frames 123

France/West Germany

Feature Film

Original Title: Les parapluies de Cherbourg

Writer/Director: Jacques Demy

Cinematographer: Jean Rabier

Composer: Michel Legrand

Cast: Catherine Deneuve, Nino Castelnuovo, Anne Vernon, Marc Michel, Ellen Farner, Mireille Perrey

Demy’s majestically gaudily coloured musical, in which all of the dialogue is sung by its beautiful young cast – producing a portrait of a 16-year-old girl, who falls pregnant to her petrol-pumping boyfriend just as he is called up for two year’s national service – is a very entertaining and exceedingly poignant illustration of the elasticity of the human heart. Iain.Stott

Posted in Feature Film, France, TSPDT Top 1000, West Germany | No comments

Marnie (1964)

Posted on 04:19 by uthpa

USA

Feature Film

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Writers: Jay Presson Allen, Winston Graham

Cinematographer: Robert Burks

Composer: Bernard Herrmann

Cast: Tippi Hedren, Sean Connery, Diane Baker, Louise Latham, Martin Gabe, Bruce Dern

Hitchcock’s troubling film – in which a serial thief (Hedren, excellent) is blackmailed into marriage by one of her victims, despite her evident psycho-sexual problems – is one of his bleakest, most ambitious efforts but, perhaps due to Connery’s rather lightweight turn, it never quite reaches the heights of his best work. Iain.Stott

Posted in Feature Film, TSPDT Top 1000, USA | No comments

Tuesday, 29 September 2009

Gertrud (1964)

Posted on 08:46 by uthpa

Denmark

Feature Film

Director: Carl Th. Dreyer

Writers: Carl Th. Dreyer, Hjalmar Söderberg

Cinematographer: Henning Bendtsen

Composer: Jørgen Jersild

Cast: Nina Pens Rode, Bendt Rothe, Ebbe Rode, Baard Owe, Axel Strøbye

Dreyer’s majestic final film – in which the attractive, refined lady of the title strives (and fails) to connect with the four men in her life, refusing to make the compromises necessary for cohabitation – is a film of exquisite beauty, full of delightfully restrained performances and ravishingly expressive mise en scène. Iain.Stott

Posted in Denmark, Feature Film, TSPDT Top 1000 | No comments

I Am Cuba (1964)

Posted on 05:18 by uthpa

Cuba/Soviet Union

Feature Film

Original Title: Soy Cuba

Director: Mikhail Kalatozov

Writers: Enrique Pineda Barnet, Evgueny Evtushenko

Cinematographer: Sergei Urusevsky

Composer: Carlos Fariñas

Cast: Sergio Corrieri, Salvador Wood, José Gallardo, Raúl García, Luz María Collazo, Raquel Revuelta

Although its championing of martyrdom leaves something of a bad taste, the film’s general rightness – an attack against tyranny, exploitation, and nefarious foreign interest – and the sheer poetic brilliance of its cinematic technique, make watching this fourth (and unfortunately final) collaboration between Kalatozov and Urusevsky an overwhelmingly memorable experience. Iain.Stott

Posted in Cuba, Feature Film, Soviet Union, TSPDT Top 1000 | No comments

Monday, 28 September 2009

The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964)

Posted on 08:32 by uthpa

Italy/France

Feature Film

Original Title: Il vangelo secondo Matteo

Writer/Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini

Cinematographer: Tonino Delli Colli

Cast: Enrique Irazoqui, Margherita Caruso, Susanna Pasolini, Marcello Morante, Ferruccio Nuzzo, Otello Sestili, Rossana Di Rocco, Paola Tedesco

Although it feels a little rushed at times and could be somewhat confusing for those with merely a passing knowledge of the New Testament, Pasolini’s dexterous adaptation of the eponymous book – a retelling of the life of Jesus Christ, the son of God, from immaculate conception to ascension to heaven – is never less than compelling. Iain.Stott

Posted in Feature Film, France, Italy, TSPDT Top 1000 | No comments

Onibaba (1964)

Posted on 04:47 by uthpa

Japan

Feature Film

Original Title: 鬼婆

Writer/Director: Shindō Kaneto

Cinematographer: Kuroda Kiyomi

Composer: Hayashi Hikaru

Cast: Otowa Nobuko, Yoshimura Jitsuko, Satō Kei

Marxist Shindō’s entertainingly visceral film – following the day-to-day lives of a pair of war widows in feudal Japan, who, left to fend for themselves, are forced to resort to murder and theft in order to survive – is a distinctive, well-made, metaphor laden work that takes well-aimed pot-shots at capitalism, war, and religion. Iain.Stott

Posted in Feature Film, Japan | No comments

Saturday, 26 September 2009

Kwaidan (1964)

Posted on 12:55 by uthpa

Japan

Feature Film

Original Title: 怪談

Director: Kobayashi Masaki

Writers: Mizuki Yōko, Lafcadio Hearn

Cinematographer: Miyajima Yoshio

Composer: Takemitsu Tōru

Cast: Mikuni Rentarō, Aratama Michiyo, Watanabe Misako, Nakadai Tatsuya, Kishi Keiko, Nakamura Katsuo, Tanba Tetsurō, Shimura Takashi , Nakamura Kanemon, Takizawa Osamu

With its incredibly bold use of colour, unsettlingly original use of sound and music, and wonderfully expressive production design, Kobayashi’s remarkable, painterly film – an anthology of ghost stories, encompassing tales of samurais and musicians, woodcutters and lords – is a work of great power and breathtakingly sensual beauty. Iain.Stott

Posted in Feature Film, Japan | No comments

The PianoTuner of EarthQuakes (2005)

Posted on 07:26 by uthpa

Not Recommended

UK/France/Germany

Feature Film

Directors: Quay Brothers

Writers: Alan Passes, Quay Brothers

Cinematographer: Nic Knowland

Composer: Christopher Slaski

Cast: César Sarachu, Amira Casar, Gottfried John, Assumpta Serna

This bizarre tale of an evil doctor’s obsession for a beautiful opera singer (the second feature film by the Quay brothers) is a work that will prove too obtuse for most; although it does contain numerous pleasures – mostly in the form of its distinctive, painterly visuals – but one must conclude, in the end, that there is little going on beneath its admittedly attractive surface. Iain.Stott

Posted in Feature Film, France, Germany, UK | No comments

In the City of Sylvia (2007)

Posted on 06:53 by uthpa

Spain/France

Feature Film

Original Title: En la ciudad de Sylvia

Writer/Director: José Luis Guerín

Cinematographer: Natasha Braier

Cast: Xavier Lafitte, Pilar López de Ayala

Plotless and near enough dialogue free, Guerín’s remarkably sensual film – in which a handsome young man returns to Strasbourg in search of a woman, Sylvia, who he had a brief encounter with six years earlier – is a piece that relies more on random faces and the ambient noise of everyday life than on conventional filmic techniques to portray the inner-life of its enigmatic protagonist, and whilst that might scare off most potential viewers, those willing to submit to its gentle rhythms are likely to experience a work of considerable beauty. Iain.Stott

Posted in Feature Film, France, Spain, TSPDT 21st Century | No comments

Friday, 25 September 2009

Pulse (2001)

Posted on 01:27 by uthpa

Japan

Feature Film

Original Title: 回路

Writer/Director: Kurosawa Kiyoshi

Cinematographer: Hayashi Junichirō

Composer: Haketa Takefumi

Cast: Katō Haruhiko, Aso Kumiko, Koyuki, Arisaka Kurume, Matsuo Masatoshi, Takeda Shinji

Although marketed as a horror film, Kurosawa’s enigmatic piece – in which members of the populace begin to commit suicide for no apparent reason – is designed more to stimulate the brain than the viscera; but whilst he clearly has something to say, quite what that is is never really clear, (but numerous scenes and images do stick in the mind). Iain.Stott

Posted in Feature Film, Japan | No comments

Thursday, 24 September 2009

Diamonds of the Night (1964)

Posted on 05:42 by uthpa

Czechoslovakia

Feature Film

Original Title: Démanty noci

Director: Jan Němec

Writers: Jan Němec, Arnost Lustig

Cinematographer: Jaroslav Kucera

Cast: Ladislav Jánsky, Antonín Kumbera, Irma Bischofova

Dreams, nightmares, hopes, regrets, fantasies, and memories bleed in and out of the frame, creating a terrifying yet strangely beautiful alien world in Němec’s remarkable, enigmatic, impressionistic feature debut, which follows the halting progress of two Czech Jewish youths on the run in the German countryside during the Second World War. Iain.Stott

Posted in Czechoslovakia, Feature Film | No comments

Bicycle Thieves (1948)

Posted on 04:18 by uthpa

Italy

Feature Film

Original Title: Ladri di biciclette

Director: Vittorio De Sica

Writers: Oreste Biancoli, Suso D'Amico, Vittorio De Sica, Adolfo Franci, Gerardo Guerrieri, Cesare Zavattini, Luigi Bartolini

Cinematographer: Carlo Montuori

Composer: Alessandro Cicognini

Cast: Lamberto Maggiorani, Enzo Staiola, Lianella Carell, Gino Saltamerenda, Vittorio Antonucci, Giulio Chiari

Avoiding the sentimentality that often blighted his subsequent films, De Sica’s magnum opus – a delightfully simple tale about a man and his young son traversing the streets of Rome in search of a stolen bicycle, which is essential to their family’s survival – is a beautiful and moving exploration of the devastating effects of post-war privations on the dignity of ordinary people. Iain.Stott

Posted in Feature Film, Italy, TSPDT Top 1000 | No comments

Wednesday, 23 September 2009

The Small Back Room (1949)

Posted on 00:58 by uthpa

Feature Film

Directors: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger

Writers: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger, Nigel Balchin

Cinematographer: Christopher Challis

Composer: Brian Easdale

Cast: David Farrar, Kathleen Byron, Jack Hawkins, Leslie Banks, Michael Gough, Cyril Cusack, Milton Rosmer, Sid James

This remarkable production from Powell and Pressburger – booze-soaked, fatalistic, and filled with unforgettable, expressive, monochrome imagery – sees a munitions expert (engaged in a search for a way to disarm a new type of booby-trapped German bomb) battling against his own personal demons: alcoholism, pain management, relationship issues, and general self-destructiveness. Iain.Stott

Posted in Feature Film, UK | No comments

Monday, 21 September 2009

All the President's Men (1976)

Posted on 10:37 by uthpa

USA

Feature Film

Director: Alan J. Pakula

Writers: William Goldman, Carl Bernstein, Bob Woodward

Cinematographer: Gordon Willis

Composer: David Shire

Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Robert Redford, Jack Warden, Martin Balsam, Hal Holbrook

Based on the book by the Washington Post journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, detailing their uncovering of a government conspiracy, involving a break-in at the national headquarters of the Democrats, which lead, ultimately, to the resignation of Richard Nixon from the post of president of the United States of America, this expertly crafted, beautifully-paced film, boasting exemplary performances and excellent dialogue, is a Hollywood thriller of the first order. Iain.Stott

Posted in Feature Film, TSPDT Top 1000, USA | No comments

All or Nothing (2002)

Posted on 09:49 by uthpa

UK/France

Feature Film

Writer/Director: Mike Leigh

Cinematographer: Dick Pope

Composer: Andrew Dickson

Cast: Timothy Spall, Lesley Manville, Alison Garland, James Corden, Ruth Sheen, Marion Bailey, Paul Jesson, Sam Kelly, Kathryn Hunter, Sally Hawkins, Helen Coker, Daniel Mays, Ben Crompton

Click for review.

Posted in Feature Film, France, UK | No comments

Céline and Julie Go Boating (1974)

Posted on 07:09 by uthpa

France

Feature Film

Original Title: Céline et Julie vont en bateau

Director: Jacques Rivette

Writers: Juliet Berto, Eduardo de Gregorio, Dominique Labourier, Bulle Ogier, Marie-France Pisier, Jacques Rivette

Cinematographer: Jacques Renard

Composer: Jean-Marie Sénia

Cast: Juliet Berto, Dominique Labourier, Bulle Ogier, Marie-France Pisier, Barbet Schroeder, Nathalie Asnar

Silly, enigmatic, and completely irresistible, Céline and Julie Go Boating is a weirdly wonderful and wonderfully weird film; a film about everything and nothing, comprising of several nonsense filled vignettes, in which two attractive, twenty-something, Parisian women – one a librarian, the other a magician – who share a flat, take it in turns visiting a haunted mansion. Iain.Stott

Posted in Feature Film, France, TSPDT Top 1000 | No comments

Friday, 18 September 2009

Léon Morin, Prêtre (1961)

Posted on 04:39 by uthpa

France/Italy

Feature Film

Original Title: Léon Morin, prêtre

Director: Jean-Pierre Melville

Writers: Jean-Pierre Melville, Béatrix Beck

Cinematographer: Henri Decaë

Composer: Martial Solal

Cast: Jean-Paul Belmondo, Emmanuelle Riva, Irène Tunc, Nicole Mirel, Gisèle Grimm

Provocative, absorbing, and strangely erotic, Melville’s adaptation of Béatrix Beck’s autobiographical novel, exploring the fascinating relationship between a sceptical, young communist woman and a handsome, young liberal priest in German occupied France, is a work of quiet power and adept artistry. Iain.Stott

Posted in Feature Film, France, Italy | No comments

Thursday, 17 September 2009

Mifune (1999)

Posted on 08:22 by uthpa

Denmark

Feature Film

Original Title: Mifunes sidste sang

Series Title: Dogme #3

Director: Søren Kragh-Jacobsen

Writers: Anders Thomas Jensen, Søren Kragh-Jacobsen

Cinematographer: Anthony Dod Mantle

Cast: Iben Hjejle, Anders W. Berthelsen, Jesper Asholt, Emil Tarding, Anders Hove, Sofie Gråbøl, Paprika Steen

The third film released under the Dogme 95 banner is one of the funnier and more optimistic entries in the series, but it’s also one of the more conventional in its basic romantic comedy plot, which sees a newly-wed Copenhagen businessman return to his provincial, rural home after the death of his father, to look after his brother, where he falls for the housekeeper, a former prostitute; but this conventionality tempered by the ragged Dogme aesthetic combined with a wealth of human spirit results in a strangely alluring work. Iain.Stott

Posted in Denmark, Dogme 95, Feature Film | No comments

The Adjuster (1991)

Posted on 01:00 by uthpa

Highly Recommended

Canada

Feature Film

Writer/Director: Atom Egoyan

Cinematographer: Paul Sarossy

Composer: Mychael Danna

Cast: Elias Koteas, Arsinée Khanjian, Maury Chaykin, Gabrielle Rose, Jennifer Dale, David Hemblen, Rose Sarkisyan, Don McKellar

Egoyan’s thoughtful and thought provoking exploration of materialism, quantification, morality, hidden motivations, and… well, humanity in general – taking a considered look at the lives of three adjusters: an insurance adjuster, a filmboard censor, and a millionaire fantasist, all of whom alter the lives and the perceptions of those around them – is a wonderfully acted (particularly by a never better Koteas) and beautifully crafted film. Iain.Stott

Posted in Canada, Feature Film | No comments

Wednesday, 16 September 2009

Milou en Mai (1990)

Posted on 11:17 by uthpa