Saturday, September 06, 2003
Rosemary's Baby
Directed By Roman Polanski
Rosemary’s Baby is not the typical horror one associates with the genre. It lacks gore, special effects and spooky music. Instead, Rosemary’s Baby adopts subtle psychological horror effects on screen to build up on screen intensity.
Though the film can be thematically analysed as a discourse on sanity and religion; it is also a film about media and modern living.
Rosemary Woodhouse (Mia Farrow) and her loving TV actor husband Guy Woodhouse (John Cassavetes) recently moved into a new apartment previously occupied by an old lady who died recently in a hospital. They were befriended by an elderly neighbour couple; Minnie Castevet (Ruth Gordon) and Roman Castevet (Sidney Blackmer) whom Guy took to immediately after they were invited to a first dinner.
I watched the movie hoping to be thrown a scare but gave up after a while because it doesn’t have any. Instead, what you get is the couple grappling with issues of pregnancy and constantly harrased by the elderly neighbour whom Rosemary is finding to be a nuisance.
As mentioned earlier, the horror lies with not anticipating or seeing actual visual images but rather the unexpected. That will however work only if you are spooked by the unusual turn of events – why Guy seems more concerned about being unfair to the doctor than allowing Rosemary to get another doctor for a second opinion or when Rosemary’s face seems whiter during her pregnancy. Not forgetting the unusual brew that was given to her by Minnie. As such audience expectation of what it is might fail to churn up interest and hence dismiss it as a lousy thriller. Critics argue that it is this subtlety which requires audience to participate that works. Perhaps the affinity has to be there – to feel with Rosemary first.
My opinion is that Rosemary’s Baby is not a “good” thriller not simply because it requires audience affinity with the character; but it lacks continuity and progression in building up a climax. The movie drifts towards greater doubt as Rosemary stumbles and finds out about her neighbours’ secrets. Even if that event can be considered a turning point for audience and Rosemary, the movie is still unable to generate more tension as we are still unable to define Rosemary’s danger. By not revealing, audience is left to more confusion rather than fear for Rosemary.
That said, the movie works as a drama showing difficulties faced by married couples and what happens when the wife becomes pregnant. Mia Farrow acts her role without overdoing her anxieties. Even when she reveals her doubts to another doctor, she still looks composed, though possibly because she knows she has to look sane to convince the latter as well as because she has another life in her to worry about. John Cassavates is equally stunning as he juggles between a successful career; handling the neighbours and her suspecting wife. Ruth Gordan and Sidney Blackmer are the loving harmless looking entrancing couple whom we all possibly would love to have as neighbours.
Rosemary’s Baby is also a statement about modernity and the prevalence of media. Note the contrast of their dull old looking building with the tall skyscrapers. Rosemary and Guy are young and embrace a romantic lifestyle looking towards their future whereas Minnie and Roman are contented bothering their neighbours. Rosemary repeats a few times in the film about Guy’s career offhandedly and they commented on the nature of television which is where the money is now (and not films!) Rosemary who was brought up Catholic but leads an adult pagan modern lifestyle devoid of religious or spiritual activities.
Rosemary's Baby is hyped as a classic but Polanski has directed far better movies and there are much better thrillers that also works along the lines of using psychological as a tool to instill fear.
Rocco and His Brothers
Directed by Luchino Visconti
It's a moving family epic that goes for close to three hours with its underlying emotional entanglements.
The widowed mother is Rosaria Parondi (Katina Paxinou) who went to Milan with her four sons from the country to live with her eldest, Vincenzo (Spiros Focas). Unfortunately, their first meeting turns out to be a disaster as Vincenzo who is living with her fiancé and her parents have no place to accommodate his family.
They manage to find a place and live by doing odd jobs until Simone (Renato Salvatore) becomes a successful boxer overnight. The younger brother Rocco (Alain Delon) soon follows in his brother’s footsteps. Family tragedy whirls uncontrollably when they fell in love with the same woman, a prostitute Nadia (Annie Girardot).
Though it is divided into 5 chapters, each on one brother, it follows a linear storytelling method and is not entirely focused on one brother in the chapter. The first chapter, on Vinceno, while highlighting his difficulties in the relationship with his fiancé, also moves the plot along and describes how Simone gets into boxing. The last two chapters on Cirro and Luca does not focus so much on them but how they react to the family tragedy.
Taking center stage is the love triangle between the brothers, Simone, Rocco and Nadia. What is interesting is the portrayal of these three characters as interwining individuals all in love with each other. Simone’s love for Nadia is strangely short-lived and thwarted because of her refusal to believe that things could change. Until she met Rocco, who gives her a flicker of hope that she could, in her own words become a “saint”. Unfortunately, when Simone finds out that they are together, he becomes jealous and stalked them. Here, one of cinema’s most violent scene with the the rape of Nadia while Rocco watch helplessly is a central point of the movie. It not only epitomizes the cruel nature of city life; but also the violence of strait laced moralistic society. When Simone rapes Nadia, an ex prostitute, it symbolizes the unfeeling nature of norms towards women; especially those who are seen as unchaste.
On one hand, Visconti’s harsh treatment towards Nadia’s fate can be read as reinforcing the morals of our patriarchal society. She is killed towards the end by the man who cannot get her; and hence, her elimination, symbolize in film theory, the removal of women who refuse to submit to man; thus the return to the accepted social order.
Annie Girardot as Nadia is more than just a stereotype. She is the most complex character in the movie. When we first see her, she was seen escaping from the police. She is a hustler but goes out with Simone and they seem to fall in love. When things don’t seem to work out, she leaves him. She went to jail and was released, only to meet Rocco whom she thought would save her from her previous life. Rocco’s weakness of course is to put his brother, Simone, at first before everything; and he is willing to give up Nadia for that. Nadia unwittingly returns to Simone after the ordeal. It would take a veteran actress to portray the complex difficulties with so much twists and turns of a life but Annie’s strength is that she plays every stage (whether alone, with Rocco or Simone) convincingly. She is able to assimilate her character into the story plot that it is hard to doubt her existence but; at the same time remain a difficult women to fathom.
Anna has many extreme scenes in the film. One of them involves her conversation with Rocco after the rape. As she begs for him to take her back, Rocco’s refusal definitely creates conflicting emotions whether for her or the audience. Rocco’s stance is equally dubious.
Even though Alain Delon is the “good” man in the movie, he is not exactly a model character. His soft stance towards Simone and refusal to take back Nadia is the result of more tragedy to unfold. The murder scene of Nadia is intercut with Alain fighting in a boxing ring. The interchangeable scenes creates and links the association of boxing as a spectator sport and its violence; as a parable to Nadia’s death. While one emerges triumphant, the other is crying for help, not to be killed. Boxing is predominantly a male activity and the sacrifice is the murdered prostitute.
The scene where Simone reveals to Rocco about the tragedy is a moving scene where entangled emotions run deep. It appears as if there is no solution to the love between these three people except a death.
The film also contains homosexual overtones. The bathing scenes, the leering of male beauty of the brothers, especially Simone and Alain, and the close contact in boxing. The film also implies homosexual relations between Simone and his headhunter when they went to the latter’s house. Again, Visconti drew up a fight between the two men to again highlight the struggle of power in relationships (and not just among the brothers and Nadia).
Rocco and His Brothers is a powerful piece that dissects themes of love between brothers, family, men and women, city vs country life (or a romantic view of Italy) Visconti’s camera is subtly homoerotic in nature at times. He deals with violence in such an unflinching realistic manner that it makes it so captivating.
Directed By Roman Polanski
Rosemary’s Baby is not the typical horror one associates with the genre. It lacks gore, special effects and spooky music. Instead, Rosemary’s Baby adopts subtle psychological horror effects on screen to build up on screen intensity.
Though the film can be thematically analysed as a discourse on sanity and religion; it is also a film about media and modern living.
Rosemary Woodhouse (Mia Farrow) and her loving TV actor husband Guy Woodhouse (John Cassavetes) recently moved into a new apartment previously occupied by an old lady who died recently in a hospital. They were befriended by an elderly neighbour couple; Minnie Castevet (Ruth Gordon) and Roman Castevet (Sidney Blackmer) whom Guy took to immediately after they were invited to a first dinner.
I watched the movie hoping to be thrown a scare but gave up after a while because it doesn’t have any. Instead, what you get is the couple grappling with issues of pregnancy and constantly harrased by the elderly neighbour whom Rosemary is finding to be a nuisance.
As mentioned earlier, the horror lies with not anticipating or seeing actual visual images but rather the unexpected. That will however work only if you are spooked by the unusual turn of events – why Guy seems more concerned about being unfair to the doctor than allowing Rosemary to get another doctor for a second opinion or when Rosemary’s face seems whiter during her pregnancy. Not forgetting the unusual brew that was given to her by Minnie. As such audience expectation of what it is might fail to churn up interest and hence dismiss it as a lousy thriller. Critics argue that it is this subtlety which requires audience to participate that works. Perhaps the affinity has to be there – to feel with Rosemary first.
My opinion is that Rosemary’s Baby is not a “good” thriller not simply because it requires audience affinity with the character; but it lacks continuity and progression in building up a climax. The movie drifts towards greater doubt as Rosemary stumbles and finds out about her neighbours’ secrets. Even if that event can be considered a turning point for audience and Rosemary, the movie is still unable to generate more tension as we are still unable to define Rosemary’s danger. By not revealing, audience is left to more confusion rather than fear for Rosemary.
That said, the movie works as a drama showing difficulties faced by married couples and what happens when the wife becomes pregnant. Mia Farrow acts her role without overdoing her anxieties. Even when she reveals her doubts to another doctor, she still looks composed, though possibly because she knows she has to look sane to convince the latter as well as because she has another life in her to worry about. John Cassavates is equally stunning as he juggles between a successful career; handling the neighbours and her suspecting wife. Ruth Gordan and Sidney Blackmer are the loving harmless looking entrancing couple whom we all possibly would love to have as neighbours.
Rosemary’s Baby is also a statement about modernity and the prevalence of media. Note the contrast of their dull old looking building with the tall skyscrapers. Rosemary and Guy are young and embrace a romantic lifestyle looking towards their future whereas Minnie and Roman are contented bothering their neighbours. Rosemary repeats a few times in the film about Guy’s career offhandedly and they commented on the nature of television which is where the money is now (and not films!) Rosemary who was brought up Catholic but leads an adult pagan modern lifestyle devoid of religious or spiritual activities.
Rosemary's Baby is hyped as a classic but Polanski has directed far better movies and there are much better thrillers that also works along the lines of using psychological as a tool to instill fear.
Rocco and His Brothers
Directed by Luchino Visconti
It's a moving family epic that goes for close to three hours with its underlying emotional entanglements.
The widowed mother is Rosaria Parondi (Katina Paxinou) who went to Milan with her four sons from the country to live with her eldest, Vincenzo (Spiros Focas). Unfortunately, their first meeting turns out to be a disaster as Vincenzo who is living with her fiancé and her parents have no place to accommodate his family.
They manage to find a place and live by doing odd jobs until Simone (Renato Salvatore) becomes a successful boxer overnight. The younger brother Rocco (Alain Delon) soon follows in his brother’s footsteps. Family tragedy whirls uncontrollably when they fell in love with the same woman, a prostitute Nadia (Annie Girardot).
Though it is divided into 5 chapters, each on one brother, it follows a linear storytelling method and is not entirely focused on one brother in the chapter. The first chapter, on Vinceno, while highlighting his difficulties in the relationship with his fiancé, also moves the plot along and describes how Simone gets into boxing. The last two chapters on Cirro and Luca does not focus so much on them but how they react to the family tragedy.
Taking center stage is the love triangle between the brothers, Simone, Rocco and Nadia. What is interesting is the portrayal of these three characters as interwining individuals all in love with each other. Simone’s love for Nadia is strangely short-lived and thwarted because of her refusal to believe that things could change. Until she met Rocco, who gives her a flicker of hope that she could, in her own words become a “saint”. Unfortunately, when Simone finds out that they are together, he becomes jealous and stalked them. Here, one of cinema’s most violent scene with the the rape of Nadia while Rocco watch helplessly is a central point of the movie. It not only epitomizes the cruel nature of city life; but also the violence of strait laced moralistic society. When Simone rapes Nadia, an ex prostitute, it symbolizes the unfeeling nature of norms towards women; especially those who are seen as unchaste.
On one hand, Visconti’s harsh treatment towards Nadia’s fate can be read as reinforcing the morals of our patriarchal society. She is killed towards the end by the man who cannot get her; and hence, her elimination, symbolize in film theory, the removal of women who refuse to submit to man; thus the return to the accepted social order.
Annie Girardot as Nadia is more than just a stereotype. She is the most complex character in the movie. When we first see her, she was seen escaping from the police. She is a hustler but goes out with Simone and they seem to fall in love. When things don’t seem to work out, she leaves him. She went to jail and was released, only to meet Rocco whom she thought would save her from her previous life. Rocco’s weakness of course is to put his brother, Simone, at first before everything; and he is willing to give up Nadia for that. Nadia unwittingly returns to Simone after the ordeal. It would take a veteran actress to portray the complex difficulties with so much twists and turns of a life but Annie’s strength is that she plays every stage (whether alone, with Rocco or Simone) convincingly. She is able to assimilate her character into the story plot that it is hard to doubt her existence but; at the same time remain a difficult women to fathom.
Anna has many extreme scenes in the film. One of them involves her conversation with Rocco after the rape. As she begs for him to take her back, Rocco’s refusal definitely creates conflicting emotions whether for her or the audience. Rocco’s stance is equally dubious.
Even though Alain Delon is the “good” man in the movie, he is not exactly a model character. His soft stance towards Simone and refusal to take back Nadia is the result of more tragedy to unfold. The murder scene of Nadia is intercut with Alain fighting in a boxing ring. The interchangeable scenes creates and links the association of boxing as a spectator sport and its violence; as a parable to Nadia’s death. While one emerges triumphant, the other is crying for help, not to be killed. Boxing is predominantly a male activity and the sacrifice is the murdered prostitute.
The scene where Simone reveals to Rocco about the tragedy is a moving scene where entangled emotions run deep. It appears as if there is no solution to the love between these three people except a death.
The film also contains homosexual overtones. The bathing scenes, the leering of male beauty of the brothers, especially Simone and Alain, and the close contact in boxing. The film also implies homosexual relations between Simone and his headhunter when they went to the latter’s house. Again, Visconti drew up a fight between the two men to again highlight the struggle of power in relationships (and not just among the brothers and Nadia).
Rocco and His Brothers is a powerful piece that dissects themes of love between brothers, family, men and women, city vs country life (or a romantic view of Italy) Visconti’s camera is subtly homoerotic in nature at times. He deals with violence in such an unflinching realistic manner that it makes it so captivating.
Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne
Directed by Robert Bresson
Les Dames du Bois Boulogne is the revenge plot of the cold venomous looking Hélène (Maria Casarès). When she suggests to her lover Jean (Paul Bernard) that they separate, perhaps to test their love, he embraces the idea too eagerly; and angers her.
She appears unaffected but decides to take matters into her own hands. She plans her meeting with ex-acquaintances Agnès (Elina Labourdetti), a young and innocent looking cabaret dancer who is also a prostitute; and her mother (Lucienne Bogaert); who have fallen from wealth to poverty. She helps them by offering to support them as well as move them into a small apartment to escape Agnès suitors.
While most critics agree that this is not Bresson’s best; it is a “turning point” in the words of David Thompson who writes the notes for the Criterion DVD collection. He even goes as far to say that it is an “un-Bressonian film”. He argues about the modernity of the film; praises the cinematography of Philippe Agostini and the mood music by Jean Jacques Grunenwald. Another essay that accompanies this DVD is taken from Truffaut’s The Films In My Life. Truffaut focuses on dialogue provided by Cocteau. Essential reading.
As much as Les Dames du Bois Boulogne is a melodrama about Hélène’s scheme, Agnès takes centrestage as well. Hélène is the direct opposite of Agnès. She plays cold unfeeling piano while Agnès dances like a pixie in her own room. Agnès is dressed simply and often with a white coat whereas Hélène is in gloomy black. When Agnès and Hélène’s met for the first time, it appears that they disagree with each other (about the size of the room and the windows); though throughout the movie, they appear conciliatory. The mother acts as a bridge between the two women. She epitomizes the in between towards life and love in advising her daughter to take things as it comes. Agnès is disturbed by her past and feels that her destiny is bleak. Though both of them are aware that Hélène is making use of them, they remained subservient. The scene of Agnès forced to give her earrings to Hélène exposes the conflicting details. Though the former said that it was not what it seems (and that she is not unhappy because of the finer things in life; and only wore the pearls because her mother insisted) we do know that she was in love with Jean. We however cannot be sure if she was in love with his wealth as well. On the other hand, Hélène is jealous (because it seems that Jean has never given her anything) though hidden under the guise of only wanting the best for Agnès.
There is an implied interesting relationship between Hélène and her men. In the first scene, she was with another men and going home from a theatre. After she broke up with Jean, they remained in cordial terms. Besides that, we know so little about Hélène (but only her plans) that it becomes crippling to draw a picture of her. We are unaware of her wealth and status. The same goes for Jean who seems to have nothing to do except being frustrated when he finds out that Agnès is avoiding her. His intent and fascination with the young girl is equally dubious at first. Is it because of her non- attainability that drove him more desperate to want her? Notice after they were married, he gets rough with her in their room when she refuses to entertain the guests.
Though Les Dames du Bois Boulogne closing might seem a trivial melodramatic and traditional (espousing ideals of true love?); it does pose some form of ambiguity. Is Agnès really dead? (After all, she seems to faint rather easily); Of course, does Jean mean what he says? or he only said it because of Agnès’ declaration of her love? In other words, we go back to the first dilemma posed during Hélène’s conversation with her suitor in the car - There is no love, only proof of love.
City of Sadness
Directed by Hou Xiao Hsien
For a movie that meanders for more than 2 and a half hours and still manage to trawl through with emotional depth and incisive analysis of the social upheaveal of the time, City of Sadness is a masterpiece.
As a Chinese and of Hokkien descent (which is the same dialect used in the film) I find myself amused and recites after the characters which proves to be a nostalgic trip for me personally as I have not used or heard the dialect for ages.
I guess hearing the language brings me closer to my roots and perhaps prejudiced my views of the entire movie but you need not know the language to appreciate it. That is exactly the same mentality with watching other foreign movies. What knowledge you have of the language only allows you to understand the context better. Though in this case, it might not help as the story is set in Taiwan (and I’m Singaporean). Besides the film is set immediately after 2nd World War before I was born.
City of Sadness is a memory lane down Post World War II Taiwan about a Chinese family torn down by misfortunes. The eldest son is a brash loudmouth uneducated worker who descends into gambling after the family business folded. The second son went missing after he left for Nanyang (which is South East Asia). The third son was involved with the wrong company, beaten up and driven into lunacy. The youngest is dumb, acted by famed Hong Kong actor, Tony Leong who uses the written word to communicate.
City of Sadness interweaves different characters that it might be quite difficult to understand at first what’s going on. For example, the dinner scenes of the men are not properly explained. When the second son meets a stranger woman whom he accuses of squandering their money, it comes as a rude shock to us as to when it happens.
It is hard to fathom if City of Sadness was meant to be a political history of Taiwan because Hou’s pseudo middle class talks about politics. People are caught and imprisoned for being politically suspect or traitors. Yet, Hou never resorts to stereotypes or demonization of the conquerors. The only Japanese we see is a young lady who is well liked. The Chinese views the Japanese love for sakura and poetry with weird admiration. In fact, the civil strife that made the governor resort to impose curfew is not a result of racial conflicts but rather animosity generated due to perception of land rights.
The melodrama of City is such that it weaves the personal with the social and political upheaveals of the time without resorting to simplification. Hou’s Chinese society is a fabric of intricate relationships that borders on network. For example, the squabble between the families over Ah Quan is resolved with a third party who reveals that the brothers used to play with their neighbours. The partriach is hardly seen but he commands with his story and claim that he builds up the household as a gangster (thereby implying the importance of mafia or underground network to survive).
This traditional mindset of what works in Taiwan is in contrast with the fourth son, Wen Qing who hangs around with a group of intellectuals that talks about politics (but doesn’t seem to do anything more than that). They are informal friends who only when they are pressured by the government that starts imprisoning and sentencing liberals to death unjustly that shook them awake; that they had to become guerilla revolutionaries.
Hou’s City of Sadness revokes my interest in Chinese cinema and it will not matter if you are not Chinese or Hokkien because, it's first and foremost a tragic family saga that has great artistic historical value.
Directed by Robert Bresson
Les Dames du Bois Boulogne is the revenge plot of the cold venomous looking Hélène (Maria Casarès). When she suggests to her lover Jean (Paul Bernard) that they separate, perhaps to test their love, he embraces the idea too eagerly; and angers her.
She appears unaffected but decides to take matters into her own hands. She plans her meeting with ex-acquaintances Agnès (Elina Labourdetti), a young and innocent looking cabaret dancer who is also a prostitute; and her mother (Lucienne Bogaert); who have fallen from wealth to poverty. She helps them by offering to support them as well as move them into a small apartment to escape Agnès suitors.
While most critics agree that this is not Bresson’s best; it is a “turning point” in the words of David Thompson who writes the notes for the Criterion DVD collection. He even goes as far to say that it is an “un-Bressonian film”. He argues about the modernity of the film; praises the cinematography of Philippe Agostini and the mood music by Jean Jacques Grunenwald. Another essay that accompanies this DVD is taken from Truffaut’s The Films In My Life. Truffaut focuses on dialogue provided by Cocteau. Essential reading.
As much as Les Dames du Bois Boulogne is a melodrama about Hélène’s scheme, Agnès takes centrestage as well. Hélène is the direct opposite of Agnès. She plays cold unfeeling piano while Agnès dances like a pixie in her own room. Agnès is dressed simply and often with a white coat whereas Hélène is in gloomy black. When Agnès and Hélène’s met for the first time, it appears that they disagree with each other (about the size of the room and the windows); though throughout the movie, they appear conciliatory. The mother acts as a bridge between the two women. She epitomizes the in between towards life and love in advising her daughter to take things as it comes. Agnès is disturbed by her past and feels that her destiny is bleak. Though both of them are aware that Hélène is making use of them, they remained subservient. The scene of Agnès forced to give her earrings to Hélène exposes the conflicting details. Though the former said that it was not what it seems (and that she is not unhappy because of the finer things in life; and only wore the pearls because her mother insisted) we do know that she was in love with Jean. We however cannot be sure if she was in love with his wealth as well. On the other hand, Hélène is jealous (because it seems that Jean has never given her anything) though hidden under the guise of only wanting the best for Agnès.
There is an implied interesting relationship between Hélène and her men. In the first scene, she was with another men and going home from a theatre. After she broke up with Jean, they remained in cordial terms. Besides that, we know so little about Hélène (but only her plans) that it becomes crippling to draw a picture of her. We are unaware of her wealth and status. The same goes for Jean who seems to have nothing to do except being frustrated when he finds out that Agnès is avoiding her. His intent and fascination with the young girl is equally dubious at first. Is it because of her non- attainability that drove him more desperate to want her? Notice after they were married, he gets rough with her in their room when she refuses to entertain the guests.
Though Les Dames du Bois Boulogne closing might seem a trivial melodramatic and traditional (espousing ideals of true love?); it does pose some form of ambiguity. Is Agnès really dead? (After all, she seems to faint rather easily); Of course, does Jean mean what he says? or he only said it because of Agnès’ declaration of her love? In other words, we go back to the first dilemma posed during Hélène’s conversation with her suitor in the car - There is no love, only proof of love.
City of Sadness
Directed by Hou Xiao Hsien
For a movie that meanders for more than 2 and a half hours and still manage to trawl through with emotional depth and incisive analysis of the social upheaveal of the time, City of Sadness is a masterpiece.
As a Chinese and of Hokkien descent (which is the same dialect used in the film) I find myself amused and recites after the characters which proves to be a nostalgic trip for me personally as I have not used or heard the dialect for ages.
I guess hearing the language brings me closer to my roots and perhaps prejudiced my views of the entire movie but you need not know the language to appreciate it. That is exactly the same mentality with watching other foreign movies. What knowledge you have of the language only allows you to understand the context better. Though in this case, it might not help as the story is set in Taiwan (and I’m Singaporean). Besides the film is set immediately after 2nd World War before I was born.
City of Sadness is a memory lane down Post World War II Taiwan about a Chinese family torn down by misfortunes. The eldest son is a brash loudmouth uneducated worker who descends into gambling after the family business folded. The second son went missing after he left for Nanyang (which is South East Asia). The third son was involved with the wrong company, beaten up and driven into lunacy. The youngest is dumb, acted by famed Hong Kong actor, Tony Leong who uses the written word to communicate.
City of Sadness interweaves different characters that it might be quite difficult to understand at first what’s going on. For example, the dinner scenes of the men are not properly explained. When the second son meets a stranger woman whom he accuses of squandering their money, it comes as a rude shock to us as to when it happens.
It is hard to fathom if City of Sadness was meant to be a political history of Taiwan because Hou’s pseudo middle class talks about politics. People are caught and imprisoned for being politically suspect or traitors. Yet, Hou never resorts to stereotypes or demonization of the conquerors. The only Japanese we see is a young lady who is well liked. The Chinese views the Japanese love for sakura and poetry with weird admiration. In fact, the civil strife that made the governor resort to impose curfew is not a result of racial conflicts but rather animosity generated due to perception of land rights.
The melodrama of City is such that it weaves the personal with the social and political upheaveals of the time without resorting to simplification. Hou’s Chinese society is a fabric of intricate relationships that borders on network. For example, the squabble between the families over Ah Quan is resolved with a third party who reveals that the brothers used to play with their neighbours. The partriach is hardly seen but he commands with his story and claim that he builds up the household as a gangster (thereby implying the importance of mafia or underground network to survive).
This traditional mindset of what works in Taiwan is in contrast with the fourth son, Wen Qing who hangs around with a group of intellectuals that talks about politics (but doesn’t seem to do anything more than that). They are informal friends who only when they are pressured by the government that starts imprisoning and sentencing liberals to death unjustly that shook them awake; that they had to become guerilla revolutionaries.
Hou’s City of Sadness revokes my interest in Chinese cinema and it will not matter if you are not Chinese or Hokkien because, it's first and foremost a tragic family saga that has great artistic historical value.
Friday, September 05, 2003
Hiroshima Mon Amour
Directed by Alain Resnais
Hiroshima Mon Amour has one of cinema’s most startling opener; contradictory themes and characters; shot in black and white with shades of grey in between; it is a embodiment with profound artistic beauty.
The film opens with an entanglement of bodies showered by rain and snow before we hear voice over from our two main characters. Emmanuelle Riva plays an actress who came to Hirsohima to appear in a film about peace while the Japanese married man, starring Eiji Okada, whom she sleeps with is a married engineer.
Their first conversation snippets sets the tone of contradiction in which Eiji refutes Emmanuella’s claim that she has seen Hiroshima. While the conversation continues in poetic rambling, Resnais builds up scenes and scenes depicting horrors of war from mild terror to grotesque burnings to deformed children before finally ending with scenes of recovery.
In a sense, Hiroshima’s remorse opening acts as a parallel that prepares the audience in a similar vein as the story of our characters unfold. They appear rather happy on bed, and engaged in small talk; but the loving ambience is disrupted when Emmanuella told Eiji that she is leaving for France the next day and the latter insists on meeting her again. Tension seeps in because what was a one night stand has now gone into uncertain territories for both parties.
Eiji asked Emmanuella what she was doing when the bomb landed on Hiroshima in one point while they were having their conversation on bed. He asks her about the weather in France; and whether she, like the others, were happy that the bomb was dropped. His question was greeted with a non-committal silence. On one hand, it reflected Eiji’s doubts about his country’s atrocities towards others (because he was aware that others hated them as a race); Emmanuella’s silence was equally evasive and symbolised France’s stance during the second world war. It is hence apparent that Hiroshima is not so much about pointing fingers; but showing the contradictory feelings caused by war.
Eiji continuously refutes Emmanuella’s view that she knows about the sufferings of Hiroshima; which she claims she understood because she visits the local museum and watch those films with death and destruction. The contradiction here is that Emmanuella is present in Hiroshima. Moreover, she did witnessed all those atrocities though it was only through a collected physical history in her local musuem visits. Resnais statement is thus this: documentary and films while acting as much as agents of truth is not as haunting and powerful than reality;
The other contradiction was Eiji; whom himself was not present in Hiroshima when the bomb was dropped because he was in the army. As much as he is unqualified to make that statement and accuse her of not being there (because he wasn’t either), he did suffer because his family did.
Later, we learnt that Emmanuella is here to make a film about “peace” and we see shots of people protesting against the effects of war. One particular scene shows protestors marching with banners protesting against the making and makers of bombs evoking opposing thoughts and emotions. Resnais reveals to us through his footage that “Peace” is not an idea itself but rather; it’s an idea of “anti-war”. Not only that, it shows a people who had conquered using force, suffered upon their defeat, and stood up again proudly as a united people to proclaim the evils of the bomb is very much conflicting.
Yet, despite its social statements, Hiroshima, on the surface is a story about two characters. The plot is “unbalanced” because it is Emmanuella that we “hear” more. One possible reason could be attributed to writer, Marguerite Duras as she is not Japanese (and possibly not experienced the war) or because she could write more deeply about Emmanuelle as she is female herself.
The most revealing sequence occurs in a tea house when Emmanuella reveals her secret. She fell in love with an enemy soldier and becomes insane when he was killed. She was locked up in a cellar. After a slow recovery process, she was released. She left her old town, Nevers for Paris, possibly to forget her past.
While she was relating her story to Eiji, she experiences memories lapse and refers Eiji as her previous lover. It seems as if her past is as much as real as her present. Eiji slapped her to perhaps awake her.
Their relationship is indecisive as Resnais portrays ironically Eiji as the weak Japanese men who is unable to make up his mind on what he wants to do (as opposed to militaristic Japanese men we see in movies). All he desires is that to see her again.
Emmanuella at one instance, desires Eiji to come to her like her prince (as she speaks in her head), though the latter only stares at her walk away. The same situation occurs with Eiji staring at her while she was picked up by another Japanese man in a bar.
The camera gaze on Emmanuella is not based on the mold of the typical male’s desirous projection on women though we did witness how she is constantly “viewed” by men through the camera. Notice it is only men’s faces we see when she was given a slap by Eiji; and being harrased by the man in a bar. Such scenes help the audience to perceive the situation as a third party in between the men and the women in the plot, acting as an effective distanciation tool.
Though Eiji desires her and his face shows likewise his agony of wanting to see her, it is not one of just lust; but rather a special kind of fondness (like a crush?) because he thinks she is special.
The weak male figure complements the subversiveness of Hiroshima because it tells the story basically from Emmanuella’s point of view (whereas in traditional Hollywood, the reverse is prevalent). As mentioned earlier, though there is distanciation, we are also brought closer to our leading lady because we hear her thoughts and follow her wherever she goes. As such, Hiroshima, is a “women” film; as much as it is about love and war.
The editing is swift and the visual images overlap each other. Scenes of Hiroshima interposed with those in France. Emmanuella flash backs are laid beside her current contact with Eiji. All these jolts the audience out of passivity while at the same time, creates open blank spaces for audience interpretation.
As part of the French New Wave, Alain Resnais’s feature debut, Hiroshima Mon Amour, is more haunting, artistically deviant, complex and open than any of his contemporaries efforts.
Directed by Alain Resnais
Hiroshima Mon Amour has one of cinema’s most startling opener; contradictory themes and characters; shot in black and white with shades of grey in between; it is a embodiment with profound artistic beauty.
The film opens with an entanglement of bodies showered by rain and snow before we hear voice over from our two main characters. Emmanuelle Riva plays an actress who came to Hirsohima to appear in a film about peace while the Japanese married man, starring Eiji Okada, whom she sleeps with is a married engineer.
Their first conversation snippets sets the tone of contradiction in which Eiji refutes Emmanuella’s claim that she has seen Hiroshima. While the conversation continues in poetic rambling, Resnais builds up scenes and scenes depicting horrors of war from mild terror to grotesque burnings to deformed children before finally ending with scenes of recovery.
In a sense, Hiroshima’s remorse opening acts as a parallel that prepares the audience in a similar vein as the story of our characters unfold. They appear rather happy on bed, and engaged in small talk; but the loving ambience is disrupted when Emmanuella told Eiji that she is leaving for France the next day and the latter insists on meeting her again. Tension seeps in because what was a one night stand has now gone into uncertain territories for both parties.
Eiji asked Emmanuella what she was doing when the bomb landed on Hiroshima in one point while they were having their conversation on bed. He asks her about the weather in France; and whether she, like the others, were happy that the bomb was dropped. His question was greeted with a non-committal silence. On one hand, it reflected Eiji’s doubts about his country’s atrocities towards others (because he was aware that others hated them as a race); Emmanuella’s silence was equally evasive and symbolised France’s stance during the second world war. It is hence apparent that Hiroshima is not so much about pointing fingers; but showing the contradictory feelings caused by war.
Eiji continuously refutes Emmanuella’s view that she knows about the sufferings of Hiroshima; which she claims she understood because she visits the local museum and watch those films with death and destruction. The contradiction here is that Emmanuella is present in Hiroshima. Moreover, she did witnessed all those atrocities though it was only through a collected physical history in her local musuem visits. Resnais statement is thus this: documentary and films while acting as much as agents of truth is not as haunting and powerful than reality;
The other contradiction was Eiji; whom himself was not present in Hiroshima when the bomb was dropped because he was in the army. As much as he is unqualified to make that statement and accuse her of not being there (because he wasn’t either), he did suffer because his family did.
Later, we learnt that Emmanuella is here to make a film about “peace” and we see shots of people protesting against the effects of war. One particular scene shows protestors marching with banners protesting against the making and makers of bombs evoking opposing thoughts and emotions. Resnais reveals to us through his footage that “Peace” is not an idea itself but rather; it’s an idea of “anti-war”. Not only that, it shows a people who had conquered using force, suffered upon their defeat, and stood up again proudly as a united people to proclaim the evils of the bomb is very much conflicting.
Yet, despite its social statements, Hiroshima, on the surface is a story about two characters. The plot is “unbalanced” because it is Emmanuella that we “hear” more. One possible reason could be attributed to writer, Marguerite Duras as she is not Japanese (and possibly not experienced the war) or because she could write more deeply about Emmanuelle as she is female herself.
The most revealing sequence occurs in a tea house when Emmanuella reveals her secret. She fell in love with an enemy soldier and becomes insane when he was killed. She was locked up in a cellar. After a slow recovery process, she was released. She left her old town, Nevers for Paris, possibly to forget her past.
While she was relating her story to Eiji, she experiences memories lapse and refers Eiji as her previous lover. It seems as if her past is as much as real as her present. Eiji slapped her to perhaps awake her.
Their relationship is indecisive as Resnais portrays ironically Eiji as the weak Japanese men who is unable to make up his mind on what he wants to do (as opposed to militaristic Japanese men we see in movies). All he desires is that to see her again.
Emmanuella at one instance, desires Eiji to come to her like her prince (as she speaks in her head), though the latter only stares at her walk away. The same situation occurs with Eiji staring at her while she was picked up by another Japanese man in a bar.
The camera gaze on Emmanuella is not based on the mold of the typical male’s desirous projection on women though we did witness how she is constantly “viewed” by men through the camera. Notice it is only men’s faces we see when she was given a slap by Eiji; and being harrased by the man in a bar. Such scenes help the audience to perceive the situation as a third party in between the men and the women in the plot, acting as an effective distanciation tool.
Though Eiji desires her and his face shows likewise his agony of wanting to see her, it is not one of just lust; but rather a special kind of fondness (like a crush?) because he thinks she is special.
The weak male figure complements the subversiveness of Hiroshima because it tells the story basically from Emmanuella’s point of view (whereas in traditional Hollywood, the reverse is prevalent). As mentioned earlier, though there is distanciation, we are also brought closer to our leading lady because we hear her thoughts and follow her wherever she goes. As such, Hiroshima, is a “women” film; as much as it is about love and war.
The editing is swift and the visual images overlap each other. Scenes of Hiroshima interposed with those in France. Emmanuella flash backs are laid beside her current contact with Eiji. All these jolts the audience out of passivity while at the same time, creates open blank spaces for audience interpretation.
As part of the French New Wave, Alain Resnais’s feature debut, Hiroshima Mon Amour, is more haunting, artistically deviant, complex and open than any of his contemporaries efforts.
Monday, September 01, 2003
MIRROR
Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky
MINNIE & MOSKOWITZ (1971)
Directed by John Cassavettes
Andrei Tarkovsky’s Mirror is a haunting piece that weaves visual artistic beauty - metaphorically abstract; with music that swims through effortlessly. In juxtaposing his character’s story using flashbacks intermittently and fluidly; many a times without any apparent transition, The Mirror blurs into a collage of poetic memories.
The Mirror hardly is a story but more a seamless blend of poetry and images of the past and present. The two main characters are the narrator’s mother or his wife Natalya (Margarita Terekhova) while the narrator’s son is Ignat (Ignat Daniltsev) The same boy is also played by Alyosha (Aleksei) who represents the young narrator in a series of flashbacks. By using the same actors and actress to span two different generations – both son and mother relationships; it is that the actors are replicated (and since only they are seen and not the narrator) and the dual perceived images of the narrator of his past and present. Our narrator is currently undergoing a marriage break-up and his son is forced to choose between him and his ex-wife. It is similar for the narrator when his mother left because she was afraid of political persecution (working as a journalist) and his father was a soldier.
Mirror’s evocative images are naturalistically sensual yet post-modernist. Winds blow across trees and bushes. A shaker falls from the table casually. These images repeat themselves and haunt the film. The dream scenes are Freudian. The narrator’s mother washes her hair in a basin and gets up to a room that is seeping down with water. Earlier on, they were witnessing a fire going on in the barn. The narrator reads romantic poems that adds to the overall mood of the picture.
Critics view The Mirror as Tarvosky’s masterpiece.
---
Minnie & Moskowitz is a romance comedy about Minnie Moore (Gena Rowlands) and Seymour Moskowitz (Seymour Cassel) who meets in a chance encounter – when the former meets a bad date for lunch and Seymour, who happens to be the car parking attendant helped her get out of it.
In the film, Minnie mentioned to an old lady about how movies are not “real”; that she has not met any suave man such as Bogart to sweep her off her feet. She was seeing a married men who happens to physically abuse her though they end up making love after their quarrels.
Perhaps the closest contemporary one can think of that is as highly regarded is Woody Allen but Cassavates works more along the vein as an “independent” director. His camera style is perky switching from close to medium shots. Characters pause and talk. They shout at each other. They laugh. They sing. Everything they do seems “unstaged” or trying to recite a script like most Hollywood movies.
As much as Minnie & Moskowitz is about a man and a woman who met, fell in love within 4 days and decides to get married; it is highly ridiculously that it feels more like a spoof or a satire against the conventional Hollywood movies by playing out expectations of what Hollywood movies are about – the story of boy meets girls and getting married.
Yet, everything is funnily “unbelievably” unreal despite the actors who acts real. Why would Minnie fall for Seymour who is equally a loud mouth and stalker. What is it about Seymour that attracts her. Is it simply his declaration of his love? Seymour is hardly an “ideal” man for a romance movie. He goes to diners, gets into fights, is loud and constantly criticizes Minnie. Minnie of course is the typical Hollywood pretty blonde who thinks highly of herself and always wants to be serious (as in Seymour’s words).
Minnie & Moskowitz is a funny movie to watch; it is an independent that tries to spoof the Hollywood make-believe, so laughable, that it tells the truth.
Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky
MINNIE & MOSKOWITZ (1971)
Directed by John Cassavettes
Andrei Tarkovsky’s Mirror is a haunting piece that weaves visual artistic beauty - metaphorically abstract; with music that swims through effortlessly. In juxtaposing his character’s story using flashbacks intermittently and fluidly; many a times without any apparent transition, The Mirror blurs into a collage of poetic memories.
The Mirror hardly is a story but more a seamless blend of poetry and images of the past and present. The two main characters are the narrator’s mother or his wife Natalya (Margarita Terekhova) while the narrator’s son is Ignat (Ignat Daniltsev) The same boy is also played by Alyosha (Aleksei) who represents the young narrator in a series of flashbacks. By using the same actors and actress to span two different generations – both son and mother relationships; it is that the actors are replicated (and since only they are seen and not the narrator) and the dual perceived images of the narrator of his past and present. Our narrator is currently undergoing a marriage break-up and his son is forced to choose between him and his ex-wife. It is similar for the narrator when his mother left because she was afraid of political persecution (working as a journalist) and his father was a soldier.
Mirror’s evocative images are naturalistically sensual yet post-modernist. Winds blow across trees and bushes. A shaker falls from the table casually. These images repeat themselves and haunt the film. The dream scenes are Freudian. The narrator’s mother washes her hair in a basin and gets up to a room that is seeping down with water. Earlier on, they were witnessing a fire going on in the barn. The narrator reads romantic poems that adds to the overall mood of the picture.
Critics view The Mirror as Tarvosky’s masterpiece.
---
Minnie & Moskowitz is a romance comedy about Minnie Moore (Gena Rowlands) and Seymour Moskowitz (Seymour Cassel) who meets in a chance encounter – when the former meets a bad date for lunch and Seymour, who happens to be the car parking attendant helped her get out of it.
In the film, Minnie mentioned to an old lady about how movies are not “real”; that she has not met any suave man such as Bogart to sweep her off her feet. She was seeing a married men who happens to physically abuse her though they end up making love after their quarrels.
Perhaps the closest contemporary one can think of that is as highly regarded is Woody Allen but Cassavates works more along the vein as an “independent” director. His camera style is perky switching from close to medium shots. Characters pause and talk. They shout at each other. They laugh. They sing. Everything they do seems “unstaged” or trying to recite a script like most Hollywood movies.
As much as Minnie & Moskowitz is about a man and a woman who met, fell in love within 4 days and decides to get married; it is highly ridiculously that it feels more like a spoof or a satire against the conventional Hollywood movies by playing out expectations of what Hollywood movies are about – the story of boy meets girls and getting married.
Yet, everything is funnily “unbelievably” unreal despite the actors who acts real. Why would Minnie fall for Seymour who is equally a loud mouth and stalker. What is it about Seymour that attracts her. Is it simply his declaration of his love? Seymour is hardly an “ideal” man for a romance movie. He goes to diners, gets into fights, is loud and constantly criticizes Minnie. Minnie of course is the typical Hollywood pretty blonde who thinks highly of herself and always wants to be serious (as in Seymour’s words).
Minnie & Moskowitz is a funny movie to watch; it is an independent that tries to spoof the Hollywood make-believe, so laughable, that it tells the truth.
