Monday Morning Diary (April 12)

Screen cap from taut Australian neo-noir thriller “The Square”

by Sam Juliano

The ‘almost silents’ poll has concluded, and the completed ballots are now being examined by Polling Tabulator Extraordinaire Angelo A. D’Arminio Jr., who has promised to forward the results within a few days. Meanwhile, Allan’s final decade countdown (putting the magnifying glass to the new millenium) will almost certainly bring the most intense interest around the blogosphere of any of the previous pollings, and will likely generate the highest number of completed ballots yet.  This is the decade that is most dominant among the younger bloggers, and it’s the one with the most hands-on familiarity.  Not waiting for the silent results, Allan has begun with another marathon Top 100, which will bring the voting into late July.  Voters have already begun posting on the proper thread over the site header, and others are welcome to follow suit at any time.

Film Noir, on the other hand, is thriving mightily in the Buckeye State, where Dave Hicks is nearing the end of his extraordinarily popular and spectacularly navigated Top 100 Film Noir countdown.  The form’s greatest entries are appearing daily, and even for the few who have resisted so far, the next week will be the time to dive in, hook, line and sinker.  This week, Dave brought about some terrific discussion with his posts on The Big Sleep, The Maltese Falcon, The Postman Always Rings Twice, and today’s essay on a French masterwork, linked here: http://goodfellamovies.blogspot.com/2010/04/14-touchez-pas-au-grisbi-jacques-becker.html

Jeffrey Goodman is moving ahead too with his well-trafficked annual film countdown, which started in the 1930′s and has now reached the 90′s.  Goodman, a filmmaker proceeding with his new film Peril, has made a number of refreshing and audacious choices for his respective top choices.  Sunday’s #1 pick is a film from independent darling Hal Hartley: http://cahierspositif.blogspot.com/2010/04/1990-trust-hal-hartley.html

At Wonders in the Dark, the gifted writer and science-fiction zealot Bob Clark produced one of the greatest comment threads ever at the site this week with a marathon essay on George Lucas’s Attack of the Clones, which so far has attracted a whopping 119 comments.  Both the review and the quality of the comments rank among the best ever at the site.  Meanwhile, James Clark (no relation to Bob, but similar in that his work is unfailingly superlative) penned another exceedingly popular entry in his David Lynch series, this time examining Blue Velvet and Wild At Heart.  The post attractted buffo attention as well.  Dee Dee’s glorious reporting on the Metropolis restoration (she is in the process of interviewing Gilcrest Anderson) also posted a few days ago here at WitD, and this is perhaps the most celebrated cinematic happening of 2009/10.

On the movie scene, despite intentions to see a few more, I managed three films theatrically this past week – all over the weekend in fact – and frankly I’m relieved, as too much of anything is never a good thing.  I saw:

The Square **** (Saturday Night) Landmark Cinemas

Everyone Else *** (Friday night)  IFC Film Center

Black Waters of Echo’s Pond *  (Friday afternoon) Secaucus multiplex

    THE SQUARE, an Australian film noir, which, in its simplest definition is a ‘take the money and run’ yarn involving the head of a construction business and his mistress, who steals a large sum of money from her husband planning to convince  her boyfriend Ray to run off.  But the film includes some shocking events that lead to a startling conclusion.  It’s an atmospheric, riveting thriller that leads to an explosive climax, but it conforms to the definitions of noir, in that greed and doom are interwoven into the film’s fabric.  The “square” of the title has to do with a secret within the four-sided foundation of a planned structure.  E mailing me from Australia tonight, Film Noir king pin Tony d’Ambra informed me that  THE SQUARE opened Down Under in 2008 to very lukewarm reviews and was limited to a short run.  Said d’Ambra: “We are very hard on our own product.”  And how!

    EVERYONE ELSE is a highly-praised German film that examines a relationship with a stronger magnifying glass that any film in memory, yet it’s insistence on monitoring every blemish in that relationship, makes for an uneasy and often torturous watch.  There are some fascinating revelations for sure, and director Maren Ade has a talent for building some genuine tension, but after a while the style becomes suffocating.  I can’t imagine sitting through this a second time, regardless of its filmmaking artistry and strong acting by the two leads, Birgit Minichmayr and Hans-Jochen Wagner.

     BLACK WATERS OF ECHO’S POND  This is the kind of movie that usually has you questioning your sanity after you leave the theatre.  Why did you waste 90 minutes of your life?  Why did you flush money down the toilet?  Why did you drag others along?  Guilty as charged on all three counts.  This is a horror film executed by rank amateurs, embracing every cliche in the book, and promugating some really nasty gore.  When no screening is held for critics in advance, it almost always spells disaster.  The “story” here is a horrific take on Van Allburg’s “Jumanji.”

And here’s the goings-on in the blogosphere:

At Films.Noir.net, Tony d’Ambra’s exquisite ‘Noir Cities’ series continues with a reference to a classic Duvivier film set in Paris, titled Deadlier Than the Male.                                                           http://filmsnoir.net/film_noir/cinematic-cities-paris-noir-2.html

Prolific John Greco, who recently retired, but is as tireless as ever on the film front, has another one of his excellent essays up at “24 Frames” on a celebrated Jean Negulesco film: http://twentyfourframes.wordpress.com/2010/04/11/road-house-1948-jean-negulesco/

Ever attuned to the fascination behind the restoration of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, Dee Dee has editor Gilcrest Anderson aboard this month at Darkness Into Light (Noirish City) to talk about the new footage: http://noirishcity.blogspot.com/2010/04/my-special-guest-for-this-month.html

Troy Olson is a driven guy!  Facing what will surely be the most unforgettable trip of his and his wife Trisha’s life to mainland China to claim his bundle of joy, he continues to conduct mini-marathons of film watching in prep for the 2000′s poll, and still manages his superlative extended capsules at his hallowed halls.  His lead post is on Kill Bill, American Splendor and Bad Education.  It’s a must-read. http://troyolson.blogspot.com/2010/04/best-of-2000-kill-bill-american.html

Brother Kevin Olson has been on a brief sabatical as of late, but he too is preparing for the 2000′s poll, posting his own exhaustive consideration, but listing and talking here of his 50 top films of the decade.  His No. 1 is startling for me, as he also says it may be one of the “ten best American films ever made!”  Check it out:                                                                                             http://kolson-kevinsblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/top-50-films-of-decade-1-10.html

‘Just Another Film Buff’ again raises the bar for film criticism with the first part of an exaustive study of one of world cinema’s most distinguished filmmakers, Jia Zhang-ke, the director of Still Life.  This is simply a must-read.  It’s stunning.                                    http://theseventhart.info/2010/04/10/the-films-of-jia-zhang-ke/

Andrew Wyatt has really been writing one masterpiece after another at his Gateway Cinephiles home, and the latest is on an essential David Lynch short “The Alphabet” (1968).  It’s an essential piece: http://gatewaycinephiles.com/2010/04/06/its-a-strange-world-the-alphabet-1968/

Craig Kennedy at Living in Cinema, has a post up on the startling possibility of a sequel to David Lynch’s Mullholland Drive.  Read it here: http://livingincinema.com/2010/04/10/b-s-watch-mulholland-dr-2/

The blogosphere’s pre-eminent early 30′s film scholar, Judy, from a suberb of London confesses at her Movie Classics site: “Continuing my efforts to watch as many William Wellman pre-Codes as possible, I’ve now seen Lilly Turner a couple of times.”  This hard-to-find pre-coder by Wellman is given the typical superlative treatment in Judy’s latest review: http://movieclassics.wordpress.com/2010/04/06/lilly-turner-1933/

Nearing the biggest day of his life, the nicest guy around continues to post at his “Getafilm” site, the latest on an intriguing Minneapolis-St. paul International Film Festival:  http://getafilm.blogspot.com/2010/04/mspiff-2010-new-and-improved.html

Michael, the ceaselessly-involved “Coffee Messiah” attended a book art workshop with his wife this past week, and his use of covers, old parchments and a video of Japan House make for an engaging post: http://coffeemessiah.blogspot.com/2010/04/champaign-illinois.html

David Scheicher has some gorgeous photos up of Cape May, New Jersey, which includes and borders Wildwood, the most celebrated seashore town in the northeast, and one I visited regularly for 11 years with Lucille and the kids.  David’s work as a photographer, as always, rivals his writing: http://davethenovelist.wordpress.com/2010/04/11/its-oh-so-quiet/

At Ferdy-on-Films, Marilyn Ferdinand and her Australian colleague Roderick Heath typically alternate on their posts, and it’s been quite a week of greatness over there, with Rod’s fine review on Peter Sasdy’s The Stone Tape (BBC) presently headlining:                                http://www.ferdyonfilms.com/?p=4004

Matthew Lucas does more than just manage a blog and review films.  He also is a filmmaker, and I must say his Cottingley Lane is most impressive.  Here’s the link to watch it: http://fromthefrontrow.blogspot.com/2010/04/cottingley-lane.html

It’s Twin Peaks tribute week over at “Radiator Heaven” and J. D. is really in a celebratory mood, with some superlative posts on the cultural phenomenon that are well worth your time: http://rheaven.blogspot.com/2010/04/twin-peaks-tribute-week-some-of-my.html

At Only The Cinema, Ed Howard continues to turn out master-class reviews for the creme of teh crop of world cinema, and after two great essays this week on Rivette’s Joan films, he has another splendid one on a relatively obscure Franju work:                                                                                               http://seul-le-cinema.blogspot.com/2010/04/nuits-rouges.html

At the always intriguing Pacific island home of Terrell Welch, the Creativepotager blog is always posing the most stimulating ‘Sprout Questions,’ the latest asking respondants to choose a special time in history to travel to, after a marvelous lead-in on San Francisco before the 1906 earthquake.  It’s one of the site’s greatest posts and the responses are terrific: http://creativepotager.wordpress.com/2010/04/09/san-francisco-1906/

The king of the capsule, Shubhajit, has a string of great reviews up at Cinemascope, the latest a well-known film from an equally identifiable South Korean filmmaker:                                                                                        http://cliched-monologues.blogspot.com/2010/04/host-2006.html

And then there is silent and animation writer extraordinaire, T.S. of  “Screen Savour” whose latest Buster Keaton review on Steamboat Bill Jr., is a “must read” with a capital M:             http://www.screensavour.net/2010/04/steamboat-bill-jr-1928.html

And then there’s Longman Oz, the award-winning, tireless culture maven from Dublin, who keeps fully abreast of the film and theatre scene.  His latest review is a jump on “The Storm.”: http://noordinaryfool.com/2010/04/12/storm_nevrijeme/

Tony Dayoub at “Cinema Viewfinder” is still leading with his holiday post, which of course was for a while quite a barn-burner, but all has been favorably resolved.               http://www.cinemaviewfinder.com/2010/04/happy-holidays-and-preview-of-things-to.html

Stephen’s exhaustive and rightly popular review of Terminator Salvation is still leading at “Checking On My Sausages”: http://checkingonmysausages.blogspot.com/2010/04/terminator-salvation.html

Jon Lanthier’s brilliant writing is always here for those wanting to explore independent cinema with some sobering revelations.  His latest “Slant” essay is on “It Came From Kuchar.”: http://www.slantmagazine.com/film/review/it-came-from-kuchar/4760

Donophon has just posted what appears to be another top-drawer review of a classic film at “The Long Voyage Home” and it’s Hitchcock’s Under Capricorn on display: http://thelongvoyagehome.blogspot.com/2010/04/under-capricorn.html

Hokahey has a marvelous consideration up of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo up as his place with a superb tie-in to a certain  Hitchcock masterpiece:                                                                                                       http://hokahey-littleworlds.blogspot.com/

Samuel Wilson has a terrific review up on the French prison drama Un Prophete, which I consider to be the best film of 2010 so far: http://mondo70.blogspot.com/2010/04/on-big-screen-un-prophete-2009.html

Jake Cole is one of the fastest reviewers out there, and his torrid pace inludes a number of movie theatre offerings including his latest on Clash of the Titans, which is a must: http://armchairc.blogspot.com/2010/04/clash-of-titans-2010.html

R.D. Finch at The Movie Projector is headlining a very fine essay comparing Dangerous Liasons with Valmont. http://movieprojector.blogspot.com/2010/04/dangerous-liaisons-1988-valmont-1989.html

Indian culture always gets the most impassioned attention by Kaleem Hasan at his glorious Satyamshot blogsite:                  http://satyamshot.wordpress.com/

Always opting for a refreshing, wholly original approach to film criticism, the distinguish “Film Doctor,” who is employed as a University Film Professor, has some most interesting observations up on Date Night.  It’s great stuff:                                            http://filmdr.blogspot.com/2010/04/marriage-counseling-and-therapeutic.html