Archived entries for Watch
Wow, I’ve just watched Through a Glass Darkly, a 1961 Swedish film directed by Through a Glass Darkly (apologies for no subtitles):
My last favourite movie I’ve recently watched is Wes Anderson’s The Royal Tenenbaums. Here a couple of my favourite scenes from the movie.
I’d only heard about John Woo’s Red Cliff recently in which epic and expensive were used to describe it, as well as the 4 hour length of the movie. However, I didn’t expect that Hollywood would agree to go ahead and show a straight 4 hour film in one go. My friend Alyssa, was going to go review it for an online mag so I tagged along, still recovering from cold/flu/sinus where I spent the whole day in bed watching Simpsons re-runs, Arachnophobia, Prince Caspian and Species. Fresh from the good trash, I was ready to be injected in some foreign, action packed John Woo style film. I was a bit disappointed that that the movie had been recut to 2.5hrs from the 4 hours of footage that was realised in China. In China, they had released Red Cliff in 2 parts with the each part being released a year apart.
This was the advanced preview screening of Red Cliff on a Sunday arvo in Newtown. Because of that, I’d expected that the cinema would be empty. Running late from trying to gulp down a dumpling soup lunch, the girl at Dendy warned that it was very full in there. So much for my expectation, we ended sitting 3 seats from the front. Because of our lateness we managed to miss 5 minutes of the movie to arrive at the battle between Lui Bei’s army and Cao Cao’s army. I sat there for the first ten minutes trying to absorb the action that was bursting out of the screen. The action was very very bloody, but unrealistic. I’ve known Woo’s directorial style from his previous Hollywood outings Face/Off and Mission Impossible 2 and his style of action is a slow, close up shot of the action. It provides another worldly element to the action. And this is what stops Red Cliff from becoming a gritty, full out bloody assualt.
Just to sum the movie up in a few sentences, Red Cliff is a war epic, based on actual events at the end of the Han Dynasty in China. This war paved way to the next era called the Three Kingdoms. Cao Cao, a Northern warlord, has conquered many lands in the North except the south land. The opening battle scenes are Cao Cao’s attempt to capture Lui Bei’s land, a southern warlord. Realizing that they are on the cusp of a defeat, Lui Bei’s army flees, and allies with Sun Quan, the emperor of the South. Together, their army totals 50,000 men, a very small army compared with the 800,000 men that Cao Cao has taken with him for this assault. The all out battle takes place at Red Cliff.
What I particularly enjoyed about this film is the humour that Woo chooses to weave the story with. It is humour that is cheesy, exaggerated but yet subtle. It gives the film a light hearted treatment, but this is not particularly bad in a war epic. With the 2.5 hour version, I felt that the story line was rushed, and some shots were not established in the previous shots which made some scenes jump out of nowhere or happen suddenly. This is very slight though, but noticeably to a very keen eye. I came home and tried to get a hold of the full 4 hour version. After watching the 4 hour version, the shots that were cut made the 2.5 hour movie feel full. Woo had cut a lot of the shots that characterised the main leads and showed them in a different light. The characters are given a full rounded treatment with likeable, human traits. We saw very little of Cao Cao’s army in the shortened version but more is explored in the full version. Any chance to see more of Tony Leung I would thoroughly recommend the full 4 hour version.
Stealing Beauty has one of the most striking film covers – a ‘naked’ Liv Tyler with those innocent eyes. A 1996 film, it was one of those films I had wanted to watch for ages but just never did for one reason or another. Directed by Bernado Bertolucci Stealing Beauty is in essence, a coming of age film where a naive 19 year old searches for love and a sense of belonging after her poet mother commits suicide, and of course, wanting to lose her virginity.
I’ve seen Bertolucci’s recent film, The Dreamers, although film snobs turn their nose against it, I found it enjoyable and provoking. The music from The Dreamers was a stand out and also Eva Green. Stealing Beauty, without doubt has that stunning brunette leading lady and the soundtrack is also a stand out. Famously, Portishead’s Glory Box and Mazzy Star in a sensually pleasing last scene of the movie.
Never mind the story line, at times a bit slow, other elements of the movie made it linger after in my mind. The cinematography of the Italian landscape if jaw-dropping beautiful as well as the interior space of the Italian home. Stealing Beauty, definitely pleasing to the eyes and ear.
Derived from Bryan Ferry’s song of the same title, Wong Kar Wai’s In The Mood For Love is a sensual delight for the senses! Its one of those films which leaves a lingering effect on you and remains completely unforgettable. I saw Chungking Express while I was studying film subjects at uni. However, In The Mood For Love left such an impression on me than Chungking Express that I went out and bought Wong Kar Wai’s collection of Ebay.
The cinematography by Christopher Doyle is astounding. Doyle’s sense of cinematography is at the fore, it tells the the story and the mood of the shot. I couldn’t resist taking snapshots throughout the film. These are a few of my favourite:
I definitely recommend In The Mood For Love, it left such a lasting impression on me!
How do you create tension without spoken words but with only the anticipation that something big will arise? And then when it doesn’t you feel cheated because thats what the typical Hollywood movie pre-determines that all movies will have a resolution at the end as well as the heightened action scene. The Coen brothers’ No Country For Old Men does exactly that. Superbly crafted and weaved for the viewer to fill in what the film does not.
Evan’s view of the Coen brothers craft is that no shot is ever wasted – everything is there for a reason to tell the viewer some hidden information about the movie. The classic cat and mouse movie has been done many many times where the hero always succeeds in the end. The fact that the mouse or the hero, Llewelyn is killed off scene rather than a long drawn out heroic scene, shows the Coen brothers decision not to follow the trends of the Hollywood genre.
The villain is an imposing figure throughout but you can’t help but feel a little pity for him.
The infamous gas gun
The lack of dialogue ensures that if there is dialogue, if its meant to be there, to draw the shots together. Suspension of belief is what draws the audience in as after all it is a fairly simple tale which does not bombard the audience with unnecessary details. A simple tale, if told well can hold much impact and force. This is exactly what No Country For Old Men does. Even the ending is left open for interpretation and we are left lapping for some bit of closure. Other than that, totally recommended!
The trailor:
So I’ve finally gotten round to watching Mulholland Drive by David Lynch. After scoring it for $6.95 at JB Hi Fi, it has been sitting on my to watch list. And now that I don’t have a full time job, I’m expecting to get a lot of my literature read and arty films watched. Sucks how working at a computer 8 hours of the day makes you feel a bit numb to challenging art and literature – I would prefer to watch things that don’t challenge my mind.
One of my friends loved this film and how much the story line confused him. I have never watched a David Lynch film but have read quite a bit about the director and some of his iconic work.
Mirrors – the perfect symbol of questioning identity.
After watching Mulholland Drive, I am experiencing a sort of a Lynch-imposed kind of confused, depressed and isolated feeling in my head. There are numerous underlying themes in Mulholland Drive and it leaves you disconnected to everything around you – your sense of identity and the things that make up your identity. It was also unsettling especially at the point when Lynch made me feel comfortable in the characters and the storyline and then in a split second, whatever you knew went out the room. It was an absolute overhaul of characters, themes established. And I watched the movie with the expectation that something like that would happen, but even then, it still threw me off my guard.
The theme of romantic lesbianism was prevalent
A case of copycat identity
I performed a wikipedia search on the movie, to at least provide some closure into what Mulholland Drive was about to only get the answer from Lynch that its open to interpretation. I initially thought that the first part of the film with Betty and Rita was the dream like state of Diana Selwyn. The Cowboy character walked past the door of the ‘dead’ Diana Selwyn and told her to wake up – like what ever happened in the first part was just a dream. Even through out the first part, there were allusions, side comments to the fact that it was a hyper real world, fake to its bone. However, I think that was definitely the obvious interpretation of the film and I keep wondering that Lynch probably has a better meaning to this rather than it was all a dream cop-out explanation. Anyhow, I think a couple more viewing sessions and the small details should piece together some underlying meaning. Interestingly, some critics urge viewers not to over analyse the movie. But when its a Lynch movie, how can you not?
Watch the trailor:
