Re: The 1963 Mini-List
Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2022 1:43 pm
tying up some loose ends - amazingly I haven't even drafted my list yet! I usually try and get a rough order, but I really have watched a lot this year and I'm pretty grateful for it.
The Great Escape: still the ultimate ensemble piece, maybe ultimate adventure film, and right up there with Grand Illusion for favorite prison film. it does a lot of things, all of which very well, and the pacing and script are an absolute masterclass of keeping the audience totally hooked, and rewarding repeat watches with endless layers of detail. I was more taken aback by Steve McQueen's performance than usual - this was a childhood favorite (my dad loved it, of course) and seeing it as an adult after watching Oshima's Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (which I love) and The Archers' A Matter of Life and Death (which is my least favorite of their films so far) was interesting as a study of McQueen's character and how John Sturges uses him. he is not the Christlike figure that David Bowie is for Oshima, nor is he used as a tool to have some ridiculous propogandic message of "oh, Americans and Brits need to work together!" like the latter film. he is the audience's vessel in this film, truly the "everyman dragged into all this" type role that some movies just need. everyone else in the cast is obviously brilliant (Donald Pleasance and Richard Attenborough were most impressive this time), as is basically everything else. I really do love this movie so much - the fact that it can have its climax 2/3 of the way in and then whiplash you to that phenomenal final hour is just a stroke of genius. shame on anyone who looked down on Criterion for releasing it!
Love With the Proper Stranger: I think I've reached the conclusion that I'm just not super high on Natalie Wood, though she is good in The Searchers - there's too much going on here with her although I find her a lot better here than in Splendor in the Grass, which this movie absolutely destroys. a large part of that is, once again, Steve McQueen, who somehow was in this the same year as the above film. he's incredible as a romantic lead and for me, the reason to see the film. anyone who's ever appreciated his acting will be amazed here at the very nuanced, believable role he takes on here - not always likeable, with plenty of flaws, but very real and multi-layered. it's indeed a New York film, for better and worse - there's lots of loud Italian-American wiseguy stuff which is all traumatic to me, but there's also an incredible sweep of the city, worthy of The Crowd even!
Kat Ellinger and Samm Deighan get into neorealism comparisons in their (so far excellent, I didn't finish it yet) commentary track and I'm curious to explore those a little more. I see it, but not fully convinced.
The Insect Woman: after being really high on Pigs and Battleships I feel a little letdown here. this is a better class portrait than Teshigahara's Pitfall (which I outright hated) and I tend to really appreciate Imamura's approach to more challenging characters and scenarios than I do Teshigahara or even Oshima. it was just a lot harder to get into this film, and I think the whole "fully encompassing portrait of how a woman suffered over time" concept has been done better somewhere else, but I can't exactly place where. I can appreciate the film, and thankful that Imamura is telling this kind of story (it's neat to look at it alongside the second half of Kurosawa's High and Low showing a darker side of Japan in the same year), but my enjoyment of it just wasn't as up to par. Imamura's direction (as usual, fantastic - he's so awesome at blending style and true mastery of the technique. again I'll pick on Teshigahara who comes off flashy and full of himself in the three films I've watched so far) and the performances are certainly reasons to seek it out, though I must say the credit sequence's metaphor is going to tell you right off the bat how much you'll enjoy this film..
let's see if Irma La Douce comes in time! otherwise I may start on 1964 after hitting Judex, the only other thing really on the docket.
The Great Escape: still the ultimate ensemble piece, maybe ultimate adventure film, and right up there with Grand Illusion for favorite prison film. it does a lot of things, all of which very well, and the pacing and script are an absolute masterclass of keeping the audience totally hooked, and rewarding repeat watches with endless layers of detail. I was more taken aback by Steve McQueen's performance than usual - this was a childhood favorite (my dad loved it, of course) and seeing it as an adult after watching Oshima's Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (which I love) and The Archers' A Matter of Life and Death (which is my least favorite of their films so far) was interesting as a study of McQueen's character and how John Sturges uses him. he is not the Christlike figure that David Bowie is for Oshima, nor is he used as a tool to have some ridiculous propogandic message of "oh, Americans and Brits need to work together!" like the latter film. he is the audience's vessel in this film, truly the "everyman dragged into all this" type role that some movies just need. everyone else in the cast is obviously brilliant (Donald Pleasance and Richard Attenborough were most impressive this time), as is basically everything else. I really do love this movie so much - the fact that it can have its climax 2/3 of the way in and then whiplash you to that phenomenal final hour is just a stroke of genius. shame on anyone who looked down on Criterion for releasing it!
Love With the Proper Stranger: I think I've reached the conclusion that I'm just not super high on Natalie Wood, though she is good in The Searchers - there's too much going on here with her although I find her a lot better here than in Splendor in the Grass, which this movie absolutely destroys. a large part of that is, once again, Steve McQueen, who somehow was in this the same year as the above film. he's incredible as a romantic lead and for me, the reason to see the film. anyone who's ever appreciated his acting will be amazed here at the very nuanced, believable role he takes on here - not always likeable, with plenty of flaws, but very real and multi-layered. it's indeed a New York film, for better and worse - there's lots of loud Italian-American wiseguy stuff which is all traumatic to me, but there's also an incredible sweep of the city, worthy of The Crowd even!
Kat Ellinger and Samm Deighan get into neorealism comparisons in their (so far excellent, I didn't finish it yet) commentary track and I'm curious to explore those a little more. I see it, but not fully convinced.
The Insect Woman: after being really high on Pigs and Battleships I feel a little letdown here. this is a better class portrait than Teshigahara's Pitfall (which I outright hated) and I tend to really appreciate Imamura's approach to more challenging characters and scenarios than I do Teshigahara or even Oshima. it was just a lot harder to get into this film, and I think the whole "fully encompassing portrait of how a woman suffered over time" concept has been done better somewhere else, but I can't exactly place where. I can appreciate the film, and thankful that Imamura is telling this kind of story (it's neat to look at it alongside the second half of Kurosawa's High and Low showing a darker side of Japan in the same year), but my enjoyment of it just wasn't as up to par. Imamura's direction (as usual, fantastic - he's so awesome at blending style and true mastery of the technique. again I'll pick on Teshigahara who comes off flashy and full of himself in the three films I've watched so far) and the performances are certainly reasons to seek it out, though I must say the credit sequence's metaphor is going to tell you right off the bat how much you'll enjoy this film..
let's see if Irma La Douce comes in time! otherwise I may start on 1964 after hitting Judex, the only other thing really on the docket.