#84 - Good Morning

with #84 we are introduced to acclaimed Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu, and his second color film, alternately known as "the fart movie"  - LOL

Ozu is one of Japan's well known directors - if Kurosawa pioneered Samurai cinema, Ozu pioneered the family film - his films usually tell stories of the dynamics of families - the most famous one being Tokyo Story, which we'll get to later

This is actually only my second Ozu film - (the first I've see was his last, Autumn Afternoon) - I can tell you he has some interesting framing choices - he likes to shoot from low angles - like someone sitting down on a mat - and when characters are having a dialogue, he doesn't always go for setting them both up in a shot, but will frame them talking to each other as if talking to the camera - with a cut to the listener replying back, to a cut of the other person - staring like they're staring at you into the camera

This is a bit of a comedy about some boys who want a TV and how their antics cause drama in this little Tokyo suburb - (I think it's Tokyo) - it's also a bit of a commentary on neighborhoods and gossip - and it's a pretty good story that went by and was very enjoyable to watch and to see on the screen

One of the things about Ozu is he started directing in the 20's but didn't go to sound till 1936 - (most of those silent films are lost but fragments of one and another are on the blu-ray special edition) - and he didn't start shooting color till 1958, again later than some of his peers - but when he did, that color was like an explosion - the lighting and color and sets in this one are just fascinating - and maybe a bit claustrophobic, because these houses are pretty close together - LOL

there are some fart jokes in this film - in fact a lot of them - but hey - it's comedy - LOL

a pretty good start to Ozu in the collection and we look forward to much more.

#83 - The Harder They Come

#83 was not easy to find by any stretch of the imagination - neither netflix, nor filmstruck when I had it, nor my local library system had it - you can rent it on Amazon Prime though - but without the commentary the Criterion collection has which would have been interesting

this is what I understand is the first full length feature film to come out of Jamaica - it brought with it the sounds of reggae to America, which in and of itself is a treat - (although by then some North American artists like Paul Simon and used it in some songs)

The song reminds me a lot of Sweet Sweetback's Badassssss song - (not just cause they're both black films) - but they both have a protagonist who ends up being hunted by the police and I suspect, based upon what I read, that audiences responded to both in the same way - both systems had a level of police corruption that's hard to imagine today

Jimmy Cliff is our main star - who I guess I'll mostly remember as the other club owner in Club Paradise - but of course, he's an international music star and his website has him still making dance music so good for him -

pretty cool film - I'd love to hear the director and Jimmy's commentary on the Criterion version

and yes, I watched this on Christmas Eve but I'm still at work for 90 more minutes so it was on company time for once - LOL

Kind of a cool one

RB

#82 - Hamlet

I think my feelings on Shakespeare can be summed up by a Canadian Folk Duo named Dala

"I don't want to read what Shakespeare wrote, I just want to feel it"

I only did Macbeth in High School, and truth is I came into this movie totally unknowing of the plot of Hamlet which probably makes me an uneducated cad.

At the end of the day, let's say this is the 2nd of 3 Shakespeare movies that Olivier directed - (we already saw Henry V and we won't see Richard III until the 200's) - It's considered one of the more definitive versions of the time up until more recently - the play is crazy long, and at 2.5 hrs, even a good chunk of the dialogue and characters were cut for time - (I guess he took to calling it in later years a STUDY on Shakespeare)

It's not bad but in my mind I've always imagined an air of desperation in Hamlet's soliloquy "To Be or Not to Be" that
Anyhow, it took me two viewings to finish cause yes, I started dozing off on the first one - watch for quick scenes with Peter Cushing and Patrick Troughton, who would go on to play the 2nd Doctor in Doctor Who, admittedly the only role of his I knew before this :)

at least now I have a general idea of the story of Hamlet - LOL

RB

#81 - Variety Lights

What is this, our fourth Fellini film?   They musta got a discount when doing the initial licencing - LOL

This is Fellini's first film from 1950 - codirected with Alberto Lattuada, who we'll see again in the 400's.   It has a nice light feel of 30's and Vaudeville film although it's meant to be a contemporary acting troupe.   The story is of an accomplished performer in a troupe that's having hard luck, who stumbles upon a muse.  He leaves his professional and romantic partner to try and bring this Muse to life, and the story just goes down that route

Very light hearted - very fun - with only one serious moment or two near the end - I suppose this wasn't that unusual for 1950, five years after the War

The two leading ladies are both the wives of the directors, including Guilietta Masina, who we last saw in Nights of Cabaria.   Unfortunately this one is out of print at the present time.   Because it was an art-house collection release, it had virtually no special features, so you get the movie in all it's raw form - (obviously not restored - lots of spots on the print) - but a humorous story - I'd put it right below Nights of Cabaria in terms of how much I liked it - (if we're ranking so far it's like this)

1. - Amacord
2. - Nights of Cabaria
3. - Variety Lights
.
.
50 - And the Ship Sails on

LOL

ah man....Hamlet up next - blech

#80 - The Element of Crime

#80 is the breakthrough debut by Lars von Trier.   This is actually the first film of his I've seen and based on it alone, I'm not sure how far into the catalog to go - LOL

This is a pretty dystopian/noir heavy crime thriller - it reminds me a bit of the scenes in Brazil or Children of Men but on a scale much more decayed - almost Mad Max levels of dystopia.    I don't think there's a single set in the film that couldn't be labeled a shithole

There's some pretty heavy noir elements here too - serial killer being tracked and revisited thru hypnosis.   I think another viewing might give me some stuff I missed but this was not an easy film to get thru.

The lighting and camera angles really dominate the film - the whole thing is almost show in a yellow/red lighting that looks incredibly washed out.  I did some reading and I guess they used a lot of sodium light and monochromatic filtering.  Lars seemed to take delight in unconventional camera angles - a lot of top down shots and a lot of also seeing reflections coming back in the same shots - sort of two points of view in the same shot - That was kinda interesting.

Lars won't show up again for a while in the collection but it's an interesting introduction - there's a special feature of a 90's documentary on here but I probably won't be getting into it - better to save it for later

As stated - this is a man coming back to Europe from Cairo to pursue a serial killer - He is using the methods his mentor described in a often-referred to work called "The Element of Crime" which includes reconstructing part of the criminal's routine to understand him.   All of this is being recalled under hypnosis so there's no saying if the decay and noir are part of the real world or just his recollection. 

Anyways can't ruin anymore of it for you but it's an interesting film - seems like something a college film student might have done in some of it's techniques but hey, go big or go home -

I was even googling to make sure I understood the ending - LOL - it's just so out there

RB