Friday, August 01, 2003
The Seventh Seal
Directed by Ingmar Bergman
The Seventh Seal is a religious film with connotations and imageries of Good Vs Evil, Death Vs Life; Belief Vs Knowledge.
A knight (Max von Sydow) travels with his squire (Gunnar Bjornstrand) on their journey after fighting a war. On their way back to the castle, the knight encountered Death, who is a hooded fair but evil looking character. The knight challenges Death to a game of chess in return for his soul. They also encountered an vaudeville caravan family comprised of Joseph, Mary, their kid and another man who was to elope with a smith’s wife.
What stood out in The Seventh Seal is its symbolic and metaphorical imageries and illusions. For example, when Joseph wakes up from the caravan, he sees a young woman holding a toddler and teaching it to walk which calls to mind the biblical references of Jesus and Vrigin Mother Mary. The group also encountered a religious procession which sees believers carrying the cross, whipping others and themselves. The dinner scene episode where villagers talks about the Armageddon and the plague gives the film a grim setting. The knight who has to battle Death in a game of chess was cheated into revealing his tactics during a confession when Death posed as a father in a church. The young female condemned as a witch screams with rage and terror when being tied up and punished by the soldiers and a priest.
The Seventh Seal is artistic and deeply religious. It questions.
Solaris
Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky
Steven Soderbergh’s version of Solaris is not as beautiful as Tarvosky’s. Divided into two parts stretching over 2 hours and 47 minutes, its exquisiteness verges on the deliberate and careful balance of imageries and minimalistic music that lingers even when the scene has faded away.
Kelvin (Donatas Banionis) a psychologist, is sent to a space station circling in Solaris planet to decide if it should be closed because its a project that seems to have wasted much resources with no great findings. The remaining astronauts on the station are Snaut and Sartorius who pretty much keeps to themselves. Upon his arrival on the station, Kelvin finds his dead wife, Hari (Natalya Bondarchuk) appeared. Hari apparently is a “material and physical conception” of Kelvin who cannot bear to leave Kelvin out of sight. When he did, she tried to break open the door and ended up hurting herself, only to self-heal and recover miraculously from her wounds.
The camera scenes linger and uses various images to highlight the stark contrast of life in earth and on the space station. When it first starts, we see images of water plants floating in the pond. Rain pours down while horses galloped across the camera. This is in contrast with the claustrophobic set of the space station which blends expressionism (slanted column in the middle of a walkway to represent unnaturalness) with futuristic looking surroundings (such as the corridors that goes in a round or the walls that looks like small divided sections of drawers)
Even though Solaris is supposed to be a science fiction, it concentrates heavily on psychological aspects of the character’s development. Kelvin is seen torn apart between unsure of Hari and the love for this wife who has returned to life. Colours shift between black and white to sepia to colour. Sleep, as a form of conscious resting, is also an unconscious reflection of one’s inner thoughts. When Kelvin dreams of being back at home, numerous Biblical references are reflected such as his mother who appeared before him, eating an apple before attending to his wounded hands. Hari who cannot sleep is hence seen as unhuman yet characteristically containing human traits such as her ability to assert her individuality and ability to think and feel offended when she knew that the scientists are intent on annihilating her – she is seen just as a phenomenon. She commits suicide but comes back alive and relives the question of Faust – that of immortality which was earlier mentioned in the film.
Solaris is lengthy but it is not long. Its subject matter and style requires the audience to believe in the incredulity of the situation that has an existential touch to it. Every scene seems to resonate with some form of hidden beauty or subtext that makes it extremely gripping.
One of the great art films among the canon.
Queer As Folk
UK version for Channel 4
Episode 1 to 8
I find Queer as Folk subversive and politically incorrect.
This television series revolves primarily around the lives of three gay men, Vince, Stuart and Nathan. Vince is a fair boyish laddish looking bloke who hangs around with Stuart since they were teenagers. Stuart is the playboy with the swagger who has a different bedmate every night. he picks up 15 year old Nathan one night and the latter is stuck to him like glue.
Why do I say that it is politically incorrect? Because every episodes ends it so without a typical satisfying ending. As an example, the death of a pub friend of the gang is left unresolved. The plot of the lesbian mother and Stuart was not revealed to the victims.
I don’t mean this in a bad way. What I’m saying is that Queer as Folk is the sort of television which is not like what one expects from typical television drama or series. Sure, it deals with gay people which is considered groundbreaking in one sense but it is also the way characters are given a touch of reality. These gay men are portrayed as “real” (not necessarily a deep study) - real people with real problems who crack normal jokes like people do in everyday lives; and not exaggerated ones. They fuck around because they can find it and get pissed off when the one night stands turns to just want to watch videos. They take drugs because they do. They party because they do. They have outrageous parents (Vince’s and Nathan mother) as much as they have bigoted ones (Nathan’s father). Stuart has a sister who is divorced with two kids and she visits his brother to tell him of their parents who are facing a divorce.
Television is dumb because it is supposed to entertain. Queer as folk is challenging not simply because it brings queer to TV. It shows the sort of issues gay people and their friends and families have to grapple in life even if you are out and proud at night and has a supportive family (yes that’s Vince we are talking about).
Nothing is taboo in TV. Welcome to the real world. Welcome to the reel world. Welcome to Queer As Folk. Queer is as normal as straight as folk.
Directed by Ingmar Bergman
The Seventh Seal is a religious film with connotations and imageries of Good Vs Evil, Death Vs Life; Belief Vs Knowledge.
A knight (Max von Sydow) travels with his squire (Gunnar Bjornstrand) on their journey after fighting a war. On their way back to the castle, the knight encountered Death, who is a hooded fair but evil looking character. The knight challenges Death to a game of chess in return for his soul. They also encountered an vaudeville caravan family comprised of Joseph, Mary, their kid and another man who was to elope with a smith’s wife.
What stood out in The Seventh Seal is its symbolic and metaphorical imageries and illusions. For example, when Joseph wakes up from the caravan, he sees a young woman holding a toddler and teaching it to walk which calls to mind the biblical references of Jesus and Vrigin Mother Mary. The group also encountered a religious procession which sees believers carrying the cross, whipping others and themselves. The dinner scene episode where villagers talks about the Armageddon and the plague gives the film a grim setting. The knight who has to battle Death in a game of chess was cheated into revealing his tactics during a confession when Death posed as a father in a church. The young female condemned as a witch screams with rage and terror when being tied up and punished by the soldiers and a priest.
The Seventh Seal is artistic and deeply religious. It questions.
Solaris
Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky
Steven Soderbergh’s version of Solaris is not as beautiful as Tarvosky’s. Divided into two parts stretching over 2 hours and 47 minutes, its exquisiteness verges on the deliberate and careful balance of imageries and minimalistic music that lingers even when the scene has faded away.
Kelvin (Donatas Banionis) a psychologist, is sent to a space station circling in Solaris planet to decide if it should be closed because its a project that seems to have wasted much resources with no great findings. The remaining astronauts on the station are Snaut and Sartorius who pretty much keeps to themselves. Upon his arrival on the station, Kelvin finds his dead wife, Hari (Natalya Bondarchuk) appeared. Hari apparently is a “material and physical conception” of Kelvin who cannot bear to leave Kelvin out of sight. When he did, she tried to break open the door and ended up hurting herself, only to self-heal and recover miraculously from her wounds.
The camera scenes linger and uses various images to highlight the stark contrast of life in earth and on the space station. When it first starts, we see images of water plants floating in the pond. Rain pours down while horses galloped across the camera. This is in contrast with the claustrophobic set of the space station which blends expressionism (slanted column in the middle of a walkway to represent unnaturalness) with futuristic looking surroundings (such as the corridors that goes in a round or the walls that looks like small divided sections of drawers)
Even though Solaris is supposed to be a science fiction, it concentrates heavily on psychological aspects of the character’s development. Kelvin is seen torn apart between unsure of Hari and the love for this wife who has returned to life. Colours shift between black and white to sepia to colour. Sleep, as a form of conscious resting, is also an unconscious reflection of one’s inner thoughts. When Kelvin dreams of being back at home, numerous Biblical references are reflected such as his mother who appeared before him, eating an apple before attending to his wounded hands. Hari who cannot sleep is hence seen as unhuman yet characteristically containing human traits such as her ability to assert her individuality and ability to think and feel offended when she knew that the scientists are intent on annihilating her – she is seen just as a phenomenon. She commits suicide but comes back alive and relives the question of Faust – that of immortality which was earlier mentioned in the film.
Solaris is lengthy but it is not long. Its subject matter and style requires the audience to believe in the incredulity of the situation that has an existential touch to it. Every scene seems to resonate with some form of hidden beauty or subtext that makes it extremely gripping.
One of the great art films among the canon.
Queer As Folk
UK version for Channel 4
Episode 1 to 8
I find Queer as Folk subversive and politically incorrect.
This television series revolves primarily around the lives of three gay men, Vince, Stuart and Nathan. Vince is a fair boyish laddish looking bloke who hangs around with Stuart since they were teenagers. Stuart is the playboy with the swagger who has a different bedmate every night. he picks up 15 year old Nathan one night and the latter is stuck to him like glue.
Why do I say that it is politically incorrect? Because every episodes ends it so without a typical satisfying ending. As an example, the death of a pub friend of the gang is left unresolved. The plot of the lesbian mother and Stuart was not revealed to the victims.
I don’t mean this in a bad way. What I’m saying is that Queer as Folk is the sort of television which is not like what one expects from typical television drama or series. Sure, it deals with gay people which is considered groundbreaking in one sense but it is also the way characters are given a touch of reality. These gay men are portrayed as “real” (not necessarily a deep study) - real people with real problems who crack normal jokes like people do in everyday lives; and not exaggerated ones. They fuck around because they can find it and get pissed off when the one night stands turns to just want to watch videos. They take drugs because they do. They party because they do. They have outrageous parents (Vince’s and Nathan mother) as much as they have bigoted ones (Nathan’s father). Stuart has a sister who is divorced with two kids and she visits his brother to tell him of their parents who are facing a divorce.
Television is dumb because it is supposed to entertain. Queer as folk is challenging not simply because it brings queer to TV. It shows the sort of issues gay people and their friends and families have to grapple in life even if you are out and proud at night and has a supportive family (yes that’s Vince we are talking about).
Nothing is taboo in TV. Welcome to the real world. Welcome to the reel world. Welcome to Queer As Folk. Queer is as normal as straight as folk.
Monday, July 28, 2003
Torn Curtain
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Probably Hitchcock’s most stylistic endeavour. Torn Curtain is a fast paced spy thriller which breaks many boundaries as compared to a typical Hitchcock film.
Crisp still images is juxtaposed with lingering long shots that conveys decidedly different moods while John Addison’s music complements and completes the shot. As an example, Hitchcock starts the movie with visual still shots of the ship that our main protagonists are on board, Paul Newman as the matured blue eyed good looking Professor Michael Armstrong and his fiance cum assistant, Sarah Sherman (Julie Andrews) . Hitchcock started with the deck, then moves on to the interior of their room – all bright and sunny, to highlight the joyfulness of our characters. Then, he moves on to a close snap shot of Sarah and Michael snuggling under the sheets while romantic music plays away. This closeness of the camera and between our two lead characters will be replayed again as they drifted apart. When we next see them, they are sitting opposite each other in a cafe. By showing just the face shots of one of them at each time, the camera implies adversary feelings, avoiding issues (at least for Michael) and the one-sidedness of each party. Woody Allen will use this similar editing sequence in Manhattan to show the animosity of lovers.
By the time Sarah finds out that Michael has defected to the Germans because he wanted to complete a defence system that would render nuclear war obsolete, hence effectively ending the cold war, the tone changes and creates further distanciation. Hitchcock adopts a long shot and positions the two of them in extreme end of the scene, symbolising not only the distance of the characters, but also effectively prohibits us from analysing and feeling with them.
Other stylistic standouts include face shots of Sarah which has a “water-colour” touch to it - when she feels that Michael is avoiding her and kept in the dark about his plans. When Michael saw the motorbike in the field that his guide, Hermann Gromek (Wolfgang Kieling) drove in, Hitchcock employs a simultaneous zoom in and out shot that is creatively striking. At times, images are superimposed. For example, the scene where the taxi driver informs the police about the disappearance of Gromek in the office is laid on top of shots of the farm.
Long and middle shots are applied to good effect. The scene where Michael walks towards the farmer as an example creates suspense implicitly. When Michael is in the cab and departing the farm, Gromek ‘s motorbike is seen in the foreground. When Michael first meets Professor Gustav Lindt (Ludwig Donat), the man is seen up ahead in a seat away from our clear view in the interrogation room, implying to us that he is a special man (and which keeps us guessing) and also, that he is much more superior in intelligence.
The most captivating sequences in Torn Curtain happens in the middle when Michael is in the museum and running away from Gromek. The suspense created by the long shots, shadows, unusual angles and footsteps is brilliantly breath-taking. The other sequence would have to be the murder of Gromek in which psychological terror combines with the “domestic killing” scenes. Gromek’s who is on the upper hand at first, is threatening but his luck turns for the worse when Farmer's Wife (Carolyn Conwell) plunges a knife into his throat. The murder is not just about arm wrestling or struggling. The farmer’s wife, who looks deceptively simple, is not an accomplice, but the main character for killing Gromek’s death. She is not a femme fatale but a killer. When they dragged him towards the oven, the shots juggle between the murderers and a shot of the cold hands. This is an unusual which creates the impression of what Gromek possibly sees. When the murder is done, the camera positions itself on top and views the murderer in a different light that is inherently disturbing.
This is the point where Hitchcock treats Torn Curtain different. His heroes normally do not kill anyone. Yet, Michael ‘s hand is stained with blood. the farmer’s wife who is seen as the accomplice has the solution to covering up their grisly murder – inciting the parallel of Adam and Eve – the women who incites evil in men?
The relationship between the men and women is equally slippery. Michael’s scenes with the female doctor feels like a mother – son and older lover – younger lover relationship at the same time. Sarah who flirts with Professor Lindt and her meetings with the other professor who has a soft liking for her seems beyond platonic.
It is strange that Hitchcock does not portray the beauty of his characters. Newman is only seen as attractive in two instances – one when he was at the doctor’s room and lying on a table to be treated with his upper naked torso. The other was a shot of him behind a shower curtain. Hitchcock reveals Sarah’s beauty through her emotions in her face shots though it can come across as melodrama for certain tastes.
Then there is the sympathetic Polish woman who wants to go to America. She looks silly with her chatty demeanour; her rainbow scarf contrasts with her grey clothes. She represents the people caught in between the cold war; and implicitly implies the freedom and goodness of America.
The scene where Michael and Sarah were in the theatre during their last flight to America is similar to the 39 steps. The tactics employed for our characters to get away are the same in both movies – pandemonium in the crowds.
I hope I have explained why Torn Curtain is a great Hitchcock movie. There is not only precision and cold calculation of scenes and style, but ample of subtlety and hidden meanings. If Vertigo is Hitchcock’s most personal, North by Northwest his most entertaining, and Psycho, his most successful, then Torn Curtain will rank along as one of his best in terms of having style, substance and indifference.
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Probably Hitchcock’s most stylistic endeavour. Torn Curtain is a fast paced spy thriller which breaks many boundaries as compared to a typical Hitchcock film.
Crisp still images is juxtaposed with lingering long shots that conveys decidedly different moods while John Addison’s music complements and completes the shot. As an example, Hitchcock starts the movie with visual still shots of the ship that our main protagonists are on board, Paul Newman as the matured blue eyed good looking Professor Michael Armstrong and his fiance cum assistant, Sarah Sherman (Julie Andrews) . Hitchcock started with the deck, then moves on to the interior of their room – all bright and sunny, to highlight the joyfulness of our characters. Then, he moves on to a close snap shot of Sarah and Michael snuggling under the sheets while romantic music plays away. This closeness of the camera and between our two lead characters will be replayed again as they drifted apart. When we next see them, they are sitting opposite each other in a cafe. By showing just the face shots of one of them at each time, the camera implies adversary feelings, avoiding issues (at least for Michael) and the one-sidedness of each party. Woody Allen will use this similar editing sequence in Manhattan to show the animosity of lovers.
By the time Sarah finds out that Michael has defected to the Germans because he wanted to complete a defence system that would render nuclear war obsolete, hence effectively ending the cold war, the tone changes and creates further distanciation. Hitchcock adopts a long shot and positions the two of them in extreme end of the scene, symbolising not only the distance of the characters, but also effectively prohibits us from analysing and feeling with them.
Other stylistic standouts include face shots of Sarah which has a “water-colour” touch to it - when she feels that Michael is avoiding her and kept in the dark about his plans. When Michael saw the motorbike in the field that his guide, Hermann Gromek (Wolfgang Kieling) drove in, Hitchcock employs a simultaneous zoom in and out shot that is creatively striking. At times, images are superimposed. For example, the scene where the taxi driver informs the police about the disappearance of Gromek in the office is laid on top of shots of the farm.
Long and middle shots are applied to good effect. The scene where Michael walks towards the farmer as an example creates suspense implicitly. When Michael is in the cab and departing the farm, Gromek ‘s motorbike is seen in the foreground. When Michael first meets Professor Gustav Lindt (Ludwig Donat), the man is seen up ahead in a seat away from our clear view in the interrogation room, implying to us that he is a special man (and which keeps us guessing) and also, that he is much more superior in intelligence.
The most captivating sequences in Torn Curtain happens in the middle when Michael is in the museum and running away from Gromek. The suspense created by the long shots, shadows, unusual angles and footsteps is brilliantly breath-taking. The other sequence would have to be the murder of Gromek in which psychological terror combines with the “domestic killing” scenes. Gromek’s who is on the upper hand at first, is threatening but his luck turns for the worse when Farmer's Wife (Carolyn Conwell) plunges a knife into his throat. The murder is not just about arm wrestling or struggling. The farmer’s wife, who looks deceptively simple, is not an accomplice, but the main character for killing Gromek’s death. She is not a femme fatale but a killer. When they dragged him towards the oven, the shots juggle between the murderers and a shot of the cold hands. This is an unusual which creates the impression of what Gromek possibly sees. When the murder is done, the camera positions itself on top and views the murderer in a different light that is inherently disturbing.
This is the point where Hitchcock treats Torn Curtain different. His heroes normally do not kill anyone. Yet, Michael ‘s hand is stained with blood. the farmer’s wife who is seen as the accomplice has the solution to covering up their grisly murder – inciting the parallel of Adam and Eve – the women who incites evil in men?
The relationship between the men and women is equally slippery. Michael’s scenes with the female doctor feels like a mother – son and older lover – younger lover relationship at the same time. Sarah who flirts with Professor Lindt and her meetings with the other professor who has a soft liking for her seems beyond platonic.
It is strange that Hitchcock does not portray the beauty of his characters. Newman is only seen as attractive in two instances – one when he was at the doctor’s room and lying on a table to be treated with his upper naked torso. The other was a shot of him behind a shower curtain. Hitchcock reveals Sarah’s beauty through her emotions in her face shots though it can come across as melodrama for certain tastes.
Then there is the sympathetic Polish woman who wants to go to America. She looks silly with her chatty demeanour; her rainbow scarf contrasts with her grey clothes. She represents the people caught in between the cold war; and implicitly implies the freedom and goodness of America.
The scene where Michael and Sarah were in the theatre during their last flight to America is similar to the 39 steps. The tactics employed for our characters to get away are the same in both movies – pandemonium in the crowds.
I hope I have explained why Torn Curtain is a great Hitchcock movie. There is not only precision and cold calculation of scenes and style, but ample of subtlety and hidden meanings. If Vertigo is Hitchcock’s most personal, North by Northwest his most entertaining, and Psycho, his most successful, then Torn Curtain will rank along as one of his best in terms of having style, substance and indifference.
