List only Complete from January ’98 onward
Title
Director
Country
Made
Seen
Viewing
Location/Comments
Nurse Betty
LaBute, Neil
USA
2000
4/17/01
1
(DVD)
The Idiots
von Trier, Lars
Denmark
1998
4/12/01
1
(Bam Rose)
Loss of Sexual Innocence, The
Figgis, Mike
UK
2000
4/10/01
1
(DVD) Nice that he’s experimental, but most of the experiments are failures. A bit dramatically lazy, quick and easy emotional appeals that are a bit cheap, but the underlying sincerity is nevertheless there and all to rare to see these days. Visually crisp and lush. A little bit of that British director didacticism feeling—like the lesson must be crystal clear if you’re tackling subjects like sex etc…Never quite lets itself go into the larger augmented world of charged reality—always circumscribed. Some great performances nonetheless. Julian Sands is admirable. An actor who plays a hacking—pained or disease-racked—working class father, was stupendous. Probably the best scene in the movie. The bit in the Tunisian desert was too easy, flashy and in it’s anti-exploitative message, just points up the cheesiness of the conception. The Adam and Eve story was interesting until you understood how literal it would be taken; then it was just plain embarrassingly didactic and ludicrous.
In the Realm of the Senses
Oshima
Japan
1976
3/18/01
2
(DVD w/Sugi) Remarkable commitment of the actors. It’s admittedly X-rated, but somehow not pornographic. It’s frankness and its devotion to the subject do no disservice to phenomenon of sexual obsession and love. In this regard, it’s on par with Last Tango—probably the truer and simpler of the two.
Gladiator
Scott, Ridley
US
2000
3/13/01
1
(DVD) Maybe a cut above the genre, but the genre is what? Spartacus, Ben-Hur. It damn well better be. In the tradition of those, some heavy-hitting actors in bloated roles. Kept looking at my watch. Not as good as Blade Runner I’m afraid. The digital effects looked jerky and all the razzle-dazzle cutting seemed often a poor excuse for really knowing what to shoot and when. Poor cinematic geography established.
Boiler Room
Younger, Ben
USA
2000
2/22/01
1
(DVD) Hip stylish, swift paced, nice control of the storytelling. Didn’t really know how to end. Ultimately a very good mimic job of Scorsese and others—picking up on that energy in the telling of a cautionary tale. Flutters a bit in the formula though—leaving some unintended rough patches and bald looking cliché scenes between characters to advance the plot. But nothing new or original.
Yojimbo
Kurosawa, Akira
Japan
2/18/01
1
(DVD w/Sugi and Sevi) Ugghh. Really surprisingly boring and not funny. Probably the worst Kurosawa I’ve seen.
Not for Ourselves Alone
Burns, Ken
USA
1998
2/16/01
1
(VHS w/Sugi) 2nd part – Evidently they lacked a good photo archive. Cut to the same photo of Anthony and Stanton probably 50 times. Good exposition of the history, nothing special. Could have easily been one episode, not two, especially since they chose not to really tell the nitty gritty of the movement, but merely canonize in the elegiac mood that Burns brings to everything he touches.
Simpatico
USA
2000
2/11/01
1
(DVD) Big miscalculation. The intimation that the backstory is so very dark and powerful of course leads to the revelation of something puny and phoney. Waste of time.
Erin Brockavich
Soderbergh, Steven
USA
2000
2/10/01
1
(DVD w/Sugi) Good strong, populist. Silkwood with more levity, and no real dramatic depths, or ones that were really earned let’s say.
Black Orpheus
Camus, Marcel
France
1957
2/3/01
2
(DVD w/Sugi)
Small Time Crooks
Allen, Woody
USA
2000
2/2/01
1
(DVD w/Sugi) Rehash. Surprised how poorly Woody used Tracy Ullman. Still, entertaining enough. For a first film it would be great—not for 30th or whatever it is by now. How hard would it be to be different and experimental, bold, in the way he was in the 70s and early 80s?
The Long Black Veil
Linanne, ?
Ireland
1995
1/30/01
1
(DVD)
Traffic
Soderbergh, Steven
USA
2000
1/30/01
1
(Pavillion) Ok for genre, some nice turns in plot, particularly revelation of Zeta-Jones’ character, which she played well. Michael Douglas is unfortunate—brings so much bombast to his roles. The key culminating miscalculation was his press conference as Drug Czar in which he falters and leaves—we saw this coming light years before it happened—movie mired in a lot of these kind of clichés. The actor who played the Mexican protagonist (also was in Usual Suspects) really strong here, tender and brought out so much. Cynicism of the movie toward the treatment of the drugged out daughter—she was never more than a caricature. Though pulled on my heartstrings unduly because this is the first movie I’ve seen dealing with this since I’ve had a daughter of my own to worry about.
Chuck and Buck
Arteta, Miguel
USA
2000
1/29/01
1
(DVD w/Sugi) Smart little movie, constantly engaging. Daring treatment of a simple idea.
Time Code
Figgis, Mike
USA
2000
1/20/01
1
(DVD) HORRIBLE! Rather than showcase the possibilities of telling 4 interlocking simultaneous stories, it strains under the limitations and quickly turns phoney and boring. Really mediocre.
Not One Less
Yimou, Zhang
China
2000
1/13/01
1
(DVD w/Sugi) Long and tedious, but in the end, a huge payoff dramatically that does manage to bring it all miraculously together. Yimou’s sense of story is impeccable and powerful.
Black Robe
Beresford, Bruce
US
1982?
1/7/01
2
(DVD w/Sugi) Boy I remembered this as actually accurate and riveting. It’s much more hokey to me now. It has a few trappings of authenticity, but is basically Hollywood level storytelling and dumbed down mysticism.
Decalogue 10
Kieslowsky, Krystof
Poland
1988
1/2/01
1
(DVD) As always, tremendous performances. Made me realize real actors are probably more a rarity here just because of the ridiculous star system, which makes real actors like DeNiro say stand out as geniuses; whereas elsewhere, unlauded, the knack for this is probably more prevalent as real actors exercise their real talents just as naturally as breathing and without the same degree of conflicting forces in their ambition. Maybe I’m just giving a place like Poland the benefit of the doubt, but it’s just overwhelming how just about every role throughout the entire Decalogue is so perfectly cast. This one about the stamp collection was more suspenseful than most, and really seemed to take on the life of some dispirited people. The beauty of the film and a great and powerful irony is that these brothers end with something valuable, some meaning bestowed on them as a kind of grace after having gone through their gambit with greed. A sort of interesting narrative trick is played on the audience toward the end too, leading us to think one brother was guilty of the theft while the other was in surgery donating a kidney. Very interesting divulgence of the truth through each of their suspicions and coming upon this rare drop of love that resolves through it all, which they haven’t relinquished, yet had hardly shown or believed in themselves to this final moment. A very real and convincing finish to the Decalogue. I marveled at how quickly the story was told, how such layers were created and developed inside of 55 or so minutes—really remarkable and an inspiration.
Happy Together
Wei, Wong Kar
China/Argentina
1997
1/1/01
1
(DVD with Sugi and Sevi for last half) Admired it for going its own brash way visually and narratively, reminded me of the power of the impulsive and the hunger for capturing absolutely everything in some way. Life was everywhere, uncollected, smacking you this way and that. Yet ultimately thin experience.
Quills
Kaufman, Phillip
US
2000
12/4/00
1
(Angelika w/Sugi and Sevi) Sevi’s first movie in a theatre. I saw it because Doug Wright (Yale) wrote the play and screenplay, lives in the Slope. Wasn’t worth it. Formulaic miscalculation—lots of noise and fuss, no spark whatsoever.
Decalogue 8
Kieslowsky, Krystof
Poland
1988
11/26/00
1
(DVD) A little plodding and obvious in the story, but still won me over for its unashamed incisiveness and the bare power of the point it’s making by the end. And the performances were again flawless, which made all the difference. The part of the teacher with the guilty past was played so gently with such compassion. Even the part of the tailor at the end of the film was absolutely true, and strong and essential counterpoint for the film to work. “Thou shalt not bear false witness” is ostensibly the commandment in question, although it’s really about someone hiding behind that commandment in violation of the protecting the life of another. The moment where the teacher breaks down with the American woman, saying that there is no excuse for not protecting the life of a child, was the necessary moment of reconciliation—it was what was needed between them, as between a mother and a daughter, and was the most powerful moment in the film.
Napoleon
David Grubin
US
2000
11/20/00
1
(VHS – recorded off PBS) 4 part documentary. Mildly interesting, but not cinematically innovative or narratively compelling. Flowed in the well known staid narrative rut and took no chances. Narrated soporifically by David McCullough.
Decalogue 3
Kieslowsky, Krystof
Poland
1988
10/22/00
2
(DVD) Again, in the telling, so masterful and what I really cleave to in this filmmaker. He starts out with a blank slate and very deliberately sets about telling the story, obedient and fresh to the rule of maintaining the utter ignorance of someone viewing it for the first time. When you’re open to the real possibility of creating absolutely any universe this way, it’s like pure oxygen to the flame of invention. Kieslowsky understands this, and his storytelling is consequently endlessly fascinating. You watch intently, because everything you are shown matters. It builds and connects and doubles back, and before you know it you are in the throes of the compelling heart of the matter. Here we meet the man and woman, adulterous couple and follow them through this dark odyssey of expiation. So much gets conveyed without having to be said just through their circumstance and actions in this dark cold night. The near suicidal drive, the near assignation, the hints dropped little by little about very precise events in their past, and the final revelation. And like Renoir Kieslowsky is unsparing of empathy for ALL characters. I could watch this film over and over again it resonates so much for me and my experience of so many similar dark cold nights of the last fifteen years. Again Altman’s dictum comes to mind, 90% of directing is casting. These actors knew from the sure hand of the script and director, absolutely who they were and what was driving them through this night. The Commandment? I guess the most obvious, Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Decalogue 2
Kieslowsky, Krystof
Poland
1988
10/21/00
1
(DVD) Not so interesting. Reminded me more of the films of his I like less, Red, Blue and Double Life of Veronique. To be fair, though, the DVD was damaged and 7 minutes, from the time the wife leaves the hospital after visiting her lover? to the point where she’s returning home and meets his mountaineering friend, this was all inaccessible, so I can only guess at what’s missing. Still I found what I take to be the story somewhat simplistic and maudlin without being captivating nonetheless. In muc of the Decalogue and others I’m continually amazed at how he brings life to something simple and after all pretty straightforward. He reinvestigates simple matters that a more mainstream cynicism would cause most of us to forego for fear of boring or bogging down in melodrama. Kieslowsky has no such fears and consequently most of the time avoids melodrama entirely. But not here in my opinion. I have a hard time figuring out which commandment this pertains to.
Winslow Boy, The
Mamet, David
US
1997?
10/20/00
2
(DVD w/ Sugi) Smitten as usual by Mamet’s dramatic impeccability. Going to him is like getting a luscious fix. The solidness of the theme of the family’s survival and the irony of the value-neutrality of what it’s protecting, a boy cast clearly to leave no doubt in our minds as to his guilt. Yet for all this, and the dazzlingly precise performance of Jeremy North(sp?) and Nigel Hawthorne’s exalted portrayal of a sort of retiring Lear, the movie seems to have a pacing problem. It’s a good example of what’s lost when you dispense with the dramatic unity of time. There are of necessity several huge leaps in time to the significant dramatic junctures of the story, and along the way the signposts of exposition—printing presses, emblems of the case seen in public—seem broadcast in a way that may be clever and knowing but ultimately diffuses the tension for me. Don’t know if there’s a way out of it in this story though. Rebecca Pidgeon(sp?) bothers me slightly as she did on the first viewing as too studied and trying to prove she’s good and witty—kind of works for the character, but she ultimately irks. Her passed-over brother is amazingly well played, nice combination of traits in one with enough of a sense of irony to survive the injustic he’s been dealt but also conveying how the family’s lack of expectations in him have resulted in his compromised opinion of himself—a sanguine realist. The would-be suitor of Rebecca Pidgeon, this pumped up compact hale fellow well met is played remarkably well, perhaps one of the most astonishing performances, by _____? Within a minute of his screen presence, and a minute and a half of his been introduced by Rebecca Pidgeon you have him in all of his pathos and comic malapropistic splendour. Really wonderful actor.
Decalogue : 1
Kieslowski, Krystof
Poland
1988
10/9/00
1
(DVD) Simple, direct, affectless. About the best film about loss I may have ever seen. About ¾ of the way through you piece together what the foreboding is about, the presence of the empathic angel, who I know reappears in all the rest. It’s at that point watching the consciousness of the father begins to unravel into pain. And what’s so painful is that you see and totally empathize with his rational worldview and the gusto with which he teaches it. There is nothing trite in his characterization. This makes the film, which rides on a very simple idea that in other hands might easily be telegraphed, here comes straight from lives on the screen. There is not a doubled image here ever between actor and role in any of the parts, but especially the father and aunt’s roles. The Commandment? I’m guessing “Thou shalt have no other Gods before me” as a comment on the father’s having replaced religious belief with his faith in science, which tragically fails him.
Wages of Fear, The
Clouzot
France
?
10/9/00
1
(DVDw/Sugi over 2 nights) Not at all what’d I’d expected after all these years of imagining this film. Kind of loopy and for the most part corny, just brazenly admirable in some of the logistics, the lengths to which they went to convey this nightmarish gamble. Slogging through the oil pit probably topped it for me. Still, all in all, a kind of uneven melodrama with some glaringly bad acting on the part of many, particularly the Americans and the barmaid, actress who also starred as the wife who’s frightened to deah in Diabolique. Yves Montand doesn’t really act much here, just saunter around in a rubbery way with alacrity like a star. And as with a Hollywood star he made up for a lack of coherent acting with a kind of charismatic draw—very watchable, and not much competition from the rest of the cast.
Nostalghia
Tarkovsky, Andrei
Russia
1983
9/16/00
1
(DVD w/Sugi over 2 nights) Feels edifying, and is beautiful continually, but fails to be relevant for me.
Ride with the Devil
Lee, Ang
US
1999
9/13/00
1
(DVD) Gentle but mediocre, screenplay never mustered any kind of authenticity, pretended to lyricism that it never achieved. Story limped along and actors longing to shine came off like kids desperate for attention. The rally before the ride on Lawrence Kansas was a good example of aiming high and imagining too slightly and miscalculatingly baldly. Generic, predictable, and too PC to ever strike an authentic note. No teeth or real character—imaginative failure much like Ice Storm was for me.
Last Tango in Paris
Bertolucci, Bernardo
France
1972
9/7/00
3
(DVD) Still mesmerized by this movie. I think I’ll always buy into a real depiction of sex as the preeminent event in life that brings it all together, and no other movie I can think of treats this so roundly and gravely and ironically all at once. Horrible cruelty and misanthropy has as free reign as love and lust. I remember being stunned by the scene of Brando by his dead wife, and was again. Elements like the crazed cackling concierge woman who won’t let go of Maria’s hand—unexpected weirdly true turns and embellishments of the human landscape of this movie—I’m full of admiration for. So much more real and true in its whimsy than the realities framed by most movies that get made today. And this time, the real surge of emotion accompanying the scene toward the end when Brando overtakes Schneider on the bridge and tells her his story at last—there’s such sympathy in this. The tango scene I think is incomparably great—liked it much better than ever before. Still think the Jean-Pierre Leaud plot is tired and not effective—but without this clownish counterpoint I think the good part of the movie would cave in under the weight of its own solipsism. Again, in this movie, got me thinking about what Red Desert had me thinking a few weeks ago, that the movie really rides very specifically on the actor—much as I would love to be able to create it in a script, I think the writing can never bring out the whole dimension brought to it by the alchemy of a character’s face and movement and voice. Assuming there is something really happening. The case could never be made as convincingly as with Brando.
Annie Hall
Allen, Woody
US
1976
9/5/00
5
(DVD) Forever won over by it. Seen for the first time as a married guy, made me realize how lucky I am I found the real thing. I remember watching Annie Hall as something of a kid and wondering about the life, that romantic finding of the soulmate. It must be years since I last saw it. Not at all sure how many times I actually have seen it, but now I see it as sort of nostalgic of my twenties, as well as nostalgic somehow of an America just more ingenuous seeming, less on the make—like Annie Hall herself. The movie really does find comedy in obvious pain. It’s very self-critical. For the vignette-like quality of the telling and the back and forth, you nonetheless do come away feeling validity to both Annie’s and Alvy’s outlooks—it judges both, but neither entirely. Makes me remember that Hart Crane line “There is the world dimensional, for those untwisted by the love of things irreconciliable.” Not unlike the chicken and eggs summation…In “Wild Man Blues” Woody talks about one day making a great film hopefully. Well here he certainly made it, and it wasn’t in the script, and it wasn’t in the casting, it was foremost in seizing the great crazy reality of love and attraction in the moment on screen with all the above in place and himself alive to the possibilities. I know they say this film was made in the editing, and I’m sure the editing really did save it, but I think it’s more a case of just finding the right assembly to something which was already whole to begin with.
All About My Mother
Almodovar, Pedro
Spain
1999
9/2/00
1
(DVD w/Sugi). Lots of genuine feeling in this and trying to touch all the emotional bases as well as tip an ironic hat when possible. Somehow I ultimately can’t go with it. It’s not so powerfully imagined that I feel that actors really have something to bite into—and consequently I feeling them wavering, wallowing a bit in the good intentions of this movie. Was very struck by the beauty of the colors in the movie—solid contrasts of color in many shots, some nice cinematic effects, lush and rich.
Pushing Tin
Newell, Mike
US
1999
8/29/00
1
(DVD) Pretty formulaic, though with surprisingly bold foray into the issue of infidelity, where it half clumsily tried to diffuse with comedy. The comedy was uneven, but the character Russell Bell played by Billy Bob was enigmatically satistfying. He and his wise young sultry wife emerged totally convincingly from an inferred backstory of alcoholism and rebirth. Didn’t recognize Kate Blanchette til halfway through. She’s one of the best, but here projected a little much, especially in the comedy. Something similar, and even more far out worked better for her in “The Talented Mr. Ripley”. Great American characterization though.
Red Desert
Antonioni, Michelangelo
Italy
?
8/27/00
1.5
(DVD with Sugi). The shots mesmerize, as does the authority of performance. My mind does wander after a while, though—always aware of the discipline required of me. Was tired and being semi-prone made me nod off several times. Still Monica Vitti as this reiterative characterization, almost allegorical in the end, fused with some deep greatly augmented psychological compelling state, undisclosed and by degrees manifest—this is the magnetic center and haunt of the thing. Richard Harris’ part could have been played by anyone.
Mumford
Kasdan, Lawrence
US
1999
8/23/00
1
(DVD) Admirable only for what it didn’t do, not for what it did, which wasn’t much. Too preciously tried to toe the hip line. Well meaning, but frail, and Mumford’s blankness didn’t work well. Must remember great comic performancy by the psychiatrist who he winds up winning over, actor David Paymer.
The Gold Rush
Chaplin, Charlie
US
?
8/20/00
2
(DVD with Sugi). Charmed with it, as was Sugi. Makes you think bold wonderful animated benevolent forgiving thoughts about us poor folk in this batty world.
Hurlyburly
Drazin, Tony
USA
1998
1/16/99
1
(Pavilion @ Prospect Park West & 14th St. Noon) Though the play may have worked to some degree, I think it’s largely pretending, and the approach to the film just compounds the pretending. The only cast member to make something of it is Sean Penn and Kevin Spacey. Chaz Palminteri destroys any potential in his role—makes the film false and focusless, whereas someone really good in those shoes may have made worlds of difference. The scene Meg Ryan has alone with Sean Penn is a case lesson in bad acting being embarrassingly upstaged by good acting—she’s definitely not the character of the anecdote that introduces her before she came on the scene—better to have found someone more like Chloe Webb. Spacey did a pretty solid job, though he rarely acts outside of this smug persona in any role, even down to the Mamet-inspired line delivery, choosing to pedantically enunciate certain words toward the end of sentences, giving everything the character of pronouncements—worked okay here, just no novelty. The filmmaking was respectable, if a bit showcasey in a shot-reverse shot through a coffee table scene, and liberal use of dumbo documentary cam at times. Casting of Ann Paqin was subpar—she’s too self-conscious to pull off the unreflective reflections of this child character—so the strived for counterpoint of her return at the end as some uncannily sage Ariel-like spirit doesn’t come off with the grace that’s needed there. Penn really acted up a storm, but he was in isolation doing so—so it ultimately didn’t engage—you needed the ensemble to really work to make his spinning real. Gary Shandling was actually pretty damn good in his role—especially in the aforementioned coffee table scene.
Dead Man
Jarmusch, Jim
US
1997
4/3/97
1
(VHS – with Steve’s friend Peter)
Richard III
McKellan, Ian?
UK
?
4/1/97
1
(VHS)
Liar Liar
Shadiak, Tom
US
1997
3/27/97
1
(23th St. bet 8/9 w/Leslie)
Sling Blade
Thornton, Billy Bob
US
1996
3/22/97
1
(Angelika w/Leslie)
The Godfather
Coppola, Francis
US
1971
3/21/97
12?
(Astor Plaza – 44th St./Bway – w/Todd and Rebecca)
When We Were Kings
?
US
1996
3/6/97
1
(Lincoln Square w/Renee)
Blood and Wine
Rafelson, Bob
US
1996
2/27/97
1
(83/Bway)
I Claudius
Herbert Wise
UK
?
2/19/97
1
(VHS) Viewed all 13 parts over the course of a week.
Jerry Maguire
Crowe, Cameron
US
1996
2/9/97
2
(Cobble Hill Cinema w/Ellen)
Star Wars
Lucas, George
US
1976
2/2/97
3?
(Lincoln Square – with Todd and Burk)
Fierce Creatures
Schepisi, Fred & ?
UK
?
1/25/97
1
(62nd and 1st Ave w/Ellen)
Welcome to the Dollhouse
Solondz, Todd
US
1996
1/24/97
2
(VHS w/Ellen)
Secrets & Lies
Leigh, Mike
UK
1996
1/21/97
2
(Plaza Theatre)
Breaking the Waves
Von Trier, Lars
Scotland
1996
1/20/97
1
(Angelika w/ Ellen)
Everyone Says I Love You
Allen, Woody
US
1996
1/18/97
1
(The Pavilion – w/ Ellen)
Darling
Schlesinger, John
UK
1965?
1/17/97
1
(TV – last half)
Crumb
Zwigoff, Terry
US
1996
1/12/97
2
(VHS – with Ellen)
Days of Wine and Roses
Edwards, Blake
US
?
1/11/97
1
(TV – saw all but first 10 minutes)
Evita
Parker, Alan
US
1996
1/10/97
1
(Lincoln Square – with Ellen)
Hamlet
Branagh, Kenneth
UK
1996
1/4/97
1
(The Paris @59th/5th ave – w/ Ellen)
To Kill A Mockingbird
?
US
?
1/3/97
1
(VHS w/ Ellen)
Jerry Maguire
Crowe, Cameron
US
1996
12/30/96
1
(Lincoln Square w/Jordan and Jennifer)
People vs. Larry Flynt, The
Forman, Milos
US
1996
12/28/96
1
(Lincoln Square w/Ellen)
The House of the Spirits
August, Bille
US?
?
12/17/96
1
(VHS) Hated it….
Shine
?
Australia
1996
12/1/96
1
(Sony Lincoln Square-with Jordan and Emily and their friend the Austrian mathematician)
Ridicule
?
France
1996
11/29/96
1
(Lincoln Plaza – with Jordan)
The Crucible
US
1996
11/28/96
1
(Sony Lincoln Squre – with Ellen)
Frankie Starlight
?
Ireland?
?
11/96
1
(VHS w/ Wendy)
The English Patient
?
US
1996
11/96
1
(Sony Lincoln Square-with Ellen)
Rosemary’s Baby
Polanski, Roman
US
1968
10/19/96
3
(VHS w/Ellen)
Secrets and Lies
Leigh, Mike
UK
1996
10/19/96
1
(Lincoln Plaza w/Ellen)
Calling up Ghosts
US
?
10/14/96
1
(Cinema Village w/Rae)
The Black Kite
US
?
10/14/96
1
(Cinema Village w/Rae)
Michael Collins
Jordan, Neil
UK
1996
10/12/96
1
(Lincoln Square w/ Ellen)
Extreme Measures
Apted, Michael
US
1996
10/9/96
1
(Plaza Twin, Park Slope)
Temptress Moon
Kaige, Chen?
China
1996
10/6/96
1
(Avery Fisher Hall – NYFF w/Wendy)
Surviving Picasso
Merchant, Ismail
US?
1996
9/23/96
1
(The Paris @59th/5th ave – w/ Todd)
Gates of Heaven
Morris, Errol
US
?
9/21/96
2
(VHS – w/Ellen)
First Wives Club, The
?
US
1996
9/20/96
1
(Lincoln Sq.@68th/Bway – w/Ellen)
Blue in the Face
Wang & Auster
US
1995
9/16/96
1
(VHS)
The Peony Pavilion
?
Taiwan
?
9/12/96
1
(Walter Reade)
L’America
?
Italy
?
9/10/96
1
(Plaza Twin @ Park Slope) The story unrolled in such a way that I was totally with it and not anticipating anything–even who the protagonist was going to be. Especially because he seemed such a heinous goon when he tried to push the old man’s face in the car seat he’d just peed on. Made me realize you begin a film with nothing, and everything must be earned. Little by little the story came to resemble something like Umberto D or The Bicycle Thief in feeling, maybe a little too much after a while. Though it was a strange way to get there, via something that I expected to be more along the lines of Costa-Gavras. The guy dying beside the old man in the wagon, and his inability to figure it out stretched it a little for me Both the men’s performances were unimpeachably great. In general, I liked this film alot, for its simplicity, and its humor always richly grounded. So many honestly ravaged faces in this film. A case where a film couldn’t help but be part-documentary.
Full Metal Jacket
Kubrick, Stanley
US
1987
9/7/96
4
(VHS) Not much to add on this viewing. Still awes with its authority and precision, and beauty of conception, but still lets me down with its marionette-like stilted performances that never quite make to where they’re maybe aiming for. Enough time passes though, and I thirst for this command that Kubrick has that’s really rock-solid and great to revisit.
Island of Dr. Moreau, The
Frankenheimer, John
US
1996
9/2/96
1
(Plaza Twin @ Park Slope) Interesting to watch Brando play up this bucktoothed wifty Englishman; Iona Skye’s performance was thin and bathetic; David Thewlis ugly, awkward and abused in this role. Strange misplaced and diarrhetic scenes of his widemouthed screaming incredulity, which could easily be taken for his reaction to being stranded in this film. Reminded me that if I were an actor I’d choose a particular dissing signature gesture, like wiping my nose in a certain way, and do it consistently throughout every take of many shots, to ensure that it would survive the cut–and at some future date disclose this to my audience, so they could revisit my work and at least appreciate that I had some sense of protest at being cast in a lemon. I’m sure Thewlis will rebound with the right material. The bulk of this movie were limp attempts to terrify and show us primordial perversion and confusion in the guise of these plasticky looking shaggy animal/humans who were hyperactive in their ambivalence about whether they should rage or cower. Whole scenes with great pomposity leading nowhere. For this reason the one most at home in the movie was Val Kilmer, who never before played a role so asphyxiatingly self-important while not mussing his self-styled generic non-presence.
F for Fake
Welles, Orson
US
?
8/20/96
1
(VHS) I don’t know how this one eluded me for so long, but I’m glad it did, because it was a real treat. The warmth and wit of Welles spilled all over me–it was great. It was an incarnation I’d never seen of his–the mockumentarian rocking to a 60s/70s hip pace and disregard for the image quality. What tireless way to get into the meat of the subject–so many shots, so much business. And what a compelling subject this guy Elmyr was–you couldn’t take your eyes off this crafty little pompous man. By contrast his biographer–and disciple in chicanery?- looked like Bruce Wayne. The Howard Hughes stuff was the least interesting to me. The clever Picasso ruse at the end with Oja Kadar was really, I mean really, gratifying. Man, Welles covered it all. He sure did live.
Wife, The
Noonan, Tom
US
1996
8/19/96
1
(The Screening Room @ Varick & Canal)Very refreshing and beautiful to watch. Great to see somebody opening himself to the possibilities of filmmaking again. Never knew what was going to happen. Some great psychotic moments. Noonan’s character was this wonderful powertripping solipsist guru, possessed underneath it all by the desire to get his friend’s wife to sleep with him. Kind of cool. Did remind one of the Cassavetes spirit. Great remote winter feeling. Unexplored terrain and an inspiration.
Hard Labour
Leigh, Mike
UK
?
4/14/95
1
(VHS) Hard core naturalism. Shoe repair scene. Morning as housekeeper scene. Steadman low-key.
New Age, The
Tolkin, Michael
US
1994
4/13/95
1
(VHS) Snappy, held promise for a long time, but never really gave it. The spiritual gurus presences were best part. I love Judy Davis, in spite of the boringness of the movie.
Viva Zapata!
Kazan, Elia
US
?
4/10/95
1
(VHS) Glum, boring, melodramatic – Brando no colors, although fealty is there to history, sentimentalized, turgid, fake.
Last Tango in Paris
Bertolucci, Bernardo
France
1972
4/9/95
2
(VHS) Scene between Brando and the lover of his dead wife, scene at coffin, scene with her mother in which he puts out lights, terrifies neighbors.
One-Eyed Jacks
Brando, Marlon
US
?
4/8/95
1
(VHS) Brando is rich, rich story, flags during recovery period on Malibu beach. Great story though. Ending necessarily not exuberant. Nice bit with Luisa, and his redemption through her, complication of using her, regretting it.
Once Were Warriors
?
New Zealand
1994
3/24/95
1
(Angelika @ Houston) Sucked. Punchy, martial arts style directing. Sappy and dilute social message banged over your head. Strident stupid performances. The lead man got from Brando annoying habit of tipping up head to acknow. people in crowd.
Outbreak
Peterson, Wolfgang
US
1994
3/10/95
1
(Some Cineplex) awful, formulaic trash. Old take on a new subject
Snapper, The
Frears, Stephen
Ireland
?
3/10/95
1
(VHS) Loved it. Loved the way the scenes played out. The daughter was great, though the father could have easily carried the whole movie himself. Loved the revelation of the guilty party. Funny, compassionate to all characters.
Wag the Dog
Levinson, Barry
1/