Robert Mitchum inspires a Clash song in The Night of the Hunter
You never know, but I might actually write about a movie this month for a change. Until then, submissions for my Foreign Film Festival and/or Caroline's World Cinema Series can be reported here.
April Foreign Film Reviews
- La Ronde (dir. Max Ophüls, France, 1950; reviewer: Dwight)
- La Zona (dir. Rodrigo Plá, Mexico, 2007; reviewer: Guy Savage)
- Little Dieter Needs to Fly (dir. Werner Herzog, Germany, 1998; reviewer: Séamus)
- Miss Bala (dir. Gerardo Naranjo, Mexico, 2011; reviewer: Guy Savage)
- My House in Umbria (dir. Richard Loncraine, England, 2003; reviewer: Caroline)
- The Blue Angel (dir. Josef von Sternberg, Germany, 1930; reviewer: Guy Savage)
- The Raid: Redemption [Serbuan Maut] (dir. Gareth Evans, Indonesia, 2011; reviewer: Novroz)
- The Rules of the Game [La Règle du jeu] (dir. Jean Renoir, France, 1939; reviewer: Richard)
Have you watched Varda's films? Two of them -- Cleo from 5 to 7 and Vagabond -- I rate as among the best of all movies ever -- and several of the others are more than worthwhile as well.
ResponderBorrarHere are my posts about Varda.
BorrarJeremy, I own a copy of Vagabond but haven't seen any other Varda films for some reason even though you're not the first person to rave about Cleo from 5 to 7 to me. Look forward to checking out your posts. Vagabond, by the way, was one of the first movies to turn me on to French filmmakers back when I was a much younger man--ah, those were the days!
BorrarMy recommendation is, Watch Cleo (and potentially do so several times, it is difficult to get tired of); then watch Pointe-Court (sp? This is her first movie, if memory serves, and is a lot of fun); then watch The Gleaners & I (recent documentary about people who live off the land in various modalities, 2002 or something?). When you have watched all of these watch her autobiography from 2010, The Beaches of Agnès. It is just a stellar, phenomenal movie, but the references to her body of work are the meat of the movie.
Borrar(Her other films, those I've seen, are much less in the "required watching" category. A friend described "One Sings, the Other Doesn't" as the very dregs of French cinema.)
BorrarJeremy, thanks for the follow-up guidance. I'll try and get to at least one or two other Varda films this year based on your road map recommendations. Cheers!
BorrarThere have been two others Guy has reviewed a Mexican movie and another one just today and someone else as well....
ResponderBorrarWe were slackers, Richard. Not that I'm not watching but I'm hardly ever in the mood to review them. Watched Volver but and... but
"Slackers" is a nice way to put it, Caroline, but I'm afraid I've really just been "a lousy host." Much less forgivable! Will look for Guy's posts and any others from people who have otherwise been in contact with me. What did you think of Volver, by the way? I remember liking it quite a bit, but it's been a while now. Cheers!
BorrarI did like it but didn't feel like reviewing it but tht doesn't mean I won't. I bought a collection of his movies and feel more like reviewing them together. (La mala educación, Todo sobre mi madre, Hable con ella) Any favourites?
BorrarI prob. like Hable con ella the best of all his films, but Todo sobre mi madre is another winner. Hated La mala educación, though. Do you have Carne trémula in that collection? It's usually considered to be one of Almodóvar's lesser films, but I thought it was a great genre workout when I last saw it several years ago. I have a feeling you might really like that one for some reason...
Borrarfan of Almodovar here--All About My Mother, High Heels, What Have I done to Deserve this? I suppose I prefer the earlier films.
BorrarRichard, no, I don't have Carne tremula. I'll investigate, thanks.
BorrarRichard, for one reason or the other Guy and other people cannot comment on your blog. Can you still not go back to the old format?
ResponderBorrarCaroline, thanks for letting me know about this recurring headache (I also noticed that the link to Séamus' Herzog post wasn't working in IE last night but it's now working in both Firefox and IE today). Unfortunately, Blogger apparently made a recent change to my comments settings that I didn't approve and wasn't aware of. I've just changed it back to the previous setting, so I hope this takes care of the problem for Guy and others.
BorrarI'll be traveling Monday but have a post scheduled on the 1950 movie version of La Ronde (highly recommended, by the way). Hopefully will be back online midweek, just in time to travel again the following week. I'm not sure if I'm coming or going at this point, and I'm sure it's not going to get better for a while.
ResponderBorrarI look forward to hearing about that, Dwight, in particular because I almost bought Ophül's La Ronde a couple of years ago before deciding on his The Earrings of Madame de... instead. Still haven't watched that one yet, but I think my dad liked it when I lent it to him. In any event, bon voyage to you!
BorrarI hope to watch some this montha as my better half is away and she hates subtitled films so may try to get couple watched ,sorry not had chance this year so far ,all the best stu
ResponderBorrar