FORBIDDEN GAMES (1952)

A.K.A.: Jeaux Interdits

Country: France

Genre(s): Drama / War

Director: Rene Clement

Cast: Brigitte Fossey / Georges Poujouly / Amedee

Plot

Orphaned by German bombs, a little girl is taken in by a family of farmers.  She befriends the youngest son of the family and the pair begins constructing a cemetery for dead animals.

What I Liked

*spoiler alert*

The most impressive aspect of “Forbidden Games” are the moving and convincing performances from its two child leads, Georges Poujouly as Michel and particularly little Brigitte Fossey as Paulette bring all the necessary innocence and emotionality to their characters and rarely come off as child actors, but rather child characters.  Six year old Fossey’s believable performance as the traumatized, confused, frightened, and loving Paulette is the real source of the movie’s emotional impact.  She never seems to be reciting lines some off screen adult just told her; her emotions and tears seem completely genuine; and the filmmakers never go the easy route of idealizing the little girl either.  She seems like a real child caught up in events far beyond her control that are thoroughly confusing her.  Poujouly’s portrayal of wild Michel, the older boy who looks after Paulette and helps her steal crosses for the cemetery, is equally believable.  Michel is imaginative and unrestrained, but also thoughtful and idealistic (without being idealized).

One of the most striking themes of the film is that the adults are every bit as immature, selfish, and irrational as one would expect the children to be.  The opening scenes showing the terror and absurdity of war are of course the most blatant depictions of this, yet even on a smaller scale, the grown-ups are so concerned with family feuds and judging others that their actions are sometimes comic relief and at others horrifically tragic.  Ultimately, it is the children who are the most loving and moral, only to see their trust and honesty martyred by the adults.

What I Disliked

“Forbidden Games” is a tale of rural people adherent to their rustic traditions, feuds, and daily chores.  Outside of the historic backdrop of Nazi invasion, one will find little here in the way of action or even melodrama. A slice-of-life, coming-of-age story, those who seek high adventure, star-crossed romance, or epic production values will be disappointed by how slowly the plot progresses.  The climax comes unexpectedly, not with a roar or blast, but with anguished realism.

Most Memorable Scene

*spoiler alert*

For a film that begins and ends with heartbreak, my choice is between the opening and closing moments.  Ultimately, the sadness of the opening scene only heightens the further unhappiness of the ending, so it is the ending which becomes the most moving and leaves the viewer with its most memorable image of a desperate little girl lost in a mass of equally desperate strangers.  I should have expected an unhappy ending to this film, but somehow the coming-of-age story and the rustic setting must have instilled some denial in my mind that allowed me to be totally crushed by the events of the film’s conclusion.

My Rating: 4 out of 5

IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE (2000)

A.K.A.: Fa Yeung Nin Wa

Country: Hong Kong

Genre(s): Drama / Romance

Director: Kar Wai Wong
Cast: Tony Leung Chiu Wai / Maggie Cheung / Ping Lam Siu

Plot

Two neighbors, a man and a woman in 1960s Hong Kong, believe that their respective spouses are having an affair.  Brought together by this, they form a meaningful but complicated friendship.

What I Liked

Just as “The Bicycle Thief” is poetry in the form of motion picture (as I mentioned in a previous entry), so is “In the Mood For Love.”  Much of the importance in this story and its characters is in what goes unsaid, indeed what is impossible to put into words.  Thus “In the Mood For Love” can’t be anything but a movie.  Its impact and beauty would be weakened in the format of a novel, a painting, a song, or even a written poem.

What makes this film interesting and moving is the way the characters relate to each other, their approach to their situation.  They never fully confront the infidelity of their spouses or what to do about it; nor do they openly discuss their mutual attraction to one another and what to do about that.  Yet they never ignore either issue, approaching them sideways, passively, and sometimes cleverly, veiling their hurt in politely uttered pleasantries, discussions about short stories, and even pretend to be their unfaithful spouses, rather than themselves.  Indeed, their story is most effectively told not in what they say but in their facial expressions, their glances, their walks and their gestures.  The physical movements of both characters as they constantly flirt with the space between each other have all the balletic elegance of a great dance performance, yet these are simply two lonely people moving beautifully through their daily lives and through each other’s lives.

I mentioned earlier that “In the Mood For Love” could never work as a painting.  While that’s true, there are visuals here that certainly have the feel of a moody painting.  Director Kar Wai Wong makes seductive use of colors, be they glowing neons or cool shadows, which makes the viewer an unknowing but thoroughly mesmerized participant in his own absorption into the moment.  This is not only a unique and honest depiction of human relationships, but it is also a gorgeous piece of escapism that absolutely transports its audience to another time and place.

What I Disliked

I won’t say I disliked any of this, but I will admit the film is slow and difficult to categorize.  Indeed, I had to take it in at multiple sittings to refresh my attention span because what I was shown in this film didn’t fit easily into the conventions to which I am accustomed.  Don’t let the title fool you and approach this one looking for the type of romance story traditional in Western film.  There is little to none of the tear-drenched melodrama or disarming quirkiness Americans like in their love stories.  Shot without a script, this film lacks a traditional narrative structure and it would be hard to point to a moment in this film that can easily be recognized as a climax, which would require rising action, and that never comes into play either.  Nor will you be treated to a pre-packaged happy ending; yet nor is it sad.  It just is.  The conclusion feels real, perfectly keeping with the situation and the characters; and that’s because this film, despite a visual beauty that borders on fantasy, seeks truth in every shot, line, and scene.

Most Memorable Scene

There are at least a half a dozen points where dialogue is completely abandoned for sequences that are accompanied only by music, the same music each time.  It is a stunning song played on violin that perfectly accents each of the visuals it accompanies (It's in the trailer above).  I'm not prone to saying this, but it's really some of the most moving music I've ever heard.  None of these moments stands out above another, so I will pick them all.  Here that dance of daily life I spoke of earlier glides at its most poignant level, helped by some smooth, Scorsese-esque camera movement.  These are the scenes that elevate this film from an unusual tale of love to a masterful work of art rendered in moving pictures.

My Rating: 5 out of 5

ONE EYED JACKS (1961)

Country: U.S.A.

Genre(s): Western

Director: Marlon Brando

Cast: Marlon Brando / Karl Malden / Pina Pellicer

 

Plot

After being betrayed by his partner and spending five years in a Mexican jail, bankrobber Kid Rio arrives in Monterey, California looking for revenge, only to learn that the man he intends to kill is now town sheriff.

What I Liked

The most striking thing about “One Eyed Jacks” is the cinematography.  Granted, a lot of westerns make use of panoramic shots of vast landscapes and there’s a fair amount of that here too (particularly moody is the early scene where Kid Rio finds himself trapped atop a cliff in a sandstorm with a party of Mexican lawmen closing in).  But I actually found the interior shots most interesting here.  The positioning of different characters on the screen, their relationship to the doorways, windows, and furniture in the rooms, and of course the many close-ups of Marlon Brando’s Rio as he struggles to contain his hatred and bloodlust.

Speaking of Brando, he does bring an extra psychological depth essential to his complicated character.  His brooding obsessiveness is really the thing which keeps the viewer watching, making up for his unconvincing Elvis Presley accent.  Brando just has that natural charisma, that star power quality that some call “It,” undefinable and uncoachable.  However, even if it is Brando who is responsible for the soulfulness of the movie, Karl Malden (in the role of his nemesis Dad Longworth) is able to compete with him on fairly even ground.  Longworth is a character who can be sadistic, respectful, jovial, refined, or venomous, depending on the circumstances, and Malden plays each of these various personalities with equal genuineness and personality.  Where Brando sometimes seems awkward in his role, particularly for the scenes requiring a macho brutality, Malden is constantly believable and fascinating.

With its morally dubious hero, many close-up shots, and portrayal of a more natural feeling West than was common in most American genre films of the day, “One Eyed Jacks” sometimes feels more like it belongs among Sergio Leone’s spaghetti western oeuvre than it does to the traditions common to the American Western.  It’s a movie ahead of its time, but not without its flaws.

What I Disliked

With a whole lot more talking and facial expressions than action, “One Eyed Jacks” won’t satisfy those who are looking for the shoot-outs, cowboys vs. Indians, and fist fights that fill up the standard American western.  Once Rio gets to Monterey, the plot moves along at a snail’s pace and every time it seems the film is approaching a climactic showdown between Rio and Longworth the plot takes a decidedly anticlimactic turn back to conversation and delay.  Sure there’s a gunfight or two, and Rio uses his fists on a couple of guys, but those moments come few and far between.  In a film that is nearly two and a half hours long, this process can be quite daunting even for those who respect the film’s more subtle qualities.

Most Memorable Scene

*spoiler alert*

Once Rio arrives in Monterey to find Longworth a respected man with a wife and step-daughter, he sets about playing the role of the long-lost friend, looking to lull Longworth into lowering his guard.  During these scenes, Brando is magnificent, switching from kindly to spiteful. In a particularly nasty move, Rio seduces Longworth’s beautiful step-daughter (played by Pina Pellicer) and after a night of Oceanside lovemaking, basically reveals to her that he lied to her and took her virginity simply out of hatred for her stepfather – and because he can’t resist his own duplicitous nature.  Pellicer plays her role with such innocence and fragility that the viewer’s heart breaks with hers as her dreams of love and living happily ever after vanish immediately.  Until this moment, the audience is wholeheartedly rooting for Rio.  This moment sticks with the audience for the rest of the film and we can’t help but despise even him, the film’s hero.  You don't just come to town to kill a guy after five years, you also seduce and impregnate his daughter only to break her heart?  Now that's just mean.

My Rating: 3.5 out of 5

THE 39 STEPS (1935)

Country: U.K.

Genre(s): Drama

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Cast: Robert Donat / Madeleine Carroll / Lucie Mannheim

Plot

Accused of a murder he didn’t commit, a man goes on the run, determined to clear his name and expose an international conspiracy involving the theft of top secret defense plans.

What I Liked

In “The 39 Steps” one can see the formation of so much that became signatures of Alfred Hitchcock films.  Concepts and themes like espionage, mistaken identity, nothing being as it seems, sexual tension, and train travel all make significant appearances in this film.  In fact, “North by Northwest” could almost be considered a bigger-budget remake of “The 39 Steps,” with a handful of the details changed.  Everything from the main character being smart-ass English charmer being caught up in international events beyond his control to his being chased across a field by a plane all pop up here.

Also like “North By Northwest,” “The 39 Steps” is never dull.  From the opening scene to the last, the film moves quickly with an entertaining mix of thrills, mystery, and comedy.  Our hero rarely stops moving, evading the police and enemy spies alike, which allows the film to constantly change settings and characters.  In fact, some of the places Hannay ends up are so preposterous that one can’t help but laugh.  Parades, dinner parties, political rallies; the most convenient places to blend in just pop up conveniently throughout his journey.  Amusingly, they often turn out to be more of a burden than a haven.  When Hannay is eventually handcuffed to a lovely blonde who is convinced he is a murderer, the film even takes a temporary turn into screwball comedy territory, as the absurdity of their situation turns into not just more thrills but plenty of banter and one-liners as well.

What I Disliked

I don’t know if it’s the era in which this film was made or just ineptitude on the part of the filmmakers (considering the director, I highly doubt it), but the editing in this film is disjointed and distracting.  The breaks between scenes and camera angles are usually harsh, with the lighting and positioning of characters changing from one shot to the next.  Each time, the eye has to get used to a new look, yet we are supposed to be inside the same scene.  To a modern viewer, this raw splicing appears amateurish.  Still, Hitchcock does throw in one visual effect that is pretty cool.  As the main characters sit next to each other in the back seat of a car rumbling through the Scotting moors, the camera seemingly moves in a twisting manner from the inside of the car out of the door window to then watch the car speed away as if the viewer were standing still on the roadside.  An impressive effect considering the technological limitations of the period, one that convinces me that the broken editing is a product of the period and not limitations of talent on the part of filmmakers.

Most Memorable Scene

The whole film is like an extended chase scene, but there are at times brief interludes where Hannay thinks he has reached safety and the pace slows down, only to begin again when he finds his pursuers are still on his trail.  When this happens to him on a train between London and Scotland, Hannay resorts to some clever tactics to avoid capture on the moving train.  A train is a standard place for a chase scene in film, probably even before “The 39 Steps” was released.  However, in the hands of Alfred Hitchcock, the scene is filled with one “How is he going to get out of this one” moment after another.  Everything about this chase remains intriguing nearly 80 years after its release.

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5

MY BRILLIANT CAREER (1979)

Country: Australia

Genre(s): Drama / Romance

Director: Gillian Armstrong

Cast: Judy Davis / Sam Neill / Wendy Hughes

Plot

Dreaming of a future as a musician or writer, rebellious Sybylla rejects the life of marriage and respectability her family expects of her.  However, when a childhood friend becomes her suitor, she is torn between the life others want for her and her own dreams of independence.

What I Liked

With well-developed, likeable characters played to perfection by a talented cast, “My Brilliant Career” is an enjoyable period piece executed with quality at every level.  Never does one have the feeling of watching something contrived.  Director Gillian Armstrong uses a steady hand to accentuate both the elegance and the barrenness of the Australian outback, allowing for some terrific cinematography and beautiful settings and costumes, without ever letting style overcome the realism and naturalness of the setting and characters.  In short, the director, cast, and crew never let their own egos and pretentions once get in the way of telling the story of a time, place, and people.  Judy Davis is utterly believable as head-strong nonconformist Sybylla, a young dreamer too smart and ambitious for her own good.  Sam Neil brings a likable casualness (or is it childish swagger) to Harry Beecham, the cavalier charmer who loves her.  All of the supporting characters are well-written and add to the authentic feel of the setting, each one dealing with the social circumstances the best way he or she knows how.  Their relationships are never simple, but imbued with very truthful combinations of love, respect, joy, frustration, and resentment that are brought to life by the capable cast.

What I Disliked

A young woman, brainy and willful, causes scandal by breaking social convention and looking to marry for love, frustrating her elders and confounding her multiple suitors.  Where have I heard this story before?  Oh yes.  Every period romance.  Ever.

I remember reading a seventeenth century French novel in college called The Princess of Cleves that had a similar plot and much of Jane Austen’s work is extremely close to the plot described above.  "My Brilliant Career" moves the same tale to Australia and gives it a feminist twist that was considered timely in the 1970s; otherwise, the plot is not at all distinct from its predecessors.  Sometimes I think it would be nice to see a novel where the young lady, raised from birth to believe in the necessity of her being married off young to a man of good social standing, does so and lives happily every after.  Both because this might have been the case for a lot of people of the time and because it would be a break from being fed the same plot (just dressed in different styles of ballroom gowns) over and over again.  Of course, I realize that would be extremely politically incorrect and would also mean there would be no conflict, making my proposition unfeasible.  But you get my point.  In terms of plot and conflict, “My Brilliant Career” should be titled “My Rehashed Cliché.”  It’s a good thing that this particular version of the time-worn tale was executed with such excellence, for this film feels neither worn nor cliché at first viewing.

For all of its strengths and partly because of them, "My Brilliant Career" never really feels like a special movie, just a very good one.  Nothing about it feels unique, groundbreaking, or even particularly moving.  The filmmakers went for realism over flash or melodrama and are to be commended for it.  The problem is that it just never really has the feel that it belongs on a list of the elite.

Most Memorable Scene

A pillow-fight romp through a splendorous yard and garden toward the middle of the film bursts with a wonderful sense of fun and escapism.  Not the kind of escapism one finds in fantasy, science fiction, cheap romance, or comic books.  But escapism for the movie’s characters themselves.  They cast off the social weights their elders have put upon their shoulders and break free into the open, laughing, running, and enjoying their lives.  It’s a terrific way to bring Sybylla and Harry close to one another in a quick way that keeps the pace of the film moving without ever feeling their relationship has advanced too unnaturally.  Not to mention it is a joyful moment that is certainly a pleasure to watch.

My Rating: 3 out of 5

THE NIGHT OF THE SHOOTING STARS (1982)

A.K.A.: La notte di San Lorenzo

Country: Italy

Genre(s): Drama / War

Director: Paolo Taviani / Vittorio Taviani

Cast: Omero Antonutti / Margarita Lozano / Claudio Bigagli

Plot

In 1944, the people of San Martino abandon the town when they learn that the Nazis plan to destroy it.  They secretly set off in the night in search of the American army rumored to be approaching.

What I Liked

Not your typical World War II film, “The Night of the Shooting Stars” is less about war than it is about life and humanity, regardless of the historic details.  While the events of war set in motion the exodus that becomes the story’s plot and the fear and violence that accompany war make memorable appearances through the story, the power of the film is in the people of San Martino, the beauty of their relationships, and their refusal to give up on their way of life.

Homeless, hungry, and lost, these characters still play, argue, tell stories, laugh, and love.  Confronted with heartbreaking loss and desperation, one would think they would find their traditional values, manners, and responsibilities trivial, yet they continue to adhere to these ways, not out of any sense of perseverance or even necessity, but simply because it is who they are.  The triumph here is that the people of San Martino never lose their identity and their community, even when the town itself has been laid to waste in piles of rubble and blood.

Contributing to this theme are the perspectives of the narrator, who was but a six year old girl at the time of these events.  The child has little to no concept of Nazis and Americans and the politics surrounding the events that have sent her and the others off on this adventure.  In the beginning, everything to her seems exciting, with some of the more terrifying events coming across to her as something magical or mysterious.  When the roar of enemy planes has everyone else frozen in fear, the girl seems to interpret the stillness as a game and enjoys trying to balance on one leg as long as she can, oblivious to the threat.  Even when she witnesses several people she loves being shot and killed, she imagines ancient Trojan warriors rising up out of the wheat fields to avenge the deaths.  Thus the film is less of the coming-of-age story for the girl that one might expect, and more of a tribute to childhood’s ability to remain intact through change and tragedy.

What I Disliked

“The Night of the Shooting Stars” does a marvelous job of finding beauty in tragedy and yet I was not moved as profoundly by the movie as I had hoped or as the filmmakers likely intended.  Perhaps the child's innocent, unaware, sometimes surreal impression of it all dampened some of that emotion.  However, I think the greatest problem is that the story is narrated, which might have provided a barrier to getting emotionally invested in the characters of the story.  The while time I felt very much like I was being told a story, not like I was personally experiencing the events on screen.  Thus there was an observer's distance, an objectivity that kept the film from achieving its full potential impact.

Most Memorable Scene:

*spoiler alert!*

Early in the film, the people of San Martino are divided on what to do.  While some make plans to escape in the night and seek refuge from the Americans, others opt to stay and rely upon the promise of the Nazis that they will not kill anyone who gathers in the town church.  Hindsight about the atrocities committed by Nazis and familiarity with the conventions of tragedy in motion pictures makes it easy to predict what will happen to those who stay behind in the church.  Yet, when the moment comes and survivors come pouring out of the church doors, bleeding, moaning, and in shock, the viewer still can’t help but shake his or her head at the waste and evil of it all.

My Rating: 3.5 out of 5