Filmcap: the week of Mar 20-27

In this post I've got a couple superb realist post-crisis foreign films, one from post-war Italy, and another is post-revolution Iran. A couple recent films, one brand new and horrible, the other from last year and amazing. Then there's a little-talked about film from a great director, and a much-talked about genre film I have finally watched. Also, links to two very good short films.




A couple great short films: First up is a 15 minute film by Harmony Korine, a notoriously weird director. It stars Die Anterwood, the notoriously weird band from South Africa. The short, as you can expect, is very weird, but also oddly touching. I was really affected by it in a way I'm not so sure I can explain. Check it out.
The other one is one called Blinky, it stars Max Records from "Where the Wild Things Are," and it has to do with a robot and the laws of robotics and it's not an extremely happy short. It's about 12 minutes and while it's predictable what happens and not as great as the first one it's still pretty fun and displays the skill of the director Ruari Robinson. Check that one out here.

Rome, Open City (Roberto Rossellini, 1945): This film is known as the film that arguably started the Italian Neorealist movement of documentary-style movies shot on location with sometimes non-professional actors. This film, like many others, was Neorealist mostly because of necessity. They didn't have the resources available to make big expensive sets and hire professional actors, but what it invented was a sense of realism in film that is invaluable. In this film about German-occupied Rome, the emotion in the sometimes melodramatic scenes are real because of the realism in the film. Some of the scenes would probably be overly melodramatic if done in Hollywood at the time, but with this films realism the scenes are filled with emotion because we believe them. That aspect of the film helps it stand the test of time and makes it relations to current imperialism or revolutions all the more evident. It's a film that shows rebellion in a very real and emotional way. When it comes to movies about rebellions it doesn't get better than "Battle of Algiers" (I talked about that one here), but this film is right up there with it.
Grade: A

Where is the Friend's Home? (Abbas Kiarostami, 1987): This is a film I would call poetic realism. It's realist in the way that the actors are non-professional, shot on location, and evokes a sense of place. But it's poetic in the sense that it's subtle in the social commentary it gives, and it emphasizes the moral of the story. It's more poetic in the writing than directing, the dialogue is sparse but meaningful most of the time. This Kiarostami's first film and I'm looking forward to seeing more. It's not on DVD here in the USA, so I had to download it, same with a couple of this other early films. It's very promising and I do expect some good things from his later films because the social commentary and fable-like nature of the film are true measures of talent, and he's got a real knack for restraint in his filmmaking in this one. The film is pretty much flawless, but that said it's not very ambitious. It's small scale picture that does exactly what it means to do, which is show loyalty and show the innocence of children. The boy does a great job at portraying that and it's a pretty affecting film regardlesss of the fact that it's not a film that tries to change your life.
Grade: A-

Inside Job (Charles Ferguson, 2010): The problem with the economic crisis of 2008 is that it's an economic crisis, and economics is not an easy thing to explain. Banking, finance, and economics all factored into the failure of our economic system, while much of the news media has instead focused on more simple things like bonuses. I'm not an economics expert or finance expert, so I can't understand much of the terminology these bankers use, but this film does a pretty good job at explaining some of the more difficult aspects to understand and then using them to explain other things later on. They don't expect it's audience to be extra smart, but they don't expect them to be dumb either. It was very impressive how it educates you and makes you angry at the same time, you get angry at things you had no idea could happen before you saw the movie. Now not all of the information is new if you kept up with the news, but the film puts all that information together in a great way that makes this film the definitive film on the recession. The way it chronologically tells how it all went down, gives us individual anecdotes, and easy digestible metaphors make the film understandable and affecting. Sometimes Charles Ferguson goes the Michael Moore route by trying to catch his interviewees in headlights, but for the most part the film is informational, easy to understand, and absolutely not a chore to watch by any standards. It's a superb documentary that anyone with interest in the subject must watch.
Grade: A-

The Silence of the Lambs (Jonathan Demme, 1991): This is one of those movies that did really well with the audiences and critics and became one of those must-watch movies. I watch a lot of movies, but for years I somehow managed to never watch this one, so I decided to end that. I expected a lot from the movie, but I know now that high expectations will only worsen the experience. After I finished the film I wasn't overwhelmed by it, but I had felt I just watched an interesting, and very captivating movie. Does it surprise me that this is one of the only scary movies to win Best Picture? No, not at all. The film is more of a thriller than horror or scary, it has elements of horror in it, but it's much more of a thriller and it's a very well structured, written, acted, and directed. It has all the ingredients for a great critically acclaimed box office hit. From a horror movie standpoint, I don't like my horror films to be easy to digest and perfectly crafted within screenwriting rules, but from a thriller aspect it works great. Now, I don't make much of a point in admiring acting skills on this blog because I feel like acting is a bit overrated. I like to give the directors their due attention, something actors have a bit too much. So when I do talk about an exceptional acting performance, you know it's very central to the film, and there is such a performance in "The Silence of the Lambs:" Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lector. His performance drives the movie and I believe without it the movie would be nowhere near as terrifying or captivating. His performance is changes the whole atmosphere of the film, even when he's not on screen. Without him I don't think this movie would have been all that special, but with him it does rise to be an above average thriller, that may not have much interesting to say about us or society and may not go far enough, but it's still very involving and does what a thriller should do. Thrill.
Grade: B+

Sucker Punch (Zack Snyder, 2011): My full review of the film can be found here. In addition to my review I'll just add that I hope Snyder's Superman movie is a change of pace and has a good script. But I'm not counting on it. He's a guy who only appeals to and wants to appeal to geeks, and frankly geeks aren't the smartest people about cinema. It's okay though, I don't think a Superman movie that I will love will ever come out in my lifetime.
Grade: F

Every Thing You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (Woody Allen, 1971): This film is comprised of about seven short films all presumably answering questions regarding sexuality that were chapter names in a controversial book from the same time period. The shorts are all very humorous and silly, and not at all to be taken seriously, so you don't learn a lot, but some of the shorts are really fascinating and hilarious. All the ones with Woody Allen in them benefit a lot with him in them, and the ones without him are not as strong. The strongest one was definitely the one in which Woody Allen plays a sperm cell scared to leave the body. It's a great great short that is really fascinating and funny. Now back to the questions, i don't know if this would count as satire because he did make fun of a few things about sex in our culture, but for the most part it really seemed like he was in it just for laughs, which is not bad. If you're a Woody Allen film it would be well worth your time to check it out, but it's definitely not required viewing for most film fans.
Grade: B-