January Capsules

This is something I have to get back into doing - writing about films as I see them. I hope this becomes more of a weekly thing than a monthly thing, but for now, this is going to have to be a month long roundup. All the new films I see in the theaters, at least - with older films, DVDs, and such mixed in when it seems right. Capsules and ratings, I think - using a scale I picked up somewhere on the internet - out of 15 - basically, a five star rating, with three levels per star. So - 12/15, say, is a 4-star film, out of 5, and on the verge of being 5 - probably one of the best films of a given year... 8/15 might be a 3 star film, the quintessential 3 star film, etc... 5 stars are rare - last 13 film I saw (for the first time, in a theater) - Liverpool and Los Muertos, say; last 14 - Secret Sunshine (couple years back, to be honest) - 15's are all time, top 50 type films... Just as a reference.

Now, on to the show - moving backwards from this weekend:

Police, Adjective: 12/15 - A cop is following three kids - one has informed on his friend, claiming a brother is bringing drugs into the country - there is also a girl, who is assumed to be the center of the triangle. The officials want a quick sting to arrest the kids and maybe get the dealers - the cop doesn't want to arrest them for possession. The film alternates between long shots of surveillance, as our hero watches the kids, and police procedure, going through the details, trying to find the dealer, punctuated by scenes at home, where the cop argues with his wife (a teacher) about metaphors and the meaning of words, and the ways the language is changed, by fiat.... Concludes with a drawn out meeting with his captain, that combines modes - police business and the dictionary, defining conscience, law, moral, police - though to be honest, it boils down to brute force - do what you're told... A very strong film - patient and attentive to detail, morally engaged in its way...

The Man From London: 11/15 - Bela's Tarr's latest - 28 shots in 133 minutes, from a Simenon novel - a watchman sees two men who seem to have stolen some money - he retrieves the money - policemen come looking for it. It's a simple enough story, and a fairly generic noir, when you think about it, in plot and style, the shadowy black and white - subjected to great pressure, that stretches and mutilates the conventions almost, not quite, beyond recognition. Not quite... Bela Tarr always makes me think of the band Earth - at their most extreme - taking a simple riff and resting on it, sustaining it, milking it s far as it will go, until you move past the surface - the notes, the story - to the overtones, the pure play of light and shadow, things on screen... turns surreal at times - shots and sounds that look and feel like David Lynch - and another really cool, funny, musical interlude in a bar - an accordianist playing as a man dances with a billiard ball balanced on his forehead...

The White Ribbon: 11/15- Haneke's latest, a German village in 1913-14, where strange incidents occur - a man falls from his horse; a woman falls through some rotted boards at the mill; her family attacks the landlord's cabbages; children are beaten, punished, keep secrets, suffer; paranoia, cruel parents, class resentment, repressed sexual desires play their part; then the war comes. It's something like the perfect art film - austere, handsome, reserved, ambiguous, in very studied ways - portentous, haunting, and tends to remind you of the long tradition of art films. (I kept thinking of Young Torless, a rather better version of the type.) An excellent film, though not one that seems to quite justify its existence...

The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus: 9/15 - a total mess but nice to look at; Heath Ledger is wonderful, when he gets a chance, and the rest of the cast gets their own moments of glory. Though Tom Waits, as the devil, sort of, steals the show. I would be lying if I said I knew what it was about - some kind of contest who can get the most souls in the doctor's imaginarium, with Waits constantly reraising, so they never have to stop - something like that.... Makes no sense in the least, not that that's the end of the world.... it looks lovely - it is, in fact, almost unfailingly entertaining and engaging - just rather slight, and doesn't quite carry off the effort.

And a couple notable DVDs: finally got around to watching Scott Walker: 30th Century Man, streamed from Netflix - a fine documemtary about one of the extraordinary musical talents of the last 45 years... I've had Christian Petzold's Yella sitting on the shelf for months - finally watched it - a fine work (12/15) - it occurs to me, though IMDB mentions something about a reference to Alice in the Cities as the source of the title, that the film bears quite a bit of resemblance to Italian horror, especially Argento (at his most restrained, in the build ups of his films) - giallo, maybe? Still more Fritz Lang - Man Hunt, Hangmen Also Die, Fury, these going back to December (and multiple viewings of each.) More to come on that score...