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Reviews
Cléo de 5 à 7 (1962)
Cleo from 5 to 7
This remarkable feature typifies all that was good in French film-making during its celebrated New Wave. Writer/director Agnès Varda (one of the unsung stalwarts of the period) constantly introduces the unexpected into both the central story and its many diversions, cinematographer Jean Rabier's images of Paris are fresh and uncomplicated, and the performances are cleverly stylised. Beneath her cool exterior, Corinne Marchand as Cleo manages to convey a range of emotions, whether worrying about her medical tests, chatting with strangers or singing with Michel Legrand. Watch out for a film within the film, featuring Jean-Luc Godard and other New Wave luminaries.
Gabbeh (1996)
Gabbeh
Repressive countries are by their nature, well, repressive. Freedom of speech is restrained and, thereby, styles of expression as well. This clearly creates a situation where the arts are stunted in their growth. A country with a particular policy would only want their artists to create art which makes sense to both the general population and the ideal the government wants to propagate to that population. To make a film about a contrary topic, or even in an unusual style, could confuse, offend, or subvert people, which the government would not want. Gabbeh, a film from Iran, is a good example of this, as it's very much a film of its place. It is mild, inoffensive, and contains numerous images of a tradition Iranian culture, depicted in a warm and perhaps domineering way. I would almost see it as a promotion of the country. Now the story of the movie follows young woman hoping to marry someone from another tribe, yet many different obstacles stand in her way, obstacles which may sound pretty strange to us, but apparently have some sort of meaning in the culture. For one thing, her uncle has yet to be married. But, at 57, he sure is taking his time! And, then, even after he finally gets hitched, she is told she cannot be married until they complete a long trek and a lot of work. Eventually, however, she defies these constant hindrances, and by doing so, may pay a price. One of the biggest parts of this movie that were great in my opinion, was that of the colors used in this movie, the use of colors to signify many things was brilliant and it brought the movie a better lighting that we haven't seen in movies to much before.
Simón del desierto (1965)
Simon of the desert
Simon del Desiert is a very religious based movie with a new meaning to keeping the faith, because in this film you follow a man named Simon who is a top a pillar proving his loyalty to the lord, claiming that he has been full of sin all his life and wants to be forgiven to be good servant of the lord. Throughout Simon's journey to becoming a man of free sin life, he is faced with a few challenges. Such challenges are that of trying not to eat or drink much water, only drink and eat when it is necessary and of what he can eat, is the "plants of life", no meat or dairy. Another challenge that Simon will cross, is a women who is claimed as the "devil" this woman tries to seduce Simon into giving into his male needs, Simon stays strong the women tries to undress and everything, but Simon will stay strong even after all her attempts to seduce him. Simon will remaining strong standing atop his pillar, gets betrayed by one of his fellow worshipers, because they stuck dairy products and meat inside of his food supply to make it look like he has been sneaking around with extra food. Simon refuses to have taken part in that and says the man can be forgiven for sins, until the man bursts into foaming out the mouth and falling over dead where he stood, with a bag of golden landing on the ground out of his robe. Although this movie has a very twisted ending, as we follow Simon he is talking about being free and sinful, but then we the movie takes us for a spin and shows the real Simon with the girl who kept appearing as the devil, they were in a nightclub, drinking and smoking. Therefore, this movie kind of shows two sides the "true" way to follow the religion or the hypocritical way.
Tsotsi (2005)
Tsotsi
Tsotsi directed by Gavin Hood was a story based in Africa, showing a different side that many people do not realize that a lot of that country has many issues that are addressed throughout this movie. In Tsotsi we start off following Tsotsi, who is a young adult probably around the age of sixteen or eighteen, and his buddies Aap, Boston, and Butcher. These four partners commit crimes to makes money called "jobs", the first job we as the viewers get to witness is when Tsotsi and the three friends follow a high roller man into a subway and rob him, and while robbing him they kill this innocent man. Later on through the story Tsotsi is on his own, alone and kind of nervous, he sees a lady pull up in a nice house and is locked out of her gate, so while she isn't paying attention Tsotsi steals her car as she runs toward him he shoots her. Little did he know that a baby was in that back seat, at first Tsotsi was about to leave the baby, but decided to take him to his house. As the movie progress you see that Tsotsi grows into a different young man, with the responsibilities of the child he has taken, has shaped him in a way that helps him understand life and the meaning to it. However, Tsotsi has to make the biggest decision of his life, which is to take the baby back to its rightful family. In doing this he decides to take the baby to his mother and father, by turning himself in, but as you witness something new in Tsotsi as the parents ask for the baby it is hard for him to let go, because how attached he had become to the baby or "his new life".
Days of Heaven (1978)
Days of Heaven
In Days of Heaven, this film takes place with a young couple Bill and Abby who are living with almost no money to their name, later on Bill, Abby and the girl they travel with named Linda will get on a train to travel to find work, because Bill started a fight causing himself to get fired from his current job. As they arrive to this new land looking for worked to harvest mass amounts of land for money, they are checked out to make sure they will work and wagon back to a house with acres of land. They live on the land being fed every day, but work many hours a day harvesting crops for the landowner. However, the landowner catches a glimpse of Abby one day while she was working and he was overseeing his land being harvested and wants to find out who she is, because he thinks she's a very attractive women. The landowner runs into Abby a few days later and talks to her and tells her how he feels, when she goes back to tell Bill of what happen, he decides to tell her she should marry him, because the landowner is already ill and once he passes they could inherit what is his. When Abby marries the boss, Bill tries to accept it but over time the landowner starts doing better, and as more and more times goes by Bill tries to not show him that he was already with Abby, but the boss finally catches him so Bill leaves the land. When Bill comes back to the land he sees that Abby is actually in love with the landowner, as he tries to get her and Linda to go away with him, he is caught yet again messing around with (he really isn't that smooth). The landowner comes and finds Bill working on his bike and pulls out a gun, Bill then stabs the owner and runs for his life, where he is chased down by the cops and killed in the river. Now the end of this film is Linda leaving with some girl from a orphanage, talks about her friend she is leaving with has no idea what she's doing then it end. So besides the ending a very good movie.
It's Always Fair Weather (1955)
Always Fair Weather
It's Always Fair Weather directed by Stanley Donen was a phenomenal movie, because not only did he portray a tale of best friends, but also showed as how in our lives we make friends and as we grow older. Either the more we become closer to these friends or after we have not seen each other in years, we realize that a lot has changed and that sometimes ends a friendship that you may have claimed to last forever. In this story, it starts with three guys from war become close friends Ted, Doug, and Angie. These guys while at a bar are all drinking and saying how that they will be friends for life, well the bar tender bets them a dollar each and drinks on him, that they wouldn't remain friends in ten years. As they accept this bet, they all meet up ten years down the road almost not recognizing each other, but during this movie they try to hang out and do things with each other. As the movie pans out Ted has become more of the high classy player who doesn't have wife or kids or show any intentions to try and get some, Doug however has become a married man with no kids, but struggles with a hard relationship with his wife wanting to divorce him while he is gone on trip to reunite with his old time pals. Angie also shows that he is a married man and Angie also had kids. Later on through the movie, a TV program tries to get all three of these men to reunite on television, but as they are starting to talk about how they have changed a group of mobsters that are after Tim, start to go after Tim. During this riot Doug and Angie, join the fight alongside Tim proving that even though time passed and a lot has changed the fighting side by side will always bring friends closer to each other. At the end of this movie you see that the three friends have finally reunited and party at the bar proving that they are still best friends even after many years of not talking or seeing each other. This movie is a great, must see, it shows how the real life gets to you and friends, but shows that even after many years you can still be close to the friends you were at your younger age.
Gojira (1954)
Godzilla
Godzilla directed by Ishiro Honda, was a Japanese made film in 1954, which was a time period following World War two, in this film pay close attention to the effects that this movie brings in. During Godzilla the town is a piece remember to keep in mind that this movie was a few years after World War two ended so this country had just gotten done recovering from the war. However Godzilla brings in a whole new dynamic special effects by bringing in a monstrous animal known is Godzilla who is not only as tall as a skyscraper, but also has the ability to destroy cities within seconds and blow fire to cause even more destruction. Godzilla although is a monster who shows no bounds, they try to find a way to kill this enemy, but only one person has the technology that has to potential to end the life of the great beast and that is the scientist, the scientist shows the girl what it can do. What it is a little marble like object, but once dropped in water it rearranges chemical elements causing any life forms in the water to turn into straight skeleton. As the country draws Godzilla out to the ocean, they drop the CO2 object into the water to finally defeat the beast, at first it does not work, but the scientist gives his life in order to defeat Godzilla. One significant thing about Godzilla is that many say that the reason Godzilla was formed was the nuclear bombs and many new nuclear things that contaminated that water supply, thus transforming an animal into what became Godzilla.
Paisà (1946)
Paisa
Paisa, which is a greatly directed piece of work by Roberto Rossellini, this movie, is an interesting tell of a war movie, in this war movie however it shows six different films, all of which doing with a total different character and also dealing with a different part of the war. Each one of these stories has a true meaning to it, because a lot of this actually happens in the war, such as the little boy who is alone in Napoli, the woman who falls in love with the GI, but ends up turning into a not so nice woman. Also the story based in Florence based on true events that actually happen, the British officer that talks with the German troops that are destroying all in their way, the execution of the fascist sniper, and even that part where people are running down the Gallery of Uffizi. The last episode though was the most intense, and horrifying episode, because unlike the others that you felt were real, it wasn't until this episode that you could feel the fear that the people had of death, the smell horrifying images of deaths, and even the true brings out all the true feelings that many don't understand of what war is like or how it affects not only the person in the war, but everyone they know and care for. This movie was a great War movie, a must see. It has the feelings of war, the feelings of what it is like to come back from war and even brings in a little bit of romance to tie it all together.
Stranger on the Third Floor (1940)
Stranger on the Third Floor
Boris Ingster's Stranger on the Third Floor is an incredible drama film that has you always trying to question and figure out who might be the killer, keeping you interested in the movie. The film takes place with a newlywed couple Michael and Jade who are grabbing breakfast before the trial of Joe Briggs. At the end of Joe's trial, the movie starts building in suspense by having Michael second guessing weather Joe's trial was innocent or guilty, later throughout the night Michael starts to have nightmares that he is actually in Joe's place. Once Michael finds himself seeing an unfamiliar face walking out of a neighbor's house, they find another person has been murdered, this time instead of Joe becoming blamed for the crimes in the murder; it is place in Michael's hands. The cops think that Michael is the man behind this murder accusing him of killing the innocent. Finally, the true killer is found, and Michael and Joe will both be allowed to be released from going to jail for crimes in which neither one of the two committed. This movie brings in a lot of suspense and has the viewer trying to spot which person might actually be telling the truth and who might have actually been the killer, until you find out the killer was actually a total stranger, which unlike most movie's where it's either of the two, this movie brought in a whole separate character who wasn't even a suspect for being the murderer.
Metropolis (1927)
Metropolis, Greatest Sci-Fi
Metropolis was a movie in the silent era, also in the era of German expressionism where during the period of recovery following World War I, the German film industry was booming. However, because of the hard economic times, filmmakers found it difficult to create movies that could compare with the lush, extravagant features coming from Hollywood. So keep in mind while viewing this film that it was placed in the German expressionism period. In Metropolis it is placed in a futuristic city, in this futuristic city many people put in hard working hours to keep the machines working, so that there city doesn't fall apart or cause mayhem. The story takes place following the son of John Frederson who is the master of Metropolis, the son wants to find a woman he met and express his love to her, but his father will not allow him. Throughout this movie, the son switches place with a worker and endures the hard working conditions that a lot of the employees can't even handle. Later in Metropolis, you find out that the evil doctor has created a robot that can transform into the sons love, and this robot pretends to be the woman whom everyone looks up to. Towards the end of the movie the robot causes a riot by shutting down the machines in order to stop the factory from working, once the citizens succeed little did they know that by doing so the kids they left at home would be in grave danger of being flooded out. Luckily the true lady and John's son save all the children and the citizens get the robot and destroy her. This film is an excellent sci-fi putting in many never before seen special effects, and even today watching this makes you feel like you are a part of that futuristic life.
Bronenosets Potyomkin (1925)
Battleship Potemkin
In Battleship Potemkin, the main story behind this is a group of men that are slaves or prisoners that are put to work on this battleship by the crew. The crew however is mistreats the men who aren't high ranks like them by feeding them meat with maggots crawling all over the steak, pretending that you can just brush them off or cook it and be safe. While sailing through the ocean one of the sailors while resting in his hammock one of the officers comes over and starts whipping him, well at this time the sailors have finally had enough of the abuse and mistreatment from the officers and start a mutiny on the ship. During the mutiny, the officers grab the weapons in the lower decks, but the ratio of sailors to officers was at almost a three to one. The sailors out manned the officers and took control of the ship, while taking over the ship they threw the doctor over board, because he was the one claiming that the meat with maggots "is in great shape and can be eaten, just brush the maggots off and cook the meat." Towards the end of the film, the sailors had taken over the ship and fired the big guns on the ship to sound there, victory or "freedom" .The significance of this movie however was that during this time zone the Soviet Union had shortage in film stock. So the director Sergei Einstein would have to be careful with what he shot and at times would have to reuse some older footage in order to get a full length film out of the amount of film stock he was allowed.
The Whole Shootin' Match (1978)
The Whole Shootin' Match
The Whole Shooting Match was about two main characters Frank and Lloyd who are both guys working to try to just get enough money to get by in life, Frank however has a wife and child where as Lloyd doesn't. In this movie you see the rough parts of an everyday life, however Frank's cousin (find name) doesn't think that Frank is a great enough husband or father and tries to win over Frank's wife countless times throughout the movie. Lloyd is a man of interesting talents he comes off as the guy who hasn't done much, but he truly is an inventor. One day while Lloyd goes through his first car wash that he doesn't end up paying for he comes up with an idea on a new invention, which is a mop that squirts the water out and cleans almost like a vacuum cleaner. With this invention they think they will become the richest men alive, however when they go down to the signing company, they sign all the papers, without reading and walk out of the building with $1000 dollars in cash. So Frank and Lloyd split the money in half and Frank goes around happy and starts spending it all on himself a new suit, and a new car. Frank eventually admits to his wife he had been cheating on her and was a terrible father and wanted to make a change in his life. After Frank and Lloyd find out that they aren't getting any money for their product they find out that the company tricked them and gave them $1000 while the company kept the money made from product, so Frank and Lloyd go hunting for treasure while out there Frank takes the gun from Lloyd and walks off. Few minutes later you hear a gun go off and Lloyd races to find Frank laying in the ground, he tried to kill himself, but couldn't all the regret and frustration built in him, his family and best friend were reasons he didn't end his life that moment. This movie was a wonderful choice, it brought in the real world feeling, showed what it's like for people who live in this kind of low budget, and movie reveals how the real world can mess you over in the end, while keeping in some comedy to enlighten the viewer to always be positive.
True Heart Susie (1919)
True Heart Susie
D.W. Griffith was a Silent films era genius, this man created masterpieces. In this film, it is a love story between a little boy and little girl, who grow up together, this love story has a little of a spin to it. Most love stories it takes a little for them to both realize they love each other and for them to end up together. Well in True Heart Susie, Susie is in love with William who has no clue that she has those feelings for him, although she makes it as obvious as possible for him to actually understand her feelings he still does not understand. Well William tries going to college, but doesn't have the funding to be able to get into college, Susie finds out this information and sales her beloved cow that was passed to her from her mother as she died, this cow had great meaning to Susie but she sold it to get money for William to be able to go to college. William gets into college and moves away, when he returns from college he has finally been educated, but when William returns from his college life he comes back with a new women he is married to named Betty Hopkins who is only marrying him for his money and has affairs with him behind his back. Susie catches Betty, but loves William so much she can't tell him and therefore keeps her mouth shut, until one night Betty lies to William and leaves the house to go party. She didn't realize she lost her house key and was locked out in the rain and nasty weather for hours until she went to Susie's later on she would catch pneumonia. After Betty passes away Susie's aunt finally explains everything to William who then marries Susie. The way this movie catches you isn't only through the love story drams, but how you can follow Susie's emotions like you can almost feel what she is feeling, that is what makes True Heart Susie Significant silent film.
Hypocrites (1915)
Hypocrites *may contain spoilers*
Hypocrites was a silent film in the time zone of little special effects and a stationary camera, but Lois Weber found a way to add in complex details and have different camera angels for this movie. So much of this movie plays out as a pictorial quality, however Hypocrites was a very political and religious based movie, because at this time the world has started to become more corrupt. Much of the director Lois Weber's movies would be political and to the point, this movie however had a different start to it placing it in a normal Sunday sermon. As we know now it is harder to trust people than when we all first started out. The movie however takes place following our main character who is a Monk; the Monk sees the world for it is very self-full of hypocrisy. He starts seeing visions of a naked woman who helps him realize what is true, but as he tries to reveal the "naked truth" by building a statue of a naked woman, many of the town people react in riot, and the Monk gets stoned to death for his congregation. This movie however was a great start for the famous Lois Weber who not only being known for one of the first most successful women directors, but she also partook in being an actors and a producer. Lois Weber however a year after Hypocrites in 1916 would also be known as one of the greatest directors in the film magazines.