Movie of a Day 11.03.2024

March 11, 2023 / Classics

The Working Class Goes to Heaven (1971)

La classe operaia va in paradiso (1971), released in the US as Lulu the Tool, is politcally charged dark comedy. Directed by Elio Petri, the film follows Lulù Massa, a factory worker caught in the dehumanizing machinery of industrial production.

My Short Take: N/A

Director: Elio Petri
Starring: Gian Maria Volonté, Carla Gravina, Salvo Randone
Genre: Drama, Satire
Country: Italy
Language: Italian (with subtitles)
Awards: Won Grand Prix at Cannes Film Festival (1972)

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Movie of a Day 06.03.2024

March 06, 2023 / Classics

Gyeongju (2014)

A South Korean drama film, delves into the complexities of grief and the enduring power of memory. It follows Jin, a young woman who returns to the ancient city of Gyeongju after the sudden death of her mother.

My Short Take: N/A

Director: Zhang Lu
Starring: Youn Yuh-jung, Seo Young-hwa, Park Sung-woong
Genre: Drama
Country: South Korea
Language: Korean (with subtitles)
Awards: Won Best Actress at the Buil Film Awards (2014)

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Movie of a Day 04.03.2024

March 04, 2023 / Classics

Ecoute Voir (1979)

Young aristocrat Arnaud de Maule hires female private detective Claude Alphand to investigate a strange cult, the Church of the Final Revival, that tried to recruit his girlfriend Chloé, who then disappeared, and it now stalks him.

My Short Take: N/A

Director: Hugo Santiago
Starring: Catherine Deneveue
Genre: Noir
Country: France
Language: French
Awards: None

https://www.veoh.com/watch/v444792443ctyhM3B

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Movie of a Day 27.02.2024

February 27, 2023 / Art-house

Christine (1987)

Christine, a young woman in rural UK travels her neighbourhood, calmly delivering heroine.

My Short Take: Much like Elephant, Clarke follows his plain clothes-corrupt action doing protagonist from behind, occasionally trying to peek at their actions. The disconnect between visualization of mouth movement and dialogue was the most interesting part of the film for myself, feels like something Godard would be interested in as well.

Director: Alan Clarke
Starring: Vicky Murdock
Genre: Experimental
Country: UK
Language: English
Awards: None

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Movie of a Day 26.02.2024

February 26, 2023 / SCI-FI

Trancers (1984)

Jack Deth, a gruff bounty hunter from the 23rd century, travels back in time to 1985 to stop the evil Martin Whistler. Whistler uses his psychic powers to turn people into mindless, zombie-like creatures called “Trancers” and control them to do his bidding.

My Short Take: Focuses more on the punk atmosphere in cyberpunk. It has the 80s action movie sheen with lots of one liners (perhaps more of a focus on comedic elements than normal) and archetypes. The lead has a great amount of energy for his age and there is a charming mix of characters but overall the film is a tad forgettable.

Director: Charles Band
Starring: Tim Thomerson, Helen Hunt, Michael Stefani
Genre: Sci-Fi, Action, Comedy
Country: USA
Language: English
Awards: None

https://tubitv.com/movies/463118/trancers

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Movie of a Day 23.02.2024

February 23, 2023 / CLASSICS

Landscape in the Mist (1988)

Young Voula and her younger brother Alexandros embark on a daring adventure: a journey from their rural Greek home to find their father, a mysterious figure they’ve never met, in faraway Germany.

My Short Take: I don’t feel bad making the common connection between Theo and history as he himself discusses his films connection with it. I’m not going to make sweeping statements about the Greek mindset but as an outsider to it, its hard not to relate the cultural stronghold of Greek epics through the line of Theo. His modern age travellers pass through surreal events reminiscent of the sequence of challenges from the epics. In contrast however, the emotions from the epics are now muted in Theo’s works. When they encounter rising feelings of love, characters run away or sullenly stare towards the mists around them. My suspicion is that Theo’s style came before his characters, once he had carved out his own notch in the slow arthouse cinema of Europe he developed the characters.

Director: Theodoros Angelopoulos
Starring: Tania Palaiologou, Michalis Zeke, Stratos Tzortzoglou
Genre: Drama, Art House
Country: Greece
Language: Greek (with subtitles)
Awards: Nominated for Palme d’Or at Cannes Film Festival

https://archive.org/details/landscape.in.the.-mist.-1988.720p.-blu-ray.-flac.x-264-hi-fi

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Movie of a Day 22.02.2024

February 22, 2023 / CLASSICS

Taste of Cherry (1997)

Mr. Badii, a middle-aged Tehran man, embarks on a melancholic journey with a single, unsettling mission: to find someone willing to bury him after he commits suicide. He drives through the dusty Tehran outskirts, encountering an array of individuals he propositions with the task, offering a large sum of money.

My Short Take: n/a

Director: Abbas Kiarostami
Starring: Homayoun Ershadi
Genre: Drama, Minimalist
Country: Iran
Language: Persian (with subtitles)
Awards: Palme d’Or at Cannes Film Festival (1997)

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Movie of a Day 20.02.2024

February 20, 2023 / CLASSICS

The Beekeeper (1987)

An aging beekeeper, Spiros (Marcello Mastroianni), embarks on a solitary journey across Greece following his daughter’s wedding and retirement from teaching. He transports his beehives, seeking fresh pastures for pollination and honey production, driven by an unspoken sense of melancholy and disconnection. Along the way, he encounters a young hitchhiker, Lena (Nadia Mourouzi), and their unlikely bond deepens as they travel together. Spiros revisits old friends and grapples with past regrets, while Lena’s youthful energy offers a glimpse of hope amidst his existential weariness.

My Short Take:

It’s interesting to go back to these seminal art house classics after 30 years of life and film consumption. I think that in a lot of ways I won’t ever be able to be affected in a manner that the films of this genre eminate. I have a hard time being engaged with films because it’s hard to take it very seriously after I think moving away from engaging with “serious” film. Theres a time and place in every cinephiles life for every genre, perhaps it will return later in life. I find that these films don’t ever really emotionally surprise me with an unexpeced scene or tempo but rather they build layers of weighted sediment upon themselves, sequences of long quiet movement with stern serious faces; creating a dense core that becomes unbearably heavy at the end of its runtime.

Director: Theodoros Angelopoulos
Starring: Marcello Mastroianni, Nadia Mourouzi
Genre: Drama, Art House
Country: Greece
Language: Greek (with subtitles)
Awards: Nominated for Palme d’Or at Cannes Film Festival

https://archive.org/details/the-beekeeper-1986

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Movie of a Day 24.06.2023

JUNE 20, 2023 / CLASSICS

Le Doulos (1962)

A French Noir classic, where a recently released criminal plans a heist with his friend Silien, who may or may not be a police informant, leading to a balancing act of double and triple crosses, weaving a web of crooks and friends. The film is propelled by the charm of Jean-Paul Belmondo and the cool headed directorial helm of Jean-Pierre Melville.

My Short Take:

There’s a fantastic shot-reverse-shot near the half-way point of this film between Belmondo’s character and a woman he is attempting to court. Its done in a side profile and stands out in contrast to the rest of the film’s camera-work, seemingly adding emphasis to the male/female contact although I’m not sure why. The film certainly revels in smooth, sharply dressed men operating efficiently. While not as sweaty, seedy, and dark as the American noirs, the film is more functional in its cuts, more movement and editing and less of the scenery based atmosphere in the American noirs.

There’s also some particularly interesting editing flair throughout; such as the fade into a prison scene from a pov car scene, with the prison quite literally coming from the horizon onto the windshield and fading into reality, a showcase of his thought.

Director: Jean-Pierre Melville
Writers: Jean-Pierre Melville
Stars: Jean-Paul Belmondo

https://watch.plex.tv/movie/le-doulos?autoplay=1&utm_content=5d7768468718ba001e317c86&utm_medium=deeplink&utm_source=google-catalog

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Movie of a Day 23.06.2023

JUNE 20, 2023 / CLASSICS

The Agony of Byzance (2022)

An early, short, and silent film depicting the fall of the Byzantium empire from the Ottomans. While there are only a few set pieces, they are heavily filled with soldiers and spears throughout, creating a sense of mass with limited space.

My Short Take:

There’s a short sequence where the pope and the religious followers stand in a cathedral and pray for the protection of their Byzantium leader in war. The camera stands slightly above the crowd in the back, with an arch in the frame, cutting off the full spectrum of the scene. The arch also provides a stark shade in comparison to the bright open sunlight of the main circle in the cathedral. The framing adds a feeling of active-spectatorship, feeling as if one were a child in the crowd, standing on rafters looking out at the scene. The mass of people bow then raise and sway in staggered unison to the pope. Like reeds in the wind, it was a beautiful scene, and one that reminded me of Jean Epstein’s view of film portraying the hidden connectedness between people and nature (nature being capital N nature, here encompassing reality); and how human movement is affected by the movement of another. The pope moves through, swaying the people. The wind moves through, swaying the reeds.

Director: Louis Feuillade
Writers: Louis Feuillade
Stars:

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