later on: Despite his puritanical villainy, he seems to crumble before his wife, played by Kathleen Byron (of Powell and Pressburger's Black Narcissus).

Straight on Till Morning was made by Hammer in 1972, back-to-back with Fear in the Night. The director was the fairly unremarkable Peter Collinson, whose biggest hit was the uneven-if-entertaining The Italian Job in 1969. This is a far more interesting film than its pedestrian sister, however. There are no by-now-tired Sangsterian twists to elicit groans, but instead a fascinating pair of characters in Peter and Wendy, played by Shane Briant and Rita Tushingham. The film was slow in spots, but it had a pathos to it that doubtless will draw me back to it.

Johnson and I had a cinema trip on Saturday to see the very funny Hot Fuzz (Edgar Wright, 2007). In the post-Love Actually era, this kind of film gives me hope that the British comedy film is not destined to sink into a Richard-Curtis quagmire of triteness and manipulation. Not only was it funny, but it had a satirical edge that delivered a timely FU to the Daily Mail readers of Britain.

I also took in my first film by Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu, one of his more accessible films, a light comedy called Good Morning (1959). It was an amiable look at Japanese culture and family in the 1950s, and seemed to display many of the director's trademark habits, including the ubiquitous framing of shots through doorways and between pillars.

Also managed to catch Jacques Tati's Mon Oncle (1958) for the first time in several years, and it hasn't lost its brilliance a bit. So witty and insightful, with the clash of old and new, the worlds of Tati and his rich relatives, so deftly and charmingly realized in a uniquely cinematic way. I was torn between a 9 and 10 for the rating, with only the length (almost 2 hours) swaying me back towards a 9. I settled on a 10, however, because the film simply delights me.

And finally, I watched Todd Solondz's Happiness (1998). First off, I should say I have no problem with controversial issues being handled through humour. As far as I am concerned, nothing is sacred, and there is no topic that is off-limits for humour. I say that because Happiness is a very dark comedy that addresses very serious issues, namely paedophilia and child molestation. But I don't have a problem with that. My problem is that Solondz's film is so damned cynical. I couldn't detect anything redemptive in it. The film holds out no hope for its pathetic characters; I felt like I was simply being invited to sneer at them. And I really dislike movies with that kind of sensibility. It reminded me of Woody Allen's unpleasant 1995 comedy Deconstructing Harry: witty and impressive, but lacking in humanity, and displaying a positively cruel streak. I love irony and cynicism in films, but I think it must be tempered by humanity. I'm willing to concede I just didn't get Solondz: If that's the case, convince me.

Edgar Wright & Simon Pegg on Hot Fuzz

2007-02-15T17:47:00.000Z

Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg talked last night at the NFT about their new film Hot Fuzz. There are only very mild spoilers and it's a nice appetitiser for the film.

Jodorowsky, Lynch, Bunuel, British war films and other news

2007-02-13T19:16:00.000Z

Plenty of news and stuff to link you to so without further ado:

David Lynch (Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks, Wild at Heart) talked to Mark Kermode about his new film INLAND EMPIRE (to open in Britain in early March) at the NFT earlier this week.

Guillermo Del Toro is considering a new version of Tarzan as one of his next projects after Hellboy 2 and his Lovecraft adaptation At the Mountains of Madness, and he had this to say: "The idea is to try to do a version unlike any other, in the sense that Tarzan's formative years, growing through the jungle, are incredibly tough and brutal. There's always this idyllic sense of the jungle being like a Disney set and I want to portray how this guy becomes the toughest animal in the jungle".

Tartan are going to release two films by Alejandro Jodorowsky, El Topo and The Holy Mountain, individually and as a 6-disc set coupled with his debut Fando & Lis on the 14th of May.

The next two releases from Masters of Cinema will be Claude Lanzmann's 9 hour documentary, Shoah, about the holocaust in a director's approved boxset with a 185-page booklet on the 19th of February, and Orson Welles' F for Fake (will be interesting to see how the latter shapes up against the Criterion version).

Beaver have a comparison of all available DVDs of Bunuel's Belle De Jour (new Optimum R2 vs old Warner R2 vs old Miramax R1 vs old RusCico R0).

For Nicholas Roeg fans: Beaver has a review of his 1970 film Performance (new Warner R1, the R2 disc follows on the 5th of March); DVDTimes review The Man Who Fell To Earth, and Network have announced Region 2 releases for April of Bad Timing (a Region 1 DVD from Criterion is already available) and Insignificance.

Finally, a selection of reviews of Optimum's new discs for the following British war classics (sad to note that Optimum seem to have undertaken no effort whatsoever to present these films in a decent video transfer: all films score a disappointing 5 out of 10 for image. Given that the same applies to their Ealing reissues, we feel that Optimum could and should do better than that):

Ice Cold in Alex
The Colditz Story
The Dam Busters
The Cruel Sea

Two mediocre Hammer horrors: The Horror of Frankenstein (1970); Fear in the Night (1972)

2007-02-12T11:11:00.000Z

I am anal when it comes to Hammer Studios; as far as my DVD collection is concerned, I am a completist. And so I added a handful to the list, including two later Hammers, both directed by Jimmy Sangster.

Jimmy Sangster was a talented writer and producer. He scripted several of the early Hammer gothics, including the fabulous Dracula in 1958, perhaps the finest of all the Studio's productions. He scripted and produced The Nanny in 1965, another example of Hammer's very high standards. In the 1970s, however, he turned his hand to direction, with decidedly poor results. The abysmal Lust for a Vampire (1970) is best forgotten.

The Horror of Frankenstein (1970) is The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) revamped as a camp black comedy. God help us. As critic David Pirie noted in 1973, the chief problem is that the original Frankenstein film (and the ensuing series) was already replete with irony; Sangster's heavy-handed attempt to make the humour overt completely misses the point, taking away the most splendid and brilliant element of the original films. The jokes fall flat. Despite being photographed by the talented Arthur Grant, it has nothing of the usual Hammer atmosphere. Malcolm Williamson's score is as lumbering and soulless as David Prowse's Creature.

Fear in the Night (1972) is more interesting in that it does have at least two effective sequences, namely the genuinely haunting bookends. The 80 minutes inbetween is sorely lacking in suspense and interest, however. The first half is excruciatingly dull, mainly consisting of banal dialogue between Ralph Bates and Judy Geeson. The presence of Peter Cushing comes as a huge relief, but he is given very little screen time. The second half picks up pace, but is mainly silly and predictable. It was obviously very cheaply made, as only four characters carry the majority of the movie; two carry the first half virtually on their own.

My ratings?

The Horror of Frankenstein 4/10
Fear in the Night 4/10

Where did all the great movies go?

2007-02-10T12:11:00.000Z

In The Guardian, Matthew Sweet reminisces fondly about the days when British terrestrial TV showed movie classics. He builds up a good case, demonstrating that the big networks just don't bother with old movies these days.

Twenty years ago this month, the film preview pages of the TV Times and Radio Times looked like a handout from the film studies department of the University of Sussex. ... On Saturday nights, the channel continued its stately progress through the entire canon of pre-Hammer horror pictures: the complete works of Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff, Carl Dreyer's Vampyr, pervy monochrome Hollywood oddities starring Lionel Atwill and George Zucco. And Sunday nights were devoted to satisfying students of British cinema in the 1960s: Poor Cow, Up the Junction, Petulia, The Knack ... and How to Get It, Alfie, Georgy Girl, Charlie Bubbles.

Ah, yes. I remember both those seasons well. It was in that '60s season that my lifelong obsession with Billy Liar (1963) began. And my horror obsession had its roots in Channel Four's late-night black-and-white movies. At the beginning of every week, I'd go through the Radio Times (or both the Radio Times and TV Times back when you had to buy two every week!) and circle the films I was going to watch. Why bother in these cinematically deprived days?

Full article here.

Links of the Day

2007-02-10T10:53:00.000Z

Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) talks to Sandra Hebron of the NFT about his new film Science of Sleep (opening next Friday) and his collaborations with Charlie Kaufman.

Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead, Spaced) argues in the Guardian that British and American humour have more in common than we like to think (the trailers for Hot Fuzz are excellent).

Links of the Day

2007-02-08T17:34:00.000Z

Beaver's latest additions:

a comparison of Powell and Pressburger's 49th Parallel (new R1 Criterion vs new R2 Warner France vs. old R2 Carlton UK)

a review of Mikio Naruse's When A Woman Ascends The Stairs (new R1 Criterion)

Links of the Day

2007-02-07T23:29:00.000Z

Beaver has new comparisons onsite:

the Italian classic Bicycle Thieves (new Criterion R1 vs Arrow Films R2)

the British New Wave entry The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (new Warner R1 vs BFI R2)

and one of the earliest anti-war films, All Quiet on the Western Front (old Universal R1 vs old Universal R1/2)

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939)

2007-02-06T17:37:00.000Z

This was the second and last of Twentieth Century Fox's Sherlock Holmes movies. The Hound of the Baskervilles the previous year was an entertaining yarn, but had too much of a glossy, Hollywoodish veneer, and was otherwise quite conventionally executed. I was delighted to see that this second film makes up for everything its forerunner lacked. It has all the ingredients of the perfect Holmes adventure.

It is based (apparently very loosely) on William Gillette's famous stage play, which pits the sleuth against Professor Moriarty. George Zucco, a stalwart of horror films in this era, is the Professor, and Basil Rathbone is of course Holmes himself. Nigel Bruce is endearing as Watson, and never lapses into blatant caricature, despite being the first actor to portray Watson as rather oafish and clumsy - "an incorrigible bungler", as Holmes tells him affectionately. He even gets one over on his detective friend at the end of the film, declaring triumphantly, "Elementary, my dear Holmes, elementary"!

Victorian London is portrayed with splendid gothic flourishes worthy of Universal, aglow with streetlamps, wrapped in fog and full of dark corners and shadows; the atmosphere is due in no small part to the work of cinematographer Leon Shamroy.

It's jolly exciting and pacey, as a Holmes thriller should be, and is executed with great style. I especially enjoyed the opening scenes contrasting Moriarty in his study and Holmes in his; the former moving creepily among his plants while a lone flautist plays mysteriously in the background, the latter playfully experimenting with fruit flies while plucking out staccato rhythms on the violin.

My rating? 9/10

The Nanny (1965)

2007-02-05T22:00:00.000Z

Ten-year-old Joey Fane returns to his London home, two years after being sent to an institution following his younger sister's death, for which he was blamed. He refuses to get on with Nanny, however, whom he believes killed his sister and may try to poison him. Tensions come to a head when Joey is left in Nanny's care overnight. Who are we to trust - the nanny or the boy?

This has been a lifelong favourite for me, and it was exciting to view it in its original widescreen for the first time. In the Hammer horror canon, it tends to be underrated, or at best liked, but rarely discussed in detail. This is a shame, since it is one of the Studio's most refined and delicately crafted of the sixties. Seth Holt, a one-time editor who counted Ealing's The Ladykillers and Karel Riesz's Saturday Night and Sunday Morning among his credits, directed his second psychological thriller for Hammer, the first being A Taste of Fear in 1961. Holt was to direct only once again for the company: 1971's Blood from the Mummy's Tomb, which he failed to complete due to his unexpected death (Studio chief Michael Carreras finished the film in his place).

The source for Jimmy Sangster's screenplay was the novel of the same name by Evelyn Piper, who also penned Bunny Lake Went Missing, adapted for the screen by Otto Preminger in the same year. Bette Davis was imported to take the title role, and although Holt apparently thought she overacted, in fact she delivers a remarkably restrained and suitably sinister performance. She could very easily have mimicked her outrageously camp performance from Whatever Happened to Baby Jane (1962), the film which undoubtedly made her prime fodder for studios like Hammer, but she is subtle in the role at the right times. On this viewing, I even felt a good deal of sympathy for her.

There's solid support from James Villiers and Wendy Craig as Joey's parents, and Jill Bennett is likeable as the droll Aunt Penny, even if she is the most guilty of overacting. Top honours must go to the young William Dix, seen two years later alongside Rex Harrison in Doctor Dolittle, whose age does not seem to hinder his ability to give a relatively understated performance.

Between Holt and cinematographer Harry Waxman, the film is striking visually. The apartment setting is filmed from all kinds of angles, progressively unconventional as the film goes on. There's a definite noir element to the low-angle photography.

The Nanny is now available on R2 DVD from Optimum, priced £9.99 on average. It comes with a commentary featuring Hammer stalwart Jimmy Sangster, continuity girl Renee Glynne and Hammer authority Marcus Hearn.

My rating? 8/10

Mia Farrow interview and DVD news/review links

2007-02-05T18:48:00.000Z

Mia Farrow (Rosemary's Baby, Hannah and her Sisters) is interviewed in today's Guardian here.

Last autumn, I wrote favourably about Jet Li's Fearless but pointed out that the Western release had footage from the original Asian cut missing. This appears to have been reinstated for a new Region 3 release on sale over yesasia, and it's been reviewed by DVDTimes' John White here.

Changes to our ratings system

2007-01-29T19:39:00.000Z

You might have noticed that instead of the usual star rating I gave a grade to The Fountain in my latest review. I have decided to change over to a grade system to rate films since I find it more flexible and precise. Besides, everyone uses star ratings these days and those who know me well know that I like to do things differently from everybody else (Dave (Burns) is also going to change over to a new rating system but will use the 0-10 scale (like on imdb) instead).

A = brilliant
B = good
C = fair
D = average
E = poor
F = deplorable

("+" and "-" ratings reflect the high- and low-end scales within each category, so a "B+" film equals a "very good" rating)

The Fountain (2006)

2007-01-28T21:24:00.000Z

It’s not often that I go to see a film more than once theatrically, if only for the reason that I try to see as much as I can each year and to cover as many films as possible for this blog. But The Fountain provoked such an intense gut response from me that I kept going back to it in my mind, and eventually I found myself in the cinema again on Saturday afternoon to lose myself in the film once more and to digest what I had seen the day before.

The Fountain is a labour of love for Aronofsky brought to fruition after a troubled gestation over several years, a picture so openly, nakedly personal that it leaves itself vulnerable to derision and scathing criticism. Indeed, chances are that what you may have read about The Fountain is that it is preposterous and plainly terrible: the picture’s approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes which garners all available print and internet reviews in the US is at 50 % split down the middle while British critics have variously called it “the greatest auteur folly since Lady in the Water”, “narcissistic and flimsy” and “confused”. What frustrates me about the mixed-to-negative reception is that many critics seem to have taken the easy route of dismissing the film with a derisive blurb, foregoing any proper discussion.

One constantly reads that the film is supposedly incoherent and doesn’t make a lick of sense but the truth is that it really isn’t that hard to follow if you are prepared to actively participate in a conversation with it. Equally, the notion that the film is confused about its own purposes strikes me as a lazy and easily-dismissed charge: it is open to various interpretations as any good art should be but they do not conceal or complicate the central themes that Aronofsky wants to impart in The Fountain. Nobody, even the film’s most ardent admirers and defenders, is going to argue that it isn’t without shortcomings (some of them serious, some of them coming down, I think, to individual taste), but only a few detractors seem to have tried to engage with the film properly (for critical but balanced assessments, look no further than Michael Wilmington’s take in the Chicago Tribune and Matt Zoller-Seitz’ blog review). Apart from my own review, you’ll also find praise in thoughtful and eloquently articulated pieces by Slant’s Nick Schager and Walter Chaw from FilmfreakCentral.

Spanning three centuries and intertwining as many storylines set in the past, present and the future, The Fountain tells the story of three characters (all played by Hugh Jackman) on a quest to gain immortality. In the Age of Discovery, Conquistador Tomas is sent by Isabel, Queen of Spain, whom he loves, into the country of the Mayans to find the Fountain of Youth, i.e. the Tree of Life so that Isabel can repel the challenge of the Inquisition. In present-time America, neurologist Tommy Creo is conducting experimental surgery on monkeys with samples taken from a Central American tree to find a cure for his cancer-stricken wife Izzi before she dies. In the 26^th century, Tom, a shaven-headed astronaut travels in a bubble spaceship which also houses the Tree of Life to the nebula of the dying star Xibalba in the hope to be reunited with his dead wife.

Part science fiction, philosophy, adventure, fantasy and melodrama, The Fountain ambitiously tackles grand themes of life in the face of death and mankind’s desire (and folly) to overcome mortality. On its basest level, however, the film is about love. It deals with and celebrates true love between two human beings, a love that goes so deep that it defies boundaries, love that lasts a lifetime and beyond, love that transcends death. It articulates a strong-held, romantic belief in genuine faith and devotion in a relationship. One reason for my strong response to The Fountain is that I share its belief in values that today often seem to be dismissed and compromised. The film presents and upholds these beliefs with a sincerity and austerity that although it can sometimes stifle the picture, I find uplifting and very refreshing. This is not merely because the film mirrors my own beliefs but also since, as a gay man, I sometimes feel like being in a minority within the minority when the idea of real commitment is so often dismissed out of hand (I wouldn’t advocate nor do I believe in commitment merely for the sake of it but I am romantically inclined and I don’t agree that companionable love and dedication is impossible or not desirable).

I think it essentially boils down to this: you get from The Fountain what you bring or are prepared to bring to it and what you take from it depends on how you choose to respond to the way the film communicates its messages. Anyone with a cynical disposition is bound to have a terrible time with it and it may well be too much even for some of those who are willing to accept the film for what it is. It walks a fine line between the sublime and the ridiculous and occasionally it becomes both at once. How Aronofsky visualises Tom’s space travel is a case in point: picture a bald Hugh Jackman in pyjamas floating in a bubble through space in the lotus position and then imagine him practicing Yoga in silhouette, and you get a good idea of how The Fountain tests its audience’s readiness to go along with whatever the film throws their way.

As it happens, the space travel has been the most ridiculed aspect of the film, yet ironically it’s arguably the most complex narrative as it invites not only a metaphorical but also a literal reading (even if that is not clear until the film’s closing scene), and the images that Aronofsky has come up with here are absolutely stunning (the effects were almost exclusively achieved by using micro-photography of chemical reactions and look and feel very organic). I also find it to be the most moving part of the film, irrespective of how sentimental (and yet sincere) the conclusion is. Whether you choose to read it as a metaphor for how Tommy handles or struggles to handle Izzi’s fate, or as a literal continuation of the present story in which Tom seeks to be reunited with his wife, the journey to Xibalba is powerful and intensely moving in that it shows to what lengths a man can go in an act of love. It made me think of the final scene in Don’t Look Now where the smile on Julie Christie’s face movingly proves how love lasts beyond the event of death. There’s another aspect to the 26^th century scenes that stood out for me, an otherworldly mood and surrealist quality that I found somehow comforting and soothing: the dreamlike visuals and the subtle use of silence with sporadic sounds and music works to great effect. Clint Mansell’s score, performed by the Kronos Quartett and the Scottish rock band Mogwai, is exceptional and by my reckoning one of the few film soundtracks that removed from its original context is likely to stand on its own.

A few words about the narrative set in the present which concerns Tommy’s race against time to find a cure for Izzi’s tumour: it’s the centerpiece of the film that informs and drives the other two storylines, being as they are manifestations of Izzi and Tommy’s mind. Aronofsky establishes clear parallels both in the images (consider the dissolve from the tree to Izzi’s leg etc) and in content, and repetitions of shots and dialogue lines give further clues so that the connection between the three narratives is by no means as nebulous as some critics have implied. Still, this part of the film is missing an human element which is all the more damning considering that The Fountain is meant to be about the driving force of emotion. Tom and Izzi feel less like human characters than a concept of a person which matters less with Tom if only Hugh Jackman’s terrific performance imbues the character with some recognisably human traits, but Izzi feels too much like a mouthpiece to convey the film's ideas through.

It’s in those scenes where the film’s didactic slant is most noticable and, frankly, alienating. Didacticism can work as it does in some of Kurosawa’s later films like RAN (from Ikiru, Aronofsky burrows the trick of temporarily muffling the sound to show how Tommy has closed his mind off to his surroundings) but generally speaking, abstract cinema of ideas holds little to no appeal to me. I feel that films should captivate us with a good yarn first and let us discover the meaning beneath it second, as, for example, Hitchcock’s films allow us to. I find films that have artistic concerns but announce and present themselves explicitly as art intolerably pretentious and self-absorbed which explains my intense dislike for Peter Greenaway and some of Godard’s films. The Fountain can feel as distancing itself though Jackman’s performance is so passionate and heartfelt that it makes Tommy’s love for Izzi and his despair and grief tangible. Jackman’s acting transcends the film’s clinical detachment for me but that may not hold true for others.

I have read people arguing that Weisz’ character displaces her fear by writing her novel about conquistador Tomas but I don’t really see this reflected in Tomas’ story. It reflects how she sees Tommy (I have the theory that this can also apply to the missing chapter which Tommy eventually writes though the film is ambiguous enough to allow us to equally read it simply as Tommy’s version) but it adds nothing to her character. The present-day narrative feels compromised, Izzi’s fight with cancer too clean and dignified but an extended cut on DVD might give this middle section greater emotional depth and conviction.

It’s interesting to note that Andrew Sarris of the New York Observer felt that the film’s “outlook on life remains too constantly pessimistic (…) and too completely joyless”. What the film is trying to say (made clear at the end of each of the three narratives when Tom as his past, present and future self comes to accept the futility of defeating death and finds redemption in the process) is that death is an intrinsic part of life, making every moment of our lives so precious that we cannot afford to squander it. Couple that with the film’s unwavering belief in love as our means to sustain ourselves and each other, I found the picture invigorating and life-affirming. Even when it falters, The Fountain is a film of singular beauty that stimulates and lingers in the mind.

B-

Burns's 2006-7 Film Log

2007-01-28T03:59:00.000Z

Burns's ratings system

* * * * * Brilliant
* * * * * Very good
* * * * * Good
* * * * * So-so
* * * * * Poor

Our Man in Havana (1959). * * * * *
Stand by Me (1986). * * * * *
Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962). * * * * *
Quatermass and the Pit (1967). * * * * *
Dracula, Prince of Darkness (1965). * * * * *
Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (1964). * * * * *
The End of the Affair (1955). * * * * *
Dead Poets Society (1987). * * * * *
Shortbus (2006). * * * * *
The Wizard of Oz (1939). * * * * *
Tirez sur le pianiste (1960). * * * * *
The Maltese Falcon (1941). * * * * *
City Lights (1931). * * * * *
The Wild Bunch (1969). * * * * *
Au revoir, les enfants (1987). * * * * *
Young Frankenstein (1971). * * * * *
The Bespoke Overcoat (1956). * * * * *
Scarface (1932). * * * * *
The Squid and the Whale (2006). * * * * *
Everyone Says I Love You (1997). * * * * *
The Hound of the Baskervilles (1938). * * * * *
Great Expectations (1946). * * * * *
Bell, Book and Candle (1958). * * * * *
The Searchers (1956). * * * * *
Swiss Family Robinson (1959). * * * * *
Georgy Girl (1966). * * * * *
Vera Cruz (1954). * * * * *
Shane (1953). * * * * *
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1953). * * * * *
In the Mood for Love (2000). * * * * *
Swing Time (1936). * * * * *
The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957). * * * * *
I Heart Huckabees (2004). * * * * *
Scrooge (1951). * * * * *
Gremlins (1984). * * * * *
Bend of the River (1952). * * * * *
Jules et Jim (1962). * * * * *
Scrooge (1970). * * * * *
The Ox-Bow Incident (1943). * * * * *
Ninotchka (1939). * * * * *
The Grapes of Wrath (1940). * * * * *
Secrets and Lies (1996). * * * * *
Four Sided Triangle (1952). * * * * *
The Browning Version (1951). * * * * *
Pygmalion (1938). * * * * *
The Man from Laramie (1955). * * * * *
My Darling Clementine (1946). * * * * *
Stolen Face (1952). * * * * *
Johnny Guitar (1954). * * * * *
Across the Bridge (1958). * * * * *
The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb (1965). * * * * *
Take the Money and Run (1969). * * * * *
Dracula (1979). * * * * *
Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968). * * * * *
Green for Danger (1946). * * * * *
London Belongs to Me (1947). * * * * *
The Heart of the Matter (1953). * * * * *
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006). * * * * *
Marty (1955). * * * * *
The Band Wagon (1953). * * * * *
To Be or Not to Be (1942). * * * * *
The Conversation (1974). * * * * *
Dracula (1958). * * * * *
The Dreamers (2003). * * * * *
The Dirty Dozen (1968). * * * * *
The Fallen Idol (1948). * * * * *
The Devil Rides Out (1967). * * * * *
Mysterious Island (1962). * * * * *
Gunfight at the OK Corral (1957). * * * * *
The History Boys (2006). * * * * *
The Abominable Snowman (1957). * * * * *
Fanatic aka Die! Die! My Darling! (1965). * * * * *
Night of the Big Heat (1967). * * * * *
Odd Man Out (1947). * * * * *
Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace (1962). * * * * *
Juggernaut (1974). * * * * *
Wait Until Dark (1967). * * * * *
The Old Dark House (1932). * * * * *
The Swimmer (1968). * * * * *
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1941). * * * * *
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1932). * * * * *
Revenge of Frankenstein (1958). * * * * *
Circus of Horrors (1960). * * * * *
The Reptile (1966). * * * * *
Domiciles Conjugales (aka Bed and Board, 1970). * * * * *
Room at the Top (1959). * * * * *
The Entertainer (1960). * * * * *
The Face of Fu Manchu (1965). * * * * *
A Study in Terror (1965). * * * * *
The Witches (1966). * * * * *
Another Thin Man (1939). * * * * *
After the Thin Man (1936). * * * * *
Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948). * * * * *
The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961). * * * * *
The Haunting (1963). * * * * *
The 39 Steps (1959). * * * * *
Curse of the Fly (1965). * * * * *
Captain Clegg (aka Night Creatures, 1962). * * * * *
The Brides of Dracula (1960). * * * * *
The Hound of the Baskervilles (1958). * * * * *
The Thin Man (1934). * * * * *
The Invisible Man (1933). * * * * *
The Innocents (1961). * * * * *
Pillow Talk (1959). * * * * *
Les vacances de Mr. Hulot (1958). * * * * *
Partie de campagne (1936). * * * * *
The Harder They Fall (1956). * * * * *
Baisers Voles (aka Stolen Kisses, 1966). * * * * *
Antoine et Colette (1962). * * * * *
Sideways (2004). * * * * *
Ordinary People (1980). * * * * *
Masculin feminin (1966). * * * * *
Les Diaboliques (1955). * * * * *
As Good as It Gets (1997). * * * * *
Presque Rien (2000). * * * * *
9 Songs (2004). * * * * *
Grand Canyon (1991). * * * * *
Dracula (aka Horror of Dracula, 1958). * * * * *
Maurice (1987). * * * * *
Night of the Big Heat (1966). * * * * *
Quatermass and the Pit (1967). * * * * *
Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001). * * * * *
Edge of Seventeen (1998). * * * * *
Manhattan (1979). * * * * *
She (1965). * * * * *
Hands of the Ripper (1971). * * * * *
The Da Vinci Code (2006). * * * * *
Torture Garden (1966). * * * * *

Oscar nominations are in

2007-01-23T22:38:00.000Z

Without further ado, here are the most relevant nominations for the 2007 Academy Awards:

Best picture
Babel
The Departed
Letters From Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen

Best actor
Leonardo DiCaprio, Blood Diamond
Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson
Peter O'Toole, Venus
Will Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness
Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland

Best actress
Penelope Cruz, Volver
Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal
Helen Mirren, The Queen
Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada
Kate Winslet, Little Children

Best supporting actor
Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine
Jackie Earle Haley, Little Children
Djimon Hounsou, Blood Diamond
Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls
Mark Wahlberg, The Departed

Best supporting actress
Adriana Barraza, Babel
Cate Blanchett, Notes on a Scandal
Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine
Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls
Rinko Kikuchi, Babel

Best directing
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Babel
Martin Scorsese, The Departed
Clint Eastwood, Letters From Iwo Jima
Stephen Frears, The Queen
Paul Greengrass, United 93

Best foreign language film
After the Wedding, Denmark
Days of Glory (Indigenes), Algeria
The Lives of Others, Germany
Pan's Labyrinth, Mexico
Water, Canada

Best adapted screenplay
Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Peter Baynham, Dan Mazer and Todd Phillips, Borat Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
Alfonso Cuaron, Timothy J Sexton, David Arata, Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, Children of Men
William Monahan, The Departed
Todd Field and Tom Perrotta, Little Children
Patrick Marber, Notes on a Scandal

Best original screenplay
Guillermo Arriaga, Babel
Iris Yamashita and Paul Haggis, Letters From Iwo Jima
Michael Arndt, Little Miss Sunshine
Guillermo del Toro, Pan's Labyrinth
Peter Morgan, The Queen

Best animated feature film
Cars
Happy Feet
Monster House

Best art direction
Dreamgirls
The Good Shepherd
Pan's Labyrinth
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
The Prestige

Best cinematography
The Black Dahlia
Children of Men
The Illusionist
Pan's Labyrinth
The Prestige

Reminded me that I still have a few pictures to catch up with: Dreamgirls and Letters from Iwo Jima are still to be released here and I'm going to try to rent Little Miss Sunshine on DVD. The 2007 line-up strikes me as a better selection than recent years even if some choices are still baffling: Leo getting a nom for Blood Diamond instead of The Departed? Surprised too at the snub of Children of Men in the technical noms except the cinematography (pleased to see The Black Dahlia in there) and the lack of major nominations for Dreamgirls which I thought would carry some momentum over from its Golden Globe wins into the Oscars but it only ended up with Supporting Actor entries. The Best Director category stands out for me: Scorsese (who surely is going to win it this year? Even if The Departed is not among his best work, it still is a wonderfully entertaining film and a better choice to award him the Oscar for than either Gangs of New York and The Aviator), Greengrass (United 93), and Eastwood (not seen Letters yet but it got very good reviews).. The only suspicious name in the list seems to be Alejandro Innaritu (reactions to Babel are all over the place).

Best Picture? personally, I'd pick The Departed or Letters (The Queen will be recognised with a surely dead-cert win for Helen Mirren in the Best Actress category).. realistically though, I wouldn't be surprised if Little Miss Sunshine emerges as the big winner of the night.

Bunuel, Hitchcock and the Oscars

2007-01-22T10:02:00.000Z

The Guardian has a couple of interesting reads on its film website which I wanted to share with you: Peter Bradshaw appreciates Louis Bunuel's work on the blog, former Oscar nominees talk about their experiences at the Academy Awards and there's a review of a very promising-sounding book on Hitchcock and his collaboration with Bernard Herrmann and other composers.

DVD: The End of the Affair (1955)

2007-01-15T09:53:00.000Z

I was pleasantly surprised by the tone of this adaptation of the justly famous Graham Greene novel. I expected it to be heavily bowdlerized, but despite only ever hinting at sex, the film comes across as strikingly adult, and poignant in its treatment of the themes of adultery, love, jealousy and religion.

The story is fairly faithful to its source, with one major exception: The character of Father Richard Smythe, here called Father Crompton and played very well by Stephen Murray (London Belongs to Me, Four Sided Triangle) is divided into two characters, the other of whom is an atheist, played by Michael Goodliffe (633 Squadron, The Gorgon). It's not entirely clear why the writer (Lenore J Coffe) decided to do this; perhaps as a foil to Kerr's newfound faith, although it seems unnecessary.

Among the cast, Deborah Kerr, Peter Cushing and John Mills acquit themselves excellently. Van Johnson is the weakest link, the poor man's Sterling Hayden, but the performance is adequate rather than bad.

One of the strongest aspects of the film is the photography and lighting by Wilkie Cooper (later more famous for lensing a string of Ray Harryhausen fantasies). Benjamin Frankel's score starts off like a pastiche of Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 2, famously used in Brief Encounter a decade earlier, but settles down into a mostly unsentimental and often quite haunting style.

The London locations, including Hyde Park Corner and the elegant Chester Terrace (also the setting for Hammer's The Nanny, whose DVD release I look forward to immensely later this month), are a joy.

DVD

This is a first release for The End of the Affair on Region 2. It's a Sony release (originally a Columbia Picture), and it is the barest of barebones editions, without so much as a proper menu (see picture). It would have been nice to see a bit of an attempt to present the menu nicely.

To their credit, they have subtitled the film in both English and French, and (though not for me) dubbed it into several languages.

The print is very grainy, but the contrasts are great, serving the cinematography well.

Film: * * * * * (4/5)
DVD: * * * * * (3/5)

PS. If you enjoyed this one, check out Greene's The Heart of the Matter, also released for the first time last year.

The Wizard of Oz (1939) at the Liverpool Phil

2007-01-08T22:42:00.000Z

What a treat. Maestro John Wilson transcribed Harold Arlen's magnificent score and conducted it in a live performance with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra last night (with the accompanying film, of course).

On the downside, there were a few spots where it was really hard to get the acoustic balance right, and some of the dialogue was either muffled or insanely loud and tinny. Even this did not detract from the magic of the evening, however. It was a truly special occasion. The Philharmonic Hall was packed out (1500? 1800?), and watching other audience members in their fancy dress, I was half-wishing I'd donned pigtails and a pinafore and come as Dorothy Gale.

I really enjoyed the opening sepia sequence. Seeing the prologue on the big screen drew my attention for the first time to the beautiful, sweeping camerawork by cinematographer Harold Rosson, later to film Singin' in the Rain (1952), also for MGM. The subtler, less showy lensing of Somewhere over the Rainbow was perfect.

The film is a non-stop delight. Part of the magic for me was seeing how a film almost 70 years old still has a mesmerizing effect on children. Try getting the average kid to sit down and watch a film of which a third is in black-and-white. Just doesn't happen, and yet Oz still holds its power to enchant even today.

I highly recommend the 3-Disc Collector's Edition of the film (Region 1, Region 2). A fascinating set for devotees like myself.

My rating? * * * * * (5/5)

The Maltese Falcon SE (3-discs) (R1)

2007-01-07T13:03:00.000Z

Sat down Thursday afternoon to watch The Maltese Falcon (1941) which was reiussed by Warner in the US and Canada in a three-disc Special Edition last October. When I first saw the film more than ten years ago, I found myself more admiring than really liking it though I guess my indifference at the time had more to do with the fact that other films and genres held greater appeal to me.

As a bored teenager who sometimes wished that his life was more exciting, the work of David Lynch was like a tonic for me in those times: it began with seeing Twin Peaks on television and then Blue Velvet on video. I identified strongly with Lynch's admission that he yearned for something extraordinary to happen, like an accident, to escape from the almost unbearably perfect idyll of his own childhood. Lynch's cinema appealed to me most at that time since the dreamlike and surrealist qualities, the violence, the nightmares and the unflinching look into the deepest recesses of our psyche in Blue Velvet and Eraserhead represented to me everything extraordinary, daring and out of the norm whereas films like The Maltese Falcon represented classical Hollywood which then seemed too "conventional", and most particularly, too talky to me.

I recall distinctly how shocked and yet enthralled I was when I first saw Blue Velvet, especially during the extended scene in which Frank Booth goes on to rape Dorothy Vallens as Jeffrey, trapped in the cupboard, looks on. Seeing Blue Velvet gave me a curious sensation: on one hand I realised I was watching something special, a film perfect in its expression of the sensibility and concerns of Lynch as an artist. Yet I could also understand why the picture had provoked such outrage in 1986: it shocked me and I could see where those who were offended by the film and actively hated it came from even if ultimately I didn't share their feelings. Few films have equaled the pure thrill of that two-fold sensation of the elation of discovering a great film and being disturbed but also positively excited by the film's courage to go where few others dare to tread.

That was then. I don't mean to say that I've cooled on Lynch completely in the ten-to-fifteen years since I first saw The Maltese Falcon and then his films. I still think that Blue Velvet is a masterpiece and a key film of the 1980s. Eraserhead is the type of picture that genuinely deserves the much-abused label of a cult film. The Elephant Man is strong also but eventually, I feel, psychologically a bit one-dimensional in the way the writers insist on John Merrick's pure goodness.

But before I digress too much: the point is that Lynch's surrealism still appeals to me to some extent and I'd probably add one or two of his films to my collection but it's other directors, Ozu, Renoir, Melville, Hawks, who get all the love these days. Basically, I reverted back to preferring films from the 1930s to 1960s (loved early sound-era comedians like Laurel & Hardy and the Marx Brothers as a kid), especially 1950s Japanese cinema and Golden Age Hollywood. What I loved as a kid and then seemed unattractive in my teens now charms me again in my late twenties, and more so than ever. This brings us neatly back to The Maltese Falcon and I'm happy to say that the picture won me over second time round.

The Maltese Falcon was the debut of John Huston as director and he got the job after he impressed Warner with his input on screenplays as diverse as Jezebel (1938), High Sierra (1941) and Howard Hawks’ Sergeant York (1941) (by the way, is anyone else not convinced by this film? Compared to the likes of His Girl Friday, Bringing Up Baby and The Big Sleep, I find that York feels too much like the honourable but dull prestige picture; that and a terrible, terrible performance by Joan Leslie). A nice bit of trivia: Huston also contributed additional dialogue for Universal’s 1931 adaptation of the Poe whodunit The Murders in the Rue Morgue. His script for The Maltese Falcon is a master class in economic yet nuanced storytelling and there are many cracking lines (“Haven’t you tried to buy my loyalty with money and nothing else?” – “What else is there I can buy you with?”), the majority reportedly taken verbatim from Hammett’s novel.

The pic starts with San Francisco detectives Sam Spade and Miles Archer being enlisted by Brigid O’ Shaughnessy, who is using a pseudonym when she first meets Spade, to trace down her sister who is on the run with a man named Floyd Thursby. Spade and Archer agree to trail Thursby but then Archer and Thursby are found shot dead. As Spade has no alibi for the time when Thursby was killed, the police suspect him of Thursby’s murder. Shaughnessy confesses that she has made up the story about the sister gone missing but is reluctant to reveal more to Spade. Trailed by a shady man in trenchcoat, Spade continues his investigations and becomes involved with two men, Joel Cairo and Kasper Gutman, who are trying to locate a golden bird statuette, the Maltese Falcon.

Up until The Maltese Falcon, Bogart was a very solid performer who was often cast as a gangster or a man with connections to the underworld (his supporting turn in Michael Curtiz’ excellent Angels With Dirty Faces comes to mind) but this is the picture universally regarded as the one where he came into his own. He is the perfect casting for Sam Spade: he has seen enough to know how to read the game and his amused, knowing smile makes clear that he isn’t buying Shaughnessy’s half-calculating, half-desperate act. Bogart is excellent in the way he brings across the different shades of Spade’s personality: he can be playful when the situation calls for it, feigning anger at Gutman’s refusal to reveal the Falcon’s value and grinning with delight when his con pays off. But he is equally ruthless and capable of a cruel streak: consider the snarl and relish with which he lays into Wilmer and Lt Dundy. Spade’s determination, unwavering sense of loyalty towards his dead colleague but also his single-mindedness shine through in Bogart’s energetic turn. So does the genuine warmth and affection he shows for his secretary Ellie who is played with great conviction by Lee Patrick who has wonderful chemistry with Bogart.

From the supporting actress to the leading lady: I have to admit I’m in two minds about Mary Astor’s performance. It’s crucial not to confuse the flimsy acting of her character with the actress’s performance, a mistake a considerable number of people seem to be making when watching the film, and yet at the same time I find something lacking from Astor’s performance. I guess it strikes me as too inconsistent. At times, she is excellent. Think of the surprised and delighted smirk that lights up her face when she is seeing that Spade concocts a goofy story to prevent the policemen from questioning them both; think of how earlier in that sequence she viciously kicks out at Cairo. I find it’s in her final scene with Bogart where the melodramatic overacting of her character gets the better of Astor. It’s a difficult character to play and Astor does well for the most part but the rest of the cast is so consistently good that when she falters it is are all the more noticeable.

The Maltese Falcon was not just Huston’s directing debut, it was a first one too for Sidney Greenstreet, an English actor from Kent, who came to America in the 1930s and played in theatre, including Shakespeare, before he arrived in Hollywood. The then sixty-two-year old has an imposing presence in appearance and character (which supports hints that he dominates Wilmer and possibly Joel Cairo, too) and he delivers his often memorable lines with great relish: “I distrust a close-mouthed man. He generally picks the wrong time to talk and says the wrong things. Talking's something you can't do judiciously, unless you keep in practice”.

It was also his first of altogether nine pairings with Peter Lorre who plays Joel Cairo, Gutman’s partner in seeking out the Falcon. Cairo is an intriguing character, a camp gay man with pretensions. Lorre’s voice here sounds to me slightly more affected, higher pitched than usual and then there are the gestures and his reactions: first, the manner in which he holds his cane to his mouth almost as if he is licking it, then his concern over his appearance as he berates Spade and later Shaughnessy for the cuts in his face. Lorre’s performance is camp but not aggressively so, and his angry outburst in the finale is quite startling.

Cairo likes to present himself as a man whom you should underestimate at your peril but who is really quite a weakling. He is easily overpowered and intimidated which, come to think of it, makes him and Wilmer quite alike. When Spade twice hits Cairo hard in the face and tells him that “When you’re slapped you’ll like it and take it”, it really makes you wonder just how much of it is Spade exhibiting his cruel streak and asserting his superior strength over the other man, and how much of it is actually laying bare the truth, that Cairo is the submissive type. If Wilmer is easily cowed by the domineering father figure of Gutman, what does that suggest about the relationship between Gutman and Cairo? For a studio picture under the watchful eyes of the Hayes Code, the film is surprisingly sexually suggestive and explicitly gay. Then again, you only need to think of the double entendres between Bogie and Lauren Bacall in The Big Sleep to remind yourself of how the more astute directors managed to circumvent censorship.

The Maltese Falcon is a talkative film but unlike, for example, some of David Mamet's films it never feels stagy, partly because Huston's setup of shots isn’t theatrical like Mamet's (Gutham's imposing personality is emphasised by medium shots of Greenstreet from a low angle although Huston often shoots from the low angle throughout the film as if to suggest how easy it is to be overpowered by the corruption in this world). Also, Huston never lingers on a scene unnecessarily (this is not meant as a swipe at Mamet): transitions are handled with swift dissolves and wipe-cuts and the plot moves along at a high tempo, almost surprisingly so, given how dialogue-driven the film is. If there’s an aspect of the pic I didn’t warm to it’s Adolph Deutsch’s score which I found a bit overbearing but then it’s more or less representative of the film scores of the time.

* * * * * (out of five)

The film’s restoration looks highly impressive. Were it not for some slight damage in two scenes, this would be a perfect image but even so it still looks very strong for a film this old, with excellent contrast and sharpness for a standard DVD. It’s not quite reference material like the image for Casablanca and White Heat but anyone who has seen this film on faded copies on television or video, will be really pleased with this re-release. Dialogue was absolutely clear at all times (so much so that the overdubbing of Sydney Greenstreet by another actor for two lines is very noticeable now) and with no hiss or other age-related noise marring the audio track.

A note for our R2 readers: The Maltese Falcon SE is going to be released in Region 2 on the 5th of February albeit only as a 2 disc set without The Maltese Falcon (1931) and Satan Met A Lady (1936) and the radio adaptations. The second disc will contain the A Magnificent Bird documentary and Bogart trailer feature (Why are Region 2 buyers still getting shortchanged like this even from the likes of Warner? The artwork is identical with the R1 but with different, and frankly, garish colours).

Universal Film Noir R2

2007-01-04T14:16:00.000Z

Great news for film noir fans in the UK coming with Universal's announcement to release eight noir classics, Out of the Past, The Killers, Glass Key, Crossfire, The Blue Dahlia (not to be confused with Brian De Palma's The Black Dahlia; the former is based on a Raymond Chandler novel), the Philip Marlowe mystery Murder My Sweet (aka Farewell My Lovely), The Big Steal and a repackaged version of Double Indemnity on the 12th of February. Because of the low price (£9,99), I assume that these will be barebones DVDs but with Universal's recent track record, we can at least expect solid transfers (and I do like the artwork which seems to be inspired by the cover of Sin City). Personally, I'm most intrigued by Murder My Sweet and Out of the Past and, as an aside, a bit disappointed if not surprised that Universal didn't take the opportunity to bolster their Double Indemnity reiusse by porting over the extras from the fabulous Region 1 Special Edition (R2 losing out again...).

Murder My Sweet and Out of the Past are available in Region 1 individually or as part of Warner's Film Noir Classic Collection Vol 1 reviewed here; The Killers gets its Region 2 debut (Criterion have issued it in Region 1 as a double bill with Don Siegel's 1964 remake), The Glass Key and The Blue Dahlia don't seem to have had a release anywhere in the world up to now so that makes them a first for Region 2 (!), The Big Steal (another Siegel noir) is currently only available on a French DVD (review here), the Graham Greene adaptation The Gun For Hire already has a R1 release.

Robert Altman tribute

2007-01-03T16:31:00.000Z

Came across this nice little tribute to Robert Altman (printed to coincide with the UK release of his last picture, A Prarie Home Companion) in today's Guardian. The film opens this Friday.

Twin Peaks Season 2 (R1) in April 07

2006-12-19T17:49:00.000Z

It's been in the making for a long time but now it's official: the second series of Twin Peaks is getting a DVD release in April 2007 in Region 1. The extras and the shipping date for Europe is yet to be confirmed but Paramount have already released the artwork for the R1 set.

My Top Ten list for 2006

2006-12-17T18:53:00.000Z

1) THE SQUID AND THE WHALE
2) THE DEPARTED
3) L'ENFANT
4) HIDDEN/CACHE
5) THE DEATH OF MR LAZARESCU
6) BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
7) LADY VENGEANCE
8) CASINO ROYALE
9) GRIZZLY MAN
10) LONDON TO BRIGHTON

Pleasant surprise of 2006: that we were made to care for Bond again

Biggest disappointment: CARS

Honorable mention for: A SCANNER DARKLY & UNITED 93

Best cinematography: a tie between THE PROPOSITION & CHILDREN OF MEN

Best soundtrack: THE PROPOSITION (Nick Cave)

Thomson on Eastwood

2006-12-15T21:57:00.000Z

David Thomson writes about 76 year old Clint Eastwood's enterprise of shooting two films recounting WWII from the US and Japanese perspective (Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima respectively) back to back and looks back on the major achievements of other filmmakers in the twilight years of their career.

Also in the Guardian: Oliver Stone is interviewed at the NFT.

Anjelica Huston interview

2006-12-11T14:56:00.000Z

Here is a transcript of the NFT interview with Anjelica Huston who starred in The Royal Tenenbaums and her father John Huston's adaptation of The Dead.

Johnson's 2006 Film Log

2006-12-09T19:00:00.000Z

Johnson's Rating system:

* * * * * Brilliant
* * * * * Good
* * * * * Worth a try
* * * * * Disappointing
* * * * * Poor
* * * * * Deplorable

Theatrical Releases (2006)

Brokeback Mountain (Ang Lee) * * * * *
Jarhead (Sam Mendes) * * * * *
The New World (Terence Malick) * * * * *
Cache/Hidden (Michael Haneke) * * * * *
Munich (Steven Spielberg) * * * * *
Grizzly Man (Werner Herzog) * * * * *
Lady Vengeance (Park Chan-Wook) * * * * *
L’Enfant (Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne) * * * * *
The Proposition (John Hillcoat) * * * * *
The Squid and the Whale (Noah Baumbach) * * * * *
Transamerica (Duncan Tucker) * * * * *
The Inside Man (Spike Lee) * * * * *
Pierrepoint (Adrian Shergold) * * * * *
Slither (James Gunn) * * * * *
Lemming (Dominik Moll) * * * * *
Mission Impossible 3 (J.J. Abrams) * * * * *
Time To Leave (Francois Ozon) * * * * *
The Da Vinci Code (Ron Howard) * * * * *
X-Men: The Last Stand (Brett Ratner) * * * * *
Down In The Valley (David Jacobson) * * * * *
United 93 (Paul Greengrass) * * * * *
Fearless (Ronny Yu) * * * * *
Superman Returns (Bryan Singer) * * * * *
The Death of Mr Lazarescu (Cristi Puiu) * * * * *
Cars (John Lasseter) * * * * *
Lady in the Water (M Night Shyamalan) * * * * *
A Scanner Darkly (Richard Linklater) * * * * *
Volver (Pedro Almodovar) * * * * *
Clerks II (Kevin Smith) * * * * *
The Queen (Stephen Frears) * * * * *
Children of Men (Alfonso Cuaron) * * * * *
The Departed (Martin Scorsese) * * * * *
Borat (Larry Charles) * * * * *
The Host (Joon-Ho Bong) * * * * *
Casino Royale (Martin Campbell) * * * * *
London To Brighton (Paul Andrew Williams) * * * * *
Pan's Labyrinth (Guillermo Del Toro) * * * * *
Shortbus (John Cameron Mitchell) * * * * *

Oldboy (2004)

2006-11-29T19:00:00.000Z

Readers of our blog know about my taste for films from Asia: Japanese cinema I'm particularly fond of but new films from China and Korea hold great appeal for me as well. Two years ago, three Korean films, Memories of Murder, A Tale of Two Sisters and Oldboy, were released in the UK among claims that they heralded a renaissance of Korean cinema. Whatever you thought about their individual merits, these films had a clear distinctive style and made people notice. Of the three, a police procedural, a horror film and a thriller, I liked Memories best and could relate to Oldboy the least though I appreciated the conviction and craftsmanship with which it was made. Last weekend I sat down with a friend to watch the film for a second time. It's the middle part in a trilogy that includes Sympathy for Mr Vengeance (2002) and Lady Vengeance (2005); loosely connected by the theme of revenge and sharing a narrative style that combines sadism with bizarre humour, the three films have different plots and protagonists and don't require you to see them in chronological order.

Oldboy takes place in Korea in the late 1980s. On his daughter's birthday, Oh Dae-Su is kidnapped and locked up in a cell seemingly for no apparent reason. He fails several suicide attempts and learns from the television news that he is suspected of the murder of his wife. After fifteen years, his kidnappers release him and he falls in love with Mido, a young woman working in a sushi bar as he begins to search for his tormentors.

When Oldboy came out two years ago, I remember thinking how neatly it fitted into the larger picture that the films in 2004 were painting: many characters were taking revenge for the ordeals they had suffered or avenged the killing of a loved one. There was Quentin Tarantino's two-parter Kill Bill and the British film Dead Man's Shoes but Oldboy felt like the most radical and nightmarish. It echoes Tarantino's style in the way it blends wacky comedy and extreme brutality but Park Chanwook is even more rigorous than the American director in putting his tragic hero through the mangler before he finds redemption. The man's readiness to punish himself is intrinsically linked to the incest that plays a vital part in the film, hence the reading by many critics of Oldboy as a modern parable that places the Oedipus tale in the context of the gangster film and Korean society at large.

It's a melange of thriller and love story with shocking since abrupt mood changes in which moments of tenderness and compassion follow on acts of cruelty. It works and yet my feelings about the film remained the same after the second viewing: I still find myself more admiring it for its technical expertise and inventiveness than truly liking it. Oldboy is an acquired taste and I guess the reason why I much prefer the stylistically identical Lady Vengeance is that the later film manages to be more restrained, tender and yet more sinister (come to think of it, the black comedy is better integrated in Lady Vengeance, too: the humour is more to the point and less jarringly wacky). At least you are left to admire the flair and craftsmanship which Oldboy has in abundance: when Oh Dae-Su faces Park's gang who have equipped themselves with baseball bats, Chanwook films it in a long take and uninterrupted tracking shot. He also shows that he is as literate as his idol: an early hallucination sequence pays homage to Bunuel and Dali's Un Chien Andalou while two scenes of dental torture recall Laurence Olivier's treatment of Dustin Hoffman in Schlesinger's The Marathon Man. **1/2 (out of five)

Salute to Robert Altman

2006-11-22T23:09:00.000Z

Robert Altman, we salute you.

It was sad yesterday to hear about the death of the great director; although he was 81, he never seemed that old to me. I'm no conoisseur of Altman's pictures, but I've seen enough that I know he was a master, adept at subverting the conventions of cinema to furnish stories full of drama and fleshy characters.

My first encounter with Altman was at the age of about four, when this young Popeye fan was allowed to rent Popeye (1980) as a treat. I remember the lump in my throat when Swee'Pea was kidnapped, and I got the same feeling on subsequent viewings as an adult. This was just one of many occasions on which Altman played with genres: Here he toyed with the movie musical; in M*A*S*H he subverted the war film; in McCabe and Mrs Miller it was the western; and in the brilliant Gosford Park he took on the English murder mystery.

Of all those, Gosford Park is my favourite. I loved Altman's roving camera, that never stopped weaving in and out of the characters. The central murder mystery never seemed to matter so much as the intrigue surrounding the characters and their hidden depths.

RIP Robert Altman, 1925-2006

Casino Royale (2006)

2006-11-19T13:37:00.000Z

Attended a screening of Casino Royale yesterday and am glad to say that after more than ten years they've managed to reinvigorate the Bond series: this twenty-first entry goes to great lengths to involve and respect its audience (the second half of Die Another Day was will-breaking) and is bound to leave everyone who can accept the picture on its terms eagerly anticipating future films, and I suspect that many people haven't really felt that way about the franchise since 1995. Although I grew up with the Connery and Moore films (have yet to see Lazenby in On Her Majesty's Secret Service), I've enjoyed watching Bond but never particularly cared about most films, the exceptions being From Russia With Love and the first Dalton, the two of which are more grounded in reality than most other entries and which had more recognisably human characters (having recently gotten and rewatched Russia and Goldfinger, I still regard the former as the much stronger film, with the latter already getting too enamoured with the gadgetry and self-deprecating humour).

What I look for in a Bond, is a lean, straight-faced spy thriller with real stakes and human emotion, and that Casino Royale is nearly all of these things is, considering how dull the franchise got in recent years, a considerable feat. The casting of Daniel Craig has been an inspired choice as he brings a physicality and ambiguity to the role which, prior to that, only Sean Connery and Timothy Dalton respectively possessed. He hasn't got the suave looks of Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan; instead, and much more importantly, he displays a brooding demeanour and a recklessness that surely makes him the first Bond who you'd suspect could also be the villain (it struck me that Craig's rugged features give him some resemblance to Robert Shaw, Bond's bulky nemesis in Russia). Craig is the closest we have yet to Ian Fleming's original vision, and his presence and performance is the film's greatest asset: he is instantly believable, whether it's in the big setpieces or in the quieter moments, bringing an emotional gravity to the character and the picture that gives Casino Royale greater longevity than most of its predecessors. At certain moments, the film even achieves a poignant quality: consider the haunted look on Craig's face after Bond's first killing or the simultaneously grim and tender scene in which Bond comforts the blood-stained Vesper in the aftermath of the first killing she has ever witnessed. This is a Bond film that is going to be effortlessly rewatchable, even if it's by no means perfect.

The action is almost always wonderfully choreographed and edited: it's fast and thrilling and yet with a real feeling for spatial clarity - look no further than the sloppily shot M:I3 and anything directed by Michael Bay to see how it it should not be done. As exemplary as the action is though, the chase of the bombmaker and the finale in Venice which bookmark the film, are in hindsight a bit too long and should have been trimmed (the airport sequence is perfectly judged however). Generally, the pic feels too long by 15-20 mins, especially the first quarter of an hour is entertaining but eventually slower than it has any right to be. Script and dialogue are alternately dense and even witty (consider Bond's banter with Vesper Lynd on the train, or his reaction to a waiter over martini) or forced (the homages to Ursula Andress are starting to grate) and sentimental (later scenes with Lynd). Altogether it's better than anyone who has sat through the last Bond and listened to the platitudes of Million Dollar Baby could have reasonably expected from Haggis and company. Casino Royale is a pleasant surprise and leaves you hoping all the more that the Broccolis build on the success this time after failing to seize the opportunity in the wake of the short-lived revival in 1995. * * * * (out of five)

The Host (2006)

2006-11-11T21:24:00.000Z

I finally had a chance to see The Host after missing it at the Edinburgh Film Festival in August: the film revolves around a South Korean family caught up in the chaos that unravels when an amphibian mutant (film suggests it's a result of chemicals dumped into the river six years ago by US & Korean scientists from the local US Army Base) emerges from the Han River and creates panic in Seoul. The hero is clumsy and slightly dim-witted Gang-du Park who runs a food stand with his elderly father and looks after his daughter Hyeon-su. The beast captures Hyeon-su and returns to the depths of the river. Gathering with other survivors at a funeral parlour, Gang-du and his father meet with his siblings, unemployed graduate Nam-il and Nam-ju, who is a celebrated archer. Believed to be infected by the virus which the government blames for the existence of the monster, the Parks are quarantined. When Gang-du receives a phone call from his daughter, they set out to find her and kill the creature.

Even at the danger of underestimating the film (much in the same way that I was far too generous in giving the dreadful Snow Cake three stars initially) I have to go out on a limb and say that while I really enjoyed the film on its own terms I still couldn't help but feeling a bit disappointed. How much you are going to get out of The Host depends very much on your willingness to accept the film's unusual and subversive blend of sometimes incongruous seeming humour and suspense (The Host shares this stylistic approach - and its' lead actor - with Joon-ho Bong's earlier film, Memories of Murder), and to have your expectations constantly undermined. I had expected something along the lines of Jaws or the original Godzilla, both of which chose to show their monster sparingly and fleetingly initially, building up slowly and deliberately to a big setpiece that shows the creature in full glory. The Host does the opposite and reveals its monster, an intriguing and impressively realised cross between an amphibian and mutant reptile, within its opening quarter in a fabulous destruction and chase sequence with echoes of Jurassic Park and its sequel, The Lost World. The scene that follows it is symptomatic of the film's pattern: when the three siblings grief with their father in front of Hyeon-su's picture, the film plays it straight at first but then makes it unexpectedly, almost incongrously comical when the brothers start brawling as Nam-il blames Gung-du for his daughter's death. The effect is extremely startling but it gives this and many other scenes greater weight and it provokes a more complex and wider-ranging response from us. If, in the end, I think of Memories of Murder as the superior picture, it's mainly because The Host's pacing feels too slack at times: the opening and final half hour are extremely good but the film's main bulk is not as tight and purposefully moving forward as it ought to be. The chaotic finale is a thrilling payoff (reminiscent of Moby Dick) and the pic's coda movingly reinforces what is at the heart of the story, the love of a father for his child and his touching willigness to selflessly risk himself for her. The film plays against expectations quite skilfully and successfully and yet it leaves me genuinely undecided about how good it ultimately is. So best regard the rating below as an initial rather than final and binding response as it could go up on later viewings. * * * (out of five)

Optimum's new Don't Look Now SE reviewed

2006-11-10T19:26:00.000Z

Mike Sutton from DVDTimes has reviewed the new Special Edition of Nicholas Roeg's classic British horror film Don't Look Now (1973) here. Picture quality is identical to the old Warner disc but the sound has been cleaned up so that the Optimum is currently the best release of the film you can get anywhere.

Guardian on Christopher Nolan & Disney

2006-11-09T21:30:00.000Z

Saw the following on Guardian Unlimited in the past few days:

David Thomson's critique of Christopher Nolan

Ryan Gilbey's interview with Hugh Jackman about Nolan's new film The Prestige

Jonathan Jones on the dark side of Walt Disney

Keaton & Dracula (1922-1992 versions)

2006-10-31T22:51:00.000Z

Saw a few films since last week, including Criterion's September release of The Spirit of the Beehive (1973), a few short films from Network's Buster Keaton Chronicles boxset and Terence Fisher's 1958 Hammer adaptation of Dracula which Dave wrote about a couple of weeks ago. I'm hoping to find some time next week to write a bit more on Spirit of the Beehive once I've sampled the extras on the Criterion, so for now just a few words on the other films.

The Network boxset Buster Keaton Chronicles is a very decent and near-comprehensive compilation of the great comedian's body of work: it contains the majority of his short films from 1920 onwards as well as all his feature films including his masterpieces Sherlock Jr (1924) and The General (1926). Network have selected the Thames version of The General which is in watchable condition but doesn't compare to the fully restored prints released by MK2 in France and here in the UK which ought to be the first and only choice for Keaton purists (as it happens, the MK2/BBC DVD is on budget sale here). If The General and for that matter, Keaton's best short films (among them Neighbours and The Haunted House) don't convince those of our readers raised on modern blockbusters that silent cinema can be as flamboyantly entertaining and technically accomplished, then nothing will. Keaton's comic timing and self-performed, often breathtaking and physically extremely dangerous stunts (one of which resulted in his breaking his neck, an injury which wasn't properly diagnosed until years after the incident) are to this day unmatched - Neighbours alone packs more genuine comedy and innovation into its 20 minutes than the great majority of contemporary "comedies" manage in their entire length. Even if The General, College, Three Ages and Steamboat Bill Jr are available in properly restored DVDs and also taking into account the occasional heavy print damage on some of the shorts (One Week for instance), Network's box set is still a solid release (especially if you are keen on the early feature film The Saphead). That said, Masters of Cinema's upcoming collection now scheduled for the 20th of November adds 13 short films shot between 1917 and 1920 to the existing roster as well as an audio commentary for 6 of the films and a 180 page booklet.

Prior to Fisher's Dracula, I'd only seen Murnau's Nosferatu and Francis Ford Coppola's 1992 film (still have to get hold of Tod Browning's 1932 film with Bela Lugosi, Werner Herzog's 1978 Nosferatu remake with Klaus Kinski and, finally, John Badham's version with Frank Langella and Laurence Olivier). Knowing that this is a sort of blanket statement (as I haven't seen the remaining three films), I'd wager that of all the official adaptations of Stoker's book, the Murnau film remains the spookiest (no mean feat given it's over 80 years old now), with the German Expressionist sets and lighting and Max Schreck's (how fitting that his surname should mean fright in German) performance still as chilling as in 1922.

As for the Coppola version, well, I used to love it as a teenager: when it came out, I was too young to be allowed to see it but had read so much about it in advance and had wanted to see it so badly that I was absolutely thrilled and giddy with excitement when I actually succeeded in convincing the manager that I was old enough to see it. But my love affair with it didn't last: with each new viewing, my enthusiasm waned and I became more aware of the film's flaws. Disillusioned, I didn't watch it again until recently and having seen it again, I tend to view the film more sympathetically than I have before. The cinematography by Michael Ballhaus and the set and production design remain absolutely stunning - on a technical level, the 1992 Dracula is among the most impressionably realised films I've seen to date. It's a curious film in which two opposites styles clash with one another; it's as if Coppola, and the actors with him, can't seem to decide whether to play it straight in old-school genre style (Ryder, Reeves, Oldman at times) or to ironically overact (Hopkins). Indeed, it's often not clear when the film, as it occasionally does, degenerates into comedy, whether the effect is unintentional or entirely deliberate. The scenes with Keanu Reeves and especially the denouement to his rape by Dracula's three brides suggest the former but there are equally moments where the effect is ostensibly calculated: consider the horrified and yet amused reaction the film provokes when Coppola, in a bit of unexpected black humour, cuts from Lucy's impalement straight to a shot of Van Helsing slicing meat open for dinner.

I believe the main reason why many critics and viewers don't buy into Coppola's film and take the obvious route of dismissing it outright, is that it's because the picture is so at odds with itself, tonally fluctuating wildly and often within single scenes between austerity and comedy. It's as if the film is stuck between the stringent tone of the horror films before it and the post-modernist, ironic slant of the Scream era that followed. If Coppola's Dracula is a failure (and in many ways it is; it's never remotely scary; the romance between the count and Mina humanises the vampire too much, robbing him of much of his menace; some parts are badly miscast), the least you can say is that it does so on terms which engage the open-minded and perceptive viewer in an ongoing conversation and provoke further reflection. The pic also gets points for Tom Waits' superb performance as the deranged Renfield and the brilliant scene in which Dracula, in wolf's form, kills Lucy: that moment is very effectively cross-cut with Mina's marriage to Harker, and it's neatly reminiscent of the climatic baptism sequence in The Godfather Part One which employs parallel editing to identical effect. *** (out of five)

Initial impressions of the Fisher version? Very good if not necessarily what I expected. One of the things that struck me was how they handled Dracula's introduction in the Hammer film compared to the expressionist style in the Murnau and Coppola's imitation of it in 1992: I may be misremembering it from the other films but from what I can recall, the build-up to his entrance and his actual appearance seemed longer whereas in the Hammer the comparatively swift and matter-of-fact manner of his entrance achieves a very different effect (the gong heard on Bernard's score in that moment is a nice touch). Coincidentally, I happen to think that the first third of the film, set at Dracula's castle, feels a bit unbalanced next to the more measured, perceptibly calmer pacing of the main bulk of the film when Van Helsing comes into play. Here, too, the Fisher version differs significantly from any other adaptation I'd seen to date: anyone new to the film and unspoiled by reviews and further reading is likely to be caught by surprise at just how strongly Van Helsing features in this version. The first hint is dropped when Peter Cushing gets first billing in the opening credits (Christopher Lee astonishingly comes fourth!) but it only becomes clear midway through that this really is Van Helsing's film.

Partially necessitated by Cushing's star status at the time, this change of emphasis and point of view works exceedingly well for the picture: firstly, it's simply refreshingly different and secondly, it also afforded Peter Cushing the opportunity to make the character his own, and he rose to the challenge in a commanding performance that demonstrates a perfect understanding of the character, and embodies Van Helsing's sternness, his commitment and his humanity. It's an iconic performance that is respectful of the character and elicits our respect in return. Couple this with Christopher Lee's portrayal of Dracula as a sensual seductor and handsome predator (this is the first film to acknowledge the sensual, sexual character of the vampire's bite), and it's easy to see why the Hammer version is by common consensus regarded in conjunction with the 1922 Nosferatu as the best adaptation of Stoker's novel. The cinematography and lighting by Jack Asher and Bernard Robinson's production design belie and transcend the limitations of Hammer's low budgets (as in the later Brides of Dracula), enhancing the film with often lush visuals (Dave tells me Asher was eventually replaced for later productions as his shooting methods proved too costly; more's the pity). Bernard's score contains effective cues but I found it a touch overbearing still, and Michael Gough is rather dull in the role of Holmwood but the overall achievement of Fisher's richly atmospheric film is not diminished by it. ***** (out of five)

Last but not least as a late addendum to Halloween, my list of favourite horror films. At the top Ridley Scott's Alien for a number of reasons: it was my first ever first horror film (at the age of eight, I think) and it has stayed with me ever since (in fact, I'm certain that over the years, I've seen Alien more times than any other film, horror or otherwise). What also clinched it for Alien is that James Whale's Bride of Frankenstein coming in at No 2 is intentionally funny as opposed to scary. Whale is strongly represented in the list also with The Invisible Man which is so deliciously creepy and blackly funny that if I were to revise the list at some point in the future, it could possibly replace Bride in second spot. Also mentioned: the brilliant Japanese supernatural folklore horror Kuroneko with shades of Edgar Allan Poe and William Friedkin's The Exorcist which made a lasting impression on me and which I might write about in the future.. here's the list as it stands now (definite entries in bold):

Alien
Bride of Frankenstein
Kuroneko
The Invisible Man
Psycho
The Innocents
The Exorcist
Don't Look Now
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Audition

Back on air

2006-10-25T18:40:00.000+01:00

It's been a while since I last posted: I had meant to write a bit on Martin Scorsese's The Departed (which I loved) after returning from a family wedding last week but got diagnosed with a kidney stone and got hospitalised for six days. With it being my second hospital stay in as many years and being in heavy intermittent pain, it brought home to me how much we take our health for granted and how fragile and vulnerable we suddenly feel when it hits you out of the blue. On the plus side, I got to watch a few films that I hadn't seen before or wanted to watch again. The first was Escape from New York which, to me, falls in terms of quality somewhere in between the brilliant Halloween and Carpenter's weak mid-to-late 90s films like the shallow and misogynist Vampires: bookended by an excellent opening half-hour and a neat epilogue twist, the film, which only cost $5m to make, is very atmospheric and totally convincing in its depiction of an island prison state in whose confines the Duke reigns over the inmates. Kurt Russell's Snake Plissken, a former war veteran-turned criminal, is sent in by Lee Van Cleef's police chief to locate and rescue the US President (Donald Pleasance) who has managed to drop off into the city after his plane was hijacked by terrorists (made in 1980, the picture feels chillingly prophetic in our post-9/11 era). The bulk of the film is highly entertaining and often witty but it's never particularly suspenseful and the narrative feels a bit too episodic, held together just about by the thread of Snake's rescue mission. Was pleasantly surprised to see so many iconic names in the cast (Van Cleef, Ernest Borgnine and Harry Dean Stanton) and each of them turning in strong performances - in contrast, I found Snake Plissken as a character a bit disappointing, too one-note, after seeing so much reverence for the character on the net. To be honest, I had hoped for more - the final twist is too little, too late in that respect. Still, I enjoyed the film a great deal. ***1/2 (out of five).

Revisited three films, the first being Lost in Translation. I had high expectations for the film when it came out in 2003 and I remember leaving the screening with a great sense of disappointment. I was wanting to love the film but only came away sort of liking it and with major reservations. Having now seen it a second time, I'm afraid to say that while I liked it marginally better this time round, my issues with the film remain. Looking at this and her debut, The Virgin Suicides, I think it's indisputable that Sofia Coppola is very adept at mood-driven filmmaking in which the tone of the scene and a character's feelings are evoked and underlined by a dream-like score and understated performances. And yet, I find the story too slight: even for a film that ostensibly is about the feeling of going nowhere in life, about alienation and isolation, it feels too stagnant and repetitive. I never felt that the film ever quite justified its indulgent length and I'm among those to whom the humour (decidedly hit-and-miss) and the overall attitude of the film towards its characters smacks of snide condescension. I didn't think that Charlotte and Bob Harris really invited our sympathy and that the film resorted to the long-discredited trick of making everyone else so unlikable, even creepy (Bob's estranged wife) that these two seem a very charming bunch in comparison. I'm by no means in favour of sickly all-sweetness-and-light romcoms but to make a romance about two relatively unsympathetic people seems self-defeatist to me. The comedy works as long as Bill Murray is asked to improvise on the spot (the shooting of the second Whisky advert is pure gold) but as soon as it involves any of the Japanese characters, it reeks of condescension (in the sense of us Westerners giggling narrow- and simple-mindedly at the otherness and exoticism of the Japanese and Asians at large) and even racism. Walter Chaw once wrote on FilmFreakCentral how Asians and gays are about the only minority groups it's still ok to laugh at and condescend to, and as far as I'm concerned, Lost in Translation is among those films that have something to answer for it. So far, I've found Coppola's films all style and surface with no depth underneath - how fitting (and reassuring) that this is exactly the kind of criticism levelled at her new film Marie Antoinette... *** (out of five)

Also rewatched River of no Return by Otto Preminger (who never made a Western before or afterwards again, and on the evidence of this it was a wise decision). It's diverting while it lasts and just as quickly forgotten but I give credit to Robert Mitchum and Marilyn Monroe and the often impressive camera work (if you choose to overlook the hideous backprojection in some of the raft scenes). ** (out of five) On the other hand, The Hustler was as riveting as I remember it from the first viewing many years ago: it grips you right from the beginning and never lets go until the devastating, poignant finale; a marvellously photographed and edited, deeply felt film in love with the sport and simultaneously an indictment of it and the addictive, destructive lure of success.. One of Paul Newman's best-ever performances, with supporting turns by George C Scott, Jackie Gleason and Piper Laurie that support and enhance the film further. ****1/2 (out of five)

PS.: A DVD our readers should look out for is the BFI's upcoming release of Jack Clayton's rather brilliant ghost story The Innocents with Deborah Kerr, with awesome cinematography by DoP Freddie Francis. The film is available on a barebones Region 1 DVD from Fox (who shockingly saw fit to include a fullscreen version at the expense of any substantial extras) with a good widescreen transfer but according to play.com the new Region 2 comes with a making of, a commentary and a trailer. The BFI release is due on the 27th of November.

The Earth Dies Screaming (1965)

2006-10-14T11:38:00.000+01:00

The great Terence Fisher, whom regular readers will have figured out is one of my alltime favourite directors, only very occasionally forayed onto non-Hammer territory. One of those times was in the mid-1960s, when he had fallen temporarily out of favour with Hammer, due to financial failures like The Phantom of the Opera (1962) and The Gorgon (1964). From 1965 to 1967, he made a handful of science-fiction films for low-budget companies. The Earth Dies Screaming was made in 1965 for Lippert Films, whose other main contribution to '60s horror was Curse of the Fly, earlier the same year.

The Earth Dies Screaming is an enjoyable yarn which, at not much over an hour, is the perfect length for a movie of its era and genre. It opens in a way that recalls the wonderful Village of the Damned (1960), with people up and down the country mysteriously collapsing - commuters crumple to the ground where they stand, trains leave their tracks. A few survivors are holed up in the local pub (as happens again in Fisher's 1967 Night of the Big Heat), and must battle an onslaught from alien visitors.

The cast is mostly unknown, at least to me. I enjoyed Dennis Price's rather shifty turn; it was not long before he fell on hard times and was reduced to appearing in some very seedy rubbish. Hammer regular Thorley Walters also has a small part, which I found strikingly sympathetic.

Perhaps one of the film's finest features is Elisabeth Lutyens's haunting score. Lutyens was an avant-garde composer who, like many "serious" composers, regarded her film music as a necessary evil. However, she produced brilliant scores for British horrors such as Dr Terror's House of Horrors and The Skull. The music here is pivotal to the tension; combined with Fisher's usual expert direction, the film has some genuinely scary moments.

My rating? * * * * *

Two sixties Sherlocks

2006-10-11T16:04:00.000+01:00

I settled down earlier this week to watch two enjoyable outings for Sherlock Holmes from the 1960s. Both fall roughly into the "British horror" genre, although the first was made in Germany, and was a co-production with France and Italy. They were Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace (1962) and A Study in Terror (1965).

Deadly Necklace is a very bizarre film. It was shot in Germany in English, but the audio was recorded separately by a different cast. And the dubbing is truly awful. It boasts British horror stalwarts Christopher Lee and Thorley Walters as Holmes and Watson, although they are sadly never heard. Lee dons a false nose to play the famous sleuth; I get the impression he did a fairly good job, but it's sadly hard to tell when a third-rate American actor is providing the voice.

It was directed by Terence Fisher and some obscure German called Frank Winterstein, who I assume did some minor work, since the film is almost always credited exclusively to Fisher. The script is by Curt Siodmak, best-known for horror films in the '40s, such as The Wolf Man. I gather the story is a loose adaptation of Conan Doyle's The Valley of Fear.

It is shot in black-and-white, and feels curiously like a 1930s thriller. I felt I was watching a Charlie Chan or a Universal horror, not a sixties film. The film had a jazz score by bandleader Martin Slavin, which didn't match the setting at all, but somehow added to the film's quirkiness. I did enjoy it - perhaps it fell into the "so bad it's good" category. It was entertaining, if strangely out-of-place for its era.

A Study in Terror is a much more polished film, made in England, and fortunate enough to have all the voices matched to the right actors. John Neville is a likeable Holmes who combines gravitas with humour. Donald Houston is likeable enough as Watson, but not particularly interesting - the characterization is in the same vein as that of Nigel Bruce in the Basil Rathbone films, as was Thorley Walters in Deadly Necklace. The film has a grand supporting cast including Anthony Quayle, Frank Finlay (as Inspector Lestrade) and Robert Morley (as Sherlock's brother, Mycroft).

Again, it is an entertaining film, with plenty of pleasing, if familiar touches - fogbound London streets, dank alleyways, smokey pubs etc. The story is an original one, which has Holmes on the trail of Jack the Ripper (an idea later taken up in Murder by Decree). The main problem with the script is that, in common with almost any film that tries to transplant Conan Doyle's detective into a new story, Sherlock Holmes becomes a bit of a self-caricature at times, who can't seem to open his mouth without being a total smart-aleck, like he never stops making clever deductions to entertain Watson.

Nevertheless, a good film. In common with Deadly Necklace, A Study in Terror too has a score by a jazz bandleader (namely, John Scott), although the jazz influences are less subtle.

My ratings?

Sherlock Holmes and the Necklace of Death * * * * *
A Study in Terror * * * * *

Scorsese interview

2006-10-06T18:34:00.000+01:00

Martin Scorsese talks about his new film The Departed to the Guardian (the paper gives the film a four star review); there's also a fun quiz about his films.

What might have been if...?

2006-10-04T17:41:00.000+01:00

While browsing during my break from work, I found this short-but-fun-to-read article on original casting choices. Makes you alternately wonder how the films in question might have turned out (Emma Thompson as Starling would have been a curious choice) or thank the heavens that things turned out as they did (it beggars belief that Ang Lee originally considered Ben Affleck for Brokeback Mountain).

Clerks II (capsule review)

2006-10-01T21:12:00.000+01:00

Apologies for the silence on my end but real life caught up with me in the last weeks. Will try my best to update our blog more regularly again in the future; for now, a very late capsule review of Clerks II, an enjoyable yet inferior follow-up to the 1994 film that put Kevin Smith on the map: Dante and Randall, now in their early thirties, have ended up serving burgers and chiops at the Mooby fast food chain after Randall has accidentally burned down the grocery store where they have worked for the last ten years. Dante's about to move to Florida to get married to his fiancee who calls the shots in their relationship.

As in the first film, Smith's low-brow humour is just glossing over the fact that at heart he is an old-fashioned romanticist, and enough jokes hit their target but Clerks II nevertheless is a step backwards: the colour cinematography is too clean and smacks of Smith caving in to mainstream tastes without much resistance; the minor characters featuring here are not as intriguing as in the first film, and surely Smith could have thought of something wittier than the lame cameos by Ben Affleck and Jason Lee? The larger budget is most evident in a few elaborate shots (which are, firstly, jarringly at odds with the low-key setups that the film resorts to otherwise, and, secondly, they can be downright awful, like the shoddily executed 360 degree shot around Dante and Randall), brief musical interludes and a setpiece in which a donkey gets the full oral and anal treatment. Rosario Dawson gives a spirited and very touching performance as Becky (Smith acknowledges as much in the end credits), the commitment-phobic girl who runs Mooby's and who is drawn to Dante. Towards the end, the film dwells on its duo's restlessness and life passing them by longer than it ought to, but it's noteworthy for Randall's advice to Dante to defy outside expectations and to live his life in a way that is meaningful to him. In a way Smith seems to be torn between staying true to his roots and wanting to move on and gain greater respectability, as his critics have implored him to. Let's see where he goes next. * * (out of five)

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1941)

2006-09-22T15:44:00.000+01:00

Ten years after Rouben Mamoulian's acclaimed adaptation of the story, MGM had got its hands on the Paramount Picture and all but blotted the film from existence. This stylish 1941 remake plunders the first film for plot, but lacks its progenitor's sophistication. The former had deep theological and philosophical ruminations on the nature of sin and evil; this version chops most of that out and throws in some pseudo-Freudian imagery to compensate.

Still, it's a watchable film. Spencer Tracy has his moments as Hyde - indeed, I've always found Tracy's Hyde more visually effective than March's, although perhaps I'm the exception. Ingrid Bergman is more than a match for Miriam Hopkins as Ivy, the pretty young girl whom Jekyll's devilish alter-ego victimizes. She is stunningly filmed by Joseph Ruttenberg's camera, and brings to the role the same sense of vulnerability and terror that Hopkins had before her.

Franz Waxman's score is a little disappointing, especially the plodding motif in the transformation scenes. Nevertheless, the film boasts some splendid images, especially once Hyde is on the run through a fogbound London.

My rating? * * * * * (4/5)

A few more stills:

New MoC website

2006-09-19T20:32:00.000+01:00

The Masters of Cinema label have created a new website for their collection which is stylishly designed and gives you the chance to read the booklet essays and to watch newly put together trailers for each film in the series.

PS.: Mike Sutton's review of The Black Dahlia for DVDTimes is a very good read. Sutton is a long-time DePalma fan and makes a strong case for the film.

The Black Dahlia

2006-09-16T17:15:00.000+01:00

Saw The Black Dahlia earlier today: the film, DePalma's 35th, is based on James Ellroy's novel which in turn was inspired by the real-life investigation into the notorious murder of aspiring actress-turned drifter Betty Short who was found mutilated and cut in two halves in downtown Los Angeles in 1947. Detectives Bucky Bleichert and Leo Blenchard, who are best friends and used to compete against each other in the boxing ring, are assigned to the case. Leo becomes obsessed with the Dahlia case while Bucky is attracted to Leo's wife Kay. Conducting his own investigations, Bucky meets the mysterious high society lady Madeleine Linscott in a lesbian nightclub, and discovers that Linscott is linked with the dead girl.

When Curtis Hanson and Brian Helgeland adapted James Ellroy's book LA Confidential for film, they removed whole plot strands from the novel to retain the coherence and complexity of the major storyline which partially accounts for why their film is one of the rare screen adaptations of a great novel that measures up to the book. With rumours of a three hour rough cut and the nearly two-and-a-half hour length of the theatrical version, it's hard not to think that Josh Friedman, the scriptwriter of The Black Dahlia, should have been more rigorous with the material and stripped it down to the essentials. The plot feels sluggish and muddled when it ought to be concise: the outlandish twists come thick and fast, and their link to previous events feels a bit too tenuous. Given how deliriously insane the story gets, you'd expect DePalma to relish the opportunity but the film feels so oddly and surprisingly anonymous and detached that it leaves a sour aftertaste.

It's also hurt by the miscasting of the two leads: Mark Wahlberg was originally considered for the part of Bucky Bleichert and he would have been a better choice than Josh Hartnett who hasn't got the gravity to play a hard-boiled, cynical, world-weary detective and who seems lost here; Aaron Eckhart is more convincing but the rage and obsession that defines his character would have been tailor-made for someone like Russell Crowe. Scarlett Johansson looks her part but her performance is too mannered. The best turns come from Hillary Swank as the brunette vamp and Mia Kershner as the murder victim whose auditioning footage begin to haunt the detectives.

What also speaks for the film is that it's shot with an elegance and assurance that is absolutely intoxicating: Vilmos Zsigmond's cinematography is continually fantastic but I particularly loved the following shot in the petshop shooting sequence. The camera crosses the street, then climbs over the building's rooftops, spots a woman in the distance trying to alert others to her discovery of a dead body, follows her for a while as she runs down the street and then continues the pan back to where we originally started. Awesome, just awesome.

Using a classical editing (wipes, dissolves and straight cuts) and lighting style (Johansson is filmed in soft focus in some scenes) and shooting with muted, brown colours, the picture alluringly evokes expressionistic studio era filmmaking, but it lacks the sense of urgency, suspense and narrative momentum of the crime genre's best efforts. DePalma seems to reign himself in as if his heart wasn't in it. He seems to imply as much in the Guardian interview which we linked to last week: "But I didn't put my particular storytelling ellipses in it. I'm doing Ellroy here. My basic thing that I had in my head was that I'm going to tell the story the way Ellroy tells it. This is James Ellroy's Black Dahlia, don't ever forget. I mainly bring out what he put on paper." Too often, The Black Dahlia feels too much like a workman's effort, gracefully and inventively shot but impersonal nonetheless. * * (out of five)

Masters of Cinema 2006/07 line-up

2006-09-16T09:39:00.000+01:00

Got the September issue of Sight & Sound today and it included a booklet from the Masters of Cinema label with upcoming titles for this year and early 2007. These include the Buster Keaton and Mikio Naruse boxsets which we wrote about a while ago and which are still on schedule for the 23rd of October. The Keaton set will include a 212 page-booklet and a commentary by Joseph McBride on six of the shorts. The Naruse set containing Repast, Sound of the Mountain and Flowing (see our earlier link to SlantMagazine's Naruse feature) will come with a 72-page booklet and audio commentaries for each film.

The new titles for December and 2007 are as follows:

F for Fake (Orson Welles, 1974) (December 2006)

Shoah (Claude Lanzmann, 1985) (4 disc set) (January 2007)

Salesman (Albert & David Maysles, 1968) (January 2007)

Diary of a Lost Girl (G.W. Pabst, Germany 1929) (January 2007)

Woman in the Moon (Fritz Lang, Germany 1929) (March 2007)

Nosferatu - A Symphony of Horror (F.W. Murnau, Germany 1923) (2007)

Die Niebelungen (Fritz Lang, Germany 1924) (2-disc set) (2007)

Tabu - A Story of the South Seas (F.W. Murnau, USA 1931) (2007)

Grey Gardens (Albert & David Maysles, USA 1975) (2007)

Silence (Masahiro Shinoda, Japan 1971) (2007)

The Blue Angel (Josef von Sternberg, Germany 1930) (2007)

as well as the following eight films by Kenji Mizoguchi:

Miss Oyu (Japan 1951)
Ugetsu Monogatari (Japan 1953)
Gion Festival Music (Japan 1953)
Sansho the Bailiff (Japan 1954)
The Woman of Rumour (Japan 1954)
Chikamatsu Monogatari (Japan 1954)
The Empress Yang Kwei Fei (Japan 1955)
Street of Shame (Japan 1956)

The booklet's cover art and synopsises for the new titles is in such small print that we'll update with full-page artwork instead once it's available. With its mixture of German silents, US independent films and the best of Japanese cinema, the new MoC lineup is reason to rejoice for serious film buffs. We'll link to imdb entries for each title later in the day.

Kevin Smith on Clerks 2

2006-09-15T19:29:00.000+01:00

Today's Guardian runs an interview with Kevin Smith (done while the director was in Edinburgh for the EIFF) on Clerks II which opens next Friday.

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1931)

2006-09-13T09:12:00.000+01:00

The first horror film I ever saw was Victor Fleming's 1941 Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde with Spencer Tracy. I was eight years old. I pleaded with my dad to let me watch it, and to my surprise he did. And there began my obsession with that film and with the horror genre.

So it has always been with a sense of loyalty to the 1941 film that I have approached the earlier, and more critically successful, film by Rouben Mamoulian. It is not hard to see why this has fared better with the critics: It's far more thematically complex than the '41 version, whose sub-Freudian nonsense got in the way of what was really just a jolly good yarn in Hollywood's best style. This '31 film probes deeper into the Jekyll-Hyde myth, exploring God, evil and the human condition on a fairly epic scale.

Universal's Dracula and Frankenstein, both released earlier the same year, went straight into the horror action - all graveyards and bats and eerie lighting. Not so with Jekyll, made by Paramount. It doesn't feel like a horror film in the same sense at all, and there is little in the first reel to suggest any horror. We're on quite different territory.

The movie starts as it means to go on - by placing us firmly in Jekyll's shoes. The battle between good and evil we are about to watch is not happening in some other place, with some other person, but in us. We are Jekyll and Hyde. I confess to finding the prolonged point-of-view sequence a little laboured, but once it's out of the way, Mamoulian's approach is altogether more subtle.

From now on, the film will be constantly implicating everyone in the picture - and the audience - in the fate of Jekyll. Mamoulian does this by frequently matching shots between scenes, by juxtaposing and layering images in order to create an association, by using split-screen to suggest identification between characters, and by shooting from Jekyll and Hyde's points-of-view.

For example, early on in the film, Jekyll (Fredric March) is caught kissing a dancing girl (Miriam Hopkins), to whom he has attended after an assault. It's an incredibly sexual scene for its era, and we are left with a shot of her naked leg dangling suggestively. This then dissolves into the next shot of Jekyll and Lanyon (Holmes Herbert), but the two images are layered for a few seconds, thus associating Lanyon also with sexual desire. Lanyon is later to reprimand Jekyll for his behaviour, but Jekyll's response is to charge Lanyon with having the same desires inside him - as the earlier shot suggested.

An example of the split-screen is when Jekyll's fiancee, Muriel (Rose Hobart), is shown alongside Ivy (the dancing girl) - one refined and respectable, the other licentious and immoral - two sides of the same character.

One of my favourite instances of the point-of-view shot was in the final scene, when Lanyon points directly into the camera as he accuses Jekyll. It's quite an unnerving effect, and cements the charge that the evil resident in Mr Hyde is resident in all of us.

March became the first actor to win an Oscar for a horror performance. Looking back, it is hard to deny he is pretty hammy in the role at times. Occasionally this works brilliantly - Jekyll's agony as he wrestles with his evil deeds and begs for God's forgiveness comes off effectively - but at other times, such as in the transformation scenes, it raises a few unintended laughs. The make-up, which becomes uglier as the film goes on, is generally effective, and is complemented by March's performance. By the end of the film, his movements are positively ape-like, as he swings furiously from the shelves of his laboratory.

Hopkins is oustanding as Ivy, the role taken by Ingrid Bergman in the remake. Her scenes with Hyde elicit genuine terror, and her strong performance nicely makes up for Hobart's dullness as the fiancee.

I have yet to watch the film again with Greg Mank's commentary, which no doubt will enhance my appreciation of the film. I shall also revisit the 1941 version, which makes up in lush visuals and atmosphere what it lacks in sophistication.

My rating (1931): * * * * *

The History Boys

2006-09-12T19:29:00.000+01:00

The big-screen adaptation of Alan Bennett's hit play The History Boys is out in October. I look forward to it. You can watch the trailer online here. I thought the moment at around 1:11 was particularly sweet.

The House That Dripped Blood (1970)

2006-09-12T16:47:00.000+01:00

I've never been an Amicus fan the way I've been devoted to the Hammer 'House of Horror'. It has only been in the last year or two that I've begun to appreciate the Amicus films on their own terms, beginning with films such as Dr Terror's House of Horrors (1965) and Torture Garden (1967), both in the studio's trademark 'portmanteau' style.

Where Hammer concentrated on gothic horrors in period settings, Amicus usually opted for contemporary settings, and their films typically featured four macabre stories linked by a common thread. In this film, we witness the bizarre fates that claim four residents of a single house. I found them mostly quite contrived, but not without their moments.

The first segment had as its main asset the impressive Denholm Elliot as an author who becomes obsessed with one of his characters. The second featured Peter Cushing and Joss Ackland as two friends enraptured by a waxwork of the biblical Salome. This part boasted a nicely lit nightmare sequence, which the accompanying documentary (R2 DVD) revealed was the idea of director Peter Duffel. The third brought in Christopher Lee as a stern father who seems determined to keep his distance from his daughter; and the fourth (and possibly the most fun) was a camp comedy about a horror film actor (Jon Pertwee, pictured) driven mad by a vampire's cloak. This last segment also featured upcoming horror queen Ingrid Pitt. There are some great gothic touches in this part, including haunting cobbled streets and a camped-up Geoffrey Bayldon in an Ernest-Thesiger-inspired turn as a theatrical costumier. I also liked the in-jokes such as (possibly a sly dig at Hammer) when Pertwee laments that horror films aren't like they used to be: "Frankenstein, the Phantom of the Opera, Dracula - Bela Lugosi, I mean, not that new chap"!

Like several other Amicus portmanteau films, this was scripted by Robert Bloch from his own stories.

I'll never trade in my Hammers, but this is still a pleasing effort from their main rivals.

My rating? * * * * *

Curse of the Fly (1965)

2006-09-11T14:28:00.000+01:00

I bought this film on DVD for two reasons: First, I am a fan of British horror; second, I am a big admirer of director Don Sharp. Sharp made several excellent films for Hammer, including the exquisite sub-Hitchcockian horror The Kiss of the Vampire, and later on directed the memorable remake of The 39 Steps (1978) with Robert Powell. Sharp is nothing if not a polished craftsman.

Still, for all its cult appeal, Curse of the Fly is a patchy affair. It picks up after a slow first third. It opens most bizarrely like a Russ Meyer movie, with an underwear-clad Carole Gray (whose few other films include Terence Fisher's excellent 1966 sci-fi Island of Terror) running through a forest accompanied by a rather schmaltzy main theme on piano. It transpires she is escaping from a mental asylum, and it is just her luck to bump into George Baker (later TV's Inspector Wexford in the Ruth Rendell Mysteries). He drives her to Montreal, and they fall in love. She neglects to tell him she just broke out of the psycho ward; he neglects to tell her he is engaged in highly dangerous experiments in teleportation with his father, a hammy Brian Donlevy.

There are a few great moments. My favourite was late on when Donlevy is teletransported to his (other) son in London. I won't spoil what happens, but it is quite a jarring moment.

It is certainly one of Sharp's lesser efforts, although a die-hard British horror fan won't regret having it on his DVD shelf. I'd watch it again on a rainy day.

As regards the DVD itself (R2), it's a bare-bones release, not brilliant quality, and with pretty crap sound, most noticeable in the Twentieth Century Fox fanfare before the main titles. You can snap it up for £5.99, however, so it's not all bad news.

My rating? * * * * * (2/5)

Summer Palace (EIFF screening) - Update: Lou Ye interview

2006-09-09T00:23:00.000+01:00

Update: Following Lou Ye's ban from making films in China for five years, the director discusses his situation and plans for the future in this extensive interview here.

Attended a virtually sold out public screening of Lou Ye's 140 min Beijing-set love story Summer Palace at the Cameo on Tuesday night: the film tells the story of Yu Hong who leaves her hometown and boyfriend Xiao behind to study at the university of Beijing in 1988. There she falls in love with Zhou Wei, a friend of her roommate Li Ti, and both begin a passionate but volatile and short-lived relationship. Their break-up coincides with the student protests on Tiananmen Square in 1989. Xiao comes to Beijing and both leave for Tunan while Zhou Wei is seeing Li Ti. The paths of the four characters cross several times as they travel between Wuhan and the German capital Berlin in the years afterwards until a personal tragedy causes Zhou Wei to return to China in 2000.

Summer Palace doesn't shed much light on the political events on Tiananmen Square that form the historical background to the love story at the film's core; in fact, the film makes so little of it that, as in Bertolucci's The Dreamers, it makes me wonder why some directors place their stories in cultural and political contexts in the first place. Instead, Lou Ye beguilingy captures the restlessness that defines Yu Hong's personality, and the emotional intensity with which she chooses to live her life; he also touches upon the sometimes random nature of life when the two couples go separate ways and travel back and forth between China and Europe over the following decade. Comprising much of the first half, the romance between Yu Hong and Zhou Wei benefits greatly from the sensitive performances, the sensuality and the light touch that the director brings to it, showing empathy for the passionate and yet conflicting feelings that the couple have for each other. With the second half, this eventually gives way to a pronounced feeling of loss, melacholy and loneliness when Yu Hong appears to resign herself to her fate. Summer Palace is one of the most desperately lonesome films I've seen this year, and it eloquently expresses what it feels like to love, wanting to love and to be loved in return and yet not being able to do so. The film's length has been balked at in some quarters but I found it a rather breezy two-and-a-half hours. I look forward to seeing it again on theatrical release and first impressions are that it's a strong, intermittently excellent picture with lasting value. Provisional rating is a **** (out of five)

After the screening, Lou Ye and his translator came on and took part in a brief Q&A session in which he touched on the difficulties his film faces with the Chinese censors; he said the talks were still ongoing and that he was be prepared to make some cuts to get the picture released at home. Asked whether the film contained autobiographical elements, he wouldn't go further than saying it was partly fictional partly autobiographical, and that this was reflected in the characters of Yu Hong and Zhou Wei. He had some familiarity with the setting since he completed a film studies degree at the academy in Beijing around the time the film is set. Shooting was prolonged by three months due to financial problems during the setup of the Berlin sequences and lasted eight months altogether. Finally, he said that there was great interest in the film from UK distributors and that a deal was likely to be done soon (Artificial Eye distributed his last film Suzhou River and have a strong track record with world cinema releases so we wouldn't be surprised if they pick this one up as well).

Brian DePalma interview

2006-09-08T17:35:00.000+01:00

Prior to the release of his James Ellroy adaptation The Black Dahlia next Friday, Brian DePalma talks about his career and plans for future projects.

Darren Aronofsky on The Fountain & early impressions of Lynch's lNLAND EMPIRE

2006-09-07T18:43:00.000+01:00

Darren Aronofsky (Pi, Requiem for a Dream) responds to the hostile press reaction to his science fiction film The Fountain at the Venice film festival in the Guardian here.

Also, a brief (and mostly positive) capsule review of David Lynch's new film Inland Empire (his first in five years after 2001's Mulholland Drive, and at three hours one of his longest) which was shown out of competition, prior to Lynch's press conference and his receiption of a Golden Lion for lifetime achievements.

Update: Blade Runner Director's Cut (Comparison link added)

2006-09-07T18:30:00.000+01:00

Update (7/09): DVDBeaver Comparison of the restored Director's Cut with the first DVD release from 1997 online now.

Warner have announced a restored and remastered DVD release of Ridley Scott's Blade Runner The Director's Cut (1992) for the 12th of September. This DVD will contain just the film with no extras and will accordingly be sold at a lower price (a 3 disc set with the Director's Cut, the original theatrical cut and Ridley Scott's new "final cut" will appear in 2007 with extensive bonus material). Update: The Region 2 release has been confirmed by Warner, and it will hit shelves on the 9th of October.

Masters of Cinema lineup for Oct/Nov

2006-09-04T17:43:00.000+01:00

The Masters of Cinema series have announced their line-up for October and November, and both are boxsets: the first is The Complete Buster Keaton Short Films spanning from 1915 to 1923, with a combined length of 700 mins. The 32 shorts, spread over four discs, are:

The Butcher Boy
The Rough House
His Wedding Night
Oh Doctor!
Coney Island
Out West
The Bellboy
Moonshine
Good Night, Nurse!
The Cook
Back Stage
The Hayseed
The Garage
The High Sign
One Week
Convict 13
The Scarecrow
Neighbours
The Haunted House
Hard Luck
The Goat
The Playhouse
The Boat
The Paleface
Cops
My Wife's Relations
The Blacksmith
The Frozen North
Daydreams
The Electric House
The Balloonatic
The Love Nest

The second set comprises three films by the Japanese filmmaker Mikio Naruse (unknown to us at B&J but regarded as one of the country's all-time greats alongside Ozu, Kurosawa and Mizoguchi; nice essay can be found here), Repast (1951), Sound of the Mountain (1954) and Flowing (1956). It will be the first time that these films have ever been released on home video in Britain.

The Buster Keaton set is tentatively scheduled for release on the 23rd of October; Three Films by Mikio Naruse is to street on the 20th of November.

Artwork and extra features updates to follow. In the meantime, have a look at Slant Magazine's excellent and thorough feature on Naruse and his films, including reviews of the three titles above.

Helen Mirren interview

2006-09-02T14:38:00.000+01:00

Helen Mirren talks at length to The Guardian about her new film The Queen directed by Stephen Frears, opening in mid-September.

BBFC interview

2006-09-01T20:34:00.000+01:00

With the MPAA-critical documentary This Film Is Not Yet Rated opening today, The Guardian is running an interesting interview with the British counterpart, the BBFC, about the decision-making and reasoning behind recent film ratings and the changes Britain's rating board went through in the past years.

RIP Glenn Ford

2006-09-01T18:11:00.000+01:00

Glenn Ford, Canadian-born actor, 1916 -2006. Best known for his parts in the Rita Hayworth musical Gilda (1946), the two Fritz Lang's The Big Heat (1953) and Human Desire (1954), and The Blackboard Jungle (1956).

edited to add this obituary by Ronald Bergan.

The Brides of Dracula (1960)

2006-09-01T13:29:00.000+01:00

The Brides of Dracula (1960) is generally acknowledged as the finest of Hammer's Dracula movies, with the exception of the original Dracula aka Horror of Dracula (1958).

Christopher Lee declined to appear in this sequel, so it is rather curiously a Dracula movie without a Dracula. The never-less-than-wonderful Peter Cushing makes a return as Dr Van Helsing, however. The little-known David Peel plays Baron Meinster, a disciple of Count Dracula, and the pretty Yvonne Monlaur is his unwitting victim. There is also an appearance from the great Martita Hunt, with more than a shade of her earlier Miss Havisham (in David Lean's 1948 sub-horror Great Expectations).

The movie's success with the critics can generally be attributed to the high production values. Bernard Robinson's sets never looked more lavish, and Jack Asher's lighting and photography is stunning, the picture filled with lush, fantastical greens, reds and purples. (Incidentally, this method was costly, and Hammer were soon to replace Asher with the more restrained Arthur Grant.)

Regular Hammer composer James Bernard is missing from the ensemble; the score is by Malcolm Williamson. It's fine music in its own right, but in the film it comes across as overblown: Every time a crucifix is whipped out, the orchestra thunders in like Indiana Jones has just discovered the Holy Grail.

Still, this is a very neatly crafted and enjoyable horror film laden with memorable moments and striking images, a great testament to Hammer's capabilities.

My rating? * * * * *

Criterion's re-issue of Playtime (1967) reviewed

2006-08-30T18:41:00.000+01:00

Another link to a Beaver review, this time Criterion's reissue of Jacques Tati's Playtime (1967) which is regarded by many as his crowning achievement. It looks sharper than any other release and the green tint of the video transfer of the BFI's R2 disc is gone; most extras are ported over from the BFI and the original Criterion release but the BBC documentary and the rare US interview that are new to this release should make this a worthwhile second purchase if you already own the BFI version (which is still a very good alternative for those without a multi-region player) . For purists and Tati fans wanting the most complete release, it's a no-brainer. Criterion's re-issue of Playtime is available from the 5th of September.

Julianne Moore talks to The Guardian

2006-08-26T09:04:00.000+01:00

Good interview with Julianne Moore about her career and new film Trust the Man in this Saturday's edition of the Guardian. Trust the Man opens on Sept the 22nd.

EIFF round-up (20-24th of August)

2006-08-24T10:20:00.000+01:00

It's my last day at the EIFF with only one jury screening (British comedy debut Someone Else) left for me to overlook. Due to other commitments, I'll have to pass up the film although if the lukewarm-to-negative responses are anything to go by it won't be much of a loss - my London-based EIFF colleagues weren't impressed with what they felt was the typical tourist postcard view of the capital and the allegedly so-so comedy. The ordinariness of Someone Else seems representative of the overall solid, if decidedly underwhelming quality of this year's festival programme; many films I saw showed technical expertise but few had anything interesting to say about their respective genres.

Into that category belong the schizophrenic Norwegian thriller Next Door with Lynchian sound design and shades of early Polanski in which a reclusive young man who has just been left by his girlfriend gets drawn into a circle of sexual violence and murder after being seduced by the two mysterious women living in the adjacent apartment (* * out of five), the all-too-rarely amusing black comedy Shut Up & Shoot Me from the Czech Republic about an Englishman who wants to commit suicide after his wife is accidentally killed during their holiday in Prague (* out of five), Michael Cuesta's sometimes successful but altogether shrill and sneering look at American suburbia, Twelve and Holding, which benefits from an excellent ensemble cast (* * out of five) and the French comedy One Fine Day with Benoit Poelvoorde who became famous for his superb turn as the postman-turned serialkiller in Man Bites Dog; Poelvoorde plays insurance salesman Francois Berthier who, in a plot somewhat reminiscent of Groundhog Day, finds that one day his bad fortune (his wife has filed for divorce, the espresso machine explodes, his co-workers and boss bully him) has been reversed miraculously. As sugary-sweet as Amelie but not as diverting, the film lacks a real satirical edge to sustain its one-note joke (* * out of five).

Worth a look are the following three entries: the tender and bittersweet Thai love story Midnight, My Love revolves around a Bangkok taxi driver, Bati, a loner, who meets a young escort girl, Nuan, during one of his night shifts and gradually falls in love with her. The film is full of nostalgia and palpable affection for 1950/60s Thai pop songs and the older generations' traditional, conservative way of life; the blossoming romance between the middle-aged man and the girl is told with great sensitivity and a light touch that is also evident in the kitsch and parody of the 1970s style soap operas that mirror Bati's feelings. When Bati gets involved with Nuan's clients the film briefly wanders off into gangster film and sci-fi territory which felt jarringly out of character to me. However, the film deserves credit for forcing Bati to earn his redemption the hard way, and the cautiously optimistic, quietly moving coda reminded me a little of the beautiful finale of Chaplin's City Lights. Rating could go up on a second viewing if the film gets a national distributor. (* * * out of five)

The documentary Al Franken: God Spoke is a sometimes side-splittingly funny portrait of the former Saturday Night Life comedian and left-wing radio talk show host Al Franken during his successful campaign against the FOX network and his debates with right-wing opponents Bill O'Reilly, Rush Rimbaugh and Ann Coulter. It's an illuminating depiction of the mechanisms and ideologies of the country's left-wing media and a forceful reminder of the political and cultural divide in the US; it's also free of the editorialising that occasionally mars Michael Moore's work. My only concern is that, as it ends just in the aftermath of the 2004 presidential elections, the film loses some of its urgency and topicality, and comes at least a year late (I'm only guessing but for the immediate and long-term future it may well be intended to rejuvenate disillusioned Democrat voters and the few unconverted for 2008). (* * * out of five)

It's impossible to talk about the Spanish film The Uncertain Guest in detail without spoiling it but suffice to say that this captivating and mind-bending film alternating between suspense, horror and comedy belies its seemingly generic appearance: a young architect, unsettled and living alone in his large aparment after the break-up from his girlfriend, receives a strange visitor one evening. The man asks to use Felix's phone and then disappears completely. When he begins hearing noises in the house, Felix becomes uncertain whether they are real or imagined. To say more wouldn't be fair except that the film's original approach pays off as long as one's prepared to accept that the final revelations feel a bit contrived but that's a small price to pay for Morales' sheer inventiveness. (* * * out of five)

Best Films of the Festival:

Air Guitar Nation
Summer Palace
Luxury Car

Worst Film of the Festival:

Red Shoes

Films I Missed:

The Host
It's Winter
Them
Iceberg

Criterion's new 3-disc reissue of Seven Samurai (R1) reviewed

2006-08-23T09:52:00.000+01:00

DVDBeaver has a detailed review of Criterion's reissue of Akira Kurosawa's 1954 masterpiece Seven Samurai here. The screenshots speak for themselves; I used to own the BFI Region 2 disc and am speechless at what Criterion have produced with their new restoration. We have our own copy on pre-order which we hope to get in 2-3 weeks' time and will be reviewing it for this blog next month. Criterion's re-release of Seven Samurai will hit shelves on the 5th of September.

Looney Tunes Vol 4 Collection in November (R1)

2006-08-23T09:44:00.000+01:00

Warner have announced the Looney Tunes Vol 4 Golden Collection for the 14th of November in Region 1 (a Region 2 set should follow soon after, as an HMV exclusive). We split this from our original news item back in July as it's quite a long listing and deserves its own entry. Here's the artwork, Warner's press release and the listing in full:

“The release of new Golden Collection volumes has become a highly-anticipated yearly event for Looney Tunes fans. We think consumers will be really pleased with the selection of shorts we have chosen for this volume. Viewers will find some of their favorites as well as some rarities,” commented Dorinda Marticorena, WHV Vice President, Kids and Sports Marketing. She added, “Warner Bros. artists were brilliant in their creation of Looney Tunes because they have brought to life such enduring characters. More than half a century later, Bugs Bunny, Tweety, Porky Pig and the rest of the Looney Tunes family are as popular as ever.”

That wascally wabbit and the rest of the gang are back in an all-star collection encompassing The Looney Tunes characters’ most memorable appearances. Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume Four is a four-disc collector set with 60 unedited classic, digitally re-mastered, animated shorts and will be packed with special features including commentaries, alternate audio programs, “Behind-the-Tunes” featurettes, rare shorts and more. Each disc in this set will be devoted to a theme or character and will feature 15 shorts.

Disc 1: Bugs Bunny Classics
Disc one focuses on everyone’s favorite carrot-crunching hare, Bugs Bunny and includes such shorts as Roman Legion-Hare, Rabbit Hood and Sahara Hare. The disc also includes Knighty Knight Bugs, a short in which a medieval Bugs Bunny traded blows with Yosemite Sam and his fire-breathing dragon. The cartoon won an Academy Award® for “Best Short Subject: Cartoons.”

Shorts:

Roman Legion-Hare
The Grey Hounded Hare
Rabbit Hood
Operation: RABBIT
Knight-mare Hare
Southern Fried Rabbit
Mississippi Hare
Hurdy-Gurdy Hare
Forward March Hare
Sahara Hare
Barbary-Coast Bunny
To Hare is Human
8 Ball Bunny
Knighty Knight Bugs
Rabbit Romeo

Extras:

Commentaries:
- Rabbit Hood, by director Eric Goldberg. Viewers can look for a cameo by actor Errol Flynn in Bugs Bunny’s medieval adventure.
- Operation: RABBIT, by writer Paul Dini. Viewers learn why this classic is the definitive encounter between Wile E. Coyote, “Super Genius,” and Bugs Bunny.
- Mississippi Hare, by director Eric Goldberg. Viewers discover this unique classic featuring Bugs’ famous soft-shoe dance and the hot-tempered Colonel Shuffle.
- Hurdy-Gurdy Hare, by writer Paul Dini. A revealing look into Bob McKimson’s classic where Bugs attempts to tame and train a wild gorilla.
- 8 Ball Bunny, by historian Jerry Beck. An animated Humphrey Bogart guest stars in Bugs’ memorable adventure to return a little penguin to his South Pole home.
- Rabbit Romeo, by actor June Foray and historian Jerry Beck. June Foray reveals her experiences working with Bob McKimson and Mel Blanc as she voiced Millicent, Bugs’ Slobovian admirer.
Alternate Audio Programs:
- Operation: RABBIT Music and Effects Track
- Knight-Mare Hare Music Only Track
- Southern Fried Rabbit Music and Effects Track
- Sahara Hare Music Only Track
- Barbary-Coast Bunny Music Only Track
- To Hare is Human Music Only Track
- Rabbit Romeo Music Only Track
Twilight in Tunes: The Music of Raymond Scott
Bugs Bunny Superstar Part 1 (1976 documentary)
Powerhouse in Pictures
Fifty Years of Bugs Bunny in 3½ Minutes (1989 short)
The Bugs Bunny Show
- Ballpoint Puns Bridging Sequences
- Foreign Legion Leghorn Audio Recording Sessions
Trailer Gallery
- Bugs Bunny’s Cartoon Carnival
- Bugs Bunny’s All-Star Revue

Disc 2: Frank Tashlin Showcase
Disc two showcases the work of animator, screenwriter and director, Frank Tashlin whose trademark cartoons featured quick editing, wild and outrageous gags, and extremely odd angles. This disc contains The Case of the Stuttering Pig, which features Petunia Pig, and also includes Little Pancho Vanilla, Little Beau Porky, Porky in the North Woods and several others.

Shorts:

The Case of the Stuttering Pig
Little Pancho Vanilla
Little Beau Porky
Now that Summer is Gone
Porky in the North Woods
You’re an Education
Porky’s Railroad
Plane Daffy
Porky the Fireman
Cracked Ice
Puss n’ Booty
I Got Plenty of Mutton
Booby Hatched
Unruly Hare
The Stupid Cupid

Extras:

Commentaries:
- The Case of the Stuttering Pig, by animator Mark Kausler. Viewers will have a chance to explore early Porky in this classic cartoon masterpiece of gothic parody.
- Now That Summer is Gone, by historian Michael Barrier with director Frank Tashlin. Frank Tashlin provides insight into his cinematic tour-de-force of animation; a fable in which squirrels gamble instead of gathering nuts.
- Porky in the North Woods, by animator Mark Kausler. Viewers go behind the cinematic style and pacing of this early cartoon by comedic master Frank Tashlin.
- You’re an Education, by historian Daniel Goldmark. Viewers find out about this final chapter in Frank Tashlin’s come-to-life trilogy featuring a musical travel guide.
- Plane Daffy, by filmmaker Greg Ford. Viewers learn about one of Daffy’s most memorable war exploits, as he takes on the Nazis in a secret mission behind enemy lines.
- Cracked Ice, by historian Michael Barrier with director Frank Tashlin. Frank Tashlin comments on his cartoon movie and radio parody of W.C. Squeals in ice skates.
- Puss n’ Booty, by historian Jerry Beck. Viewers gain insight into this last great black and white Looney Tunes cartoon; a classic of animated anxiety.
- I Got Plenty of Mutton, by filmmaker Greg Ford. Offers a look into the fast paced absurdity in one of Frank Tashlin’s more memorable World War II fables.
- Porky’s Poultry Plant, by historian Michael Barrier with director Frank Tashlin. Frank Tashlin talks about his and Carl Stalling’s debuts as a Looney Tunes director and composer.
- The Stupid Cupid, by director Eddie Fitzgerald. Viewers find out more about this rare teaming of Daffy and Elmer.
Bugs Bunny Superstar Part 2 (1976 documentary)
Porky and Daffy in The William Tell Overture (2006 short)
Frank Tashlin’s Storybooks
- Little Chic’s Wonderful Mother
- Tony and Clarence
From the Vault:
- The Goldbrick (1943 short)
- The Home Front (1943 short)
- Censored (1944 short)

Disc 3: Speedy Gonzales
The third disc is devoted to “the fastest mouse in all Mexico,” Speedy Gonzales and includes Cat-Tails for Two, which features a skinnier Speedy with a sizeable gold front tooth. Disc three also includes Tabasco Road, Mexicali Shmoes and The Pied Piper of Guadalupe, all of which were nominated for Academy Awards®.

Shorts:

Cat-Tails for Two
Tabasco Road
Tortilla Flaps
Mexicali Shmoes
Here Today, Gone Tamale
West of the Pesos
Cannery Woe
The Pied Piper of Guadalupe
Mexican Boarders
Chili Weather
A Message to Gracias
Nuts and Volts
Pancho’s Hideaway
The Wild Chase
A-Haunting We Will Go

Extras:

Commentaries:
- Cat-Tails for Two, by actor Stan Freberg and historian Jerry Beck. Stan Freberg shares his experiences working with Bob McKimson on this “Of Mice and Men” parody featuring George and Benny and Speedy Gonzales.
- Mexican Boarders, by filmmaker Greg Ford with director Friz Freleng. Friz Freleng comments on this fan favorite appearance of Speedy’s cousin, Slowpoke Rodriquez.
- Nuts and Volts, by animator Art Leonardi and historian Jerry Beck. Art Leonardi talks about animating one of the last cartoons of the great Golden Age of Looney Tunes.
- The Wild Chase, by writer Paul Dini. Viewers find out more about this classic race between the Looney Tunes two fastest characters, Road Runner and Speedy Gonzales.
Alternate Audio Programs:
- Cat-Tails for Two Music and Effects Track
- Tabasco Road Music Only Track
- Mexicali Schmoes Music Only Track
- West of the Pesos Music Only Track
Friz on Film (2006 Documentary)
From the Vault:
- 90 Day Wondering (1956 Short)
- Drafty, Isn’t It? (1957 Short)

Disc 4: Cats
Disc four is entirely devoted to the theme of cats and features such shorts as The Night Watchman, Pizzicato Pussycat, The Aristo-Cat and others. The Night Watchman is a Merrie Melodies cartoon that was the first short with Chuck Jones as director.

Shorts:

The Night Watchman
Conrad the Sailor
The Sour Puss
The Aristo-Cat
Dough Ray Me-ow
Pizzicato Pussycat
Kiss Me Cat
Cat Feud
The Unexpected Pest
Go Fly a Kit
Kiddin’ the Kitten
A Peck o’ Trouble
Mouse and Garden
Porky’s Poor Fish
Swallow the Leader

Extras:

Commentaries:
- Conrad the Sailor, by filmmaker Greg Ford with director Chuck Jones. Chuck Jones talks about one of his early Daffy cartoons featuring a rare performance by prolific movie voice actor Pinto Colvig as Conrad Cat.
- The Aristo-Cat, by director Eddie Fitzgerald. Viewers learn more about this classic appearance of Hubie and Bertie as they torment the anxiety-ridden Pussy Cat.
- The Aristo-Cat, by filmmaker Greg Ford with director Chuck Jones. Chuck Jones comments on one of his more stylized cartoons.
- Dough Ray Me-ow, by historian Jerry Beck. Viewers gain insight into Arthur Davis’ take on the lovable lug of a housecat, Heathcliff, who is set to inherit a million dollars if he can outsmart a tricky Parrot.
- Pizzicato Pussycat, by Daniel Goldmark. Viewers find out about Friz Freleng’s musical genius in this underrated gem which highlights his sense of rhythmic comedy.
- The Unexpected Pest, by actor June Foray and historian Jerry Beck. June Foray talks about her experiences working with Robert McKimson on this classic featuring Sylvester the Cat.
Alternate Audio Programs:
- Cat Feud Music Only Track
- The Unexpected Pest Music Only Track
- Go Fly a Kit Music Only Track
- A Peck of Trouble Music and Effects Track
Behind the Tunes (2006 documentary featurettes):
- One Hit Wonders
- Sing-a-Song of Looney Tune
- The Art of the Gag
- Wild Lines: The Art of Voice Acting
- Looney Tunes: A Cast of Thousands
From the Vault:
- Porky’s Breakdowns
- Sahara Hare Storyboard Reel
- Porky’s Poor Fish Storyboard Reel

EIFF: Air Guitar Nation (2006)

2006-08-22T10:16:00.000+01:00

Had scant interest in seeing Air Guitar Nation (as I'm no fan of rock music at all) but this docu, a loving and respectful look at the Air Guitar US and world championships and the colourful personalities of the players, was wonderful fun and one of the few unique discoveries at this year's EIFF. In an Air Guitar competition, contestants are given one minute to perform a song which on a superficial level means to simulate plucking the non-existent strings but in truth it's an altogether more abstract art form about reflecting the spirit and essence of the music in individual style. The film follows two young men, aspiring air guitarist Dan Crane aka "Bjorn Turoque" from New York and the reigning US champion David Jung aka "C-Diddy", an Asian-American who uses a Kung-fu style. C-Diddy defends his title and travels to Finland for the World Championships which the US partook in for the first time in 2003 (the world championships started in 1996). Gathering enough donations from friends and fans for the journey, Turoque follows C-Diddy to Finland to try proving himself once more.

The passion of the filmmakers and the contestants for Air Guitar is so infectious, the showmanship and the swipes at the competition so hilarious, that this knowingly ironic and fast-paced film is bound to attain a cult following. Pic's only shortcoming is that it limits its focus mainly on the American players during the last two rounds of the World Championship: even with our limited knowledge of the art, it would have been intriguing to see the performances of their world rivals in full but in current form you only get the American performances unedited. Still, the film was an unexpected and absolute pleasure. By the way, make sure you stay for the full end credits or else you'll miss one of the funniest punchlines I've heard all year. The assembled press was in stitches. * * * * * (out of five)

EIFF: Colour Me Kubrick (2006) (updated with Observer article link)

2006-08-22T08:00:00.000+01:00

Update: this Observer article from 1999 gives more background information on Alan Conway's life and is good complementary reading for the film.

Saw Brian Cook's Colour Me Kubrick twice at the festival this past week and I'm glad to say that the film held up on second viewing: it's the true story of the gay Kubrick impersonator Alan Conway who in the 1990s conned young impressionable gay men he was attracted to, his pharmacist, the owner of a posh London bar chain, a male nurse and local comedian Lee Pratt (all of whom had money, goodwill and connections) into believing that he was the famous but reclusive director Stanley Kubrick while the real Kubrick was away shooting Eyes Wide Shut at Pinewood Studios. The fact that Conway looked nothing like Kubrick made his feat all the more impressive but he was eventually exposed after trying his trick on the New York Times critic Frank Rich who instigated a press investigation into the matter. Charges weren't pressed against Conway because his victims couldn't bear the idea of having to testify to their humiliation in a public trial.

The plot of Colour Me Kubrick is basically the same hoax played over and over again with different victims but the repetition never becomes an issue credit for which goes to Anthony Frewin's economical and witty script, and the pacing is just right at 86 minutes. The script misses the opportunity to develop the intriguing subplot about the ongoing investigation into Conway's hoaxes further and it rather glosses over the darker aspects of his life but at least it's intelligent entertainment that earns its laughs. The film quotations are appreciably smart (note the use of music from Kubrick's films in a new, often ironic, sometimes straight-faced context) and Cook has cast the picture shrewdly. The supporting cast is unanimously very good (particularly enjoyed turns by William Hootkins, Richard E. Grant and Jim Davidson whose entrance got one of the biggest laughs at both screenings); and John Malkovich gives an excellent comic performance that would have been pitch-perfect were it not for a short scene where Malkovich/Conway takes a shot at Malkovich the actor; it's a smug gesture and too self-reflexive, and it's out of character with the rest of the film. Vicky Russell's inventive and intentionally shrill costumes enrich the film enormously (an ample reminder of how much comedy can be wrought from outlandish visuals) and the production design looks and feels authentic. * * * * (out of five)

Snakes on a Plane (2006) & EIFF

2006-08-19T23:22:00.000+01:00

Took a break from the festival to see New Line's Snakes on a Plane last night: the pic gets enough things right to defy expectations of an outright disaster, provided you can take the film for what it is (Sam Jackson describing it accurately as a nice way to spend 2 hours on a Saturday afternoon). Jackson plays FBI agent Nelville Flynn who has taken Sean Jones, the key witness in the trial against Asian gangster Eddie Kim into custody. Kim's men locate the plane which is to get Jones to Los Angeles and smuggle crates full with snakes on board to kill Jones and the other passengers. Snakes is a great concept but the film, parts of which were reshot after ideas from its internet following were included in the script, is merely adequate even if the added gore and gleeful bad-taste humour give the film an edge that the originally intended PG-13 cut almost certainly would have lacked. Characters are expectedly one-dimensional and director David Ellis seems uncertain in which direction he should take the film. Snakes has one or two genuinely good jump scares but it's short on real suspense and as a collaboration of sorts between its makers and its audience, it feels a little too self-conscious and pre-packaged for comfort. A case of not-as-good-nor-as-bad-as-it-could-have-been, it's acceptable while it lasts and only marginally more memorable than other hogwash for its unique production history. * * (out of five)

At any rate, Snakes is preferable to the Korean horror Red Shoes (shown to the public this Saturday morning) which so promisingly takes its inspiration and the title from Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's wonderful 1948 ballet drama of the same name but my hope that the picture would be any good lasted for just five minutes. The plot revolves around a pair of pink shoes that exert a terrible influence on anyone drawn to them and leave their wearers dead with their feet chopped off. When eye specialist and shoe collector Sun-jae discovers the shoes on the subway train and brings them home to the run-down flat where she is living with her daughter Tae-soo, it sets events in motion that have their origins in a tragedy dating back to 1940's Japan. As so many other Asian genre films before it, Red Shoes is about the disintegration of the family and the bond of the mother with the daughter and the father as the catalyst for the break-up, but like everything else in the film, it's dealt with at such a high pitch and a lack of subtlety that manages the rare feat of making the Hollywood genre staple comparatively and positively sedate. The whole endeavour has an overbearing score and sound effects cranked up to eleven, genre cliches (wicked black-haired girl spirit with obscured face), jump scares and false alarms in such overabundance that my initial disappointment gave way to boredom and outright annoyance very quickly. To say it's unworthy of Hans Christian Andersen's tale and Powell and Pressburger's film, would be kind if not telling the full truth; frankly, it's so outrageously pathetic that you don't even give a damn about the twists it produces in the finale. zero stars (out of five)

RIP Monty Berman and the 'gong man'

2006-08-18T15:45:00.000+01:00

Kenneth Richmond, the man who famously struck the gong for J Arthur Rank, has died at the age of 80. Read more here.

And Monty Berman, film and TV producer, is dead at 93. While he was most famous for a string of ITC hits in the 1960s - The Saint, Jason King, The Champions, Randall and Hopkirk Deceased - I will remember him for the horror films he produced with Robert S Baker in the late '50s, including Jack the Ripper (1958) and The Flesh and the Fiends (1959), a surprisingly good take on the Burke and Hare story, with Peter Cushing and Donald Pleasance. A worthy competitor to Hammer Studios, the invincible horror-makers at that time.

According to IMDB, he died on June 12. It just made the Guardian this week.

The New York Times, on the other hand, seems to think the poor chap passed away in Monte Carlo in 2002. If so, I guess you just can't keep a good man down.

(Actually, my bad - The NY Times was talking about Monty M Berman, a costume designer born in the same year!)

EIFF impressions (17-18th of August)

2006-08-17T21:31:00.000+01:00

Luxury Car, the winner of this year's Un Certain Regard competition at Cannes, is a stirring and reflective tale about country school teacher Qi Ming who comes to visit his daughter Yanhong in Wuhan. Having promised her cancer-stricken mother that he will find her brother who has gone missing more than a year ago before she dies, he asks a sympathetic police officer for help. Yanhong, who works as an escort girl at a karaoke bar and has a lover in her boss, the gangster He Ge, struggles to keep her job secret from her quiet but alert father, and her rejection of a volatile customer complicates matters further. The film is a sumptuously shot and captivating look at the state of contemporary China, putting the difficulties of making it and living in metropolitan society into sharp contrast with traditional country life. The scenes between Yanhong and her father are particularly affecting in that Ming quickly realises exactly how his daughter makes a living but he remains unwavering in his love and support for her. His meetings with the cop, in which both men share their anguish over having lost track of their sons, are equally characterised by a defiance not to let life's disillusionments triumph over their hopes and spirits. Wu Youcai and Li Yiquing are terrific as the two old men who face and bear the setbacks that life deals them with great dignity and generosity while Tian Wuan and Huang He show nuance and conviction in their roles as the secretive couple. Among the best films of this festival. * * * * (out of five)

In the Korean drama April Snow, stage lighting director In-Su gets a message that his wife has been involved in a car accident. At the hospital he meets the quiet Seo-young whose husband was in the passenger seat of In-Su's wife's car, with both spouses left in a coma. The discovery that their spouses have been knowing and meeting each other for years causes In-Su and Seou-young to ponder why their partners began the affair in the first place. Looking for comfort and sensing that the other shares their own sense of abandonment, they are drawn to each other and cautiously begin a relationship. This could have been a good picture; you can see the potential in both the story and the film itself inasfar as that it's been shot and directed in understated fashion but it increasingly feels less natural than pre-conceived and too remote. Any restraint the film shows is betrayed by the terrible piano score, and the whole thing is so tediously long that a more economical length might have salvaged the pic to some extent. * (out of five)

Saw Black Brush Friday morning: it's a low-key deadpan comedy from Hungary in which the four chimney sweepers Zoltan, Anti, Papi and Dofi spend their days smoking drugs and cigarettes and sunbathing on the rooftops rather than going about their job. When their boss entrusts Zoltan with a large sum of money to complete their work, giving them until the next day to get the job done, and Anti loses all the money in a cockfight, the four get involved with a Hare Krishna-style religious sect and go after a friend's goat who has eaten Zoltan's driving licence and Anti's lottery ticket to retrieve the money before their boss returns. Black Brush is indebted to the likes of Jim Jarmusch and Aki Kaurismaki and it's a likeable, often diverting but ultimately too slight comedy with lovely black-and-white cinematography, a moody soundtrack and a convincing lead quartet. Charming oddball humour (drug-addicted goats, slaughtering of the latter with a samurai sword) and flashes of surrealism make up for the meandering script that goes off the trail too often before the end. As a 45 min short, it might have been superb. * * * (out of five)

The Guardian's Xan Brooks on the new practice of no-shows for critics

2006-08-16T21:02:00.000+01:00

The Guardian's Film Unlimited web editor Xan Brooks has written a perceptive blog entry about the increasing practice of the studios to no longer show some of their films to critics before the theatrical release.

EIFF impressions (14-16th of August)

2006-08-16T14:18:00.000+01:00

Three days into the festival, I can say that going by the films I've been able to see so far, they have picked a very solid selection for this anniversary year: Monday I sat in press showings for Guernsey and In Between Days, and would have stayed for Art School Confidential, Terry Zwigoff's latest film (which attracted a substantial number of critics and industry delegates), if by that time in the early afternoon I hadn't been so exhausted from the long shift. With so many films screening within 15 minutes of each other and at different venues, it's regrettably impossible to see them all: the British feature Lives of the Saints sounded intriguing as did the Iranian entry It's Winter which word of mouth suggests is very good.

A few words on the Monday showings: Guernsey is a Dutch film that looks at the state of modern marriages from the woman's perspective. Anna, an international aid worker commuting between Egypt and her home city Rotterdam, is happily married to Sebastien with whom she has a young boy. But she clashes with her estranged sister who once used to be Sebastien's girlfriend, and her life is thrown off-balance when a colleague commits suicide on a recent business trip. She discovers that Sebastien is having an affair, she begins to question the motives behind the relationship between her father and his new, much younger wife and she gets increasingly uncertain about her own emotions. The film has a terrific lead in Maria Kraakman and it rings true in its description of, and reflections on the complex and entangled nature of modern relationships; it's also a work of great restraint (music is sparsely used if at all) which often relies on gestures and facial expressions to communicate the meaning of what we see. The calm and measured pacing is a mixed blessing: key scenes gain great intensity and intimacy through it but the pic also feels slightly overlong in spite of running just 90 mins. **** (out of five)

In Between Days tells the story of Korean girl Aimie who has moved to Canada with her mother but finds it very difficult to settle down in her new life in Toronto. The only person she feels close to, is Tran, a teenage boy and Korean like herself, but they struggle to keep up their friendship, feeling drawn to each other but also distrusting one another unfairly. The picture, atmospherically shot on handheld DV, gives an authentic feeling for Aimie's emotional solitude and her longing for companionship, her first experience of love and disappointment, and yet it lacks a sense of urgency, that extra emotional punch. I enjoyed In Between Days a lot (Jiseon Kim who plays Aimie, is particularly good) but it never soars to greater heights. *** (out of five)

Tuesday I saw the documentary The Empire in Africa which chronicles West African state Sierra Leone's descent into political corruption, chaos and bloodshed starting in the early 1990s until it came to an end eleven years later: the film is narrated by musician Richie Havens and recounts through archive footage how a group of rebels started a civil war in order to wrestle control over the country's diamond resources back from Western corporations and triggered a conflict that cost the lives of several ten-thousands of innocent civilians. Interviewees include President Kabbah, his ministers of Information and Defence, ECOMOG commander-in-chief Koroma, representatives of the civil society and homeless villagers who have been taken in by malnutritional centres. The film paints a dense, comprehensive picture of the political and humanitarian failures of the West, Britain included, and makes for harrowing viewing in its unflinching depiction of the atrocities inflicted on civilians and the fighting between the warring parties. Some scenes, including the destructive impact of Nigerian cluster bombs on villages and the militia's execution, mutilation, torture and degradation of civilians, even young children, suspected of working for the enemy, are near-unbearable to watch. Unlikely to crossover into the mainstream like Michael Moore's work or Al Gore's upcoming film on climate change, An Inconvenient Truth, The Empire in Africa is a tough sell and will present a challenge to any bidding distributor but it's a passionate project and a timely reminder of the appalling conditions in, and the dire need for support of the world's poorest country. **** (out of five)

New R2 release for Don't Look Now in October

2006-08-16T12:40:00.000+01:00

Nicholas Roeg's 1973 classic Don't Look Now with Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie gets a re-release on Region 2 on the 23rd of October, this time under Optimum (who have also taken distribution rights for The Third Man and The Wicker Man over from Warner UK, both arrive on the 25th of September and 4th of October respectively). No word from Optimum about any extras for this reissue as yet but we hope they fix the audio (which Warner and Studio Canal absolutely botched on the original R2 disc) and ensure that the new video transfer retains Roeg's original colour scheme (Paramount's old Region 1 disc had decent audio but the colours were all wrong).

RIP Bruno Kirby

2006-08-16T11:08:00.000+01:00

1949-2006.

Guardian story here.

Meet the Fockers; What's Eating Gilbert Grape?; Leon

2006-08-16T10:21:00.000+01:00

Watched a few films over the weekend with friends; none of them was bad, and one was exceptional.

I loved Meet the Fockers, the 2004 sequel to Meet the Parents. I'm a sucker for the first film, so it was with great delight that I sat down to the follow-up, even though I'd been told (by critics - bah!) that it was crap. Well, if you order popcorn, you don't judge it by haute cuisine standards. By popcorn standards, this was a blast. It was funny, silly and of course all very cheesey when it got to the sentimental bits. The film is helped by an excellent cast in Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand. Teri Polo seems a little awkward, and isn't given much to do.

My friend insisted I watched What's Eating Gilbert Grape?, the 1993 drama starring Johnny Depp and Leonardo DiCaprio. When I saw Lasse Hallstrom was director, I wasn't keen - I find Chocolat and The Cider House Rules spoiled by a sentimentalism that gets just a little suffocating by the end. I am pleased to report, then, that Gilbert Grape was more low-key than I expected, and genuinely moving.

But Leon (1994) was the greatest surprise of the weekend for me. I was impressed that Luc Besson managed to get such truly emotional drama to sit so comfortably alongside the traditional elements of an action thriller. Jean Reno is heartbreaking in the title role of a man whose career is killing people, and yet who connects to life through his love for a potted plant, Gene Kelly and an orphaned girl (Natalie Portman). The two stars effortlessly brought tears to my eyes from their first encounter.

My ratings?

Meet the Fockers * * * * *
What's Eating Gilbert Grape? * * * * *
Leon * * * * * (I will not be surprised if this climbs to a five on subsequent viewings)

Only Yesterday (R2) in September

2006-08-15T23:38:00.000+01:00

Isao Takahata's Only Yesterday (1991) will be released by Optimum on the 4th of September. Takahata was previously responsible for Grave of the Fireflies (1988) and My Neighbours, the Yamadas (1999). Optimum's DVD will include the usual storyboards, a making of and the theatrical trailer.

Criterion's line-up for November

2006-08-15T16:36:00.000+01:00

Criterion have announced three new titles for November: Krzyzstof Kieslowki's The Double Life Of Veronique (1992), the German silent film classic Pandora's Box (1929) and Carol Reed's Graham Greene adaptation The Fallen Idol (1948).

The Kieslowski film already exists on two very good (as identical) Region 2 DVDs from MK2 and Artifical Eye (available here) so we may do a comparison between the Criterion and the Artificial Eye when the Criterion has been released. In addition to the Kieslowski interview and his three short films from the AE, the Criterion will include an audio commentary by Annette Insdorf, a new documentary on Kieslowski, new interviews with Irene Jacob and composer Preisner as well as a booklet with essays by Jonathan Romney and Slavoy Zizek.

The Fallen Idol is available on Region 2 from Optimum at a very reasonable price but with no extras; Pandora's Box is out on a 2-disc set.

(Update) Forbidden Planet SE & Superman Set (R1/R2) in November

2006-08-14T12:08:00.000+01:00

Warner (US) have announced that they will be releasing Forbidden Planet (US 1956) in Region 1 on a 2 disc version and a boxset that includes a replica of Robby the Robot on the 14th of November. Forbidden Planet is loosely based on Shakespeare's The Tempest and tells the story of Commander Adams and his crew who are sent to Planet Altair-4 in the 23rd century after Earth has lost contact with the scientists inhabiting the planet. The pic is regarded as one of the most influential sci-fi films ever, featuring pioneering special-effects as well as the first entirely electronical score recorded on film; Alien, Star Trek and Star Wars among others are indebted to this film. Full details of the announcement are here; the artwork is below. The R2 DVD follows on the 27th of November (specs to be confirmed) and be pre-ordered here

Also to come from Warner on the 28th of November is a new Superman Collection set and an individual release of Superman II (1980) as original director Richard Donner envisioned it (almost all of his footage was shot before the studio replaced him with Richard Lester). Update: The Region 2 set comes out on the 20th of November.

White Palms (2006) & Snow Cake (2006) (EIFF impressions)

2006-08-13T18:59:00.000+01:00

Attended the festival's first Industry Screenings I was assigned to today, and signed in the press and delegates for the showings of White Palms and Snow Cake at Filmhouse 1. The former was screened early in the morning, perhaps as a result of that attracting only two journalists which is a pity as the Hungarian film was not only just as solid as the star-studded British-Canadian co-production (ten times as many critics showed up for Snow Cake) but more adventurous in its story-telling and technically very impressive.

White Palms is like the festival opener The Flying Scotsman a sports drama and they both revolve around troubled men excelling in their sport but the similarities end there. White Palms is the story of champion Hungarian gymnastic Miklos Dongo who suffered as a boy under his abusive coach Puma in early 1980s Debrecen but reconciles himself with his troubled past when he strikes up a friendship with Canadian athlete Kyle (Kyle and adult Miklos are played by real gymnasts) and competes against him in the Hungarian championship finale. The film begins with Miklos' arrival in Canada and then settles into a long flashback to his childhood experiences that is the picture's highlight with wonderful production design that vividly recreates Debrecen in the not too distant Communist era, and it's carried by a mostly wordless and magnificent turn from youngster Orion Radies. The film's second half which focuses on Dongo's and Kyle's friendship is nowhere near as good but gains in momentum when director Hajdu crosscuts between the present-day championships and young Miklos' life-endangering stunts at a Russian circus that he joined as a teenager. See White Palms for Radies' performance and a fantastic first half. *** (out of five)

Snow Cake is a bittersweet drama in which cop Alex Hughes (Alan Rickman) gives hitch-hiking girl Vivienne Freeman a lift home but on arriving in town (Wawa, Ontario), a truck driver runs into Alex's car and wounds the girl mortally. Traumatised from the accident, Alex visits Vivienne's highly autistic mother Linda (Sigourney Weaver) who seems unaffected by the news of her death. Linda convinces Alex to stay for a few days and he befriends her neighbour Maggie (Carrie-Ann Moss) who has as much emotional baggage as Alex and everyone else in town. Snow Cake never quite succeeds in making its characters' inner conflicts dramatically compelling and it leaves a plot thread involving Maggie and the local policeman who has an interest in her unresolved when that would have presented an opportunity to create more conflict. Still, it's a charming, occasionally impressively lensed film (DoP Steve Cosens makes good use of Ontario's outdoor scenery) and the star trio Rickman, Weaver and Moss is uniformly excellent. *** (out of five)

Lady in the Water (2006)

2006-08-12T17:13:00.000+01:00

(Spoiler warning: it's impossible to discuss the film without giving some scenes away so don't read on if you want to remain unspoiled)

Superintendent Cleveland Heep runs the apartment complex The Cove in Philadelphia which is inhabited by a young Asian student with her elderly mother, a bodybuilder, a group of drug junkies, an old lonesome man, a Mexican family and a wordsmith with his son. Having seen to his new tenant, the brusque film critic Farber, Heep discovers a girl in the building's swimming pool and takes her in. The enigmatic girl, Story, turns out to be a character from an old bedtime story, a sea nymph from the subterranean Blue World, the passageway to which is located beneath the pool. Its inhabitants are the benevolent "Narfs", sea-bound creatures who co-existed peacefully with humans centuries ago. They have now sent Story to try finding a kindred spirit and to spread peace among humans again. An evil wolf is trailing Story and Heep, with the help of his fellow tenants, tries to protect and return her safely to her own world.

Lady in the Water originated as a bed time story that M Night Shyamalan reportedly told his daughters (to whom the film is dedicated) in instalments and which he expanded upon as he went along: this would explain why his new picture is such a rambling, disjointed mess that asks you to put aside notions of reality and to accept that the usual rules of practicality don't apply here. One of my issues with the film is that even if you are prepared to go along with the anything-goes fairytale logic of Lady in the Water (and I can see many people giving up on it within the first twenty minutes), it simply doesn't reward your trust in it with any real magic and intrigue. Worse, Shyamalan takes convenient short-cuts to propel the story forward (Heep and his fellow tenants readily accept Story's otherworldliness and the roles she assigns them in their attempt to crack the puzzle of how to return her to the Blue World) and yet he never develops the film's mythology enough to make us want to engage with and invest in it. What is at stake exactly? What is the history behind Story and her people? Why don't the tree monkeys intervene sooner to stop the wolf?

In short, the film creates an alternative universe without ever fully (if at all) explaining the ideas and rules behind it which only confirms my suspicion that Shyamalan didn't have a clear, laid-out concept to begin with and simply made it up as he went along. It's lazy and ill-conceived, and it conforms to undignified stereotypes (the Mexican family shrieking hysterically at some insect in their flat in the opening scene sets the tone for the rest of the picture, i.e. the Korean student and her mother) of the building's multi-cultural community which in light of his own Asian ethnicity the director ought to have known better than to indulge in. However, it's really one of a piece with the other stultifying choices Shyamalan has made, the first one being the inclusion of the film critic Farber who is shown as a self-righteous, presumptuous and mean-spirited man whom the other characters and Shyamalan at large implicitly blame for endangering Story's life. The scene, in which Farber, facing the wolf, foolishly assumes he won't be killed because this is a family picture but is then viciously slaughtered by the beast, is essentially Shyamalan's open fuck-you letter to the critics who slated The Village and his public behaviour in the aftermath of that film's release. It's one of the few scenes in Lady in the Water that is genuinely interesting because it raises questions about the intentions behind it and to what ends it's meant to work. It's an abrasive gesture that openly invites further criticism so that I wonder whether Shyamalan knowingly provokes it so he can position himself as a martyr; the point being that by using the other characters' outrage at Farber earlier on Shyamalan implicitly paints himself as a misunderstood and unfairly maligned man.

In any case, it's unedifying to watch because the film with its awkward lurches in tone from comedy to suspense and slight PG-13 horror is so misconceived and underdeveloped that it only weakens instead of bolstering Shyamalan's defence. He also gives himself a crucial role in the film, as the writer who, according to Story, will inspire new leaders with his ideas. It's an unsavoury, self-aggrandising move that smacks of deep narcissicism and it'll leave anyone but the already converted distinctly unimpressed. It's self-exposure of the kind that is fascinating and yet saddening to watch. Lady in the Water is a fantasy that never takes flight, a tale that has no grace and poetry (which makes Shyamalan's sincerity and unshakeable belief that it does work so baffling, but it's as good a measure of his self-delusions as any); and it's the first film in which Paul Giamatti impressed me less than usual: I found his acting a bit too mannered this time but he still brings out his character's vulnerability and his sympathy for others, so that you fleetingly get a sense of how moving the film might have been in better circumstances. It's a terrible picture but as an insight into how the man behind it sees himself and his critics, you're bound to remember it for longer than the other baloney that the studios have released so far this summer. * (out of five)

Guardian: Animation for grown-ups & Tippi Hedren interview

2006-08-11T20:58:00.000+01:00

Wanted to draw your attention to this piece in today's Guardian about how currently showing feature film animation is moving away from children's stories to adult material in films like Richard Linklater's Philip K Dick adaptation A Scanner Darkly opening next week, and precursors like Ralph Bakshi's 1970s cartoon Felix the Cat.

Also came across a rather short interview with Tippi Hedren who talks about her experience of shooting The Birds and her fraught relationship with Hitchcock.

RIP Patrick Allen

2006-08-08T09:35:00.000+01:00

1927-2006.

Patrick Allen was a bit of a legend in the voiceover world. In the past decade or so he gained a cult following with his voiceovers on the Reeves and Mortimer show, and more recently, as the voice of E4.

His film appearances could be hit-and-miss, but his fans (including myself) were fond of him. I first remember hearing his distinctive voice in the prologue to the classic Carry on up the Khyber (1966), one of the few truly great films in the Carry On comedy series.

Last year I was introduced to Captain Clegg (1962), one of Hammer's most underrated films. As arch-rivals Clegg and Collier, Peter Cushing and Patrick Allen play off each other brilliantly. My enduring image of Allen is when he doffs his hat respectfully to the late Captain Clegg.

I now doff my hat respectfully to Patrick Allen, a much-loved British star.

The Harder They Fall (1956)

2006-08-07T16:23:00.000+01:00

I am pleased to say that Humphrey Bogart got the swansong he deserved with this 1956 drama. The signs were not good when I came across the DVD. Director Mark Robson - who he? IMDB informs me he directed Inn of the Sixth Happiness, Von Ryan's Express and Earthquake, all of which signals middle-of-the-road, but this is a surprisingly punchy drama (sorry, I swear I chose that adjective before I noticed the pun).

The story is typical noir, starring Bogey in a typical role. He is Eddie Willis, a sports writer desperate to do more than earn his crust, and struggling to rise above the seediness and corruption of the boxing world. He strikes a deal with shady New-York boxing promoter Nick Benko, played by Rod Steiger in just the sort of role he relishes. Willis becomes press agent to Toro Moreno, a South American boy of poor stock, whose seven-foot-plus stature makes him ripe for stardom, despite the fact he can't throw a punch. It becomes increasingly apparent that the promoters are taking Toro for a ride in order to make their bucks, and Willis takes pity on him.

There's warmth in Bogie's struggle to reconcile the cynicism he needs to get by in a dark and merciless world with his humanitarian instincts. The boxing scenes are photographed and edited in an effectively pacey and hard-hitting manner (if there are too many unintended puns here, that is only a reminder how often we writers use 'fighting' language to describe the impact of art). The final showdown is disarmingly brutal.

The one false note is the final shot; the movie held up on its own without having to labour a political point.

Nevertheless, a gutsy movie, and it was satisfying to know that while Bogart's career ended prematurely, it did not, like so many, end with a whimper.

My rating? * * * * * (4/5)

Johnson reports from the Edinburgh International Film Festival

2006-08-05T14:40:00.000+01:00

Went to the Filmhouse earlier today to attend a staff meeting of the Edinburgh International Film Festival (hereafter EIFF; official website) which celebrates its 60th anniversary this year from August the 14th-28th, and where I will be working in a voluntary position as an Industry Screening Assistant. It's my first opportunity to work at a festival of this size which is a very exciting prospect, and with a bit of luck, I should be able to cover a few films for the blog as well. The meeting began with a short speech from Artistic Director Shane Danielsen who will be presiding over the festival programme for the last time, with critic Hannah McGill to take over next year. The mood was relaxed and the passion of the organisers for the festival infectious; it promises to be an exciting and inspiring two weeks.

Which is more than can be said of the festival opener The Flying Scotsman (2006) which was screened exclusively for staff afterwards: the film is based on the real-life story of Scottish racing cyclist Graeme Obree's triumphs at the world championships in 1993 and 1995. He designed his own unique bike frame, appointed his friend Malcolm as his manager and, following months of hard training, set out to beat the current world record in cycling the largest distance in an hour. His success is regarded as a triumph of art over science, of the unsponsored, unsupported individualist over the establishment. Yet he faced a struggle against the WCF who, fearing for their authority and lack of competition, went on to ban the use of Obree's design in the tournament, citing health and safety reasons; furthermore, he was suffering from severe depression.

I wish I could say that the film turned out to be as inspiring as the man whose achievments it depicts but it is much less interested in Obree the person with his assets and flaws and his innovations than the feel-good factor that his successes in 1993 and 1995 provide. It doesn't touch enough on his ongoing struggle with depression so that, going by what the film chooses to show us, you'd almost be bound to think that his attempted suicide was just the result of Graeme's bullying by a gang of former schoolmates when in truth a number of factors contributed to his depression (among them the death of his brother in 1994, and his low self-esteem that would come to the fore if he lost a race). Like many other biopics, The Flying Scotsman feels incomplete and the problem, I think, is essentially not so much the restriction that a 2 hr running length imposes on the scope of the story re-told in the film, but the choices that are made in the adaptation: the film compromises itself by focusing too much and too obviously on the uplifting aspects of Obree's life; at least it neglects a more balanced adaptation that would give an edgier and more troubling account for the commercially more viable route of toning down the discomfort and reassuring us instead (would that at least it wouldn't feel so forced). It shows a kinship to Hollywood biopics like A Beautiful Mind and it ignites just as much interest which is to say not nearly enough. It's uninvolving for the most part (in spite of committed performances from Johnny Lee Miller, Billy Boyd and Brian Cox) and it condescends to its audience with an awful James Horner-style score that is blatantly signposting the mood of each given scene without adding anything interesting to it. What distinguishes this and a few other market-driven films from piffle like Ron Howard's is that it's piffle produced in our own backyard. It begs the question of why parts of the British film industry are still following the Hollywood template when the likes of Ken Loach and Scottish debutant Andrea Arnold with her Glasgow-set drama Red Road have reaped the rewards in Cannes earlier this year with challenging and stimulating films? I guess it's something to do with the standard riposte of having to satify the commercial market too but who says that we can't have some intelligence to go along with our entertainment? ** (out of five)

Terry Gilliam interviewed by the Guardian

2006-08-04T18:02:00.000+01:00

Ex-Monty Python Terry Gilliam, best known for Brazil (1985) and Twelve Monkeys (1995), talks to the Guardian's Stuart Jeffries about his upcoming film Tideland in which a 9 year old girl, living with her dad on a dilapidated farmhouse in Texas, immerses herself in a fantasy world of her imagination. Gilliam talks a bit about the film's production history and the scenes that will most likely cause controversy on the film's release Friday next week. Tideland's official website is here.

Criterion's new 6-disc Rohmer set reviewed

2006-08-02T17:07:00.000+01:00

DVDBeaver has a detailed and glowing review of Criterion's new set of Eric Rohmer's Moral Tales (1963-72) including the films The Bakery Girl of Monceau, Suzanne's Career, My Night at Maud's, Claire's Knee, La Collectionneuse and Love in the Afternoon on their site. The set sounds intriguing (at any rate a must-buy for French cinema afficionados) and we may review the films ourselves at some point.

Tarzan Vol 2 Collection in October (R1)

2006-08-02T16:58:00.000+01:00

Coming courtesy of Warner on the 31st of October is a second collection with the classic Tarzan films starring Johnny Weissmueller: the films in this set include Tarzan Triumphs/Tarzan's Desert Mystery, Tarzan and the Amazons/Tarzan and the Leopard Woman and Tarzan and the Huntress/Tarzan and the Mermaids, with two films spread across one disc. The R2 set should follow soon after.

The Death of Mr Lazarescu (R2) in October

2006-08-01T22:52:00.000+01:00

Tartan are going to release the Cannes Un Certain Regard winner The Death of Mr Lazarescu (which is currently showing in arthouse cinemas across the country and which we reviewed favourably the other week) in October on Region 2 with an exclusive new interview with director Puiu and a shortfilm included as extra material. Official announcement is here; we'll update with the artwork asap.

Warner officially announce the next Batman film

2006-08-01T17:52:00.000+01:00

Rumours have been circulating around the net for two weeks or so but now Warner have made it official: Heath Ledger (Brokeback Mountain) will play the Joker in the next Batman film which again will be directed by Christopher Nolan with Christian Bale in the leading role. The film's official title is "The Dark Knight", and the script is being written by Jonathan Nolan, the director's brother. The film should be released sometime in 2008. Here are quotes from Warner's announcement:

"As a follow up to last year’s blockbuster Batman Begins, Christopher Nolan is set to direct Warner Bros. Pictures’ The Dark Knight, written by Jonathan Nolan, based on a story by Christopher Nolan and David Goyer. The film will be produced by Emma Thomas, Charles Roven and Christopher Nolan. Additionally, Christian Bale will resume his role as Bruce Wayne and Academy Award nominee Heath Ledger has been cast as The Joker. The announcements were made today by Jeff Robinov, President of Production, Warner Bros. Pictures.

Christopher Nolan revamped the Batman franchise in 2005 with the immensely successful Batman Begins, starring Christian Bale in the title role, which chronicled the early years of the superhero. Nolan first garnered attention from critics and fans in 2000 with the groundbreaking drama Memento, which he wrote and directed. He went on to direct the thriller Insomnia, starring Al Pacino and Robin Williams, and recently wrapped production on The Prestige, with Hugh Jackman and Bale.

Bale was most recently seen in the ensemble cast of Terrence Malick’s The New World. His other credits include Little Women, Portrait of a Lady, Metroland, American Psycho, Laurel Canyon and Steven Spielberg’s Empire of the Sun, which was his first starring role.

Ledger most recently earned Oscar Golden Globe, BAFTA and SAG Award nominations and won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Ennis Del Mar in the award-winning drama Brokeback Mountain. His other credits include Casanova, Monster’s Ball, Lords of Dogtown, The Brothers Grimm and The Patriot.

“Chris’ unique vision is what made Batman Begins such an outstanding film and we could not imagine anyone else at the helm of The Dark Knight,” said Robinov. “We also can’t wait to see two such formidable actors as Christian and Heath face off with each other as Batman and The Joker.”

“I'm excited to continue the story we started with Batman Begins,” added Nolan. “Our challenge in casting The Joker was to find an actor who is not just extraordinarily talented but fearless. Watching Heath Ledger's interpretation of this iconic character taking on Christian Bale’s Batman is going to be incredible.”

Paul Giamatti talks to the Observer

2006-07-31T17:28:00.000+01:00

Read this interview with Paul Giamatti, the star of Sideways (2005) and M Night Shyamalan's new film Lady in the Water in the Observer yesterday which gives a nice insight into Giamatti's private and professional life.

Tarnation (2004)

2006-07-31T15:28:00.000+01:00

Not much to say about this, except that I wasn't bowled over. The frenetic style was too much; I expected it to settle down to a more realistic pace after the hectic opening, but it continued relentlessly and confusingly for the entire film.

Tarnation is directed by Jonathan Caouette, a New Yorker (but native Texan) who filmed himself and his family from a young age and made this documentary about it. The story contains some fascinating and disturbing elements: His mother was subjected to electric-shock therapy that sent her spiralling into a lifetime of severe depression and mental illness; Jonathan had a bad drugs experience as a child that left him with a depersonalization disorder; there's a great story to be told here, but it's all told so badly. I decided to listen to the commentary in the hope that I could understand better where the director was coming from, but it felt like the commentary was telling me all the things that should have been told in the film itself.

Caouette put together the film, for the most part, on his AppleMac, using iMovie. I read somewhere he used every single gimmick and effect the programme offered, and I have no trouble believing it.

My rating? * * * * * (2/5)

The End

2006-07-31T13:12:00.000+01:00

50 greatest movie endings of all time at FilmCritic.com. Nice analysis. (Spoiler warning!)

Cars (2006)

2006-07-29T23:20:00.000+01:00

In a present-day America inhabited by cars, Rookie racing car Lightning McQueen is competing with the reigning champion The King and scheming runners-up Chick Hicks for the Piston Cup. The NASCAR-style race ends in a three-way tie and is rescheduled to take place in California. On the way there, McQueen is separated from his truck, ends up in the remote city Radiator Spring off the Route 66 and
destroys the highway road leading through the town. In the ensuing trial, town eldest Doc Hudson sentences McQueen to repave the road. Having his attempts to escape foiled by the sheriff, McQueen befriends tow truck Mater and motel owner Sally, and comes to appreciate the value of friendship and community spirit before he sets out to California.

It was bound to happen eventually: after a string of innovative films ranging from decent (A Bug's Life, Monsters Inc) to great (The Incredibles, the Toy Story films), Pixar come up short with their seventh feature Cars. If it was merely that, I would find it easier to shrug it off, but the almost complete lack of the wit, nuance and humanity that has been at the heart of Pixar's earlier films is keenly felt in Cars; and since the picture doesn't justify its 2 hour length with real dramatic weight, it's discomfortingly bloated, too. How kids, the studio's target audience, will take to John Lasseter's love letter to NASCAR racing and 1950s Americana is anyone's guess. It moves along at a grinding pace and its issues are too familiar, the plotting too predictable which would matter less if Pixar carried it off with their usual panache: an arrogant upshot from the big city is left stranded in small-town America to learn a lesson of humility, to discover the true values of friendship and community spirit and to appreciate the pleasures of a modest life. There simply is too little at stake and I found it hard to identify with most of the characters (except for tow truck Mater, a spirited performance from Larry the Cable Guy): it doesn't help that the cars have less expressive character features than other Pixar heroes and that the animation looks curiously flat and less vivid than in Finding Nemo or The Incredibles. That said, the background scenery has been realised with the same loving care and attention as in the previous films and is often spectacular to look at, except for the race setpieces where the crowds look too much the same.

What the film expresses (particularly in a scene where Sally reflects wistfully on the days of old) is a deep longing for the 50's way of living, a time where life was simpler, less consumerist and materialistic; a more innocent time before technological progress (the building of the motorways) and a faster and grander lifestyle took over. The film speaks out for community spirit and bonding among friends as opposed to the solitude that fame brings with it, and there's no doubting the sincerity of that statement but it's too familar and flatly delivered. Cars strikes no emotional chord which is no mean feat when you consider that Lasseter himself included, eight writers (yes, eight!) are credited with the script. Even the film and pop culture references, where Pixar usually outclass the dimwits at Dreamworks, feel a bit stale: the hero is named after Steve McQueen, and one bit character is modelled on US talkshow host Jay Leno (quite how the wilfully unfunny Leno warrants such honours is beyond me) while the end credits play in somewhat blase character homage to Pixar's earlier work. One of the better inventions is the Humvee Sarge (who amusingly gets to drill other cars for combat in the closing credits) and there's a nice cameo by Michael Schumacher as a Ferrari, but genuinely arresting scenes are too far in between. The short One-Man-Band that plays before the main feature and which has two poor musicians, a trompeter and a violinist, competing with each other for the affection of a young girl to earn her penny, is funnier and more involving than Cars is in its entirety (come to think of it, is it too much to hope that Pixar release a DVD bundling all their shorts together?). When a Pixar film fails to speak to our hearts and minds, it is in itself and in the context of their hitherto impeccable track record not so much disappointing than comprehensible and perhaps inevitable (we are all fallible in the end) but when, like Cars, it does so to the point of eliciting I-couldn't-care-less responses from its audience, Pixar's discerning following ought to feel alarmed. Possibly the biggest letdown of the year. * (out of five)

RIP Paul Gleason

2006-07-29T22:13:00.000+01:00

I was surprised to discover today (a little late) that actor Paul Gleason died back in May. The guy was just something else as Principal Richard Vernon in The Breakfast Club.

Paul Gleason. 4 May 1939 - 27 May 2006.

The greatest vampire film ever made

2006-07-26T21:24:00.000+01:00

There is one vampire film to which I return time and again and find new things to appreciate each time. This is Terence Fisher's Dracula (1958, aka Horror of Dracula), Hammer Studios' first foray into the Dracula myth. And it is a fabulous film in every way.

Universal's 1931 film became a legend solely on the basis of its star, Bela Lugosi. It is a beloved classic because Lugosi was unforgettable in the title role - but as a film, the final two thirds are pedestrian after a haunting, deftly crafted first third. With Hammer's version, however, every element works, and the brilliance is sustained until the very end.

The Hammer film opens with the foreboding image of a stone eagle mounted on a pillar of Castle Dracula. James Bernard's pounding main theme adds to the sense of dreadful anticipation as the camera descends past the castle entrance and into Dracula's crypt, where blood splashes onto the tomb of the eponymous vampire.

It is hard, 50 years on, to appreciate the freshness of Hammer's vision. For one thing, this was the first time Dracula had been seen in colour. But Fisher admitted he had not gone to the 1931 film for inspiration, and yet the image of Lugosi had dominated the public's conception of Dracula for almost three decades. Imagine, then, the sense of unease when Jonathan Harker (John van Eyssen) steps not into a dank, cobwebbed, haunted castle, but into the palatial, almost exotic surrounds of Hammer's castle, designed by Bernard Robinson. (His designs for the castle were so radical, Hammer considered firing him; fortunately, he went on to work with the studio for another fifteen years.)

The first section of the film, in which Harker arrives at Dracula's castle, is full of surprises which are perhaps lost on modern audiences, or at least on those who (like myself) have watched the movie dozens of times. One of the earliest is the arrival of Dracula himself. Like Lugosi, Christopher Lee arrives sinisterly at the top of a staircase (with jarring cymbal clash), but we are disarmed after the initial shiver of fright. He descends the staircase swiftly and steps into the light, where he welcomes Harker courteously and with charm. He is not Lugosi's strange and dusty creature, but a young, dashingly handsome host.

The next surprise is when Harker writes in his diary, and reveals that he is already fully aware of the truth about Dracula, and is on a mission to destroy him and "forever end his reign of terror". There follows the scene in which Harker ventures into the library, where a young girl begs him to save her from the clutches of the Count. In one of the film's most terrifyingly fantastic images, Dracula appears in the doorway, his mouth dripping with blood, and instantly these two formerly elegant creatures become feral monsters, hissing and encircling each other like animals fighting each other for their lives.

By the end of the first third of the film, we have been introduced to two of the film's greatest assets: Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, who now makes his arrival as Van Helsing. This was not their first pairing; they were co-stars in the previous year's The Curse of Frankenstein, but this was the film that was truly to make Lee's name.

The rest of the film is awash with more fabulous and mesmerizing imagery, thanks largely to the lighting and camerawork of Jack Asher, and Bernard Robinson's designs. Over the course of the next hour we will witness Dracula's mysterious and sensual appearance amid swirling autumn leaves outside the bedroom of his female victim; we will watch him cross the castle moat, his cape flowing majestically behind him; we will watch him ascend the staircase toward the camera, and we will watch as he seduces his victim with kisses before disappearing out of view to feed on her flesh.

At the end of the film, we will see the most enduring images of all, as Count Dracula meets his demise in rays of morning sun. Here Lee's performance not only captures Dracula's demonic rage, but evokes a certain pathos, with an unforgettable sadness in his eyes as his last breaths leave his rapidly decaying body. It was not often Lee was given the chance to give a performance of this magnitude.

And it was perhaps never again that Hammer would combine all the elements of a production - script, acting, direction, music, camerawork, design - so perfectly. The Devil Rides Out (1968) might come close. And I cannot think of a film before or since that brings the imagery of vampirism to the screen with such mastery.

Criterion artwork wallpapers

2006-07-26T20:19:00.000+01:00

Came across a neat website criteriondungeon that features the artwork from many Criterion titles (it's a work in progress and more artwork will be added in the future) available for download as wallpapers in 1280x1024 resolution and thought I'd share with this with you as Criterion produced some great covers in the past.

Grand Canyon (Lawrence Kasdan, 1991)

2006-07-24T12:20:00.000+01:00

Life is an unpredictable adventure in which our own wills are just one of one of many forces conspiring to shape us and steer our course. Lawrence Kasdan's Grand Canyon is a beautifully crafted celebration of the process.

Released in 1991, the film most definitely bears the hallmarks of its era, especially in James Newton Howard's distinctly eighties, but surprisingly catchy score. The story interweaves several smaller narratives of lives converging in modern LA, in a way that prefigures the more complex Magnolia (PT Anderson, 1999) - but then, by the time Magnolia was made, didn't everything have to be cleverer and more sophisticated? Not to put down Magnolia, a film I love; but Grand Canyon is from an earlier period when narratives were simpler.

The movie opens at a basketball game, an ironic setting in which the coming together of black athletes with white spectators belies the racial divisions that exist on the streets outside. On the way home, Mack (Kevin Kline) takes a short cut through a run-down neighbourhood rather than battle traffic. Predictably (this is where Howard's score falls down), his car stalls, and he finds himself stuck in hostile streets waiting for a tow-truck. Owner of the truck is Simon (Danny Glover), who arrives just in time to save Mack from a gun-wielding teenage gang. This meeting is the first of a trail of coincidences that propel the characters' lives: Mack's friend, Davis (Steve Martin), a director of violent Hollywood movies, is robbed at gunpoint and shot in the leg; Mack's wife, Claire (Mary McDonnell), finds an abandoned baby while out jogging.

Mack and Simon strike up an unlikely friendship when Mack insists on going back to find Simon and thank him. These two performances are the finest of the film, although it must be said this is an ensemble effort, in which there really is no weak link.

The Grand Canyon is a double metaphor for the characters' formation and for the gulf of race and class that separates the two main characters, although it is the former element that Kasdan presses. Does he push it too hard? I don't know. If it was heavyhanded, I was willing to overlook it, for in every other respect I felt this was such a heartfelt, moving picture, put together with much love and care and personal attention. Kasdan isn't a slave to realism, and freely delves into fantasy at some points, a sensibility that I enjoyed.

My rating? * * * * * (4/5)

The Death of Mr Lazarescu (2005)

2006-07-23T14:40:00.000+01:00

62 year old widower Dante Remus Lazarescu is estranged from his closest relatives and living a solitary life with his cats in a somewhat rundown flat in Bucharest. For days, Lazarescu has been suffering from nausea and headache which he believes stems from the ulcer surgery he had years ago. His neighbours, whom he asks for painkillers, call the ambulance after he begins spitting blood with his vomit, and the visting nurse diagnoses his condition as critical. But their drive to the nearest hospital is only the beginning of a night-long journey in which overtaxed hospital staff refusing to take responsibility send them from one clinic to the next while Lazarescu's condition deteriorates.

While I was reflecting on the film after the screening, a quote from Edgar Allan Poe's short story William Wilson came to mind: "I long, in passing through the dim valley, for the sympathy- I had nearly said for the pity - of my fellow men". To me, it sums up what The Death of Mr Lazarescu is about: the frailty of human life, the lack of compassion in others, and the desire to preserve your dignity and to cling on to your life even as debilitating illness takes hold of your body and mind. It's a film in which there is little drama as we define it in a Hollywood picture; it's instead the waiting for something to happen that becomes the point of the film. It is therefore entirely intentional and appropriate that we should share and sympathise with Mr Lazarescu's agitation and that the film's growing suspense comes from our realisation that, as the old man's condition keeps deteriorating, things have reached a stalemate and nobody seems wanting to help. This pattern is established right from the start when, having ignored Lazaresu before, the hospital dispatches a paramedic only after his neighbours make the call. The film reinforces it when Lazarescu has to face the same questions and go through the same tests several times over; nearly all the nurses and doctors he sees dismissively attribute Lazarescu's condition to his drinking and smoking and only reluctantly agree to further tests and, eventually, surgery.

The mood is one of increasing desperation and helplessness, which is accentuated by the camera work: shot on digital video with handheld camera and natural lighting, it not only gives us a sense of documentary-style like immediacy but also positions the audience as a by-stander who can only look on. Puiu's film is deeply disturbing and grimly funny: laying bare the indignities that patients have to suffer at the hand of uncaring staff (even allowing for the mitigating circumstances of the casaulties caused by the bus accident, some doctors still come across as arrogant and condescending), the film is an indictment of an overtaxed health care system which, given the state of the NHS, is bound to resonate with audiences here at home. The sense of deja vu and the absurdity of Lazaresu's situation becomes so strong that disbelief and gallows humour become the only possible responses. The Death of Mr Lazaresu is a harrowing, moving film that lingers in the mind and compels us to contemplate what it means to be human, and to be compassionate to those around us. **** (out of five)