Hollywood Ending (2002)

A film diretor is hired by indication of his ex-wife, who is now engaged to the studio boss. He develops psychosomatic blindness and his agent convinces him to conceal it from the others and direct the film anyway.

The flow of jokes is steady, and there is no real pain in watching it. For the analytically inclined, there are curious aspects about it, especially as it relates to Allen's filmography. The first really odd thing that came to my attention, and apparently no one else's, is how this relates to Crimes and Misdemeanors. We have here characters or situations that appear to be derived from that movie's. Williams' character closely resembles Alda's character in that movie, Leoni's resembles Farrow's, and Allen's resembles Allen's. Adding to these parallels, both films have characters who go blind (Allen's here and Waterston's there). Both films are about the need to conceal something dangerous -- blindness in one case and graft in the other. Beyond these mysterious analogies, however, there is a more fundamental connection with Allen's entire oeuvre. There are multiple blindnesses on display in Hollywood Ending, besides the central character's. The need to conceal his predicament is itself another inducement of blindness; in other words, this is a ploy to make people blind to his blindness. But there is more. The film is a complicated scheme to divert the viewer's attention from its most glaring aspect: Allen is old and ugly. If you add to that his character's panoply of quirks, you would find it hard to accept that Leoni would ever have been drawn to him in the first place; the ostensive drama around her betrayal of him for a more attractive man only seems to try to conceal that fact. The same goes for his new girlfriend: she is a second impossible event which obfuscates the impossibility of the first one. Thus it seems that a recurrent subtheme of his other films has come to the foreground here: the embarrassment of being of no real attractiveness to the opposite sex. In this sense, what seems to be the film's conspicuous flaw, namely the miscasting of over-aged Allen in the main role, is actually the key to its decipherment. If the film's theme is blindness, how better to convey it than to induce blindness in the audience?

Rating: 55

Unconquered (1947)

Second viewing; first viewed on June 21, 1998.

The film is set in 1763 during the so-called Pontiac's rebellion. An English woman has her death sentence commuted to indentured servitude in America. A weapons trader lusts after her and is opposed by a military who gradually becomes enamored of her.

Not very different in structure from the previous film in this blog. Here, too, we have the implausible notion of a man entangled in a terrible conflict who finds extra time to recurrently save a woman in peril. Again, the plot offers little insight into the mechanics of the conflict, choosing melodrama instead. As a spectacle it is not totally negligible. The film portrays Native Americans as primitive (they almost burn the heroine at a stake on the urging of a jealous woman) and treacherous, well beyond plausibility.

Rating: 38 (up from 30)

Knight Without Armour (1937)

Second viewing; first viewed on May 8, 1997.

U.S. title: Knight Without Armor

Prior to the Russian Revolution, an English correspondent in Russia becomes a spy for England, and infiltrates a revolutionary group. He goes through several misadventures before and after the revolution and crosses paths with a Russian countess.

Well-made melodrama which does not have a remarkably interesting plot nor offers much insight into the inners of the turbulence in revolutionary Russia. Dietrich has one or two facial expressions which she uses in the course of the film.

Rating: 38 (up from 14)

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939)

Professor Moriarty plans the crime of the century, and has a plan to deceive Sherlock Holmes. His plan involves letters addressed to two different persons, one a certain society woman and the other the guardian of Britain's jewels.

Slightly amusing mystery story, filmed with fitfully dark atmosphere and naïve energy. Good reviews by Robert J. Maxwell and Ted Goranson may be found on IMDB -- browse the User Reviews filtered for 'prolific authors'.

Rating: 52

Love Is All There Is (1996)

During the staging of a school production of Romeo and Juliet, the two adolescent leads fall in love with each other. Their respective families, who are business rivals and from different social backgrounds, oppose the relationship.

If I hadn't been told, I wouldn't be able to tell this apart from a below average Woody Allen movie. Anyway, the premise from the original Shakespeare play -- family feud -- has been transformed into a merely economic and cultural problem, and even that seems utterly secondary to the plot. The main theme here is the parents' delusion that their kids somehow will act differently from how they -- the parents -- acted when they were their age, despite their genetic commonalities. Although this is potentially interesting, this film is a parade of vulgarity and uninspired scripting which is barely watchable only due to the somewhat competent acting and staging.

Rating: 30

1941 (1979)

Second viewing; first viewed in 1980.

In 1941, after the Japanese attack in Hawaii, Californians are somewhat worried that they are the next target. A Japanese submarine is advancing towards the West Coast hoping to strike something "significant". The U.S. military forces mobilize against this as well as some misperceived threats. Adding to the confusion are several concurrent incidents: one officer tries to score with a secretary who will only get aroused while airborne; a dance contest sets the stage for some sexual rivalry between two young men; a tank is set at a coastal residence's front yard; a lone aviator sets about in a maniacal shooting spree; two shooters are placed on a ferris wheel.

This is a military satire that looks like it was written by a bunch of overexcited 15-year-olds, and yet is done with such conviction that it is hard to deny it some merit. Films needn't be elegant in concept, comedies needn't be funny; it is better when they are, but the important thing is that they have some distinctness about them. I couldn't laugh much with 1941; but I admit it has some degree of originality and a consistent style. That, and the fact that it wasn't morally offensive, was enough for me.

Rating: 50 (down from 55)

Prince of Foxes (1949)

In 1500, Cesare Borgia wants to rule over the entire Italic peninsula; his favorite agent, one Andrea Orsini, is a man who conceals his humble origins and has artistic tendencies; Borgia assigns him with eliminating the sovereign of an independent City State, towards whose wife Orsini feels attracted.

The distinguishing feature of this production is the location shooting in Italy (San Gimignano, Siena, Florence, Rome, and Venice) and San Marino, which gives it a remarkably realistic as well as aesthetically pleasing look. Aside from that, it is the usual Hollywood fare, professionally done yet decidedly melodramatic in nature. As usual in Hollywood melodrama, characters, both central and supporting ones, act in less than plausible ways, which nevertheless are very convenient in regard to shaping the plot, and the dialog is not ashamed of anachronism, conspicuously so in a reference to romantic love. There is even a devoted mother of peasant origin who is played with adequate gusto by Katina Paxinou, but could just as well be done by Anna Magnani. Machiavelli's thought is summarized in the usual popular way as "the ends justifies the means". In short, it is entertaining and not too enlightening regarding History, but far from preposterous.

Rating: 57

Flaming Star (1960)

The Kiowa have a new chief who has vowed to rid their land of all Whites. Sam Burton is married to a First-Peoples wife and has one son with her. He has also another son, from a previous marriage to a White woman. Their family faces difficult questions of identity which will translate in decisions of allegiance.

With the 60s a crucial era of transformations in America's inter-ethnic relations was being launched. Hollywood was a staunch promoter of the liberal agenda, and sometimes resorted to Westerns to convey its message in a safelier fashion. With integration, inevitably would come the problem of miscegenation, and its consequences. This film deals with some of these problems, and does it well, despite its political bias. The half-breed character exemplifies what happens to a society when races mix: allegiance to immediate family trumps allegiance to an ethnicity, thus atomizing a nation or community. There are some smart turns of the script which push the character into one side of his biological inheritance (in this case, the Kiowa), only to later restore him to his initial leanings toward his next of kin. An interesting film, and entertaining too.

Seen in pan-and-scan.

Rating: 55

Kaos (1984)

Second viewing; first viewed between 1984 and 1986.

Based on five stories by Luigi Pirandello collected in the series "Novelle per un anno" ("Short Stories for a Year"): "L'altro figlio" ("The Other Son", 1st pub. 1902), "Male di luna" ("Moonsickness", 1st pub. 1913), "La giara" ("The Jar", 1st pub. 1906), "Requiem aeternam dona eis, domine!" ("Eternal Rest Grant Unto Them, O Lord!", 1st pub. 1913), "Colloquii coi personaggi" ("Conversations with the Characters", 1st pub. 1915).

All stories are set in Sicily. (1) An aging woman is sad because her emigrated sons do not answer her letters; she has one son who stayed in Sicily, whom she cannot stand; (2) a man has a strange sickness about which his wife will only find out after the wedding; (3) a rich landowner buys a big jar to store his harvest of olives, but one morning he finds it broken; he hires a man to mend it; (4) a small community demands from the local baron a place for a cemetery; (5) a writer visits the place where he grew up and has a conversation with his dead mother; they recollect events in his childhood.

 Admittedly, this is an honest depiction of Sicily at a certain time in the past. However, the episodes are not especially well written or well filmed. It is a mildly agreeable film.

Rating: 56 (down from 66)

Le diable et les 10 commandements (1962)

English title: The Devil and the Ten Commandments

Seven episodes each of which purports to provide an ironical view of one or more of the ten commandments. (1) a handyman at a convent who has the habit of cursing reencounters his old school chum who is now a bishop visiting the convent; (2) two married women, one rich and the other poor, are mad about jewels; (3) a seminarist vows to avenge his sister's death which he attributes to the evil influence in her life of a pimp and drug dealer; (4) a man claiming to be God arrives at a small farm; (5) a medical student learns that his biological mother abandoned him as an infant and is now a famous actress; (6) a bank cashier is victim of a robbery on the last day at his job; (7) the handyman and the bishop from episode 1 are playing cards on a Sunday and recollecting their school adventures.

It is a pleasant watch, and occasionally makes some fine observations about the moral issues associated with the commandments. However, on average it is a bit bland and some of the stories just do not illustrate adequately the respective commandments. The only ones that do it satisfactorily, in my opinion, are numbers 1, 5, 6, and, combining several commandments, number 2. Number 3, although not bad in itself, has only a trivial relation with 'Thou shalt not kill'. Number 4 artificially inserts, as an element of connection with 'Thou shalt have no other gods before me', a pagan monument which has little relation with the main plot. In number 7, it is not clear that the characters are violating the commandment in question (but I am no expert in such judgments).

Two of the stories were adapted only a little time before to TV episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, namely, number 2 (Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel's Coat, uncredited) and number 6 (Profit-Sharing Plan, probably, here in a loose adaptation).

Rating: 50

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005)

Conclusion of the trilogy. Senator Palpatine is kidnapped, Padmé gets pregnant, Anakin is frustrated with his lack of recognition, etc.

Technically, this is distinct from the rest of the series. CGI technology  had by then reached a mature stage, and the visuals are impressive. Narratively, I venture saying that we have here a definite epic style (whereas the first one was done predominantly as comedy and the second one predominantly as tragedy). The dialog remains resolutely at the same elementary level as in the previous installments. Overall, the film avoids rising above strict mediocrity, and yet it confirms my assessment of the trilogy as significant cultural articles, rather than merely the product of careful advertising hype, as the intellectual elite implied.

Rating: 50

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002)

There is an assassination attempt on Padmé, and Anakin is assigned to protect her. Meanwhile, Obi-Wan tries to get to its authors.

In terms of the tone employed, the first film in this trilogy was a comedy, whereas this second one approaches tragedy. Both films are mediocre, but even so seem to have been misunderstood by many, perhaps by most. I will try to explain things, but cannot do much about it, for reasons that are too complex to mention here. The Star Wars films are labeled by some as 'mere entertainment' or 'escapism', chiefly because of their postmodern aesthetics. And yet they deal with some of the gravest issues of our times, concerning geopolitics and things like that. It is not within my powers to discern what goes on inside the minds of film creators (or of anybody else, for that matter), but, consciously or unconsciously, Lucas has employed escapism aesthetics around the deep ideas he conveys in his films in such a way that nobody (or nobody that is said to matter, anyway) has managed to make sense of them. The fact is, many concepts with which the films toy are fast becoming taboo in civilized discussion. There is a tension in the writing that is only too revealing. For example, a character which, in the first film, was defined as a queen is, in this one, referred to as 'the youngest queen to be elected', and becomes a senator after her majestic term is over. How can anyone not find this ridiculous? There is ludicrousness of a more elementary order too, as when a decrepit leader reveals himself as an expert swordsman and, after the battle is over, all too casually  fetches back his walking cane. Some guardians of the hegemonic order seem to have detected something wrong -- one David Walsh at a 'socialist' site, although too obtuse to fully penetrate the films' logic, or lack thereof, in his review of The Phantom Menace rabidly shoots in all directions just in case (among other things, he is alarmed about Anglo-Saxons in the leading roles). Anyway, I will not delve any deeper into these matters. For a superficial understanding of the two first episodes I recommend the reading of the IMDB FAQs, and a thread in that site's discussion board in which users earnestly explain why the plot does not make sense. Well, it probably doesn't -- unless hidden variables are considered, that is. I expect to be back soon with my review of the third one, and an assessment of the trilogy.

Rating: 50

A Madona de Cedro (1968)

Based on the 1957 novel by Antônio Calado.

A man who works as an artisan in Congonhas do Campo is contacted by a childhood friend who has connections with a shady art collector; the proposition is that the artisan should steal a religious sculpture from its church in exchange for a considerable sum of money.

Somewhat lacking in regard to script, it has nevertheless some interesting ideas and competent camerawork and cinematography, and also a good score. There is a striking similarity between some events in its plot and the main plot of O Pagador de Promessas (1962), which is based on a 1959 play by Dias Gomes. Both films have the same main actor, and the diretor of the 1962 film is an actor and producer in the 1968 film.

Rating: 40

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)

Second viewing. I first viewed it on September 26, 2006. On that occasion, I wrote in this blog:

[quote]
Synopsis: The Trade Federation establishes a blockade on planet Naboo. Two Jedi
knights are sent by the Senate of the Galactic Republic to try to settle the
conflict.

Appraisal: There is no denying the visual beauty of this film. The screenplay is
mediocre though. Things that rubbed me in the wrong way: an entire robot army is
controlled by one central device, without which it simply ceases to function
(you don't have to go to Engineering School to realize this is plain stupid, not
to mention hardly necessary technologically; on the other hand, it is very
convenient dramatically; see also my review for 'Reign of Fire'); on the other
hand, it becomes clear that the concept of descentralization is not alien to the
screenwriter, and he is willing to employ it as long as it is advantageous to
the 'good guys': a queen uses a double who (implausibly enough) is prepared to
speak for her when it is necessary, while she parades along as a maid (does no
one know what she looks like?).
[unquote]

Except for the misspelling of 'decentralization', I am very pleased with that text. Even though this is not a particularly remarkable film, one has to bear in mind that it was intended for a younger audience, and also that it is part of a greater set of films, and is better judged thus. I am planning on seeing the subsequent films in the cycle, and of course posting my considerations here.

Rating: 50 (down from 51)

La symphonie fantastique (1942)

English title: The Fantastic Symphony

Loosely fictionalized biography of 19th-century French composer Hector Berlioz.

Very conventional and taking many liberties with its real-life subject. Watchable nonetheless, thanks to the competent craftsmanship by everyone involved, and also to the high production values.

Rating: 31

The Birds (1963)

A socialite travels to a seaside town in the hopes of finding a man she had met the day before in San Francisco, and in whom she seems to have developed an interest. The man's mother, at whose house he is staying during the weekend, is not very friendly toward the newcomer. However, these dramatic incidents soon take back seat to the fact that the local birds begin attacking the people.

This is a very interesting concept, superbly translated into images. The question of interpretation must be dealt with. One of course is not obliged to look for scientific explanations, and the filmmaker has even explicitly disavowed them. Allegoric interpretations are welcome, of course, even if they are done in a purely ludic spirit. In a trivial sense, the birds are there with the purpose of bringing a couple together; they neutralize, by effect of sheer havoc, the initial dispositions of Mitch's mother, and bring all characters together. They are love-birds, in a word. Beyond that, and perhaps even beyond allegory in a strict sense, the film is the manifestation of a symptom of a political and social order. This symptom is a certain fear which could only happen in imperialist countries (the source story was written by an Englishwoman). Those countries must perpetually live under the menace of those other countries or peoples which were touched by their actions. Sometimes this menace is not physical, but translates into guilt. One can look for historical examples of what I am talking about, which were relevant for the year in which this film was made (e.g., 'Melanie' occupies herself as a guardian for a Korean orphan). One can also look into the future of that year and see what would happen. In 1963 the U.S. was starting a war in Vietnam. Racial integration was also occurring around that time period. And 1965 was the fatidic year when the U.S. would open the door to immigration through the Hart-Celler act. So, The Birds was indeed a symptomatic film, and a prophetic one too.

Rating: 72 (up from 68)

The Apartment (1960)

Second viewing; first viewed between 1983 and 1986.

An insurance executive has been allowing his corporate superiors to use his apartment for erotic purposes on a regular basis; he expects promotions in return. Things complicate when he becomes interested in an employee who is having an affair with a company big shot.

The first hour is pretty good, I think. The remainder of the film is strictly predictable. It is hard to object to the film on a strictly intellectual basis, perhaps. But films should be stimulating and exciting from beginning to end, and this film ceases to be so at the middle, around which time it becomes a purely mechanical device. Another point which perhaps should be made more explicit by critics and commenters is that this is a tale of universal greed, meaning that all three parties (boss, underling, girl) suffer from excessive greed for most of the duration of the movie. The resolution comes from the realization by two of those parties that their greed was excessive.

Rating: 66 (unchanged)

Meatballs Part II (1984)

This is not exactly a sequel to Meatballs, having only its summer camp settings in common with that film. In 'Part II' we have as a main character of sorts a juvenile delinquent who has been assigned as counsellor in Camp Sasquatch. He is invited by the camp director to be the contender in a boxing match against rival Camp Patton, which is militarily ruled and threatens to take exclusive possession of the lake between the two camps.

Weak comedy, not badly directed, which in the very least serves as a document of 80s aesthetics, frame of mind and even physical appearances.

Rating: 31

The Children's Hour (1961)

Second viewing; first viewed between 1983 and 1986.

The owners and administrators of a school for girls are accused of lesbianism.

Based on a real event in 1810, this film reportedly follows its real-life source in a faithful manner for its first hour, and this is the best part of the movie. The remainder introduces some fictional elements and, while still having interesting dramatic points, does not fare as well in its analysis of the characters' behavior. The film's point, it seems, is the characterization of the school environment as a torturous one, and the demonstration of how this ends up bouncing back at the torturers.

Rating: 69 (down from 77)

Fear and Desire (1953)

Second viewing; first viewed on October 28, 2005.

In a generic, non-historical war, some soldiers get stranded behind enemy lines after a plane crash.

Very low-budget and with pompous dialogue and narration, this is a poor yet watchable movie. One shot, of the jungle covered in mist, is very beautiful, although I would not know who is mainly responsible, whether the cinematographer or the director, or even mere chance.

Rating: 32 (up from 31)