Masculin, Féminin

Another Godard film that simply leaves me cold.  Léaud’s character is a lot like the one he plays in The Mother and the Whore — pompous,  boring and kind of a dick, spewing meaningless political soundbites.  Whether this was the intention or not, I’m not sure.  I was getting mixed messages about it.  Godard seems to want to inspire something in the viewer, but exactly what is unclear (“understand what you will” — ooh, how CHALLENGING!).  Mostly I was bored senseless (or annoyed by the “look how daring I am” stylistic flourishes) with only the occasional clever bit of dialogue or scene of genuine humanity keeping me interested.  Endless scenes of characters interrogating each other… ha ha ha, isn’t life banal?  Yeah… THAT’S WHY I WATCH MOVIES.  I don’t need additional banality, thanks anyway.  Rating: 5

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3-Iron

Points for originality (although it reminded me a lot of Vive L’Amour, that’s not really a fair comparison).  The problem is that the film doesn’t really inspire much of anything in me.  I cared about the wife somewhat but not the drifter guy.  The no-talking thing is perhaps clever, but makes it harder for the viewer to sympathize, especially when the lead character is a bit too smug.  Things take a turn for the better at the end, but it’s too little too late and fails to make up for the tedium of the first act or the ridiculousness of the second.  Rating: 6

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Inside Man

It’s not going to win any awards, but it’s a solid, pleasing heist thriller.  The plotting is tight, as Lee doles out information bit by bit and keeps you guessing.  Denzel Washington is his usual charismatic self, and the rest of cast performs admirably as well.  A few show-offy camera tricks are off-putting, but no biggie.  Rating: 8

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Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession

This would make a good double-feature with Cinemania.  A documentary about a Los Angeles cable channel from the 80′s, and its film-obsessed program director.  But whereas the movie-goers in Cinemania are rather pathetic, Jerry Harvey commands respect as a hero of cinema (although his madness would ultimately drive him to a tragic and villainous act).  The programming for this channel was simply amazing, a film buff’s wet dream.  It’s actually reinvigorated my interest in cinema at a time when I was starting to feel burnt out on it.  Why don’t we have a channel like this now?  I think the closest thing is Turner Classic Movies, which for the most part avoids anything from the past 50 years (and doesn’t seem to show much foreign stuff, either).  Anyway, it’s a compelling documentary, highly recommended for “cinemaniacs”.  The DVD booklet is also a real hoot, reprinting reviews from the channel’s magazine.  Rating: 8

One odd and slightly disturbing thing about this movie: the film clips they selected include an alarmingly disproportionate number of nude scenes.  No kidding, you see bush about eight or nine times.

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Session 9

I must be the last Silent Hill fan in America to watch this movie.  From a technical standpoint, the film is fine… well photographed, nice use of sound and music (bonus points for one of my favorite Sebadoh songs), no glaring problems in the editing and whatnot.  Otherwise, it’s an exercise in wasted opportunity.  The script is dreadful… for the first 30 minutes, “EXPOSITION” ought to be flashing on the screen as the characters explore new depths of unnatural dialogue in order to provide their backstories.  Likewise, the actors are subpar, though perhaps I should cut them some slack for having to work with such bad material.  The real crime is the disappointing lack of suspense or dread.  With a dilapidated insane asylum to work with, they had creepiness handed to them on the silver platter.  It’s a shame they didn’t exploit it to its full potential.  Stick with Silent Hill.  Rating: 5

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La Vie de Bohème

I’m afraid I know absolutely nothing about the original stories or Puccini’s opera, but the film is about three starving artists – a writer, a painter, and a composer – struggling and scheming their way through a bohemian life.  Their self-importance in spite of a profound lack of talent provides many comic moments, and yet Kaurismaki succeeds in building a connection with them, and the tragic ending is quite touching.  Very funny and warm, quite watchable throughout.  Apparently two of the leads couldn’t even speak French and had to have their lines written out phonetically.  Jean-Pierre Léaud makes another appearance, and Sam Fuller and Louis Malle have cameos (though I didn’t recognize them).  Rating: 8

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The Tales of Hoffmann

This one is a conundrum.  I was absolutely floored by the eye candy: incredible set design, mouth-watering Technicolor, and a goodie bag full of dazzling technical tricks.  The cinematography rivals Cardiff’s work on Red Shoes in terms of sheer gorgeousness.  And I enjoyed the German influence (not just the expressionism, but the story structure greatly resembles Destiny and Waxworks).  The magic fairy tale nature of the story evokes La Belle et la Bête.  Most of the stuff going on here is astonishing, and part of me desperately wants to love this film.  And yet, I can’t stomach opera.  It irritates me to have people singing their dialogue, it grates on my nerves (which really fucked up Umbrellas of Cherbourg for me), especially with all that showy trilling and soaring.  Even more so in this case, where the libretto was extremely awkward and hard to follow.  Whether that’s Offenbach’s fault or just a clumsy translation, I don’t know, but thank goodness for DVD subtitles… although that’s hardly a comfort when you want your eyes focused on the amazing visuals.  I also find ballet very silly most of the time, which is perhaps a juvenile attitude, but I can’t help it.  Just not my cup of tea, I’m afraid, but I can totally appreciate how someone could become completely enamored with it.  I’d probably give it a 10 if it had been made as a silent.  Rating: 7

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The Hospital

Going through the supplements on the Network DVD put me in the mood for some more Chayefsky.  Unfortunately, this one is nowhere near as good, nor in the same league as the earlier Chayefsky/Hiller collaboration, The Americanization of Emily.  The story is a blend of medical thriller and satire, not very satisfying on either front.  The script has a few good lines, but overall it was lackluster.  George C. Scott is terrific as always and handles the material with skill… too bad Diana Rigg isn’t playing on his level.  Not a bad movie by any means, just far from a great one.  Rating: 6

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No Direction Home

Martin Scorsese does a superb job piecing together Dylan’s early career, culminating in the legendary 1966 Royal Albert Hall concert.  Throughout, Dylan establishes himself as his own individual, steadfastly (and admirably) refusing to be pegged down and pigeonholed.  I’m a Dylan fan, but not a huge one, so most of this footage was new to me, and it’s all excellent.  Scorsese unearthed a lot of great stuff to help put Dylan into context.  A really compelling work that trucks along nicely despite its length… though I imagine it would be of little interest to non-fans.  Rating: 9

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More

I’ve had the soundtrack for 20 years, but I’d never seen the movie.  It’s one of my least favorite Pink Floyd albums, and I can’t say I like the film much either.  There’s not much to like: overstated metaphors (the “sun worshippers” thing is a real groaner), ridiculous dialogue, unnecessary and jarring narration, truly unlikeable characters, horrible acting and dubbing.  Even some of the camerawork was clumsy, although Schroeder does manage to capture some pretty shots.  Even though the whole heroin-is-bad theme has been done plenty of times before and since (and much better, as in Sid & Nancy, for example), it’s pretty rare to see it done while simultaneously singing the praises of pot and LSD, so that was an interesting novelty.  Oh those wacky 60′s.  Rating: 5

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