The Week in Review - 21/3/10

FILMS:

• Roma (Federico Fellini, Italy/France, 1972)
• À l’origine (In The Beginning, Xavier Giannoli, France, 2009)
• Je suis heureux que ma mère soit vivante (I'm Glad My Mother is Alive, Claude Miller & Nathan Miller, France, 2009)

BLU-RAY:

• Planet of the Apes (Franklin J. Schaffner, USA, 1968)
  

Roma
Reading the Cinémathèque Annotations on Film from Senses of Cinema has aided me in understanding the work of the idiosyncratic Fellini. For what it's worth, as a Melbourne Cinémathèque committee member, I'm the one who prints these out and takes them to ACMI for the weekly screenings - it's a humble job, but someone's got to do it.

Fellini reminds me a little of Almodóvar. They both grew up in rural villages, they have similar senses of humour, their work is camp and fixates on big-breasted and big-assed women. Fellini's work is more autobiographical and less conventionally structured while Almodóvar gravitates towards melodrama of a soap opera nature, but mixes his genres. Fellini, despite his carnivalesque imagery (a cliche, I know) and fondness for the grotesque, seems to have a more serious underlying intent. But as I wrote about Amarcord last week, I still don't connect with his work.

This week, I had a more positive outlook on his work and enjoyed the start of the film. There's no doubt that Fellini has a wicked sense of humour. The child pissing in the theatre is an amusing incident that I presume is an example of the director's recollections. The various sexual allusions also lighten the screen. The film also serves as a fascinating document, such as the underground scenes.

As the film progresses, however, it feels like it drags on much more than necessary. The vaudeville scene, for example, just goes on and on. There's no sense of economy in the film, especially in terms of the audience's time. With various vignettes (skits, if you like), there's little to hold the film together emotionally. It has a run time over two hours, but it feels like it should finish before 90 minutes. I found myself uncomfortable in my seat and eager for it to finish for about 45 minutes.

Planet of the Apes
I was a mere eight years old when this film first released and I've always had the fondest of memories of it. I never saw any of the sequels, nor the remake, but the TV series was essential viewing in its during throughout the 1970s. With the passage of time, the film has well and truly dated, especially the technology, the outfits and the sets. The film's key strength is an abundance of ideas that capture another era. Released in the same year as 2001: A Space Odyssey, these two films would make excellent companion pieces for their questioning of the nature of civilisation - who and what we are, and where we come from.

Planet of the Apes is clearly allegorical, taking aim at society and two of its most corrupt pillars: politics and religion. It's two thousand years in the future and human civilisation has clearly all but destroyed itself, allowing another species to dominate. The apes have developed their own societies, seemingly barbaric but strikingly similar to our own. Justice is replaced by the rationale of convenience and spirituality is replaced by lies and dogma. There's even an indirect dig at the Joseph McCarthy, HUAC (House Committee on Un-American Activities) and it's Hollywood blacklisting.

The film looks crude compared to my recollections of it and it's full of Charlton Heston cornball. He was one of my heroes of the 1970s, in films like Earthquake, Poseidon Adventure and Omega Man. But damn he looks charming and it's a joy to see him again in action. I really enjoyed watching this and plan to catch up on the sequels.

The week so far - 4/3/10

I know, I missed last week's review and, while I prepared quite a bit of writing, I completely missed January (I planned to do a month in review). The French Film Festival opened tonight - not that I got an invite. I sure wasn't going to spend $50 to see a film, as much as I love Jeunet and look forward to seeing Micmacs. I've just finished working out my schedule for the festival and may see up to 14 films - that's on top of the 10 I've already reviewed. For me, the festival begins tomorrow and, aside from Melbourne Cinémathèque (where a Fellini season is currently underway), it'll pretty much be French, French and more French films for the next two weeks.

As well as the films below, I also got to the new Mary and Max exhibition at ACMI. I hope to post on this in the next day or so, but if I don't get around to it, go and see it. It's free and it's a delight to see so many pieces from the film on display. I've taken some photos and if my post sees the light of day, I'll plaster some of those on here. So, here's what I've seen so far this week:

• L'armée du crime (The Army of Crime, Robert Guédiguian, France, 2009)
• Shutter Island (Martin Scorsese, USA, 2010)
  
• Män som hatar kvinnor (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Niels Arden Oplev, Sweden/Denmark/Germany, 2009)
• Amarcord (Federico Fellini, Italy/France, 1973)
  
• Alice in Wonderland (Tim Burton, USA, 2010)
  

Shutter Island
Marty, Marty, Marty, what's happened to you? Aw gee, every film Scorsese's done since 1999's Bringing Out the Dead (one of my favourites of his) has been a disappointment. Gangs of New York, The Aviator and The Departed all left me non-plussed. I think Scorsese is trying too hard, trying to break through with a big mainstream/blockbuster film. He's obviously still getting the big budgets and Shutter Island certainly looks very nice. The trouble is, it's all been done before and offers nothing new. It's a thriller without suspense. It goes through the motions, but the audience can see where it's going and what's coming. And just in case you're not sure, he makes sure there's no ambiguity.

There's a setup at the start that's such a silly subterfuge to distract the audience. But when the big reveal is made apparent, I just had to roll my eyes. Fifteen years ago, it might have had more impact, but it's been done to death.

Mark Ruffalo's role is a bit limp, Michelle Williams is underused, Ben Kingsley plays a fairly stereotypical character and Leo DiCaprio's constant state of desperation is being overplayed. If Scorsese is going to keep recycling his actors, he should give them a bit more range. I like DiCaprio a lot (Revolutionary Road was one of my top films of 2009), but his role in this film just seems to recycle his persona in The Departed.

I think Scorsese should follow one of his contemporary's lead. Francis Ford Coppola may not be producing universally lauded films but is getting back to his roots and making personal films with soul. Scorsese seems to be enamoured by technical proficiency but missing out on the gutsiness of his earlier films. I'd rather less polish, and more guts.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
I didn't have a good time with this over-long (3 hours) gothic crime thriller. I don't want to go into the plot, but much of it is silly and cliched, the acting clumsy with gratuitous nudity and violence. The look of the film is digital grainy, a murky look that does nothing to ingratiate itself. The film is not a total write-off - it will probably appeal to a hip young audience - but it's not my thing at all. It's the first in a trilogy and opens in cinemas on the 25th of this month.

Amarcord
OK, I don't 'get' Fellini. I don't understand his films and I don't connect with them, at least those I've seen. I think it was Satyricon that I tried to watch about ten years ago and I couldn't finish it. Granted, my taste in cinema has changed a lot since then, but even 8½ did nothing for me a year or so ago. Tonight it was Amarcord, which is amiable enough, but it just seems to be a rambling story going nowhere. I get that it's 'a year in the life of' this village. I get that it documents in passing the rise of fascism, village rituals and lifestyle and some of the idiosyncratic characters. I also get that it's probably part-autobiographical. But I don't connect with anything. What did I say...? A rambling story going nowhere. I'll still give his other films a go, but I couldn't sit through a second one (La strada) at Melbourne Cinémathèque. Next week it's La dolce vita and Boccaccio ‘70: Le tentazione del dottor Antonio.

Alice in Wonderland
Let me preface this by stating that I love Tim Burton's films and I'll see anything he makes, even if it doesn't quite work. And this is one of them. Mia Wasikowski is the best thing about it - she's close to perfect. She looks perfect and her performance is spot on - pretty important, given that she's the central character.

I love both Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter but I had major reservations about them prior to seeing the film. I dreaded seeing Depp's overplaying like he did in Burton's earlier Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. My fears were largely unfounded - despite his over-the-top-looking Mad Hatter, Depp's performance was relatively understated (for him, anyway). I still found the look of Depp's and Bonham Carter's characters a bit distracting.

The other strong elements of the film that worked for me include the non-fantasy elements and, in Wonderland, the Cheshire Cat and the White Rabbit. These familiar characters had nice Burton touches but remained true to how we recognise them. The Blue Caterpillar wasn't bad either. Not so hot was Anne Hathaway's White Queen. The way she held her hands up in a faux queenly manner really grated, though I may be alone in this seemingly petty criticism. While her character looks lovely, the role itself seemed empty and lifeless. It did nothing for me.

The film is strongest when it's focused on the micro-elements, in particular Alice interacting with various characters in a personal way. Where the film is weakest is when it goes off on these concocted tangents of fighting and (I know everyone else has said it) elements that are more like Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and The Golden Compass. And to compare further with Lord of the Rings, Bilbo Baggins adventures were most engaging on a personal level, but bored me shitless when the story shifted to the epic level (big wars, etc). It's much the same here.

The CGI is used profusely, as you'd expect, and it works pretty much in proportion to my previous point. In micro, up close and personal, it's lovely. When the film moves to the big picture, the CGI draws too much attention to its flaws and takes one out of the moment.

For a film that has had such a big lead time and created a high level of awareness, it doesn't seem to be on a large number of screens. I use YourMovies and it was only screening at three of the cinemas I've listed as ones I attend. So maybe that reflects the confidence that the exhibitors have in the film. If you're a Burton fan, you won't want to miss it. If you're a parent, primary school-age children should be fine with it, though there's a couple of moments that might be scary (but not overly) for sensitive children. For others, it's fun enough, but not one of Burton's finest films.

The Week in Review - 30/9/09

FILMS

• Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino, USA/Germany, 2009)
• Viaggio in Italia (Voyage to Italy, Roberto Rossellini, Italy/France, 1953)
• Gake no ue no Ponyo (Ponyo, Hayao Mizayaki, Japan, 2008)
• Eli & Ben (Ori Ravid, Israel, 2008)
  

Inglourious Basterds
It's not often I see a film more than once, but after reading various articles and interviews with Tarantino, etc, I decided to give this one another go. Other Tarantino films I've seen more than once on the big screen are Pulp Fiction and Death Proof. I didn't enjoy the film more on second viewing, but I noticed and appreciated things more. Things that bothered me on first viewing either bothered me less or not at all. This is Hollywood film-making that we don't see enough of and will probably make it into my top-10 releases of the year. Tremendously entertaining!

Voyage to Italy
This is my second Rossellini film, so I have a long way to get through his oeuvre, but I'm liking what I'm seeing. I was surprised to find Voyage to Italy almost entirely in English. I was also surprised at how much like her mother Isabella Rossellini looks.

The film depicts a marriage in downward spiral. From the Senses of Cinema Annotations, I expected to find a heartless husband (George Sanders) and his long-suffering wife (Ingrid Bergman). Rossellini is clearly more enlightened a film-maker than I expected and there is a great deal of subtlety and balance than the annotations led me to believe.

Ponyo
The small Nova Cinema 7 was full, and it wasn't just children. I was surprised to see, in addition to the young families, teenagers, 20-somethings and older. All for a film that appears to be aimed at a domestic (Japanese) audience aged 4-9 years old. It's a tribute to the film-maker that he can create a world that appeals largely outside its target audience.

I really enjoyed Mizayaki's Spirited Away, though most of his films since seem to have been made with a Western audience in mind and have become increasingly formulaic. No so with Ponyo. If anything, it seems to be going backwards in time. Japan is famous for it's cultural ambiguity. It is one of the most technologically advanced societies on Earth and yet strangely bound to traditions that go back to the Middle Ages. Ponyo's style eschews all the advances in animation and more than ever displays an old-fashioned hand-painted look. Rather than detract from the film, it works well and differentiates the film from the competition (not that Mizayaki has any real contenders).

So, how does Ponyo stack up? Well, don't see the Hollywood dubbed version. I haven't seen it, but it would just destroy the very Japanese look and feel of the film. The magical world that Mizayaki conjures really is endearing. I'd have thought it was aimed at a pre-school to early primary school demographic, but my 8 year old loved it. I found it enjoyable, but I wouldn't go unless I was accompanying a child.

Eli & Ben
This film screened at the Israeli Film Festival, for which one must be over 18 years of age to legally gain entry. Yet, it seems to be aimed squarely at a teenage market. Basically, it's a telemovie (or appears to be), like an extended version of Neighbours, and I thought it was just stupid, stupid, stupid. I could tell this from the opening scene and it didn't get any better. I have nothing else I want to say about it.

The Week in Review - 16/8/09

Illness is often the prime motivator for me to watch DVDs, and so this week I watched two. It was a very strange week, in which one day I thought I might die, and the next I was almost back to normal. As I wrote, not dead yet.

FILMS

• Tyson (James Toback, USA, 2008)
• Coraline (Henry Selick, USA, 2009)

DVDs

• Apache (Robert Aldrich, USA, 1954)
• L'avventura (The Adventure, Michelangelo Antonioni, Italy/France, 1960)

Tyson
Suffering post-MIFF film withdrawal, I had to see something on the big screen, but my need was not so bad that I would resort to most of the pulp screening at the moment. I figured I'd see this documentary that also screened at MIFF and it's not too bad at all. I'm not big on boxing by any stretch of the imagination but what makes this documentary so compelling is the honesty and introspectiveness of the film's subject.

Tyson is completely up-front about his inner world and what motivated him at different stages of his life. He fell into fighting out of fear of being attacked. He desired various things, the tokens of success. When he denies having raped the woman for whom he was convicted and jailed, he says it with the conviction of an innocent man. While I never admired the animalism of Tyson, I found him a character I could empathise with, which is quite an achievement by Toback.

Coraline 3D
The last time I saw a 3D movie, it was at the same Sun Theatre and it was again without knowing that the session was 3D. The initial response of myself and the missus was disappointment. Disappointment that it was costing $3 more per ticket and disappointment that we'd have to don those stupid bloody glasses. So how was the experience?

Well, you'd think that paying those extra dollars would get you a nice clean pair of glasses, perhaps sealed in a plastic bag. No such luck. These glasses are all greasy and sweaty, with smudges all over the lenses. It's DIY cleaning, a real downer, like turning up at the local cafe and finding you have to remove the previous customer's dirty plates and wipe the table yourself.

The glasses are quite bulky and as excellent as Coraline's 3D effects may be, one is always aware of the intrusion of the glasses on the cinema experience. It's both a gateway to the experience and a ball and chain that detracts from it. When all is said and done, there seems to be no net benefit.

Still, the 8yo kid loved the effects, which have certainly improved since we last saw Bolt. In that film, the 3D effects seemed to be concentrated at the start and end of the film, and pretty thin in-between. I don't know if it's because the technology has improved, or whether Coraline had a better budget, but there's no denying that the effects are impressive. But if the technology were to proliferate and become more common, I think one would bore of it. I think the appeal is wholly because it is uncommon.

Another problem with 3D is that it's not really 3D. Rather, the film-makers are very selective as to what to make appear in 3D, which gives the illusion of 3D, but it always feels inadequate. To really get absorbed into the 3D world, the whole image needs to be treated with the 3D effects. Until then, the 3D effects are a distraction from the story as one's consciousness is drawn to analysing what is 3D and what isn't.

In conclusion, even if the tickets were the same price, I'd prefer the regular cinema experience. The main reason is that I find that the glasses intrude on the experience, making me conscious of being in a cinema and preventing my absorption in the story. That I have to pay extra for the experience is a strong negative.

The film itself is very enjoyable and well-done. I haven't read the story, and after seeing the film, I asked my son if he'd like me to buy the book (which was selling in the bookshop across the road from the cinema). He liked the film but his answer was no, to my surprise.

The film is basically a horror story for kids. The idea of an alternate, happy world where everyone has button eyes, and your entering the world means relinquishing your own eyes certainly has the potential for nightmares. Alexander had no problems with that element, so maybe it's more of a problem for some young 'uns. The film's visuals are nice and the story satisfying for adults as much as children.

Apache
Westerns are a re-discovery for me. I pretty much grew up on a regular diet of 1950s westerns in my childhood; they screened and re-screened regularly on Sunday mornings on Channel 9 and consequently I grew not to take them seriously. I don't know much about Aldrich, nor much about American history. This film's use of caucasians with face-paint is both amusing and yet effective. I understand the cultural implications, and that native Americans would not have appealed to cinema audiences of the day.

The film has both an air of camp and seriousness and Aldrich seemed determined to depict the Apaches in a sympathetic light, something I imagine was quite rare for the day. I wonder how historically correct it is.

L'avventura
While I didn't like Antonioni's The Passenger, Zabriskie Point impressed me and so does this 1960 film. It's focus on the idle middle-class and their sexual shenanigans reminds me of Buñuel's obsessions with a similar demographic, though the mood is very different.

The mood is very dour, a type of mystery as a woman goes missing and her friends try to find her (if she is still alive). Antonioni is one of my favourite Italian film-makers, especially given that I'm not a big fan of that country's cinema. In fact, I generally don't like the dubbing of Italian films, something I barely noticed in this film. The characters are well-drawn, the narrative is beautifully elusive and the observational nature of the camera is very enticing. The visuals are stunning. I look forward to discovering more of this director's work.

The Week in Review - 7/6/09

Yeah, I'm a bit late getting this one up, even with a long weekend. Such is life.

The highlight of last week's screenings was For a Few Dollars More, which screened as part of the Melbourne Italian Festival's retrospective of Sergio Leone. It's a lot of fun, but then I'm probably the last person around to have seen it, and you all probably knew that already. Unfortunately I missed out on Once Upon a Time in the West and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (which I have on Blu-ray, but was hoping to see on the big screen first).

There doesn't seem to be much out there on theatrical release, and was once again disappointed by the only new release I saw, Two Lovers. Melbourne Cinémathèque can always be counted on for something at least half decent. While I didn't find the Japanese noir screenings anything special, they're a welcome part of my film self-education. It's certainly fascinating to see this curated season, to discover a common aesthetic and themes of films of the post-war era.

FILMS:

• Kuroi kawa (Black River, Masaki Kobayashi, Japan, 1957)
• Taiyo no hakaba (Sun's Burial, Nagisa Oshima, Japan, 1960)
• Per qualche dollaro in più (For a Few Dollars More, Sergio Leone, Italy/Spain/West Germany/Monaco, 1965)
• Sergio Leone: The Way I See Things (Giulio Reale, Italy, 2006)
• Giù la testa (A Fistful of Dynamite, Sergio Leone, Italy, 1971)
• Two Lovers (James Gray, USA, 2008)
  

Black River & Sun's Burial
I don't intend to analyse these two Japanese films in any particular detail. However, what struck me most about these is firstly, the frankness of the sex and violence - something you generally wouldn't see in films from most countries of the day - and secondly, how squalid and depressing life was depicted in post-war Japan.

For a Few Dollars More
This film is a helluva lot of fun. The lack of dialogue and the almost total reliance on visuals and sound (including a magnificent score by the great Ennio Morricone) reinvents and rejuvenates the Western genre. The film crosses the boundaries, or perhaps fuses, the classifications of film as entertainment or art. I doubt that there's any deep meaning to the film, but I'm open to being corrected. Clint Eastwood is at his charismatic best, together with Lee Van Cleef and Eli Wallach making for an awesome triumvirate.

Sergio Leone: The Way I See Things
This is not a particularly expository documentary but, interviewing those who worked with Leone, offers some good behind-the-scenes insights into what made him tick and the ideas behind his film-making.

A Fistful of Dynamite
I actually found this tedious after For a Few Dollars More. Perhaps it was too ambitious - it obviously had a much bigger budget than the earlier film. For me, it tries too hard, trying to cover too many bases with too many special effects and action sequences. The music is nowhere near as good either.

Two Lovers
I found Two Lovers quite a let-down and having heard conflicting reviews, I went in with an open mind but low expectations. I didn't think much of the dance sequence at all; it doesn't really add anything to the film. The opening scene, with Joaquin Phoenix's Leonard jumping from a pier is my favourite, but the film does nothing with it. It had so much potential but then falls flat.

Is the director Australian? I'm joking, of course, but you could be forgiven for thinking so, because the film has the unfortunate structure of a long line of Australian films that tackle some worthy issues, look OK, contain reasonable performances but fail to take off dramatically. Like I said about My Year Without Sex (a film I found myself comparing it to), it's just dramatically flat. It doesn't make me want to care about anyone in it or what happens to them. Leonard can jump in the sea, or hook up with either the blond or the pretty girl and I wouldn't give a toss either way.

BTW, the Nova session I went to was packed. I spoke to a couple of respectable middle-aged women afterwards, confident they would have loved it. They had a similar reaction to the film as myself. I even found myself nodding off from time to time.

Sergio Leone Retrospective

The Kino is screening a Sergio Leone retrospective next week as part of the Melbourne Italian Festival. It runs from 2 - 7 June.

Screening:

• Il Colosseo di Rodi (The Colossus of Rhodes, Italy/Spain/France, 1961)
• Per un pugno di dollari (Fistful of dollars, Italy/Germany, 1964)
• Per qualche dollaro in più (For a Few Dollars More, Italy/Spain/Germany, 1965)
• Il buono, il brutto e il cattivo (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Italy/Spain, 1966)
• C’era una volta il West (Once Upon A Time In the West, Italy, 1968)
• Giu’ la (A Fistful of Dynamite, Italy, 1971)
• C'era una volta in America (Once Upon A Time in America, Italy, 1984)

Also screening, films about Leone:

• Sergio Leone Cinema, Cinema.... (Carles Prats & Manel Mayol, Spain, 2002) 105' BETA SP
• I Sogni Nel Mirino (Dreams are my Focus, Luca Morsella - asst. dir. Once Upon a time in America) BETACAM 55'

The Week in Review - 14/9/08

It's been a remarkable week of films, with the highlights being three films by Satyajit Ray and Jean Eustace's La maman et la putain.

• Beyond Our Ken (Luke Walker & Melissa Maclean, Australia, 2007)
• La maman et la putain (The Mother and the Whore, Jean Eustace, France, 1973)
• Pather Panchali (Song of the Road, Satyajit Ray, India, 1955)
• Ghare-Baire (The Home and the World, Satyajit Ray, India, 1984)
• Apur Sansar (The World of Apu, Satyajit Ray, India, 1959)
• Piano, solo (Riccardo Milani, Italy, 2007)

La maman et la putain
I simply don't have the time to write sufficiently about this extraordinary film. I don't believe I've ever sat for three and a half hours in a cinema without a break, but I did without any problems during this screening at Melbourne Cinémathèque. I'd been anticipating it since Isaki Lacuesta, Spanish director of Le leyenda del tiempo (The Legend of Time, 2006) brought it to my attention after the screening of his impressive film at ACMI earlier in the year. I believe he described it as his favourite film, and I can see why. I may write on this in more detail after watching it again. I have been participating in an online discussion at the At The Movies discussion board. Or check out Jonathan Rosenbaum's piece.

Pather Panchali
Now, I don't want to go into a rant about how important films like this, screening as part of a partial-retrospective of India's most celebrated film-maker, should be shown in their original ratio (4:3, rather than the 16:9). Nor do I want to whine about the air-conditioning failing, leaving us to swelter in 29 degrees Celsius (but thanks to the staff who gave us two tickets for the price of one). So I'll just proceed with stating that this is probably the best Indian film I have ever seen. Not that I've seen many, but this is seriously impressive cinema.

The child's perspective, the beautiful cinematography, the amazing characters, the austerity and restraint of dialogue, the Ravi Shankar score, the heart-breaking story all combine to produce a film that just has to be experienced. This was Ray's first film and the beginning of his Apu trilogy. Unfortunately, the middle of the trilogy is not screening as part of the retrospective.

I've been to rural Bengal on six occasions, the last being 1990. I was struck with how authentic this film is, and how recognisable it's look is. At least as at 1990, the essence of what is depicted in Pather Panchali, could still be seen in Bengal, a land that has largely remained unchanged. Check out the 105 second clip at this site.

Apur Sansar
The final installment in the Apu trilogy, and another remarkable piece of output by Ray, though not quite at the same level of accomplishment as Pather Panchali, in my opinion. Ray shows great compassion for his characters, depicting the struggles of one character across three films - childhood in Pather Panchali, adolescence in Aparajito and adulthood in Apur Sansar. But it's not just the struggles of Apu, but also those around him. In doing so, Ray is tapping into the greater themes of human struggle. I hope to see these again without the projection issues that have dogged the sessions I attended.

Ghare-Baire
Another Ray film, based on a novel, and it shows. I enjoyed it in the context of a Ray retrospective and as a serious film from India (I hate Bollywood cinema), but it's not on the same level as the Apu films. Or maybe it's just that I'm not particularly taken by melodrama.

Italian Film Festival Preview

The Italian Film Festival opens Wednesday 17 September. I’m divided about Italian cinema. On the one hand it has greats like Marco Bellochio, whose Buongiorno, notte (Good Morning, Night, 2003) displays all the austere aesthetics of the best of European cinema, and on the other it seems to be eternally infatuated with family melodramas that use every cliché in the book, much like daytime soap opera. The more serious cinephile has to wade carefully to find ‘the good stuff’. But it can be found.

I'm limiting my research of films to see by excluding anything that looks too conventional, namely comedies and family dramas. I'm not saying that some of these may not be good. It's just that I haven't had a good track record with these genres from Italy. Excluding these and the three films I've seen already (reviews below), this leaves me with the retrospectives (12 films) and four contemporary titles, namely:

• Hotel Meina (Carlo Lizzani, 2007)
• L'ora di punta (Rush Hour, Vincenzo Marra, 2007)
• La sconosciuta (The Unknown Woman, Giuseppe Tornatore, 2006)
• Valzer (The Waltz, Savatore Maira, 2007)
  

The retrospective titles are:

• Tutta colpa del paradise (All the Fault of Paradise, Francesco Nuti, 1985)
• Amarcord (Federico Fellini, 1974)*
• Anonimo Veneziano (The Anonymous Venetian, Enrico Maria Salerno, 1970)
• Banditi a Orgosolo (Bandits of Orgosolo, Vittorio De Seta, 1961)
• Lo chiamavano Trinità (They Call Me Trinity, E.B. Clucher, 1970)**
• C’eravamo tanto amati (We All Loved Each Other So Much, Ettore Scola, 1975)
• Il ladro di bambini (The Stolen Children, Gianni Amelio, 1992)*
• Matrimonio all’Italiana (Marriage Italian-Style, Vittorio De Sica, 1964)*
• La viaccia (The Lovers, Mauro Bolognini, 1961)*
• Il magnifico cornuto (The Magnificent Cuckold, Antonio Pietrangeli, 1965)
• Serafino (Pietro Germi, 1969)
• Tre fratelli (Three Brothers, Francesco Rosi, 1981)*

* I know nothing about any of the retrospective selections, though those marked with an asterisk have been recommended to me by others who have.
** On face value, more fun than anything.

Visitors, if you have any recommendations, feel free to leave them in the comments.

Il resto della notte (The Rest of the Night, Francesco Munzi, 2008)
“Straight from the Director’s Fortnight of the 2008 Cannes Film Festival comes this biting & poignant drama from Francesco Munzi, who displays a level of deft sophistication and power only hinted at with his debut prize-winner Saimir.” So read the promotional notes to this intriguing film that is clearly a cut above most Italian dramas.

In one sense, it is three stories in one. The first is the story of an affluent upper-middle class family. The second is a story of some down-and-out struggling Romanian migrants, one of whom is fired as the maid of the family when she is suspected of stealing. The third is the collision of these two worlds. Each part has a different aesthetic.

The Rest of the Night is an ambitious film and Munzi is attempting to weave a web that will attract a wide audience. The affluent story is pure contemporary Italian cinema (at least, what we see of it here). There’s the selfish and demanding husband, there’s the beautiful but fading wife and the cute and spoilt teenage daughter. Perhaps Munzi’s intention is subversive, because this aspect of the film acts like a hook for a conventional audience.

I say “hook”, because the migrant story is more in the realm of social realism á la 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days. Indeed, Laura Vasiliu (Marja, the maid) played the pregnant student seeking an abortion in that film. Dismissed at short notice, Marja in her desperation returns to the low-life. This part of the film is effective, though perhaps there is a lack of subtlety in differentiating the high- and low-lives. Nonetheless, the aesthetics of the bleakness is a welcome change to the bland and mostly middle-class stories that Italy exports.

These two worlds collide in the film’s third act, and the film’s tone changes to one of a crime drama. For my taste, I don’t think Munzi has been wholly successful in weaving these three stories together. I’d have preferred that he stick to one aesthetic or another. But then, perhaps this is not intended for an arthouse audience. I think it works best as a film for mainstream audiences who like quality drama, with a few surprises. As I often say, I prefer a film to take risks and not be completely successful, than one that aims low and succeeds. Munzi has taken risks and this film is worth a look.

La ragazza del lago (The Girl by the Lake, Andrea Molaioli, 2007)
Am I detecting a pattern? Media previews of films festivals seem to screen the gutsier film first and the populist one following. Such was my experience with the two films I saw (I’m writing about them in the order I saw them).

The Girl by the Lake has impressive credentials: two Venice Film Festival awards (best actor and best director) and no less than ten David di Donatello awards (best film, director, first-time director, screenplay, producer, actor, cinematography, editing, sound and special effects). Well, it certainly sounds impressive and I believe that this should be a popular film with festival audiences. I was completely underwhelmed.

Yes, it does look beautiful, perhaps self-consciously so. The film certainly kicks off with a compelling start. Genuine tension is built quickly, but not maintained. Unfortunately, the film sticks to tried and tested stereotypes that admittedly look much better than television, but ultimately does little to differentiate itself from classic BBC whodunits. If you’re looking for a good night out with friends and a bit of light entertainment, you can’t go wrong with this one.

Piano, solo (Riccardo Milani, 2007)
Piano Solo is based on a true story of a gifted jazz pianist, Luca Flores, following his rise and descent into darkness. It might sound bleak but is a polished story - the cinematography is beautiful. It's designed for a mainstream audience who should enjoy the conventional drama. While it depicts a person's mental decay, everything is sanitised and simplified to make it digestible. In fact, with the film's use of melodrama, I'd even go so far as to say this is an appealing 'chick-flick'. It's not to my taste personally, but this is a film that should do well with Palace's target audience.

The Italian Film Festival screens from 17 September to 5 October at Palace Como, Westgarth, Balwyn and the Kino. Check the official website for other details and screening dates for other cities (Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra, Adelaide and Perth).

The Week in Review - 31/8/08

• You Only Live Once (Fritz Lang, USA, 1937)
• Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler (Fritz Lang, Germany, 1922)
• Il resto della notte (The Rest of the Night, Francesco Munzi, Italy, 2008)
• La ragazzo del lago (The Girl by the Lake, Andrea Molaioli, Italy, 2007)
• Son of a Lion (Benjamin Gilmour, Australia/Pakistan, 2007)
• The Grapes of Wrath (John Ford, USA, 1940)
  

You Only Live Once
Hmmm... Henry Fonda playing an ex-crim trying to break free from the past and make a new life for himself. With The Grapes of Wrath below, what a coincidence. These two films could make good companion pieces. Ford's film is superior in every respect that I can think of, but Lang's films is very good, too. I'm going to cop out and leave it at that.

Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler
Part I is two and a half hours. This is great film-making. I'll have more to say after the conclusion of Part 2 next week.

The Rest of the Night
Comments coming with a preview of the Italian Film Festival

The Girl by the Lake
Comments coming with a preview of the Italian Film Festival

Son of a Lion
This film is an impressive accomplishment by Gilmour. Sure, it's a little rough around the edges, but that also has its appeal, especially given the extremely difficult circumstances under which the film was made. Gilmour travelled to the North West frontier of Pakistan, where foreigners are not allowed. At great personal risk (and with ongoing risk to the local villagers), Gilmour filmed in a clandestine manner using nonprofessionals.

It's a simple story, not unlike many Iranian films. An eleven-year old boy, Niaz, works for his father, Sher Alam, an old Mujhadeen who fought against the invading Russians during the long war against Afghanistan. Sher Alam makes guns but Niaz just wants to go to school. I love the way the film assumes the child's perspective. Niaz doesn't want much, but he wants it bad. There's a heart-breaking struggle to achieve his seemingly unattainable goal, and the cultural aspect woven into the film is beautiful.

My seven year old also enjoyed Son of a Lion. There is one brief scene where an animal is slaughtered and we covered his eyes (and ours) for it.

All kudos to Gilmour for making this film. This is an example of world cinema made with passion and commitment, with respect for both the subjects of the film and the audience. Gilmour has no background in film-making. He spent time with these people and decided he wanted to tell a fictionalised version of their story. I highly recommend it. It's screening in Melbourne exclusively at the Nova.

The Grapes of Wrath
What a magnificent film this is, and how timeless it is. It's as relevant today as it was - nearly seventy years ago - when it was made. I read John Steinbeck's book (1939) at high school, though it didn't impress me at the time as much as other novels like To Kill a Mockingbird, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and 1984. Note the common themes in these books? I wonder if social injustice and inequity have the same level of importance in contemporary English classes.

Watching the beautifully restored film at an encouragingly crowded Sunday evening session at ACMI, I was in awe of the beauty of the cinematography, the grittiness of the story and how things have changed little since the times depicted (the great depression of the 1920s). Indeed, one could convincingly argue that it's been the same since feudal days.

The Grapes of Wrath is a fiercely angry film, and I'm not playing on the film's title. There's real indignation at the maltreatment of 'ordinary folk', and how the rights of the individual in the so-called 'free world' have been usurped by faceless corporate interests. I love the way Henry Fonda's Tom Joad seems to delight in telling the truck driver he hitched a ride with that he'd been in jail for homicide. He's such an attractive anti-hero.

The film is overtly political, much more so than could have been done a decade later (with McCarthyism and the hunt for 'the reds'). It seems that the so-called conservative side of politics usually takes the high moral ground on issues of patriotism. Grapes of Wrath clearly places the average Joe, the working families as the foundation of a free society, fighting for a fair deal against the corrupt and criminal corporate class.

Michelangelo Antonioni Retrospective

I have just received a bulletin with details of the world premiere of the complete restoration of all the films by Michelangelo Antonioni, screening at the Cinema Nova from 23 - 29 March. The films are screening as part of the Melbourne Italian Festival (22 March - 8 June). Readers may recall that Antonioni passed away last year, on the same day as that other cinema great, Ingmar Bergman.

I've only seen Antonioni's The Passenger, which screened on The Astor's mighty screen a couple of years ago. I liked aspects of it, but not completely, but am keen to catch up with some of his other films. All 18 features and 17 shorts are screening (that's impressive, and it's a helluva lot of films to squeeze into 7 days!). Any recommendations as to which films I should try to see are appreciated.

The full schedule is as follows:

Fri 23 May
7.00 Official Opening: Blow Up (110m) – Invite Only
9.30 Chronicle of Love (110m)

Sat 24 May
11.00 The Girlfriends (90m)
1.30 The Eclipse (125m)
4.00 Identification of a Woman (128m)
7.00 The Adventure (145m)
9.30 Blow Up (110m)

Sun 25 May
12.00 The Cry (102m)
2.30 The Red Desert (120m)
5.00 Shorts and documentaries (1943 – 1953) - Prog 1 (80m) - see below
7.00 The Passenger (124m) & The Last Sequence of the Passenger (12m)
9.30 The Night (121m)

Mon 26 May
5.15 The Lady Without Camelias (105m)
7.30 Chung Kuo China (240m total)

Tues 27 May
7.00 Love in the City (Suicide Attempt) 20m & The Vanquished (110m)
9.30 Beyond the Clouds (113m)

Wed 28 May
5.15 Shorts and documentaries (1978 – 1997) Prog 2 (88m) - see below
7.00 The Oberwald Mystery (123m)
9.30 Making a film for me is to live (60m) & The gaze that changed Cinema (60m)

Thurs 29 May
5.00 (By Popular Demand Session) & With Michelangelo (15m)
7.30 Official Closing: Zabriskie Point (110m) and The Gaze of Michelangelo (15m)

PROGRAM 1 (Shorts) 80m
(Suicide Attempt) Love In The City
The Funicular of Mt Faloria (Vertigo)
The Villa Of Monsters
Seven Reeds, One Suit
Superstition
People Of The Po Valley
Waste Collection
The Loving Lie

PROGRAM 2 (Shorts) 88m
Returning to Lisca Island
Fotoromanza
Kumbha Mela
Roma ‘90
Noto, Mandorli, Vulcano, Stromboli, Carnevale
Sicily
Antonioni Seen By Antonioni (TBC)

The Week in Review

Everything I saw this week was at ACMI, namely the Melbourne Cinémathèque and Focus on Guillermo del Toro screenings. There's a few films* on theatrical release I'd like to catch, but I'm in no particular hurry.

* Currently on my list of 'to see' are: Sunshine, Death of a President, The Good German and The Lives of Others (which I've already seen, but would like to take the missus).

FILMS:

• Beau travail (Good Work, Claire Denis, 1999)
• Jacques Rivette - Le veilleur (Jacques Rivette - the Night Watchman, Claire Denis & Serge Daney, 1990)
• Cronos (Guillermo del Toro, 1993)
• Martin (George A. Romero, 1977)
  
• La maschera del demonio (Black Sunday: The Mask of Satan, Mario Bava, 1960)
  

BOOKS I'M READING:

• Almodovóvar on Almodovóvar (Revised edition, 2006, Frédéric Strauss)

Beau travail
Sensational cinema. The tension is so well measured, the cinematography and music are stunning, the plot is so elusive and the end is amazing. Looked fantastic on the big screen. This short appraisal doesn't really do the film justice. The person sitting next to me was seeing it for the sixth time and I can understand why. Possibly the best film I've seen this year, and probably makes it into my all-time top 20 or so.

The focus on masculinity was intense, erotic and poetic. Denis Lavant is such an amazing performer. The physical performance under the conditions was remarkable. The use of music gave the feel of some kind of Roman or Greek epic or opera.

Apparently the film is based on Herman Melville's Billy Budd, which I'm not familiar with. Beau travail depicts a company of the French Foreign Legion in Africa. The outcome reminded me of a scene in a very different film, Fight Club (I'm deliberately not giving details away). The salt plain reminded me of Gus Van Sant's Gerry. The austerity of the film recalls Van Sant, but the overall style was quite different.

Jacques Rivette - The Night Watchman
I'm not familiar with Rivette's films - I only know him by name. This two-part made-for-television documentary gives an interesting perspective on the director who is clearly an austere and modest man, dedicated to his craft. It includes mostly a conversational-style of interviews with Rivette, as well as interviews with others who have worked with him.

Claire Denis was an assistant to Rivette before becoming a director. The interviewer is film critic Serge Daney. I'll be sure to check out the Rivette films screening at Melbourne Cinémathèque over three weeks from May 23 to June 6.

Cronos
This is quite an impressive first feature, screening as part of the focus on Guillermo del Toro at ACMI as I previously reported. Despite a bit of heavy handling of music, it turns out to be a well-measured piece that doesn't overdo gore like modern horror flicks, and the humour is also relatively subdued. The film uses an older style of horror, good characterisation, nice attention to detail and special effects that are generally quite good but aren't always completely successful.

Ron Perlman has a face that looks good for the role, plays the dope, and is basically there for comic relief. Like some of his later films, there is a child, but she plays a small but critical role.

It's interesting to see this after The Devil's Backbone and Pan's Labyrinth. There is a real consistency to his vision of horror film-making which appears to borrow from the genre, but avoids many of the peurile traps that Hollywood insists on repeating. Neither I nor my partner are fans of the genre but both enjoyed this film.

Obviously, Pan's Labyrinth is a major step forward for del Toro in terms of visuals, but I don't think the writing has progressed much further, which is a little disappointing for me, but then most fans of the genre don't expect anything too deep.

Martin
A creepy cult film that del Toro selected as one of his inspirations, though del Toro's work is far superior. The music and sound is often over the top, the acting is pretty mediocre. Martin may or may not be a vampire, sharing a common theme with Cronos (ie, not a genre stereotype). While clearly a B-grade film, it's to the credit of Romero that he pursued his vision on limited resources. I found it only of interest in respect to del Toro.

Black Sunday
Another cult horror film selected by del Toro. It will be appreciated by fans of the genre and is once again interesting mostly from the GdT perspective. Because the film has dated so much, it can't really be taken seriously, and garnered much laughter from the audience when not intended. Very camp and melodramatic, and labours a little with the typical (for Italians) dubbed voices. It does look nice in black and white, though the shooting in mostly studio sets adds to the overly theatrical performances.

As a point of interest, the film is based on a short story written by Nikolaj Gogol, the namesake of the protagonist in the current release The Namesake by Mira Nair.