Three young women with very different personalities are forced by circumstances to go on a trip together. One has a serious illness, another has some problems with the law, and the third, while not plagued by anything as menacing as her companions are, has some chronic problems of the social and romantic types.
Semi-romantic, semi-melodramatic and utterly unexciting chick flick. The behavior of the characters is not always understandable and seems on occasion to be motivated more by the need to make the "story" move through its "necessary" steps than by true psychological plausibility. The writer even resorts to introducing a "psychic" character which is rather outrageously out of place. On the other hand, the dialogue at times injects intelligent social commentary to the drama.
Rating: 32
Saturday, December 17, 2016
Thursday, December 15, 2016
Blue Velvet (1986)
Second viewing; first viewed on June 14, 1987.
A young man returning to his hometown during his father's illness gets entangled in a criminal case which he decides to investigate on his own, with some help from the police detective's daughter.
A much talked about movie which does not deliver as much as its reputation would make one expect. I saw in it mostly a moderately amusing parody of adolescent films of the late fifties and early sixties. The one I can summon without much mental effort is The Blob, but I am sure there are others. It is uncertain whether a finer analysis of the film as a social critique (or as anything else, for that matter) would be a rewarding enterprise. I confess to not understanding exactly why I felt so averse to it on my first viewing. I could not find my earlier notes about it, but I remember being annoyed by what I considered to be the filmmaker's simple-mindedness. I was in error, perhaps, as now I see this simple-mindedness as rather the object of the filmmaker's critique. My present objection is to the film's inconsequentiality.
Rating: 47 (up from 30)
A young man returning to his hometown during his father's illness gets entangled in a criminal case which he decides to investigate on his own, with some help from the police detective's daughter.
A much talked about movie which does not deliver as much as its reputation would make one expect. I saw in it mostly a moderately amusing parody of adolescent films of the late fifties and early sixties. The one I can summon without much mental effort is The Blob, but I am sure there are others. It is uncertain whether a finer analysis of the film as a social critique (or as anything else, for that matter) would be a rewarding enterprise. I confess to not understanding exactly why I felt so averse to it on my first viewing. I could not find my earlier notes about it, but I remember being annoyed by what I considered to be the filmmaker's simple-mindedness. I was in error, perhaps, as now I see this simple-mindedness as rather the object of the filmmaker's critique. My present objection is to the film's inconsequentiality.
Rating: 47 (up from 30)
Friday, December 02, 2016
The Borgias (2011-2013) (TV series)
Historical drama. The show's last season was cancelled, leaving the story incomplete.
While the production values are first rate, and there is an overall good taste in the mise-en-scène, this series lacks a real punch. The most curious thing about it is that the actors who play Cesare Borgia and his henchman Micheletto physiognomically resemble respectively a wolf and a fox.
While the production values are first rate, and there is an overall good taste in the mise-en-scène, this series lacks a real punch. The most curious thing about it is that the actors who play Cesare Borgia and his henchman Micheletto physiognomically resemble respectively a wolf and a fox.
Le dos au mur (1958)
English title: Back to the Wall
A man finds out that his wife is cheating on him. He keeps this fact hidden from her, and proceeds to blackmail her under a false identity.
Ingenious thriller, with all the right plot twists and turns, and good performances from the cast.
Rating: 59
A man finds out that his wife is cheating on him. He keeps this fact hidden from her, and proceeds to blackmail her under a false identity.
Ingenious thriller, with all the right plot twists and turns, and good performances from the cast.
Rating: 59
Friday, November 25, 2016
Amarelo Manga (2002)
English title: Mango Yellow
Several incidents in the lives of several lower-class people in the town of Recife. The action is mostly set at a hotel and at a bar. The central plot concerns the hotel cook's plot to win over the affections of a butcher.
This film is a notch above the utter worthlessness of Brazil's production. By interspersing its sordid fiction bits with street life scenes of Recife, it makes everything more real, more like an exposé of Brazilian misery and squalor. One is reminded of Italian neorealism, also of Brutti sporchi e cattivi. Its focus on human perversions makes its author a kind of working-class version of Buñuel, if that is possible. But before I go overboard with praise, I must add that not all of it works equally well, and the conception far exceeds the execution in success.
Rating: 40
Several incidents in the lives of several lower-class people in the town of Recife. The action is mostly set at a hotel and at a bar. The central plot concerns the hotel cook's plot to win over the affections of a butcher.
This film is a notch above the utter worthlessness of Brazil's production. By interspersing its sordid fiction bits with street life scenes of Recife, it makes everything more real, more like an exposé of Brazilian misery and squalor. One is reminded of Italian neorealism, also of Brutti sporchi e cattivi. Its focus on human perversions makes its author a kind of working-class version of Buñuel, if that is possible. But before I go overboard with praise, I must add that not all of it works equally well, and the conception far exceeds the execution in success.
Rating: 40
Sunday, November 13, 2016
Downton Abbey (2010-2015)
TV dramatic series.
Second viewing of the first season (first viewed in October, 2012).
First viewing of the subsequent seasons.
The events that happen to the persons living at a large English country house at the beginning of the twentieth century. The drama alternates between the rich employers and their servants, and also show their occasional interactions.
This is likeable show, but it may prove too bland for some tastes, which, I confess, was the case with myself on and off. Although there is, in practically every episode, a fair amount of comical and dramatic material for an entertaining viewing, it becomes clear early on that there isn't much effort being made to achieve absolute psychological realism in character behavior. For example, many of them often are made to express thoughts which are not consistent with the speaker's social status and the ideology of the period, but seem rather to have the intention of expressing the author's own thoughts.
Second viewing of the first season (first viewed in October, 2012).
First viewing of the subsequent seasons.
The events that happen to the persons living at a large English country house at the beginning of the twentieth century. The drama alternates between the rich employers and their servants, and also show their occasional interactions.
This is likeable show, but it may prove too bland for some tastes, which, I confess, was the case with myself on and off. Although there is, in practically every episode, a fair amount of comical and dramatic material for an entertaining viewing, it becomes clear early on that there isn't much effort being made to achieve absolute psychological realism in character behavior. For example, many of them often are made to express thoughts which are not consistent with the speaker's social status and the ideology of the period, but seem rather to have the intention of expressing the author's own thoughts.
Casino Royale (1954)
TV drama.
Show: Climax!
An American secret agent is on a mission to foil a Soviet agent's attempt to revert his financial predicament through gambling.
This is utterly mediocre. I watched it in September, after having reread the book (of which this is an unfaithful adaptation). I was not even going to write about it, but, in order to be thorough, changed my mind. There is always some pleasure to be had by watching the performances -- it is practically impossible to find an English-spoken production of that period which doesn't have good performances -- but there isn't much else.
Show: Climax!
An American secret agent is on a mission to foil a Soviet agent's attempt to revert his financial predicament through gambling.
This is utterly mediocre. I watched it in September, after having reread the book (of which this is an unfaithful adaptation). I was not even going to write about it, but, in order to be thorough, changed my mind. There is always some pleasure to be had by watching the performances -- it is practically impossible to find an English-spoken production of that period which doesn't have good performances -- but there isn't much else.
Friday, October 28, 2016
A nagy füzet (2013)
English title: The Notebook
Based on the novel Le grand cahier, by Ágota Kristóf, first published in 1986.
During World War 2, a pair of identical twins is sent to live with their rude grandmother, who was estranged from the family. The boys engage in a series of exercises intended to strengthen their character. They befriend a girl living in the vicinity of their house. They go through a series of experiences that constitute their coming-of-age in those brutal times.
I struggled with the above synopsis... Anyway, this is a stupid movie. Don't bother. The greatest douchebag in present times has written a review of the source novel; perhaps it will give you a better idea of this movie than I am able to, so read it here.
Rating: 15
Based on the novel Le grand cahier, by Ágota Kristóf, first published in 1986.
During World War 2, a pair of identical twins is sent to live with their rude grandmother, who was estranged from the family. The boys engage in a series of exercises intended to strengthen their character. They befriend a girl living in the vicinity of their house. They go through a series of experiences that constitute their coming-of-age in those brutal times.
I struggled with the above synopsis... Anyway, this is a stupid movie. Don't bother. The greatest douchebag in present times has written a review of the source novel; perhaps it will give you a better idea of this movie than I am able to, so read it here.
Rating: 15
A Little Chaos (2014)
17th century. King Louis XIV plans to move his residence to Versailles. He wants to build a majestic garden in his estate there. A woman applies with a project for one of the sections of the planned garden. She faces some initial resistance due to her unconventional ideas, but soon conquers everyone's support and the love of the man who is overseeing the work.
This is a fictional episode with a fictional protagonist within a real macroevent (the building of the Versailles gardens). To be honest, none of it interested me, and much of it I found quite ridiculous, not least of which the casting.
Rating: 15
This is a fictional episode with a fictional protagonist within a real macroevent (the building of the Versailles gardens). To be honest, none of it interested me, and much of it I found quite ridiculous, not least of which the casting.
Rating: 15
Moonrise Kingdom (2012)
Two troubled teenagers in love escape together and are frantically searched by the community of the island they inhabit.
A congenial film, imaginative in its visual compositions and fairly intelligent in its character constructions. Anderson is a really talented filmmaker. The fact that this and his other latest output do not match his two first extraordinary films must be weighed against the difficulties of pursuing a strictly authorial line and being responsible for all the aspects of screenplay (albeit with collaborators) and direction.
Rating: 60
A congenial film, imaginative in its visual compositions and fairly intelligent in its character constructions. Anderson is a really talented filmmaker. The fact that this and his other latest output do not match his two first extraordinary films must be weighed against the difficulties of pursuing a strictly authorial line and being responsible for all the aspects of screenplay (albeit with collaborators) and direction.
Rating: 60
The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
The concierge of a posh hotel at a remote European location is wrongly accused of murder. He and his Middle Eastern bellboy will go through many adventures while figting to clear his name and receive a fat inheritance to which he is entitled.
Somewhat feeble as a textual object, but quite impressive as a succession of images. Anderson is a master of mise en scène and composition, but I am not sure this story and these characters are of any consequence.
Rating: 50
Somewhat feeble as a textual object, but quite impressive as a succession of images. Anderson is a master of mise en scène and composition, but I am not sure this story and these characters are of any consequence.
Rating: 50
Hail, Caesar! (2016)
A day in the life of the head of a fictitious Hollywood studio in 1951. The male star is kidnapped by communist writers.
Amusing satire which derives mainly from two disconnected elements: the phrase "they just happen to be Jewish" (the context is provided by Joel Stein's article) and a gossip in Suetonius's Lives of the Twelve Caesars regarding a favor granted by Julius Caesar in his youth to king Nicomedes IV (read about this and other related stuff here). The former of these elements is driven to its last consequences in the form of a studio head who is a Catholic. The latter is straightforwardly transposed to the Hollywood universe.
Rating: 70
Amusing satire which derives mainly from two disconnected elements: the phrase "they just happen to be Jewish" (the context is provided by Joel Stein's article) and a gossip in Suetonius's Lives of the Twelve Caesars regarding a favor granted by Julius Caesar in his youth to king Nicomedes IV (read about this and other related stuff here). The former of these elements is driven to its last consequences in the form of a studio head who is a Catholic. The latter is straightforwardly transposed to the Hollywood universe.
Rating: 70
Agora (2009)
English title: Mists of Time
Fictionalized biography of Hypatia of Alexandria (b. c350-70; d. 414), a mathematician and a teacher. Conflicts among Christians, Jews and Pagans are frequent in that city and bring about -- in this fictional version -- the destruction of the famous library. Hypatia gets caught in the middle of that conflict due to her friendship with Alexandria's mayor.
Ambitious yet amorphous historical fiction. Mostly it plays very loose with historical facts, although the events which led to Hypatia's death seem to follow the consensual historiography more closely. The film lacks something essential: the establishment of a bond between the viewer and its characters. The main lesson it teaches is that multicultural societies are doomed to self-destruct. However, that gets a little submerged under a paean to the (mostly imaginary) scientific achievements of the protagonist.
Rating: 33
Fictionalized biography of Hypatia of Alexandria (b. c350-70; d. 414), a mathematician and a teacher. Conflicts among Christians, Jews and Pagans are frequent in that city and bring about -- in this fictional version -- the destruction of the famous library. Hypatia gets caught in the middle of that conflict due to her friendship with Alexandria's mayor.
Ambitious yet amorphous historical fiction. Mostly it plays very loose with historical facts, although the events which led to Hypatia's death seem to follow the consensual historiography more closely. The film lacks something essential: the establishment of a bond between the viewer and its characters. The main lesson it teaches is that multicultural societies are doomed to self-destruct. However, that gets a little submerged under a paean to the (mostly imaginary) scientific achievements of the protagonist.
Rating: 33
Suffragette (2015)
An account on the suffragette movement in England at the beginning of the 20th century. Women organized around the cause of extending voting rights to their sex. The main character is a working-class woman who joins the movement a bit reluctantly at first, and gets more deeply involved as time goes by. She faces problems at work and at home because of her involvement.
This follows the exact pattern of modern so-called politically-aware productions: didacticism, no humor and an appeal to the audience's emotion rather than reason. Perhaps one could care to read the other side of the coin as expressed in this article: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/thinking-man/11509811/Why-has-everyone-forgotten-about-male-suffrage.html.
Rating: 45
This follows the exact pattern of modern so-called politically-aware productions: didacticism, no humor and an appeal to the audience's emotion rather than reason. Perhaps one could care to read the other side of the coin as expressed in this article: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/thinking-man/11509811/Why-has-everyone-forgotten-about-male-suffrage.html.
Rating: 45
Mortdecai (2015)
Based on the novel Don't Point That Thing at Me, by Kyril Bonfiglioli, first published in 1972.
An art dealer investigates the death of a restorer who was working on a Goya painting. Always accompanied by his selfless manservant, he goes through numerous adventures in several countries. At home, he is having troubles with his wife due to his recently grown mustache.
Amusing comedy which has an outdated style of humor. It's always pleasant and entertaining, which perhaps explains its having flopped at the box office.
Rating: 65
An art dealer investigates the death of a restorer who was working on a Goya painting. Always accompanied by his selfless manservant, he goes through numerous adventures in several countries. At home, he is having troubles with his wife due to his recently grown mustache.
Amusing comedy which has an outdated style of humor. It's always pleasant and entertaining, which perhaps explains its having flopped at the box office.
Rating: 65
Survivre avec les loups (2007)
English title: Surviving with Wolves
Based on the faux autobiography by Misha Defonseca (b. Monique de Wael), published in 1997.
During World War 2, a Jewish girl is placed with a family living in the country and loses contact with her biological parents. She is then forced to flee her adoptive home and take refuge in the woods. From then on, she wanders from place to place, going through numerous adventures.
Ridiculous Holocaust fantasy which piles one improbable event on top of another while feeding on every cliché ever concocted on the theme and then some. You could say it's a mix of The Jungle Book and The Painted Bird. Only for very undemanding viewers.
Rating: 12
Based on the faux autobiography by Misha Defonseca (b. Monique de Wael), published in 1997.
During World War 2, a Jewish girl is placed with a family living in the country and loses contact with her biological parents. She is then forced to flee her adoptive home and take refuge in the woods. From then on, she wanders from place to place, going through numerous adventures.
Ridiculous Holocaust fantasy which piles one improbable event on top of another while feeding on every cliché ever concocted on the theme and then some. You could say it's a mix of The Jungle Book and The Painted Bird. Only for very undemanding viewers.
Rating: 12
The Help (2011)
During the 1960s in a Southern American town, a woman interviews maids with the intent of collecting their stories in a book.
Very silly in the premise and in some of the events imagined; its thesis seems to be that gossip is revolutionary. Most of the actresses do a good enough work that the dullness is somewhat, say, dulled. The lead actress has a remarkable resemblance with the lead actress in The Accused.
Rating: 32
Very silly in the premise and in some of the events imagined; its thesis seems to be that gossip is revolutionary. Most of the actresses do a good enough work that the dullness is somewhat, say, dulled. The lead actress has a remarkable resemblance with the lead actress in The Accused.
Rating: 32
Theeb (2014)
English title: Wolf
I will copy the synopsis provided by IMDB: "In the Ottoman province of Hijaz during World War I, a young Bedouin boy experiences a greatly hastened coming-of-age as he embarks on a perilous desert journey to guide a British officer to his secret destination."
This film has a somewhat lower than average rate of events and feels like it could be compressed to half its length. It is watchable nevertheless, and well staged and well photographed.
Rating: 43
I will copy the synopsis provided by IMDB: "In the Ottoman province of Hijaz during World War I, a young Bedouin boy experiences a greatly hastened coming-of-age as he embarks on a perilous desert journey to guide a British officer to his secret destination."
This film has a somewhat lower than average rate of events and feels like it could be compressed to half its length. It is watchable nevertheless, and well staged and well photographed.
Rating: 43
The Hateful Eight (2015)
A stagecoach carrying a bounty hunter and his prisoner -- a woman whom he will deliver to the authorities -- picks up a few more passengers along the way and makes a stop at a commercial establishment where some other dangerous characters are staying.
Entertaining Post-Civil War Western where some ancestral conflicts which plagued or plague the United States are acted out inside a confined space.
Rating: 70
Entertaining Post-Civil War Western where some ancestral conflicts which plagued or plague the United States are acted out inside a confined space.
Rating: 70
The Tudors (2007-2010) (TV series)
This series, despite its title, does not encompass all things Tudor; it is rather the story of Henry VIII and only that. The first season is exceedingly vulgar and kitschy. It tones down these characteristics a bit in later seasons, but there isn't much effort done to evade mediocrity, except on the last two episodes of Season Two, for which an excellent director was hired.
Rome (2005-2007) (TV series)
Second viewing of the first season (first viewed on October, 2006).
First viewing of the second season.
Not much to comment on here. The first season is as good as I thought. The second season is good, but not on the same level as the first one.
In the second season, the author found a way to pay tribute to his own ethnicity by including a superfluous subplot involving a conspiracy to kill Herod.
First viewing of the second season.
Not much to comment on here. The first season is as good as I thought. The second season is good, but not on the same level as the first one.
In the second season, the author found a way to pay tribute to his own ethnicity by including a superfluous subplot involving a conspiracy to kill Herod.
Friday, September 09, 2016
The Candidate (1972)
Second viewing; first viewed between 1983 and 1986.
A liberal-minded lawyer with no political experience receives an invitation to run for the Senate as a Democrat.
I once loved this film. Not anymore. It is well-made, sure. But its premise of corruption of ideological virtue is at best simpleminded and at worst -- well, I'd rather not think about that. Anyway, they made a masterpiece of mise-en-scène based on false principles. So, what to do?
Rating: 69 (down from 76)
A liberal-minded lawyer with no political experience receives an invitation to run for the Senate as a Democrat.
I once loved this film. Not anymore. It is well-made, sure. But its premise of corruption of ideological virtue is at best simpleminded and at worst -- well, I'd rather not think about that. Anyway, they made a masterpiece of mise-en-scène based on false principles. So, what to do?
Rating: 69 (down from 76)
Thursday, September 01, 2016
Per sempre (1991)
English title: Forever
Bernice feels attracted towards her womanizing father, ever since she was a teenager. After his death, presumably during a sexual encounter, she spends time at the apartment where he met his lovers, and recollects her moments with him. During that time, she meets several of his past mistresses.
I am not sure a plot point which is at the center of this film makes sense, but revealing anything about it would perhaps be a spoiler, so I will not go into it. Eroticism is the foundation of the drama, a notion which for me is hardly compelling; everything, on the other hand, is done with good taste.
Though the action is set in Brazil, the film -- or anyway the copy which is widely distributed -- is entirely spoken in English. The copy I saw had subtitles in Portuguese, made by someone who doesn't know the difference between state and estate.
Rating: 36
Bernice feels attracted towards her womanizing father, ever since she was a teenager. After his death, presumably during a sexual encounter, she spends time at the apartment where he met his lovers, and recollects her moments with him. During that time, she meets several of his past mistresses.
I am not sure a plot point which is at the center of this film makes sense, but revealing anything about it would perhaps be a spoiler, so I will not go into it. Eroticism is the foundation of the drama, a notion which for me is hardly compelling; everything, on the other hand, is done with good taste.
Though the action is set in Brazil, the film -- or anyway the copy which is widely distributed -- is entirely spoken in English. The copy I saw had subtitles in Portuguese, made by someone who doesn't know the difference between state and estate.
Rating: 36
Wednesday, August 31, 2016
São Paulo Sociedade Anônima (1965)
Second viewing; first viewed on April 1, 2001.
Carlos has several lovers and little money. He meets Luciana, who is a respectable girl. Carlos gets a job in an automobile factory.
Ambitious attempt at combining psychological drama with social panorama. The main character is a chronic malcontent who gets on everybody's nerves. The events are set to the backdrop of the Brazilian transition to a modern society in the late 1950s. The film is excessively discursive but a masterpiece comparatively to the average Brazilian production. It has strong characters and articulates a coherent social critique.
Rating: 68 (unchanged)
Carlos has several lovers and little money. He meets Luciana, who is a respectable girl. Carlos gets a job in an automobile factory.
Ambitious attempt at combining psychological drama with social panorama. The main character is a chronic malcontent who gets on everybody's nerves. The events are set to the backdrop of the Brazilian transition to a modern society in the late 1950s. The film is excessively discursive but a masterpiece comparatively to the average Brazilian production. It has strong characters and articulates a coherent social critique.
Rating: 68 (unchanged)
Tuesday, August 09, 2016
Relatos salvajes (2014)
English title: Wild Tales
(1) The passengers on a flight find they all have something in common. (2) A waitress at a roadside restaurant recognizes one of her customers. (3) Two drivers on a deserted highway conflict with each other. (4) An implosion expert has his car towed while he is buying a cake. (5) A wealthy man tries to free his son from jail after he hits and runs on a pregnant woman. (6) During her wedding reception, a bride finds out about her husband-to-be's infidelities.
'Loss of control' is what the tagline wants us to believe this film's theme to be. Many commenters have mentioned revenge as well (or instead). I have to disagree strongly with both. I live in Brazil and this film captures a portion of my country's reality just as well as it presumably captures Argentina's. And yet, I do not picture Brazilians as particularly out-of-control individuals, or especially prone to vengeance. I suppose Argentinians wouldn't fit in those categories either. It is important to distinguish the essential theme, as opposed to contingent ones. What I see here is a society that has lost its bonding element. And when that is lost, people turn against people. Men against women. Rich against poor. State against citizen. And so on. Earlier works which dealt with related issues (and which have been mentioned in connection with this film) are Duel and Falling Down. Probably there are others.
Rating: 60
(1) The passengers on a flight find they all have something in common. (2) A waitress at a roadside restaurant recognizes one of her customers. (3) Two drivers on a deserted highway conflict with each other. (4) An implosion expert has his car towed while he is buying a cake. (5) A wealthy man tries to free his son from jail after he hits and runs on a pregnant woman. (6) During her wedding reception, a bride finds out about her husband-to-be's infidelities.
'Loss of control' is what the tagline wants us to believe this film's theme to be. Many commenters have mentioned revenge as well (or instead). I have to disagree strongly with both. I live in Brazil and this film captures a portion of my country's reality just as well as it presumably captures Argentina's. And yet, I do not picture Brazilians as particularly out-of-control individuals, or especially prone to vengeance. I suppose Argentinians wouldn't fit in those categories either. It is important to distinguish the essential theme, as opposed to contingent ones. What I see here is a society that has lost its bonding element. And when that is lost, people turn against people. Men against women. Rich against poor. State against citizen. And so on. Earlier works which dealt with related issues (and which have been mentioned in connection with this film) are Duel and Falling Down. Probably there are others.
Rating: 60
Friday, August 05, 2016
River of Death (1989)
A man guides a heterogeneous group of people with diverse interests on a search for a lost city in the Amazon jungle. An escaped Nazi doctor is said to be hiding there.
Third-rate adventure which would probably be less painful if watched with the audio switched off. It is basically a collection of very old clichés, some of which are geographically or anthropologically wrong. The cinematography is good, though.
Rating: 30
Third-rate adventure which would probably be less painful if watched with the audio switched off. It is basically a collection of very old clichés, some of which are geographically or anthropologically wrong. The cinematography is good, though.
Rating: 30
Sunday, July 31, 2016
Carnaval em Lá Maior (1955)
Musical comedy. The semblance of a plot revolves around a guy who romances a girl and later marries her. There are some scenes at a school for actors, at which the girl lives for a while after her house burns up.
This follows the pattern for musical comedies in Brazil from the 1930s onward: a thin plot as a mere excuse for a succession of random musical numbers featuring radio stars (at that point in time, possibly TV stars as well). It has a slightly freer than usual approach to humor, evoking at times the Marx Brothers' style. One subplot borrows the central idea from On demande un assassin. Apparently, only a fragment of the original movie was exhibited, as a scene involving a furniture salesman is mentioned on the literature but is absent from the copy I saw; possibly that scene was lost (this is a newly restored copy). Another possibility is that it was cut by the TV channel.
Rating: 31
This follows the pattern for musical comedies in Brazil from the 1930s onward: a thin plot as a mere excuse for a succession of random musical numbers featuring radio stars (at that point in time, possibly TV stars as well). It has a slightly freer than usual approach to humor, evoking at times the Marx Brothers' style. One subplot borrows the central idea from On demande un assassin. Apparently, only a fragment of the original movie was exhibited, as a scene involving a furniture salesman is mentioned on the literature but is absent from the copy I saw; possibly that scene was lost (this is a newly restored copy). Another possibility is that it was cut by the TV channel.
Rating: 31
Friday, July 29, 2016
Voulez-vous danser avec moi (1959)
English title: Come Dance with Me!
A married man is blackmailed by a woman with whom he was photographed in compromising positions. That woman is murdered and he becomes a suspect. His wife takes personal charge of a private investigation, by getting a job at the dance school where the deceased woman worked.
It may just be that I was in a bad mood that day, but this movie, for me, was almost unwatchable. As a mystery story, it is as lame as they come. Not only there is no ingenuity in the plot, but both the police and the suspects behave stupidly, in an almost farcical manner -- and the problem is that as a farce it is very lame too. I guess one could praise the color cinematography, but the standard definition TV channel on which I viewed it didn't allow full enjoyment of that aspect.
Rating: 26
A married man is blackmailed by a woman with whom he was photographed in compromising positions. That woman is murdered and he becomes a suspect. His wife takes personal charge of a private investigation, by getting a job at the dance school where the deceased woman worked.
It may just be that I was in a bad mood that day, but this movie, for me, was almost unwatchable. As a mystery story, it is as lame as they come. Not only there is no ingenuity in the plot, but both the police and the suspects behave stupidly, in an almost farcical manner -- and the problem is that as a farce it is very lame too. I guess one could praise the color cinematography, but the standard definition TV channel on which I viewed it didn't allow full enjoyment of that aspect.
Rating: 26
Wednesday, July 27, 2016
Murphy's Romance (1985)
A recently divorced woman with one son moves to a small town, expecting to make a living as a horse trainer. She befriends the local drugstore owner, a widower.
The interesting thing about this movie is how it is built on a spartan succession of completely predictable incidents, and yet must resort to surprises as key plot-movers; thus you have two incidents of unexpected visitors, one surprise party, two surprise game winnings, etc. These characters have little to do with real people, of course, and that becomes clear early on when the main male character, a drugstore owner in a very small town, is depicted as concerned with reforestation and nuclear disarmament. These fads are gone, of course, and today his fictive concerns would be global warming and xenophobia, or some such stuff. Small towns are depicted stereotypically, but not too unkindly. On a side note, I found the resemblance between the actors playing mother and son amazing.
Rating: 50
The interesting thing about this movie is how it is built on a spartan succession of completely predictable incidents, and yet must resort to surprises as key plot-movers; thus you have two incidents of unexpected visitors, one surprise party, two surprise game winnings, etc. These characters have little to do with real people, of course, and that becomes clear early on when the main male character, a drugstore owner in a very small town, is depicted as concerned with reforestation and nuclear disarmament. These fads are gone, of course, and today his fictive concerns would be global warming and xenophobia, or some such stuff. Small towns are depicted stereotypically, but not too unkindly. On a side note, I found the resemblance between the actors playing mother and son amazing.
Rating: 50
Saturday, July 23, 2016
Clash of the Titans (1981)
Greek demi-god Perseus goes through a series of adventures in order to save his beloved Andromeda from death decreed by the gods of Olympus.
Everything in this film is done with a modicum of good taste and respectable production values; there are stop-motion animation sequences which in themselves are attractive and in fact may have been the whole point of the movie. I can't help being a little sad, however, at the use for entertainment of religious concepts which, historically, have more serious roots.
Rating: 40
Everything in this film is done with a modicum of good taste and respectable production values; there are stop-motion animation sequences which in themselves are attractive and in fact may have been the whole point of the movie. I can't help being a little sad, however, at the use for entertainment of religious concepts which, historically, have more serious roots.
Rating: 40
Wednesday, July 20, 2016
WUSA (1970)
New Orleans, 1962. The main characters are a radio announcer at a reactionary station, his girlfriend, and a public servant who collects surveys about welfare recipients. The plot concerns a fraud with the intent of stripping people of their welfare benefits; there is also a conspiracy devised by the reactionaries who own the radio station.
This is a completely absurd film, which manages to offend both conservatives and liberals (or at least it should, if they have any self-respect). As a delirious self-parody, it is mildly amusing. Nuns in this film are praised for being great encouragers of individuals with an artistic inclination -- the exact opposite of what they were depicted as in The Lady in the Van.
Rating: 31
This is a completely absurd film, which manages to offend both conservatives and liberals (or at least it should, if they have any self-respect). As a delirious self-parody, it is mildly amusing. Nuns in this film are praised for being great encouragers of individuals with an artistic inclination -- the exact opposite of what they were depicted as in The Lady in the Van.
Rating: 31
The Lady in the Van (2015)
A destitute woman makes a home out of her van. She is a nuisance to the people who live near her parking place. She eventually settles by the house of a playwright who lives by himself.
I frankly don't have much to say about this movie. It is fairly believable as a character study and a chronicle of British life (I speak as a foreigner who has never lived there).
Rating: 60
I frankly don't have much to say about this movie. It is fairly believable as a character study and a chronicle of British life (I speak as a foreigner who has never lived there).
Rating: 60
Thursday, July 14, 2016
O Beijo (1964)
A man has his life destroyed after he kisses a dying man on the street, allegedly at the latter's request.
I used to find the plot, which I already knew from another film version, ingenious, but I am not so fond of it today. I found this version confusing at points, and not well directed.
Rating: 31
I used to find the plot, which I already knew from another film version, ingenious, but I am not so fond of it today. I found this version confusing at points, and not well directed.
Rating: 31
Tuesday, July 12, 2016
Arthur (1981)
Second viewing; first viewed in 1982, or, at the earliest, December 1981.
Arthur is a millionaire who leads a life of carelessness. He has never worked, and has a drinking habit. His father threatens to disinherit him unless he marries a certain woman. One day Arthur meets a shoplifter and falls in love with her.
Slightly overrated comedy which derives most of its hilarity from the central character's jokes. The plot is negligible and in fact severely absurd at some points. I mean, in real life they make you marry the ugly one and you fall in love with the pretty one, right?
Rating: 54 (down from 58)
Arthur is a millionaire who leads a life of carelessness. He has never worked, and has a drinking habit. His father threatens to disinherit him unless he marries a certain woman. One day Arthur meets a shoplifter and falls in love with her.
Slightly overrated comedy which derives most of its hilarity from the central character's jokes. The plot is negligible and in fact severely absurd at some points. I mean, in real life they make you marry the ugly one and you fall in love with the pretty one, right?
Rating: 54 (down from 58)
Sunday, July 10, 2016
Vaghe stelle dell'orsa (1965)
Second viewing; first viewed between the beginning of 1983 and the end of 1986.
English titles: Sandra; Sandra of the Thousand Delights; Vague Stars of the Bear.
This is about a recently wed woman who visits the house where she grew up. Her emotionally-charged family history resurfaces, shattering her stability and threatening her marriage. The pivot of the turmoil is her past relationship with her brother, in a context of Nazi persecution of the Jews.
I suspect some might find this film objectionable, especially in the face of its own diretor (and co-writer)'s own commentary about it (read it here in Italian and here in Portuguese). What I mean is that there are two kinds of ambiguity in this film. One is intrinsic to human nature and thus cannot be dissolved; it has to do with inner feelings and complex motivations. Another is the ambiguity which derives from the filmmaker's decision of not revealing certain aspects of the story; Sandra's stepfather has either sent her father to death or hasn't, so there is no middle ground here. The director seems to elude this distinction when he talks about ambiguity. Apart from that question, there are some enjoyable things to be found in the movie, although, as usual for me, that enjoyability is not dissociated from a sense of hilarity. The lyrical atmosphere does not survive intact the melodramatic plot; the latter, in turn, has a hard time coping with a female protagonist whose actions might be construed in the end as somewhat cynical.
Rating: 56 (down from 70)
English titles: Sandra; Sandra of the Thousand Delights; Vague Stars of the Bear.
This is about a recently wed woman who visits the house where she grew up. Her emotionally-charged family history resurfaces, shattering her stability and threatening her marriage. The pivot of the turmoil is her past relationship with her brother, in a context of Nazi persecution of the Jews.
I suspect some might find this film objectionable, especially in the face of its own diretor (and co-writer)'s own commentary about it (read it here in Italian and here in Portuguese). What I mean is that there are two kinds of ambiguity in this film. One is intrinsic to human nature and thus cannot be dissolved; it has to do with inner feelings and complex motivations. Another is the ambiguity which derives from the filmmaker's decision of not revealing certain aspects of the story; Sandra's stepfather has either sent her father to death or hasn't, so there is no middle ground here. The director seems to elude this distinction when he talks about ambiguity. Apart from that question, there are some enjoyable things to be found in the movie, although, as usual for me, that enjoyability is not dissociated from a sense of hilarity. The lyrical atmosphere does not survive intact the melodramatic plot; the latter, in turn, has a hard time coping with a female protagonist whose actions might be construed in the end as somewhat cynical.
Rating: 56 (down from 70)
Thursday, July 07, 2016
A Grande Feira (1961)
Set in the city of Salvador, Bahia, several characters' stories play out against the backdrop of the imminent expulsion of the merchant people at an outdoor market from the harbor area they occupy and which is coveted by big business. Prominent among the characters is a high society woman neglected by her husband; she gets her kicks slumming in the seedy nightclubs by the harbor. She eventually falls in love with a sailor from Sweden.
Moderately amusing melodrama with (mostly fake) social undertones. The dialogue is often ridiculous, but that is part of the amusement. It is quite photogenic in the external sequences, showing Salvador's coastline in glorious black-and-white. It has a certain importance in the history of Brazilian cinema, mainly, I guess, because of its realist style and its location shooting.
Rating: 35
Moderately amusing melodrama with (mostly fake) social undertones. The dialogue is often ridiculous, but that is part of the amusement. It is quite photogenic in the external sequences, showing Salvador's coastline in glorious black-and-white. It has a certain importance in the history of Brazilian cinema, mainly, I guess, because of its realist style and its location shooting.
Rating: 35
Saturday, July 02, 2016
Labyrinth (1986)
A teenage girl is upset because she has to look after her baby brother, and is accidentally responsible for his being kidnapped by the ruler of a fantastical kingdom; she then magically travels to the realm of that fantastical character in the attempt to rescue her kidnapped brother.
Lots of artistry went into the making of this film, but somehow the end result was sorely vapid, and the worst is that the villain is quite ridiculous, and so are his songs.
Rating: 30
Lots of artistry went into the making of this film, but somehow the end result was sorely vapid, and the worst is that the villain is quite ridiculous, and so are his songs.
Rating: 30
Monday, June 27, 2016
Deus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol (1964)
Third viewing, probably; last previous viewing: March 28, 1990; I have probably first viewed it between 1983 and 1986.
U.S. title (release): Black God, White Devil.
U.S. title (literal translation): God and the Devil in the Land of the Sun.
A poor cowhand kills his employer and then seeks refuge first among a sect of fanatics, then among an outlaw rural gang.
A study of the social situation in the arid lands of Northeastern Brazil. Often praised for being formally innovative, it is actually rather conventionally staged as a theater play with outdoor settings, filmed with a freer than usual camera. The diretor (and/or perhaps the cinematographer) has a keen eye for striking compositions, especially in the first half of the movie, which lend it a certain aestheticist flavor. The slowness of it all has certainly exasperated numerous viewers, but it is part of a coherent style. There is a thematic intersection with Vereda da Salvação, released in the following year, and a superior film if my assessment was correct at the time I viewed it.
Rating: 58 (unchanged)
U.S. title (release): Black God, White Devil.
U.S. title (literal translation): God and the Devil in the Land of the Sun.
A poor cowhand kills his employer and then seeks refuge first among a sect of fanatics, then among an outlaw rural gang.
A study of the social situation in the arid lands of Northeastern Brazil. Often praised for being formally innovative, it is actually rather conventionally staged as a theater play with outdoor settings, filmed with a freer than usual camera. The diretor (and/or perhaps the cinematographer) has a keen eye for striking compositions, especially in the first half of the movie, which lend it a certain aestheticist flavor. The slowness of it all has certainly exasperated numerous viewers, but it is part of a coherent style. There is a thematic intersection with Vereda da Salvação, released in the following year, and a superior film if my assessment was correct at the time I viewed it.
Rating: 58 (unchanged)
Thursday, June 16, 2016
Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (and Don't Come Back!!) (1980)
Some members of the Peanuts gang go to Europe on a student exchange program. Their destination is France, but they pass through England. Patty and Marcy stay with a farmer boy, and Charlie and Linus (plus the dog and the bird) are to stay in a castle but initially don't find anyone home. It turns out that the castle's owner is a misanthrope. There is a mystery surrounding Charlie's invitation, which is unfolded gradually.
I didn't exactly rave over this movie, although it was adequate for a relaxing time. The actual mystery plot is not devoid of ingenuity, too. My favorite moment was probably the sequence at school when Patty sits next to Charlie. Also, I was somewhat struck by the character of Linus, who seems to combine mature intellectual characteristics and immature emotional ones. Go figure. Anyway, I confess to having had a hard time figuring out what some of the characters said (fortunately I had a Portuguese audio track to help me), because the dubbers seemed to be real kids, and some of them seemed to be real francophones speaking English with an accent. Here is a fine review on the occasion of the DVD release (but I watched it on cable TV).
Rating: 44
I didn't exactly rave over this movie, although it was adequate for a relaxing time. The actual mystery plot is not devoid of ingenuity, too. My favorite moment was probably the sequence at school when Patty sits next to Charlie. Also, I was somewhat struck by the character of Linus, who seems to combine mature intellectual characteristics and immature emotional ones. Go figure. Anyway, I confess to having had a hard time figuring out what some of the characters said (fortunately I had a Portuguese audio track to help me), because the dubbers seemed to be real kids, and some of them seemed to be real francophones speaking English with an accent. Here is a fine review on the occasion of the DVD release (but I watched it on cable TV).
Rating: 44
Sunday, June 12, 2016
L'enfer (1994)
Second viewing; first viewed on October 18, 1994.
English title: Hell
Based on a 1964 screenplay by Henri-Georges Clouzot and José-André Lacour (and possibly Jean Ferry, who is credited on the 1964 IMDB entry but not on the 1994 one).
A French hotelier suspects his wife of cheating on him with one of the hotel guests. He becomes progressively controlling towards her.
Not as bad as it seemed on my first viewing. Perhaps the timing factor is one possible detractor: in 1994 the situations do not seem as socially plausible as they would have thirty years earlier. Films about conjugal unfaithfulness always seem to me as they are touching upon something deeply philosophical about the nature of reality and such issues. On a more down-to-Earth note, why didn't the guy hire a detective (one might ask)? It is interesting to notice the different takes of this and two other fiction works dealing with male jealousy. Othello depicts a faithful wife and a mad(dened) husband. Intrigue, combined with racial difference, are factors. Dom Casmurro depicts a husband acting reasonably upon reasonable suspicion. The modern critique of him stems from pathologizing male jealousy in itself. It is entirely a matter of ideology. L'enfer depicts a husband whose madness is triggered by reasonable suspicion. Anyway, it is a finely built narrative, finely filmed too, and finely acted.
Rating: 60 (up from 49)
English title: Hell
Based on a 1964 screenplay by Henri-Georges Clouzot and José-André Lacour (and possibly Jean Ferry, who is credited on the 1964 IMDB entry but not on the 1994 one).
A French hotelier suspects his wife of cheating on him with one of the hotel guests. He becomes progressively controlling towards her.
Not as bad as it seemed on my first viewing. Perhaps the timing factor is one possible detractor: in 1994 the situations do not seem as socially plausible as they would have thirty years earlier. Films about conjugal unfaithfulness always seem to me as they are touching upon something deeply philosophical about the nature of reality and such issues. On a more down-to-Earth note, why didn't the guy hire a detective (one might ask)? It is interesting to notice the different takes of this and two other fiction works dealing with male jealousy. Othello depicts a faithful wife and a mad(dened) husband. Intrigue, combined with racial difference, are factors. Dom Casmurro depicts a husband acting reasonably upon reasonable suspicion. The modern critique of him stems from pathologizing male jealousy in itself. It is entirely a matter of ideology. L'enfer depicts a husband whose madness is triggered by reasonable suspicion. Anyway, it is a finely built narrative, finely filmed too, and finely acted.
Rating: 60 (up from 49)
Friday, June 03, 2016
Summer Rental (1985)
An air traffic controller is on the verge of a burn-out, and is sent on mandatory vacation with his family. He goes to the beach, where he befriends a sea captain turned restaurateur. He suffers more than his share of vacation disasters, but in the end everything turns just fine.
The humor is invariably lame, and I only got some satisfaction from the fine cinematography and the overall niceness that is a characteristic of vacation movies.
Rating: 30
The humor is invariably lame, and I only got some satisfaction from the fine cinematography and the overall niceness that is a characteristic of vacation movies.
Rating: 30
Wednesday, June 01, 2016
The Imitation Game (2014)
A fictionalized account of the life of Alan Turing, who worked for the allies during World War 2 trying to decrypt German messages.
I normally wouldn't watch a film this bad, but in this case I followed the usual routine with biopics: after viewing it due to an interest on its subject matter, I went to the goofs section on IMDB and learned a little bit about it.
Rating: 20
I normally wouldn't watch a film this bad, but in this case I followed the usual routine with biopics: after viewing it due to an interest on its subject matter, I went to the goofs section on IMDB and learned a little bit about it.
Rating: 20
Sunday, May 29, 2016
Lili Marleen (1981)
Second viewing; first viewed on November 13, 1988.
A fictional story inspired in some events of the life of German singer Lale Andersen.
Willie is a German cabaret singer living in Switzerland, where she meets and has a relationship with a Jewish member of the anti-Nazi resistance. She is, through a backstabbing maneuver of her lover's father, deported from Switzerland. The lovers then take separate paths: she becomes a National idol in Nazi Germany while her lover continues his resistance work in Switzerland. Their encounters become increasingly risky and rare.
This is not as bad as it seemed on my first viewing. The cinematography is good, and the film is well produced and flashy in an attractive way. The script is indeed weak, and frankly the whole thing took a slightly self-parodic air as it advanced towards the punchline-like ending. As some reviewers noticed, the plot mirrors the lyrics of the title song, which is played incessantly during the film. This is essentially a melodrama about lovers torn apart, and only marginally about the social responsibility of the artist, a theme which is better explored in Mephisto, released a few months later.
Rating: 31 (up from 25)
A fictional story inspired in some events of the life of German singer Lale Andersen.
Willie is a German cabaret singer living in Switzerland, where she meets and has a relationship with a Jewish member of the anti-Nazi resistance. She is, through a backstabbing maneuver of her lover's father, deported from Switzerland. The lovers then take separate paths: she becomes a National idol in Nazi Germany while her lover continues his resistance work in Switzerland. Their encounters become increasingly risky and rare.
This is not as bad as it seemed on my first viewing. The cinematography is good, and the film is well produced and flashy in an attractive way. The script is indeed weak, and frankly the whole thing took a slightly self-parodic air as it advanced towards the punchline-like ending. As some reviewers noticed, the plot mirrors the lyrics of the title song, which is played incessantly during the film. This is essentially a melodrama about lovers torn apart, and only marginally about the social responsibility of the artist, a theme which is better explored in Mephisto, released a few months later.
Rating: 31 (up from 25)
Saturday, May 28, 2016
Arara Vermelha (1957)
At a mining community in Brazil, a hired miner tries to steal a diamond and is caught. The police chief is in serious financial trouble and decides to steal the rock himself, and flee with his pregnant wife to a big city. He takes the original thief as his guide through the region's rivers and wild country. Another woman blackmails the police chief into taking her with them as well. They are chased by the mine's owner and a man of partial indigenous origin whom he uses as a guide.
Simple-minded yet watchable adventure. It is technically well made, but I can't assess the cinematography properly since the copy I saw was of inferior quality -- it was dark and plagued with interlacing. Ethnographical documentary footage depicting indigenous people is edited into the film to give the illusion of a seamless narrative at some points.
Rating: 33
Simple-minded yet watchable adventure. It is technically well made, but I can't assess the cinematography properly since the copy I saw was of inferior quality -- it was dark and plagued with interlacing. Ethnographical documentary footage depicting indigenous people is edited into the film to give the illusion of a seamless narrative at some points.
Rating: 33
Saturday, May 21, 2016
Ganga Bruta (1933)
A man kills his wife on his wedding night for "finding out" she was not a virgin. He is sent to a small town to work on a huge engineering project in the hopes of forgetting his "disillusionment". He feels attracted towards his host's fiancée, who retributes.
Partly silent with subtitles, partly spoken.
Interesting if imperfect drama. The premise is very promising: a man who feels cuckolded becomes subsequently the agent of another's cuckoldry. The film could be summed up as a study on masculinity in its purest state. The filming technique is far from flawless, but overall it is effective (I especially liked the brawling sequences). One problem for me was that it never transcended a mere realistic framework in which it clearly challenged credibility. For one thing, the main character is an educated man and thus is supposed to have more of a civilized veneer than he is shown to have. The ending is a bit of a stretch, too.
Rating: 58
Partly silent with subtitles, partly spoken.
Interesting if imperfect drama. The premise is very promising: a man who feels cuckolded becomes subsequently the agent of another's cuckoldry. The film could be summed up as a study on masculinity in its purest state. The filming technique is far from flawless, but overall it is effective (I especially liked the brawling sequences). One problem for me was that it never transcended a mere realistic framework in which it clearly challenged credibility. For one thing, the main character is an educated man and thus is supposed to have more of a civilized veneer than he is shown to have. The ending is a bit of a stretch, too.
Rating: 58
Wednesday, May 18, 2016
Mulher (1931)
Love life of a woman of humble origins. Most of the movie dwells on her relationship and cohabitation with a middle-class writer.
A surprise. Although some parts of the movie are lost, there is enough here to satisfy lovers of good cinema. Not only it is rare to see a Brazilian movie this good, there aren't many films as well directed from any part of the globe. The film makes favors to no one: both poor and rich are depicted with all their faults and problems. The script may lack some plot elaboration at some points (which is anyway hard to assess given the incompleteness of the extant print), but this is easily forgiveable in face of the film's abundant qualities. Some sequences stand out: the protagonist doing the laundry outdoors while she is watched by strangers; the sequence at the tennis club, and many others.
Silent with intertitles, and a soundtrack of famous romantic short pieces.
Rating: 73
A surprise. Although some parts of the movie are lost, there is enough here to satisfy lovers of good cinema. Not only it is rare to see a Brazilian movie this good, there aren't many films as well directed from any part of the globe. The film makes favors to no one: both poor and rich are depicted with all their faults and problems. The script may lack some plot elaboration at some points (which is anyway hard to assess given the incompleteness of the extant print), but this is easily forgiveable in face of the film's abundant qualities. Some sequences stand out: the protagonist doing the laundry outdoors while she is watched by strangers; the sequence at the tennis club, and many others.
Silent with intertitles, and a soundtrack of famous romantic short pieces.
Rating: 73
Monday, May 09, 2016
Mon oncle d'Amérique (1980)
Third viewing; first viewing was on June 15, 1987, and second one on May 1, 1989.
English title: My American Uncle.
Three characters whose lives cross paths at some points, and whose actions provide an illustration for a behavioral scientist's theories.
This has all the airs of a pretentious movie. If one takes seriously its pretention of exemplifying the expounded theories, it fails. The fictional sections are either flimsily related to the theoretical narration, or -- and that is perhaps even worse -- are very trivial depictions. The non-fictional exposition is basically correct, at least from what I read in the science press; the exception to that is the ascribing of psychological causes for some diseases such as cancer and cardiac diseases. This is just false, according to recent scientific research; immunity is apparently influenced by a person's mood, but not to the extent which the scientist in the film implies. I couldn't help construing this film as something quite different from what its appearances showed. Its overall structure and the abundance of ridiculous details make the case that this is just a joint parody of the inanity of soap operas and of the sort of sacrality which is ascribed to scientists by laypersons. The film's ending reveals as a central theme the will to change the world by acting on people's minds; it is a recurrent theme in the "mad scientist" genre, and very much in evidence in the mindset dating from the 60s to the present day. Viewed from that angle, the film is not totally negligible, although it might be considered, judging from its length, as a joke on its audience as well.
Rating: 40 (down from 49)
English title: My American Uncle.
Three characters whose lives cross paths at some points, and whose actions provide an illustration for a behavioral scientist's theories.
This has all the airs of a pretentious movie. If one takes seriously its pretention of exemplifying the expounded theories, it fails. The fictional sections are either flimsily related to the theoretical narration, or -- and that is perhaps even worse -- are very trivial depictions. The non-fictional exposition is basically correct, at least from what I read in the science press; the exception to that is the ascribing of psychological causes for some diseases such as cancer and cardiac diseases. This is just false, according to recent scientific research; immunity is apparently influenced by a person's mood, but not to the extent which the scientist in the film implies. I couldn't help construing this film as something quite different from what its appearances showed. Its overall structure and the abundance of ridiculous details make the case that this is just a joint parody of the inanity of soap operas and of the sort of sacrality which is ascribed to scientists by laypersons. The film's ending reveals as a central theme the will to change the world by acting on people's minds; it is a recurrent theme in the "mad scientist" genre, and very much in evidence in the mindset dating from the 60s to the present day. Viewed from that angle, the film is not totally negligible, although it might be considered, judging from its length, as a joke on its audience as well.
Rating: 40 (down from 49)
Saturday, April 30, 2016
Betty (1992)
Second viewing; first viewed on March 21, 1998.
Based on the novel by Georges Simenon (1st ed., 1961).
A young woman with sexual and alcoholic compulsions is taken under the wing of an older woman who first encounters her in a bar. A series of flashbacks to the former's life sheds some light into the roots of her situation and behavior.
Interesting psychoanalytic drama, which at a couple of moments may ellicit a reaction of hilarity in response to the situations it engenders. It is a masterfully executed film, given more spark by two splendid leading performances. The text itself has insightful psychological and sociological elements which perhaps should have cohered into a more substantial plot.
Rating: 68 (unchanged)
Based on the novel by Georges Simenon (1st ed., 1961).
A young woman with sexual and alcoholic compulsions is taken under the wing of an older woman who first encounters her in a bar. A series of flashbacks to the former's life sheds some light into the roots of her situation and behavior.
Interesting psychoanalytic drama, which at a couple of moments may ellicit a reaction of hilarity in response to the situations it engenders. It is a masterfully executed film, given more spark by two splendid leading performances. The text itself has insightful psychological and sociological elements which perhaps should have cohered into a more substantial plot.
Rating: 68 (unchanged)
Wednesday, April 27, 2016
Recordações da Casa Amarela (1989)
U.S. title: Recollections of the Yellow House
A tenant at a boarding house is obsessed with the owner's daughter. He leads a colorless life, without money and with health problems. He gets involved with a prostitute. He eventually loses his sanity.
An examination of poverty and everything that accompanies it. The main character at one point defines himself as "a leftist intellectual". It is a pointed joke, for, if he really were that, he would probably be leading a much more comfortable life than he is. Like its protagonist, the film is a very poor production, but, unlike him, transcends that lack of means with artistic imagination. There are some interesting reviews of this film, here and, for those who read Portuguese, here and here.
Rating: 65
A tenant at a boarding house is obsessed with the owner's daughter. He leads a colorless life, without money and with health problems. He gets involved with a prostitute. He eventually loses his sanity.
An examination of poverty and everything that accompanies it. The main character at one point defines himself as "a leftist intellectual". It is a pointed joke, for, if he really were that, he would probably be leading a much more comfortable life than he is. Like its protagonist, the film is a very poor production, but, unlike him, transcends that lack of means with artistic imagination. There are some interesting reviews of this film, here and, for those who read Portuguese, here and here.
Rating: 65
Sunday, April 24, 2016
Remorques (1941)
U.S. title: Stormy Waters.
Drama about the life of tugboat workers. The protagonist is a boat's captain. He is torn between his wife and a woman he meets while on a rescue job.
Drama about moral choices regarding love versus marriage. Lots of maritime action scenes add to the entertainment value. The tribulations of working seafolks are honestly depicted. Not an outstanding film, but the imagery is occasionally stunning. The special effects are good by the standards of that time, but the conspicuously gigantic water drops in the storm scenes may put modern audiences off.
Rating: 51
Drama about the life of tugboat workers. The protagonist is a boat's captain. He is torn between his wife and a woman he meets while on a rescue job.
Drama about moral choices regarding love versus marriage. Lots of maritime action scenes add to the entertainment value. The tribulations of working seafolks are honestly depicted. Not an outstanding film, but the imagery is occasionally stunning. The special effects are good by the standards of that time, but the conspicuously gigantic water drops in the storm scenes may put modern audiences off.
Rating: 51
Wednesday, April 13, 2016
Pièges (1939)
English titles: Personal Column; Snares
A series of disappearances of young women who have answered personal ads is being investigated. A friend of one of the victims decides to help the police by anwering the ads herself.
Almost like three consecutive films in one, this is a mildly interesting mystery story about a type of character which would become immensely popular a few decades later: the serial killer. Some plot details, including the ending, are very unsatisfactory, but it's a watchable film. I have noticed that, no matter the genre, whenever Chevalier is in a movie, he has to sing. Bizarre...
Rating: 51
A series of disappearances of young women who have answered personal ads is being investigated. A friend of one of the victims decides to help the police by anwering the ads herself.
Almost like three consecutive films in one, this is a mildly interesting mystery story about a type of character which would become immensely popular a few decades later: the serial killer. Some plot details, including the ending, are very unsatisfactory, but it's a watchable film. I have noticed that, no matter the genre, whenever Chevalier is in a movie, he has to sing. Bizarre...
Rating: 51
L'année des méduses (1984)
Second viewing; first viewed on March 30, 2016
Former blog post:
[quote]
English title: Year of the Jellyfish
At a beach in the South of France, mother and 18-year-old daughter are spending some time. The mother gets involved with a younger man. The daughter has a wild sexual behavior and some psychological issues.
A lot of gorgeous women flaunting their breasts most of the time, and occasionally all her bodies. Total amorality. The young govern the old. It is well directed and flows nicely, despite the thinness and reticency of the plot. I knew there was a flashback somewhere because the daughter is sixteen in some scenes and eighteen in others, but I couldn't discern the exact point when real time transitions to flashback and vice-versa. Reportedly there is a novel that could shed light on some of those doubts.
Rating: 51
[end quote]
Now I understand the film better. It's not as reticent as I supposed. Young Chris's fixation on Romain, which goes way back -- before his involvement with her mother -- is an important plot point which I probably overlooked on my first viewing. For finer psychological points, there is always the novel, which I still haven't read.
Rating: 52 (up from 51)
Former blog post:
[quote]
English title: Year of the Jellyfish
At a beach in the South of France, mother and 18-year-old daughter are spending some time. The mother gets involved with a younger man. The daughter has a wild sexual behavior and some psychological issues.
A lot of gorgeous women flaunting their breasts most of the time, and occasionally all her bodies. Total amorality. The young govern the old. It is well directed and flows nicely, despite the thinness and reticency of the plot. I knew there was a flashback somewhere because the daughter is sixteen in some scenes and eighteen in others, but I couldn't discern the exact point when real time transitions to flashback and vice-versa. Reportedly there is a novel that could shed light on some of those doubts.
Rating: 51
[end quote]
Now I understand the film better. It's not as reticent as I supposed. Young Chris's fixation on Romain, which goes way back -- before his involvement with her mother -- is an important plot point which I probably overlooked on my first viewing. For finer psychological points, there is always the novel, which I still haven't read.
Rating: 52 (up from 51)
Sunday, April 10, 2016
Outpost in Morocco (1949)
A Foreign Legion captain falls in love with a Moroccan emir's daughter; her father leads a revolt against the French.
Colonialist adventure, with a negligible plot, and nice, if somewhat darkened, visuals, both outdoors and indoors. It was shot on location and in America; Moroccan scenes with the main cast are superimposed upon a background image.
Rating: 37
Colonialist adventure, with a negligible plot, and nice, if somewhat darkened, visuals, both outdoors and indoors. It was shot on location and in America; Moroccan scenes with the main cast are superimposed upon a background image.
Rating: 37
Saturday, April 09, 2016
Klondike Annie (1936)
A Chinese restaurant owner's mistress who is being kept as a prisoner flees, and boards a merchant ship bound to Alaska. The ship's captain falls in love with her. A missionary woman comes aboard and befriends her.
Although horribly cut by censors, this is an interesting film on the benefits and dangers of being a sexual object. The film is also prophetic regarding showbusiness Christianity. Today's audiences may find chubby West an unsuitable choice for the title role, but she wrote it, and so was entitled to it. Somehow. TV Guide has a good review.
Rating: 51
Although horribly cut by censors, this is an interesting film on the benefits and dangers of being a sexual object. The film is also prophetic regarding showbusiness Christianity. Today's audiences may find chubby West an unsuitable choice for the title role, but she wrote it, and so was entitled to it. Somehow. TV Guide has a good review.
Rating: 51
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
L'année des méduses (1984)
English title: Year of the Jellyfish
At a beach in the South of France, mother and 18-year-old daughter are spending some time. The mother gets involved with a younger man. The daughter has a wild sexual behavior and some psychological issues.
A lot of gorgeous women flaunting their breasts most of the time, and occasionally all her bodies. Total amorality. The young govern the old. It is well directed and flows nicely, despite the thinness and reticency of the plot. I knew there was a flashback somewhere because the daughter is sixteen in some scenes and eighteen in others, but I couldn't discern the exact point when real time transitions to flashback and vice-versa. Reportedly there is a novel that could shed light on some of those doubts.
Rating: 51
Update: rewatched on April 13, 2016. There is a new blog entry on that date.
At a beach in the South of France, mother and 18-year-old daughter are spending some time. The mother gets involved with a younger man. The daughter has a wild sexual behavior and some psychological issues.
A lot of gorgeous women flaunting their breasts most of the time, and occasionally all her bodies. Total amorality. The young govern the old. It is well directed and flows nicely, despite the thinness and reticency of the plot. I knew there was a flashback somewhere because the daughter is sixteen in some scenes and eighteen in others, but I couldn't discern the exact point when real time transitions to flashback and vice-versa. Reportedly there is a novel that could shed light on some of those doubts.
Rating: 51
Update: rewatched on April 13, 2016. There is a new blog entry on that date.
Saturday, March 26, 2016
Avec le sourire (1936)
American title: With a Smile.
A man arrives penniless in Paris. He meets a young woman who is a dancer at a nightclub, and manages to get employed there. Step by step, he climbs to the top of the social ladder, using his sense of opportunity, his lack of scruples, and his smile.
There isn't much to say about this film which isn't already in its dialogue. In a strictly moral sense, it is refreshing: it doesn't stray from objectivity for one second. You could call it a perfectly amoral film, or, if you do not like this terminology, you may call it an essay in social Darwinism. Even though it may look unique in that sense, I suspect it was not far from the standards of film writing in the 30s. Although I do not know a lot of that period's filmography, one needs only think of Hollywood's pre-code period for an approximate parallel. In America, however, the frankness was mostly sexual (and ended in 1934 with the strict enforcement of the Hays code), whereas in this film it is predominantly economical. Anyway, both in France and in America, films became more moralistic in later years. It was only in the late fifties that a certain spirit of boldness was to resume, but I doubt it would ever have the same free spirit again. For example, to pick a movie with a similar theme as this one, Room at the Top (1959) is a good movie, but is not without a certain implicit moralism, if memory serves me right.
Rating: 64
A man arrives penniless in Paris. He meets a young woman who is a dancer at a nightclub, and manages to get employed there. Step by step, he climbs to the top of the social ladder, using his sense of opportunity, his lack of scruples, and his smile.
There isn't much to say about this film which isn't already in its dialogue. In a strictly moral sense, it is refreshing: it doesn't stray from objectivity for one second. You could call it a perfectly amoral film, or, if you do not like this terminology, you may call it an essay in social Darwinism. Even though it may look unique in that sense, I suspect it was not far from the standards of film writing in the 30s. Although I do not know a lot of that period's filmography, one needs only think of Hollywood's pre-code period for an approximate parallel. In America, however, the frankness was mostly sexual (and ended in 1934 with the strict enforcement of the Hays code), whereas in this film it is predominantly economical. Anyway, both in France and in America, films became more moralistic in later years. It was only in the late fifties that a certain spirit of boldness was to resume, but I doubt it would ever have the same free spirit again. For example, to pick a movie with a similar theme as this one, Room at the Top (1959) is a good movie, but is not without a certain implicit moralism, if memory serves me right.
Rating: 64
Thursday, March 24, 2016
The Big Land (1957)
After the American Civil War, some Southerner cattle ranchers drive their cattle North to sell it. One of them befriends a drunken architect who has a businessman friend; they make a deal with said businessman, involving the building of a railroad. There are some rivals who do not like it.
Fairly routine yet watchable western.
Rating: 35
Fairly routine yet watchable western.
Rating: 35
Wednesday, March 23, 2016
Quem Matou Anabela? (1956)
A police inspector is summoned to a boarding house to investigate a murder. A corpse, found at a dam, is said to belong to one of the boarding house's inmates, a struggling actress. The boarding house's owner, the inmates, and the actress's fiancé, are interviewed by the police inspector. He is surprised by many conflicting confessions.
Mystery drama with satirical elements. The plot does not make much sense, but there are a few touches of formal playfulness which are refreshing.
Rating: 34
Mystery drama with satirical elements. The plot does not make much sense, but there are a few touches of formal playfulness which are refreshing.
Rating: 34
Tuesday, March 22, 2016
Diary of a Mad Housewife (1970)
Woman married to a sarcastic, egocentric, shallow, ungrateful, and exploitative husband takes a lover who doesn't treat her much better.
Drama based on a novel which, judging from the movie, was clearly written by a woman with a deep-seated hatred of men. There is no attempt to situate these people culturally; they celebrate Christmas but there is not a hint of any religious convictions or social roots. As an abstract exercise on conjugal sadomasochism, it is not bad, and is even sort of funny.
Rating: 51
Drama based on a novel which, judging from the movie, was clearly written by a woman with a deep-seated hatred of men. There is no attempt to situate these people culturally; they celebrate Christmas but there is not a hint of any religious convictions or social roots. As an abstract exercise on conjugal sadomasochism, it is not bad, and is even sort of funny.
Rating: 51
Monday, March 21, 2016
Ma pomme (1950)
American title: Just Me.
A treasure is found at a construction site, with a will attached to it. After a search, the inheritors are found. The will establishes that one particular line of the bequeather's descendancy is to be empowered with the decision concerning the transmission of the inheritance. This man happens to be a tramp who thinks money brings mostly problems. He is initially inclined towards not accepting the inheritance, to the consternation of the other inheritors, who would thus be also deprived of it. However, when a new inheritor is found, he changes his mind.
Weakly scripted musical comedy with some interesting philosophical points, which are poorly explored.
Rating: 31
A treasure is found at a construction site, with a will attached to it. After a search, the inheritors are found. The will establishes that one particular line of the bequeather's descendancy is to be empowered with the decision concerning the transmission of the inheritance. This man happens to be a tramp who thinks money brings mostly problems. He is initially inclined towards not accepting the inheritance, to the consternation of the other inheritors, who would thus be also deprived of it. However, when a new inheritor is found, he changes his mind.
Weakly scripted musical comedy with some interesting philosophical points, which are poorly explored.
Rating: 31
Sunday, March 20, 2016
A Família Lero-Lero (1953)
Second viewing; first viewed on November 15, 1992
Based on the play by Raimundo Magalhães Jr., first performed in 1941
A civil servant is constantly mistreated by his wife and leeched upon by his two sons and daughter who dream of impossible careers instead of settling down on modest yet reliable jobs. At work things are no better: he is a poorly paid civil servant who endures terrible working conditions. One day he decides to get away from it all.
Comedy which satirizes the Brazilian lower middle class and the infernal public service which was (and, in at least some aspects, still is) typical of that country. It is above-average for Brazilian standards in comicity and technical accomplishment. Its main actor, by his physical traits and demeanor, looks remarkably Japanese.
Rating: 56 (unchanged)
Based on the play by Raimundo Magalhães Jr., first performed in 1941
A civil servant is constantly mistreated by his wife and leeched upon by his two sons and daughter who dream of impossible careers instead of settling down on modest yet reliable jobs. At work things are no better: he is a poorly paid civil servant who endures terrible working conditions. One day he decides to get away from it all.
Comedy which satirizes the Brazilian lower middle class and the infernal public service which was (and, in at least some aspects, still is) typical of that country. It is above-average for Brazilian standards in comicity and technical accomplishment. Its main actor, by his physical traits and demeanor, looks remarkably Japanese.
Rating: 56 (unchanged)
Saturday, March 19, 2016
Le roi (1949)
Based on the play by Gaston Arman de Caillavet, Robert de Flers, and Émile Arène, first performed in 1908.
A foreign monarch is visiting France and gets pastry in the face thrown by a woman who happens to be the wife of a congressman. His party colleagues approach the politician and suggest ways to neutralize the embarrassing incident, which involve hunting and -- profiting from the monarch's philandering proclivities -- women.
Well-made comedy which sheds some light on the curious phenomenon of cuckolds in high places.
Rating: 52
A foreign monarch is visiting France and gets pastry in the face thrown by a woman who happens to be the wife of a congressman. His party colleagues approach the politician and suggest ways to neutralize the embarrassing incident, which involve hunting and -- profiting from the monarch's philandering proclivities -- women.
Well-made comedy which sheds some light on the curious phenomenon of cuckolds in high places.
Rating: 52
Wednesday, March 02, 2016
Mr. Turner (2014)
Biopic about an English painter. He never marries and is something of a maverick and a curmudgeon.
Big disappointment from a diretor who had been consistently good up to this point. To be accurate, Vera Drake had an absurd plot, but scene by scene it was interesting. Not so this one, which has a plausible story (inevitable since it is a real one) but hardly any interesting scene. If you are curious of how Turner humped the maid from behind, or are particularly excited about absolutely trivial dialogue, this is for you. On the plus side, this is a photogenic film, even for digital which is a step backwards in film history. P.S. I am anxious for the DVD extras which will no doubt include Turner in the john, Turner's daughter's death in childbirth, the maid getting undressed in the dermatologist's office, and an extended version of the sequence where Turner discusses the evils of slavery with the traumatized slave merchant.
Rating: 40
Big disappointment from a diretor who had been consistently good up to this point. To be accurate, Vera Drake had an absurd plot, but scene by scene it was interesting. Not so this one, which has a plausible story (inevitable since it is a real one) but hardly any interesting scene. If you are curious of how Turner humped the maid from behind, or are particularly excited about absolutely trivial dialogue, this is for you. On the plus side, this is a photogenic film, even for digital which is a step backwards in film history. P.S. I am anxious for the DVD extras which will no doubt include Turner in the john, Turner's daughter's death in childbirth, the maid getting undressed in the dermatologist's office, and an extended version of the sequence where Turner discusses the evils of slavery with the traumatized slave merchant.
Rating: 40
Sunday, February 28, 2016
Matou a Família e Foi ao Cinema (1969)
Second viewing; first viewed on March 3, 1999
English title: Killed the Family and Went to the Movies
Several stories with a common theme of domestic violence. The central story is about two young middle-class women who are alone in a secluded mansion and talk about married life.
I still like the way this film plays with fragmentation and self-reference, and the use of the same actors in different but related roles; also, the use of songs in the soundtrack is daring and effective. I don't know if the film can be interpreted in one single way, but the Power theme seems to pervade all stories, and the underlying assumption seems to be foucauldian: the private sphere is subject to mechanisms of oppression which are analogous to the ones in the public sphere. I don't know why I couldn't relate in the same positive way with other films by this director. Perhaps it is a matter of giving them a second chance.
Rating: 72 (down from 86)
English title: Killed the Family and Went to the Movies
Several stories with a common theme of domestic violence. The central story is about two young middle-class women who are alone in a secluded mansion and talk about married life.
I still like the way this film plays with fragmentation and self-reference, and the use of the same actors in different but related roles; also, the use of songs in the soundtrack is daring and effective. I don't know if the film can be interpreted in one single way, but the Power theme seems to pervade all stories, and the underlying assumption seems to be foucauldian: the private sphere is subject to mechanisms of oppression which are analogous to the ones in the public sphere. I don't know why I couldn't relate in the same positive way with other films by this director. Perhaps it is a matter of giving them a second chance.
Rating: 72 (down from 86)
Wednesday, February 24, 2016
Babettes gæstebud (1987)
Second viewing; first viewed on June 4, 1989
English title: Babette's Feast
Based on a short story by Karen Dinesen, first published in 1958
Two sisters living in a remote fishing village are discouraged from marrying by their possessive father. In their elder years, they take a French refugee woman as a servant.
On Wikipedia, it says that its diretor changed the setting from that of the story so it would not look too 'touristy'. I find that funny, because this is a film which I appreciated mostly as an aesthetical succession of images. There is hardly any imagination in the mise-en-scène, and the text itself I found somewhat poor, relying as it does on clichés about both Nordic people and French ones. Reportedly, this is Jorge Bergoglio's favorite movie. It figures that the Court Jester of the Catholic Church should choose a Protestant movie as his personal pick. It also makes sense that a film which celebrates the pleasures of the flesh, albeit not the sexual ones, should find resonance in someone who is forced into perpetual celibacy by his own faith. He probably was also moved by the film's refugees-as-vibrancy message. In Brazil, this film was a great success amid the middle class, probably because it is a womanly film.
Rating: 50 (down from 59)
English title: Babette's Feast
Based on a short story by Karen Dinesen, first published in 1958
Two sisters living in a remote fishing village are discouraged from marrying by their possessive father. In their elder years, they take a French refugee woman as a servant.
On Wikipedia, it says that its diretor changed the setting from that of the story so it would not look too 'touristy'. I find that funny, because this is a film which I appreciated mostly as an aesthetical succession of images. There is hardly any imagination in the mise-en-scène, and the text itself I found somewhat poor, relying as it does on clichés about both Nordic people and French ones. Reportedly, this is Jorge Bergoglio's favorite movie. It figures that the Court Jester of the Catholic Church should choose a Protestant movie as his personal pick. It also makes sense that a film which celebrates the pleasures of the flesh, albeit not the sexual ones, should find resonance in someone who is forced into perpetual celibacy by his own faith. He probably was also moved by the film's refugees-as-vibrancy message. In Brazil, this film was a great success amid the middle class, probably because it is a womanly film.
Rating: 50 (down from 59)
Sunday, February 21, 2016
Die Legende von Paul und Paula (1973)
English title: The Legend of Paul and Paula
A working-class girl who has had a disastrous first relationship with a man falls in love with another who is already married, albeit unhappily so. They start seeing each other, but, despite their mutual affection, his lack of commitment poses problems.
Boring love story, allegedly Angela Kazmierczak's favorite movie. Some online reviews would have you think it is a very subversive film, but that is very far from being the truth; its characters, overall mood, and the reception it had bring to mind those verses from a Talking Heads song: "We don't want freedom. We don't want justice. We just want someone to love." It is my impression that, even for its time and place, the film's discourse is far from contestatory. For our time and place, it just reinforces the very conformist discourse of individualism which has been prevalent in our liberal society all through the duration of the closed regimes of Eastern Europe. The fact of the matter is that there really wasn't much of a difference between the two sides of the Cold War. The side that lost was seduced by images of a Paradise which was really a Hell which they are now experiencing, some of them under the fabulous leader mentioned in the beginning of this review.
Rating: 20
A working-class girl who has had a disastrous first relationship with a man falls in love with another who is already married, albeit unhappily so. They start seeing each other, but, despite their mutual affection, his lack of commitment poses problems.
Boring love story, allegedly Angela Kazmierczak's favorite movie. Some online reviews would have you think it is a very subversive film, but that is very far from being the truth; its characters, overall mood, and the reception it had bring to mind those verses from a Talking Heads song: "We don't want freedom. We don't want justice. We just want someone to love." It is my impression that, even for its time and place, the film's discourse is far from contestatory. For our time and place, it just reinforces the very conformist discourse of individualism which has been prevalent in our liberal society all through the duration of the closed regimes of Eastern Europe. The fact of the matter is that there really wasn't much of a difference between the two sides of the Cold War. The side that lost was seduced by images of a Paradise which was really a Hell which they are now experiencing, some of them under the fabulous leader mentioned in the beginning of this review.
Rating: 20
Memórias de um Gigolô (1970)
English title: Memoirs of a Gigolo
Adventures of a man who spends his adolescence in a whorehouse, and falls in love with one of the girls, who has a relationship with a pimp.
Picaresque comedy with a very childish script. The author is of Italian stock, and I think it shows in the film's style, to which the diretor, born in that jolly peninsula, may have contributed. It is not badly filmed. The actors suit their respective roles fine, and perform professionally. The cinematography has nice colors and some of the locations are really photogenic. This is the kind of stuff that pleased audiences in the seventies in Brazil. They are probably just as undemanding today, but the films themselves have become quite unbearable, unlike this one, which has the bare minimum of goods to keep one from walking away.
Rating: 31
Adventures of a man who spends his adolescence in a whorehouse, and falls in love with one of the girls, who has a relationship with a pimp.
Picaresque comedy with a very childish script. The author is of Italian stock, and I think it shows in the film's style, to which the diretor, born in that jolly peninsula, may have contributed. It is not badly filmed. The actors suit their respective roles fine, and perform professionally. The cinematography has nice colors and some of the locations are really photogenic. This is the kind of stuff that pleased audiences in the seventies in Brazil. They are probably just as undemanding today, but the films themselves have become quite unbearable, unlike this one, which has the bare minimum of goods to keep one from walking away.
Rating: 31
Monday, February 15, 2016
O Ibraim do Subúrbio (1976)
Film in two segments: "Roy, o Gargalhador Profissional", about a professional cackler, and "O Ibraim do Subúrbio", about a poor tailor who lives in a fantasy world of wealth and social celebrity.
I wouldn't recommend this film, because the scripts of both segments leave a lot to be desired. But for gleaners like me, there may be some value in its commentary about the plight of the poor folks who work hard and at times don't even have a place to work. The phenomenon which Marx named 'false consciousness' is explored on the second segment. The first one, which shows a grimmer reality of struggle and borderline despair, is seasoned with cruel irony. One doesn't see much of this mood in films made in Europe or the U.S., probably because the people there do not experience this neglect by the powers that be. Even in Brazil, there are few filmmakers today who are into exposing social wounds. But the wounds are still there.
Rating: 31
I wouldn't recommend this film, because the scripts of both segments leave a lot to be desired. But for gleaners like me, there may be some value in its commentary about the plight of the poor folks who work hard and at times don't even have a place to work. The phenomenon which Marx named 'false consciousness' is explored on the second segment. The first one, which shows a grimmer reality of struggle and borderline despair, is seasoned with cruel irony. One doesn't see much of this mood in films made in Europe or the U.S., probably because the people there do not experience this neglect by the powers that be. Even in Brazil, there are few filmmakers today who are into exposing social wounds. But the wounds are still there.
Rating: 31
Monday, February 08, 2016
A Compadecida (1969)
English title: Our Lady of Compassion.
Based on the play O Auto da Compadecida, by Ariano Suassuna, written in 1955 and first staged in 1956.
Two small-town bakery employees, one a trickster and the other his simple-minded sidekick, go through several incidents as a gang of bandits raid the town in a murdering frenzy.
Botched theatrical adaptation, with no sense of narrative and poorly designed cinematic sequences. It has a lot of competent artists working in it, as cenographer, cinematographer, etc., and that shows, but a good crew a good film does not make; it takes a good screenplay and a competent diretor, both of which seem to be missing here. The storyline could be divided into two sections, the first of which is a picaresque sequence of events, and the second of which invokes the supernatural to convey a socially-updated re-reading of Christianity, with a preachy undertone to it. The Internet Movie Database hilariously merges two people into a single entity under the name George Jonas. One is this film's diretor, who was a Hungarian-born man established in Brazil in the celluloid processing business and later as a producer of TV advertising. The other is his much more famous namesake, who was also Hungarian-born but established himself in Canada as a journalist.
Some internet links about the Brazilian guy: on his book of memoirs and on his death.
Rating: 32
Based on the play O Auto da Compadecida, by Ariano Suassuna, written in 1955 and first staged in 1956.
Two small-town bakery employees, one a trickster and the other his simple-minded sidekick, go through several incidents as a gang of bandits raid the town in a murdering frenzy.
Botched theatrical adaptation, with no sense of narrative and poorly designed cinematic sequences. It has a lot of competent artists working in it, as cenographer, cinematographer, etc., and that shows, but a good crew a good film does not make; it takes a good screenplay and a competent diretor, both of which seem to be missing here. The storyline could be divided into two sections, the first of which is a picaresque sequence of events, and the second of which invokes the supernatural to convey a socially-updated re-reading of Christianity, with a preachy undertone to it. The Internet Movie Database hilariously merges two people into a single entity under the name George Jonas. One is this film's diretor, who was a Hungarian-born man established in Brazil in the celluloid processing business and later as a producer of TV advertising. The other is his much more famous namesake, who was also Hungarian-born but established himself in Canada as a journalist.
Some internet links about the Brazilian guy: on his book of memoirs and on his death.
Rating: 32
Monday, February 01, 2016
White Dog (1982)
Second viewing; first viewed on October 31, 1997.
Based on the story (or, according to some sources, on the novel) by Romain Gary, first published in 1970.
A young actress finds a stray dog and adopts it. After some time, she finds out it has been trained to attack blacks.
As I watched this, it increasingly puzzled me that I was so overwhelmed by it on my first viewing. Unfortunately, I have no way of getting back for a few instants to my previous self so I can understand what it was that blew me away then. I can more or less hypothesize that it had to do with the careful building up of suspense and atmosphere, attributes which so many critics have pointed out, and I still now acknowledge. Sadly, I suspect it also had to do with allegorical interpretations which critics also came up with, and to which I no longer subscribe. Although the storyline has the potential elements for that, they are too vaguely sketched (e.g., one cannot really know why the dog behaves in the specific way it does in the end, or what this could mean allegorically). But this is not why I cooled down about it; the fact is, this is only a slightly above average suspenser, with some dullness in the midsection, and a problematic plot weakness relating to the dog trainer's poorly explained motivation to persist in his course of action. However, if you are dead set on making this into a parable of sorts, I think you may view it as a moral tale about the dangers of doggedness.
Rating: 66 (down from 84)
Based on the story (or, according to some sources, on the novel) by Romain Gary, first published in 1970.
A young actress finds a stray dog and adopts it. After some time, she finds out it has been trained to attack blacks.
As I watched this, it increasingly puzzled me that I was so overwhelmed by it on my first viewing. Unfortunately, I have no way of getting back for a few instants to my previous self so I can understand what it was that blew me away then. I can more or less hypothesize that it had to do with the careful building up of suspense and atmosphere, attributes which so many critics have pointed out, and I still now acknowledge. Sadly, I suspect it also had to do with allegorical interpretations which critics also came up with, and to which I no longer subscribe. Although the storyline has the potential elements for that, they are too vaguely sketched (e.g., one cannot really know why the dog behaves in the specific way it does in the end, or what this could mean allegorically). But this is not why I cooled down about it; the fact is, this is only a slightly above average suspenser, with some dullness in the midsection, and a problematic plot weakness relating to the dog trainer's poorly explained motivation to persist in his course of action. However, if you are dead set on making this into a parable of sorts, I think you may view it as a moral tale about the dangers of doggedness.
Rating: 66 (down from 84)
Thursday, January 28, 2016
Night Passage (1957)
A man is employed by the railroad to prevent a payroll robbery.
I watched it last Saturday. It's not very good, and I didn't find the prospect of writing this review too compelling, so I kept postponing it. It's a very overplotted movie, and overcrowded with characters. It is sort of entertaining in a way, but everything seems quite irrelevant and improbable and very pulp-fiction-ish.
Saw it in pan-and-scan.
Rating: 37
I watched it last Saturday. It's not very good, and I didn't find the prospect of writing this review too compelling, so I kept postponing it. It's a very overplotted movie, and overcrowded with characters. It is sort of entertaining in a way, but everything seems quite irrelevant and improbable and very pulp-fiction-ish.
Saw it in pan-and-scan.
Rating: 37
Thursday, January 21, 2016
Quem Sabe... Sabe! (1956)
Alternatively punctuated title: Quem Sabe, Sabe!
Musical comedy. A card reader operates in partnership with her brother, who gets information on her clients through their female servants.
Rather weak, but with a marginal value of cultural document. This is not one of the morally sounder films I have seen, what with its protagonists being a couple of crooks, and much of the cast of characters getting involved in shady deeds of one sort or another. As usual with immoral films, it purports to have a moral message, which in this case is that discrimination against chorus girls is bad. It seems to be a case of defending one's own backyard, since there is really no difference between the profession of the young actresses and that of the characters they play.
Rating: 31
Musical comedy. A card reader operates in partnership with her brother, who gets information on her clients through their female servants.
Rather weak, but with a marginal value of cultural document. This is not one of the morally sounder films I have seen, what with its protagonists being a couple of crooks, and much of the cast of characters getting involved in shady deeds of one sort or another. As usual with immoral films, it purports to have a moral message, which in this case is that discrimination against chorus girls is bad. It seems to be a case of defending one's own backyard, since there is really no difference between the profession of the young actresses and that of the characters they play.
Rating: 31
Tuesday, January 19, 2016
Bar Esperança (1983)
Second viewing; first viewed between the date of its Brazilian release and December, 1986.
U.S. title (according to IMDB): Bar Esperanza
It centers on a writer's decision of quitting his TV job and on his wife's decision of leaving him because of that. Other characters are the patrons of a bar where the couple regularly goes.
While it depicts Brazilian TV as a place where artists are slowly killed, or transformed into zombies, much like its mass of spectators, it follows the strictly TV-like template of sitcoms, which is another kind of artistic dead end. A shallow movie, with one or two interesting sequences (e.g., when the barfly pesters the protagonist into a fake duel), and fine camerawork.
Rating: 49 (down from 52)
U.S. title (according to IMDB): Bar Esperanza
It centers on a writer's decision of quitting his TV job and on his wife's decision of leaving him because of that. Other characters are the patrons of a bar where the couple regularly goes.
While it depicts Brazilian TV as a place where artists are slowly killed, or transformed into zombies, much like its mass of spectators, it follows the strictly TV-like template of sitcoms, which is another kind of artistic dead end. A shallow movie, with one or two interesting sequences (e.g., when the barfly pesters the protagonist into a fake duel), and fine camerawork.
Rating: 49 (down from 52)
Saturday, January 16, 2016
The Pigeon That Took Rome (1962)
World War II. Two Americans are assigned an espionage mission in Nazi-occupied Rome. They stay with an Italian family and must relay information to the Allies.
It is clear from the latest reviews here that love in film is an excellent dramatic vehicle to analyze a vast array of human endeavors and the psychological traits they entail. The love triangle is one of the structures that have been used to show how human conflict evolves and is resolved. There is no explicit love triangle here, or rather, one of the vertices has only a virtual existence, so to speak. One character will marry a woman who has been impregnated by an enemy soldier; his sergeant falls in love with her sister, who gives her sexual favors to German officers. This type of cuckoldry plays like an individual metonimy for the collective War phenomenon: every level of the fight consists of someone giving his life for the profit of someone else, who may be, according to the scope of analysis, a top ranking officer, the government, the capitalist establishment, etc. The messaging aspect of the plot adds another angle of correspondence: just as cuckoldry inserts noise into the communications system in which human semen is supposed to relay the biological message that propagates one's genetic characteristics, war communications are constantly subject to all kinds of interferences which may revert the outcome of the conflict. The film itself is part of a deeper level of miscommunication whose purpose is to conceal behind patriotic notions the identity of those who profit from all the killing and maiming -- one's real enemies, in short.
Rating: 39
It is clear from the latest reviews here that love in film is an excellent dramatic vehicle to analyze a vast array of human endeavors and the psychological traits they entail. The love triangle is one of the structures that have been used to show how human conflict evolves and is resolved. There is no explicit love triangle here, or rather, one of the vertices has only a virtual existence, so to speak. One character will marry a woman who has been impregnated by an enemy soldier; his sergeant falls in love with her sister, who gives her sexual favors to German officers. This type of cuckoldry plays like an individual metonimy for the collective War phenomenon: every level of the fight consists of someone giving his life for the profit of someone else, who may be, according to the scope of analysis, a top ranking officer, the government, the capitalist establishment, etc. The messaging aspect of the plot adds another angle of correspondence: just as cuckoldry inserts noise into the communications system in which human semen is supposed to relay the biological message that propagates one's genetic characteristics, war communications are constantly subject to all kinds of interferences which may revert the outcome of the conflict. The film itself is part of a deeper level of miscommunication whose purpose is to conceal behind patriotic notions the identity of those who profit from all the killing and maiming -- one's real enemies, in short.
Rating: 39
Thursday, January 14, 2016
Le combat dans l'île (1962)
English festival title: Fire and Ice
Proper English translation of the title: The Fight in the Island
A woman has a relationship with a rightwing militant, who is assigned to perform an assassination. After the act, the couple take refuge with a childhood friend who is a leftwing militant who prints political material and despises violent action.
An earlier exploration on the Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands theme, with a diferent take that eschews the economic angle. The film seems to be biased toward the Left, which seems to be comprised of peace-loving and family-oriented individuals, whereas the Right is violent and egotistical in personal relationships. That is obviously belied by a long view on History, although it may make sense in connection with that particular moment in France. Viewed as a political allegory, the implication seems to be that the Left is reluctantly, yet inevitably, drawn into Violence by the actions of Reactionaries.
Rating: 31
Proper English translation of the title: The Fight in the Island
A woman has a relationship with a rightwing militant, who is assigned to perform an assassination. After the act, the couple take refuge with a childhood friend who is a leftwing militant who prints political material and despises violent action.
An earlier exploration on the Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands theme, with a diferent take that eschews the economic angle. The film seems to be biased toward the Left, which seems to be comprised of peace-loving and family-oriented individuals, whereas the Right is violent and egotistical in personal relationships. That is obviously belied by a long view on History, although it may make sense in connection with that particular moment in France. Viewed as a political allegory, the implication seems to be that the Left is reluctantly, yet inevitably, drawn into Violence by the actions of Reactionaries.
Rating: 31
Dona Flor e Seus Dois Maridos (1976)
Second viewing; first viewed on some indeterminate date before January 1987.
English title: Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands.
Based on the novel by Jorge Amado (1st ed., 1966), which has some plot elements borrowed from or simply coincidental with the 1941 play Blithe Spirit, by Noel Coward.
A young widow remarries but her new, methodic, husband can't ease her lust the way her late one, a gambler and a womanizer, did.
An allegory of Brazil, a land which, as the theme-song succinctly puts it, "can't be governed, now or ever". The actual comedy is precisely conceived in the typical Brazilianate style, which does not allow for high flights of sophistication but gets the message through. As the previously reviewed here O Homem dos Papagaios, fiscal irresponsibility plays an important part in the plot. Here, the twist consists in making the suffering wife the dramatic center, thus deepening the analysis carried out in that movie.
Rating: 58 (up from 57)
English title: Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands.
Based on the novel by Jorge Amado (1st ed., 1966), which has some plot elements borrowed from or simply coincidental with the 1941 play Blithe Spirit, by Noel Coward.
A young widow remarries but her new, methodic, husband can't ease her lust the way her late one, a gambler and a womanizer, did.
An allegory of Brazil, a land which, as the theme-song succinctly puts it, "can't be governed, now or ever". The actual comedy is precisely conceived in the typical Brazilianate style, which does not allow for high flights of sophistication but gets the message through. As the previously reviewed here O Homem dos Papagaios, fiscal irresponsibility plays an important part in the plot. Here, the twist consists in making the suffering wife the dramatic center, thus deepening the analysis carried out in that movie.
Rating: 58 (up from 57)
Sunday, January 10, 2016
O Homem dos Papagaios (1953)
Epaminondas is a man experiencing financial difficulties who crosses paths with a former schoolmate; the latter tries to help him by employing him as janitor in a vacant mansion. The people in the mansion's neighborhood get the idea that Epaminondas is the new owner and he takes advantage of the misunderstanding, with problematic consequences.
A reasonably well-made film, watchable but lacking in real creativity. The curious thing is the similarity in structure with Catch Me If You Can (2002). The film also works as an allegory for the present situation of the country in which it was made (in this case, however, the ending is, for the moment, just wishful thinking).
Rating: 40
A reasonably well-made film, watchable but lacking in real creativity. The curious thing is the similarity in structure with Catch Me If You Can (2002). The film also works as an allegory for the present situation of the country in which it was made (in this case, however, the ending is, for the moment, just wishful thinking).
Rating: 40
Friday, January 08, 2016
Chato's Land (1972)
Western. A half-breed kills a sheriff in self-defense, and some of the town's people form a posse to go after him.
While an entertaining film, it is a bit disgusting to see such intense White self-loathing. The times were of burgeoning liberalism, but Hollywood sometimes preferred to approach such candent themes as segregation and Vietnam by using a third party, in this case Native Americans. Truth be told, a few modern viewers think it was a bit early for such a clear-eyed consideration of that East Asian fiasco and credit the similarities to coincidence.
Rating: 51
While an entertaining film, it is a bit disgusting to see such intense White self-loathing. The times were of burgeoning liberalism, but Hollywood sometimes preferred to approach such candent themes as segregation and Vietnam by using a third party, in this case Native Americans. Truth be told, a few modern viewers think it was a bit early for such a clear-eyed consideration of that East Asian fiasco and credit the similarities to coincidence.
Rating: 51
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