Filmcap: The week of April 24-May 1

Still a few days behind with this one because of finals, but they are now over thankfully. Finals are also why only 3 movies this week and expect something of the same for the next filmcap. This week though does feature a nice variety. A colorful Spanish film, a black-and-white American film, and a samurai Japanese western. 

Volver (Pedro Almodovar, 2006): The brilliance of this film is primarily in the Almodovar's script. If pitched to American studios the script would have been snatched up in a hurry. It's got a great plot, great twists, and distinct characters. What makes this film as a whole so special though is Almodovar's directing. It's not flashy and it lets the script do its thing, but he is skilled enough to let shots linger or frame shots in a way to get the character depth that is needed. More importantly though is color. He uses color in a way you'll never see. Everything is brightly colored no matter how dark the situation. He also deals with it in a way that never draws a whole lot of attention to itself, in the scenes before Penelope Cruz's character must deal with a bloody corpse, the frame is filled with red as if to make sure the blood will feel natural to us. The film never tries to shock us, there's a third act twist that doesn't even feel like a twist because it never draws attention to itself. The plot with the corpse is also not even the main story of the film. The main story deals with a mother-daughter relationship, but the mother is dead. The film deals with Spanish superstition and reality, and the way it does that is so easy. Almodovar's greatest strength is making everything, no matter how complicated, feel like he did it with ease. While the plot and colors are great, the only reason I would not give it an A is because the emotional depth is not always evident, sometimes the plot does take precedent. But to recap, it's brilliant because of the script and it's special because of the directing.
Grade: B+

12 Angry Men (Sidney Lumet, 1957): The plot and setting are simple. 12 jurors sit in a room debating a case that may send a boy to the chair. That's all that happens for the 90-or-so minutes. The film starts off with Henry Fonda's character as the only one who does not think he is guilty, the key is not that he thinks he is innocent, but that he does not know if he is guilty. The film makes use of the law that states no one should be guilty unless there is no reasonable doubt. The film takes that and does great things with it, making great use of all 12 jurors and their characters. All of them are different people, and all of them get their moments. It's all shot in one room, but you can't take your eyes off the screen for one second. The way the personal lives and morals of some of these jurors comes into play is brilliant and makes it an incredibly real film. This is a great film about the process of law in the United States, but it's great because it infuses humanity and it shows that humanity is needed to truly carry out the laws of this country. If Fonda's character was not in that room, it would have taken the jury five minutes to declare the boy guilty and send him to the chair. But it also shows that we may not display it on the surface, but we all have humanity in us somewhere. What the film tries to do is brilliant, and the fact that it pretty much succeeds is amazing. But there are a few things where it does not succeed and that is in how fast the most hard-lined of the jurors have their minds changed. There is one whose prejudice plays a factor in his opinion, which is great, but those things don't get changed easily. The other thing, which is not much of a flaw, but it's fairly evident how the movie will end and where it's going, but to see how it gets there is fascinating.
Grade: A-

Yojimbo (Akira Kurosawa, 1961): The main character in this film is a samurai, but the more important aspect of him is that he is a ronin (masterless samurai), a ronin playing with the rules of and allegiances of samurais. He decides to intervene in  a feud between two gangs that is ruining a small village. It's the way he manipulates the situation that is so fascinating about this film. Toshiro Mifune plays the lead ronin in a performance that is much more subdued than some of his more wacky performances, like in "Seven Samurai." His character surely inspired Sergio Leone in his "Man with No Name" trilogy, in which the first "A Fistful of Dollars" is almost a remake of "Yojimbo." The interesting thing about that is that this film itself seems very inspired by John Ford westerns. It's all set in one village that looks similar to the towns of the old west in Hollywood westerns, and there's one particular wide shot towards the end in which there is dust flying in the sky and the samurai is standing waiting for a showdown that says everything about the samurai-western connection. I didn't find this film as great as some of Kurosawa's best films like "Ikiru," "Seven Samurai," or "Rashomon," mostly because this is definitely more commercial and entertainment driven. There are characters that are pure caricature and scenes that are crafted really well but say nothing about the theme of the film. But even with that we still have a plot and the main character that are both manipulating each other and finding a way to control the film. On top of that, it really is a greatly entertaining samurai film.
Grade: B+