The Taiwanese director Hsiao-Hsien Hou won the award for Best Director at the Cannes film festival last spring for this visually stunning martial arts movie.
Genre: martial arts / historical drama / action
Sunday, November 15, 2015
Monday, November 9, 2015
The Babadook - clip
My favourite scene from the interesting psychological horror thriller The Babadook (2014) by the Australian director Jennifer Kent.
Genre: psychological thriller / horror / family drama
Shocking beauty
Under the Skin by Jonathan Glazer ★★★★★
Under the Skin follows a mysterious woman, played with glacial superiority by Scarlett Johansson, who drives in a van through Scotland and lures solitary men into a trap, while maintaining her cold, dispassionate composure. An equally mysterious motorcyclist helps her to conceal the evidence. What are they doing? What is that strange black goo in which their victims disappear? What is this methodical duo up to? Are they extracting an energy source or life force? And how does the strange seductress react when she notices essential things that make humans human, such as humor, self-sacrifice, compassion, musicality, hunger, fear, lust and love? Is she starting to feel something...?
Mesmerized. That's how I felt, watching Under the Skin: a strange, highly original science fiction film from 2013 by the British director Jonathan Glazer (known for his crime thriller Sexy Beast and the family drama Birth).
From the onset, starting with the galactic opening shots, which suggest that extraterrestrial forces arrive on Earth, I got the feeling that I was witnessing something special. Something of a dark, fragile depth, rarely seen in an industry that's preoccupied with box-office returns.
Mysterious and seductive
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| Scarlett Johansson. |
Experimental
Glazer alternates bleak, quasi documentary shots on the streets of Glasgow with poetic and often hauntingly beautiful imagery. One of the most lyrical shots is a dissolve between a sleeping Johansson and a spruce forest that's swaying in the wind. The experimental imagery in Under the Skin comes very close to undiluted video art and reminded me of the visual magic in Stanley Kubrick's science fiction classic 2001: A Space Odyssey. The fascinating soundscapes in Under the Skin (by Mica Levi aka Micachu) are reminiscent of the eerie music of György Ligeti in Kubrick's horror thriller The Shining and enhance the ominous atmosphere in Under the Skin all the way to its tragic ending.
The scenes in the van were shot with a hidden camera. The men who get into the van with Johansson were unsuspecting passers-by. Only after the scenes were already shot, they got informed that they were taking part in a movie. This contributed to spontaneous, naturalistic interactions. And Johansson herself, with that 'alien', erotic look of hers, was perfectly cast as the mysterious woman. Through her eyes, we watch the touching stupidity, vulnerablity, ugliness and beauty of mankind with wonder and compassion.
What a relief that Glazer had the courage to explain nothing and leave it to the imagination of the viewer to explore the meaning of what's hidden under the skin of this equally sensitive and disturbing film. It's hard to find a more striking example of cinema as genuine art. Both cruel and sad, chilling and tender, Under the Skin is a masterpiece of rare, shocking beauty.
What a relief that Glazer had the courage to explain nothing and leave it to the imagination of the viewer to explore the meaning of what's hidden under the skin of this equally sensitive and disturbing film. It's hard to find a more striking example of cinema as genuine art. Both cruel and sad, chilling and tender, Under the Skin is a masterpiece of rare, shocking beauty.
JN.
Under the Skin - UK/USA/Switzerland - 2013.
Cast: Scarlett Johansson.
Genre: science fiction / thriller / existential drama
Sunday, November 1, 2015
A heartfelt road movie
Paper Moon by Peter Bogdanovich ★★★★★
Based on the novel Addie Pray by Joe David Brown, this 1973 masterpiece by Peter Bogdanovich follows the tragicomic adventures of a nine-year-old girl, named Addie (Tatum O'Neal in her screen debut), whose unmarried (liscencious?) mother has just died. At the funeral, a certain Moses Pray (Ryan O'Neal) shows up: a selfish con man who might be Addie's father.
Reluctantly, Moses agrees to take Addie to her aunt in Missouri. On the road, Moses turns the girl into his partner in crime. Their lucrative scams include short changing cashiers and selling deluxe Bibles to mourning widows who's husbands just died. Initially, Moses and Addie seem to hate each other. But they might have more in common than they think. As it turns out, the stubborn and wisecracking Addie (watch how she owns Moses during their hilarious standoff in a diner) is at least as cunning as Moses when it comes to survival instinct...
Delightfuly authentic
Paper Moon is probably the best road movie ever. The film is set in the American Midwest during the harsh years of the Great Depression. Filmed in Kansas and Missouri, in quiet little towns and in the countryside, the scenic locations, puffing old cars, vintage clothing and old-time tunes on the soundtrack contribute to a feeling of authenticity. The film's title refers to the delightful song It's Only a Paper Moon from 1933 in the version of Paul Whiteman, sung by Peggy Healy. The entire soundtrack is a charming, melancholic trip through memory lane. (click here to listen to it) Thus, the viewer is immersed in the era of the Great Depression, all the more because the film was shot in black and white. A choice that payed off, considering the beautifil cinematography by the Hungarian director of photography László Kovács. On the advice of Orson Welles (who was Bogdanovich's mentor), Kovács used a deep-focus lens.
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| Tatum and Ryan O'Neal as Addie and Moses. |
Delightfuly authentic
Paper Moon is probably the best road movie ever. The film is set in the American Midwest during the harsh years of the Great Depression. Filmed in Kansas and Missouri, in quiet little towns and in the countryside, the scenic locations, puffing old cars, vintage clothing and old-time tunes on the soundtrack contribute to a feeling of authenticity. The film's title refers to the delightful song It's Only a Paper Moon from 1933 in the version of Paul Whiteman, sung by Peggy Healy. The entire soundtrack is a charming, melancholic trip through memory lane. (click here to listen to it) Thus, the viewer is immersed in the era of the Great Depression, all the more because the film was shot in black and white. A choice that payed off, considering the beautifil cinematography by the Hungarian director of photography László Kovács. On the advice of Orson Welles (who was Bogdanovich's mentor), Kovács used a deep-focus lens.Between laughter and tears
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| Madeline Kahn as Miss Trixie Delight. |
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| Tatum O'Neal an P.J. Johnson. |
Ryan O'Neal plays his heart out as the cynical con artist Moses, whose tacky opportunism conceales more empathy than his callous attitude suggests. Madeline Kahn is perfectly cast as the cheerful, but essentially lonely Miss Trixie. And thanks to the bone-dry humor of P.J. Johnson, the unfortunate Imogene, who is wise beyond her years, is also an unforgettable character. But it is Tatum O'Neal who steals the show as the cute, boyish and cigarette smoking (!) Addie. Although this was her screen debut, O'Neal's naturalistic rendition of Addie finds its way straight to the heart of the viewer, allowing us from the outset to sympathize with the little girl and hope that all ends well with her. Tatum is the daughter of Ryan O'Neal. Undoubtedly, this contributed to their spontaneous on screen interaction. It earned the fledgling actress a well-deserved Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, beating Kahn, who was also nominated for her supporting role in Paper Moon. Why Tatum didn't win an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role, is a mystery to us. But she still is the youngest Oscar winner ever.
Love / hate
Despite the fact that Tatum O'Neil was a very gifted actress, she has never been able to fully capitalize on her talent after the release of Paper Moon. By then, her parents were already divorced. Her father remarried twice (with the actresses Joanna Moore and Leigh Taylor-Young) and went on to have a long-term relationship with actress Farrah Fawcett. Not unlike Addie, Tatum felt neglected. In her teens she got addicted to drugs, and the relationship with her fater went downhill. In 1986 she married tennis icon John McEnroe, but six years later they broke up and she lost custody of their three children. Ryan O'Neal is 74 by now and can look back on a successful movie career. Tatum is 51 and still looks quite young for her age. But because of her drug-fueled past, she has never been able to fully realize her potential as an actress. Although the O'Neals never stopped loving each other, at least according to their own statements in the media, they still quarrel a lot. Their love-hate relationship seems to be a fateful reflection of the volatile relationship between Addie and Moses...
Happy ending?
Happy ending?
Paper Moon ends with a beautiful wide shot of two tiny figures on a deserted country road. It's one of the finest closing shots in movie history. In the same way as Charlie Chaplin's famous tramp walks off towards the horizon after one of his adventures, Paper Moon also ends with the bittersweet promise that the adventures of Addie and Moses have only just begun. I miss them. And often I wonder what happened to them. Let's hope they wound up in a better place than the O'Neals. They deserve a happy ending...
JN.
JN.
It's Only a Paper Moon
Say, it's only a paper moon
Sailing over a cardboard sea
But it wouldn't be make-believe
If you believed in me
Yes, it's only a canvas sky
Hanging over a cotton tree
But it wouldn't be make-believe
If you believed in me
Without your love
It's a honky tonk parade
Without your love
It's a melody played
In a penny arcade
It's a Barnum and Bailey world
Just as hollow as it can be
But it wouldn't be make-believe
If you believed in me
Paper Moon - USA - 1973.
Cast: Tatum O'Neal, Ryan O'Neal, Madeline Kahn and P.J. Johnson.
Genre: road movie / comedy / crime / drama
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