Oh the mountain of must see movies and my humble attempts to scale it...
Progress will be compiled at the end of each month and the films are listed in order of preference.
Blissfully Yours
Apichatpong Weerasethakul (2002)
We begin by following a young Burmese man’s efforts to gain
a work permit but when the man picks up his girlfriend from a local factory Weerasethakul,
in his now signature move, decides to veer the whole film off course. We’re 40
minutes on when out of nowhere a Thai version of Summer Samba plays on the radio and the opening credits roll. We attempt
to regain our footing but as the couple enter the forest- an often spiritual place in the director's films- the man suddenly begins to narrate. Then everything gets sexual. It should be gratuitous but it’s not. Both
wonderful and baffling, it started a fruitful relationship between the Thai director and Europe's premier film festival.
Rosetta
Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne (1999)
We meet Rosetta: a 17 year old girl with an alcoholic mother
and a caravan home. Deeply ashamed of it all Rosetta wants nothing more than to
find a job, have a friend and be a ‘normal person’. The Dardenne Brothers handheld
shot most of the film over their young heroine’s shoulder in order to plunge the
viewer in a pool of empathy. This fresh technique coupled with Émilie Dequenne’s staggering debut
performance and the realist subject matter at its core affected people to such
a degree that Belgium established a teenage minimum wage as a result. It also
bagged the brothers their first Palme D’or.
Blow Out
Brian DePalma (1981)
Brian DePalma transports Antonioni’s Blow Up to the sultry world of 80’s New York noir for this cheeky effort.
John Travolta plays a slasher movie sound guy who witnesses a car crash into a
river while out recording some samples. He bravely dives in to save a young
woman’s life but emerges embroiled in a political conspiracy with the only
clues to solving it on his rolls of tape. DePalma often looked the brat of New
American Cinema and with Blow Out he
seems to be relishing in that role. Murals of America’s forefathers seem to
look down disapprovingly as a “Liberty Bell Strangler” kills off women. What’s
more the film’s biggest sleaze ball- and that’s saying a lot- has his final
moment shot from above as he lies in the position of the crucified Christ.
Class-A messin’ indeed.
Blow Up
Michelangelo Antonioni (1966)
Unlike the hyper reality of the DePalma film which succeeded
it, Anotonioni’s 1966 thriller is a much slicker affair. David Hemmings plays a
deep-eyed fashion photographer who believes he has witnessed a murder. He finds
two lovers in a local park and proceeds to take their photo but only when the black and white grains of film are enlarged does the sinister event begin
to reveal itself. Antonioni indulges in some touristy behaviour here- his vignettes
of swingin’ 60s London feeling vacant at times- but the director still has bags of style. Hemmings is slick and slimy in
the lead role and though it may be less playful than DePalma’s homage, Blow Up does benefit from a little nonchalance
and a welcome dollop of ambiguity.
