Jason's Blog, page 135

Alfred Hitchcock

Ernest Hemingway

Charles Bukowski

Scream Werewolf

Tom Adams does Raymond Chandler

Magritte

"And what will happen in the morning when the world it gets so crowded that you can't look out the window in the morning?"
Nick Drake, Hazey Jane II

Doc

The 70s version of the Shootout at the O.K. Corral, starring Stacy Keach as the doomed Doc Holliday, Harris Yulin as Wyatt Earp and Faye Dunaway as Kate Elder, directed by Frank Perry.

It's a great little Western, and probably the darkest version of this particular story. It has the slowness of the 70s films, it's not all about the plot - there's the little details that make Doc and Kate seem like real people. Everybody is dirty and unshaved, the actors mumble their lines (so it's a bit unfortunate that there is no subtitles option.) Dunaway must be the ultimate 70s actress - next to Karen Black, I guess - and she does a good job here. Keach and Yulin are both terrific, neither heroes or villains. And the actual shootout is not dragged out,15 seconds and it's over.

Should I give Tombstone a second chance? I didn't like it the first time I saw it. Maybe the director's cut... I also see there's a movie called Hour of The Gun, a sort of sequel to Gunfight at The O.K. Corral, by John Sturges, but with other actors and made ten years later.

Le Havre

An illegal immigrant meets an old shoeshiner in Le Havre. Directed by Aki Kaurismäki.

Possibly not Kaurismäki's best film, but very hard to resist. A mix of Poetic Realism and Deadpan Fairy Tale, with the usual Finnish melancholy underneath, and probably Kaurismäki's most political and most optimistic film. It's a long way from The Match Factory Girl. Old Aki is growing softer, like most of us. There's a belief in the community and the good of man. Without making you want to puke. The cinematography has a touch of Edward Hopper, with diagonal lines of light from the windows.

Empire of The Sun

An English boy is separated from his parents during the Japanese invasion of Shanghai. Starring Christian Bale and John Malkovich, directed by Steven Spielberg.

The film is Spielberg doing his best David Lean. The direction is mostly restrained, except for when it's not: the moments where "magical" is pushed up to 11. It's not a bad film, but there are many scenes that just don't ring true. At that point in his life Spielberg seemed to be unable to face the realities of war, so the film is pretty much about a boy who thinks that planes are really neat, and Malkovich stealing the shoes of a dead woman is about as dark as it gets. He did a better job with Saving Private Ryan and Schindler's List, without ever really losing that sentimental touch. I guess it wouldn't be a Spielberg film without it. Christian Bale is convincing in his part, though.

Kingdom of Heaven, director's cut

It's a long film and feels like it. I split it up in two viewings. One problem is that we never really get under the skin of the characters. How did people speak thousand years ago? According to films like this they spoke as if they were making speeches, saying stuff they had prepared the night before. I'm not sure I buy it. Where are the people who sound like idiots, like you and me? Really, they were all eloquent? All the time? But the film looks great. That's the least you expect from Ridley Scott. The money is up on the screen, as they say. The final battle scene is impressive. Rolando Bloom is maybe too lightweight, he doesn't have the gravitas of Liam Neeson who he's supposed to be the son of. Still... the film is pretty good, in a Hollywood kind of way, and better than the original, shorter version.