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Barry Lyndon (1975)
Perfect Simplicity
A film that is wonderfully visual and for the most part featuring the top echelon of British society in the late eighteenth century. The screenplay is quite simple in that it shows the ascent and decline of Redmond Barry into and from the world of wealth. But he is not part of that world, his wealth being that of his wife, Lady Lyndon. His stepson, Lord Bullingdon, hates Barry and eventually contests a duel with pistols between he and his step father. Bullingdon seriously injures Barry in that duel and as a result forces Barry to leave but Lady Lyndon and England.
Quite simply one of the best examples of cinematic story telling ever. It underlines Kubrick as one of the greatest cinematicians ever.
Battlefield Earth (2000)
Well.....
I thought the film was much worse than it turned out. It looked interesting. Why can't space travelling aliens be less sophisticated than the tech they use?
I did like the effort clearly made to make everything about the aliens alien.
It did take a lot of liberties what with cavemen using C20 weapons - from rifles to Harriers to some sort of atomic bomb used to destroy a planet - but as the whole film was very kids cartoonish anyway, why was it unreasonable not to expect these points to be taken with a pinch of salt.
Mulholland Dr. (2001)
Enigmatic
Now I like 'thought provoking' art. Sometimes, I forget that a film, or for that matter a TV show can be the basis for 'artistic expression'. A simple narrative thread is sometimes what I want from a film. But some films require me to work hard at interpreting them, and then being satisfied that I have all I want from them in terms of achieving personal understanding of, indeed satisfaction in, what I have experienced.
Mulholland Drive is a film that demands interpretation by the viewer as the story is neither straightforward nor focussed, not building to some conclusion based on a fairly obvious 'timeline' and typically linear storylines.
It may be that the tale was meant to be spread over many television episodes a la Twin Peaks, and it's clear that the multiple storylines and disjointed timelines could well have fleshed out a far longer TV show - indeed I've only recently become aware that the film was, in large part, a pilot for a TV show.
As a viewer - I've seen the film twice now - I became aware that the first part might well have been Diane's dream based interpretation of her predicament as presented in the later part, ie what she would have liked her experience to have been rather than what it actually was. This became clear to me on my second viewing.
And what Lynch appears to me to be doing is building a world around Diane's dream(s). Whilst Diane would be aware through her dreams would be event outcomes - Lynch provides backdrop which perhaps may be best viewed as one way that the part perceived by Diane could have come about.
The 'dream state' and reality, like so many of my dreams/life share characters and situations which cross over to/from reality/dreams but which may differ radically - and this is what I see in Lynch's film.
The Diane's dreamworld/reality is focussed on what she perceives to be happening around her - Lynch offers a broader perspective on fact1ors which may determine both.
There is a relationship between our dreamstate and real lives. And the film appears to me to be about that - fleshing out a possible dreamword and illustrating the potential crossover between that and the reality of Diane's world as it could appear to an observer.
Lipstick on Your Collar (1993)
An entertaining if shallow piece of work and indicative of Potters decline.
Dennis Potter was one of the best UK TV drama writers, a position shared with Alan Bennett. Unlike the latter, Potters' work to my mind deteriorated as he grew older. All of his work features repressed sexuality that emerges in accord with situation and opportunity. In spite of what he had said about enjoying an unbounded sexual life, I believe though he may have yearned for such a life, his work was the nearest he ever got.
The six-partner is set in a changing Britain, and uses the background of the Suez emergency, which was Britain's last act as an imperial power. It focuses on a military intelligence unit based in the War Office which has an ambiance indicative of the then (less so today) highly class structured society.
Ewan McGreggor in a breakout role plays daydreamer Mick Hopper serving as a clerk/Russian linguist in a Whitehall based military intelligence unit during his last days as a national serviceman.
He works with a bully of a Corporal Pete Berry (Douglas Henshall), a socially inept Welshman/office newcomer, Private Francis Francis (Giles Thomas) supporting four stereotypical upper-class officers in the preparation of basic intelligence gleaned from Russian newspapers and documents obtained from outside sources. During the time that the drama takes place, the team is having to prepare a revised Battle Order although what this is and for whom its to be prepared is not explained (A 'Battle Order' is the organisation of military forces and may be considered to be similar to an businesses functional 'Organisation Chart').
The centre of the piece is the relationship each of the men have with Berry's wife the 'dumb blond' Sylvia Berry (Louise Germaine). As may be expected from Potter, it's the sexual relationships between the three men and the blond which are explored, each being different from the other. I use the term 'explored' loosely, they are clearly differentiated by extreme differences.
Over the six one-hour episodes, a tangled web emerges from which each gets what s/he deserves or desires - you'll need to watch to see who gets what and how!
The interrelationships between these four characters and aspects of Sylvia's private life in which see sells sexual favours to an organist who provides recitals on the organ at the cinema where Sylvia works (played by Roy Hudd) that are at the core of the piece.
Plot development is more happenstance than design. Chance events provide the key plot elements and these seem obviously unlikely. Potter did not develop any real background to the characters, they just 'are'.
At times, as in Potter's 'Blackeyes', I was of the impression that the nudity featured, both of Sylvia and a winged nude or 'Earth Angel' that Hopper dreams up while at work served no great purpose other than to titillate the audience and Potter especially.
An 'odd couple' are included, played by Maggie Steed and Bernard Hill, being Aunt Vicki and Uncle Fred to Francis Francis in whose flat he has been invited to stay during his military service. This flat, as it happens, is downstairs to that occupied by Corporal Berry and Sylvia, his wife. The two couples don't get on.
I don't think that the songs to which the characters lip-sync emerge either as subtly during or as relevant towards the piece as they did during Pennies From Heaven especially and tended to have a stand- alone quality, even though for the most part generally plot consistent and well staged.
The work was for me entertainment by way of vignettes rather than a developing storyline and it is for that reason that I don't think it ranks among his best works. It's clearly imitatively of the structure used in Pennies/Detective, but lacking in storyline and plot development. Unlike those two BBC dramas, this was produced for Channel 4. I wonder if the BBC would have produced it if given the option? I suspect not.
The work produced by Potter towards and at the time of his early death is not, and perhaps ought not be expected, to be of his best but it remains watchable, entertaining and well produced all the same and is of a quality exceeding most British TV of the time.