City Lights (1931)

Director: Charlie Chaplain

I have not yet seen as many silent movies as I probably should have, and if you haven't either then this one is a good one to start with. The length is just right, and while the humor is sometimes dated, the emotions are not. City Lights can get very moving by the end, and as someone who has watched many silent movies yet, the fact that it is as moving as it is without dialogue is very impressive. Silent films represent film at its more pure.

The movie is a romance, and it has an easy-to-swallow story of love transcending class conflict, but it is done so simply and effectively that it really does succeed in being emotional. There are also some great gags that make fun of rich people, and considering the times we live, those gags are definitely not dated. While the movie may not be complex or layered, it has a simple hopeful message and also makes you feel. Simple effective films like City Lights are a rare breed nowadays.

Grade: B+

The Rules of the Game (1939)

Director: Jean Renoir

 Satires of the upper class have been done in film time and time again, but The Rules of the Game is one of the first, and maybe the most scathing of them all. It is technically a light satire (this film likely influenced Bergman's Smiles of a Summer Night, which I reviewed recently), but that satire is not afraid to be extremely harsh and critical. The film consists of a large number of French bourgeoisie who are in a estate together for a vacation, and in this "vacation" we see how their fake rules force them to do things that are sometimes nonsensical, and sometimes completely inhumane.

Renoir does not criticize them to the point of dehumanizing them though, the humanity of the characters is intact but, like in Renoir's Grand Illusion, the artificial constructs of society are what make these people act so idiotic. Renoir does a masterful job with a story with so many characters and still keeping it coherent and flowing. The film moves seamlessly from scene to scene, from character to character showing everyone and in all their messed up glory. This is all just surface level analysis, because there is so much more underneath that can be taken away from this film with multiple viewings. This is one I will definitely revisit.

Grade: A

Filmcap: The week of Sept 4-11

Fish Tank, Grand Illusion, Funny Games, and recently completed season of Louie are highlights from this abnormally great and lengthy week. Minimal amount of schoolwork, a realization that this is my last year of school and thus last chance to really go all out with my movie watching, and also the ending of two television show seasons all culminated in a lot of entries for this week. In this post you'll find discussions on how the differences between a great miserabilist film and a bad one, the benefits of personal filmmaking, and the lack of intellectual provocation in the movies. 

Filmcap: The week of Jan 9-16

In this week's second ever installment of Fimcap I write about a movie with an amazing poster, the single best sports movie of all time, two early John Wayne-starring acclaimed westerns, and one of the independent movies that started all independent movies.