Random Film Thoughts: As we start a new...

[bryan1311]

By the Bluest of Seas (dir. Barnet)
Dancing Girl of Izu (dir. Gosho)
Dragnet Girl (dir. Ozu)
The Goddess (dir. Yu)
Limite (dir. Peixoto)
Mädchen in Uniform (dirs. Sagan and Froelich)
Japanese Girls at the Harbor (dir. Shimizu)
Our Neighbour, Miss Yae (dir. Shimazu)
People on Sunday (dirs. C. Siodmak, R. Siodmak, Ulmer, Zinnemann and Gliese)
Steamboat Round the Bend (dir. Ford)
Tange Sazen and the Pot Worth a Million Ryo (dir. Yamanaka)
The Straits of Love and Hate (dir, Mizoguchi)
Three Sisters with Maiden Hearts (dir. Naruse)
Toni (dir. Renoir)
Top Hat (dir. Sandrich)
Westfront 1918 (dir. Pabst)

Thanks for the recommendations. Unfortunately Netflix only had Steamboat Round the Bend, Top Hat, and Japanese Girls at the Harbor.

And I'll have to watch the Ozu on YouTube that you posted.

[bryan1311]

Nice to see Random Film Thoughts turning into yet another actressing thread.

For real. If y'all want to continue this discussion, move it to Lists.

Also, I posted this on Facebook, but I liked Rashomon even more than I expected to, which is rare considering what high expectations I had coming in. Of course I had read a lot about it's structure and the way it's varying perspectives has influenced television (especially comedy), but I was blown away by the cinematography and the performances are all wonderful. Not to mention the powerful ending which somehow leaves one, like the priest, feeling hopeful even after watching such darkness for the 80 minutes prior to it. I'll admit that my viewing history is sorely lacking when it comes to Asian cinema. In fact, the only other Kurosawa film I've seen is Seven Samurai and I watched that when I was like, 13, so I really need to rewatch it. After watching this, I'm going to make it a point to watch some more Kurosawa (and eventually make my way into the other greats of Asian cinema - Naruse, Ozu, Mizoguchi, etc.).

Another troubling thing I found on my criticker; I've seen nearly 1,000 films made since 2000...and only 628 made between 1900 and 1999.

[Rage Colored Glasses]

The latest movie we saw in my film class was The Promise by Magarethe von Trotta. I liked many elements of it, though I felt like it dragged on a little long overall. I really enjoyed the performances by the older version of the couple, August Zirner as older Konrad and Corinna Harfouch (showing a completely different side of her than Downfall) as older Sophie.

[Orlean]

I've seen Wim Wender's Paris, Texas a few weeks ago and liked it a lot.
The cinmematography was just beautiful, so was the acting. Simply great.

And I've seen Fantastic Mr. Fox for the now fourth time, I think and it's so damn fantastic!
I wish it had got a nom in art direction, too. (but that sadly's not possible for animated movies *sigh*)

[lazarus]

Also, I posted this on Facebook, but I liked Rashomon even more than I expected to, which is rare considering what high expectations I had coming in. Of course I had read a lot about it's structure and the way it's varying perspectives has influenced television (especially comedy), but I was blown away by the cinematography and the performances are all wonderful. Not to mention the powerful ending which somehow leaves one, like the priest, feeling hopeful even after watching such darkness for the 80 minutes prior to it. I'll admit that my viewing history is sorely lacking when it comes to Asian cinema. In fact, the only other Kurosawa film I've seen is Seven Samurai and I watched that when I was like, 13, so I really need to rewatch it. After watching this, I'm going to make it a point to watch some more Kurosawa (and eventually make my way into the other greats of Asian cinema - Naruse, Ozu, Mizoguchi, etc.).

This was the first Kurosawa I ever saw, perhaps the first Asian film period. It was in a film studies class in high school, and I wrote a decent paper on it. Such an influential work, and I prefer it to The Seven Samurai. Though I would probably rank both Ikiru and Red Beard above it.

[Dally]

Continuing my revisit of 1962: I sat through John Frankenheimer's Birdman of Alcatraz. Not a bad film at all but a totally overlong message picture that oversimplifies and glosses over the details of the title character, Robert Stroud (Burt Lancaster). I appreciate the liberal call for prison reform, sure, but the film overreaches in its third act (the Battle of Alcatraz "riot") and features perhaps the worst bookends in cinema history. Birdman shines when the focus is Stroud's self-rehabilitation and the small gestures of others that enable his bird experiments, though the relationship between prisoner and mother (the always great Thelma Ritter) is not fully explored. A mixed bag, for sure, that could've been much more focused and an hour shorter.

[dyedred19]

5 Broken Cameras, a nominee for Best Documentary, is chaotic and lacks much narrative. Many of the images are riveting and there's a real guerrilla filmmaking aspect to it that's quite interesting and provides an intimate look daily struggles in the Middle East, but I'm not sure it's done in the most focused way.

Worthwhile, but the worst of the documentary nominees that I've seen thus far.