Jason's Blog, page 96

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Jean de Florette / Manon des Sources

Provence, France, after World War I. The battle for a water source on a piece of land leads to tragedy. Starring Gerard Depardieu, Yves Montand, Daniel Auteuil and Emmanuelle Béart, directed by Claude Berri.

French movies in the 80s was more than just Luc Besson or Betty Blue. I remember watching these two films when they came out. I liked the first one, but didn't quite see what all the fuss was about, and then it really paid off at the end of the second one. The three main actors are all terrific. Depardieu has become kind of a joke - it's easy to forget he was a good actor once. And Auteuil is great as a halfwit. It's a role that easily could have been overplayed. Re-watching the films, I pretty much remembered all of the first one, but for some reason had forgotten all but the ending of the second one. It's a nice change to see a film where the climax isn't cgi stuff blowing up, it's a conversation between two old people sitting on a bench. And it's riveting.

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Ulzana's Raid

Apaches go on a raid. Burt Lancaster and a group of soldiers are sent to capture them. Also starring Richard Jaeckel and at least two actors from Little House on the Prairie, directed by Robert Aldrich.

This is a good Western, but it's a pretty dark film, which might be why it flopped on release. We see a soldier shoot a white woman to prevent her from being raped and killed by Indians. We see dead men, tortured by Indians. Well, it happened. In the end, the film is more respectful to Indians than films from the 50s where they were played by white, blue-eyed actors. And of course, white people committed similar crimes. The editing in the film seems a bit off, as if scenes have been cut. The older Lancaster fit well in Westerns, and Aldrich put the Vietnam war into this one.

HB, meet Corto

I Got Loaded

Dr Strange