Ha. Couldn't decide on whether to watch this one or Atlantic City in their Gambler collection feature. Hard Eight is closer to a Midnight Special so I guess that's it.
On the other hand... Atlantic City (1980, Louis Malle) has an up ending. Haha. Been a little dark lately. Didn't realize playwright John Guare (Six Degrees of Separation, House of Blue Leaves) wrote the screenplay. Nice background/intro above. More on Guare's process/development. Interesting cat.
Embarking now on this: Shadow Play: The Animated Films of Lotte Reiniger The foremost pioneer of silhouette animation, German filmmaker Lotte Reiniger brought enchanting storybook worlds to life through her intricate cutouts and groundbreaking use of a proto-multiplane camera that she developed a decade before the technique was made famous by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. Her gorgeous “One Thousand and One Nights”–inspired adventure THE ADVENTURES OF PRINCE ACHMED—thought to be the oldest surviving feature-length animated film—is presented alongside a selection of her more than sixty shorts. Drawing inspiration from fairy tales, classic children’s books, operas, and biblical stories, these dazzling jewels transport viewers to fantastical realms of the imagination as only animation can.
30 minutes in to this and I cannot help thinking that big budgets and CGI have made Zhang Yimou a not so great director. Coming Home was decent enough, but other that than he hasn’t made a truly great film in a very, very long time. A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop Directed by Zhang Yimou • 2009 • China, Hong Kong Starring Sun Honglei, Xiao Shenyang, Yan Ni Master director Zhang Yimou (RAISE THE RED LANTERN, HERO) took a surprising stylistic detour with this audacious crime comedy, which transposes the Coen brothers’ debut feature, BLOOD SIMPLE, from a Texas honky-tonk to a nineteenth-century Chinese noodle shop. It’s there that a visit from a traveling Persian gun salesman sets in motion a violent chain of events involving the shop’s scheming owner, his adulterous wife, her lover, and a hired killer with his own agenda. Wild comedy, elaborate period trappings, and operatic characters make for a delightfully offbeat take on the Coens’ ingeniously plotted modern classic.
Yeah, just noticed that. Fairly superfluous if you already have the channel, especially considering the $4 movie rental fee.
I like it and the remake with Marky Marky has it's moments as well, particularly the scenes with Michael K Williams. To me it's this idea that if you can just lose it all somehow you can be remade or reborn and just start all over, wipe the slate clean. And there is also this perverse sense of enjoyment in the process as it all goes down the drain.
But he isn't starting over. He's playing the same scenario with different pieces over and over. It's a completely self-centered, destructive approach to life. Anyone in that orbit is doomed to suffer. It's all based on distraction and terror of being alone. Axel would be a pitiful character if he could admit this (and open up another level to the film) or the audience was made to see it; instead, Reisz ups the glamour, swagger and drama of his condition without really considering it. The enjoyment of watching his manipulation with no emotional/psychological breakthrough is anti-climatic, to say the least. Small wonder one of the first words we hear Caan utter after the opening credits is the epithet, c***! (A clue to what we're about to see. ) The cheap thrill is all he has to offer.
Yes I agree, it's a glimpse into the psychology of a gambling addict. A lot of the movie is based on the Dostoevsky novel as well as the writer's own experience with gambling addiction. At one point his mom says to him something like unless you come to terms with why you are doing this no amount of $ will get you out. I love the heavy use of Mahler's 1st.
"A New Leaf" from 1971 directed by Elaine May, who also stars. Walter Matthau is in it and I can watch just about anything he made in the 1970s.
"Valerie and Her Week of Wonders" (Jires, 1970) Among the great inexplicable films, "Valerie" is, by turns, a fantasy, a fairy-tale, a horror film and a melodrama. A young girl has her first period. Thus begins this voluptuously filmed tale. The 13-yr old girl is, by design, both innocent and gorgeous, which creates tension both in herself and her surroundings; this acts as a springboard for truly amazing imagery and scenes. One of the blessings of this film is that it wasn't made in the West; its matter-of-factly approach is what helps drive scenes that in lesser hands would feel cheap and/or silly. No matter how dark the mood gets, the film just flows, unconcerned with trivial narrative or restrictions, yet achieving a greater fantastic logic of its own. Once I get this on disc, it will live on my "Unclassifiable" shelf with "The Forbidden Room", "Holy Motors", "Santa Sangre" and other elliptical masterworks Imagine if this came out on UHD...? (I know, get the BR and be happy, but hey...) C.
I am a big fan of the Czech New Wave, and Valerie is a particular favourite. Coincidentally, we just watched it again, last weekend, for the first time in a couple of years. Still as beautiful and ethereal as ever. You have choices when it comes to BD, but be sure to choose the Criterion over the U.K. Second Run edition. I love the Second Run label, but their edition of Valerie has a green cast that permeates the image throughout. Also, if you really dig this film, I can recommend the alternate psych-folk soundtrack by Philadelphia-based band The Valerie Project: The Valerie Project, by The Valerie Project
Thanks, all duly noted, and yes, the Criterion evidently is the most neutral-looking of the Blus of "Valerie". Will check out the alt soundtrack as well. C.
Just getting into this. Weird. Interesting. Jean Genet. The Balcony Directed by Joseph Strick • 1963 • United States Starring Shelley Winters, Peter Falk, Lee Grant A powerhouse cast brings Jean Genet’s incendiary political stage play to the screen. In an unnamed city, Madame Irma (Shelley Winters) runs a brothel where customers explore their sexual fantasies through role-playing. When her police-chief lover (Peter Falk) arrives, she learns that a violent revolution is brewing outside and many of the country’s leaders have been killed in the uprising. Soon, the brothel’s customers and employees are forced to take to the city streets in costume and impersonate the slain leaders in order to help restore sanity.
I watched one of the three Raj Kapoor films that are grouped together. Very entertaining. I’ll watch the other two when I have 7 free hours.
I watched all 8 Preston Sturges films, having only seen “Sullivan’s Travels” previously. All very entertaining, but I especially liked the use of music choices and plot “technique” in “Unfaithfully Yours.” Nice to see Edgar Kennedy again, and the Terry Jones commentary short is entertaining and enlightening.
Watched Basil Dearden's "All Night Long" - retelling of Othello set in the early 60s British jazz world. Was cool to see Dave Brubeck and Charles Mingus "act"!
Stunning debut! Outstanding cinematography. I also watched Solaris and now I need to watch the rest of his films. Ivan’s Childhood Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky • 1962 • Soviet Union Starring Nikolai Burlyaev, Valentin Zubkov, E. Zharikov The debut feature by the great Andrei Tarkovsky, IVAN’S CHILDHOOD is a poetic journey through the shards and shadows of one boy’s war-ravaged youth. Moving back and forth between the traumatic realities of World War II and serene moments of family life before the conflict began, Tarkovsky’s film remains one of the most jarring and unforgettable depictions of the impact of war on children.