Mubin' and Shakin' Through World Cinema, Thanks To Some Good People Here - Part Three of Twelve

By: Kai White

Huzzah for more recommendations! I actually have quite a few more, and I’ll be getting to those. For reasons of pure randomness, however, these are for this month. And as always, more recommendations are most welcome.

1 – 4 come courtesy of Chasing Butterflies. Every film he’s told me to watch has at least been good, and sometimes truly fantastic, so many thanks.
5 – 7 come courtesy of new film recommender guy Owen Sound! He goes with some Douglas Sirk that I haven’t seen, and that is very welcome, indeed.
8 – 12 come courtesy of sometime MUBI user Myra. Since I pestered her enough for stuff to watch, I might as well follow through with it.
13 comes courtesy of ScorpioRising, who had me watch the excellent This Transient Life last month and therefore can recommend whatever he wants whenever he wants, because that movie was exceptional.
14 – 15 come courtesy of ApurSansar. He continues to be as big a help to me as anyone else on this site, and his good taste is something you should dig into, if you’re reading this and haven’t already.
16 – 17 come courtesy of John. These look to be really good, so I have very high expectations.
18 – 21 are thanks to the return of the Director’s Cup, which positively sucked away about a year of my life last year. SO LET’S DO IT AGAIN!
22 – 23 are because of Simultaneous Watching & Analysis. Support good film discussion.

Not included on this list because it isn’t in the database – Cafe Paradis by Bodil Ipsen. HELL YES. This will be my first Bodil Ipsen film. I feel like I’ve been looking for her films for forever, so I’m ridiculously excited to see this. It is not credited to anyone because this is just one for me.

WATCHED

3-4-11 – Under the Blossoming Cherry Trees – 6/10. Not that it’s not well made, competently directed, and all that, but the story . . . EESH. To say that this wasn’t my cup of tea is an understatement like no other. So, in trying to focus on some brighter points, I’ll say that the atmosphere, especially around the cherry blossoms, was well handled, the performances were engaging, and, um, the heads were cool.

3-7-11 – Blind Pig Who Wants To Fly – 5/10. Hmm, two films in a row that just weren’t for me. I can’t say that I get that a lot, but I suppose this may be a byproduct of really trying to stretch what I’m comfortable with. The film itself was paced alright, but I didn’t enjoy the narrative structure at all, and some story elements were just plain bizarre. The Idol show? Where did that come from? And isn’t the doctor overpaying just a shade to get his girl on it? And why do I have to continually listen to an average Stevie Wonder song? Because it communicates the theme well? There wasn’t maybe one other song that could have been thrown in there, just for variety’s sake? I’m sure I’ll take some crap for this rating, but so it goes.

3-8-11 – All That Heaven Allows – 7/10. It might have it’s problems, but it’s pretty freaking entertaining. I was talking a lot AT this movie. Some of it was to point out how dumb it was, but most of it was to yell at Carrie, “Your kids suck! Your friends suck! Just marry the dude already!” Weird finale, as for some reason she’s made to pay even more penance for her bad decision making than what she already has. It really needed to be sewn up with the over the top kiss, not Ron having a concussion barely recognizing her. It was a fun ride, though.

3-8-11 – Recollections of the Yellow House – 8/10. I’m going to go out on a limb and say this probably wasn’t the best starting point for watching Monteiro, but it was very good. This is a great little slice of life film, alternately depressing, hilarious, and confusing. There’s also quite a goldmine of material here – the use of mirrors and the referential (and reverent) picture of von Stroheim come immediately to mind. While I’m not sure it’s an all-time great, I had a good time, and would watch it again in a heartbeat.

3-13-11 – A Summer at Grandpa’s – 8/10. Exceedingly solid film from Hou, almost perfectly capturing the essence of childhood, what with it’s joy and confusion. I found the whole thing very engaging, and there were several times I was grinning from ear to ear, especially when they were playing with turtles. While I liked the movie quite a bit, it did skew towards a little too much formulaic melodrama towards the end (the mentally disabled girl, and OF COURSE the robbers were friends with the boy’s uncle, because that fits nicely). Really enjoyable otherwise.

3-13-11 – The Parallel Street – 9/10. What the . . . ? What did I just watch? Whatever it was, it was fantastic. It’s not everyday someone (Chasing Butterflies) tells me to drop what I’m doing to watch something, so I’m all for that as time permits, and this was worth dropping everything for, but what the hell was it? That’s the only reason this isn’t 10/10. While I think it accomplished what it set out to do, and I was totally into it, I’m not sure what “it” was. Really interesting film. The documents, or files, or whatever they were analyzing, are incredibly rewatchable. Several hours after having watched this, most of it is replaying in my head.

3-14-11 – Wonderland – 5/10. This is like the ultimate killing time movie. There’s nothing particularly terrible about it, there’s nothing particularly notable about it, and by the time it was finished, I had forgotten most of it. Still, it was a passable two hours or so. Essentially, parallel stories intercut in the same time line to bring us some sort of tale about the fragility of human connections. I will say, the swelling music every so often would belie the fact that this movie probably thought it was incredible. Eh, not so much . . .

3-15-11 – Witches’ Hammer – 9/10. Well, I’m seriously becoming a huge Otakar Vavra nut over here. The only real drawback for me here is the Inquisitor Boblig character, who becomes something of a parody of himself at times. But maybe that was the point, as the last title card might suggest. In any event, expert pacing, involving story, and what a sense of dread over the whole thing! Plus, it serves as such a great social and political allegory for almost any time, anywhere, with the vocal minority inexplicably and rather violently keeping the majority in check. I can’t heap the superlatives on enough.

3-15-11 – Cafe Paradis – 7/10. From what I knew about Bodil Ipsen coming into this, I was prepared for a tale about some social woe, usually alcoholism. And that’s what this is, essentially a very heavy handed morality tale about the evils of drink, even separated by class! We’ve got a high powered executive and a lowly assembly worker, both from the same plant, both with the same problem, although with different manifestations and results. It’s actually pretty good, and I thought some parts were really exceptional. Unfortunately, the story “bookends” at both the opening and closing of the movie were really unnecessary, and the movie loses a lot of steam when it turns from the theme of “alcoholism is a personal responsibility” to “there’s evil bars in your town! And they are always there!” So, in all, it was uneven, but I’m glad I finally saw one of Ipsen’s films.

3-18-11 – Kasba – 8/10. I have to admit, I was not on board with the first twenty minutes or so. The initial setup just did nothing for me. By the time it was all said and done, though, I was pretty wrapped up in it. I can’t recall in my limited experiences with films from India a female character quite like Tejo. I personally love strong female characters, and Tejo I think is quite a step above and beyond that. Everything involving her (and, for that matter, her father-in-law) is top notch. For me, though, the “half wit” son’s presence was sort of like having Forrest Gump in a Robert Bresson film – it just didn’t work. So the whole thing comes together in the end, but not without it’s bumps in the road.

3-18-11 – The Illusionist – 4/10. Maybe I’m just in a bad mood today. I don’t think so, though. There’s a scene in this when (very creepy) animated Jacques Tati wanders into a theater that is playing a clip from non-animated Mon Oncle. That can be taken one of two ways, I suppose – 1.) as a cute bit of reference to the writer and erstwhile star of this film, or b.) as a reminder that this film isn’t anywhere close to that in terms of quality. I really, really wonder what Tati could have possible done with this material were he to have made it himself. I have a feeling that it might have been only slightly better. Weird feel to the story, and I know I didn’t have the intended reaction when I laughed out loud at the “Magicians Do Not Exist” note. There is, however, some very nifty animation here, and the filmmaker at least went out of his way to try to capture the vibe of a Tati film.

3-23-11 – Mosquito on the Tenth Floor – 8/10. Okay, so, yeah, it’s a little dated (the thief’s hairdo – WOW), the music isn’t really great (synth isn’t my thing), and there’s some awfully clunky dialogue (“If you spend too much time playing with toys, they end up playing with you.”) But I’m not really sure I’ve ever, EVER seen a movie that handled one man’s quest for self-destruction so well. And what a self-destruction it is! Some moments of cringe-inducing awkwardness and then others of just plain horror really work well with the quiet scenes of just our main character playing on his computer. I wonder if he thought of himself as a victim . . . maybe not an all-the-way, “society screwed me” victim, but just somebody who wasn’t really willing to fight back. In an event, if you want to see a man blow all of his fuses in devastating fashion, this is the movie to watch.

UPDATE – Due to an impending move of my family, and therefore, me, my timeline got all screwed up and I haven’t been able to watch anything.

Sometime in the last few weeks – There’s Always Tomorrow – 8/10. Really, really solid. When it started, I see Fred MacMurray and I think, “Dammit, he looks like he’s in over his head.” But it’s really his performance that is the most important part of the film. This is really a very mature look at unexpectedly trying to recapture passion, and all the bumps in the road that go along with that. MacMurray’s son, though, has some of the worst line delivery I’ve ever heard in my life. Great choice, Owen Sound. Very enjoyable and I’d watch it again in a heartbeat.