Rate The Last Movie You Saw

[dave jenkins]

Austeria (1982) - 7/10. More singing and dancing than Fiddler on the Roof--and this isn't even a musical! What it is is a drama about Jews running for dear life on the first day of WWI and holing up in a Jewish tavern (which is what the "austeria" is, I believe). All manner of Judaism is represented, but the Hasidim are the nuttiest. Told not make any noise that might attract bands of roving Cossacks, they immediately burst into song. Well, I guess if you gotta go, one way is in a state of religious ecstasy. This film is nicely photographed and edited: it uses brief flashbacks to provide backstory, but sparingly. One such begins with a desaturation effect and closes, to great dramatic effect, by bringing the full colors back in. Very nice.

I still like this one, although it has a phony ending that seems to be an editing trick. Even so, I'm raising my score to an "8."

[dave jenkins]

One Room Tenants / Roommates / Wspolny pokoj (1959) - 9/10. "An adaptation of Zbigniew Unilkowski?s novel (1932) describing members of the literary group Kwadryga" who room together in Warsaw's Old Town.  The progression from cynicism to nihilism is breathtaking. Wojciech J. Has scores another one. https://35mm.online/en/vod/feature-films/roommates

[Novecento]

The opening chase isn't static though.
And the battles are incredible.

True. But I do find it overrated relative to much of his earlier stuff.

[dave jenkins]

Bardo (Inarritu, 2022) - 7/10
Inarritu at his most Kaufmanesque. Mostly fun, sometimes moving, a tad repetitive (i don't think it's a smart move to show us so often the metaphorical, oniric scene and then the actual one: why not chose and show us just one version of it?). Terrific soundtrack.

Terrific photography, too. https://www.indiewire.com/2023/02/bardo-cinematography-interview-1234812221/

Because I??rritu wanted the audience to feel immersed in his main character?s experiences, the decision was made to shoot the film with wide-angle lenses on a large format ALEXA 65, with the camera in constant movement. ?We wanted Silvero to feel bigger than life, and we wanted to feel close to him,? Khondji said. ?But we also wanted these angles where you could always be aware of the world around him: his friends and family and people in the desert and the city and its buildings.? Khondji felt the ALEXA 65 made the actors? presence feel bigger than 35mm or a camera with a regular digital sensor would have, and that combined with lenses around 17mm would give him the effect he desired.

[dave jenkins]

The Banshees of Inisherin (2022) - 8/10. On an isolated Irish island, a life-long friendship is sundered when one of two men (Brendan Gleeson) suddenly decides life is too short to spend with the other (Colin Farrell, playing it a bit dim). The dull man's refusal to accept the rejection is the driving force behind this black comedy. Laughter, death, and mutilation follow. This film reunites the two leads and writer/director Martin McDonagh, 14 years after In Bruges. It is a kind companion piece to two of McDonagh's stage plays, The Cripple of Inishmaan, and The Lieutenant of Inishmore. The Irish locations are beautiful.

But it's the sweaters/jumpers that are key to the film's success:
https://www.esquire.com/uk/style/a41736500/banshees-of-inisherin-knitwear/
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/10/style/colin-farrell-sweaters-the-banshees-of-inisherin.html

[noodles_leone]

But it's the sweaters/jumpers that are key to the film's success:
https://www.esquire.com/uk/style/a41736500/banshees-of-inisherin-knitwear/
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/10/style/colin-farrell-sweaters-the-banshees-of-inisherin.html

"Friendships come and go. A good jumper is forever." 

[dave jenkins]

Harikomi / Stakeout (1958) - 7/10. Two Tokyo cops take the long pre-Shinkansen ride out to Saga, Kyushu to stakeout Hideko Takamine, an old flame of a man now wanted for murder. A dull police procedural is enlivened with frequent flashbacks and location photography in a 2.35:1 AR. Almost everything was filmed in Saga and the surrounding countryside; studio shooting was kept to a minimum. Nice jazz score also.

[noodles_leone]

Terrific photography, too. https://www.indiewire.com/2023/02/bardo-cinematography-interview-1234812221/

Should have won best cinematography. And All Quiet shouldn't have been even considered.

La Nuit du 12 (Dominik Moll, 2022) - 5,5/10
95% TV movie, 5% good. But everything that is good in it is ruined by heavy handed overexplaination.

Goutte d'Or (Cl?ment Cogitore, 2023) - 4/10
This one had a good premise and a very good synopisis. The very uneven acting hurt the movie, the wannabe arty camerawork fully destroys it.

Luther (who cares, it's the netflix thing, 2023) - 2/10
Didn't finish this turd.

Annie Hall (Woody Allen, 1977) - 9/10
I like it better with the years. Does it mean that I'm aging like a good wine or that I'm already rotten deep inside?

[dave jenkins]

The Saragossa Manuscript (1964) - 10/10. If you've never seen it, it's available in 2 parts here: https://35mm.online/en/vod/feature-films/the-saragossa-manuscript-p-1
and here: https://35mm.online/en/vod/feature-films/the-saragossa-manuscript-p-2

Eng. subs, restored image, and free. Hurry, though, the site will take it down after March 31st.

[Cusser]

"News of the World", 6/10.  Did show post-war chaos in Texas.

[dave jenkins]

Two more by Has, both indifferently lit:

Memoirs of a Sinner (1986) - 5/10. A resurrected man relates the story of his life, most of it about his relationship with his doppelganger. Two hours of mad ravings; it gets a bit tedious.

Lalka/ The Doll (1968) - 10/10. In 1870s Warsaw, a rich merchant courts the daughter of an aristocrat. He succeeds all too well. An excellent adaptation of a novel, with careful attention to all the social proprieties, tons of plot, and a camera prone to wander. Has still had it at this point. https://35mm.online/en/vod/feature-films/the-doll

[dave jenkins]

The Criminal Who Stole a Crime/ Zbrodniarz, ktory ukradl zbrodnie (1969) - 7/10. Polski noir! A policier--or, as the synopsis at the website has it, a militia film--about a cop with a heart condition who has to retire early but can't let go of his last case. Interesting rather than riveting. https://35mm.online/en/vod/feature-films/the-criminal-who-stole-a-crime

[dave jenkins]

The Quiet Girl (2022) - 9/10. An Irish film for St. Patrick's Day--and it's a good one. In 1981, a young girl spends her summer with relatives. Then she goes home. Beautiful County Meath on display. Everything is pretty much seen from the girl's perspective. On her approach to the house that she is viewing for the first time, we stay with her inside the car. No bullshit helicopter shots, no drone shots, not even a single crane shot. The natural lighting is impressive (I ding them one point for a nighttime scene which is artificially lit--supposedly shot in moonlight). The AR is 1.33:1.

[dave jenkins]

Eroica (1957) - 8/10. Two discrete 40-minute stories about Polish officers in WWII. In the first, heroism is the result of a series of comedic accidents. In the second, a tale told with a mixture of cynicism and pathos, heroism is shown to be a necessary fiction. Andrzej Munk directed both.   https://35mm.online/en/vod/feature-films/eroica

[dave jenkins]

I Bury the Living (1957) - 6/10. Richard Boone gets tapped to run a cemetery part-time. The cemetery has a weird map of all its plots; white pins designate unoccupied sites; black pins indicate filled graves. All the plots are assigned (it seems everybody in town has pre-purchased their future resting places). One day Boone discovers that if you get your pins mixed up, tragedy ensues. Boone is stunned by the implications, but everybody else pooh-poohs his alarm. They keep egging him on and, chuckle-head that he is, he keeps accommodating the doubters. Stop using the black pins, Richard! Then one late night out at the cemetery, Boone wonders, What happens if I remove all the black pins and substitute the white? Cue major sense of dread. This film, which seems to have been made as an anthology TV pilot (it even has places for commercial breaks) builds nicely, little hampered by its cheap production values. Unhappily, the ending ruins everything with a naturalistic explanation. This can be viewed on amazon Prime, free to members.