World Cinema

[Irene Wilde]

Watched a classic of British cinema last night: Michael Caine in Alfie. A cad for the ages! Colorful, imaginative, funny without being heartless. And all filmed in London! Made me heartsick that I will only get one day there this summer. Another Brit film from this week was This Sporting Life with Richard Harris, one of the best of the so-called "Kitchen Sink" dramas from the late 50s/early 60s, filmed in glorious black and white.

 

[Irene Wilde]

M. Thomas is on holiday, so he's not here to appreciate it, but this week's French film was The Last Metro. So cool.

And Britain's contribution to this week's viewing was Stephen Fry's Bright Young Things -- taken from Evelyn Waugh's Vile Bodies. Uneven, but then I understand the book is, too. Even so some lovely performances.

This weekend -- Cabaret. Nothing says "I'm leaving for Berlin in two weeks" like green nail polish and Joel Gray in guy-liner.

 

[Jan Mbali]

The quiet lyrical perfection of Tree of Wooden Clogs stands out for me. Especially as it came out around the time of the brash "Mil novicento" (by Bertoluci) and Padre Padrone. All three were crits of the social order - the first two both in set in the Po valley in Italy at the turn of the century. Fontamara by Ignazio Silone is one of the most perfect novels I have read and echoes Tree of Wooden Clogs in terms of its lyrtical intensity and simple rural speech (or visual images in the case of the film) although the novel is set in the 1930s.

Images from films are emerging from my subconscious as I age, many watched in film clubs as a teenager in the late 1960s at boarding school in the UK. Such as the Wajda trilogy about the Warsaw uprising (Ashes and Diamonds, etc): Kurasawa, the Apu Trilogy from India (Sajita Ray), To Die in Madrid, Battle for Algiers and other classic semi-documentaries. That film about Christ (The gospel according to St Mathew) by Pasolini, a communist using peasant actors. And Cocteau's Orpheus, with hell portrayed as an endless series of meaningless committees. How well I understand that now! And many others. I sometimes wonder what secret work the imagesahve been doing in my subconscious. Are youngsters today getting that international cultural exposure? I have not seen any evidence in South Africa, although it should be a part of any good school's curriculum. A rich source of the kind of knowledge, thought and emotion that feeds humanism.

Excuse my spelling of half remembered names

Jan Mbali

 

[spooooool]

Bresson's Diary of a Country Priest is now out on dvd in the UK, and for Brit classics, Powell and Pressburger, The LadyKillers, Michael Powell's Peeping Tom, Stephen Frear's Prick Up Your Ears, My Beautiful Laundrette, Went the Day Well?, just about all of Terence Davies, and a good deal of Stephen Poliakoff

 

[Irene Wilde]

Are youngsters today getting that international cultural exposure? I have not seen any evidence in South Africa, although it should be a part of any good school's curriculum. A rich source of the kind of knowledge, thought and emotion that feeds humanism.

In America, the problem is abundance without guidance. There are so many films and so many outlets for them (cable, DVD, the ubiquitous Netflix account), but very little to guide people, young or old, to classics of international cinema. And young people being young people, are easily put off by subtitles and even black and white cinematography. Elsewhere, a chum (my good friend I call Mr. Benchley here) and I have started a sort of "film of the month" discussion to try to enlighten those that are interested. I had to compare "The Wages of Fear" to "Star Wars" to entreat people to participate, but it was worthwhile.

 

[Irene Wilde]

Bresson's Diary of a Country Priest is now out on dvd in the UK, and for Brit classics, Powell and Pressburger, The LadyKillers, Michael Powell's Peeping Tom, Stephen Frear's Prick Up Your Ears, My Beautiful Laundrette, Went the Day Well?, just about all of Terence Davies, and a good deal of Stephen Poliakoff

Ooooooh, spooooool! You've named some good ones! In fact, I need to transfer "Prick Up Your Ears" and "My Beautiful Laundrette" pretty soon. Saving "The LadyKillers" to double bill with "Our Man in Havana."

 

[Eric]

I saw a film on TV last night (for the second time), which was funny and moving by turns: Scenes of a Sexual Nature. Director Ed Blum, UK, 2006.

The Wiki tells you much more:

Scenes of a Sexual Nature - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In my opinion, a very fine film, even worth watching the second time around.

Not a porn movie for virgins... I'm glad there are still some idealists around that want to make films, as opposed to blockbuster money-spinners.

 

[Sybarite]

I've just reached the end of a difficult few weeks and, last night, sat down indulgently in front of Hellboy on TV. It's huge fun and proof that you can make entertaining, action films without sacrificing all character and style. I'm looking forward to the sequel.

Director Guillermo del Toro is, of course, also well known for the excellent Pan's Labyrinth, but I would also heartily recommend El Espinazo del diablo (The Devil's Backbone), a really superb film from 2001. On the surface, a straightforward ghost story set at the end of the Spanish Civil War, it's about far, far more than that. Intelligent filmmaking with a couple of wonderful (and very moving) performances from Federico Luppi and Marisa Paredes.

 

[Jan Mbali]

Just remembered two films about crazy poets, one of which was made by an "old boy" from my school in the UK: Karel Reisz (July 21, 1926 – November 25, 2002) - "Morgan: a suitable case for treatment". He came to the school and discussed it with us after we viewed it. I cannot remember a single thing that was asked or answered - not surpising considering how naive and unworldy we were. I remember the film quite clearly, however. And then there was "A fine madness," starring Sean Connery, which I recall much less well. Trying to figure out why. Something about black and white being somehow more memorable than colour may have something to do with it, but this is coupled with much better visually composed scenes - which included a strong social context. I have never been to New Jersey, but watching the Sporanos put me in a version of it and the background sticks in the mind, connected to some action or other. "A fine madness" was built around Connery and the milieu was more incidental. Can this conclusion be applied to novels and writing in general?