A pretty interesting, however farfetched tale starring one of my favorite and one of the more fascinating actors, Peter Lorre in his American film debut. Directed by Karl Freund, the renowned cinematographer known for his work on Metropolis, M, and many more, creates a chilling expressionistic atmosphere. The mise en scene, cinematography, and camera work is sensational. Only drawbacks are the subpar supporting acting and bits of slapstick comedy that don't seem to fit the mood.
A very lazily written hodgepodge of the original and the remake. It comes as no surprise that Michael Bay produced this piece of shit. The whole premise of being a prequel is basically canceled out after the first 20 minutes of the film as we are given the entire exposition and halfassed back story of leather face and his family mostly through montage. The whole marketing for the concept is to show and and why the killing spree began to in the first place, but really there is no motivation for the madness, which was ultimately the biggest disappointment for me. Despite having a unique opportunity to explore the characters motivations, emotions, personalities, etc. and make them fascinating and complex, the filmmakers settle for run-of-the mill one dimensional drivel. It's embarrassing how predictable the film is. Even the bad remake at least made Leatherface multi dimensional. Since the film elected focus purely on the horrific violence and suspense rather than the characters, I expected some intense and gruesome scenes, but in fact there was really only a moment of two that delivered the goods for me. Perhaps this is due to an increased desensitization after watching the Saw movies, but I suppose that's also a testament to Saw's superiority.
Based on Alan Ayckbourn's stage play Private Fears in Public Places is an uninteresting character study that offers nothing new as it's basically just another ensemble piece that loosely connects a group of people through hard to swallow coincidence. Even worse, the film is excessively talky, and I found the sets and lighting, as well as the acting to be overly stagey and artificial. The use of the falling snow as a transition between scenes is also rather phony and becomes redundant. The film is all too melodramatic and not so subtle, commenting on solitude, alienation, relationships, the guise of religion, etc. At times it felt like I was watching a television movie you'd see on the Lifetime channel, which is why I'm usually not fond of stage plays converted to film.
Bad acting, and even worse dialogue aside, Saw IV delivers in terms of box office reception as well as entertainment satisfaction. I've never valued the series as a great achievement in cinema, but like I've said before I can't stop watching it. Saw IV is by far the best film in the series since the original. The twists are actually pretty brilliant as are the traps as always. The flashbacks became a bit tiresome, but it was nice to learn more about Jigsaw's character. I suppose my biggest complaint would have to be the improbability of all of the film's events taking place within a 90 minute time period. The visual effects are pretty incredible, but the sound design is what really sells the cringe worthy gore in all of the films for me. I was also pretty impressed with an editing technique used throughout the film, that I really can't recall seeing before where different scenes in separate locations sort of overlap each other seamlessly through transition. It's difficult to explain, but for instance there is a scene in which Jigsaw turns around and is staring in the direction of his ex girlfriend, however it appears as if he has somehow teleported to the scene in which the detective is interrogating her, and then he slowly fades away.
A series of 8 short films produced for the internet mainly as a marketing tool, showing off different performance aspects of various BMW automobiles. Each of the films star Clive Owen as the mysterious BMW driver, and each is directed by a different director well known director.
Clive Owen must rescue an old diamond smuggling passenger from a group of criminals in this suspenseless car chase sequence which is basically just a fancy overlong car commercial.
Overall the story is pretty shallow as Owen rescues an Asian child chosen for a strange ritual, but Ang Lee provides something unique in his car chase scene. The score works wonderfully as the cars almost perform a ballet dance of sorts. The final shot foreshadows Lee's future work on The Hulk, as the child gives the driver an Incredible Hulk band aid as a gift.
Forest Whitaker, Mickey Rourke and the most gorgeous woman on earth, Adriana Lima join Clive Owen in Kar Wai Wong's rendition. Wong makes this film his own with his signature style including voice over narration, gorgeous photography, and familiar shot selection and editing patterns.
Embarrassingly bad, from the acting of Madonna and her manager, to the broad comic style, terrible dialogue, and empty story. Another really expensive, and really cheesey car commercial.
Easily the best of the series, Iñárritu manages to shed the focus of the car, and really hone in on his character and their emotions. Not to mention the subject matter contains much more substance than the others as we follow the driver as he attempts to help a war photographer cross the border with incriminating photos of a mass execution before a terrorist group can intercept them. The cinematography is very gritty and documentary like and serves to enhance the realism.
Aside from our hero Clive Owen, the cast includes the late great James Brown as the passenger wanting to renegotiate his contract with the devil played by Gary Oldman. Danny Trejo and Marilyn Manson also make brief appearances. I appreciate the editing tactics, but in the end the subtitles, flash cuts, jumps, split screens, etc. are all just meant to distract us from the incoherent story.
Black Moon is appropriately tagged as an apocalyptic Alice in Wonderland. The first fifteen minutes grabbed my attention without any use of dialogue including images of a badger? getting hit by a car, a unicorn, and the images of men at war against women. Unfortunately the movie becomes stagnant upon entering the home of a decrepit old woman and never quite managed to regain the excitement and awe established in the opening minutes.
A beautiful and chilling portrait of a man battling his own inner turmoil and self loathing as he contemplates suicide. A lovely piano score accompanies this emotionally riveting film as Alain Leroy (Maurice Ronet) visits his old friend's from his youth the day he has set to kill himself. Dubourg, Alain's dramatic foil, who love's life and embraces the changes that come with adulthood, insists his friend is stuck in adolescence. Alain himself admits that he refuses to grow up.
"I too hate sleeping on tombs, when it's so easy to sleep inside."
Louis Malle shows off his versatility as a director as he applies New Wave sensibilities to a vibrantly colored and playful farce that satirizes French society. Catherine Demongeot is adorable as Zazie, and the character as well as the film's aesthetics were most likely an inspiration for Jeunet when he was making Amelie.
A wonderfully constructed thriller with a clever yet conventional storyline, told in an unconventional fashion with a superb original score by Miles Davis. Malle, directing first fiction feature, masterfully crafts a noir tale with plenty of tension and suspense following three different plotlines. The only thing that really bothered me were the two murder scenes that really didn't work for me. The first was excusable, although I was still left wanting more, seeing as it was a pretty crucial scene in the plot. Malle blatantly avoided showing violence and edited around it. I was most annoyed when the gun was completely out of the composition, but we hear the sounds of the bullets firing during the murder of the German couple. Aside from those minor complaints, it's a fantastic film.
Like D.W. Griffith's Intolerance before it, Abel Gance's masterpiece, Napoléon was a financial disaster, yet an artistic triumph, and perhaps even the greatest film ever made. Unfortunately many people misconstrue the silent film era as being a stale, insipid period in the history of film making with little camera movement, however this film among others slaps that notion in the face. Gance understood the power of cinema more than anyone else, and he utilized each of it's many elements to the fullest capacity. He astonishingly employs just about every technique imaginable in the film language arsenal and even invented his own methods to stimulate and thrill audiences as well. To convey his goal of "super cinema" he needed a personality as big as Napoléon carry such a spectacle. This nearly six hour biopic was far ahead of it's time in many aspects and despite being meant for a mainstream audience, Gance boldly incorporated many avant-garde techniques. The film ends with Napoléon's invasion of Italy in 1797 because it was intended to be part one of six, however because of the difficulty of setting up three projectors in different theaters as well as the ushering in of the sound film, Napoléon basically faded into obscurity until it's incomplete restoration in 1980 (at least 90 minutes of footage still missing).
The editing of this film is quite an accomplishment in and of itself given the daunting nature of it as it combines both the traditional seamless Hollywood style with the frantic collision style editing of the Soviet montage directors. The film consists of overlapping imagery, juxtapositions, intercutting, pioneering hand held camera work, a 9 frame split screen, tinted and tones scenes, tracking shots, dolly shots, etc. The shot compositions are also particularly gorgeous, with variations of silhouette shots, mirror shots, low angle shots, overhead shots, extreme long shots, extreme close ups, and everything in between. Perhaps the most iconic scene is the snowball fight during the title character's childhood days at school which resembles an actual military battle. There is also a fantastic scene where we see inside the mind of Bonaparte as he converses with fallen leaders and political figureheads. Another memorable sequence in the film crosscuts between Napoléon struggling against fate as his boat is tossed around at sea in a storm, and the storm of political uprising at the convention. As the people of France revolt, the camera moves like a pendulum over their heads, simulating the crashing waves. Most notably Gance envisioned the widescreen format over 20 years before it became widely accepted in the culminating final twenty-minute triptych sequence, which alternates widescreen panoramas with complex multiple- image montages projected simultaneously on three screens. In the concluding minutes each of the three screen is tinted a different color. One Red, one white, and the other blue, to simulate the French flag.
Ratcatcher is told through the eyes of a child living in poverty in Glasgow, 1973 while the Dustmen are on strike. The environment is one of my favorite aspects of the film as garbage bags and disease infested rats pollute the neighborhood. We journey with James as he interacts with his family members and neighbors, discovers sexuality, hopes for a brighter future, and attempts to overcome his own guilt. The narrative and the acting plays pretty naturally and realistic. I believe a lot of nonprofessional actors were used. It's quite an astonishing, poetic, and original debut film from Lynne Ramsay. The Criterion release also includes three of her short films which are impressive as well.
This was Lynne Ramsay's graduation film at the National Film and Television School in England and winner of the Jury Prize for Best Short Film at Cannes. The film conveys three different everyday incidents in the life of a girl, each at different ages.
A recovering junkie spends his days lying in his flat, remembering dark moments from his childhood, his life as a criminal, and the time he spent in prison.
A very strange avant-garde comedy in the format of a variety show, or someone changing television stations on an alien planet. Essentially the movie is comprised of various loosely related yet non-sequitar short stories and vignettes that are intercut throughout. Funky Forest was written and directed by three different Japanese filmmakers and combines surrealism, dadaism, dream sequences, stand-up comedy, musical sequences, anime, and more. Homeroom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, Guitar brothers, 3 babbling girls, the dream invading girl band called Volume, and all of the interesting aliens that referenced sex managed to keep my interest for the duration of 250 minutes despite the lack of a discernible plot or meaning to all the madness.
After recently seeing Anderson's newest film, and rewatching both this film and Rushmore a few weeks ago, I've decided The Royal Tenenbaum's and The Life Aquatic are tied for my favorite Anderson movies, followed closely behind Rushmore. Anderson's films seem to take place in some sort of alternate reality, similar to our world, yet distinctly separate. More so in this film than an any other, his stories are presented to us in the form of a theatrical presentation, with the elaborate and whimsically colored sets, perfectly centered compositions, and static camera setups, and of course the overabundance of music. The movie has so many wonderful scenes, from the opening montage revealing the back story of the family, to The Baumer's hilarious meltdown on the tennis court, to his beautifully orchestrated suicide attempt. There are also a lot of subtle moments like the homage to The French Connection when Royal is riding the go carts, or the closet filled with boardgames, the dalmatian mice, and the rundown Gypsy cabs. with the kids I feel Anderson progressed in terms of a more realistic and relatable story in The Darjeeling Limited, but I still prefer his previous efforts as I think they result in more comedy. The character are all very interesting in this ensemble piece, but none more developed than the title character. Gene Hackman is perfect as Royal Tenenbaum, an irresponsible father, who returns after years of abandoning his family in a desperate attempt to win their love back. The most tragic part about his character is that he truly does love his family, but he can't communicate it properly, and perhaps he's come to this realization too late. He tries to start fresh with Chas's (Ben Stiller) two sons since they don't hold any previous grudges. His character arc is one of the better developed one's I can recall. In one touching scene, Richie (Luke Wilson) asks for Royal's advice about Margot (Gwyneth Paltrow). Royal says he can't help him and that he wishes he had more to offer. Richie confirms the sincerity of his father with "I know you do pop." Royal becomes more and more aware of the hurt he's caused his family and begins to right the wrongs. He visits Chas's wife's grave, finally signs the divorce papers for his wife (Anjelica Huston), and gives her new courter (Danny Glover) his blessing. In the end he saves Chas's children and buys them a new dog after Eli (Owen Wilson) runs over their other dog Buckley, resulting in Chas being able to forgive his father to some extent. Royal's epitaph is a fitting end to the story, serving as both a comic piece, yet it also says so much about his character as he wanted to be and do so much more for his family, but couldn't.
1999 Academy Award winning live action short that addresses racism in a rather overt fashion. During a discussion with his racist friends at the bar, our humanitarian protagonist realizes he forgot to vote, and subsequently rushes to the polls in a cab. the cab driver conveniently starts spouting racist remarks until Peter decides to change cabs. Predictably the driver of the second cab begins praising and mourning the the fallen Aryan nations; Peter changes cabs again. This time an Arab driver starts curing the Japanese after seeing a Japanese restaurant has replaced an Arab cuisine. When Peter finally arrives at the polls, a black woman refuses to let him vote even though he has one minute remaining until they should close. In a desperate attempt to convince her, he claims his vote will benefit "her people" revealing his unintentional, yet subconsciously instilled heir of superiority. I laud the effort to use comedy as a means of addressing such a topic, but the structure is just so contrived and telegraphed.
In this Oscar winning live action short film that takes on the look of a 1940s movie we are introduced to an upper class middle aged woman in Grand Central Station who is late for her train. After several encounters with African American homeless men, her judgmental callousness is revealed. Even after sharing a salad with a man who supposedly stole her salad and goes on to buy her a coffee, (although it is later revealed she just sat in the wrong booth), she still refuses to help another hungry homeless person in the final sequence.
The gags are great, and as usual Keaton's film contains glorious comic spectacle showcasing his incredible athleticism (The Tong War scene among other scenes in this case), but what makes Buster Keaton such a unique comic talent is his distinctly dead pan face he always manages to maintain despite his hapless antics. Behind the surface level humor lurks a subtle commentary on the newsreel cameraman's profession. My favorite scene is the juxtaposition of Keaton shooting a gunfight with his camera next to a monkey shooting a machine gun. Later the monkey actually works the camera as well.
I enjoyed this film. Third world cinema always intrigues me and it was especially interesting to get a glimpse of the Romany gypsy culture in Sarajevo. The magic realism and playful tone at times was a stark contrast to the crude characters and dark underbelly of the film and the camera work was impressive My biggest complaint is that if you strip the film down to it's bare bones, it's really just another rags to riches/moral dilemma story that really wasn't very fresh. In fact Kusturica seemed to be summoningThe Godfather in many instances.
Holy Mountain is a bizarre surrealistic journey filled with grotesque, discomforting, psychedelic, sacrilegious, absurd, ironic, hilarious, and thought provoking imagery. The plot revolves around a thief who resembles Christ and meets an alchemist and a group of elite industrialists and politicians who are scheming to assault and conquer the 9 immortals on top of The Holy Mountain and steal their secret. Each of the members of the elite group introduce themselves as representative of a planet in our solar system and describe their jobs. Fon from Venus manufactures extreme makeup and fashion accessories including facial masks, fake muscles, and even can manipulate corpses electronically so they can kiss their loved ones goodbye, participate in their last rights, or even perform a strip tease. Isla from Mars produces weapons. Highlights include the rock and roll line (guitar guns) as well as guns for Buddhists, Jews, and Christians each with corresponding religious symbols attached (Buddha statue, menorah, and cross). Klen from Jupiter owns an art factory which is hilarious in itself without further explanation. Sel from Saturn operates a toy factory that perpetuates violence by selling war toys and comic books/government propaganda. Berg is the financial adviser for the president of Uranus. His advice is to kill 4 million people in order to maintain living standards. His wife is a blue haired obese woman who feeds a bottle to her baby anaconda and knits a sweater for it as well. Axon is the chief of police on Neptune. As an induction ceremony, new officers are publicly castrated and their testicles are displayed in the sanctuary of 1000 testicles. Lut, the architect from Pluto comes up with a "housing" concept consisting of a coffin shaped shelter, smaller than a bed. The result would make millions for the company without need to pay for electricity, plumbing, heating, etc. The film is highly stylized and more of an art piece than a conventional film with elaborate production design. One of the most unforgettable scenes is when there is a reenactment of the conquest of Mexico. Frog are dressed as conquistadors, and lizards as Indians, as an elaborate model set is blown up. In another ridiculous and comical scene a tourist poses as she is being raped by a soldier in the street, while her husband takes pictures.
Simply put; a mind blowing experience. The film is furiously edited in the style of the Russian montage filmmakers using super 8mm images mixed with a wonderful score, imaginative story, and fascinating characters. Although Brand Upon the Brain is essentially a silent film, it includes voice over narration by Isabella Rossellini, foley SFX, and even an ADR musical number are added in post production making for an interesting blend. The film traces the childhood memories of Guy who lives on an island with his controlling and raging mother, mysterious mad scientist father, and his promiscuous sister. SECRETS, SECRETS, SECRETS, loom throughout as it is discovered the orphanage his parents run is being used as a twisted brain nectar harvesting laboratory. A bizarre love triangle also unfold when Wendy, a celebrity teen detective appears on the island. Maddin explores sexual androgyny and bisexuality as Wendy disguises herself as her brother Chance. Interestingly enough both Guy and his sister fall in love with both Wendy and Chance. The pacing of the film is incredibly frantic and enthralling. It's hard to compare to anything else other than Guy Maddin's other films, although I think this could possibly be his best work to date.
This four minute short is exactly what it sounds like. A barrage of shots of men taking turns slapping each other and whimpering in a homo-erotic fashion while intercutting between another man slapping a drum.
Although I have no idea what this film actually means, I admire the stylistic imagery and incredible attention to sound design despite only one line of dialogue being used. There is a great scene in which Maddin recreates the Odilon Redon sketch of the same title pictured below: Odilon Redon. To Edgar Poe: The Eye Balloon (The Eye, Like a Strange Balloon, Mounts Towards Infinity). 1878.
Maddin's first film takes on the look of a flawed 1950s b-film and explores a son's struggle to cope with the death of his father who keeps returning from the dead in a partially living state.
I suppose Guy Maddin's style of filmmaking can be considered an acquired taste or even a novelty, but they are so unique and have so much to offer aesthetically, that the strange and sometimes incoherent narratives are often secondary. Maddin captures the look of the early talking pictures era perfectly, including makeup, costuming, lighting, the look of the film stock, the jumping editing styles, and I think the most impressive part that really lends the feeling of an old forgotten film is the sound design. The Tales From the Gimli Hospital is an odd surrealistic story about a woman telling two children a story as they wait by their mother's death bed at The Gimli Hospital in an Icelandic village in Manitoba. The story she tells revolves around two men who previously stayed at the same hospital. As they suffer from the smallpox epidemic and befriend each, a secret is revealed that positions them as rivals. The film also plays with the world of the inner psyche which I am always interested in. An interesting note: many of the women characters are actually played by thirteen year old girls. Maddin comments that he experiments with this as it is his belief that it's impossible to tell a women's age; rather we interpret age by how it is presented to us which I find to be an interesting concept much in the same manner Mary Pickford played a 10 year old girl in her 30s.
With only five films to his name, Wes Anderson has established himself as one of the most original filmmakers working today with his distinct visual style (long lenses, slow motion, fast pans, musical selections, color unique pallets, elaborate set and costume design, etc.) brand of subtle dramedy, and stable of actors. Perhaps most impressive is the fact that his films are released on DVD under Criterion. The Darjeeling Limited like any of his other films could only be realized as a Wes Anderson film. The opening shot has virtually every element of his style as Bill Murray makes a cameo as a business man trying to catch a train in a hilarious sequence that ends with him running after it next to Adrien Brody's character in slow motion as Peter Sarstedt's 1960s hit "Where Do You Go To My Lovely" chimes in on the soundtrack. Anderson continues to explore familial relations as three brothers coming from a wealthy family whose parents have separated long ago reunite for a spiritual journey. Each of them has their own personal reasons and issues to deal with along with shared problems one year after the death of their father. Many critics complain that they'd like to see Wes Anderson attempt something different, and I agree to some extent as the film doesn't really offer anything new that we haven't seen from him in the past, but on the other hand I'm perfectly content watching his familiar style. I still prefer Anderson's previous four works to The Darjeeling Limited, but never-the-less it is an enjoyable film.
Sunset Blvd. is a fantastic achievement in American filmmaking on so many different levels. First and foremost I'll state the obvious; the script is incredible, as is Wilder's directing talents. Gloria Swanson's performance is incredible, albeit a bit over the top, but it works to perfection for the character of Norma Desmond who is on the brink of insanity. The film can be considered a noir, I suppose, but it's somewhat of an oddball in that their isn't much of a mystery to solve, as we are presented with the dramatic irony of knowing the protagonist has been murdered from the opening sequence. My favorite aspect of the film is that it serves as a tribute to the forgotten stars of the silent film era with cameos from silent stars Buster Keaton, Anna Q. Nilsson, H.B. Warner, along with the two great directors from the silent era, Cecil B. Demille, and Erich Von Stroheim, references to Valentino, and of course Swanson herself. Wilder also exposes the brutality of the motion picture industry throughout the film; Whether it be the way the leading stars from 20 years ago are basically tossed away and forgotten, or the way the studios rape the scripts of the screenwriters turning them into something entirely different, or even Betty getting a nose-job in an attempt to achieve the physical appearance needed to make it as an actress only to get rejected when she discovers she's untalented at the craft. The closing moments are of course the most memorable and haunting scenes of the film and the media plays sort of a monstrous role in it all; something Wilder would further explore in his next film Ace in the Hole (1951).
"Funny, how gentle people get with you once you're dead."
Tarkovsky's debut feature film is an extraordinary piece of art displaying both life from a realistic standpoint and life as a dream. Even at this early stage in his carrier, the film features touches of the Russian director's signature touches. It's hard to imagine this as being Tarkovsky's debut film, as it resonates with the impression that this was made by a director completely in control of his craft. The photography is absolutely stunning. Every image is breathtaking, and the floating camera work is something to marvel at. The film itself centers around a young 12 year old boy working for the partisans as a spy after his family was murdered by Nazis. The closing minutes are unforgettably bitter sweet.
An extremely powerful film exploring a day in the lives of three friends living in the ghettos of Paris, Vinz, Saïd, and Hubert (one Arab, one Jewish, and one African). After their hoodlum friend Abdel is put into a coma as a result of police brutality, Vinz vows vengeance after acquiring a gun. La Haine's black and white cinematography, and magnificent camera movements results in some stunning documentary-like imagery. The acting, and dialogue all seems very natural and realistic as well. The social critiques of racism and inner city violence are a very relevant and delicate subject, and handled expertly here.
The Saw franchise is an interesting case for me and my film tastes, I suppose you could call it a guilt pleasure. The acting is always bad with the exception of Tobin Bell, the motivations and decisions of the characters are usually pretty questionable, the character themselves are often dense, and the editing style is a bit gimmicky. For some people, the extreme gore is a huge turnoff, but that isn't necessarily the case for me. In general I don't consider myself a fan of the torture porn genre nor do I claim to be a fan of this franchise, but nonetheless I find myself intrigued enough to have watched each of the films, and will continue to watch future Saw sequels. It is my opinion that the series is something the movie world has been missing and the industry needs; a moderately cheap horror franchise for this generation. In the 80s these kinds of franchises thrived (Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm St., Halloween, Critters, Hellraiser, etc.) To use the old adage, "it's like a train wreck, that you can't quite turn away from." Subconsciously these graphic images are something I'm apparently drawn to. I think it's also interesting to watch people's responses when they are thrown into such extreme situations, whether the depictions in the film seem accurate or not. As for Saw III itself, I can confidently say that it is a vast improvement upon the 2nd installment. The return of James Wan, writer and director of the original, was partially responsible for this, although overall I still think the script is pretty bad, but enjoy the Jigsaw character. As I mentioned before I think the rapid editing techniques are a bit gimmicky, but lends itself nicely as a stylistic device for this type of film (which is basically a gimmick in and of itself). The special effects and makeup teams should be applauded once more for their efforts, as I feel they are overlooked, and really the people responsible for making this series such a success. This film contained some of the most shocking and graphic sequences I can recall watching. In particular the scene with the man on "the rack", the woman who gets her ribs ripped out, and Jigsaw's operation were all incredibly effective. For me watching a film that reaches out to the lowest common denominator is as engaging as watching a brilliant art house film, so although I realize the Saw films are pretty bad, to me they are still worth a watch.
An interesting take on the West Side Story/Romeo and Juliet tale involving a conflict between competing fast food chains; one Jewish, the other Muslim. Won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short film in 2007.
I can appreciate the complexity of this simple yet multi faceted conversation between two very different intellectuals and I enjoy listening to philosophical concepts, but the problem I had with this film is that it doesn't fully utilize the medium. Although there are edits, they don't serve much of a purpose. Sure we can better see the faces and emotional reactions of the actors, but in all honesty My Dinner With Andre would be better adapted as a stage play. I found the acting to be very theatrical, and the monologues unnatural, pretentious and heavy handed. Not to say the performances were bad (they work just fine as a theatrical performance), but I just didn't believe these were real people. Instead they represented ideologies and archetypes. The film's self reflexive references to Stanislavsky and Brecht among others are serve are interesting, but weren't enough to keep me enthralled. I think perhaps someone with a comedic touch like Jarmusch could have made this more interesting as his films like Night On Earth mostly consist of casual conversations with hilarious results. With such serious dialogue, in a focused locale, and without offering anything aesthetically pleasing, Malle's film becomes tedious and tiresome. It seems the bookends consisting of Wally's voice over narration is where the film works best. I was genuinely interested in the characters and their lives, but in the end the execution didn't click for me.
A charming film that follows six individual family members as they each find their places and strive for meager ambitions. The narrative is very casual, sometimes whimsical, and meandering, yet I was so intrigued by the unique and eccentric characters, that the lack of conventional plot was irrelevant. The Taste of Tea includes some great subtle bits of comedy and is quite touching at times (The flip book scene was amazing). I really enjoyed the anime sequence as well. Also noteworthy was the atmospheric sound design. It really sets the whole tone of the film, creating a relaxed yet curious mood.
Technically this film is laughable; full of cheesy dialogue, bad acting, jumpy editing, double shadows, etc., but the fact that it still stands the test of time despite these flaws is a testament to the importance of this cult hit that changed the horror genre in 1968. Night of the Living Dead is a product of it's time as it was made during the most chaotic and revolutionary decade in U.S. history, amidst the Vietnam war, civil rights and feminist movements, the sexual revolution, the space race, and the assassinations of figures such as JFK, MLK and Malcolm X. More than just a horror film, the movie is a pessimistic social critique. The "epidemic of mass murder" in the film is allegorically similar to the real world. The film also overtly explores racial attitudes and is a scathing indictment upon the untrustworthy nature of our government officials as they try to hide some sort of radiation disaster. During the struggle for survival, the protagonists find themselves at war with each other as much as if not more than with the zombies.
