| Film Journal April 2004 |
| JAPANESE STORY(Sue Brooks) viewed 4-01-04 in theater Grade 51 2004 Seems to work well enough on a scene-by-scene basis but never really comes together as a cohesive whole: with interesting scenes promising further developments that either don’t come as expected or don’t come at all. I didn’t really but the (SPOILER) two character’s transition into a couple and so most of the emotions that come to the surface in the last third of the film didn’t really register with me. Both leads are strong, although Toni Collette is given much more of the heavy lifting as she tries to ease some of the awkward transitions in her character. WERCKMEISTER HARMONIES (Béla Tarr) viewed 4-01-04 on dvd Grade 88 2000 Review to come - but a second viewing might come first. THE CRYING GAME (Neil Jordan) viewed 4-02-04 on TV (third viewing) Grade 83 1992 DIRTY PRETTY THINGS (Stephen Frears) viewed 4-02-04 on dvd Grade 50 2003 Basically a tawdry medical thriller disguised as (and cheapening) a social awareness film about the troubles facing immigrants. Beautifully shot and well acted all around, but the generally goofiness of the thriller plot really upsets the entire film’s momentum and tone. Another viewing might bring this grade way down, as the film left a bad taste in my mouth. GREAT EXPECTATIONS (Alfonso Cuarón) viewed 4-03-04 on TV Grade 52 1998 Saw this one in 97 in a test preview and didn’t quite like it then either, I am tempted to blame the Dickens’ source as not translating well to screen since I wasn’t taken with the David Lean adaptation either. Cuarón and his DP Emmanuel Lubezki have a beautiful looking film with rich, lush coloring and well measured hand-held work and great use of the scope frame. However, the cast is pretty uneven: Bancroft way too campy, De Niro turning up to very little effect and an unconvincing performance by Ethan Hawke when he is playing a mawkish teenager but he gets better as the film gets going. Plus the thing barely registers emotionally, especially in a key scene between Hawke’s Finn and his Uncle Joe at the art gallery, which is so poorly written it brings the film to a screeching halt. Also Arthur Lustig showing up and revealing his connection to the proceedings is pretty lame, does this feel less cheap in the book? A SLIGHT CASE OF MURDER (Lloyd Bacon) viewed 4-03-04 on TV Grade 56 1938 Mildly amusing comedy moves along at a good click and has a funny performance by Robinson, turning his gangster routine on its nose. Otherwise pretty forgettable but I didn’t mind as I was watching it. CAMERA (David Cronenberg) viewed 4-03-04 on Computer R 2000 THE ANIMAL (Luke Greenfield) viewed 4-03-04 on dvd Grade 51 2001 THE FOUR FEATHERS (Zoltan Korda) viewed 4-05-04 on dvd Grade 72 1939 FROM THE DRAIN (David Cronenberg) viewed 4-06-04 on Computer NR 1967 IN THIS WORLD (Michael Winterbottom) viewed 4-07-04 on dvd Grade 42 2003 Pretty empty really, using its pseudo-documentary form to distract from the non-characters we are following and how uninteresting most of their interactions are along their journey. You get the sense that Winterbottom’s heart is in the right place with this material and it seems like he shot the film with a clear idea how it would come together (although first-time editor Peter Christelis did a hell of a job making the film flow as nicely as it does). Conceits like random bits of historical narration and 3D maps don’t really work except to give perspective to the very thin narrative. HOLIDAY (George Cukor) viewed 4-07-04 on video Grade 84 1938 THE CONFORMIST (Bernardo Bertolucci) viewed 4-09-04 in theater Grade 96 1970 MANIC (Jordan Melamed) viewed 4-12-04 on dvd Grade 39 2001 Another edgy Sundance entry with jerky handheld and artless zooms to make the film feel authentic, or something. What it does here is derail an otherwise routine asylum film, keeping arm-length from the characters and their problems because it is so caught up with its stylization. On top of that, first time filmmaker Melamed has a poor sense of flow from scene to scene and often delves into tacky symbolism. Too bad though because the cast sure seems committed to the material (especially Don Cheadle’s sincere psychiatrist) and the clichéd material still has some power to it, if only Melamed had found a tripod and done more pre-production visualization of the material. Shot with Sony PD150 and it looks fairly good for DV (in fact I (incorrectly) suspected it had gotten the Magic Bullet treatment in post) but DV seems to be too much of a crutch for lazy filmmakers who (in most cases) should be treated it as if it were film. KILL BILL, VOL. 2 (Quentin Tarantino) viewed 4-16-04 in theater Grade 95 2004 SISSY BOY SLAP PARTY (Guy Maddin) viewed 4-16-04 on computer R 1995 SOMBRE DOLORSA (Guy Maddin) viewed 4-16-04 on computer R 2004 TRIP TO THE ORPHANAGE (Guy Madding) viewed 4-16-04 on computer R 2004 THE SIGN OF LEO (Eric Rohmer) viewed 4-??-04 on video (from a PAL source) Grade ?? 1959 SAN FRANCISCO FILM FESTIVAL FRANTZ FANON: BLACK SKIN, WHITE MASK (Isaac Julien) viewed 4-28-04 on video (second viewing - not by choice) Grade 33 1996 PROVIDENCE (Alain Resnais) viewed 4-28-04 on video Grade 80 1977 |