#54 - For All Mankind

#54 is probably our first full Documentary - (not counting Nanook, which is sort of a docudrama) - This film is quite simply a document of the Apollo missions as shot by NASA, who apparently had thousands of hours of film in the archives that had never been seen before by the public.

Strictly speaking it is footage of all nine missions, and they are intercut to appear as one mission, from boarding the spacecraft, to launch, to the lander and moonwalks, back to re-entry - the Astronauts on the missions narrate some of the action and what they saw.

It's honestly something I wasn't sure I'd get into too much but when you remember again what we did - (and haven't done since) - it seems like such a massive undertaking - the sheer size of the Saturn rockets, the amazement of Earth from a distance, and some of the footage was incredibly clear - (and some was 16mm grainy) -

it's a pretty good film - there's a few extras on Filmstruck - There is also apparently - (though I didn't find it) - an ingenious use of closed captioning that is used JUST to identify faces and voices in the documentary, as you might be curious which Astronaut and mission is being seen at the time.

it would be very interesting to see an extended version with lots more footage released - (they certainly had the footage) - but as it stands it seems like just the right length - good stuff and a nice change up from the usual foreign film fare.

#53 - Sanjuro

#53 is the follow up to Yojimbo - the entertaining sequel called Sanjuro

Many of the same actors and production team are in both movies - In face, we have the same guys playing the villians, including Tatsuya Nakadai.   The interesting transition is that this time we have left the lawless world of bandits in a town and moved to the formal world of the Samurai and a corrupt administrator.   Sanjuro takes it upon himself to help a number of young samurai attempt to flush out the corruption.

In that regard it's a totally different vibe - the young samurai now look at him like the ruffian and gangsters from the first movie - he is unkempt, undisciplined, and shocking to them at times.   The Swordplay at times is excellent, and the ending is one of those eye openers the first time you catch it.

Interestingly, I learned that Tatsuya filmed his roles in these two films in breaks between parts 2 and 3 of The Human Condition, a 9 hr. epic that spanned 3 films.   Suffice it to say, now that he had gotten a chance to act for Kurosawa, he was going to work his tail off to make it happen, and he would be one of Akira's goto guys in the later samurai epics Kagemusha and Ran.

The commentary is interesting - Stephen Prince goes out of his way to highlight some of the most interesting parts of the story - in both these films, Kurosawa makes great use of the telephoto lens to flatten the action and allow you to see large amounts of in focus detail. 

Mifune would go on to play a similar character two more times - in "Zatoichi meets Yojimbo" and in "Incident at Blood Pass" but not the same one.   Nevertheless, the archtype of the scruffy ronin was one he did to great effect, and of course, he would play regular Samurai in many other period pieces, as well as a multitude of contemporary roles

I don't remember if I've spoken in detail yet about Tatsuya Nakadai, but at some point he will come up again and we can talk about him more - suffice it to say he's not usually a villian, but in these two films, he runs the gamut from crazy bandit to noble, but corrupted retainer.

Two great widescreen movies that can be found in a complementary box set with some extra documentaries, commentaries, and features.

#52 - Yojimbo

#52 is a classic - utter and complete classic - it has inspired copycats in the west - (A Fistful of Dollars and Last Man Standing) - it made an international superstar out of Toshiro Mifune and continues the great collaborations between him and Akira Kurosawa.

I'm going to do something a little different here - I'm not going to talk about the film yet

I'm going to talk about a time when I had seen Seven Samurai, and had bought the boxed set which included that, Yojimbo, Sanjuro, and the Hidden Fortress.

Also I was semi homeless - living out of a friend's spare bedroom - and drinking heavily - I also had a band practice space which had a small couch but not much band practicing.

And I went out and bought one of those combo DVD/TV units - and I'd walk 3 blocks to the store, buy some rumplemintz, walk back to the practice space, and watch these DVD's on the 4:3 little TV which I put at the end of the couch, and I'd drink to excess and watch samurai movies.   I think I watched them all twice

Later on, after I quit drinking, I'd find refuge again in a two week theater run of Samurai movies in Town.  Right when I was beginning my sobriety, I would play video games or watch TV or (meh) smoke weed - but early on there was a two week stint of Samurai movies at the University's Theater, where I got to see Yojimbo on the big screen, as well as other classics like Sword of Doom and Hari-Kiri, which may be my favorite Samurai film of all time.

So the genre has a special place in my heart - they're my westerns - I still want to go to Japan but the wife is too paranoid about radiation so I'll probably never get to go - but I'd go on a tour and I'd look at famous Japanese history from the 1600-1850's

It's a deeply entertaining film - the music, cinematography, and action are top notch - it looks great on a Blu-Ray and I even listened a 2nd time with the commentary because Stephen Prince brings a lot to it, and will tie it together with the next film, a sequel with the same character, who Mifune would also play a variation on a couple more times in future cinema - just as Clint Eastwood would play a different "Man With No Name" character in some of his later westerns.

It's a great film - I wish everyone could enjoy it in the theaters again

RB

#51 - Brazil

#51 is a 1985 picture meant to evoke 1984 in a comical, almost satirist kind of way - it probably would have been OUT in 1984 if there hadn't been such a heavy conflict between the Studio and Terry Gilliam - LOL

Half the story of Brazil is told in the drama between a studio head and the director as to what kind of film was going to be put out and what kind of happy/sad ending it was to get - as it stands...this is the director's final cut - and bears his image of what he intended - Terry Gilliam did a couple shorts between this and Time Bandits, but this was his next main film. 

As far as films go - it's a little plodding - I'm sure the effects in 1985 were killer - I can understand if some folks walked out bored or just having W.T.F. syndrome - I found myself drifting a bit but as a whole thought it was an interesting film

the idea of being trapped in Bureaucracy is interesting - as that's basically the vise that grips all these characters and all they do - it actually reminded me of a totally unexpected film coming up later on, "Ikiru" where the inertia of trying to get things done in the govt. cause a rebellion in a civil servant - but this is meant to be funny, comedic, and oppressive at the same time, and it pulls it off fairly well

One could easily imagine a remake for today but I'd prefer not - LOL  - this kind of film can only be made once and they did a pretty good job - I'd watch it again with friends

Lotsa special features - it's not on filmstruck and I got stuck with a 1999 box set in 4:3 and not incredibly good detail, but the jest of it came thru

honestly, I've really been waiting almost the whole blog since I started for #52 - so that helped me get this out in a hurry :)

#50 - And The Ship Sails On

#50 - (well, we've skipped 3 but official #50 on the spine)

I can't sugarcoat this - I thought this was a boring film - I think I'm going to sigh every time a Fellini film comes up at this rate - I thought the story was dull, the effects unimpressive - and maybe there's something about European Life revealed in here that I missed, but as a whole I was so bored I almost fell asleep in broad daylight watching it -

Not much else to say about this one

RB

#49 - Nights of Cabiria

Ah yah...my second Fellini film - I thought it was my first but forgot he directed Amacord which I watched about 14 months ago - THAT film stuck with me as one of my initial fav's - so much so I almost bought the blu-ray

THIS ONE - took some time to get into - I guess it's one of the last of Fellini's Neo-Realism films before he got more into his surreal style.  I honestly struggled to get into it the first two times and had to stop (and go to bed) about 1/4 and 1/2 way in but then I finished it up and got a lot more sympathy for the protagonist in the second half.

Fellini's wife, Giulietta Masina, plays Cabiria, the prostitute with a heart of gold? in this film - she brings an almost vaudeville approach - (others have said Chaplin) to the character.  It made it a little hard for me to find sympathy for her early on, although the first scene in the film is a hard luck one

the DVD is out of print on Criterion - the film is currently on Filmstruck - as I was able to find it at the library, I can confirm there are some interesting interviews, clips on restoration, and commentary on a scene which was deleted from the initial print and readded a few years later - (and in this edition, before I knew it had been deleted, which is a decision I don't disagree with the producer on) - some interesting early clips where the character briefly appeared in a 1952 film, and the like.   It won't be my favorite Fellini film, but now that it's done I can say I'm glad I watched it, and I have another one in the barrel which I guess might make Fellini my most watched director up to this point BUT we also have some more Kurosawa coming up too.

Not a bad film - just takes some time to get into and if you're tired, watching a film with subtitles that you're not terribly into is a good way to fall asleep in the lazy-boy - good times

#48 - Black Orpheus

#48 is a visual and musical tour de force I never heard about - Black Orpheus -

disclaimer - I think it's like one of FOUR Orpheus movies in the first couple hundred Criterion releases but I'm betting it's the most original  (Edit 12/26/2018 - this comment uh, didn't age so well - all of the Orpheus films were sorta out there - LOL)

The story is a South American take on the story of Orpheus and Eurydice in Rio De Janeiro at Carnival time - While I think they caught a lot of the atmosphere they maybe didn't do enough to truly capture the city except from the Mountains.   I think this movie could have done for Rio what Summertime did for Venice - but what I DID learn was that it did bring Bossa Nova music out of Brazil to a wider audience and that's got to count for something - I also heard it was Barack Obama's Mother's favorite film but that he personally had issues with it when he went to go see it with her

There is a beauty and life to this film that's hard to beat - The Color is excellent, the actors are very telegenic, and the music is awesome - music infuses the background of the whole movie and the child actors bring a strong sense of levity and joy to the film

some great special features, interviews, etc - it was a Brazil/France co-production - and as such there is some controversy - some folks feel it's an outsider's take on Brazil and glorifies the poverty of the folks there - but as a colorful and beautiful film it cannot be denied that it's a fantastic film