“Terri,” Eric Rohmer’s “Le Rayon Vert,” “Summer Wars,” Buster Keaton and Sachin Gandhi on Tuesday Morning Diary (July 5)

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“Terri,” Eric Rohmer’s “Le Rayon Vert,” “Summer Wars,” Buster Keaton and Sachin Gandhi on Tuesday Morning Diary (July 5)

July 5, 2011 by wondersinthedark

Screen cap from Eric Rohmer's brilliant "Le Rayon Vert" (1986)

by Sam Juliano

Fireworks. Lawn barbeques. A dive into the pool. An air-conditioned viewing of Peter H. Hunt’s 1972 film adaptation of the Broadway musical, 1776. Well, the last endeavor may not have been enthusiastically embraced by too many here, right? Ha! In any case, summer is now in full fling, with heat, humidity and shorts in fashion until further notice. Here at Wonders in the Dark our beloved Dee Dee has posted a Fourth of July greeting to the staff and all the blogsite readers in typical celebratory practice. It is furthermore hoped and anticipated that many will be taking advantage of the seaon to embark on long-planned vacations.

Business continues as usual at WitD, with Jamie’s “Getting Over the Beatles” series, Allan’s “Fish Obscuro” and Bob’s anime archive offering up some marvelous essays over the past week. The musical countdown remains set for a launch in mid-August, and co-presenter Pat Perry has been busy with viewings and re-viewings of some of the most prominent prospects for inclusion.

It was a great thrill this past week for Lucille, the kids and I to meet up with fellow blogger Sachin Gandhi and his lovely wife and young daughter at the Film Forum for a Monday (June 27) Buster Keaton engagement. The trio flew in for a NYC vacation from their home in western Canada on Saturday, the 25th. Sachin admitted it was his first visit to the Big Apple in 25 years, and he and his lovely family were planning to make the most of a two week stay through this past holiday weekend. We all had a wonderful time at the festival and in the vehicle on the way to his hotel uptown, and won’t ever forget this cherished meeting. Sachin’s high-quality blogsite, Scribbles and Ramblings is one of our favorite stops, and is part of our sidebar blogroll. As always our most excellent friend Film Forum employee and intellectual extraordinaire Alan Hardy was there again to extend his over-the-top generosity in more ways than one. Becoming friends with this young man over the past several months, has been an incomparable joy to all of us, and something tells me I now have a lifelong friend.

With summer school commencing on June 27th, Yours Truly had had his hands full, but the past week yielded some memorable excursions to Manhattan movie theatres over the eight-day period covered by this diary post. Lucile and I managed the following, with the kids in tow on Monday, June 27, Sunday July 3, and Monday July 4:

Spite Marriage **** (Monday, June 27) Buster Keaton at Film Forum

Convict 13 **** 1/2 (Monday, June 27) Buster Keaton at Film Forum

Le Rayon Vert (“Summer, “The Green Ray”) ***** (Friday, July 1) Film Forum

Terri *** 1/2 (Saturday, July 2) Angelika Film Center

Summer Wars **** 1/2 (Sunday, July 3) IFC Film Center

Go West **** (Monday, July 4) Buster Keaton at Film Forum

Cops ***** (Monday, July 4) Buster Keaton at Film Forum

Ed Howard at Only The Cinema promised me in a return comment under his review of Chabrol’s “Les Cousins” over the weekend that I would enjoy Eric Rohmer’s “Le Rayon Vert” immensely, and indeed he is as usual right-on! The Film Forum print for the 1986 film was quite nice, and the improvised film featured a brilliant performance by Marie Riviere as the neurotic central character Delphine, who is in search of Mr. Right and an emotional epiphany, both of which she seemingly gains in the film’s final moments where she observes a flash of green on the setting sun (about which Jules Verne penned a story) when she meets with Jacques at Biarritz. The use of playing cards on a few occasions where Delphine encounters to good luck and bad luck as signified by the Queen of Spades and the Jack of Hearts is a wonderful metaphor and the film uses non-actors as well as any film ever made. I’d say it’s a near-masterpiece of French cinema, and look forward to a second viewing.

Then there is Bob Clark, who for weeks has urged a viewing of the Japanese anime SUMMER WARS. I finally kept my side of the bargain and attended a Sunday morning screening at the IFC with Lucille and my 11 year-old son Danny. Directed by Mamoru Hosoda, this is a gleefully imaginative and visceral piece of science-fiction and fantasy that creates an online world called Oz, which floats in space with satellites and city scapes. The film suggests an apocalypse, while anchoring its story in a period estate with the most modern conveniences. The voicing of the film is effectively in English, and the theme is apparently a cautionary one about humanity increasing dependance on technology. At times it’s spectacularly brilliant and deeply emotional.

TERRI by the same director of the even-better MOMMA’S MAN is still a moderately interesting story about dysfunctional youth under the magnifying glass of a high school guidance councelor. With veteran John C. reilly in top form, it’s a quirky and under your skin independent film that manages to pose some telling truths about people and the human condition.

Four more Keatons (2 features and 2 shorts will now be added to the final round-up) but I’d say the short COPS was the real winner of this quartet, though all of the others are still near-classics. Spending the evening of July 4th at the Film Forum watching Buster with Lucille and the three boys was priceless.

Around the blogosphere there are truly some spectacular posts up, and at 53 it’s the most ever offered up by WitD:

Pat Perry has gloriously ushered in the upcoming Musical Countdown at WitD (“My Love Affair With the Musical”) with some delicious remembrances of how the form took hold of her at a very young age. It’s a true labor of love up at Doodad Kind of Town: http://doodadkindoftown.blogspot.com/2011/06/my-love-affair-with-musicals.html

Judy Geater again showcases a rare pre-coder at Movie Classics, tabbing Mervyn LeRoy’s Big City Blues, starring Joan Blondell, in another superlative essay: http://movieclassics.wordpress.com/2011/06/18/bigcityblues/

Laurie Buchanan’s latest post up at Speaking From The Heart showcases a magnificent passage from Proust, while extolling the sense of smell in establishing memory: http://holessence.wordpress.com/2011/06/30/only-the-nose-knows/

Stephen Russell-Gebbett has again offered up a post of astounding cinematic revelence at Checking On My Sausages with “Letting Objects Tell the Story: Robert Bresson” that takes apart a vital facet of cinematic language: http://checkingonmysausages.blogspot.com/2011/07/letting-objects-tell-story-robert.html

At Darkness Into Light Dee Dee has posted a most welcome announcement about the upcoming release of two seminal film noir volumes, one of which appears to be an utterly fascinating study on “Film Noir and Screwball Comedy” by Thomas C. Renzi: http://noirishcity.blogspot.com/2011/06/two-books-about-film-noir-to-be.html

John Greco has penned a terrific review of Richard Wilson’s 1959 Al Capone at Twenty Four Frames: http://twentyfourframes.wordpress.com/2011/07/01/al-capone-1959-richard-wilson/

Meanwhile, John’s beautiful new ‘photography’ website is up and running: http://johngrecophotography.com/

Tony d’Ambra recalls Astoria, Queens in his latest installment in his superb “Cinematic Cities” series, as applicable to Rouben Mamoulian’s 1931 noir, “City Streets” at FilmsNoir.net: http://filmsnoir.net/film_noir/cinematic-cities-paramount-studios-astoria-queens-new-york-city-1931.html

The incomparably prolific Samuel Wilson has authored a first-rank essay on 1975’s “Promised Land” at Mondo 70: http://mondo70.blogspot.com/2011/07/promised-land-ziemia-obiecana-1975.html

Effervescent filmmaker Jeffrey Goodman beautifully sizes up Robert Altman’s “Thieves Like Us,” the musical “West Side Story” and “Bridesmaids” at The Last Lullaby: http://cahierspositif.blogspot.com/2011/06/favorite-four-part-twelve.html

At the always-sensory Creativepotager’s blogsite, Terrill Welch is interviewed by Bill Maylone. It’s a must-read!: http://creativepotager.wordpress.com/2011/06/27/interview-with-terrill-welch-by-bill-maylone/

Srikanth Scrivasson (a. ka. a. Just Another Film Buff) ha posted a typically superlative capsule, on Kumar Shahani’s “Tarang” (1984) at The Seventh Art: http://theseventhart.info/2011/07/02/ellipsis-43/

Ed Howard has again written a magisterial essay, this time on Claude Chabrol’s early New Wave entry, “Les Cousins” at Only the Cinema: http://seul-le-cinema.blogspot.com/2011/06/les-cousins.html

Our very good friend in Tokyo, “Murderous Ink” has again penned an extraordinary essay in his ongoing series on Kurosawa, this time on one of the cinema’s most celebrated films, “Rashomon”: http://vermillionandonenights.blogspot.com/2011/06/postwar-kurosawa-rashomon.html

Kevin Olson has authored an extraordinary review on Terrence Malick’s “The Tree of Life” at Hugo Stiglitz Makes Movies that is frankly an essential read for all serious cineastes: http://kolson-kevinsblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/wonder-hope-and-love-further-thoughts.html

Troy Olson talks about his future plans and a resumption of director projects already-initiated at Elusive as Robert Denby: The Life and Times of Troy: http://troyolson.blogspot.com/2011/06/what-troys-been-up-to.html

Jason Marshall has penned a wonderful essay in consideration of his #6 film of 1941, Ozu’s “Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family” at Movies Over Matter: http://moviesovermatter.com/2011/07/02/the-brothers-and-sisters-of-the-toda-family-%e2%80%93-best-pictures-of-1941-6/

As eclectic as ever, Samuel Wilson has posted a magnificent review of a 1970 martial arts film “Brothers Five” at Mondo 70: http://mondo70.blogspot.com/2011/07/brothers-five-1970.html

Jaime Grijalba’s most recent post alerts readers to the new release of the second film by Miyazaki’s son. the Japanese anime “Korurikoza kara” at Exodus 8:2: http://exodus8-2.blogspot.com/2011/07/noticias-de-kokurikozaka-kara-2011-1.html Please note: Is anyone else having trouble translating Mr. Grijalba’s site into English? The wordpress option at the top of his page is no longer available, and the sidebar reference point can not be negotiated. Is this just me, or are other experiencing the same problems?

At Films Worth Watching Jon has penned an excellent capsule essay on Samuel Fuller’s cult film “The Naked Kiss,” which is now a Criterion blu-ray: http://filmsworthwatching.blogspot.com/2011/06/naked-kiss-1964-directed-by-samuel.html

At Ferdy-on-Films Marilyn Ferdinand has penned a magnificent essay on the rarely-seen 1958 World War II resistance film “Carve Her Name With Pride” http://www.ferdyonfilms.com/?p=10476

At This Island Rod Aussie wunderkind Roderick Heath has given the kitchen-sink treatment the 2011 multiplex feature “The Adjustment Bureau”: http://thisislandrod.blogspot.com/2011/07/adjustment-bureau-2011.html

And Heath has resurrected his long dormant English One-O-Worst site with a seminal essay on William Goldman’s novel “The Princess Bride”: http://www.ferdyonfilms.com/?p=10336

Craig Kennedy has an early “Watercooler” posting up at Living in Cinema: http://livingincinema.com/2011/07/03/the-watercooler-2/

Paul J. Marasa considers Robert Zemekis’s Who Framed Roger Rabbit? in a stellar essay at TheConstant Viewer: http://theconstantviewer.blogspot.com/2011/06/june-26-1988-who-framed-roger-rabbit.html

Longman Oz has penned a brilliant review of the stage work “Toxic” which staged at the Project Arts Center in Dublin at SmiledYawnedNodded: http://coolercinema.blogspot.com/2011/07/stiff-as-rearden-metal-atlas-shrugged.html

David Schleicher has a most engaging new post up at The Schleicher Spin titled “The Top 30 Sports Movies of All Time”: http://theschleicherspin.com/2011/06/24/the-top-30-sports-movies-of-all-time/

R. D. Finch, the longtime writer extraordinaire of The Movie Projector has penned a magnificent essay on the 1971 John Schlesinger film, “Sunday Bloody Sunday”: http://themovieprojector.blogspot.com/2011/06/sunday-bloody-sunday-1971.html

Sachin at Scribbles and Ramblings offers up a engaging post on “Copa America 2011: Book and Film Festival”: http://likhna.blogspot.com/2011/06/copa-america-2011-book-film-festival.html

Greg Ferrara had developed the correct philosophy in deeming what one’s ‘cinematic world view’ should entail. It’s a telling piece at Cinema Styles: http://cinemastyles.blogspot.com/2011/06/final-stage-of-cinephile-acceptance.html

Patricia at Patricia’s Wisdom takes a fascinating look at a book titled “You Are Not Your Brain,” which aims at reversing some bad habits: http://patriciaswisdom.com/2011/06/you-are-not-your-brain-the-4-step-solution-for–changing-bad-habits-ending-unhealthy-thinking-and-taking-control-of–your-life-jeffrey-schwartz-m-d-and-rebecca-gladding-m-d/

In his new post “A Psuedo Self-Portrait” Michael Harford offers up some lovely abstracts and a video tour of Descartes coffeehouse in Chicago. It’s there at the Coffee Messiah’s blogsite: http://coffeemessiah.blogspot.com/2011/06/pseudo-self-portrait.html

Peter Lenihan leads with a lovely pictorial remembrance of the late actor Peter Palk at The Long Voyage Home: http://thelongvoyagehome.blogspot.com/

Adam Zanzie has penned an excellent essay on 1986’s “The Great Mouse Detective” at Icebox Movies: http://iceboxmovies.blogspot.com/2011/07/great-mouse-detective-1986.html

Dave Van Poppel has penned a wonderful capsule of the documentary hit “Buck” at Visions of Non-Fiction: http://visionsofnonfiction.blogspot.com/2011/05/hot-docs-2011-buck.html

Hokahey at Little Worlds take a close look at “Beginners” with Christopher Plummer in an insightful capsule: http://hokahey-littleworlds.blogspot.com/2011/07/beginners-2010.html

Jason Bellamy has published a spectacular takedoewn of the film version of Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged” at The Cooler: http://coolercinema.blogspot.com/2011/07/stiff-as-rearden-metal-atlas-shrugged.html

Indian culture mavens take note! At Kaleem Hasan’s spectacularly popular home from Indian film, music and politics, the lead post, featuring a you tube of the song “Bduddah Hoga Terra Baap” has attracted almost 300 comments! But the site performed as well on many occasions. Congrats Kaleem!: http://satyamshot.wordpress.com/2011/06/05/bbuddah-hoga-terra-baap-trailers/

And Hasan himself has penned a superlative review of the Indian film Dum Maaro Dum: http://satyamshot.wordpress.com/2011/04/28/specters-of-dum-maaro-du

J.D. has penned a towering appraisal of Malick’s “The Tree of Life” at Radiator Heaven: http://rheaven.blogspot.com/2011/06/tree-of-life.html

At Petrified Fountain of Thought Stephen Morton discusses upcoming plans at his place: http://petrifiedfountainofthought.blogspot.com/2011/06/scheduleapology.html

At The Man From Porlock Craig has a fascinating post up titled “Color Lines,” which examines the films “One False Move” and “Devil in a Blue Dress”: http://themanfromporlock.blogspot.com/2011/07/color-lines-one-false-move-and-devil-in.html

At The Reluctant Bloger Jeff Stroud talks about the slow development of the creative process in finding attention among the art lovers and asks an appropriate question that applies to all: http://jeffstroud.wordpress.com/2011/07/02/grounded-in/

The gifted Film Doctor offers up a compelling essay on “Transformers 3” at his film altar: http://filmdr.blogspot.com/2011/07/shock-awe-and-life-sucking-abyss-8.html

“Weeping Sam” at The Listening Ear offers up a stupendous ‘2011 Halftime Report,’ citing so many great films, deserving of such a designation: http://listeningear.blogspot.com/2011/07/2011-halftime-report.html

Jean has penned a perceptive essay on Terrence Malick’s Days of Heaven at Velvety Blackness: http://velvetyblackness.blogspot.com/2011/06/days-of-heaven.html

Slant writer extraordinaire John Lanthier likens A Serbian Film to a “transgressive” experience, awarding it 3 out of 4 stars at Aspiring Sellout: http://livingincinema.com/2011/05/14/review-a-serbian-film-2011/

At The Long Voyage Home Peter Lenihan has posted a capsule/screen cap presentation of the work of French visionary Claire Denis: http://thelongvoyagehome.blogspot.com/

Jeopardy Girl asks her readers “What’s Good?” at her place this week in an ever-thoughtful post: http://jeopardygirl.wordpress.com/2011/05/16/whats-good/

Matthew Lucas has posted a fascinating “halftime report” at From The Front Row, offering up his ten favorite films of 2011 so far. Be sure to check it out, especially in view of the fact that Matthew and I have similar taste year after year. Ha!: http://www.fromthefrontrow.net/2011/06/2011-halftime-report.html

Ric Burke has penned a marvelous review of “The Maid” at By Kubrick’s Beard: http://bykubricksbeard.blogspot.com/2011/06/maid.html

Drew McIntosh has posted an arresting lot of screencaps including three by Godard and one by Ferrara at The Blue Vial: http://thebluevial.blogspot.com/2011/06/godard-says-24-frames-minute-or-is-it.html

Jake Cole has penned a terrific review of James L. Brooks’ “Broadcast News” at Not Just Movies: http://armchairc.blogspot.com/2011/06/broadcast-news-james-l-brooks-1987.html

Screen cap from terrific Japanese anime, "Summer Wars"

Posted in Uncategorized | 63 Comments

63 Responses

on July 5, 2011 at 2:25 am | Reply Bobby J.

Hi Sam, it’s been a strange kind of week. I saw one helleva movie that put the spirit back in me after the Goddard. And I suspect, that you will consider this movie a magnificent film. I saw the 1963 version of….
‘The Miracle Worker’**** – This was one hell of a experience, total immersion. Patty Duke is superb and so is Ann Bancroft. Marvellous, yet it’s the story and the themes that the real stars. It had the provocative fire of SF at it’s heart, twisting my mind to imagine what a world of darkness with only sense sensations would be like. And more than once I went in thought back to H.G. Wells classic novelette ‘The Country of the Blind’. I pretty much regard Helen Kellar to probably be the most extraordinary woman in human history. I ordered the movie the next day and will be watching it with my nephew and niece over the weekend.

The Miracle Worker (2000) – This is a Disney version and I just had to check it out. I mean, you really can’t go wrong with that play, can you? Yes you can. Which just goes to show that the original isn’t just performance led but quite brilliantly shaped by Arthur Penn. It has bright bland colour and everything looks like it was just made or worn for the first time. It makes the whole thing look fake. There’s no fire in any of the performances, it’s an amateur charade, film-making by numbers and probably with the intention to expose youngsters to the classics, but this kind of help they don’t need and will, in my opinion stop them cold.

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold** – A fairly accomplished piece of spy fiction which acted, photographed, edited and directed with a sure hand. I liked it’s grimy, grubbiness. And thinking of it today, I remembered it more fondly than when I actually watched it. Maybe I admire it’s qualities more than love it.

Exile* – This is BBC 3 part thriller, it starts well enough but after the first segment the following two episodes just go the route of least resistance and I was at least 10 minutes ahead of each plot development. Jim Broadbent is the best thing about it, the the photography is also first rate.

The Shadow Line – Yet another thriller by the Beeb, doleful nonsense. Hokum. That the Beeb do tripe like this, when HBO is producing one major television event after another, it beggars belief. And they have now sold off Television Centre to move up North, which is like all the studios shutting shop in L.A. and heading off to Detroit to relocate, so that they can show they are relevant to the whole country. They have been at Television Centre for 50 years, it’s national monument and they are pissing it all off to that they can be politically correct. They’ve had to pay huge amounts to staff to relocate and will be paying the same towards guests for shows in terms of cabs and hotels. Moving from the capital, it sheer stupidity. Anyway, I’ve decided not to pay my obligatory licence fee (about $225 per year). I’d need a TV aerial or cable or some such receiving equipment and I’ve haven’t had any for years. But this is the first time I’ve really protested.

Also read to fab short pieces of fiction. ‘The Doll’*** by Algernon Blackwood is a delightfully weird piece about a retired English officer who has done some dastardly deed in his time in India and gets an accursed doll from a Hindu emissary. Thinking it destroyed, he gives it no further thought but it has been given to his young daughter, who sinister companion it becomes. Some of the prose is a bit clunky and there was probably a better way of getting rid of the doll in it’s climax, yet it has a real sense of a malign and sinister corruption and evil invading the house.

Lot**** is a 1953 SF piece from the magazine of SF and Fantasy. It and it’s sequel were stolen by hacks and a film made from it called ‘Panic in Year Zero’. The noveltte is a gripping account of a man trying to get his wife and 3 kids away from LA in the aftermath of major strikes hitting the US by the enemy/ It’s almost like a survivalist’s worst nightmare come to vivid life; the interpersonal relationships, the mounting horror and the shockingly horrifying ending make it one of the great classics of the field.

Pity about the passing of Peter Falk, but we’ll always have Columbo – one of the greats.

Sam, did you know that ‘Gaslight’, the 1940 version only survived because the director was allowed to keep one copy for personal use! I think I hate MGM. Something else I heard on the radio, Cary Grant was a huge fan of Benny Hill. I can just imagine how he would have absolutely loved that. Chaplin was too, and Dick Van Dyke.

Comments
- on July 5, 2011 at 2:42 am | Reply Sam Juliano
  
  Hello Bobby!
  
  Thanks as always for the astouding response on this thread!
  
  First off, I never knew that fact about GASLIGHT! It’s beyond fortuitous that the one personal copy held up to allow the world to have permanent record of what was clearly the superior version of this work. You are not the only one to hate MGM! Ha! Yeah, I tip my cap to them for 1939 and for all those glorious musicals, but they harmed Von Stroheim immeasurably! I also am hardly surprised that group loved BENNY HILL! It all makes sense.
  
  I love that Godard lament, and understand precisely where you are coming from, as I stated here last week. Yes, Bobby, THE MIRACLE WORKER is a classic drama with two of the screen’s greatest all-time performances. (It was tough that year picking a best from Bette Davis (Baby Jane), Kate Hepburn (Long Day’s Journey) and Bancroft, but one can’t blame AMPAS for going with Helen Keller’s resilient teacher. I have seen a high school production that was incredible, and have always found William Gibson’s play (based on Helen Keller’s autobiography) as a wrenchingly emotional drama. The film captures the drama with stark realism, and Arthur Penn’s direction is powerfully wrought. Yes, the Disney version is wholly forgettable, though who could ever match the 1962 version?
  
  I have not yet seen EXILE and THE SHADOW LINE, but much appreciate the super capsule report, which all but dismisses both! Ha!
  
  SPY rates about what you gave it with me too. Like, don’t love!
  
  Bobby, I do believe THE DOLL was adapted for an episode of Rod Serling’s NIGHT GALLERY, and if I’m right it’s one of the series’ finest moments! I only watched it about 8 months ago! I’ll check!
  
  LOT sound great! Wow.
  
  Yes, we will always remember Peter Falk for COLUMBO.
  
  Thanks my friend for the spectacular, insightful wrap!
on July 5, 2011 at 2:49 am | Reply Jon

Sam thanks for your kind mention. We had a good time at the family reunion in Chicago over the weekend. There were about 25 of us all together and I haven’t seen several of my aunts, uncles and cousins in years. Of course our picnic was on the hottest day of the year in Chicago so far. Saturday was 93F with high humidity! I guess that’s summer for you.

Speaking of “Summer”, Le Rayon Vert is my absolute all time favorite Rohmer film. I fell in love with it years ago and I find it an enchanting and romantic film, filled with magical and as you said, improvisational moments. Marie Riviere gives one beautiful performance in the film. I’ve always touted this one and consider it one of the finest films of the 80s.
- on July 5, 2011 at 7:45 pm | Reply Sam Juliano
  
  Jon: I bet you guys did indeed have a great re-union! You are quite a family guy and I salute you for that! Of course it’s a special treat to meet up with some relatives you haven’t seen in a long time, and I bet you were thrilled. The 93F isn’t a pleasant picture; we’ve had our share of hot days here in the NE too, and summer hasn’t really even kicked in yet, with a good two and half months left of potentially excedding heat. I’m sure the girls had a great time too!
  
  Wow, Jon, I didn’t know you loved LE RAYON VERT that much! You feel it’s Rohmer’s greatest film? Interesting. As it is I am preparing to revise my star rating to reflect a *****, which of course is the highest grade. I’ve thought about the film for four days now, and it has left a profound impression visually, metaphorically and aesthetically. I completely agree with you on Marie Riviere. She was extraordinary.
  
  Thanks as always my very good friend!
  - on July 6, 2011 at 12:53 pm Jon
    
    Our girls did have a great time meeting their second cousins etc. It’s nice to see the next generation together. Very satisfying.
    
    Sam yes I find the film to be completely profound and it really is a credit to Riviere’s ability to create such a moving portrayal out of a character who is neurotic and somewhat exasperating. It’s such a heartfelt film. I’m not surprised that it has stuck with you. It does tend to be a film that really leaves an impression after several days.
  - on July 7, 2011 at 1:02 am Sam Juliano
    
    Great to hear the girls had such a wonderful time Jon! There is nothing more satisfying than that.
    
    You frame that Rohmer brilliantly, and your passion is palpable! Thanks again!
on July 5, 2011 at 4:07 am | Reply gwern0

> Jaime Grijalba’s most recent post alerts readers to the new release of the second film by Miyazaki’s son. the Japanese anime “Korurikoza kara” at Exodus 8:2: http://exodus8-2.blogspot.com/2011/07/noticias-de-kokurikozaka-kara-2011-1.html Please note: Is anyone else having trouble translating Mr. Grijalba’s site into English? The wordpress option at the top of his page is no longer available, and the sidebar reference point can not be negotiated. Is this just me, or are other experiencing the same problems?

No, same here.

As for _Summer Wars_… yes, it’s a slick movie. But I couldn’t give it a lot of credit, because like _Evangelion 1.0_, it was just an earlier anime rebooted and polished up. Which is nice, I guess, but I can’t really esteem it like I would the first shot at a story.
- on July 5, 2011 at 5:12 am | Reply Bob Clark
  
  How exactly do you mean that “Summer Wars” is an earlier anime, rebooted? Are you referring to how Hosada was recycling ideas from his season of “Digimon” (something Jaime’s mentioned to me before, but I’ve not dug deeper on myself), or what? As far as I’ve been able to tell, it was produced from an original story by Hosada and Satoko Ukudera.
  - on July 5, 2011 at 5:57 pm gwern0
    
    Yes, it’s the Digimon thing (not season but Hosada’s earlier Digimon movie). Watch it sometime – Summer Wars is not recycling a few ideas, it’s basically the entire plot and the visuals as well*. The main difference, thinking back, besides trivial differences like nuke vs satellite, is _Summer Wars_ has more women in it. And some half-hearted subplots about family.
    * Not that the visuals are all that original either. The online scenes could as easily be thanks to _Paprika_, and if it looks like a MMORPG, well, that’s because it does – which one I can’t specifically say, not being a MMORPG player, but it looks a lot like various Nintendo online spaces and Korean-style MMORPGs like Gaia Online or Maple Story.
  - on July 5, 2011 at 6:32 pm Bob Clark
    
    Well, let’s face it– the plot of the computer virus invading the happy land of Second Life isn’t exactly all that original to begin with, is it? It’s just another rogue-AI gone haywire story that provides the impetus for Hosada’s examination of the way social-media and gaming affects modern life, especially in a culture as steeped in its insular past as Japan. Unless the Digimons beat their own villains with hanafuda and whatnot, I’m not about to criticize the film too much (although I’ll probably look up Hosada’s work in that series/films at some point for kicks). And anyway, what’s so bad about a director recycling stuff from their own work? If it weren’t for that, David Lynch would barely have anything left over after “Eraserhead” or “Blue Velvet”.
    
    And yeah, the visuals are reminiscent of “Paprika” (nothing wrong with that– Hosada and Kon were colleagues at Madhouse, after all) and all the connections to Nintendo/MMORPG culture is part and parcel to the point of the film.
- on July 5, 2011 at 6:29 pm | Reply Sam Juliano
  
  Thanks for stopping by “guerno.” Thanks for confirming the lamentable situation at Jaime Grijalba’s EXODUS: 8:2 blogsite, though I see Jaimie (below) has subsequently offered up some alternatives. It’s too bad that blogger has made such inconvinient revisions, but where there is a will there’s a way, and Jaimie’s place is much too vital for all of us.
  
  Is SUMMER WARS slick? Maybe a bit, but it was still quite an amazing achievement that managed to hit an emotional bullseye within it’s all-encompassing science fiction/fantasy focus. That it was a subtle cautionary tale as well, made it even more significant. Terrific animation and some marvelous ideas to boot.
  
  Thanks again!
on July 5, 2011 at 5:42 am | Reply Bob Clark

Sam, I’m glad you finally got a chance to see “Summer Wars”, and I’m even happier that you enjoyed it this much. As I’ve said before, it’s my favorite release from last year (yeah, it’s technically from 2009, but anime in the US is notoriously slow to arrive), and I had an inkling that you’d respond to the mixture of modern sci-fi and old-fashioned family values that the movie espouses. It’s really a wonderful film, and proof that original, non-kiddie/teen oriented anime is out there even after the death of Satoshi Kon. Hosada’s a talent to keep track of.

As for the stuff I saw this weekend– the big thing was the director’s cut of Takashi Miike’s “13 Asssassins” at Lincoln Center, which I thought was good, but not nearly as good as I had been expecting. Partly it’s due to what fans of the film had told me about it ahead of time, saying that it was a nice break from the moern syndrome of shaky-cameras, choppy editing and lackluster fight scenes. While there’s nothing lackluster about the film’s no-hoolds-barred action, I can’t agree on the other assessments, as at key moments it’s practically the equivalent of a samurai movie directed by Greengrass at the height of his “Bourne” follies. Not a bad movie, but not really the return to disciplined, hard-knuckle chambra action its adherents have called it.

For the Fourth, there were more television marathons than usual. SyFy thankfully returned to their usual “Twilight Zone” tradition after last year’s “Greatest American Hero” fiasco. It’s always nice to catch some of my favorite episodes of that program (Burgess Meredith in “The Obsolete Man” is wonderful, and Rod Serling’s “A Stop at Willoughby” is one of the show’s finest half-hours), but seeing as the whole show is now on Netflix streaming, I didn’t feel the need to watch all of it. TNT had “Law & Order” (but when don’t they, really?) and CArtoon Network had “The Clone Wars”, which I watched for a while before I decided I’d rather watch the episodes on DVD in full widescreen. Later I watched “Jaws”, which is still the best 4th of July movie, a real American classic. I feel a little bad that I didn’t make time for “Independance Day”, but you can’t have everything.
- on July 5, 2011 at 11:28 pm | Reply Sam Juliano
  
  This is one of your greatest diary reports Bob, and I thank you exceedingly for it! Yes, your strong lobby for SUMMER WARS resulted in a truly great animated feature that has stayed with me since the Sunday morning screening at the IFC. Overflowing with visual ideas and emotionally strengththened by teh grandmother story, it’s a film that earns its keep and fully deserves to be owned on blu-ray. My 11 year-old son Danny seemed to like it quite a bit too. Hosada is indeed a talent to watch, and that hybrid approached struck aesthetic pay dirt.
  
  Well, as you know I like 13 ASSASSINS quite a bit more than you, but I can’t contest that well-reasoned and superbly written assessment with interesting reference points. I found myself imagining the glory days of Kurosawa and Kobayashi, but it’s on a different visceral level entirely, not for good and not for bad.
  
  Ah THE TWILIGHT ZONE. I have lived and bred that show for decades, and even used one this morning in my summer school class (the hour long THE NEW EXHIBIT). I also count “A Stop at Willoughby” among my favorite TZ’s. It’s a perfect companion piece to “Walking Distance” and as wistful as any television show episode ever produced. Like wise “The Obsolete Man” is a great call to arms against fascism, and even if it’s a bit too preachy, it works as a stellar story of comeuppence (Serling’s favorite theme). And Meredith for the second time in the series (the first of course in the classic of classics, “Time Enough At Last”) gives a buffo performance. Very Brechtian too in set design!
  
  Let’s see, my 25 favorite TZ’s:
  
  1 Time Enough At Last
  2. Walking Distance
  3. Long Live Walter Jameson
  4 Nothing in the Dark
  5 The After Hours
  6 Nightmare at 20,000 Feet
  7 The Howling Man
  8 The Invaders
  9. The Masks
  10. Miniature
  11. Changing of the Guard
  12. A Stop at Willoughby
  13. Eye of the Beholder
  14. On Thursday We Leave For Home
  15. Piano in the House
  16. It’s A Good Life
  17. Night Call
  18. Kick the Can
  19. The New Exhibit
  20. The Silence
  21. The Hitch-Hiker
  22. Five Characters in Search of an Exit
  23. Death’s Head Revisited
  24. Jesse-Belle
  25. Night of the Meek
  
  Yeah, can’t blame you for taking a passon on INDEPENDENCE DAY.
  
  Many thanks my great friend!
  - on July 5, 2011 at 11:42 pm Bob Clark
    
    Sam– “Summer Wars” would easily replace something in my top 25, at the very least, from the movies of 2000 to 2009. I’m a little miffed at the fact that IFC isn’t showing the great anime films from this most recent Children’s Film Festival (“Welcome to the Space Show” and “Time of Eve”, both of which are worth seeing). I also reccomend you check out Hosada’s “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time”, a film that Jaime adores almost as much as he does “Donnie Darko”.
    
    A Rod Serling “Twilight Zone” that’s preachy? The devil, you say!
    
    Along with Kurosawa and Kobayashi, I’m quite partial to the odd mix of directors who helmed the classic “Zatoichi” movies. They’re the chambra equivalent of Bond movies– cool, fun, and for the most part disposable entertainment. I’m also anxious to check out more of Hideo Gosha’s stuff after seeing “Three Outlaw Samurai” on the big-screen at the Pleasantville marathon. That was an unexpected treat.
  - on July 6, 2011 at 12:10 am Sam Juliano
    
    Bob, I’d love to see that other Hosada you mention here, and hope it will be offered at some point.
    
    Yes, great point about TZ. Preachiness is part of the fabric there!
  - on July 6, 2011 at 12:17 am Bob Clark
    
    Sam, you’re better off just getting TGWLTT on blu-ray, as it’s not gonna play in theaters again any time soon. Both that and “Summer Wars” are out in the stores and about as easy to find as any anime is.
  - on July 7, 2011 at 1:04 am Sam Juliano
    
    Indeed Bob, blu-ray it will be for that!
on July 5, 2011 at 7:08 am | Reply Longman Oz

Wotcha Sam! Thanks for the slap-up mention. As you may have seen, I also saw Brian Friel’s Translations this week – a hugely fascinating insight into the Irish psyche, even if this production, while technically excellent, was perhaps missing in sufficient raw intensity at a time of great national doubt.

Elsewhere, did not get to the cinema… again. However, I did see a couple of Lumets that are firm favourites (Fail-Safe & Network), as well as “Winter in Wartime”. Now, I know that you liked this one and I think that it is fair to call it a cross between “Boy in Striped Pyjamas” and recent “civilian resistance” films in “Max Manus” and “Flame & Citron”! Unfortunately, I would struggle to place this one outside of the “modest offering” category, even though I like the themes involved. That said, its certainly a film that I would show to youngsters. I mean, by way of a loosely-related anecdote, I was walking home the other night and some small kid was playing with a (clearly) imitation pump-action shotgun and, whatever about the parents, what sicko toy company makes such a product for children? Yeah, I had a cowboy hat and two cap-guns when I was 5, but a pump-action shotgun? Jaykers, either I have lost touch altogether or the world has. My money’s on the latter! 🙂

Hope that the weekend was fun & frolic!
- on July 5, 2011 at 11:47 pm | Reply Sam Juliano
  
  Hey Longman! I definitely will be checking up on your Brien Friel’s TRANSLATION essay soon! The specifications you make it make it seem most fascinating indeed, even with that one disclaimer. Great Lumets to re-visit there of course! I especially love NETWORK, though his earlier THE PAWBROKER and TWELVE ANGRY MEN are my favorites from him. Ha! what you say there about the hybrid that informs WINTER IN WARTIME. I see what you are saying, but for me the themes, strong acting and inherent fascination of the conflict in the Dutch film won me over. Still, you are fair enough, sand I love that anecdote, and in the end believe that you are still in the land of the sane!
  
  Thanks again my friend for the awesome response here as always!
on July 5, 2011 at 8:08 am | Reply Adam Zanzie

Go West was actually the first Keaton film I ever saw. Keaton sure had a way with buffalo stampedes! It was the fun quality of that movie that prepared me for the cerebral brilliance on The General.

Good luck with the summer semester, Sam!
- on July 5, 2011 at 6:23 pm | Reply Sam Juliano
  
  Adam, excellent point there! Someone waiting on line was talking about the similarities between GO WEST and THE GENERAL, and loved the former so much that he wouldn’t even hear of asserting that the short COPS was the main attraction last night. Oh those buffalo stampedes were gleefully endless. I loved the scene where a few bison entered the barber shop, and terrified customers exited in speed motion. Hysterical! And that classic ending too when Buster tells the herder, that he wants “her!” referring to the animal, rather than the pretty young girl!
  
  Thanks for the well wishes on the summer semester. I got to show the kids the Twilight Zone episode “The New Exhibit” with Martin Balsam this morning and developed a writing response from it. Have a great summer my friend!
on July 5, 2011 at 10:22 am | Reply John Greco

Sam,

Thanks kindly for the double plug, Sam! Hope you and everyone had a great 4th! COPS and CONVICT 13 are two my favorite Keaton shorts, just brilliant stuff. SPITE MARRIAGE is one that has managed to slip by me but I will have to catch it one of these days. This past week I finished reading ARTHUR PENN: AMERICAN DIRECTOR by Nat Segaloff, an engrossing biography on one of the most important American directors of the 60’s and 70’s. Now reading, and about 3/4 of the way finished, Patti Smith’s fantastic memoir, JUST KIDS, the story of her friendship and love affair with Robert Mapplethorpe and their art world. Hope everyone has a fantastic week!

On the movie front here’s a rundown…

Larry Crowne (***1/2) A small film that is overshadowed by its two big stars. It’s not a bad, in all a very pleasant and enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours. Probably would be more receptive if the leads unknowns and the film itself traveled the Film Festival circuit say like “Cedar Rapids” or “City Island.”

Mildred Pierce (****) This HBO mini-series is a masterfully faithful though slow and dry version of James Cain’s novel. This won’t be everyone’s cup of tea but Kate Winslet who is in just about in every frame is magnificent as are most of the others in the cast. Director Todd Hayes is painterly in the way he fawns over every frame and detail. He has shown himself to be a master of period detail in the past (Far From Heaven, I’m Not There). His use of color and music all contribute to the atmosphere. The two actresses, young Morgan Turner and Evan Rachel Wood who portray Mildred’s daughter Veda at different stages of her life are both brilliantly snotty and hateful.

Al Capone (***1/2) – A review is currently up at 24frames. This low budget affair is one of my favorite gangster films. Despite its flaws I can watch Steiger rant and rave mowing down half of Chicago over and over again.

It Came From Beneath the Sea (**) Dated SF/horror about a giant radioactive Octopus that is swallowing up men and ships at sea. Fun film but the Ray Harryhausen effects now look awfully dated and poorly executed.

The Tall Target (****) Anthony Mann’s fictional version of a New York City Policeman’s attempt to stop the first assassination attempt on Abraham Lincoln just prior to his inauguration. Dark, suspenseful noir that works despite the fact you know from the beginning the target of the assassination survived. Nice performance by Dick Powell.

Nothing Sacred (****1/2) An excellent screwball comedy with Carole Lombard and Fredric March in top form. The film is a pure delight with great lines thanks to screenwriter Ben Hecht. I will be writing a full review of this film soon for 24frames.

The Glass Key (***) A town’s political boss decides to back a reform candidate for the upcoming election upsetting the town’s crime boss who relied on crooked candidates to keep his business going. Despite some nice dark noirish photography, the characters never seem to grab you enough to hold your attention or make you care much. Some brutal scenes (for the time) including a memorable beating of Alan Ladd by William Bendix.
- on July 6, 2011 at 12:02 am | Reply Sam Juliano
  
  Hello John! Thanks so much for the holiday greetings. We had a memorable day here for sure as the weather was most cooperative if a bit humid. I well remember reading of you special love for COPS and CONVICT 13. Of course he former was seen last night to great applause by the packed crown in the Film Forum. With everything going on in your life it’s amazing you are able to read, but that’s terrific that you finished that most intriguing volume on Arthur Penn, and are working your way through Patti Smith. Kudos.
  
  And then a tremendous week of movies!
  
  I have indeed seen that AL CAPONE review but haven’t commented yet. I will remedy that situation very soon. Excellent work in an area you’ve made your mark in.
  
  Marvelous comprehensive capsule on MILDRED PIERCE, which has eluded me to this point. I guess I’m waiting for the DVD release, but with my past love for Haynes (especially FAR FROM HEAVEN) I am hopelessly delinquent. Saying what you do here about the director’s use of music and color has me salivating with anticipation. Ditto for the performances!
  
  Dead-on with THE GLASS KEY, which is lesser noir, a point that Tony and a few others have corroborated. IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA is precisely what you say it is; it’s a low-budget clunker in fact. THE TALL TARGET is a great period suspense piece set on a train. I had the great fortune of seeing it at the Mann Festival last yera, and I liked it much more than I though I would. You frame it superbly here, as you do NOTHING SACRED, which sadly has lost critical respect over the years. I look forward to this review, especially.
  
  Nice to read here that LARRY CROWNE isn’t a waste of time!
  
  Thanks John, for this fabulous wrap!
on July 5, 2011 at 12:00 pm | Reply Jeffrey Goodman

Sam, thanks so much for the wonderful mention.

This week, I’m particularly jealous of your Rohmer outing. I have often cited LE RAYON VERT as my favorite of all his films but have never had the chance to see it on the big screen.

This week, my pace slackened a little. I saw: THE MARRIAGE OF MARIA BRAUN, IN A YEAR OF 13 MOONS, KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS, THE LAST LAUGH, TURTLES CAN FLY, and GATES OF HEAVEN. I was definitely happy to see them all, but probably had the best time with the famous Ealing comedy. KIND HEARTS is so extremely well-crafted, and seemingly effortless in its execution. And of course some of its humor is just tremendous.

Here’s to another awesome week, Sam. Thanks so much for all that you do!
- on July 5, 2011 at 8:38 pm | Reply Sam Juliano
  
  Wow Jeffrey! You are one of two people on this thread to name LE RAYON VERT as your favorite Rohmer! Well, I must say it’s a film that sticks to you like glue, and in a week of glorious Keatoon overdose it’s quite a telling revelation. I was surprised that the Film Forum only provided for a five-day run, but perhaps they were just seeing if it sold tickets. From what I observed there over the weekend it did so in spades, and I’m sure it will return for a return engagement.
  
  Jeffrey you also seem to top yourself with your weekly shortlists!! This batch contains some of the cinema’s greatest all-time achievements. I concur that Robert Hamer’s KING HEARTS AND CORONETS is a masterpiece, and perhaps the greatest comedy of all-time. Dennis Price and Alec Guiness are of course unforgettable. I’d also say that Fassbinder’s IN THE YEAR OF 13 MOONS is masterful (could be his greatest or at least in his top tier) and THE MARRIAGE OF MARIA BRAUN is great cinema. As far as Murnau’s THE LAST LAUGH, it’s simply one of the greatest of all silent films, with Emil Jannings in a atowering performance. And to boot I liked Errol Morris’s GATES and the Asian feature TURTLES CAN FLY. God, you were really in cinematic nirvana this week!!
  
  I can’t thank enough my excellent friend for the incredibly kind words as always!
on July 5, 2011 at 1:49 pm | Reply Pat

Sam –
Thanks for that shout-out – I’m flattered and very appreciative – and looking anxiously forward to the Countdown. This week brought viewings of “Sweethearts,” “Cabin in the Sky,” and Peter Chan’s 2006 Hong Kong musical “Perhaps Love.” That last entry is still haunting me today, a beautiful film with a strong Bollywood influence and not a few echoes of “Umbrellas of Cherbourg” in its tale of a young love that does not conquer all. It may well make my Top 50 list.
Also seen this week, “Larry Crowne” (which is cute, but silight and with anyone else but Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts in the leads would have been a complete non-entity), and “Thor,” Kenneth Branagh’s superhero movie (did you ever think we’d be using that phrase?) which is immensely silly but enjoyable if viewed in the right frame of mind.

As I’m sure you know, I am NOT one of the people whou would turn up my nose at the annual TCM screening of “!776,” although I had to record it since I was at a matinee of “Larry Crowne” while it aired. But I had the Broadway cast recording in my car’s CD player most of the weekend (and still do!)

As ever, I am in awe of your prolific vieiwing and blog-monitoring – .you run rings around us all! And I’m sure that Sachin and his family had a wonderful time with you and Lucille; as I know from my own experience, the two of you are wonderful hosts to encounter in NYC!!! Have a great week.
- on July 5, 2011 at 3:35 pm | Reply sachin
  
  Thanks Pat. Yes we had a wonderful time with Sam and Lucille. They are indeed perfect hosts and we managed to get a bit more out of the city thanks to them.
- on July 5, 2011 at 8:28 pm | Reply Sam Juliano
  
  Pat: That was as magnificent a lead-in essay as an musical countdown could ever hope to showcase! As we now have assembled a worthy shortlist of six people to contribute to the final presentation, I am more excited than ever, not that your own infectious activity of the past week hasn’t jump started me.
  
  Although I have seen “Sweethearts” and “Cabin in the Sky” (and think well enough of them) I haven’t yet managed “Perhaps Love.” I’m most impressed what you say there about the Bollywood influence (the Bollywood musical LAGAAN is a certainty to make my own list) and will absolutely check it out very soon. The connection to the immortal UMBRELLAS is another selling point. I must say I agree that THOR works if you take it in in that right frame of mind, and it’s nice that Branagh has hit pay-dirt, though I guess Emma Thompson fans may not agree! Ha! I nearly saw LARRY CROWNE over the weekend, but couldn’t quite manage it. What you say seems just about right as I see it.
  
  Great to hear you had that wonderful Sherman Edwards score of 1776 on your car CD player! My favorite songs in that score are “Is Anybody There,” “Molasses to Rum,” “Till Then,” “Yours, Yours, Yours” and “Mommas Look Sharp.” And the adorably corny “The Lees of Old Virginia” is splendid for laughs.
  
  Thanks for the exceedingly kind words about the “blogging obssession” of mine and particularly about meeting up with Sachin and his family. And I must say I look forward to your next visit to the Big Apple my friend!!!
  - on July 5, 2011 at 8:43 pm Pat
    
    Sam – My personal faves from the “1776” score have always been “But Mr. Adams” (love the wordplay and the bickering about who will actually write the Declaration) and “He Plays the Violin.” But, really, the whole score is a treasure.
    
    I would love to make it NYC this fall, but alas, a looming work deadline makes it unlikley to happen, at least not in September anyway (which is my favorite time to visit). Perhaps a bit later in the fall, who knows? You’ll certainly hear from me if I do. Thanks again, Sam!
  - on July 5, 2011 at 8:46 pm Sam Juliano
    
    Great that you still may make it here Pat! I have my fingers crossed. heck I like “But Mr. Adams” and “He Plays the Violin” too. Perhaps “Sit Down John” is pushing it a bit too much though. Ha!
on July 5, 2011 at 2:27 pm | Reply Marilyn Ferdinand

How will I ever catch up with all this great reading? Still, I must try, particularly as you, Sam, are tireless in promoting all of it, including mine.

I have a small correction – Carve Her Name with Pride is not a Holocaust film, rather a story of the resistance in Britain and France to the Germans. That it ends in a concentration camp is only the outcome of the action that went before.

I’ve been ill and unable to get out to the theatres (had to miss a big-screen showing of Chaplin’s A King in New York – rats!), but I caught up on some DVDs. Watched Night and the City (great), Hereafter (not great), and The Razor’s Edge (super acting). Also continued reading Living Through the Blitz (it’s WWII time at Chez Ferdy) and brought in my first produce from the garden (Swiss chard for Swiss chard risotto).

Now to work on your assignment for me – musicals!
- on July 5, 2011 at 8:02 pm | Reply Sam Juliano
  
  Ha Marilyn! Well, I know it is a tall order, but at least there are some options to ponder. Certainly your own splendid piece stands tall among this week’s unusually rich line-up. I will change the description on the lead-in to your piece. Quite right, your review speaks for itself in that sense, and I always seem to apply Holocaust to resistence films that barely broach that aspect, as Allan has pointed out here a few times. I did the same with WINTER BEFORE WARTIME, which again was likewise no more than a lead-in, as excellent a film as it was in its own right.
  
  Chaplin’s A KING IN NEW YORK deserves a better reputation, as I found out first-hand last summer. Sorry it didn’t pan out, but I’m sure you’ll get an encore opportunity at some point, though I know you have seen the film multiple times. NIGHT IN THE CITY? Great indeed, I fully concur. It’s actually my favorite film noir ever, and Richard Widmark is fantastic. I also concur that HEREAFTER is not great at all (THE SWEET HEREAFTER is another story. Ha!) and Anne Baxter and company are outstanding in THE RAZOR’S EDGE as you rightly note.
  
  Having you aboard for the most vital aspect of the musical countdown -the voting and selection of the 50 choices in numerical order- is a great boon to this project Marilyn!! I know this has long been an area of expertise for you, and you have intermittantly shown this glorious propensity at FERDY-ON-FILMS over the years. The musical polling has now been firned up to finally include yourself, Pat Perry, Judy Geater, Greg Ferrara, Allan and myself. Those six ballots should yield a representative result that will take into account the traditional and the more abstract. In any case I’m thrilled at having your major input!
  
  “Living Through the Blitz” sounds most interesting! I am thinking here of John Boorman’s HOPE AND GLORY if that’s a valid comparison. I see you have another great garden snack lined up with the Swiss chard! Nice.
  
  Thanks as always my excellent friend!
on July 5, 2011 at 3:32 pm | Reply sachin

Thanks sooooo much for such a kind and warm mention Sam. I am floored to get such an elaborate write-up 🙂 All of us were quite thrilled at meeting you, Lucille and the kids as well, while enjoying a fun film as a bonus. I am just glad that we were able to meet and I was finally able to see something at the Film Forum, a theater I have read about for years. In that regard, I managed to have my fill of NY cinematic experiences as I also saw a film at the IFC Center (the Godard) and at the Walter Reade (opening midnight feature of NYAFF), while taking in two video installations — Apichatpong Weerasethakul ‘s Primitive installation at the New Museum and Harun Farocki at MOMA, featuring his Images of War (at a distance) installation but also having Farocki’s older films available for viewing on the tvs. The Primitive installation was quite mesmerizing and incredible and was spread across 4 rooms with 9 projectors beaming hypnotic images and sounds that crackled long in the memory.

The films and museums were just a subset of an overall memorable trip that included meeting plenty of family. And we all enjoyed the warm weather which is a rarity for us. We have no need for AC’s here as it hardly ever gets hot but in NY, we couldn’t manage without an AC.
- on July 5, 2011 at 6:13 pm | Reply Sam Juliano
  
  Sachin: It’s always exciting as the day approaches to meet someone who you have conversed with on-line, but have never met. I must say we were all thrilled to meet up with you guys and to share in a movie event in this celebrated Big Apple cultural institution! Your presence was even felt last night, a week after we met, and I was thinking: “Boy, Sachin would really have loved being here for COPS.” Similarly, it was equally wonderful to meet your lovely wife and cute young daughter (who behavely amazingly well for the films). You certainly made the most of your week-long trip, getting to see the IFC, the Walter Reade and some landmark museums. Getting to Apichatpong Weerasethakul ‘s Primitive installation was another fantastic accomplishment. That you managed to see family too is testament to making the most of the time you spent here. Yep, the NYC area is one of extremes in regard to the weather. Below freezing during the winter with plenty of snow, and sizzling hot during the summer. Like just about everyone else I like it “in between.” Ha!
  
  Many thanks my friend for helping to make last week so memorable!!
on July 5, 2011 at 4:26 pm | Reply Jaime Grijalba

Hello Sam and everyone! Thanks for showcasing my blog again. I’ve been talking with Bob Clark about my blog issue, and I’ve been testing it myself, and I think it may be fault of the web browser in which you see it. It seems that in IE it doesn’t work, but in Firefox does, and in AOL doesn’t, but in Chrome does, so maybe I should put a notice saying: “This Site is Better Seen With Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox”, that’d do the trick.
You had a superb week, as always I’m curious about the Keatons, and I see you managed to see “Summer Wars”, which is my 10th favorite animated movie of all time, and it deserves the ****1/2 you gave it (the same I did). “Le Rayon Vert” is another one I’m interested in seeing, since I want to get into Rohmer a bit more beyond The Collectionist.
I had a busy week, editing, showing, recording, and today I shall finish shooting, and I’ll start the final editing process as well, because I have to deliver on Friday the final version of the TV Pilot, and I feel this is going well so far, but it could be better. I also managed to see more movies due to a lazy day without internet (couldn’t get any work done, so I just picked some movies from your fabulous pack).
So, my week, movie wise:
– Asylum (1972, Roy Ward Baker) *** My first Amicus film, and an anthology film at it, it was good at some points, but there is a weak segment that draws all the tension of the earlier parts (the doppelganger one), and the ending was a bit silly, but I still think its worth a watch if you skip that segment. This one is from your package Sam, thanks!
– The City of the Dead (1960, John Llewellyn Moxey) **** Another Amicus, but this one before it got its name. It’s a wonderful little contained film, full of crazy events as well as an interesting mithology, and an amazing role for Christopher Lee. It flet old school, as well as feeling as if it were a movie from another time, but as good as any other.
– Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop (2011, Rodman Flender) **** Excellent documentary about the live shows Conan O’Brien did after he resigned on NBC. I like Conan, and he was doing a good job on the Late show, and I felt sad when I heard all the fight that was going on regarding time slots. IT’s all explained in the movie, but it’s not centered in that, but in his creative process and his communion with his fans. Hope one day we can see a DVD with the show itself.
– House on Haunted Hill (1959, William Castle) **** Ah, William Castle, he manages to direct a lot of movies and have a special aura around them, they always seem playful, as if you felt the fun that was making the picture and how everyone felt during it. Now, the gimmick “Emergo” I always felt it was silly, but the moment it’s used its so perfect that you can’t help but feel that it’s the best time to do it. Vincent Price is, no wonder, excellent.
– Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010, Apichatpong Weerasethakul) **** This was the opening film of the Asian Film Festival here, which I attended for free last week. I love asian films, and I love spiritual, slow movies, but this one lacked something, maybe it was the overall silence of it all, that felt useless in some extensions, as well as the ending, which I didn’t grasp. Still it has a beautiful cinematography and a splendid story to tell.
– Blind Beast (1969, Yasuzo Masumura) ****1/2 Also from your package, Sam, this one is an almost masterpiece of the body horror genre, as well as a tale of true cruent passion and lust and (why not) love. The acting is phenomenal, the set was just awe-inducing, and the minimalistic approach to the plot and characters was something to cheer for.
– Scenes from the Suburbs (2011, Spike Jonze) *** Now I have reasons to hate Arcade Fire with a passion. This was one of my most anticipated (short)films of the year, and it comes out as a beautiful to look at, but hard to hear short, filled with the noisy trash this band produces, and with a script that couldn’t be less interesting. A review is coming up.
– Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny (2006, Liam Lynch) ***1/2 I love Jack Black in most of the movies that he is in, he just bursts out in energy, and everyhing just seems as if the screen felt aliviated to have someone of his comedic caliber. And he sings as well, and not badly. The movie itself is silly, but fun, and the music makes it worth watching many times.
– The Trip (2010, Michael Winterbottom) ****1/2 But wait! This was the theatrical edition, which still has the spark between the two main characters, but this fails a bit for not showcasing the funniest jokes about Richard Gere and Stephen Hawking.
That’s all guys. Have a good week people!
- on July 5, 2011 at 10:28 pm | Reply Sam Juliano
  
  Jamie:
  
  Thanks for posing the alternate method to gain translation for EXODUS: 8:2. It is lamentable that blogger has changed the easy access. But I do have Modzilla Firefox on my PC, so that is what I will use. I can’t understand why they just didn’t leave well enough alone.
  
  Yes, we had a great week, thank you, and I see you did as well! I am happy to hear that you went with the same high rating for SUMMER WARS! (I hadn’t remembered you considered it among the ten best animated films! Wow). It was quite an imaginative and surprisingly emotional experiences, with often arresting animation. Needless to say LE RAYON VERT is essential Rohmer as many others far more versed in his work that me, have posed. While this would be a great candidate for green-ray, I mean blu-ray (ha!), it is well-transgered in the Eric Rohmer Collection at present.
  
  I applaud you for your frantic activity, and hope that Friday will bring full satisfaction for you. I am admittedly a bit surprised that school for you continues on into July, unless you are enrolled in summer classes. The spring semester in these parts runs from February till May.
  
  Great that you took advantage of that time window to check out some more films, and typically your capsules are wonderfully written!
  
  CITY OF THE DEAD is a lifelong favorite of mine, and I think you’ve framed it superbly! Elizabeth Selwyn is a wholly frightening character, and Lee is quite good as the college professor. The bookends are terrrific too, especially the opening sequence in Whitewood, where a burning at the stake is conducted by puritans. I probably watched this film maybe 70 times in my life.
  
  ASYLUM does boast a great segment though–“The Weird Tailor” which is based on one of the very best “Boris Karloff’s Thriller” episodes Jaimie! You have it there! Watch it when you get a chance and compare. Overall I still like ASYLUM though, and would go with an extra half star.
  
  I also like HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL quite a bit (I saw it with Emergo last summer at the Film Forum) and much appreciate your excellent capsule. I think it’s my favorite Castle.
  
  BLIND BEAST isn’t easy to watch, but you are dead-on as I see it, though of course I rated UNCLE BOONME higher. Maybe that one will take repeat viewings to truly resonate. Then again, maybe not. I haven’t yet seen CONAN O’BRIEN, TENACIOUS D., nor SECENES FROM THE SUBERB, but much appreciate the excellent reports in each instance, and will be interested in soon comparing the two versions of THE TRIP.
  
  Thanks as always my very good friend for the spectacular wrap!
on July 5, 2011 at 5:13 pm | Reply holessence

Sam – I’m bowled over with admiration at that you and your family wove 7 — count ’em, 7 — events in three days. Whew!

I enjoyed the word picture you painted:

“The use of playing cards on a few occasions where Delphine encounters to good luck and bad luck as signified by the Queen of Spades and the Jack of Hearts is a wonderful metaphor and the film uses non-actors as well as any film ever made.”

A very impressive use of a metaphor, indeed. I LOVE when you said, “Spending the evening of July 4th at the Film Forum watching Buster with Lucille and the three boys was priceless.”
- on July 5, 2011 at 6:03 pm | Reply Sam Juliano
  
  Hey Laurie: Well, as I said to Patricia, it was really just five events, taking into account the pair of double features. But thanks so very much, and yes, it was a sizzling week in more ways than one as I’m sure it was for you and Len and countless others here. In these parts people set off firecrackers all over the place and police cars are in sight at every turn. Lucille and I debated as to whether or not we should have the whole family watch the river fireworks or stay the course with the weekly Keaton Festival. Ultimately we opted for the latter, as itt was so much easily to relax in air conditioning, and the multitudes on the cliffs were a daunting proposition.
  
  Thanks as always for penning your customary astute observations as to the writing of the diary. I am close to changing my grade of LE RAYON VERT to *****, as I think it’s really a stone-cold masterpiece, and I am grateful you have embraced my capsule description of it.
  
  Thanks too for aclknowledging the delight in having the three boys for the Keaton!
  
  I trust you and Len had a great day! Perhaps we’ll get an idea at SPEAKING FROM THE HEART! Many thanks as always my friend!
on July 5, 2011 at 5:42 pm | Reply Patricia

Sam, thank you again for the mention of my blog and what’s up and running!
I have to say that I did not us any media this weekend – we had a movie in the mailbox, but the sunshine also arrived and in the NW that was a vital Vit. D hit we all needed. We worked three days in the garden and I read a fast read by Fannie Flagg – I still Dream of You – which was just a great, heart warming, teasing laugh. Our two biggest adventures were keeping a healing puppy sedated and calm during all the fireworks and just sitting outside watching the sun set on Mount Rainer – bats swooping up the mosquitos
I am impressed that you could get to seven events after the start week of summer school and have out of town guests. My guests are returning from camping in 2 days…I have to get busy cleaning and writing a post ahead…
- on July 5, 2011 at 5:53 pm | Reply Sam Juliano
  
  Patricia: Ah, Fannie Flagg! I won’t ever forget my reading years ago of “Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe” and of that wonderful Jon Avnet film adaptation with Jessica Tandy, Kathy Bates, Mary Stuart Masterton and Mary-Louise Parker. I guess Flagg will forever be known for that book, but as you have attested to here, she has other work worth a look-see. Yep, I can’t at all blame you for opting for the sunshine, since it’s rare commodity in parts of the country during all the weather turbulence of the past years. “Watching the sun set on Mount Rainer.” Now that is magnificence incarnate, and love that anecdote about the dog and the fireworks. In these parts we had massive traffic jams around the cliffs overlooking the Hudson River and Manhattan, where a fireworks display for the ages was launched. Lukily for us, we escaped the city after the Keaston festival before the activity commenced.
  
  It was really something to meet up with Sachin and his family, no doubt about it. Well, to be honest the seven events is really five, since it includes two Keaton double features (a feature and a short in each instance) Have a great time when the own guests return, and have a wonderful week my very good friend! Many thanks as always!
on July 5, 2011 at 6:04 pm | Reply Stephen

Thank you for the mention and the compliments Sam. The river had apparently run dry yet there is still water to drink – I’m talking about my blog of course!

The more I watch Keaton and Chaplin the more I appreciate them. I’m not sure I see them as greats like other people do but maybe one day. I still haven’t seen SUMMER WARS which I’m not too happy about – you and Bob now have me cornered with your recommendations.
- on July 5, 2011 at 10:03 pm | Reply Sam Juliano
  
  Hey Stephen! With the thought-provoking work that you come up with, it’s no wonder you take a few short breaks here and there. But I understand you’ve been busy on a number of fronts as of late.
  
  Chaplin and Keaton will surely grow on you. As the two celebrated silent clown I see they as incomparable geniuses, and the past weeks have confirmed that view. SUMMER WARS is something you must see! I saw your name written all over it, and I say that in the best possible sense!
  
  Many thanks as always my friend!
on July 5, 2011 at 10:51 pm | Reply Jamie

I’m jealous of your LE RAYON VERT viewing on the big screen. It’s of course a masterpiece (but he made so many), and, strangely enough the first film of his I watched upon hearing his death a year or so ago. I don’t know why it was just instinctively the one I reached for; it’s not my favorite of his, but I suppose the brilliance of the capturing such a rare natural event at the films close so summed up his career to me. Rohmer was like a force of nature, and every time you sit to watch one of his films you get to watch something akin to an eclipse, or a green sunset (beautifully he allows us it to be under our control forever).
- on July 5, 2011 at 11:37 pm | Reply Sam Juliano
  
  Jamie: I know you are a big big Rohmer fan, and I applaud you for that. You have entered a brilliant comment here, sizing up the allure of this film even while summoning up the great French New Wave master’s full career. Others at this thread have evinced complete agreement as well. I agree the film casts a spell on you–that rare natural event you speak of–and there’s a mystical element running through it. Love your use of the eclipse and sunset metaphors.
  
  Many thanks my excellent friend! I hope the film hits the Windy City arthouses and/or movie palaces in good time.
on July 6, 2011 at 1:46 am | Reply Jason Marshall

“Cops” is a great Keaton short. Did you get a chance to see “Neighbors” during the Keaton festival? I love how he gets his girl out of the third floor window in that one.

I also enjoyed “Summer Wars.” There might be a half a star difference between our assessments.

As for my own life, there has been nothing exciting. I didn’t even make it to the movies this week. “Transformers 3” just doesn’t excite me, though there are several independent and foreign films I should get out to see. Did you (or anyone else) see “Trollhunter”? I’ve been hearing mixed things so I’m curious what you think about it if you’ve seen it.
- on July 7, 2011 at 1:11 am | Reply Sam Juliano
  
  Jason, “Neighbors” is playing on Monday, July 25th with “Steamboat Bill Jr.” We will all again be in attendance on that date, and I agree it’s a great one!
  
  I was debating between 4 and 4 1/2 ON SUMMER WARS, but opted to go with the higher grade because of the resonating emotional content.
  
  “Troll Hunter” is playing here at the Cinema Village, and I tempted as it received solid reviews, and now your interest. I skipped “Transformers” myself! Ha! I’m sure next week will be better!
  
  Al always, thanks so much my very good friend!
on July 6, 2011 at 3:18 am | Reply Stephen Morton

Thanks a ton for the link, Sam! Glad you had a good week. Mine was a little hectic, with a family reunion over the weekend, but it was good nonetheless.

I only saw a few movies this week. First up was Tarkovsky’s The Mirror, which I had never seen before. It was truly a remarkable, fascinating film, although I did fall asleep. I know, I know, but it was dark, and late, and I was tired, and the couch was really cozy, and there were long periods of silences, and it was only for a few minutes, and I went back and re-watched what I missed. So despite that, I actually found it a true work of art, and though I don’t really understand it at the moment, I definitely see myself returning to it in the future and getting more out of it each time. I also saw some similarities with The Tree of Life, but while Malick is interested in beauty in his images above all, Tarkovsky is willing to go for the truly strange, disquieting, oneiric, and enigmatic imagery that can live on your subconscious for years.

I also re-watched Ghostbusters and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World with relatives. Everyone likes Ghostbusters, so no need to talk about that. I love Scott Pilgrim with a passion that I’m guessing not many people over 40 share–it’s a very youth-oriented movie–and I think it’s pretty near a pop-art masterpiece, though I can understand why it doesn’t work for some people.

Finally, I saw Clint Eastwood’s Hereafter last night, and didn’t like it at all. It was very slow, very boring, and it didn’t have anything to say. I think it’s difficult to share in characters’ grief when we’ve never seen them happy or acting in a natural, non-grief-stricken way. It’s also difficult to care about a movie which refuses to take risks and attempt to say something about grief and the afterlife that not everyone will agree with. This film was just uninteresting and empty.
- on July 7, 2011 at 2:11 am | Reply Sam Juliano
  
  Great to hear about the family re-union, Stephen! Your honesty is remarkable (in reference to that viewing of THE MIRROR) but your explanation there is more than understandable. Under those viewing conditions and late night hour, who can blame you? But you went back and found the magnificence of what may be Tarkovsky’s greatest work. For me it’s between that and ANDREI RUBLEV. I will withhold my opinion of SCOTT PILGRIM here as I refuse to rain on your parade, and respect the passion you have for this or any work. At some point though, I must give that film a second whirl. As far as GHOSTBUSTERS, yep it’s eternally popular.
  
  I am no fan of HEREAFTER either, and have found Eastwood’s latest films forgettable. It’s boring, uninteresting and empty indeed!
  
  Thanks for the fabulous wrap my very good friend!
on July 6, 2011 at 7:43 am | Reply Judy

Hi Sam, thanks so much for the link. We’ve just had a music and arts festival in my town, and this weekend my family went to see the English National Orchestra and Katherine Jenkins at a Proms concert in the park, which was great, on a perfect sunny evening. We also went to a Music Day in the park where, among other acts, we saw a Beatles tribute band who put on a great show and had everyone dancing away – there was a baby of about one year old dancing like mad to Please Please Me!

I’m about to do my homework on musicals over the next few weeks and have just come away from ‘Singin’ in the Rain’! Still with older movies, in the past week I watched ‘The Ox-Bow Incident’, one of Wellman’s greatest, with powerful performances by Henry Fonda and Dana Andrews – and a couple of pre-Codes, both from 1931, Capra’s ‘The Miracle Woman’ starring Barbara Stanwyck, which I hope to write about soon, and ‘The Painted Desert’, a disappointing Western which featured Clark Gable’s first talking role. He is so much better than everyone else in the film that it’s ridiculous.

I’ve also just seen the rom-com ‘It’s Complicated’ on TV, which I managed to miss when it was at the cinema – I enjoyed Alec Baldwin and Meryl Streep’s performances, and the gorgeous scenery and food, though I wouldn’t claim it was any kind of masterpiece, and Steve Martin doesn’t have very much to do.

Thanks again Sam, and really looking forward to the musicals countdown!
- on July 7, 2011 at 1:54 am | Reply Sam Juliano
  
  Thanks so much Judy for that wonderfully vivid report on the music and arts festival. yep, seeing that one-year old dancing away to “Please Please Me” would bring a great big smile to any onlooker! The English ational Orchestra and Katherine Jenkins for that Proms concert in the park is truly magnificent stuff, and I’m sure you had a marvelous time of it. Having the family as part of it made it that much better too! Real nice.
  
  That Capra is memorable, but I haven’t yet seen “The Painted Desert.” As far as the great classic “The Ox-Bow Incident” I agree it’s one of Wellman’s finest films. It’s a harrowing study of injustice, based on a revered novel by Walter Van Tilberg Clark. I’m with you on “It’s Complicated,” which was innocuous enough, but rather forgettable a few days later. But it provided a fair amount of laughs!
  
  It is an honor to have your participation in the musical countodown Judy, and I know you will present a marvelous list. Many thanks to you my friend!
on July 7, 2011 at 2:19 pm | Reply Dave

Thanks for the comment on my site Sam! I hope you get a chance to check Buck out. I’m hoping to see Cave of Forgotten Dreams next week sometime and write about it. Hope all is well!

Dave
- on July 8, 2011 at 8:12 pm | Reply Sam Juliano
  
  All is well indeed Dave. Thanks and anticipate the same for you. I hope to see BUCK very soon, though I see things are complicated this weekend with that chimp documentary PROJECT NIM that everyone is praising to the roof, and a vital feature in the Asian Film Festival at Walter Reade(a film starring Jet Li) that I have tickets for. I am very excited to hear you may be seeing CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS as I am certain you will respond to it in a big way. And I’d love to see a review, my friend!
on July 7, 2011 at 3:16 pm | Reply Jamie

So I saw TRANSFORMERS last night. And everyone can breath a sigh of relief as I it was a free screener from a client my employer uses, they are an effects house that did some of the work on said film so they had a little party and showed the film in 3D on the big screen. So, I got to see the film that I was a little curious to see, and not have to partake in the cash exchange that these monstrosities exist on.

I must say Bay is a total hack (no shit I know), but for the Bay aesthetic this is a (or his) masterpiece. It’s essentially a 2 and half hour long continuous action sequence. I’m not sure what it’s place will be but I’ve never seen a film like it; totally asinine, totally OK with this assessment, and yet also totally full of it’s ideas; it relates several key moments of history in the 20th century to it’s lore. It’s an absurd thing to behold. It either signifies the end (and I think that this film or ‘2012’ is the keypoint film of this aesthetic, I can’t decide as I haven’t seen ‘2012’ save extended trailers), or the beginning of something awful.
- on July 8, 2011 at 8:07 pm | Reply Sam Juliano
  
  Jamie, I give you credit for taking the plunge here, and am not at all surprised with your findings! Bay is a hack, there has never been a doubt! I have seen 2012, so we both need to do penance!
  
  Mark: I would sue to get that lost time back!
on July 7, 2011 at 6:36 pm | Reply mark s.

Well, you watch ‘Transformers’ (what is it now ‘Transformers ‘7’ or ‘8’, I lose count amid all this sequel-mania?). And, after reading some of the post-mortems on ‘Bad Teacher,’ masochistically I went to see it anyway. Bad idea. Because her character is so repellently amoral I couldn’t even like Cameron Diaz and it’s quite a negative achievement to uglify the beautiful, talented Diaz, but ‘Bad Teacher’ manages to pull her down into the muck. And since when did Justin Timberlake become an A-lister? So now any pretty boy from a 90’s band of eunuchs has a crack at movie stardom, acclaim, adulation and all the gold-plated pussy he can screw?
Jamie, I think we’re way past the beginning of something awful here.
(And I paid 8 bucks and squandered 90 minutes of my life, which I will never get back!)
- on July 7, 2011 at 7:19 pm | Reply Jamie
  
  Well, I’m of the opinion that Diaz is a worthless hack… I can’t recall anything that would have made me think she is/was talented. Beautiful, maybe back in THE MASK but when your looks are so built on being young and fit she isn’t aging well. Granted she can still look OK but it’s after about an hour in the makeup chair and some heavy lifting on the effects departments part.
  
  On Timberlake we’re in complete agreement, I get angry just thinking how many of my adult coworkers like his music. I understand some camp (and have a hair metal collection to prove it) but liking his music and not being 13 is unacceptable in my opinion.
  - on July 9, 2011 at 4:28 pm mark s.
    
    Actually, I think Diaz received a NYFC award (for whatever that’s worth) for ‘There’s Something About Mary,’ a film I detest. But I realize some of the film cognescenti don’t like her.
    As for Timberlake, well, fuck Julliard. Just become a boy band phenom and eventually you can land all the plum roles your no-talent heart desires.
on July 7, 2011 at 6:54 pm | Reply DeeDee

Why Hello! Sam Juliano, Allan,and WitD readers…
Sam Juliano, I can see that all the films [including the Keaton’s films] you watched last week were strong and not a weakest link among the lot…I hope that you, your wife, (Mrs.Juliano) and your children all enjoyed your time together. What a great description Of summer that you have described too!
Thanks, for the mention and most definitely, for sharing!

Sam, I spend some time away from the boards and while away I finally, watched two films that you sent to me… the first film that I watched was “A Man Escaped”
[On a personal note I wouldn’t say that it was a much better film than Stalag 17, but I would say that it was much more a realistic film minus the star-power and glitz. I hope to re-visit this film in the future.]

I also watched the very “hauntingly” sad, but yet very thought-provoking “Night and Fog” [After viewing this film I experienced many different feelings [emotions] and 100 or more racing thoughts too…I’m not quite sure if I can re-visit “Night and Fog” yet, but in the future I’m quite sure that I will re-visit this very hauntingly beautiful film [mind you I only use the term “beautiful” when it comes to the film telling Of the atrocities that Hitler’s regime inflicted on Jewish people living in Germany during WWII…

…On the home front I also watched a couple Of film noir…The Kid-Glove Killer,[I must admit that I was a little surprise by the film “mild” violence, but yet it remains an interesting forensic, mystery, film noir starring actress M.Hunt,and V.Heflin.] Diplomatic Carrier, 13 Rue Madeleine, Hollywood Story, The Big Tip-Off [Both H.S. and TB T-O is/are in dire need Of a restoration] coming up “House Of Strangers.”
[What does the latter 4 films have in common?]

I repeat Sam Juliano…Thanks, for the mention and most definitely, for sharing!
deedee 😉
- on July 8, 2011 at 8:29 pm | Reply Sam Juliano
  
  I am thrilled to see you here on this thread Dee Dee as always. I have indeed noticed you’ve been busy as of late, but heck, you do so much for so many people, that there comes a time where you can only spread yourself so far. You are an institution here, and your continued work on the sidebar has kept this place afloat and in tune with all the newest features. Yes, when I was writing about the summer all those images were entering my mind. It only seems like yesterday that we were digging ourselves out from the latest snowstorm.
  
  Yes, the family has a wonderful July 4th weekend, though as always it all flew by so fast, which is a common complaint with everyone. Quality-wise it was a week hard to beat what with those classic Keatons and that Eric Rohmer gem comprising most of the itinerary.
  
  That’s an excellent analysis of the two vital films you viewed. The realism in the Bresson makes it in that sense the most compelling prison drama ever made (A MAN ESCAPED) and a film that I consider one of the greatest of all-time. Resnais’s NIGHT AND FOG is indeed “hauntingly sad” and it is the kind of film (as you again rightly note) that you dread visiting again, regardless of hopw powerful an impression it makes on you. No Holocaust film is as compelling, and Cayrol’s eloquent and piercing narration is unforgettable. I am delighted to hear that you got to both of these!
  
  Interesting framing there of THE KID-GLOVE KILLER and the other noirs. Geez, I haven’t yet come up with the answer as far as what do the last four films have in common. Hathaway directed two I know, but I need to look further. I hope to figure it out! Ha!
  
  Thanks my very dear friend for the fabulous wrap!
on July 8, 2011 at 10:50 pm | Reply DeeDee

Hi! Sam Juliano…
I want tease you with that mind twister any longer…the answer is actor Richard Conte…Because I’m looking at his life and times over there on my Ning,

Sam Juliano, remember that I’m just yours and Allan Fish’s “beloved deedee” [I do believe that his [Fish] eyebrow is raised.] LOL 😆
I’m just kidding…or am I just kidding? 😕

[postscript: What I’m trying to say, is that I don’t know quite a few Of the bloggers here to have that “honour” bestowed on me…Do you understand?]
deedee 🙂
- on July 10, 2011 at 11:08 pm | Reply Sam Juliano
  
  Thanks for the answer of Richard Conte there Dee Dee!
  
  Allan’s silence is sometimes to the extreme, but when your name is mentioned he always responds with “lovely person.” Those simple two words tell it all when it comes to you, and Allan has realized it for quite some time now.
  
  As far as not many bloggers having that “honor” bestowed on them the answer is simple. Not many deserve that honor. People like you are as rare as gold dust, and I am honored and grateful for your friendship!
  
  Have a great week!
on July 9, 2011 at 4:08 pm | Reply Murderous Ink

Sam,
Thank you for the mention and sorry for being slow in response.
I have been thinking back this half year, with relation to “film” or more precisely, “moving images”. I really cannot shake off the images I have seen this past three months. They are not my favorites, definitely not. But they changed our lives, ever. I would like to share some with my thoughts with you here, next week, if you don’t mind.
Slowly, we start to swallow long term effect of the nuclear disaster. Many scientists, independent of the government, are trying to figure out how deeply our environment had been affected. Large portion of our land will be lost for ever, And some humans still claim we should not stop nuclear power plant or we lose our electricity and economy. No, they just still want their piece of nuclear cake as they used to. It makes money. But nobody wants their kids playing on the ground contaminated with Cs134. Unfortunately, that is what we have.
Your ***** on Cops made me smile. It was my first Keaton and still the favorite of mine.
Working on my piece on “Ikiru”. Will be up in a week (hopefully).
Thanks.
MI
- on July 10, 2011 at 11:04 pm | Reply Sam Juliano
  
  Hello MI:
  
  You are NEVER late here! Your submission is appreciated at any time, and as usual your comment is deeply profound. That is a precarious situation you describe there, and I shuddered reading it. The assertion that ‘a large part of Japanese land will be lost forver’ is unconscionable. The nuclear power plant situation is impossible to decide on one way or other after reading your facts. I knew that the catastrophe you had wouldn’t just disappear without serious ramifications, but I was hoping the risidule devastation would be minimal. My thoughts and prayers are with you and the people of Japan, who have suffered one of the worst calamities of the past decades. I know you have been keeping busy, but still this terrible reminder intrudes on your life.
  
  I look forward greatly to your review on IKIRU, and need to look in tonight on your previous essay on THE IDIOT.
  
  Yesterday, Lucille and I tool two of the boys (a first time for me) to the Japan Society Theatre on East 47th Street near the United Nations complex to see the “centerpiece” feature of the Asian Film Festival–Takashi Miike’s “Ninja Kids.” I am shocked that this respected director (I loved 13 ASSASSINS) could produce such a dumb, corny, and completely forgettable film like this. But I loved visiting that theatre.
  
  Thanks as always my excellent friend! I hope you have a great week!

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Wonders in the Dark

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“Terri,” Eric Rohmer’s “Le Rayon Vert,” “Summer Wars,” Buster Keaton and Sachin Gandhi on Tuesday Morning Diary (July 5)

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Wonders in the Dark

Cinema, music, opera, books, television, theater

“Terri,” Eric Rohmer’s “Le Rayon Vert,” “Summer Wars,” Buster Keaton and Sachin Gandhi on Tuesday Morning Diary (July 5)

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