10/10/2002 Entry:
"Cold Water - Olivier Assayas (1994)"

So I skipped out on CIFF Tuesday to go see the re-screening of Cold Water at Block Cinema. Unfortunately, my initial reaction to this was, "Wow, I really need to see that again sometime when I've had more than four hours of sleep." Fat chance.

I was most impressed by the infamous party scene, a good solid 20 minutes of unabashed teenaged restlessness, fueled by CCR and Alice Cooper. I admit, I don't remember any party in high school that played CCR, Leonard Cohen AND Roxy Music, but that is neither here nor there. Usually in a scene like this, you feel the scene was written and then music was chosen to go along with it. However, Assayas pulls off the amazing feat of making the music propel the scene, which makes everything feel far more real because a party like that always swings in mood with the records being played. As CCR's "Up Around The Bend" blares, Assayas' camera follows a bonfire billowing into the sky and it just carries this mood along with it. Man, Assayas really has a way with a floating camera and a rock song. A truly exceptional piece of filmmaking.

There is also a final shot, which I will not discuss here, but which carries an emotional wallop similar to the ending of Where Is The Friend's House? or Close Up. It comes out of nowhere and hits you in the gut without explaining or summing up anything, it just is perfect, and upon seeing it I knew that it was. I have no other way to describe it.

I would want to spend some time with the rest of the movie before commenting other than saying that I was impressed with the presentation of all these characters as they are, warts and all, with no real heroes and yet no real villains either. The presentation of teen restlesness rings true in many ways, and the performances of the leads (Virginie Ledoyen and Cyprien Fouquet) goes a long way towards making it believable. I sincerely hope that I get the chance to take this in again, as its the kind of movie that I realize would pay greater dividends on a second viewing. I am not however holding my breath, and I suppose I should be happy to have seen it at all.

After seeing this, I blew off the screening of All Or Nothing on Wednesday, and scheduled no films for Thursday. I needed the sleep in the worst way, and I chalked it up to a learning experience in terms of how far I can push my schedule during a work week. Besides, there are two Tourneur movies on TCM tonight. This weekend its right back in the saddle though, at the very least seeing Unknown Pleasures Friday night, and The Trilogy on Sat and Sun.