Copie conforme (2010)

English title: Certified copy

 James, an English intellectual, is in Italy to promote the translated edition of his essay, and meets a woman who is interested in his work. They visit places, and from a certain point onwards during their tour together, they start pretending they are a married couple in a crisis.

Supposedly, this is a philosophical investigation on the value of authenticity. In a bit of dialogue James asserts that he wrote the book to convince himself that originality is a myth. Maybe as a practical exploration of the concept, the woman apparently turns him into a "copy" of her ex-husband. He plays along with the charade. To be honest, it's hard to determine what the film is trying to demonstrate, if anything, and there is a sense of sterility to the whole proceedings. Is this too complex or too obvious? Or maybe this is a subtle satire on cell phones. They are a recurrent motif, both as an obstacle to communication (especially among teenagers), and a promoter of excessive communication. This take would make the film an erotic comedy whose punchline is that the nine o'clock train appointment would give him more than enough time to get her into bed, but those cell phones ruined it. The actors are very good in this, and the locations are attractive.

Rating: 47

Quatermass and the Pit (1967)

Second viewing, possibly first one with original audio and/or correct aspect ratio; previously viewed on August 7, 1991.

Alternate title: Five Million Years to Earth

An extraterrestrial ship with some extraterrestrials in it is found in the London underground. Some scientists investigate. It turns out those extraterrestrials were on Earth five million years earlier, and the ship interacts with present-day humans in a dangerous way.

While a funnier title would have been Quite a Mess in the Pit, I've nothing against the more descriptive The Demons Were Astronauts. A year later came 2001: A Space Odyssey, with similar themes, though with a more positive view. It's all very crazy, even though the feigned attempt at grounding it in science shows a certain need to pay tribute to reason. In my opinion, a more interesting film would be one in which the ship was indeed a Nazi artifact, with power to turn people into Nazis. Colonel Breen would be a crypto-Nazi, of course, and Hitler would be revealed to have extraterrestrial blood. All that being said, the film, in its actual form, does have some visually impressive scenes, and the narrative is entertainingly tense.

Rating: 50 (down from 65)

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)

 Second viewing, and probably first one with original audio; previously viewed between 1983 and 1986.

After a senator's death, a naïve young man is appointed as a substitute. Unbeknownst to him, there is a corruption scheme in the works, involving a wealthy businessman and an experienced senator from his state.

Although  ultimately just a sort of pamphlet for the ideals of Americanism, this film is sufficiently eventful and tense to be consistently entertaining. Of course, being what it is, it never asks the obvious question: how is a system which depends on exceptional men and exceptional circumstances supposed to thrive in the long run? It's not, of course, but the U.S.A. has thrived and thrives still, which must mean one of two things: corruption isn't such a deadly disease, or there's more to the American system than is shown in the film.

Rating: 65 (unchanged)

The Mechanic (1972)

 Second viewing, and first one with original audio and correct aspect ratio. Previously viewed between 1983 and 1986.

A professional killer becomes a mark himself after he takes the young son of one of his victims as an apprentice and assistant.

It's fascinating to read the criticism this film has been subjected to by the original writer and by the critics at the time of its release. According to its Wikipedia page, the original screenplay was a homosexual drama. I can only surmise that such a film would have been interesting, but honestly what a relief that the producers decided to change it, because the film as it was made is very good. Also according to Wikipedia, critics have repeated some of the criticism made by the original writer while adding other equally meritless objections. Apparently the fact that this is a thriller bothered them. Of course homosexuality is still present in the movie, even if only in a latent form, because of the situations the characters find themselves in and also for having a very masculine-looking older actor paired with a very feminine-looking younger one. Anyway, the movie is very entertaining, and a special mention should go to the excellent musical score.

Rating: 74 (unchanged)

The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

 Second viewing, and first with original audio; previously viewed on or a little after March 28, 1984.

Three men returning from service in World War II and their troubles adapting to civilian life. Homer lost both hands and is afraid to propose to his girlfriend; Al works in a bank; Fred has no particular skills and can only get a lowly job; Peggy, Al's daughter, falls in love with Fred, who is already married.

This is a highly regarded movie, but some elements of its narrative are not very believable. Fred does not come across as an unemployable guy, and Al's alcoholism seems an artifical contrivance with no dramatic purpose. Peggy is not a very convincing character either. Formally, this is an absolute masterpiece. The script may have the flaws I pointed out but formally it is a very interesting proposition. And I suppose there are few films as well filmed. The Mr. Mollett sequence is doubtlessly the most interesting in the entire movie; he is the only character who tells the historical truth about the U.S. involvement in World War II and is severely punished for it, in a spectacularly realistic scene where a glass case is smashed. All in all, this film is a fun watch, a drama with a very well-concealed self-parodic twist.

Rating: 66 (unchanged)

The Ladykillers (1955)

Second viewing, and first one with original audio; previously viewed between the late seventies (I think) and 1986.

A gang planning to rob an armored vehicle takes a room at an elderly lady's house, pretending to be musicians.

This is a very clever idea made into a slightly uneven screenplay. The sequence with the apple cart is probably the best one. The funny bits outnumber the less inspired ones, and overall the film could be considered as great entertainment.

Rating: 72 (down from 79)

The Wizard of Oz (1939)

Second viewing (first one with original audio); previously viewed on or a little after December 29, 1984.

During a tornado, a farm girl appears to be transported to a magic world where she meets some strange characters and is faced with the problem of how to return home.

Musical fantasy which has a poor underlying text but makes up for it with lush visuals, nice musical numbers, and overall formal sophistication. It gets somewhat excruciating towards the end though, mainly thanks to the annoying whining of the protagonist.

Rating: 53 (up from 50)

To Have and Have Not (1944)

 Second viewing (first with original audio); previously viewed on July 3, 1988.

On an island in the Caribbean, a boat pilot who takes tourists on fishing trips gets involved with anti-Nazi rebels.

I'll admit that this was more entertaining on second viewing than it had been on first. I'll also admit it's somewhat absurd that Martinicans should give a damn about the politics of the European rulers of their Central American island; that it is ruled by the French to this very day is a somewhat dismal fact, I think. To make matters worse, this film has the most caricatural Nazi villain of all times; sometimes it seems that Hollywood doesn't really think what the Nazis did was bad enough; they have to make people believe that aside from their actions and ideology, every Nazi or Nazi-supporting functionary had to be a sadistic brute. Putting politics aside, one can quite enjoy the film, and I don't remember being bored at any moment while watching it. Of course, there is no denying that the characters are just a collection of clichés, but the sheer dynamism of the movie and the cleverness of the dialogue makes one more tolerant of its flaws. Incidentally, I was completely shocked when I read the synopsis of the source novel and compared it to the movie. Apparently, they have turned one of the bleakest and most downbeat plots ever written into a tense yet fairly lightweight romantic comedy. The gruesomest it gets is the reference to an off-screen torture session consisting of... enforcing alcohol abstinence!

Rating: 56 (up from 50)

The War Lord (1965)

Second viewing; first viewing with original audio and in widescreen; previously viewed on February 24, 1994.

It's the 11th century. A Norman knight is given a village to rule. He takes a local woman for a wife who was engaged to a local man, who then goes for help to the Frisians, who have long had designs on the village, and whose Prince's son is being held captive in the Norman castle.

Although possibly not a great film, there are several awesome things in this historical (or should we say half-historical, half-mythical?) drama. The pagan props (masks, sculptures, etc.) are really cool. The performances are uniformly good. The battle and siege sequences are very well made. The drama is thought-provoking (e.g., is using one's power to take a wife really rape when the woman does not object, and was actually escaping a marriage which was socially enforced?). It does not make for a consistently exciting viewing, though, perhaps because the situations are somewhat repetitive and the development is somewhat predictable.

Rating: 54 (up from 48)

How the West Was Won (1962)

Second viewing; first viewing in widescreen and with original audio. Previously viewed probably in or a little after September 06 (part 1) and 07 (part 2), 1984.

An American family decides to move westward in the 19th century and then its members go through the several stages of the development of the American West. A more complete summary may be read here.

The episodic narrative tries to present a summarized answer to the film's title. It strives for a balance between realism and melodrama, and avoids the invented elements which became the staple of the Western genre. There is a nice connection between the episodes. There are at least two very exciting sequences: the confrontation with the river pirates near the beginning and the train robbery near the end.

Rating:  60 (up from 54)

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

 Second viewing; my previous viewing was in or after September 15 (part 1) and 16 (part 2), 1983, of  a broadcast that was in pan-and-scan and dubbed in Portuguese, as I remember it.

Aliens visit Earth millions of years ago and influence the intellectual evolution of hominids through a rectangular object. In 2001, a similar object is discovered buried in the Moon. An expedition to Jupiter is undertaken in connection with the lunar monolith, the details of which are initially kept a secret from the crew. During the voyage, the onboard computer goes haywire.

I've commented on the plot premises of this movie in my commentary on the novel. It's in Portuguese, but, shortly put, those premises are bunkum. Extraterrestrial visits, neurotic computers, wormhole traveling, resurrections. Pfft! That being said, it takes very little effort to put those problems aside or assume they are simply a means to telling a story that may be enjoyable. Of course, the technological depictions in the movie are quite impressive, though overly optimistic, considering the technological state we are at. As for the "meaning" of the movie: I see it as a sort of thematic sibling, or perhaps sequel, to Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959). The premise of both films is how extraterrestrial entities attempt to dominate the world, mainly out of a benign intention of saving humanity from itself, and employ the resurrected dead as their instrument. In 2001, which we might dub Plan 10, the resurrection of one single human is deemed to be sufficient, and the means are rather more convoluted than in Plan 9.

Some people might be interested in a different view by the very erudite Christopher Mulrooney (1956-2015).

Rating: 52 (up from 44)

North by Northwest (1959)

 Second viewing (probably, first one with original audio and widescreen); estimated date of previous viewing: in or  a little after December 19, 1984.

An advertising executive gets unwittingly mixed up in an espionage affair.

The implausible plot in this is just an excuse for some imaginative and photogenic sequences. The most noteworthy aspect of the movie is the strategic insertion of takes which create a sensation of strangeness either through their unusual angles or through their depiction of unusual landscapes, or of humans in unusual configurations, or some combination of those factors. So, one might say that it is a formally impressive movie, but its impact derives not from its dynamism but from static elements in its composition. Although the plot details are, as I pointed out, unimportant, the script does add value to the film, mainly through its witty dialogue, which has an above average (for the time) amount of sexual innuendo. Being mostly a visually-oriented spectacle, I don't know whether it makes sense to ascribe it a theme, but, if thus pressured, I'd say its theme is the number two.

Christopher Mulrooney (1956-2015) has a different view about it:

"A great picture of conversion to the cause, (...)."

He's right, of course. It was purportedly intended as light entertainment, but when you look at it from Mulrooney's angle, the lightness is seen in a different light. It's the same lightness of enlisting propaganda. 'Join the army and know the world', that sort of thing. Cold war is still war, after all.

Rating:  73 (unchanged)

Straight Time (1978)

Second viewing; previously viewed between 1983 and 1986.

Max is released on parole, but resumes his life of crime.

It has at least one great sequence (hint: it features Max and his parole officer), some good ones and some not so good ones. So, while not consistently great, on the whole I think this is a gripping story about a flawed individual.

Rating: 72 (down from 81)