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When Eight Bells Toll (1971)
Not James Bond. A completely different animal.
Having read this as a teenager I still remember the opening scenes; the diving, the knife fight the cold water and so on. I didnt think of litteratur qualities then, however I was stunned by what I today, perhaps, would label effective storytelling. Alistair MacLean wrote the screenplay for the movie.
Generally people tend to compair this and everything else ( the brilliant Ipcress file for example) and I wonder why? It is I think because of the stereotypical need in intellectual discussions ( not this one though) like reviews, to cathegorize as a way to comprehend and neutralize what might be disturbing left alone. One brilliant example is Kubricks Full metal jacket, that completely defies such cathegorization; and due to that it remains as vital as when it was first screened.
This is not James Bond. It is far more realistic in action, far more violent, far far better acted with an effective storytelling. Another reviewer wrote accurately that Bond was turned into a clown, this brought back what was wanted. Where Bond was a cheap franchise, ( to be cheap has nothing to do with budget) needing the viewer to be a careless idiot, this brings something raw and with that something unsettling. Daniel Craig brought this quality to Bond to be fair. Maybe the two converge in an anachronistic way with a 40 year time lapse. Both containing great actors.
The only thing that you might want to loose in eight bells is the soundtrack.
Straw Dogs (1971)
Great and delicate thriller by Peckinpah
Third time seeing Sam Peckinpahs movie I am in awe. Being a fan of Peckinpahs since some time I can't help to think this is the movie that will not let you get lost in the use of violence. Peckinpah; much has been written about him as a rebel and perhaps (my own interpretation) as an existentialist. Almost always using his violence as a handle to tell something about the us, about the choices we make, some of his movies somehow manage to disguise his main themes of moral, life and choice.
Straw dogs is somewhat different. It is a spectacular thriller. Always close to the itching nerve of what is right it doesn't sway from what is uneasy; both in recognition and perhaps disgust; it is always there on the nerve of choice in difficult situations. Leaving you time to think, who am I? Nothing is black or white. It is up to you (or here Dustin Hoffman) to make the choices. WHEN TO MAKE THEM. The general struggle goes on in every community, in every social context (if not so harsh as here). And thats just the story.... As always montage in world class (the rape scene for ex) and wonderful actors.
That this hasn't been considered a masterpiece from the beginning says something of the time and the community where it was released. A remake as has been made; well we don not honestly try to repaint Vermeer, van Gogh or Michelangelo, do we ?
Körkarlen (1921)
One of the best movies of all time
This is perhaps among the best movies ever made. If you rent it or buy it, and take the time to see it you will never regret it. If you are tired of reviews, you can stop reading here....now run along and get it.
Based on Nobel laureate Selma Lagerlöfs tale about a carriage driving around on New Years eve, collecting the souls of the dead.The tale is at once a ghost story, a morality and a social statement much like the best of Charles Dickens. The film was made when movies were very young but as with many of those pictures by Lang, Murnau, Wiene and even Stiller, they remain very modern both in language and story. (In those days the best movies were made in Europe; Griffith seems ridiculous compared to this.)
The film was made in heaven by a true genius, Victor Sjöström. By the time he started to dabble with pictures he was an actor employed by the Swedish Royal Dramatic Theatre. He not only directed the movie, he played one of the main characters and built the backgrounds when needed. To help him along came camera man Julius Janzon and those two created magic much like Orson Welles and Gregg Toland would do on Citizen Kane, later.
If you're not simply captured by the movie, think of this: Janzon double exposed up to x9 to gain the ghost effects; on a hand turned movie camera.
For Sjöström, just to prove his genius, he moved to Hollywood to make a few movies including masterful renditions like "He Who Gets Slapped" with Lon Chaney and "The Scarlet letter" with Lilian Gish. Both are masterpieces and if you see these movies you will recognize Sjöströms mark. Some say he left Hollywood, disappointed, after having seen Stiller been treated bad by Hollywood's "industry". Legend or not, he did leave.
Ingmar Bergman gave Sjöström a tender and loving exit part; a beautiful homage; in his legendary "Wild Strawberries" from 1957. Sjöström played old professor of medicine, Isaac Borg, traveling through Sweden and at the same time through the memories of his life. Wild Strawberries in turn is another legendary film...but that's another story.
JCVD (2008)
Simply a must see!
Some early statements: I simply hate action films by JCVD, Steven Segal, Stallone and Schwartzenegger. Their movies are generally insulting to the viewers intellect, and often harbour doubtful messages concerning moral and solutions for the world. The acting is parody. (Acting in action flicks can be hard: compare Get Carter from -71 to Stallones) With exceptions;
Rocky (1) is a foolproof and enjoyable piece of classic American cinema, First Blood is watchable (interesting plot) and Terminator 1 and 2 are iconic in their own dark way. But thats all.
Having said this, I must say JCVD IS PURE Genius!!! A WONDERFUL MOVIE with BRILLIANT ACTING by none other than JCVD. I won't go into detail on the plot. To JCVD: "OSCAR worth performance!!! Keep it up! I Love that u proved me wrong.
Three Days of the Condor (1975)
Beautiful, sexy and quite brilliant conspiracy thriller nof topical interest
With this movie I must say Im quite bias. I ve loved it since I first saw it, somewhere when I was just a kid. Maybe the reasons have changed or deepened. I don't know. I don't think I understood it then, just caught a glimpse of an atmosphere or something.
Anyway, it is sublimely acted by all actors involved: Robert Redford, Faye Dunaway, Cliff Roberson John Houseman and many more. And by Max von Sydow...one of Swedens best actors who here shows just a little bit of his enormous talent as an actor. He very human portrait of a hired killer is among the the most complex I've seen. See his part and forget all other crappy you've seen through the times.
A standing ovation to Sidney Pollack for the direction.
Three days of Condor together with Bonnie and Clyde made me love the 70s in American cinema and for that I'm deeply in debt.
Ikiru (1952)
Simply one of the best
Simply one of the best movies ever made.
Every time I see this movie Im stunned by the fact of its sincerity:the sincerity of Kurosawas vision, and his courage to without compromises follow it through.
Embedded in a story of an old man, civil servant, who one day gets the information from his doctor that he suffers from stomach cancer, are all the the big features of great storytelling: allergorism truth, symbolism-take any choice from the dictionary. And its all told by the great humanist Akira Kurosawa, in his downplayed, earthy and somewhat warm ironic way. If you ever wondered about what Kurosawa was all about, watch this one.
It is a true catharsis.
Watch it!!
The Portrait of a Lady (1996)
Pictorial masterpiece based on a really good novel
I must say this first: Jane Campion is one of my absolute favorite directors and this is her most thoroughly worked-through piece of film yet and perhaps even her best film. (She has only had one failure and that was In the Cut, which instead was really bad.)
Saying this it goes without saying that i am astonished over the low rating on this movie, here at IMDb; it just tells you in the end that you can never be sure on what other people feel.
The Portrait of Lady, based on the brilliant 19C novel by Henry James, tells the story of a young orphaned woman, Isabelle Archer, who is taken under the wing by an aunt and later an uncle and a cousin, and brought to Europe. Being a woman "fond of her own ways" and her personal freedom, Isabelle guards her future very well; she declines a couple of favorable marriages in favour of her own independence. As she inherits money and becomes self sufficient, she travels through Europe and soon comes to realize that independence is quite a hard position to guard, and far more difficult to manage that in real life than just having the young persons idea of it. Her travels becomes a journey of maturity and struggle with herself.
What James novel so brilliantly exhibits is the mechanics of a mind of a young person, even a person of any age; and James does this so balanced.
Campions film in turn, takes on the essentials from the novel, drags it through a bit of Freud and end up with a version that transcends the barriers of time, up to our days. What Campion succeeds with is to modernize the novel; make it more accessible to a modern audience; and in the end, to portray what another costume piece did, Orlando; transcendence.
She does so with a brilliant cast (amaze yourself over the actors involved above!!) with Nicole Kidman in the lead as Isabelle. Others, to mention a few is Martin Donovan as her cousin Ralph, Richard E Grant as Lord Warbuton (like cut from the from the novel!! Brilliant!!), John Malkoviich as Osmond, Barbara Hershey as Madame Merle and John Gielgod (also brilliant here; so downplayed). All actors are brilliant, mentioned or not.
Although I really like Marin Donovan, who I think is a much neglected actor, it would have been interesting to see Malkovich as the consumptive cousin Ralph; the part was originally offered to him but got lost somewhere...).
Campion also have the magnificent help of cinematographer Stuart Dryburgh, who makes it possible to to render the movie its pictorial qualities, and in the end its total art impression, instead of just a costume drama.
Personally I like the Piano but it is reportedly to be only a prior sketch to this one.
My recommendation is SEE IT, no matter what judgment has been passed on it on these pages.
Providence (1977)
The "evils" that we project on others
Old, severely ill with with a piece of writers block and another piece of insomnia, John Gielgods protagonist one night, dreams up broken pieces of a story based in his own subconscious and emotional relationships to his family and friends.
And this night, racked with the pains of his illness and his guilt over a life spent living, it all combines into a claustrophobical nightmare. Or is it the truth ?
Resnais in this film presents us with with a very human condition; the possibility that we all construct the story of our lives to a larger extent, from pieces of the subconscious that we re not aware of or aren't just fit to handle objectively.
Beautifully shot, with John Gielgod as a master actor, supported by Dirk Bogarde and others, this movie was, I think, my first Resnais movie; it sticks with me in the passionate way of straight emotions like love hate or whatever you desire, combined with the small faults that makes us all human; unable not to come back to again and again.
It ends beautifully with a kind of a promise about the human soul.
Brendon Chase (1980)
Marvellous piece of boyhood fantasy
After seeing a couple of episodes of this i tried to scuff out the back door, having nicked my fathers soft air rifle, and a packed a bag with necessities; all in haste. It was summertime, and he caught me... I dropped the rifle in the deep grass or something, in order to hide it...cant remember.What I do remember is that i really broke some sweat trying to cover up my wild fantasies; to not have em destroyed by some grown ups devastating, overseeing smile or explanation. I must have been around 10.
That is what this series did to me and not just me but a lot of same aged boys that i hang around with at the time. I really can say that it asserted the beginning of some kind of wild independence and dream, that i think that I've since then have nurtured inside. And I learned...we all did, my friends and I, about nature, about emancipation and empathy and stuff that we really couldn't spell or even pronounce then. It completely fit our lives as a childhood version of a voluntary Robinson Crusoe or even Robin Hood, if you take away the robbery from the last. About the only other tale that have given rise to those excited youngster feelings in me, although in later years and then in retrospect, is John Boormans "Hope and Glory".
The story starts like this: three brothers are sent away to a dull existence on a summer vacation, during the 1920s. Being fed up they take their voluntary refuge to a large wooded area, where they manage to start a new life; atoned to nature.
The vote is for my memories of the series. Pictures still linger in my brain.
Dai-bosatsu tôge (1966)
Darkness visible
This is the story of violence and human nature. What kind of responsibility and, utterly, consequences does it lead to if handled to lightly.
As for the Japanese elements in this movie for sure, the blade of the katana comes to be correlated to a mans soul.
Ryunosuke is a young samurai that puts his skill with the sword above all else in life. In a sense, he tries to live the true way of bushido, the way of the samurai, always living with death as a companion. When it comes to the choice between the sword and compassion, he always chooses the path of the blade over the other never leaving any doubts when it comes to brutality. In doing so he respects no boundary of life, neither others nor his own, until he ultimately distances himself to what it is to be human.
All this to serve a codex that becomes more and more pointless as times goes on.
But can a man live if he isn't mankind?
This is a very dark film. As dark as they come, i would say. That is, without "posing", as many dark films of today do. It is also a very beautiful film in many senses.
Hauntingly black and white photography (ive never heard of the cinematographer before but goddamn, he is skilled) combined with a strong, superficially simplistic story that combines all the good elements of Greek tragedy ( Never thought Id write such a cliché!!!-but including going from pragmata (peoples doings), to harmatia (misstake) and ending in some kind of katharsis (release) is Aristoteles definition and he was Greek, so...lol). If you think that tragedy means boooooooriing, You'll HAVE ANOTHER THING COMING, Ill promise you that much. Direction is flawless very beautiful and the acting comes as good as it can be, from ALL actors included
I just recently saw it for the first time. Then I saw it AGAIN a week later, because it HAUNTED me. And now I'm up for a 3rd time for the same reasons. It has come be my favorite movie with Toshiro Mifune, who only has a small and very downplayed part in it. It succeeds in bringin forward Mifunes great presence magnificently. Not wanting to say too much, he in many way represent the katharsis in the movie.
Conclusion is: Rent or buy it Yesterday, if you aren't afraid to wrestle your soul.
The Emerald Forest (1985)
A Boorman Classic
A movie that totally blew me away when I first saw it. Somehow I've missed out on anything like it if there is. Why?
It contains action, drama and has somewhere I think a conscience, but I'm not sure.
Mr Boorman is such a talented filmmaker who every time somethings bordering on getting personal, might it be action or drama or feelings in general, put a little distance between the audience and the camera again. Its not much, hardly noticeable.
What is does however is that it render the movie tones of reality, tiny pieces of documentary that somehow also makes it a powerful statement without indulging in pointers. Still its no lame movie. It just has nuances
This might be seen as total contrast to many Hollywood action movies, who instead indulge themselves in personal feelings of the protagonists, and even heighten them technically, in order to manipulate the audience to co-feeling. We as an audience are relieved of the responsibility of our feelings, somewhat.
Mr Boorman leaves us with a choice.
Something about the story then: An American architect works in south America, on the border of the Amazon, One day his young son is kidnapped by indians....cant tell you more. Sorry... :). This is the start off.
A must see....
Hana-bi (1997)
Kitanos painting
Remember seeing this a probably the first movie after a the major works of Kurosawa. What haunted me then and still do is the the still breeze that you encounter at a sunset sitting on some cliffs, close by the sea. That feeling of a greater perception, or strengthened senses that you sometimes get in those moments. When you somehow are almost able to touch the essence of life.
Odd facts about the movie first; all the paintings in the movie were made by Kitano himself. If You feel that Kitano look somewhat odd in his right half of his face you're right. According to an interview with him, he had just crashed with a motorcycle, and been treated for it on a hospital. The result is that his nerves in the face were somehow damaged so that he for instance had to wipe his right eye again again since it continued to fill up with tears fluid.
I know that the above is a weird intro to a movie with the following resume, but have a look at it;
Nishi is an old tough fox of a detective in metropolitan Tokyo. His personal life is in a turmoil though, since he has recently lost a child and his beloved wife has been diagnosed with fatal leukemia. This has already driven him into the hands of Yakuza, from which he has taken a loan to pay the hospital . To make things worse his long time partner gets shot and thereby handicapped, while fulfilling a surveillance job on Nishis behalf, in order to make it possible for Nishi to visit his wife. Another policeman gets shot while he and Nishi is trying to catch the killer. For all this Nishi feels deeply responsible and set him on the track to figure out some way to solve it all.
The imagery is deliberately composed to be permeated with stillness, often presented with the characters shot a frontal shot, doing nothing. Then suddenly there is a burst of action followed by other still imagery. Its as if we travel through a gallery of pictures.
The editing itself puts no point to being continuous but rather present each individual image as a whole (Deleuze) which in turn make the plot not very linear. The distinctive cutting however never leaves the audience with a feeling of discontent, even though it sometimes takes some figuring when what is happening. The stillness however permits this reflexion and more of it.
Dialogue is very sparse and is almost always performed by others than Nishi. Sound itself is treated to heighten the reality in some places. Finally an oddball; the music renders the movie a feeling of some American 70 police movie which is odd if u consider the above.
Finally a comment; I doubt you ever regret having seen this movie.
Nora inu (1949)
Beautiful ,quite unknown, movie
Stray dog comes out as a very beautiful film about human existence, dressed in the clothes of film noir and German expressionism. Shot in black and white, it tells the story of a young detective in post-war Japan, who gets his gun stolen. Shame propels the young detective on to a journey through the Japanese society, in search of the gun all the while the gun is being used to commit crimes. The society he enters during his chase is a torn and chaotic one, and the young detective soon learns that to get back gun and restore some of his honor, he have to resolve to use more wit and cunning than he is used to. He is also required to understand the society he is trying to penetrate. To aid him and to realize this he has an older detective, played by the always marvelous Takashi Shimura. He enters the life of the young detective with an enigmatic power and balanced pathos that brings the legendary relationship between a roshi and his pupil in zen, to mind. Kurosawa has a way of contrasting the beautiful and life-promoting forces intertwined with the ugly and nihilistic forces, that renders some of his forces extraordinary dept and life. This is one of those pictures.
Ying xiong (2002)
A camera-painters view on the origin of China
Hero is as said by fellow reviewers to be something extraordinarily beautiful and I cannot but completely agree. It beautiful both in form and plot, which seem to have been created to intertwine seamlessly.
Cinematographer Chris Doyle, often working with Wong kar-Wai, has been given the possibility to use colours without restraint and has used this possibility to its full potential. Yimou has never failed me so far when it has turned to humanistic plots, and Hero is no exception. The misconceptions that it has no plot, probably finds its foundation in the mythological landscape of ancient China. Here we deal with things that occurred during the emperor Chi'n, the founder of China, and a mythological person himself, almost. The spectra of other persons or creatures in the plot often have names like wind and such, making it possible to see that this picture acts at many levels and that as it concerns the struggle between persons it might also concern the struggle of the forming of a young nation, against the elements here in anthropomorphic mould . It is a myth and a saga....
Now I know absolutely nothing about Chinese culture, nothing worth a dime in something more than a lottery anyway...but this I know; Yimou has here created a masterpiece working on many levels which still set my mind on philosophical thoughts at the same time as I get blown away by fantastic action and incredible imagery all painted by the masters of Chinese film ( even if at least one of them is native Australian.)