11/16/2002 Entry:
"Various"

As I write this, Aliens is on AMC in the background. Pan and scan, with commercials. Meanwhile, half the commercials they show are letterboxed. Someone explain to me the justice in this. Anyways, this is just some notes on various recent viewings.

Red Beard - Akira Kurosawa (1965)
Seven Samurai - Akira Kurosawa (1954)
While its not quite at the top of the discomfort zone (reserved for the ass-numbing experience of six straight hours of Decalogue at Facets,) three and a half hours at Music Box is still not the greatest thing for your body to experience. Especially not two days in a row. Still, just like at Facets, the films were worth it. I had never seen Red Beard, Kurosawa's last film with Mifune, but what an amazing performance. A pretty different film from Kurosawa's samurai epics, this is more similar to Ikiru. Gorgeous widescreen black and white photography from Kurosawa and his cinematographers Asakazu Nakai and Takao Saito. An impressively deep and moving picture. Seven Samurai, well, obviously one of the greats, one of my all-time favorites. This was my first experience of it on the big screen, and it was really great. It's hard to beat Mifune's death scene (except perhaps with his death scene in Throne Of Blood.) For anyone who hasn't heard it, the Criterion DVD of Seven Samurai has the single best historian commentary I've ever heard, by Michael Jeck. Well worth seeking out. And speaking of Ikiru, I can't think of much recently that offends me as much as this.

Monsoon Wedding - Mira Nair (2002)
The Mira Nair film I've always really wanted to see is Salaam Bombay, which I was sadly forced to miss at Facets last week. Monsoon Wedding was much less interesting than what I've heard about Salaam Bombay. The primary storyline of the woman getting married, while continuing her affair with her married lover, was actually the least interesting part of this. The side-story with the wedding planner Dubey and the housekeeper Alice was much more heartfelt and moving. As with Leila, there was some interest in seeing an upper class family portrayed, but not enough to save this. The last-minute revelation of child molestation was a rocking change of mood which felt completely out of place and kind of ruined the whole end of the movie even though it had been telegraphed from the first reel. Really the only thing that salvaged this for me was the filmmaking craft, which was pretty gorgeous. Very colorful and a lot of feeling in the shots. Nair largely employed handheld cameras, and it added a real sense of movement and upbeat feeling to the film, especially in the dancing scenes. I can't call this a waste, but it certainly wasn't anything to go out of your way for.

Strangers On A Train - Alfred Hitchcock (1951)
My first reaction to this Hitchcock was that it was pretty good but not amazing. Of course, pretty good for Hitchcock is like the best thing ever for anyone else. Some really great pieces here, especially the conclusion aboard the ferris wheel. I would not have wanted to be the guy crawling around under there. Robert Walker was sufficiently creepy as Bruno Anthony, but I kept picturing James Mason in the role. Apparently the DVD has a different version of the film with a more flamboyant Bruno Antony, toned down to eliminate the homosexual undertones, which seems like something worth seeking out. Aside from anything else, I'm sure that like all Hitchcocks this would benefit from repeated viewings. It also prompted me to pull out Sonic Youth's EVOL, which contains their Hitchcock homage "Shadow Of A Doubt," the most beautiful piece they ever recorded (OK, maybe tied with "Starpower." As a pair they are difficult to beat.)

Kiss Me, Stupid - Billy Wilder (1964)
I would like to take this opportunity to lament the departure of Gabe Klinger from Chicago film programming. I never met the guy, but in his two semesters programming at Block Cinema he has brought in some of the most interesting stuff in recent memory, including such rarities as Platform, Cold Water and Histoire(s) Du Cinema. I sincerely hope that Block's programming will continue to be as interesting without him. One of the series this year was a set of six underappreciated/forgotten films from Billy Wilder. I had never really seen any Wilder until this year, and I'm really starting to love the guy. This wasn't quite the uproarious howl-fest that One, Two, Three was, but it was still a lot of fun. Dean Martin's scathing portrayal of himself seems to be an obvious infuence on Jerry Lewis' later performance in King Of Comedy. Apparently Peter Sellers was originally supposed to play the Ray Walston part, which would have been pretty rich (Walston does an admirable job, but frankly it's hard for me to watch him without constantly being reminded of Mr. Hand.) I also couldn't help but think what Jerry Lewis would have done with the part. The only other time I had seen Kim Novak was in Vertigo, and that film is so massively burned into my mind that seeing her play this boozing sexpot was almost too weird to bear. This print contained both the original footage Wilder shot, as well as the later studio-forced reshoot, which changes the context of the film pretty dramatically. I don't believe that this scene is available on video anywhere which is a shame, but this print seem to be getting around quite a bit (it has played here twice this year) so keep an eye out for it. After Criterion gets done releasing the entire Kurosawa catalog, they should really take on some of these Wilders and do proper releases of them. The fact that beautiful scope films like Kiss Me, Stupid and One, Two, Three remain unavailable in widescreen format is unforgiveable.