At once minimalist and profound, Stroszeck is the sort of film that manages to stay with you long after it’s over. Now, if only I could figure out how to remember/spell the title I’d be set. The film follows a series of events after the protagonist, Bruno Stroszeck, gets out of prison, moves in with a prostitute (Eva) and then decides to leave Germany for Wisconsin to evade a group of men who are harassing them. Not much happens in this film but the viewer is mesmerised by the actions on screen. It’s almost like watching a very quiet and unassuming train wreck. We’re not completely sure how it’ll end but after all is said and done and the dancing chickens come out, it seems obvious. Herzog doesn’t play around with the camera too much, often preferring still and extended shots which aid the viewer as being just that, a viewer, an unbiased witness of the film. The filmmaking style denotes a sort of detachment while offering up distressing images (namely the chicken stuff previously mentioned). A lot of the film is unexplainable but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing as film is meant to imitate life and most things in life are unexplainable. It’s not the sort of film one could “like” in any sense of the word. It’s more the sort that commands that you watch with detached and disturbed passivity.
The Nun’s Story (1959) November 12, 2007
Unfortunately for this film, it doesn’t quite understand what it wants to be. A commentary on religious restriction that doesn’t
mesh with human nature or a universal story about a young woman who wants to find her place but is unable to. I think it’s probably both. The film seems to touch on certain topics and paradoxes without diving too far in, instead leaving the viewer to ponder upon them. Sister Luke (Audrey Hepburn) wants to help people. She excels in medical studies and promises to be a very fine nurse. Her religious duties get in the way of her duty to humanity which she points out a few times. Citing that she must answer to a bell while a patient is in the middle of ‘discussing their soul’ with her. It doesn’t quite fit. Isn’t a duty to God a duty to humanity? Wouldn’t God prefer that she help people and console them in their time of need rather than go to Mass? According to the Nuns, no. Sister Luke’s duties are first and foremost to her spirtual life. As is pointed out, she didn’t enter the convent to become a nurse. She struggles with what is asked of her. They are taught not to give into pride but, when Sister Luke does something right, her natural inclination is to be proud of herself and she fails once again. It becomes a vicious cycle where she never thinks she’s good enough, that she’ll never be the ‘perfect nun’.
Her decision to join the cloistered life were misguided in the first place; confusing a duty to God with a desire to do good in the world. Perhaps not realising that one can give themselves over to God in the form of humanitarianism and that it is not necessary to give up one for the other.
The film suffers from being over long (at two and a half hours) and slightly over stuffed. The camera seems to observe the characters from a distance, not quite interacting with them. Indeed, we are never given a reason from Sister Luke herself about why she has entered the convent (besides the blatantly obvious) and her problems lie with her inability to be obedient rather than the feeling she’s not fulfilling her duty to God. In the end, the film is rather solid while providing certain insights perhaps a bit unusual for it’s time. Hepburn is as gorgeous as ever, even under that frumpy nun’s habit.
Kiss me Deadly, Talk to Me and Lost Highway November 11, 2007
1. Kiss me Deadly (1955):
I cannot deny that that this is a well made noir (in terms of photography,etc), I found it to be uninvolving and confusing in places. The ending seemed completely out of left field and not in the least bit intune with the rest of the film. The idea of it being uninvolving is probably more a relflection on my taste than anything else but I wouldn’t recommend it in any case.
2. Talk to Me (2007):
While I really enjoyed this film, I can’t say it’s a good movie. It does well to sort of dispense with the traditional bio-pic format in places but then it doesn’t seem to know whether it wants to be different or the same. The film is worth watching for Don Cheadle performance alone.
3. Lost Highway (1997)
I’d rather not remember it.
40 Films in Month November 11, 2007
Mouchette (1967)
Sunset Blvd (1950)
Talk to Me (2007)
Waitress (2007)
Ratatouille (2007)
Vertigo (1958)
Divorce: Italian Style (1961)
Cinema Paradiso (1988)
La Belle et la Bete (beauty and the beast) (1946)
All About Eve (1950)
Jezebel (1938)
Roman Holiday (1953)
The Nuns Story (1959)
Lost Highway (1997)
Hud (1963)
Shane (1953)
Taxi Driver (1976)
The Searchers (1956)
Dancer in the Dark (2000)
Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
400 Blows (1959)
Band of Outsiders (1964)
Days of Heaven (1978)
Husbands and Wives (1992)
Brazil (1985)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
The Conformist (1969)
Do the Right Thing (1989)
Bottle Rocket (1996)
Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
Lolita (1962)
Last Tango in Paris (1972)
McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971)
Kingdom of Heaven (2005)
Paris, Texas (1984)
Army of Shadows (1969)
Hamlet (1942)
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)
The Thin Red Line (1998)
Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995)
The Barbarian Invasions (2003)
The Enigma of Kasper Hauser (1974)
Stroszeck (1977)
The Star (1952)
Persona (1966)
The Sweet Hereafter (1997)
Queen Christina (1933)
Balthazar (1966)
Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)
I’m Not There (2007)
Trust (1990)
Far From Heaven (2002)
To Each his Cinema (2007)
The Unbelievable Truth (1989)
Henry Fool (1997)
Eyes Without a Face (1959)
Le Samourai (1967)
Metropoliton (1990)
The Nanny Diaries (2007)
40 films in 30 days. Can I make it? Will I lose the bet? Time will tell. Starting November 11th
That’s more than 40 oh well.
Saw Raiders of the Lost Ark and Manhattan on the big screen
Disney Films August 27, 2007
I went though a recent rash of Disney films so I thought I’d write… something. This is a product of two things: 1) Owing the video store money and, 2) Watched my grown up movies too many times. Over a two week period I watched the following….
Cinderella
The Fox & the Hound
Hercules
The Lion King
Robin Hood
The Sword in the Stone
Finding Nemo
Aladdin
Finding Nemo is something I can watch without considering it a children’s film. The animation is fantastic and while many of the lines and characters are distinctly childish, much of the film plays to older audiences. This sort of segues into the sort of films children are offered today. Bright, obnoxious, CGI films riddled with nonsensical popculture references. The sort of references children would not get but are put into the film to get parents in the seats with their kids. Watching these older kids movies was a lovely experience. While they are made for children, they don’t cater to them. The stories are simple don’t insult ones intelligence. Case in point: Robin Hood and The Sword in the Stone. Both these films fit the criteria mentioned above. Simple films that tell a simple story without a lot of fluff. Both the Lion King and The Fox & The Hound adhere to this as well. Aladdin, slightly less so being fast paced, colourful. It’s characters, as well, are mostly cardboard cutouts which is unfortunate. The film makes up for it though with good songs and beautiful animation. Hercules is much the same but doesn’t have that same, classic, Disney feel.
What I really wanted to mention was Cinderella. I found it strangely dull. The characters really are cut outs, the story is bleh, the songs are meh at best, the mice are annoying and, Prince Charming? Far from Cinderella’s saviour, a faceless dream. The simplicity I discussed before is there but to a great fault. The film is overly simplistic, even for children. Children should not be catered to any more than adults should and are as much entitled to good films as their older counterparts.
