tooter-ted's Reviews

Carmina burana (1975)

9/10

20 January 2007

Carl Orff wanted to see some sort of staging of his musical score, Carmina Burana. I'd like to think he would have approved of this one. Jean-Pierre Ponnelle films Carmina among stage pieces that often take the viewer where no theater audience could go. The effect is a bit like entering a Bosch painting.

This is the same method Ponnelle used with a number of operas, but here he is more free to create a fantasy world of images; here he has only a series of poems; no plot structure to furnish. If a few of the effects look a bit primitive, others are magical. And sometimes the whiplash from comedy to horror was so swift that I found myself questioning the smugness that led me to question this or that image, and I quickly found myself immersed in the work again.

The DVD has English subtitles for the Latin. How wonderful finally to be able to follow the text all the way through! However, I urge you, watch WITHOUT TEXT the first time through. The musical performance is good enough that, if you like the work, you'll happily go back. Orff chose to set Latin because he wanted us to take the meaning from the music. Trust that the outrageous things occurring on stage grow from the text, and submit to the pull of sounds and images. Words will clog the process, and the images will surprise and delight best on that first encounter if you're not busy reading. I'm a fan of subtitled movies, but we process words differently from sound.

I bought the DVD of this for the movie, but any movie of Carmina would be of passing interest if not well sung and played. This one is excellent. I have long admired Lucia Popp's Queen of the Night for Klemperer, and she is as good here. The rest of the cast and the orchestra is also up to the competition.

Alas, to my knowledge the DVD has never been issued in the US. I got my copy from England and play it in the US on my laptop which knows nothing of region codes and is equally happy playing PAL as NTSC. With laptop connected to my sound system I had a front row seat. No extra software was required for this on my Mac. I've been trying to see this production for 30 years. It says a lot that I wasn't disappointed.

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Pi (1998)

8/10

Negative Capability

26 December 2006

Max is an obsessed genius falling ever more deeply into migraine-ridden madness. As he himself suggests, his life has been about staring into the sun. What makes this film so powerful is its unflinching first person point of view as Max follows his harrowing path. Director Aronofsky's camera assaults us with starkly lit, B&W images that heighten characterization and sometimes strobe and make moires that blind us; the sounds often disengage us from the images, while film editing dislocates time. From the first moments of the film we are Max; his alienation is palpable, sometimes the pulsing of his nausea is as well.

This ride is harrowing, and not just the horror scenes, so much so that some will be put off. For me it is cinema at its most cinematic. Aronofsky makes Max's mental state palpable through cinematography. As Max spirals into self-destruction he also reaches for the mathematical beauty, the pattern that underlies all the forms in the universe. This opens the cinematography to a wonderful range of imagery handled so as to leave the audience to ponder possible symbolic resonances. The final beauty of the film rests in the fact that this is a tale told by a hallucinating madman. We may think we know what is real and what is his hallucination. Then again, most of us have awakened from nightmares unsure where dream stops and reality begins. This leaves fundamental questions of the film interestingly ambiguous: Is it the mathematical vision that short circuits Max's brain or is it all those drugs he's taking? Is that strange computer rig that envelopes his apartment a machine for solving fundamental questions, or is it merely the externalization of Max's agoraphobic, claustrophobic mindscape? Is the universe based on fundamental order or is the order Max sees merely the shape of chaos? The film does no more than pose the question.

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Sorcerer (1977)

5/10

Sound and fury signifying nothing.

8 December 2006

The original for this film, Clouzot's "Wages of Fear," is one of the greats. It is not only a great thriller, but manages in the last minutes to tie a wide range of issues together and leave you thinking about all you've just experienced. In spite of excellent cinematography and first rate sound design, "Sorcerer" is a big bore that never adds up. The first half of the film spans the world and provides a sense of place worthy of Hitchcock. In fact, it really got me thinking about how the four apparently unrelated events might eventually fit together. Well, they don't It's sole purpose is to set out the back stories of the 4 main characters. Unfortunately, the 4 characters are never developed and what we learn here is largely irrelevant to the film's actions or themes.

When we get to the main story, we care little about the four characters and their fate. In fact you may have trouble remembering who two of the characters are and none of the characters ring true. Where does a guy who spent his prior life as a wealthy banker (or, in fact, any of the characters) get the skills to assemble and tune the engine, suspension, etc. of the trucks that he will use to transport the explosives? The back stories make up half the run time of the film but never answer such basic questions. As a result, we are left with a thin thriller about characters who behave in unbelievable ways and never arouse either sympathy or hatred. If well-shot thrill sequences are all you seek in a film, you may enjoy this. While it is true that there is something a bit Hollywoodish in Yves Montand's naiveté in "Wages," and that is contrasted with the grittiness of the characters in "Sorcerer," the ending of "Wages" gives that Hollywood simplicity just the right ironic twist.

In "Wages of Fear" Clouzot limits his focus to the backwater hell hole where everyone lives in poverty enslaved to the world oil market. Clouzot focuses much attention on making us feel how bad this place is. By the end of the film Clouzot has us thinking about the relation of the lives of these characters to our own. While I understand why Friedkin in "Sorcerer," might wish to show the global interconnectedness of the modern world, and that the whole world is now a mean and dangerous place, he never attempts to connect the meanness of that world to the poverty and brutishness of the oil backwater, the current lives of the characters, or our own lives. While he makes the squalor of the backwater convincing, it too has little connection to the world's meanness. Yes, the world is dangerous, revolution is always about to boil over, but what has this to do with us. Clouzot's characters learn and grow as the film accumulates ironies right to the final death waltz. Friedkin's characters barely exist and the film finds no thematic center to hold itself together.

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Dames (1934)

9/10

Best of Berkeley and Conscious Moral Ambiguity

22 April 2006

Warning: Spoilers

It's true that you'll wait through much of this film for the production numbers, its greatest attraction to contemporary viewers. However, that's not a problem. In contrast to the chaotic plot of Gold Diggers of 1935, this plot has both point and some worthy comic performances from Zasu Pitts, Guy Kibbee, and especially Hugh Herbert. In fact the film's thematic point, missed in most reviews, distinguishes it from other films of this genre.

We expect in these films for Dick Powell to be the dashing (if fruity) hero who wins the girl in the end. The end here is not so simple; Powell wins the girl, but we never hear what he whispers in Ruby Keeler's ear when she asks if he loves her, and his caddish behavior throughout the film suggests that all's not well that ends well. Caddish is too tame to describe his awful, fast-talking disregard of everyone but himself. The film gives no reason to suspect he loves Keeler any more than he loves Joan Blondell. Shortly after singing, "I Only Have Eyes for You" to Barbara (Keeler) for whom he wrote it, he sings it to Mabel (Blondell) while excluding Barbara just within earshot. Powell makes quite clear that "dames" are interchangeable, and the show must go on, even if it requires victimizing his "sweetheart's" parents and even if it means firing the girl he supposedly loves.

In fact, all the characters in this film behave miserably. Kibbee is a father ready to sell out, not only his values (he seems to have none) but his daughter for an inheritance, and the daughter has as little regard for the feelings of her parents. Zasu Pitts as mother is emotionless, frigid, and similarly self-centered. Rich Uncle Ezra is hilariously dimwitted, an aggressively ignorant upholder of right morals. Nobody is reformed in the end, and the only reason the show goes on is that the "moral majority," who would block the show and the marriage get too drunk to care. However, it is the failings of the supposed heroes and heroines that are most telling. These people all deserve each other, and the future can't be as promising as the Hollywood ending might imply.

Of course, it is Berkeley's production numbers that will lead you to this film, and they all come near the end in rapid succession. They are worth the wait. Berkeley's surreal images comment on the shallowness of the characters. Could it also be that Berkeley recognized Keeler's lack of talent when he gave her almost no chance to sing or dance? The final dance sequence may be the single most extravagant and outrageous Berkeley ever directed. The kaleidoscopic effects, through the legs dolly shots, use of mirrors and transitions will dazzle lovers of this medium. One should be amazed at how some of these shots were accomplished with the bulky equipment of the day. You haven't seen the best of Berkeley until you've seen Dames.

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The Children Are Watching Us (1943)

10/10

Cinematography & Acting for Emotional Depth

20 April 2006

This film caught me by surprise, I should say, gripped me by surprise. First, is its power to move deeply about which others have written. What might easily have seemed hollow and sentimental becomes compelling and searching because of the detailed performances given to all four of the central characters. Most amazing of these is Luciano De Ambrosis portrayal of Prico through whose eyes the story is told. The DVD includes an excellent 1984 interview with De Ambrosis in which he talks about working with De Sica. At one point the father carelessly knocks Prico into the side of a door. We know at once that the hurt to Prico is more emotional than physical, and we sympathize, but at the same time we also are drawn into the father's anguish that has brought him to this abuse. The moment is brief but hits home because it is well prepared for.

Of course the story through the boy's eye is the film through De Sica's lens, and it is always a revealing lens, emotionally caught up, frequently looking around corners or looking up at adult gossip. The world shown occasionally enters dream realities. One actual dream sequence made me think of Dali's questionable sequence in Hitchcock's "Spellbound," just three years later. However, where that is self-conscious and anything but dreamlike, this carried me off and felt genuine. I almost didn't notice as was drawn in, and everything reverberated feverishly as I was brought back. As one of the commentaries makes clear, the film had special resonance with the summer of 1942, just before war broke out. That only adds to its heart-wrenching power. The Children Are Watching Us is a magnificent plea for love and compassion. If it does not touch you, you must be very hard-hearted, indeed.

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Il Grido (1957)

8/10

Echo of Winterreise

9 March 2006

Other reviews to the contrary, if you found Le Notte or L'Eclisse lacked sufficient plot, I doubt you'll enjoy Il Grido. However, unlike later Antonioni, the focus here is not on fear of commitment & loss of passion, but on a classic spurned lover. Like L'Eclisse, Il Grido begins with breakup, magnificently acted & powerfully filmed; we feel each shudder of pain. In fact, both films' power rests on us sharing this experience, second by second, nerve-end by nerve-end. Note Irma's efforts to hold to the fabric of order & routine to keep a lid on Aldo's fury & the careful portrayal of Aldo's frustrations.

Il Grido's opening builds to a very public & final breakup. It initiates Aldo's journey away from Irma & home. I kept thinking of Schubert's song cycle, Winterreise. In both, after rejection the protagonist's world ceases to hold together. Only here the descent isn't into winter but into fog, industrial sprawl, & ever more spartan existence. Even the piano which accompanies Aldo reminded me of lieder.

The opening's not quite picturesque scenery may suggest nurturing home values. Unlike couples in other Antonioni classics, Aldo & Irma have a daughter, & to Aldo their lives seemed fulfilled. The almost picturesque is soon replaced by encroaching industrial sounds & images. Several times we see trees felled as an old order is being swept away. At film's end, the whole town is slated for demolition, & we are asked to contemplate the relation between the Winterreise-like main text of lost love & this subtext of industrial sprawl & oppressive, intrusive government. No clear connection is given, but as in later Antonioni, the images work their effect as much on our subconscious as on our intellect; whether we can verbalize our thoughts or not, we feel this rupture with earlier values & social structures. For me, Il Grido is a more honest film than L'Avventura. If it lacks a bit of the elegant, refined photo compositions of Antonioni's trilogy, it rests on the same detailed, carefully structured cinematography.

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Obsession (1943)

10/10

Music for the eye and ear

18 February 2006

To get in touch with the beauty of this film pay close attention to the sound track, not only the music, but the way all sounds help to weave the imagery. How beautifully the opening scene leading to the expulsion of Gino establishes the theme of moral ambiguity! Note the way music introduces the characters as we are led inside Giovanna's marriage. Don't expect to find much here of the political life of Italy in 1943. That's not what this is about. On the other hand, if you are susceptible to the music of images and sounds, you will be led into a word that reaches beyond neo-realism. By the end of the film we there are moments Antonioni-like landscape that has more to do with the inner life of the characters than with real places. This is one of my favorite Visconti films.

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Two Women (1960)

8/10

A magnificent film about how human bonds redeem us from ourselves

18 February 2006

I gave this film 9/10 while understanding its weaknesses. First, as others note, the print is the worst I've ever encountered sometimes turning faces into gray pudding, but the problem was not so great to keep me from responding fully to the film's power, and I decided to evaluate the film rather than the print. I have more serious concerns about events at the film's climax which raise issues which are resolved too quickly. In fact these issues might be the subject of a whole new film, and if treated here they would require another hour of play time. The films hasty resolution of these issues makes important behaviors seem poorly motivated and unbelievable. However, the issues in question are not the central issues of the movie. When Cesira apologizes to her daughter (and at other points) I was left sobbing in spite of the film's failure to properly address the daughter's final trauma. This is not a about recovering from trauma. Rather, it is a film about human fallibility and self-deception or, as Michele puts it, "You can't escape, not even from yourself." Cesira faults others while never examining her own behavior. Like those around her, she acts only to preserve her own immediate interests. At the other extreme. Michele's idealism prevents him from realizing his own humanity. Only Rosetta demonstrates the purity to see beyond self-interest, and the instinct to truly tell right from wrong. Her downfall is the tragedy of the film. Yet through all of this the film shows us how, when pushed to extremes, these people are capable of forging deep human bonds. Such bonds have the power to redeem all as they finally redeem Rosetta. I can't conclude without adding my own appreciation for Sophia Loren's extraordinary performance.

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