I'm not a big Oscar buff nor do I really care a great deal who wins (OK, somewhat - I think I threw a shoe when I heard "Crash" won Best Picture), but I always enjoy watching the telecast. Yes, that 4 hour onslaught of self-congratulations? I enjoy the hell out of it. Mostly because we watch it with friends and just end up talking about movies. I also love those clip portions of the show that so many people want to toss away in order to shorten things - it just always re-establishes my love of film (that Film Noir one from a few years ago was great if I recall).
Anyhoo, the nominations were announced today for this year's awards. There's already been some hub-bub regarding the run up to the nominations in several categories - namely Best Documentary and Best Foreign Language Film - as some of the obvious choices were left out and didn't even make the cut before the final nominations (e.g. In The Shadow Of The Moon, "4 Months 3 Weeks And 2 Days", etc.). But it shouldn't really be overly surprising given the convoluted process for nominations, typically conservative tastes (of older Academy members) and personal agendas that are all part of the yearly tradition of the Oscars.
My favourite nomination of the bunch is actually for one of the Short Animated films - Madame Tutli-Putli. I've actually seen it twice now and it's an amazing creation. I previously wrote about it:
It's "Nightmare Before Christmas" meets early Tool videos - and the most amazing eyes you'll ever see. After the screening, one of the filmmakers spent a good 3-4 minutes trying to explain how they created the effect. He lost me, but it didn't matter...There were times during the film that I actually wondered if maybe the woman was an actual woman and not some stop motion creation. Simply because the eyes looked so incredible...
The film itself is a dark tale of a train ride and some unexpected visitors. It's creepy, funny and ends with a beautiful if slightly puzzling image. With this award, the film becomes eligible for next year's Oscars.
That comparison in the first line doesn't really do it justice...It's a great deal more. And it's also from the NFB which would allow us Canadians to crow "Our Film Board won another Oscar - Ha!". We're petty like that...
Other random thoughts about the nominations:
The folks at Edward Copeland On Film did an awesome job predicting the eventual nominees (on the major awards anyway). I don't know if they were privy to the short lists for all the categories, but they had a really high hit ratio.
Though I haven't yet seen Sarah Polley's "Away From Her", I was kinda hoping that Gordon Pinsent would sneak in a nomination for Best Actor. He's been a staple on Canadian TV and film for decades and just so damn good in anything he touches.
Yet again we see a nominee for Best Film not getting a Best Director nod. I suppose they don't have to line up, but Joe Wright must be wondering why the heck the Academy loves his film, but not his directing of said film...
Up for Best Documentary - 4 war-themed films and Michael Moore (that's not to give short shrift to any of the nominees).
Without having seen any of the Documentary Shorts nominees, I'd wager a large sum that the winner will be "Sari's Mother" - the story of a woman in Iraq struggling to get Health Care for her AIDS stricken son, but having to deal with the mess left from the occupation. That's not to say it isn't deserving, but it certainly has a subject matter that one would expect to appeal to voters (ie. an important current topic with tragic overtones).
Another Documentary Short sounds terrific. The synopsis for "Salim Baba" from the Oscar site: "Using a hand-cranked 1897 projector, Salim Muhammad offers his neighbors in the slums of Kolkata, India, a chance to view scraps of films. Although collectors have sought to buy his rare projector, Salim refuses to part with it, as his street shows are often the only films the local residents can afford to see."
The Russian nominee for Best Foreign Language Film ("12") is somewhat of a remake of "Twelve Angry Men", so I have a soft spot for it. I've heard that "Mongol" (from Kazakhstan) is terrific.
"Falling Slowly", the nominated song from the film "Once", absolutely must win. Not just because it is a great song (and it is), but because of how integral it was to the film.
Painful truths: 1) Oscar Nominated - "Norbit", 2) "Transformers" - multiple Oscar nominee. Ouch.
This is a rambling random set of thoughts caused by working my way through Val Lewton's 9 horror films from the 1940's. All blame can be assigned to Michael at The Evening Class for his Val Lewton Blog-a-thon.
I was a newcomer to Val Lewton when the box set of nine of his productions was released a few years ago. "Cat People" grabbed me immediately (what a beautiful looking film that is), but the others registered less so...Upon revisiting them all for this blog-a-thon, something clicked though - the 'horror' of each film made itself more evident both via story and atmosphere. Lewton wasn't out to scare you immediately for the most part - he wanted to leave lingering impressions on you and have you remain frightened of the situations his characters were in long after the film ran out.
Consider some of the storylines and situations in which his characters find themselves:
Stuck on an at sea ship with an insane murderous captain - and you know you're next on his list ("Ghost Ship").
You're own actions are used against you to unfairly send you away to the insane asylum - a dark poorly run asylum ("Bedlam").
A plague like disease is slowly killing off the people on a quarantined island ("Isle Of The Dead").
Your life's work and your belief in the greater good it is serving costs others their lives ("The Body Snatcher").
Creepy zombies! ("I Walked With A Zombie").
And there are plenty of other moments. Smaller moments within the films that add to the unease of the viewer:
At the beginning of "I Walked With A Zombie" during her first boat ride to the island, caregiver Betsy meets Paul Holland as she marvels at the beautiful surroundings. In what can only be described as a pretty damn pessimistic view of things, Holland says:
"Those flying fish, they're not leaping for joy, they're jumping in terror. Bigger fish want to eat them. That luminous water, it takes its gleam from millions of tiny dead bodies. The glitter of putrescence. There is no beauty here, only death and decay."
While watching that I couldn't help thinking of Werner Herzog's view of nature as he expresses it in this clip from the great documentary "Burden Of Dreams" ("the birds...they just screech in pain"):
The change of perspective for Nell Bowen in "Bedlam" happens during a performance she has set up - the mental patients of Bedlam are brought in to entertain her guests, but also as a away to prove to her new Quaker acquaintance that she is as heartless as she says she is. But when the show starts, she joins the viewer in being horrified at the concept of rich people sitting back and laughing at asylum patients trying to recite prose and act and sing. Especially when one of the patients falls dead on stage and there is barely a pause or concern about it.
If we haven't already been convinced of how evil John Gray is in "The Body Snatcher", he confirms it when he - without much thought - kills the cute little dog in the graveyard. If there's anything we've learned from Hollywood movies, it's that the worst thing you can do is harm a dog...
Lewton's films (his horror films anyway - I've not seen anything else he produced) typically have dramatic use of lighting and shadows to further reinforce moments of unease or just an overall general sense of dread. Being a fan of the more atmospheric modern horror films, I have to imagine that a great many of these owe a debt to Lewton. If not as straight line inspiration, then via others who took notice of how shadows, angles, stark contrasts and subtle sound effects can all be very useful in setting a mood.
I can't help myself from throwing a few screenshot examples in here:
"I Walked With A Zombie" has plenty. The venetian blinds casting shadows across rooms...
the zombified wife...
this guy...
Those scenes in the fields (as Betsy leads zombie woman through them) reminded me a great deal of the classic 50s Japanese horror film "Onibaba", though I have no idea if there was any direct influence there.
"Isle Of The Dead" contains one of my favourite sequences in all of Lewton's films. Thea is wandering about the island and suddenly there is little to no sound - just the moaning of the wind and some birds. As she walks out of one part of the woods we suddenly see the waving dress of the Vorvolaka...
and then Thea find her way here...
and we see her point of view...
and she comes in closer as she thinks she sees something...
and though the screencap barely registers it, in the film we see a brief subtle ghostly appearance...
which Thea obviously sees too...
It's a terrific buildup heightened by its paucity of sound (once the dress shows up, the birds are replaced by strange female moaning sounds).
"Bedlam" depicts the "loonie bin" to be a dark and pretty terrifying place:
And of course, the pool scene from "Cat People"...
And now the rambling portion of the post...Here just a few random thoughts that occurred to me:
Arnold Bocklin's painting "Island Of The Dead" shows up not only in the opening credits of "Isle Of The Dead" (the first screencap of this post), but also in "I Walked With A Zombie" which was made a few years earlier:
Boris Karloff's hairstyle in "Isle Of The Dead" is almost as frightening as anything else in the film...
Was that Lawrence Tierney in "Ghost Ship"? Hey, it was!
"The Seventh Victim" had a shower scene that preceded "Psycho" by 17 years.
Lewton's films still managed a couple of jump scares:
1) There was that damn horse showing up and whineying in "The Body Snatcher" just a blip before I expected something.
2) During that outdoor sequence in Isle Of The Dead, there's a sudden loud caw from a bird. It's kinda cheap, but it worked given the hushed atmosphere that led to it.
3) In "Bedlam" while the Quaker is walking down the darkened hallway, an arm flies out to grab him.
Thanks for making me revisit these Michael! It was like a day at the beach...
I guess my spotlight has been on Takeshi Kitano of late...First an invite for dinner and now this.
The dinner invite, though, was pretty much spurred on by having just reviewed his 2005 film Takeshis' (the apostrophe at the end is intentional - indicating something that belongs to more than one Takeshi).
After so many years in the entertainment field and having done movies (starring, directing, writing), TV, books, painting and just about everything else, Takeshi Kitano seems to now be deconstructing his own artistic process. This film is the first in what is apparently a trilogy of films that will break apart Kitano's approach and ideas of film (the second was 2007's "Glory To The Filmmaker" which was screened at this year's Toronto International Film Festival). Whether this is an experimental approach to working in new ideas, therapy or simply boredom on his part, I couldn't say. It does, however, still contain the creative shots of previous films, the signature Kitano humour and bits of non sequitur entertainment.
The film kind of folds upon itself in a way similar to Spike Jonze's "Adaptation". It begins with famous actor Beat Takeshi wrapping up yet another yakuza gangster film role and introduces us to the many people around him (helpers, gambling associates, sycophants, annoyances, etc.). One of the people we meet is a struggling actor named Kitano - who just happens to look exactly like Beat Takeshi. After their meeting and an autograph, Beat goes off into makeup and as he falls asleep during the application of fake tattoos on his back, he wonders what life is like for his doppelganger. Within his "dream", we see this imaginary life of Kitano populated with Beat's own acquaintances in various new roles - sometimes popping up several times. To remove us even further from reality, within Beat's dream the struggling actor Kitano has his own dreams. Like the following sequence:
This particular passage starts out with Kitano as a cab driver picking up a couple of sets of people he has already come across (two large sumo wrestlers as well as a young boy dancer and his agent). After navigating a series of bodies on the ground, the car plunges into darkness with the passengers all screaming and crash lands into...Kitano's apartment - at which point he wakes up. However, we're already inside the larger dream of the actor Beat Takeshi and those passengers have all been other people he has met so far that day (but perhaps not exactly in those guises). All these sequences seem to bring out not only the real life Kitano's creative processes (merging flashes of ideas he gets as he meets people in an awake state with the free form stories he has while dreaming), but also allow him to riff on what are likely scenarios he's been through in his real life role as an entertainment personality. Meanwhile we also get a myriad of references to previous Kitano films as well as a terrific dance sequence with three tap dancers and a huge caterpillar.
I'm not sure if Kitano initially had the concept first and then filled it to the brim with germs of other ideas or if he simply had lots of spare thoughts floating around and came up with the device of this film into which to spill them. He has said that he never wants to make another yakuza film. And though this certainly isn't one, he not only includes characters that are yakuzas within his dreams, but also clips from a yakuza movie within the movie in which the film's Beat Takeshi stars. And he definitely hasn't quite got all the gun play out of his system yet...
Kitano may be too self-involved for some with this new phase, but if an artist is going to do some navel gazing and reflection on how his creativity should express itself then this would be the way to do it - through an original, fun and entertaining ride.
1. Pick a single person past or present who works in the film industry you would like to have dinner with. And tell us why you chose this person.
2. Set the table for your dinner. What would you eat? Would it be in a home or at a restaurant? And what would you wear? Feel free to elaborate on the details.
3. List five thoughtful questions you would ask this person during dinner.
4. When all is said and done, select six bloggers to pass this Meme along to.
5. Link back to Lazy Eye Theatre, so people know the mastermind behind this Meme.
I'm not overly good at narrowing my choices sometimes, so I'm going to choose four separate guests (I expect I could actually get answers to many of my questions with a bit of googling or further reading of books about them, but I would still want to ask person to person):
Martin Scorsese
1. It's not that I necessarily think Scorsese is the best director ever (though I love his work), but I could listen to him discuss film all day long. His passion comes through loud and clear, he articulates film conventions and techniques better than just about anyone I've seen (track down his "A Personal Journey With Martin Scorsese Through American Movies" or "My Voyage To Italy") and he has great and interesting choices for favourites.
2. I'd dole out some meat curry my wife taught me how to make years ago (though I haven't made it in quite some time) with rice and dal (lentils). It's nothing fancy, but the cumin and coriander spices are my faves and I think Marty (hey, if I'm having him over for dinner, I think I can call him Marty) would appreciate it. Serve with a nice green garden salad with juicy red tomatoes for colour (no tomatoes for me though). Liberal quantities of vino. New York style cheesecake for dessert.
3. Questions? Man, I'd probably just open the floor and ask "So, what do you like about film?" and then sit back for 3-4 hours...But if I have to ask 5 specific ones:
How much room do you allow for on-set improvisation? To ask that another way, how much of the film is already set in your mind before you start the actual filming?
As great as your Personal Journey documentary is, you stop when you get to your contemporaries. Having previously broken down portions of the 30s, 40s and 50s into sections like "The Director as Smuggler" and "The Director as Iconoclast", how would you break down the 70s, 80s and 90s?
Which of your contemporaries influenced you most? Which of the current crop of young directors influence you the most?
Having explored American and Italian cinema in personal documentaries, is there a third country that you would like to examine in depth?
Could you help De Niro find a good script again?
John Cusack
1. One of my favourite actors - I like a bunch of his films, I like his acting style and he just seems like a guy you could hang with.
2. Got to be a BBQ. Probably some steaks with corn and sweet potatoes (with cinnamon and nutmeg) on the grill as well. Beers while we're cooking. Beers with dinner. Beers with dessert. The beer would be either Wellington County Ale or Big Rock Traditional Ale. Dessert - a good moist chocolate cake. Cognac after we're done.
3. The questions:
How much influence did you have on the music selection in "High Fidelity" and was Nick Hornby involved? (I know that's probably really easily answered, but I'd want to get Cusack talking about music...)
You have several producing and writing credits, but no directing ones. Are you interested in eventually directing your own film?
Who were your biggest acting influences? Any filmmakers that had a strong influence on your view of film?
How much of your early career direction was of your own choosing and how much did your father and siblings help in directing your choices? Oh, and say 'Hi' to Joan - I think she's terrific.
What are the future plans for the New Crime Productions team (he and his friends - responsible for "Grosse Pointe Blank" and "High Fidelity")?
Takeshi Kitano
1. He's a modern day Renaissance Man - author, artist, TV personality, director, poet, comedian, actor - and I love the additional style he brings to his movies.
2. Grilled salmon steaks on a bed of teriyaki noodles. Pan fried broccoli. Beer, but probably a lighter one like Big Rock's Grasshopper Wheat Ale. Apple pie with a really good vanilla ice cream for dessert. Failing all that, a good restaurant that serves noodle soup.
3. The questions:
Do you have a favourite medium within which to work? Or do you find pros and cons to all of them?
Your last two films ("Takeshis'" and "Glory To The Filmmaker") have both been experiments in deconstructing your own creative process. What's the third in the trilogy going to be like? And do you feel you are achieving something out of this process for yourself or are you simply enjoying the freedom of making non-narrative movies?
"Brother" (2000) was your only 'Hollywood' film (plus a few acting roles). Have you considered working in other countries again or is it just a matter of coming across the right material? Any interest in going back to Hollywood?
Even within the realm of filmmaking, you have many hats - you've written or adapted the script for all of your films and also edited the last 11. Is that a requirement for you? Do you need to have complete control over your concept to the end or do you simply enjoy performing all those roles?
Your films seem to have a wide variety of influences which is apparent from previous comments you've made about your favourite movies. Were there any specific periods or genres of film that influenced you or just bits and pieces as you went along?
Gloria Grahame
1. I just love her in everything I've seen her in (particularly Nicholas Ray's "In A Lonely Place"). There's just a mesmerizing quality and air of mystery about her...And the best eyebrows ever.
2. Bringing out the good tablecloth and silverware this time...I'm thinking a nice light chicken (rosemary maybe?) with a chick pea salad and maybe some green beans cooked on the stove top with almonds. Cocktails beforehand and white wine with dinner. Probably fresh berries with chocolate sauce for dessert.
3. The questions (she had a very interesting personal life, but I'd stay away from that and focus on her film career):
You once said, "It wasn't the way I looked at a man, it was the thought behind it." Please elaborate...
You also said that you never understood Hollywood. Given that, were you happy to do a lot more stage work in the early 60s (as well as TV work)?
Though known for many film noir roles, you've actually done a wide range of acting. Did you have any preferred style or were you happy to branch out?
At the time you made many of them, were you conscious of the style of film noir? Did you have a great deal of interest in the style of your films or were you mainly concerned about your role and your approach to it?
And just before you go, would you mind reading the phone book? In its entirety? I'll just sit here quietly...
That would be cool.
I'm tagging the following people to continue the meme:
If you haven't submitted your own answers, do it! It's challenging, but a great deal of fun. Even better is reading everyone else's responses.
1) Your favorite opening shot (Here are some ideas to jog your memory, if you need ‘em.)
A few that spring to mind:
- "The Taste Of Tea": The short opening shot is of young teenage Hajime leaping in slo-mo over the camera as he chases a train leaving with a young girl. The entire sequence is great actually...Even though he's never spoken to the girl before, he has now invested his entire being into the idea of her. As he gives up pursuit, we see a straight on shot of him as the train suddenly comes out of his forehead (leaving a gaping hole) and flies off into the air with the young girl waving from it. The special effects border on being cheesy, but perfectly capture the moods and feelings of the character - and this sets up the rest of the film perfectly.
- "Boogie Nights": The huge long tracking shot that opens the film introduces all the major characters as it sweeps through the 70s atmosphere of the club. It's showy, but so well done.
- "Werckmeister Harmonies": The 10 minute opening shot weaves in and out of the drunken old men pretending to be planets and stars and contains one of the most evocative musical scores I've ever heard.
- "The Exodus": A straight back tracking shot from a closeup of The Queen (this helps sets the time period of the scene since it is set in Hong Kong) that reveals policemen dressed up in masks and flippers beating up a suspect. It's quite surreal and again sets up the rest of the film nicely as it jumps forward to present day.
2) Tuesday Weld or Mia Farrow?
Mia's likely the best actress (she was terrific in "Crimes And Misdemeanors"), but Tuesday was in "The Cincinnati Kid" and "Thief" and was gorgeous in "Lord Love A Duck" (the best thing about that film). Um, so I guess I like them both.
3) Name a comedy you’re embarrassed to admit made you laugh
"Jackass The Movie". It's completely juvenile, occasionally wince-inducing and in many ways a sign that the apocalypse is coming. But that damn golf cart scene is hysterically funny and there are several other moments that had me laughing in spite of my better judgement while also wondering how humanity could have gone so wrong...
4) Best Movie of 1947
"Out Of The Past". My favourite noir captures just about all the elements of the genre: flashbacks, a femme fatale (the quite ravishing Jane Greer), loads of shadows and a main character that knows and accepts his fate (Robert Mitchum at his cool best).
5) Burt Reynolds was the Bandit. Jerry Reed was the Snowman. Paul LeMat was Spider. Candy Clark was Electra. What’s your movie handle?
Uh, given my first name, how about "Palindrome Man"? No? I got nothin'...
6) Robert Vaughn or David McCallum?
Robert Vaughan easily...He has this smoothness about him that allows him to portray characters in control - whether he's the head of an evil corporation or an unflappable hero. No offence to McCallum, but Vaughan was in "Bullitt", "The Towering Inferno" AND appeared on "The Love Boat". Until McCallum can go mano-a-mano with Captain Stubing, he can't compete...
7) Most exotic/unusual place/location in which you've seen a movie
Nothing overly exotic, but we saw "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" outside City Hall here in Toronto a number of years ago. It was a lovely summer night and a big screen had been setup in the open space outside the Hall (which is a skating rink in winter). Families were scattered about the place eating food from vendor carts and establishing their line of sights wherever they could. In the end it made a so-so movie much more entertaining because of the environment and atmosphere.
8) Favorite Errol Morris movie
"Mr. Death: The Rise And Fall Of Fred A. Leuchter Jr." is an absolutely fascinating portrayal of a man in desperate need of validation - any validation. Leuchter is a designer and builder of death machines - from electric chairs to injection machines he has provided different jails methods of reducing their death rows. Morris tells this section of the film very stylishly, but it doesn't prepare you for the sudden shift in direction Leuchter's story takes as he a certain group of people with their own agenda start to lavish Leuchter with praise and get him to help their cause.
9) Best Movie of 1967
You're going to make me choose between Demy's "The Young Girls Of Rochefort", Kobayashi's "Samurai Rebellion", Melville's "Le Samourai:, Suzuki's "Branded To Kill and Tati's "Playtime"? Seriously?! OK, but that's the last favour I do for you for awhile (just try coming to ask for a couple of eggs again).
I'll take "Playtime" as I get lost in those wonderful sets and always find something new to look at. I missed a chance at seeing it on a big screen this past summer, but I hope to one day rectify that.
10) Describe a profoundly (or not-so-profoundly) disturbing moment you’ve had courtesy of the movies
During "Capturing The Friedmans" (the 2003 documentary about a father and son accused of sexually abusing children), there's a moment when the filmmakers are interviewing some of the police who helped with the case. While they spoke about the process and the interviews with the children (after rumours had been swirling), one of the cops says "well, of course, we had to help them remember...". It wasn't just the sudden realization that perhaps all was not clear cut or that the cops actually may have encouraged the kids to lie, but it was how absolutely matter of fact this guy was. He really thought this was OK...I let out a quite audible "Oh shit!" while in the theatre at that point.
11) Anne Francis or Julie Newmar?
Catwoman. After school. Age 11.
12) Describe your favorite one sheet (include a link if possible)
Pretty much the entire book "The Art Of Noir" by Eddie Muller. Beautiful colours, beautiful women and beautiful compositions.
No Way Out (1950) - It has the feel of a classic Blue Note album cover.
13) Best Movie of 1987
"Raising Arizona" completely changed my view of movies. I'd never seen events filmed in such a dynamic fashion, nor with that kind of visual sense. My friends hated it, I couldn't stop thinking about it.
14) Favorite movie about obsession
Well, Fincher's recent "Zodiac" certainly qualifies. Not only does it hit the time period details perfectly and pull together a spawling two decade long tale, but it paints three great characters who are obsessed with finding the killer. Each ends up giving up a great deal.
"In The Realm Of The Senses" isn't what I would call a personal favourite and I'll likely never watch it again, but it depicts an all consuming obsession (of two characters for each other) like no other film I've seen.
15) Your ideal Christmas movie triple feature
I'm finding it hard to top what we watched this year: "A Christmas Story", "Jungle Book" and "Christmas In Connecticut".
16) Montgomery Clift or James Dean?
I never cared for James Dean...And Montgomery Clift had that great scene in "Red River" where he and John Ireland compared and shot off each others guns. Advantage Burns...Uh, I mean Clift.
17) Favorite Les Blank Movie
Burden Of Dreams for showing us that Herzog may have been as insane as Klaus Kinski (and he may still be). Of course, "Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe" is terrific too.
18) This past summer food critic Anton Ego made the following statement: “In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face is that, in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is more meaningful than our criticism designating it so. But there are times when a critic truly risks something, and that is in the discovery and defense of the new. Last night, I experienced something new, an extraordinary meal from a singularly unexpected source. To say that both the meal and its maker have challenged my preconceptions is a gross understatement. They have rocked me to my core. In the past, I have made no secret of my disdain for Chef Gusteau's famous motto: Anyone can cook. But I realize that only now do I truly understand what he meant. Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere.” Your thoughts?
I wouldn't necessarily agree that the critic risks nothing...Though it is usually to a lesser degree, the critic publically offers up their writing to be read and discussed - probably generating a greater deal of response than many other literary pieces in the same publications. The best kind of criticism can also be viewed as a form of art itself and therefore the authors put themselves in the same spot.
19) The last movie you watched on DVD? In a theater?
On DVD: "Unfaithfully Yours" by Preston Sturges. This is actually one of my favourite Sturges films with Rex Harrison playing a symphony conductor who believes his wife is cheating on him. During a concert, he imagines different resolutions to the whole situation including revenge, forgiveness and Russian Roulette. And the entire long slapstick sequence at the end where Rex essentially destroys his apartment is simply terrific. The last first time viewing on DVD was "Decoy" as I'm finally getting around to watching the 4th Warner Film Noir box. Jeanne Gilles is kinda uneven in it, but the story is strong and it ends pretty much perfectly.
In the theatre: I caught a double header Saturday of "No Country For Old Men" and "Juno". "No Country" didn't disappoint at all while "Juno" (though very good in most ways) didn't quite live up to the huge hype I'd read beforehand (though to be fair, how could it?). Great performances, terrific handling of the viewpoint of a 16 year-old girl and a funny if perhaps over-written script (best example being that oft-quoted snippet from the trailer - the etch-a-sketch line is good, but it didn't need the "doodle can't be undid, home skillet..." part).
20) Best Movie of 2007
"You The Living" by Roy Andersson.
Be pleased then, you the living, in your delightfully warmed bed, before Lethe’s ice-cold wave will lick your escaping foot.
Through the many half-dead looking characters and short static washed out scenes, that above quote from the beginning of the film seems to say "find enjoyment in life where you can and make the most of it - because time is ticking...". The people in this film are just completely unable to do that. And yet the film is still very funny - much more so than 2000's "Songs From The Second Floor" (though it retains much of that film's style). Everything about this film - it's deadpan humour, the perfectly composed shots, the music, the strangely sympathetic characters - made me want to stay right in my seat and watch it all over again immediately.
21) Worst Movie of 2007
"Chaotic Ana" by Julio Medem. I wrote about it here and I don't want to waste any further breath on it.
22) Describe the stages of your cinephilia
Aside from looking forward to Saturday or Sunday night movies on TV (seeing "Jaws", "Close Encounters" and other 70s movies for the first time), the biggest push towards deeper investigation into film occurred during a Media Awareness course I took before University (I was 17). We watched "Network" and it worked for me on all sorts of different levels. I had never seen a movie that was capable of educating and skewering at the same time. And the acting...
I became a weekly movie goer with friends and then came along "Raising Arizona" as mentioned above. I began to notice directors and their styles. My interest continued to grow, but the next quantum leap was likely seeing the trailer for "Magnolia". I got goose bumps from watching the damn thing and caught the film twice in its opening week. 1999 was a terrific year for film and I had caught the bug. The next big step was several years later when I discovered a video store nearby my house. Wandering downstairs I found that they had quite the selection of foreign films which I had always meant to dive into. So I dove...
23) What is the one film you’ve had more difficulty than any other in convincing people to see or appreciate?
"Ocean's Twelve". People think it's a heist movie. It's not. It's an art film.
24) Gene Tierney or Rita Hayworth?
"Laura" over "Gilda" in a walk. Tierney is stunning in everything, particularly "Laura" and in "Heaven Can Wait" (where she and Don Ameche make quite the fetching couple).
25) The Japanese word wabi denotes simplicity and quietude, but it can also mean an accidental or happenstance element (or perhaps even a small flaw) which gives elegance and uniqueness to the whole. What film or moment from a film best represents wabi to you?
I found the following in Wikipedia describing "wabi" --> nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect. So I immediately thought of the 2001 documentary on the art of Andy Goldsworthy called "Rivers And Tides". His artwork uses natural elements sculpted and arranged in nature. Once he is done with whatever he has created, he simply leaves it there - to eventually be destroyed or overgrown. Ice or sand sculptures are short lived, while rock stackings or structures made from found wood may last much longer. His creations provide some startling and beautiful images.
26) Favorite Documentary
I might have to stick with "Mr. Death" as it has that jaw dropping turn of events. I find it difficult to even whittle it down to 10 though - there are Political docs (like "Street Fight", "A Perfect Candidate", "Anytown USA"), Space docs ("For All Mankind", "In The Shadow Of The Moon"), Music docs ("The Last Waltz", "Stop Making Sense", "A Great Day In Harlem"), docs showing the world around us in different ways ("Lessons Of Darkness", "Man With A Movie Camera", "Microcosmos") and just plain entertaining docs ("Spellbound", "Wordplay", "Dogtown And Z-Boys"). But my overall favourite docs are usually those that discuss filmmaking itself. "Visions Of Light" lets the cinematographers have their say and provides clips of their work (this is where I first learned about "The Conformist") and "A Personal Journey With Martin Scorsese Through American Movies" is a great lesson in 40s and 50s films with Scorsese passionately describing them (I love to listen to Scorsese talk about film).
27) Favorite opening credit sequence
A few:
- The slow zoom towards the pumpkin in the original "Halloween" with the classic theme music. - David Fincher's "Panic Room" with those huge titles mixed in with the city's architecture. - And like probably most other people who will respond to this - Saul Bass.
28) Is there a film that has influenced your lifestyle in a significant or notable way? If so, what was it and how did it do so?
I can't think of a film that would've have had that profound an effect on me. The notables would really be the ones that made me stand up and take notice of the possibilities of film itself and that have encouraged me to delve even deeper into this hobby. As mentioned previously, "Raising Arizona" and "Network" would be examples. I've certainly felt emotional gut punches and feelings of ecstasy from film before, but typically not something that is profound enough to alter my outlook on life as a whole. Just usually little tweaks here and there.
29) Glenn Ford or Dana Andrews?
"Ball Of Fire", "The Ox-Bow Incident", "Laura", "Fallen Angel", "Night Of The Demon". For those films as well as an amazing gift of being able to give someone an utter look of disgust, I have to hand it to Dana Andrews.
30) Make a single prediction, cynical or hopeful, regarding the upcoming Academy Awards
Neither "No Country For Old Men" nor "There Will Be Blood" will win Best Picture. Haven't seen TWBB yet (and I'm dying to), but even though they are both getting consistently startling reviews neither really sound like Academy type films.
31) Best Actor of 2007
I just haven't seen enough of this year's films and certainly few of the performances that are making the end of year lists, but my favourite male performance of the year was Michael Cera in "Superbad". He just hits all the right notes and I love his under the breath asides which are some of the movie's funniest moments. He was also terrific in "Juno".
32) Best Actress of 2007
Margo Martindale in the "14e Arrondissement" segment of "Paris Je T'Aime". She is so likeable, natural and without a shred of falseness to her. If at times you feel sorry for her, she certainly never once asks for your sympathy.
33) Best Director of 2007
Again, not having seen some of the ones I expect would be my favourites, I think Paul Greengrass did quite an amazing job of keeping the suspense and tension levels high through out "The Bourne Ultimatum". Having said that, I think it'll end up like the other two films of the trilogy - some scenes standing out in my memory and the rest fading away...Certainly the Coens put together a magnificent film with "No Country For Old Men", but I'm still letting that one rattle around in my brain for a bit.
34) Best Screenplay of 2007
"Zodiac" weaved its way through a complicated story spanning several decades and didn't miss a beat. "Hot Fuzz" was terrifically funny.
35) Favorite single movie moment of 2007
"You The Living". I wrote this on my blog back in September when I saw it:
"There's a moment in this film...It occurs just after a lengthy joyous dream a young woman has of marrying the guitarist she has recently met in a bar. The dream ends and the joy is brought back to the reality that the woman will not be making this far fetched dream come true. We cut to another woman casually sitting in a bathtub and she begins to sing. And she's singing this song we had heard not 10 minutes previously at a funeral. But now, there's this haunting beauty to it...
And at that moment I almost burst into tears.
I'm not quite sure why actually. Likely it was mostly due to the music (I'm a big fan of Scandinavian folk music) which was simply gorgeous. And it wasn't because I was emotionally torn up by any specific event in the film. But after the stark images that director Roy Andersson had supplied us with so far, the nightmares recounted and the dreams dashed, the happiness that seemed so far out of reach of the characters - this simple song seemed to capture everything that these people were missing."
36) What’s your wish/hope for the movies in 2008?
More small and foreign films released to theatres. I'm thrilled with the availability of things through DVD and do most of my viewing that way, but I'd like a bit more choice for those occasions I want to hit the big screen. Having said that, I'm extremely fortunate to live in a city like Toronto with a variety of film festivals and a fabulous Cinematheque.
