Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by sjb (A) on August 03, 2007 at 09:10:35

It's been a rewarding and fun 10 days or so of movie watching (these three plus three more).


The Third Man: This is a highly stylized (and in my opinion, ahead of it's time) 1949 British film about an American author who arrives in post WWII Vienna with the promise of a job from an old friend... only to discover that said friend was hit by a car and died just before he got there. He heads straight to the funeral and through a series of encounters with the British military and some characters (great characters, oozing charming malevolence) who were associates of his friend, grows suspicous about the death officialy being proclaimed accidental. The movie stars Joseph Cotten as the author, Trevor Howard as the British military Major dogging him, Alida Valli as the love interest of the dead friend and Orson Wells. They all give fantastic performances but I was especially taken by Wells.

At fist I thought he was truly impressive as an actor and then I realized his most impressive quality was his screen presence. He just takes over any scene he's in and his presence really boosted the movie from one I was enjoying to one that was utterly compelling. The scene with him and Howard on the ferris wheel is worth the price of admission all by itself. After him I'd have to give the nod to Alida Valli as giving the best perfromance and being the most intriguing (and for me, the most cared about) character.

This film is part murder mystery, part love story and part art film (the cinematography is amazing) and I can't believe I waited so long to see it.



Ordet: I didn't even know about this film until Tin recommended it after I commented on seeing Bergman's Winter Light. This 1955 Danish film directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer was a revelation. Adapted from a play by Kaj Munk (a Danish playwrite and Lutheran priest who was killed by the Nazi's in WWII).

The story is about faith (or the lack therefof) and miracles. The main characters are the Borgen family. A powerful farming family who's members (father, three sons, daughter in-law and 2 grandkids) are - save but one - Christian's and run the gamut from non believer to one who believes that he's Jesus Christ. The family is gently held together by the (pregnant) daughter in-law and she also comes across as having the most genuine and even keeled faith.

The family has a kind of inner faith (unstructered was how one reviewer put it and I think that's a good description) and we slowly discover that they are at odds with members of the community who practice a more fire and brimstone fundamentalist version of Chrsitianity.

When we discover that one of Borgen's sons wants to marry one of the fundamentalist's leaders' daughters a confrontation is set up and we discover that neither patriarch seems to have genuine faith but they both have plenty of bluster and ego and stubborness... with their "faith" as a smokescreen of sorts for their power struggle.

The films payoff, it's emotional climax and it's deep power come from a tragedy and a miracle that forces everyone involved to rethink/examine and come to terms with their faith (and/or lack thereof) and their behaviour.

The film is brilliantly acted and photographed. It's done very much like a play with most of the "action" taking place in the Borgen family's house.

It's full of memorable characters and, for me at least, was an extremely powerful film/treatsie on the nature of belief/faith.



Rescue Dawn: This latest (and most mainstream fo them all) offering from Werner Herzog is the story of Dieter Dengler (whom Herzog immortalized in his documentary Little Dieter Needs To Fly). It stars Christian Bale as Dengler and tells the storry of his being shot down over Laos, being imprisoned and eventually, improbably, escaping and being rescued early in the Vietnam War.

Bale gives a fantastic performance that captures the spriit and determination of a person who won't be broken and believes intensly in his own ability to escape and survive. Steve Zahn also gives an excellent performance. He plays an air force pilot (Dengler was a navy pilot) who's already been in the POW camp for 2.5 years and is on the verge of being broken but has his spirit and resolve bolstered by Dengler who has sort of adopted him and promised to be his "true friend."

Jeremy Davis falling ever more deeply into being a caricature (and basically reprising his mannerisms from Soderburgh's Solaris) was mostly annoying as an Air America pilot also being held in the camp. He was against the idea of escape... believing that their best chance of survival was to await their release and not make waves. That alone could make the character a bit annoying but it was the performance and mannerisms that turned me off. There were a couple of times when he'd go into a bit of a monologue and I wished I was watching a DVD and had a fast forward button.

All the other performances of notable characers were, in my opinion, excellent (including and especially most of the Laotian guards/soldiers).

I don't want to say too much about this since it's a new release but for me it was missing something. I'm glad I saw it and was basically pleased by it but it was missing some of the touches Herzog usually gives his films that, for me, make them stand out.

It was missing those bits if subtle social satire and the way Herzog can make us really have to look at the human-ness of a person even with all their flaws... especially with all their flaws and most especially with "flaws" that fall outside of societal norms. Herzog usually does this with a fair bit of humor and that humor itself is often subversive. Not so much of any of that in this film and, fair enough, it probably wasn't the point he was trying make (and/or some might argue that Dengler is that kind of person and the film does those things through him) but minus that I kept looking for the films heart and never REALLY found it.

Again, worth seeing... even just for Bale's performance, and for the unglamorized and honest feeling portrayal of life in the camp and trying to survive in the jungle... but I wouldn't rate it near the top of Herzogs output.

Don't piss on my shoe and tell me it's raining.