I just went and viewed Cave of Forgotten Dreams. It was what I hoped for - positive, enlightening and quite literally dreamlike at times. The narration at the end really articulated some thoughts that I couldn't quite put my finger on before. Herzog's voice is so uncannily soothing to me, like a god's voice. The cave paintings, that were the central focus of the documentary, date back 32,000 years. I knew going in to the film, having seen a few of Herzog's other documentaries, that the existential narration was inevitable and welcomed. The film progressed how I envisioned it, more or less, but the last scenes really brought out some feelings that made for an incredible experience. Don't miss this one in theaters.
I have only seen animated 3D films before this adventure. It was an interesting experience. I found my eyes focusing on different depths on the screen, much like they focus in real life. I never felt this way during my viewings of Coraline (Selick, 2009) or The Nightmare Before Christmas (Selick, 1993) in 3D. If you let yourself, you can really be there... what a gift.
Friday, June 17, 2011
Sunday, June 12, 2011
a chance sighting
This morning I picked up an old copy of Sight and Sound, The British Film Institutes International Film Magazine. It was the June, 2008 edition. Upon stumbling through the still crisp pages, I found something lost in the corner of the page. A short essay from Pedro Costa, a Portuguese director, on his view of independent filmmaking. Thus, it goes like this...
CINEMA IS NOT A LUXURY
I now shoot on video, which is very cheap, so it's very simple for me to make a budget. All I need is enough money just to live every month, me and three or four friends: one for the sound, one to help me with the camera, another to assist me - and the actors of course. We always try to have this balance or harmony, all being paid more or less the same. I want to show that cinema is not a luxury, it's not just for very rich and glamorous people. It can be made with less money. It can be made with justice.
The people I work with understand that. But at the same time it's hard work every day, like building a house, as Ventura says. But it's something that still has a relation to the real world, which I didn't find in the films I assisted on, even some films I made with conventional crews. There was too much fiction behind the camera, and not enough in front. There were too many games played behind the camera, and in front of the camera was a mess.
It took me a long time to find this balance between what happens behind and in front of the camera - I'm talking about human relationships, about politics, about how the money is distributed, how you behave every day. For me it's more about that than the artistic work. There's a piece of paper here on my wall in my house; It's a quote by Brecht and it says that the organization took us much more time and energy than the artistic work. If you can make the organization fair, simple and human, I think that the film will find it's way, it's shots, it's heart.
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Sidney Lumet - June 25th 1924 - April 9th 2011
Cinema loses a true champion today, one of my favorites... Director Sidney Lumet dies at age 86 after making masterpiece films for 6 decades. 12 Angry Men, Dog Day Afternoon, Serpico, Network, Murder on the Orient Express and 50 more. Few if any have the longevity that Lumet had in the industry.
I remember in my 'intro to film' class, on the first day we were asked to write a review of any film. The teacher, Edwin Arnold, wanted to get a sense of our understanding of cinema, and probably catch a scent of our taste preferences and writing style. I chose Murder on the Orient Express and got an A. I have the paper around here somewhere, I was going to post it, in all of it's 'original freshman year embarrassing glory'... but I looked for 20 minutes and couldn't find it. Either way the memory remains of Sidney, his great contribution, and my first film paper I ever wrote.
Mk
I remember in my 'intro to film' class, on the first day we were asked to write a review of any film. The teacher, Edwin Arnold, wanted to get a sense of our understanding of cinema, and probably catch a scent of our taste preferences and writing style. I chose Murder on the Orient Express and got an A. I have the paper around here somewhere, I was going to post it, in all of it's 'original freshman year embarrassing glory'... but I looked for 20 minutes and couldn't find it. Either way the memory remains of Sidney, his great contribution, and my first film paper I ever wrote.
Mk
Mk's Top 100 films: 1-25
Installment 1 of 4 of Mk's 100 favorite films of all time, the top 25. (according to personal taste & nostalgia, quality in craftsmanship, and/or cinematic importance)
25. The Squid and the Whale - (Noah Baumbach, 2005) - USA
24. The Royal Tenenbaums - (Wes Anderson, 2001) - USA
23. 8 1/2 - (Federico Fellini, 1963) - Italy
22. Rear Window - (Alfred Hitchcock, 1954) - USA
21. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre - (John Huston, 1948) - USA
20. Murder on the Orient Express - (Sidney Lumet, 1974) - USA
19. Citizen Kane - (Orson Welles, 1941) - USA
18. Pulp Fiction - (Quentin Tarantino, 1994) - USA
17. Rocky - (John Alvidsen, 1976) - USA
16. Harold and Maude - (Hal Ashby, 1971) - USA
15. Seven Samurai - (Akira Kurosawa, 1954) - Japan
14. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned... - (Stanley Kubrick, 1964) - USA
13. Breathless - (Jean-Luc Godard, 1960) - France
12. Annie Hall - (Woody Allen, 1977) - USA
11. Back to the Future - (Robert Zemeckis, 1985) -USA
10. Modern Times - (Charles Chaplin, 1936) - USA
9. Easy Rider - (Dennis Hopper, 1969) - USA
8. Taxi Driver - (Martin Scorsese, 1976) - USA
7. Barry Lyndon - (Stanley Kubrick, 1975) - USA
6. The Godfather pt. I & II - Frances Ford Coppola, 1972/1974) - USA
5. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou - (Wes Anderson, 2005) - USA
4. It's a Wonderful Life - (Frank Capra, 1946) - USA
3. Week End - (Jean-Luc Godard, 1967) - France
2. Red Beard - (Akira Kurosawa, 1965) - Japan
1. 2001: A Space Odyssey - (Stanley Kubrick, 1968) - USA
Mk
25. The Squid and the Whale - (Noah Baumbach, 2005) - USA
24. The Royal Tenenbaums - (Wes Anderson, 2001) - USA
23. 8 1/2 - (Federico Fellini, 1963) - Italy
22. Rear Window - (Alfred Hitchcock, 1954) - USA
21. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre - (John Huston, 1948) - USA
20. Murder on the Orient Express - (Sidney Lumet, 1974) - USA
19. Citizen Kane - (Orson Welles, 1941) - USA
18. Pulp Fiction - (Quentin Tarantino, 1994) - USA
17. Rocky - (John Alvidsen, 1976) - USA
16. Harold and Maude - (Hal Ashby, 1971) - USA
15. Seven Samurai - (Akira Kurosawa, 1954) - Japan
14. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned... - (Stanley Kubrick, 1964) - USA
13. Breathless - (Jean-Luc Godard, 1960) - France
12. Annie Hall - (Woody Allen, 1977) - USA
11. Back to the Future - (Robert Zemeckis, 1985) -USA
10. Modern Times - (Charles Chaplin, 1936) - USA
9. Easy Rider - (Dennis Hopper, 1969) - USA
8. Taxi Driver - (Martin Scorsese, 1976) - USA
7. Barry Lyndon - (Stanley Kubrick, 1975) - USA
6. The Godfather pt. I & II - Frances Ford Coppola, 1972/1974) - USA
5. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou - (Wes Anderson, 2005) - USA
4. It's a Wonderful Life - (Frank Capra, 1946) - USA
3. Week End - (Jean-Luc Godard, 1967) - France
2. Red Beard - (Akira Kurosawa, 1965) - Japan
1. 2001: A Space Odyssey - (Stanley Kubrick, 1968) - USA
Mk
Monday, March 21, 2011
Au Revoir Les Enfants (Louis Malle, 1987)
5/5 stars - a netflix instant view
This film is from the French auteur Louis Malle. Malle started his career collaborating with legendary film directors Robert Bresson and Jacques Cousteau. Cousteau was the inspiration for Wes Anderson's The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004). He also collaborated with Miles Davis, who scored Malle's first feature film, Elevator to the Gallows (1958). Louis Malle directed 33 films over the span of 41 years.
Au Revoir Les Enfants translates to "Goodbye, Children" in English. This film is an autobiographical account of Malle's life as an eleven year old boy in Roman Catholic boarding school, during Nazi occupied France. As a WWII film, or Holocaust film for that matter, Au Revoir ranks among the best and most personal. The film is almost entirely based in the confounds of the boarding school, yet resonates the entire experience of fear and anxiety associated with the Jewish people in this horrible era of human history. The film doesn't just explore the ideas and atrocities laced within the war, but also endears a common truth about what it is like to be young. Malle's remembrance of the these times encounters those who fought for equality and morality, as well as those who fought to damn the Jewish race. This film is one of the most endearing and powerful experiences ever processed through cinema. It is a true telling of the most disgusting and unfair time in human existence, but it does not rely on blood and gunfire to get to it's point. It is a story about heroes and villains, with one of the most powerful endings ever imagined... and it really happened.
On a side note - Malle creates the most delightfully touching and sentimental homage to Charlie Chaplin, when the boys watch The Immigrant (Chaplin, 1917). The scene comes along right before the end of the film and it reinforced my feelings of how film can be used to escape the world around us... if only for a moment.
Mk
This film is from the French auteur Louis Malle. Malle started his career collaborating with legendary film directors Robert Bresson and Jacques Cousteau. Cousteau was the inspiration for Wes Anderson's The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004). He also collaborated with Miles Davis, who scored Malle's first feature film, Elevator to the Gallows (1958). Louis Malle directed 33 films over the span of 41 years.
Au Revoir Les Enfants translates to "Goodbye, Children" in English. This film is an autobiographical account of Malle's life as an eleven year old boy in Roman Catholic boarding school, during Nazi occupied France. As a WWII film, or Holocaust film for that matter, Au Revoir ranks among the best and most personal. The film is almost entirely based in the confounds of the boarding school, yet resonates the entire experience of fear and anxiety associated with the Jewish people in this horrible era of human history. The film doesn't just explore the ideas and atrocities laced within the war, but also endears a common truth about what it is like to be young. Malle's remembrance of the these times encounters those who fought for equality and morality, as well as those who fought to damn the Jewish race. This film is one of the most endearing and powerful experiences ever processed through cinema. It is a true telling of the most disgusting and unfair time in human existence, but it does not rely on blood and gunfire to get to it's point. It is a story about heroes and villains, with one of the most powerful endings ever imagined... and it really happened.
On a side note - Malle creates the most delightfully touching and sentimental homage to Charlie Chaplin, when the boys watch The Immigrant (Chaplin, 1917). The scene comes along right before the end of the film and it reinforced my feelings of how film can be used to escape the world around us... if only for a moment.
Mk
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Mk's ten best directors
A simple list of my ten favorite film directors. Accompanied by 3 characteristics of their work. These directors are complete filmmakers, or auteurs http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auteur_theory.
10. Federico Fellini http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federico_Fellini
- nostalgic, carnivals, italiano
9. Wes Anderson http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wes_anderson
- off beat, creating, colorful
8. Martin Scorsese http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Scorsese
- new york, existential, frequent
6. Joel & Ethan Coen http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joel_and_Ethan_Coen
- the dude, the blood, the craftsmenship
5. Charlie Chaplin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Chaplin
- little tramp, greater good, innovator
4. Alfred Hitchcock http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Hitchcock
- macabre, suspense, master of
3. Jean-Luc Godard http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Luc_Godard
- defiant, groundbreaking, important
2. Akira Kurosawa http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akira_Kurosawa
- simple, complicated, humanistic
1. Stanley Kubrick http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Kubrick
- perfection, repetition, perfection
Mk
10. Federico Fellini http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federico_Fellini
- nostalgic, carnivals, italiano
9. Wes Anderson http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wes_anderson
- off beat, creating, colorful
8. Martin Scorsese http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Scorsese
- captivating, preserving, pop music
7. Woody Allen http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woody_allen- new york, existential, frequent
6. Joel & Ethan Coen http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joel_and_Ethan_Coen
- the dude, the blood, the craftsmenship
5. Charlie Chaplin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Chaplin
- little tramp, greater good, innovator
4. Alfred Hitchcock http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Hitchcock
- macabre, suspense, master of
3. Jean-Luc Godard http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Luc_Godard
- defiant, groundbreaking, important
2. Akira Kurosawa http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akira_Kurosawa
- simple, complicated, humanistic
1. Stanley Kubrick http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Kubrick
- perfection, repetition, perfection
Mk
instant viewings' inaugural post...
My basic concept for this blog is to provide insight into films that I feel are good and important, and to get you to watch them. I decided to focus on instant streaming films from Netflix, seeing as how every movie conscious mind has easy access to them. Currently showing films of interest that are in theaters will be included as well. I will also post lists of ten bests, 100 greatest, etc. I encourage followers to send me their lists, to be posted along with mine. Interesting film happenings, thoughts on filmmakers and other info will also be a smaller portion of posts. Pass along this site to anyone you think would be interested in following...
Mk
Mk
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