Kids in Hirokazu Kore-eda’s ‘I Wish’
by Sam Juliano
With spring weather upon us in full flower, outdoor activity has allowed many to do things that have long been sitting on the back burner. Hope all those Moms out there had the best Mother’s Day ever on Sunday! Thanks again to Dee Dee for her heart-felt attention to the special day on the sidebar and in the forwarding of cards by e mail. Meanwhile, concrete steps have now been taken to launch the upcoming Comedy Countdown at Wonders in the Dark when a group e mail was sent this past week to all prospective participants, who have been urged to hand in a ballot with pointed specifications by July 1st. It is currently planned and anticipated that the countdown will begin in late July and will feature a Top 60, to be posted Monday through Fridays. Obviously if these plans come to pass as expected, the countdown will run until late October.
The For the Love of Film blogothon is officially underway at Ferdy on Films and at the sites of Roderick Heath and The Self-Styled Siren and will run through this coming Friday, May 18. Allan Fish’s stupendous post on lost films captures the spirit of this venture in every sense imaginable, and is presently sitting above the MMD today. My own contribution will be posted this coming Thursday, in a switch with Allan’s post, which was supposed to go up that day, but which has been moved ahead. It should be quite a week for Marilyn and all the others here in their glorious annual venture.
Elsewhere, R.D. Finch’s William Wyler blogothon at The Movie Projector has drawn a week closer. I will be contributing an essay on Ben-Hur, but over at The Dancing Image our dear friend Joel Bocko has written his own piece on the film:
http://thedancingimage.blogspot.com/2012/05/ben-hur.html
A final decision has been reached with the Monday Morning Diary links. After weighing suggestions and advice from our friends, it has been determined that ten (10) links will be posted every week. Obviously, this will still leave a number of sites out of the equation for any given week, but as the intent is to alternate most of the links, all affiliate sites will appear one week or another. Taking the great advice of my dear friend and site colleague Dee Dee, I am urging all bloggers who post a comment on the MMD to include a link to their own site, if they did not appear in the ten links I posted myself.
Lucille and I had the tamest week in a very long time on the outdoor movie front for matters not directly pertaining to movie going and the cultural scene. But frankly I found this to be a big relief, as moderation needs to be practiced for the future. Ha! We only saw:
Dark Shadows * 1/2 (Friday night) Secaucus multiplex
I Wish *** (Saturday night) Angelika Film Center
Bernie **** (Sunday afternoon) Montclair Claridge
Tim Burton and Johnny Depp’s latest collaboration is a send-up of the venerated 60’s and early 70’s soap opera DARK SHADOWS. As I was once a fanatical follower of this show for several years in my early school days, I was aghast at this colossal embarrassment of a film, one with juvenile humor, complete lack of character development and as inept a narrative as one could imagine from Burton. Dan Curtis has been violated, and it’s shameful. I WISH is the latest from gifted Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda, an artist with a particular gift for children. His latest film brings this focus and some relevant themes, but the results are mixed. Some moments are priceless for sure, but the film is overlong and loaded with short scenes that often have no connection to anything but their own intermittent charm. The frustration is that a tighter reigns on the narrative could well have resulted in a great film, one on the level of NOBODY KNOWS. It’s definitely worth a look still.
The film that I was certain would be the weekend’s worst (I have never been after all much of a fan of either Jack Black, nor director Richard Linklater, but the former, perfectly cast turns in the best performance of his career, and the latter directs what could be his very best film. This clever dark comedy is certainly his most entertaining, and the documentary “point of view” style fits it perfectly. If someone would have told me in advance that this would be my favorite film of the week I would have look at them cross-eyed, but there you have it.
Here are the week’s ten links:
Sachin Gandhi at Scribbles and Ramblings gives marvelous treatment to two recent Polish films that have received deserved good notices: http://likhna.blogspot.com/2012/05/polish-films.html
R.D. Finch has authored a terrific essay on John Ford’s The Prisoner of Shark Island at The Movie Projector: http://themovieprojector.blogspot.com/2012/05/prisoner-of-shark-island-1936.html
John Greco has a wonderful new review up at Twenty Four Frames on Woody Allen’s “Broadway Danny Rose”: http://twentyfourframes.wordpress.com/2012/05/11/broadway-danny-rose-1984-woody-allen/
David Schleicher has penned a superlative essay and disclaimers on “The Avengers” at The Schleicher Spin: http://theschleicherspin.com/2012/05/08/the-avengers-or-in-the-name-of-phil/
Samuel Wilson has penned a superlative essay on Mikhail Kalatozov’s “Letter Never Sent” at Mondo 70: http://mondo70.blogspot.com/2012/05/letter-never-sent-neotpravlennoye-pismo.html
At The Last Lullaby, the ever delightful filmmaker Jeffrey Goodman takes a look at part sixteen of his long running quartet series: http://cahierspositif.blogspot.com/2012/04/favorite-four-part-sixteen.html
Judy Geater at Movie Classics again writes with engaging scholarship and enthusiasm in her fascinating review of the 30′s Hollywood film based on Charles Dickens’ The Mystery of Edwin Drood: http://movieclassics.wordpress.com/2012/04/15/mystery-of-edwin-drood-stuart-walker-1935/
In Joseph H. Lewis’ So Dark the Night noir specialist Tony d’Ambra talks about the ‘split personality’ that’s part of the equation in a brilliant short essay at FilmsNoir.net: http://filmsnoir.net/film_noir/so-dark-the-night-1946-the-split-personality.html
“From Moonlight to Nomads Essentials” glowingly leads up at the always-sublime Creativepotager’s blog: http://creativepotager.wordpress.com/2012/05/09/from-moonlight-to-nomads-essentials/
Laurie Buchanan features the “EFT’s of Healing” at her always soulful place Speaking From The Heart: http://holessence.wordpress.com/2012/05/08/the-abcs-or-rather-efts-of-healing/
Jon Warner has penned a terrific review on John Cassevetes’ “Faces” at Films Worth Watching: http://filmsworthwatching.blogspot.com/2012/05/faces-1968-directed-by-john-cassavetes.html
also:
Dave Van Poppel has a tremendous batch of short reviews up at Visions of Non Fiction on the Toronto Film Festival: http://visionsofnonfiction.blogspot.com/
And of course, the glorious film preservation blogothon has launched at Ferdy on Films: http://www.ferdyonfilms.com/?p=14255
It must be mentioned that over at Only the Cinema an enthusiastic Ed Howard has already penned three reviews for the blogothon, the latest on Hitchcock’s fourth film, the silent “Downhill”: http://seul-le-cinema.blogspot.com/2012/05/downhill.html
Click on names for archives
Writers/Founders
“Taking the great advice of my dear friend and site colleague Dee Dee, I am urging all bloggers who post a comment on the MMD to include a link to their own site, if they did not appear in the ten links I posted myself…”
Hi! Sam Juliano…
Please excuse me, but I’m laughing as I type this comment, but that isn’t exactly, what I proposed and I’m afraid after reading this proposal [that your WitD readers, [or fellow bloggers] think that I proposed] that they [your readership or fellow bloggers] are preparing to tar and feather me…LOL…My only inclination is to “run for my dear life!”
[Please see the email that I sent to you…LOL…I’m sorry, for discussing a matter that should have been private in public.]
deedee 🙂
Dee Dee—
Be rest assured that not a single person will be wanting to ‘tar and feather’ you, and that virtually everyone understands you are trying hard to remedy the difficulties that have arisen with the maintenance of the Diary every week. It does seem like the 10 links (this week there were a few more as a result of the film preservation blogothon) will work into the foreseeable future, but as you can see on this thread some have added their own links. My deepest apologies to you for not reading the e mail before posting, but late last night I didn’t actually check my e mails at all. But no fear about discussing this matter as it is applicable to the current situation. I will be speaking to you tonight by e mail as well. Many thanks my very dear friend for all that you do here.
I knew you’d be all over DARK SHADOWS with a bad review like white on rice. As I was a big fan of the series like yourself, I winced when I first started seeing trailers for this film. I will say this… For anyone expecting something other than a complete send up in the hands of Tim Burton all I have to say is get real. A property like this, handed over to a buffoon like that, meant damning the material. Burton hasn’t made a truly great film in his life-time as a director and it seems that he’s getting more and more infantile as he gets on in years. Save a few bright spots (SWEENY TODD, CHARLEY AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY, ED WOOD, BATMAN RETURNS, EDWARD SCISSORHANDS AND SLEEPY HOLLOW, and these were SOLID pictures, NOT great ones), he’s never been able to recapture the innocent brilliance of early works like PEE WEE’S BIG ADVENTURE, BEETLEJUICE and, his masterpiece, THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS. He seems to be grasping at straws by relying more and more on Special Effects and crude humor/parody. I’ll give him propts for his visual palette, but really nothing more than that…
Don’t even get me started on films like MARS ATTACKS, BIG FISH, ALICE IN WONDERLAND and, worst of all, that abomination called PLANET OF THE APES…
I’m also wishing that the relationship Johnny Depp has with this director would get annulled. He’s so much better an actor than he is a director.
Depp and Burton gives the public what they want. The public want shit. But Depp the actor capable of The Libertine, Donnie Brasco and Finding Neverland is long gone, I’m afraid to say. Indeed, since The Libertine in 2004 his wife Vanessa Paradis has done better work making only a few films, in Mon Ange and Café de Flore (a heartbreaking performance). I wish she’d make more, but acting is of tertiary importance to her after her family and music, so one can hardly complain.
As for Burton, even mentioning the term masterpiece on gthe same page as him is insulting. The man is and will always be a style over content void. I admire his aesthetics, but his films are frankly all disposable. Even Nightmare Before Christmas, the best of a bad bunch, was directed by Henry Selick, Burton only produced.
Amen. I don’t wish to pile on Burton, but did he have to take Depp down with him, too? Is the actor from ‘Donnie Brasco’ and ‘Gilbert Grape’ doomed to facial prosthetics, bizarro orthodontia and Keith Richards impersonations from now on? I hope he’s enjoying his zillion$.
Dennis, you refer to Tim Burton as a “buffoon” and then you go on to issue praise for about 90% of his catalogue. I take ‘solid’ to mean good. I understand you never said ‘great’. I didn’t find Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Sleepy Hollow, Beetlejuice and Night Before Christmas and Sweeney Todd as bright spots at all. After praising almost every film he ever made you then go on to deride three or four of his worst films to make it seem like you are no Burton fan. But to each his own, and I have no problem with that.
When I say solid, I mean just barely viewable (although, in the case of SWEENY TODD, it’s more than solid). I think the reason I listed so many was more for the visual style than the content or the substance. In almost every case I love what I see but hate what’s behind the visuals the same way as I admire Dr. Seuss the illustrator and abhore him for his rhyming prose. CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY got a pass from me simply because the visuals were extraordinary and because Burtons version adhered closer to Dahl’s book that the musical version of the 70’s. Other than those aside, the solids are more for what will dazzle the eye than what is behind the glitter.
In the case of the other three… PEE WEE’S BIG ADVENTURE is an absurdist lark wrapped in a Warner Bros. cartoon and mixed together with the kind of white bread conservatism that was a staple of the 1950’s and particularly it’s cinema. BEETLEJUICE is a laugh out loud, over the top, slapstick comedy that legitmizes the kind of ghoulish anarchy that made me love shows like THE MUNSTERS and THE ADDAMS FAMILY when I was a kid. It’s ingenuity and tilted visual design is campy fun and works a whole lot better than films like MEN IN BLACK or Sonnenfelds version of THE ADDAMS FAMILY.
NIGHTMARE, regardless to the fact that it was directed by Sellick is still 90% Burton’s baby and there is just too much that is reminsicent of Burton’s earlier works to make anyone think he didn’t have a very large hand in most of it.
You know, the show was called SEINFELD, but little of what you get in the finalized episodes were anything more than Larry Davids work.
Masterpiece + Burton= I think not. I’m with Allan on that.
Burton hasn’t made a great movie since “Ed Wood”, or even a good movie since “Sleepy Hollow”, which was dumb fun. Everything since then has been useless. Even “Sweeney Todd”, a good pairing of material and director, squanders its opportunity by butchering Sondheim’s score.
I agree with Bob that Ed Wood is great (and for me his sole quasi masterpiece). Some of the films Dennis mentions as solid or bright spots I find to be just as awful as Apes. We can all agree that Burton clearly is not a major artist or great filmmaker. His visual sense is impeccable (though predictable and shopworn at this point) but wasted on mostly tepid adaptations that he can’t elevate beyond his level of mediocrity. I have basically given up on attending his films since Sweeny Todd and Dark Shadows will be no different. Sam’s lowly rating is simply added confirmation.
Totally disagree with Bob (and Maurizio) on SWEENEY TODD for all sorts of reasons, (we duked it out last year under the massive comment section of the film’s review for the musical poll) but Burton’s good days are long gone. I did think ALICE was decent enough though, and like most I have high regard for ED WOOD and EDWARD SCISSORHANDS.
Sam, sorry to hear that you didn’t think much of ‘Dark Shadows’, as it looked good from the trailer – not that trailers are normally much to judge by, but I was hoping for the best! I went to a poetry festival in Norfolk at the weekend where my daughter and some of her friends were reading, which was a good day out – she and I had Dutch pancakes for lunch on a boat, while Paul and Max went for fish and chips.
I haven’t managed to see many films in the past week, but did watch three 1930s movies at home, the Errol Flynn ‘Robin Hood’ which was a repeat viewing and as enjoyable as ever, as well as a Lionel Barrymore double-bill, ‘You Can’t Take It With You’ and ‘Captains Courageous’ – enjoyed both of these, especially the Capra.
I’ve also now reached the halfway point in watching the first seasons of both ‘Boardwalk Empire’ and ‘Game of Thrones’ – must say I am finding I prefer the first of these, with its great characters and 1920s setting. A nice moment in the episode I’ve just seen where some of the characters were watching John Barrymore in ‘Jekyll and Hyde’! I’m finding ‘Game of Thrones’ rather too gory at times, to be honest, but my son and husband love it and it is a good show for us to watch together. Thanks very much for the plug, and wishing you and all at Wonders all the best for the week ahead.
I don’t think Game of Thrones is for you, Judy, but glad the men in the house are enjoying it. It’s certainly better than Boardwalk Empire, whose recreation and performances are far more involving than the plotting.
Judy—
Both the Dutch pancakes and the fish ‘n’ chips sound most appetizing. I am just now getting ready to have supper (chinese food–chicken and broccoli) so reading about the food at the poetry festival is enticing. And the festival sounds great too, wonderful that you all had a great time. I was one of the kids decades ago that ran home to watch DARK SHADOWS for several years running, and to see the juvenile humor and silliness that is featured in the new film was painful. I can’t imagine anyone taking to it, much less fans, but there are some out there. The three 1930’s films you watched would entertain anytime, anywhere. ROBIN HOOD of course is the crown jewel of that trio, though I would agree that the Capra would be the runner-up. I liked CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS too, but what a phony accent Tracy displays there. Ha! Yes, there is a lot of gore (and sex) in GAME OF THRONES, but they are staying the course in this house too. I completely understand what you say with the comparison to BOARDWALK EMPIRE.
Have a great week Judy! Many thanks as always!
Sam,
Having read some reviews from various sources I’m looking forward to BERNIE opening up down here though I’m not sure when that will be. Spent a lot of time this past week on the PC doing some grunt work organizing my photos which are getting out of hand due to volume. Hope this week to actually get back to taking some photos. Below is a link to some recently posted works on Watching Shadows on the Walls. Have a great week!
The Organizer – (****1/2) Marcello Mastroianni gives a magnificent performance as a down and out professor in this turn of the century comedy/drama about exploited textile workers fighting for better working conditions. A must see!
The Big Steal (***1/2) Made almost all in Mexico this early Don Siegel film stars Robert Mitchum and Jane Greer. The film is pretty much one big chase, with Mitchum and Greer teaming up to chase Patrick Knowles who stole a large amount of money from Mitchum. Meanwhile on RM’s tail is William Bendix who believes ‘ole Bobby stole the bucks. Nice twice at the end.
The Red House (****) Part noir, part psycho thriller, part horror The Red House is a unique odd tale that becomes more and more gripping as the story unfolds. Edward G. Robinson in an unusual role is wonderful.
Margin Call (****1/2) Arguably the best film ever about Wall Street. Complex tale of two young analysts who open up the door to financial disaster. Morality, if there ever was any, is set aside as high stakes market wizards fight for the survival of their firm. The weak spot in the film are a couple of unnecessary scenes involving Kevin Spacey’s dog dying which only distract from the story. Jeremy Irons is a superb SOB. Kevin Spacey is never less than stellular. Ironically, I watched this on the same day J.P Morgan Chase announced they lost two billion dollars of their own money in risky investments.
The Day Lincoln Was Shot (***1/2) Good TVM based on Jim Bishop’s famous book and an accurate retelling of the 12 days hunt for Booth and his cohorts. I got the impression Booth might have done more harm to the South in the long run by assassinating Lincoln who was going to be reconciliatory during the post war reconstruction while his replacement Andrew Johnson struck a more retaliatory position.
The Big Combo (****/2) One of the great low budget film noirs. Sexually charged, stark lighting by John Alton and a tense script by Philip Yordan filled with great lines and Richard Conte in a role that is pure evil.
Kept Husbands(**1/2) Former football hero from the wrong side of the tracks marries his bosses daughter and finds himself like a neutered cat genuflecting to his spoiled rich wife’s every whim. Pre-code but pretty tame.
Boston Blackie Booked on Suspicion (**1/2) Another average Bookie Blackie lightweight mystery.
John—
I need to get over to WATCHING ON THE WALLS pronto! Great show getting the photo situation in order, I know well the kind of time you must be investing. Well I must say I envy you for seeing THE ORGANIZER, a new Criterion blu-ray release that I will be getting soon enough. Great to hear it’s as good as many are saying it is. Agreed that THE RED HOUSE takes a while to get going. Robinson is very fine though, as is the exquisite (and celebrated) score by Miklos Rosza. So true what you say about the foolhardy aspect of assassinating Lincoln, when he would have been much easier on the south than the carpetbaggers. The TV film is fine enough, and I agree with your rating. THE BIG COMBO is exceptional indeed, and I’d pretty much agree on THE BIG STEAL. As far as MARGIN CALL, I don’t like it as much as you, but agree on some of the specific praise you award it with. I haven’t seen that BOSTON BLACKIE. As always a terrific report here John and have a well-paced week my friend! Many thanks!
In total agreement with your assessment of I WISH, but I would have taken it down a half star. Very disappointing from such a talented filmmaker. On a positive note I saw BATTLESHIP (it’s released on Friday nationwide) on Sunday (in the comforts of my home). Pleasantly surprised with the story and action-packed FX. Let’s just call it an off-shore TRANSFORMERS. It will surely look great on the big screen.
Bob—
I do understand what you are saying in regards to the Japanese film, but I couldn’t quite go under three, though I don’t fault you for doing such. There were some fine moments there, but nothing came to together, and you were left with fleeting images and scenes that two days later are hard to recall. Can’t wait to see BATTLESHIP! Many thanks my friend!
Sam, I saw Dark Shadows with Carol over the weekend. We didn’t like it much better than you did. The problem isn’t that Burton and Depp played for laughs, but that their attempt was so lame. A sad reprise to a series that meant so much to us years ago. It was nice to see Jonathan Frid, Lara Parker and David Selby in cameos.
Better you than me Frank!
Frank–
Good point about the cameos, I forgot to mention them! But yes, what you say in summation is dead-on. This really defiled a series we will always remember with exceeding fondness. What could they have been thinking?
Thanks as always my friend!
Sam –
Congrats on a week of moderation!! I’m sure you needed it to balance out your prolific viewing during the Wellman retrospective and Tribeca festival!!
I must say, I’m not the least bit interested in DARK SHADOWS, nor am I suprised by your unfavorable assessment. I have no sentimental attachment to the material – although I’m from the generation of kids who ran home after school to watch the TV show, I could never get interested in it myself. I normally like the Burton/Depp collaborations, but I’m quite happy to give this one a miss. I am looking forward to BERNIE, however, based on everything I’ve read so far – unfortuanately, it’s headed for a very limited release in the Chicago area at the end of this week.
On this front, I’m apparently going to be catching up with 2011 films until sometime in 2013 at the rate I’m going! Saw CARNAGE and THE SKIN I LIVE IN this week. The former was an OK adaptation of the play with Jodie Foster giving the best of the performances. As for the Almodovar film – OMG!!! – so audactious and visually stunning and creepy and unbelievably sick!! HA! Almodvar is such a bold and interesting director – I can’t say I loved this, becasue the subject matter creeped me out so much, but it was a terrific movie.
Marlon and I aslo caught SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN at our favorite second-run movie house last night – sweet with charming performances by Ewan McGrego and Emily Blunt. I thought the subplots with the Aghanistan war and the Yemeni terrorists were handled with remarkable sensitivity.
Finally, I (at last!) got a post up for the Hitchock blogathon on MR. AND MRS. SMITH (Hitch does rom com!) which is here:
http://doodadkindoftown.blogspot.com/2012/05/hitch-does-rom-com-for-love-of-film.html
To Sam and all at WITD – have a great week!
Pat—
You said it there! The Wellman and Tribeca back-to-back was a bit much, and I feel like I want to go on movie sabatical. Or at least I think that way on some days. I was certainly one of the DARK SHADOWS groupies back in the day, and I fondly remember the the five block walk home to catch the showat 4:00 EST time Monday through Fridays. I believe it was followed by ONE LIFE TO LIVE. But the respect for the seriousness of it all is what makes this new film so infuriating. I would wager you will like BERNIE quite a bit and hope you will get a shot during the inexplicably limited run. This is the first time I have “appreciated” Jack Black as an actor, I’d say. But I laughed more than have in a theatre in a while, even with the serious tone woven in.
Completely agree with you on the Almodovar film, which is as bizarre and creepy as they come, but which is still a riveting film with dark humor and perversity. i think this film will gain in stature over time. I remember when you saw THE GODS OF CARNAGE on Broadway a few years back. At least the film didn’t defile the memory of the play. And I know SALMON FISHING does have it’s nice aspects.
Great to hear you have a piece up at DOODAD KIND OF TOWN! I will over there momentarily. Thanks as always my great friend. have a super week!
Sam – I’ve been waiting for your take on DARK SHADOWS. As a kid I remember running home from school lickety-split so I wouldn’t miss a speck of it (followed by The Wild, Wild West). I’d recently seen a 3-minute preview of DARK SHADOWS and immediately shifted from curious into skeptical mode. You’ve confirmed my thoughts and saved us money on two tickets — thank you. If we see it at all, it’ll be when I can borrow it from the library.
I’m not a fan of Jack Black so you’ve certainly piqued my curiosity with what you had to say about BERNIE. I quickly Googled the trailer and see that Shirley MacLaine and Matthew McConaughey are in it too. Yowza — those are some pretty heavy hitters!
I can well imagine that your kids made it a lovely Mother’s Day for Lucille. My son did the same for me.
Laurie—
It does seem like yesterday when we ran home to see our favorite characters—Barnabus, Dr. Hoffman, David, Willie Loomis, Angelique, Dr. Stokes and Elizabeth Stoddard, and literally dropped everything we were doing. I distinctly remember being left hanging after every episode. And can you still hear this in your subconscious Laurie?
When I hear it I clearly envision 1968 and 1969 as if it were yesterday. Anyway, you can imagine what a big disappointment this silly send-up was. Ah well, perhaps someday they will do the real thing. Conversely, I can recommend BERNIE without hesitation! I was not much of a Black fan either until this film, where he delivers a very impressive performance. Love teh small town Americana aspect too, though it’s a satiric piece as well.
Lucille and I (and young Sammy) saw BERNIE on Mother’s Day. Unfortunately she had a toothache, which wa sresolved today with a filling.
Have a great week my friend! many thanks!
Hi Sam!!! Hope you had a nice weekend sir! We had a nice weekend and celebrated Mother’s day for my wife in style yesterday and it was a glorious spring day here so that made it extra special. I was able to get some rest this past week and things weren’t too hectic, but I leave in an hour for Little Rock and will be working long hours this week. Such is the life.
Thanks for the tremendous mention by the way!!! I know you stopped by and left a comment as usual and I really appreciate the support. I’m fascinated by your view of Bernie. I actually consider myself a huge fan of Linklater and have really loved several of his films and I have high hopes for Bernie. Glad you liked it. I must say I’m not surprised that Dark Shadows is trash. It looks like rather typical Burton and nothing special. I will pass on it, although any moment with Helena Bonham Carter is something I do like to see. 😉
I had the privilage of watching 2 masterpieces I never have seen before. I was blown away by both Orphans of the Storm and The Heiress. Wow. I watched them on successive nights and was totally enraptured. The Gish sisters and Griffith’s flair for spectacle cinema was delicious, and loved the acting and deep focus cinematography in The Heiress, as well as the terrific score! Actually I will also be contributing an essay to the Wyler blogothon. Dodsworth! Can’t wait. Anyway, I’m hoping to catch a couple films this week, There Was a Father and Street Without End while I’m on my trip. Hope you have a fantastic week my friend!!
Jon–
It looks like the calm before the storm again for you. Great to hear that a glorious spring day blessed the very special day for your wife. We had much the same, though as I stated to others Lucille had to negotiate a toothache, sad to say. I know your job takes you all over, but you seem adept at going with the flow. But I hear ya when you mention the ‘long hours’ that lie ahead. Ugh. If you already like Linklater, well then I’m certain you will take to BERNIE, which is one of his flat-out most entertaining films of all. And Jack Black has never been better! I also understand why you’d be somewhat smitten with Helena Bonham-Carter! But yes, DARK SHADOWS is dire, perhaps the worst film Burton has ever directed. It desecrated the memory of a beloved series, though most should just forget about it and plop in a DVD of the old show. In July the entire set of 131 discs in a coffin box will be releasing for a mere bag of shells – $400.00. LOL!!!
http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Shadows-Complete-Original-Edition/dp/B007PZ6SYK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1337050588&sr=8-1
As far as Aron Copland’s score for THE HEIRESS it is indeed magnificent!!! And the film is a classic, with a towering performance from de Havilland.
THERE WAS A FATHER is a cinematic epiphany! Can’t wait to hear your reaction. But I did like ORPHANS too! Great to hear you’ll be doing an essay on DODSWORTH for Finchy’s Wyler blogothon!!!!
Have a great week my friend. Hope it goes fast for you!
I completely expected you’d be reporting on a disaster with ‘Dark Shadows’. Burton was not the right guy for this project, neither was Depp. The reasons why so many of us rushed home every day was because we caught in the brooding gothic intrigue at Collinswood. Burton strained for laughs with material that never had even an inkling from the start. I think the only times I ever laughed at the original show was when the actors forgot their lines. And what a way to spoil the memory of Jonathan Frid, who played Barnabus Collins. I see that Frid passed on right before the film was released.
I saw a film on a VHS tape that I bet Allan Fish must know well. It’s called ‘Whistle Down the Wind’ and it features Hayley Mills and Alan Bates, and is directed by Bryan Forbes. A moving drama with some beautiful black and white photography.
Hope all is well. I haven’t had a chance to comment in about two weeks.
Peter–
As I’ve stated to others here, the send-up is what doomed DARK SHADOWS. This was a show that cried out for the kind of seriousness that kept viewers at bay each and every afternoon. Yes I do know that Frid passed on right before the film opened at age 87. The cult following he developed rivaled that for Mr. Spock or Captain Kirk. i know WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND very well, and thought it moving. Great to hear you watched this! Thanks as always my friend. Have a great week!
Thanks so much for the mention Sam!! I really appreciate it. After last week’s busyness with the Hot Docs festival, I took a break this week, only catching a couple films: A silly Korean horror film called Bloody Reunion, and Punch-Drunk Love, which I hadn’t seen in some time.
Hope you had a lovely weekend!
Dave
Dave–
PUNCH DRUNK LOVE isn’t a bad film at all. I think you’ve earned your break Dave. I’ll be over to your blog tonight. Thanks as always my friend.
It would be too painful to watch Dark Shadows with so many dear memories of Dan Curtis’ show. He is surely turning in his grave after this.
You have my interest stoked in seeing Bernie though.
Hope Lucille had a wonderful Mother’s Day, Sam.
Frederick—
Funny you mention Curtis, as the film was actually devoted to his memory, as per words that appeared after the credits. I don’t think Curtis ever knew the kind of cult following the show would amass years later, and during the show’s run was only trying to extend it. Yes, BERNIE is well worth seeing.
Lucille has a toothache yesterday sad to say Peter, but she was at the dentist this morning and feels better.
Thanks so much for stopping in my friend!
Hi Sam – I have been tempted by Dark Shadows, but who knows if I’ll actually go. So many other things to see, and your dismal report of it is not encouraging.
Of course, I’m busy with the blogathon, but it moves to Self-Styled Siren tomorrow, so the bigger work will be over for me. It has been a long few months of planning, and I’m glad it’s finally here.
I saw some very interesting films this week, including James Toback’s Exposed, Ann Hui’s A Simple Life (review all but ignored because of the blogathon), and Lilac Time, starring Colleen Moore. The last was my favorite screening because I am a huge Moore fan, and I got to meet her granddaughter at the show as well. I intended to see Guy Maddin’s new film Keyhole, but just couldn’t make the time. And of course, in a rest from the blogathon, I took in the Psycho marathon on one of the cable channels. It was great to see Mother and remember seeing the prop head in Paris, looking even scarier.
Ms Ferdinand has done some extra work on her blog. She actually removed a comment crtitical of the overwrought review of Vertigo.
I most certainly did not.
Must have been Rod then…
Tony – You’re a rude and hostile individual who seems to be gunning for my blog partner and me. I restored your comment, which I assume Rod trashed because it is does not forward the discussion, so everyone will see that you added nothing but bile to this conversation. If you do it again, I will remove the offending comment and ban you from commenting on the site.
Take a powder Marilyn. You and your colleague are beyond criticism?
Constructive criticism? No. Insults? Yes. I don’t run that kind of a blog. Sam is much more lenient with this kind of behavior.
Evelyn Harper: “Line up, you tramps. This ain’t no upstairs delicatessen.”
Marilyn—
I can well imagine the kind of time and effort that has gone into this venture. It does appear that people are responding, and with passion. I will have my own “two cents” up on Thursday, which I believe is one of the two days that Rod will be proctor at “This Island Rod.”
I can’t imagine you finding much worth in DARK SHADOWS, but I must not be presumptuous either. But I haven’t been much impressed with the direction Burton has been taking, and the whole allure of the original series was that teh material was filed straight with earnestness and austerity. As I mentioned to others, the only time I laughed was when the actors forgot their lines. Maybe one day someone will attempt a film that captures the original series’ tone. I saw your fine review on Toback’s film, and will soon be checking out the A SIMPLE LIFE essay. I have actually seen Guy Madden’s KEYHOLE and wasn’t a fan, explaining on a past diary that it was torture to sit through. LILAC TIME is a classic of course and the PSYCHO marathon is irrestible as always.
Thanks again my friend, and good luck with the rest of your noble venture!
“Sam is much more lenient with this kind of behavior.”
Yes, yes he is, and many of us think that that is a good trait to have…
Hello Sam and everyone!!
My Lord am I tired. I’m with the cold and it’s really a tiring thing to be having when you are as busy as I am right now. But whatever man.
You had a quiet week after all, just like me, and that’s good to rest for a few days from the urge to see everything, but it also makes me feel a bit empty, as if I was leaving for later what I should be doing now, but hell. Of those you’ve seen I actually saw Kiseki, and thought pretty much the same about the missed opportunities that Koreeda had in this one, but I appreciated it a bit more with a final score of ***1/2. I want to see Dark Shadows myself, so I’ll wait.
My week was filled with work, I edited scenes and filmed a videoclip (which I still haven’t finished, but I feel really bad with this cold), so I wasn’t really in the mood or with the time to see a movie, but I managed to see some stuff anyway.
My week movie wise:
– Crazy Clown Time (2012, David Lynch) **** This is a self-directed videoclip from one of the masters of cinema, now going the route of the music, and while I can’t say I’m a fan, I can tell it’s Lynch. The video is a glimpse into what we could be having if he just directed a new movie already.
– Once a Gangster (2010, Felix Chong) *** A gangtster comedy that follows two guys fighting for being the next don of the gang, one wants to study economics and the other is the owner of a restaurant. Both of them are tricked into fighting each other for the supreme mandate, and those parts are ok, but the rest is really meh and sometimes not funny at all. Still, I enjoyed the parts that parodied the Infernal Affair movies.
– History of Super Mecha Death Christ (2009) **** A short video in a DVD that is quite funny and intrincate in the way it tells a faux story of a faux character, and it never turns offensive neither it is completely out of the board as you’d wish. This is not for everyone, not at all.
Thanks Sam, have a good week!
Jaimie–
Very sorry to hear you have been with the cold as of late, especially as I know how your schedule is always so hectic. Hope since you wrote this you are feeling better. Still I see you were on the go with the video clips, and some editing. Interesting that you also saw the Kore-eda film as somewhat less than it may have been. I’ll watch it again at some point, but it was oddly distancing and too many scenes were rushed. Some affecting moments though for sure. I can’t imagine you really going for DARK SHADOWS, but you may like the comedy focus more than I did.
As to the three films you saw, I’m sorry to say I haven’t seen any, but will take note of your assessments here, especially of the Lynch and HISTORY…….
Have a much better week my friend, and feel better!!!
Sam, regrettably you confirm my worst suspicions about Dark Shadows. The problem with Burton by now is that he hasn’t really evolved creatively or thematically in the last twenty years. His Dark Shadows movie looks like the same one he might have made in 1992, or earlier. That he has a feature-length Frankenweenie up next is still more demoralizing.
Anyway, my latest review is of Wellman’s Robin Hood of El Dorado, a folkloric tragedy with vestiges of Pre-Code brutality and social conscience and an interesting misfire overall. Also saw Walter Hill’s The Driver, brilliant as an action film but in tone a shallow echo of Melville; John Sturges’s Right Cross, a boxing picture more melodramatic than noirish, to its disadvantage; and Paul Wendkos’s The Case Against Brooklyn, an underrated late noir distinguished by fine cinematography, Darren McGavin as an emotionally ruthless cop and the late Warren Stevens as a naturalistically businesslike gangster. Here’s to more and better movies!
Samuel—
I realize that my disdain for the film is pretty much a common perception and reaction by most, but certainly there are some die-hard Burton (and Depp) fans out there who will appreciate the end-up at least to some degree. As you note (and yes I have seen the trailer multiple times) FRANKENWEENIE is upcoming, and yes, I like that word ‘demoralizing’ to ponder it. Yes there is little style to distinguish DARK SHADOWS, and the interpretation has little to do with the original series, which for the big fans is crushing.
I have since seen your new post on ROBIN HOOD OF EL DORADO (great work as always!), but alas a Wellman I still need to see, I am not sure if Judy has seen it yet. Yes THE DRIVER is shallow, and as I recall RIGHT CROSS wasn’t anything special. But I haven’t seen THE CASE AGAINST BROOKLYN to this point. You had another banner week my friend! Thanks as always!
She certainly did, Sam. You can link to her review off her latest post– a tribute to Warner Baxter, as it happens.
Indeed Samuel, I wasn’t aware she had a new post up. Thanks very much for the heads-up:
http://movieclassics.wordpress.com/2012/05/13/warner-baxter/
Thanks very much for the mention, Samuel and Sam. I’ve just enjoyed reading your piece about ‘The Robin Hood of El Dorado’, Samuel, a Wellman which I have a lot of affection for, and will be over to comment in a bit!
Thanks for the generous mention Sam. I am trying to close out my Euro 2012 spotlight but it has been a struggle. Seeing the films was the easy part but finishing 16 books in just 3 months has been too much. As a result, my non-Euro film viewing has dipped and the words for my posts are decreasing. There haven’t been too many theatrical releases to tempt me so that has
also played a part in my slow down.
Sachin—
There will always be the down periods. i’m sure the film scene will pick up as we move into the summer and beyond. In any case, congrats on negotiating all that reading, which is quite the accomplishment. No wonder your film viewings have dipped, and the size of your posts smaller. But I’m sure you’ll swing back to the film scene when your viewings catch your fancy like so many of us. Your work remains on the top level in quality as always. Thanks as always my friend. Have a great week!
Hey Sam. I am late for the party, but a bodhisattva fell on me 😉
Glad to see you are taking a respite – until the next marathon! I caught two movies last week.
Death at a Funeral, which I must admit had me in stitches at the most farcical moments, was weakened by a maudlin ending and the rather crass use of a little person, who just happened to be a Yank?
Red Hollywood is an interesting documentary on films made by Hollywood leftists in the 30s, 40s, and 50s, and includes rare interviews with scenarists, directors, and producers. There is a confronting leftist critique of Intruder In the Dust, and the back-story on how the big studios had the independently produced Salt of the Earth buried. There are many fascinating clips from movies you will have never heard of. Recommended.
Tony—
I am not figuring on frenzied activity until August now, when the Universal 100th Anniversary festival at the Film Forum will offer up some of the classic horror that my kids want to attend, and a number of Sirks and some earlier material. With that festival, I will pick and choose some double features, but will NOT be attending every film like in the past. i am finally recognizing that kind of activity as demented, not something to boast about. There will also be an Erich Von Stroheim Festival to be held on Mondays beginning in mid-June. Several of the features will offer piano accompaniment, which of course is the real allure.
Alas I am with you on DEATH OF A FUNERAL. Earlier on I remember laughing a lot, but the ending was ridiculous. The little man, Peter Dinklege is the big star of GAME OF THRONES. He was born in New Jersey and hit it big with Tom McCarthy’s STATION AGENT. But yes, a Yank through and through.
I will take your recommendation of RED HOLLYWOOD most enthusiastically. it does seem to be my kind of subject, though I can’t imagine a cineaste not intrigued. As a fan of both INTRUDER IN THE DUST and SALT OF THE EARTH for example, I’d be instantly drawn to the material. Thanks for the heads up and the glowing report.
Have a great week my friend! Many thanks as always!
“Conceived In Animosity”
IGBY GOES DOWN (2002)
Amanda Peet, with her long legs in black leotards, her short slicked-back hair and her big eyes heavy with make-up, smokes and strides her way through ‘Igby Goes Down’ like an Edie Sedgwick for Manhattan’s new millenium. Peet plays Rachel, a party girl who drinks and drugs and sleeps around like mad. She’s a louche glamour puss, a screw-up, a ‘dancer who doesn’t dance’ on a tragic trajectory through New York’s upper crust, and Peet’s brief turn in ‘Igby’ is as close as we’ll probably ever get to a decent portrayal of the doomed heroine of Jean Stein’s 1982 oral biography, edited by Stein and George Plimpton (‘Edie: An American Girl’) of the beautiful, befuddled 60’s heiress. It’s a lovely, sinuous performance and Peet’s just one of the blazingly vivid characters who spin through Tribeca and the Hamptons and through Jason ‘Igby’ Slocumb’s dishevelled, plush life.
Kieran Culkin is Igby, the Holden Caulfield center of the film, a smart-ass rich kid rebel, sniffer of adult hypocrisies, diminutive and good-looking (kind of like another, slightly older Salinger anti-hero, Zachary, or ‘Zooey’ of the fragile, breakable Glass family), and without the faintest idea of what he’s doing on this planet or what he’s going to do with His Life. Igby’s mother (Susan Sarandon, a smiling cobra) is a pill-popping, castrating witch named Mimi (“Medea was already taken”) and Sarandon plays her with velvet menace; Igby’s father (Bill Pullman) has cracked up somewhere along the corporate fast track and is now confined to a lunatic asylum; Oliver (a little dig at ‘Love Story’?), Igby’s brother (the impossibly good-looking Ryan Phillippe perfectly cast) is a golden preppie “majoring in neo-fascism at Columbia”; and godfather D.H. (the quirky, superlative Jeff Goldblum) is a tycoon, an “obscenely rich parody” who totes around a wad of cash bigger than a prehistoric frog, boffs Mimi and Rachel, and pummels his godson for having a crack in the sack with the latter. Add to the mix the lovely Claire Danes, who plays Sookie (now there’s a Sedgwickian blueblood name), a Bennington drop-out who has a fondness for sundaes served with big, symbolic silver spoons, and what you have is a gilt-edged photo album of neurotic, overprivileged New Yorkers out of Salinger, updated by way of Tom Wolfe and also maybe Warhol’s silver-lined Factory (yep, there’s a drag queen in ‘Igby. This is New York City, hepcats).
Burr Steers, an alumnus of ‘The Last Days of Disco’ and the Whit Stillman school of snottiness, directed ‘Igby Goes Down’ in the germane tone of wry comedy, but also with a sensitivity to the vulnerability of the characters beneath that snarkiness, a twist on the old “the rich are different from you and me — yeah, they have more money” cliche. The rich ARE prey to the same spiritual vicissitudes as the non-rich (see Antonioni), and Steers gets it. Even when he tweaks his moneyed monsters, he’s never snide or vicious, possibly because Steers himself comes from an elite background (think Auchincloss-Kennedy), so he grew up with the informed attitude and the tribal loyalties of an insider. Igby is spoiled and immature; scheming Ollie and unfaithful Sookie are the same age and better suited to one another; Mimi the horror is dying and tries in her inept way to make a deathbed reconciliation with Igby (who was “conceived in animosity” she says); world-beater D.H. is generous with his money; Igby’s delinquent father has turned into a nutjob. Yet each of these defective characters is endearing in his own peculiar way — it’s impossible not to like every one of them.
I don’t mean to overburden ‘Igby Goes Down’ (Lord, what a title; almost as bad as ‘The Banger Sisters’) with too much praise. The film isn’t deep; Burr Steers isn’t Antonioni, or even the Mike Nichols of ‘The Graduate’; the obligatory rock songs are grating. But in its small, gemlike and witty way ‘Igby’ touches on some hard truths about growing up and living in this hyper-competitive, sex and money-driven culture, this brilliant monstrosity we call America. Four (****) stars.
Mark–
This is a brilliantly-penned perceptive review of this film that fully deserves posting as a review here at WitD. I am just waiting for you to say the word and we’ll post your writing here. I don’t recall this film all that well, but you brought it all to life here vividly, with the great performances and accurate look at America during an impressionable time, ultimately trumping the surface glitz and the rock songs.
Really fantastic stuff here Mark, thanks for posting.
Just say the word my friend! You don’t seem to grasp how good your writing is.
Sam, you most certainly had the “tamest week” imaginable in terms of movie viewing… 3 movies in the entire week – that must be a record of some sorts for you!!! 😀
Well, it hasn’t been too different for me either. I’ve watched just 2 movies this past week – Fassbinder’s The Third Generation, and the John Ford classic The Searchers.
Starting today I, along with a few of my colleagues in the company that I’ve joined, have hit the road so to speak. We’d be traveling over 1000 kilometers in the next couple of days visiting various manufacturing units of our company. The fact that the roads are excellent, and that I have Milan Kundera’s The Joke and my ipod (filled with around 15 gb of music) as company, along with some really fine colleagues, would ensure that our journeys would be anything but boring – at least, so I hope!
Well Shubhajit, even though you only managed two movies, you make the most of it, with one very good film and one screen masterpiece. But I fully understand you are in reduced mode at present. Good luck on that fabulous work-related journey you will be taking and good show that you have the right music to enhance it. I do hope you’ll find some time to post on THE SEARCHERS.
Have a great week my friend! Thanks as always!
Sam I know that my David is a subscriber to your blog and I think he will interested in the comedy countdown. I see you have stretch and settled in a much lighter position than you previous marathon on blog links to a comfortable 10 – it is a good thing you considered hard only doing three or who knows where you would be this week – she says with a cyber wink 😉 I have been in the garden the past few days and looking at an early morning photo shoot tomorrow and maybe the beginnings of a new painting. Reference image, study and large canvas are sitting ready. All the best of the week to you and everyone at Wonders in the Dark.
Terrill—
Great to hear that David has interest in the comedy countdown. We are presently waiting on the ballots that will ultimately decide the numerical placement of the Top 60. But we are several weeks away from that stage at this point. Ah yes, I got cold feet with the most stringent solution to the link dilemma, but I can manage 10 every week the way I figure it. Thanks as ever for all the encouragement and support my friend! I do hope you did get some inspiartion from that quality time out-doors and I’ll certainly be checking up to see what has developed. Have a great week my friend!
Hi! Sam Juliano, Allan, and WitD readers…
Here goes a [very] nice write-up about Marilyn, The Self-Styled Siren, and Rod’s blogathon…“For The Love Of Film…” in the Smithsonian Magazine.
deedee 🙂
Sam, thanks so much for the great mention.
I was actually relieved to hear that you had a moderate week, for once. Knowing you I know it won’t last, but I was happy to see you give yourself a slight break.
I’m interested in seeing the new Koreeda film. I’m a big fan of NOBODY KNOWS as well as his earlier AFTER LIFE. This week was slow for me again on the movie-watching front, but I have already done something about that this upcoming week.
Here’s to another great few days, Sam. Thanks so much for all that you do!