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Reviews
Rachel River (1987)
A movie of exceptional sensitivity and achievement
The attempt to make a movie of this subtlety in the United States of the late 1980s was extraordinary, and the measure of how simply yet successfully it was done equally so. The result is moving and exemplary, and especially so for screenwriters, for it shows how much can be done at little cost if a company of filmmakers commit themselves to focusing upon people rather than hype. Readers of this comment needn't read further, for it ends here. However, the 'guidelines' for posting require me to 'hype' its length to ten lines - so I am obliged to repeat: RACHEL RIVER is moving and exemplary, and especially so for screenwriters, for it shows how much can be done at little cost if a company of filmmakers commit themselves to focusing upon people rather than hype.
Quartet (1981)
Astonishing sense of place, time and trouble.
Few screenwriters have ever jumped the gap that Jhabvala traversed between THE EUROPEANS (1979) and QUARTET (1981). I know of no other film that captures as well the sense of European pre-WW2 'decadence' (compare CABARET for an object lesson in failure!), or that is directed and photographed with stronger integration of the settings, colours, sounds and behavior within the story being told. A remarkable achievement - the film that put filmmakers on notice about how well the remarkable Jhabvala/Ivory/Merchant trio present stories locked into their space and time.
Dutch Harbor: Where the Sea Breaks Its Back (1998)
Extraordinary integration of sounds with visuals.
For filmmakers, this modest documentary should be an object lesson in how to think of using sounds when looking at things by means of film. Seldom if ever have sounds been associated as precisely with visuals of which they are not 'effects', whether natural or musical. Some combinations work better than others, but the overall achievement is staggering - and exemplifies what can powerfully be done by thoughtful and committed filmmakers for those of us whose attention spans, and ability to ponder, pass beyond seconds.
Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988)
The most powerfully innovative film of the past quarter-century.
Among powerful films of the past quarter-century, none surpass this one for elegant and innovative design. Unfortunately, it will remain, it appears, a singular achievement, even among the works of Davies, for nothing he has since done approaches its power. The inability to comprehend how and why a film works, although now an all-too-common failing among filmmakers, is in Davies's case uniquely sad, for the promise of this film was unprecedented.
Un coeur en hiver (1992)
A masterful film made from one of the finest screenplays ever written.
A masterful film made from one of the finest screenplays ever written. When one considers the problems the writers set for themselves, how aptly and powerfully they solved them and how brilliantly the film was directed and acted, it is almost enough to renew one's faith in the cinema. If only Sautet were still alive!
Hadaka no shima (1960)
One of the finest films ever made.
If you have ever wondered what a film would be like that exemplifies how the tools of the craft can be used to do powerfully what no other art can do, this film answers the question. It is among the most carefully wrought, least encumbered yet profound movies ever made. The fact that it has long been unavailable in America and Europe in any accessible format reflects very sadly upon us all. (Addendum 15 March 2008 for those of you with region-free players: the English distributor, Eureka, has thankfully released the original widescreen version of the movie in PAL format in its 'The Masters of Cinema Series', #12, with an optional commentary by Shindo and his composer, Hikaru Hayashi. Available from Amazon.uk.)
In the Good Old Summertime (1949)
A brilliant adaptation of a previous play and film.
This is assuredly one of the best adaptation/sequels to a major movie ever designed. The original Raphaelson/Lubitsch version, SHOP AROUND THE CORNER, was wonderful, but the idea to change it into a musical (a vehicle for Garland and Johnson), the changes made to do so and the casting are extraordinary. One musical number with Garland and a quartette is dated, but is immediately followed by another with her solo that is a trademark performance (and knowledgeable viewers will marvel, here and in the scene where Garland enters the house to tell her 'aunt' of the disasterious occurence at the restaurant, at how much Garland looks like her daughter, Lisa Minnelli, will look in later years - and Minnelli, 18-months-old, appears here in her screen debut in the final scene as Garland's daughter!). One can count on one hand the number of times that a successful adaptation has been made of a previously successful film, and this one goes to the top of my list!