FilmFanatic.org

Synopsis:
A widowed minister (Gunnar Björnstrand) struggles with his faith while navigating his relationship with a doting parishioner (Ingrid Thulin) and meeting with the pregnant wife (Gunnel Lindblom) of a suicidal father (Max von Sydow).

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Christianity
• Ingmar Bergman Films
• Priests and Ministers
• Scandinavian Films
• Widows and Widowers

Review:
This second film — following Through a Glass Darkly (1961) — in Ingmar Bergman’s informal trilogy about the life-saving importance of communication and love was one of his personal favorites, carefully constructed — with crucial assistance from his DP, Sven Nykvist — with a particular vision in mind. However, its unrelenting bleakness makes it a challenging viewing experience, as we watch a seemingly rigid and cold man of faith (Björnstrand) failing to support a parishioner in need:

… while cruelly mistreating the woman (Thulin) who is devoting her life to him.

The story opens and closes on his nearly-empty church services:

… and otherwise takes place in a bitterly gray, wintry landscape.

With that said, the performances — particularly by Björnstrand in the crucial central role — are committed and convincing, making this a rewarding viewing experience for Bergman fans who can otherwise stomach its dreariness.

Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments:

• Gunnar Björnstrand as Tomas Ericsson
  
• Sven Nykvist’s cinematography
  
  

Must See?
No, unless you’re a Bergman completist.

(Listed in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die)

Links:

• IMDb entry
• TCM Article
• NY Times Original Review

Synopsis:
Extensive footage explores the bloody Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939, fought between left-leaning Republicans and Franco’s dictatorial Nationalist regime.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Documentary
• French Films
• Spanish Civil War

Review:
Made a little over 20 years after its conclusion, this French documentary about the Spanish Civil War — directed and co-written by Frédéric Rossif — was nominated for an Oscar as Best Documentary (though it lost to The Eleanor Roosevelt Story, which I’m now curious to see as well; it would actually be super interesting to take a dive into all Oscar-nominated documentaries over the years, if available…). At any rate, Rossif and his team present a truly impressive compilation of historical film clips:

… intermingled with beautifully shot additional footage:

… presenting the arc of the war from its beginnings — at a time when (our narrator informs us) half the country’s population of 24 million people is illiterate, with “8 million poor, 2 million landless farmers, [and] 20,000 people own[ing] half of Spain” — until its end, when World War II increasingly dominated the global landscape (Spain remained officially neutral).

Such socio-cultural context is crucial to our understanding of why and how so many people fought on behalf of the Republican cause:

… though they were ultimately defeated, in large part through the support of Franco’s Fascist cronies. Along the way we learn about how “the [Spanish] people discover that they exist: they have the right to speak, the right to discourse,” yet they remain landless and “the workers are still without work.”

We hear about Francisco Franco’s election in 1936; the two fronts that emerge (Popular and National); and how the Popular Front gains legitimate power while a narrative against it is quickly spun:

“Against this sterile state, I propose the integral state: what many call fascist,” says anti-Republican Calvo Sotelo, who is assassinated. “But if the fascist state is the end of the strikes, the end of the unrest, the end of abuses against property, then I declare with pride that I am a fascist.”

And so on (though we are only 8 minutes into the film at this point)… Among the most devastating footage is the unconscionable bombing of civilians at Guernica, in which “the shelling lasted 3 hours.”

Along with The Good Fight (1984) — which chronicles American volunteers’ role in the war — all viewers should watch this film and learn about this still-too-little-understood period of 20th century global history.

Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments:

• Impressive curation of historical footage
  
• Georges Barsky’s cinematography
  
• Maurice Jarre’s score

Must See?
Yes, for its historical relevance and Oscar nomination.

Categories

• Historically Relevant
• Oscar Winner or Nominee

Links:

• IMDb entry
• NY Times Original Review (short overview)

Synopsis:
When a middle-aged woman (Delphine Seyrig) living with her grown stepson (Jean-Baptiste Thierrée) in Boulogne invites her former lover (Jean-Pierre Kérien) to visit, he shows up with a young woman (Nita Klein) who he first refers to as his niece, but turns out to be his mistress.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Alain Resnais Films
• Delphine Seyrig Films
• French Films

Review:
Alain Resnais’s third feature-length film — after Hiroshima, Mon Amour (1959) and Last Year at Marienbad (1961) — was scripted by Jean Cayrol, his collaborator on Night and Fog (1955), and utilizes a similarly non-linear, mosaic-like narrative structure. Susan Sontag pointed out in her essay for Film Quarterly that all three “share a common subject” of a “search for the inexpressible past” — indeed, the characters in Muriel (as in the other two films) talk and act with desperation, siloed in their delusions, troubles, and world-views:

… with little of it making longer-term temporal or logical sense.

To that end, the screenplay is filled with what James Quandt, writing for Criterion, refers to as “disorienting ellipses, compressions, attenuations, and… obsessive repetitions” — none of which is inherently compelling to watch unless you’re eager to engage in ongoing speculative analysis. As Sontag points out in her essay:

“Resnais denies the viewer a chance to orient himself visually to traditional story terms. We are shown a hand on the doorknob, the vacant insincere smile of the client:

… a coffee pot boiling… [And] when Resnais cuts abruptly, he pulls the viewer away from the story. His cutting acts as a brake on the narrative, a form of aesthetic undertow, a sort of filmic alienation effect.”

The most poignant moment — though it feels somewhat unearned — comes half-way through the film, as Thierrée sits and watches footage from the recently concluded war in Algeria, sharing pained memories of a young, unseen woman named Muriel whose torture (and implied rape) he partook in.

Be forewarned that nothing much resolves in a satisfying way in this film — though you may want to listen for my favorite random line (“Don’t take it out on the azaleas.”) and watch for a Hitchcock “silhouette” in one scene (as can also be found in … Marienbad).

Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments:

• Delphine Seyrig as Hélène
  
• Fine location shooting
  
  
• Sacha Vierny’s cinematography
  

Must See?
No; you can skip this one unless you’re a Resnais fan.

Links:

• IMDb entry
• DVD Savant Review
• NY Times Original Review (scroll down to second review)
• Criterion Essay
• Spinning Image Review

Synopsis:
When a seaman (Richard Harris) on a breadfruit-seeking excursion to Tahiti accuses harsh Captain Bligh (Trevor Howard) of stealing cheese and is severely beaten, morale begins to wane, and First Lieutenant Fletcher Christian (Marlon Brando) soon leads a mutiny against Bligh.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• At Sea
• Hugh Griffith Films
• Lewis Milestone Films
• Marlon Brando Films
• Mutiny
• Richard Harris Films
• Richard Haydn Films
• Ruthless Leaders
• South Sea Islands
• Trevor Howard Films

Review:
This notorious big-budget adaptation of Charles Nordhoff’s 1932 novel — the second American iteration after Frank Lloyd’s Oscar-winning 1935 version co-starring Clark Gable and Charles Laughton — is, thankfully and perhaps surprisingly, better than its storied reputation would lead you to believe. While Brando’s heavily improvised, arguably “foppish” performance as Fletcher Christian tends to be polarizing, I happen to be a fan:

… and was reminded, for better or for worse, that I’m a film lover who can fairly easily dissociate movies (the end product) from their makers and constituents. To that end, Brando’s childish behavior during the filming of this movie (see also here and here) was intolerable enough to essentially demote him from Hollywood’s elite — until his resurgence with The Godfather. (So it goes with divas of all genders.) At least it likely helped fuel Howard’s rage as boorish Bligh.

The film’s most eye-rolling sequences are those taking place on Tahiti, as the uniformly beautiful women make themselves available to the men, and island living is viewed as nothing short of paradise.

With that enormous caveat aside, the rest of the script works quite well as a tale of moralistic concern. What does it mean to go against the orders of the person in charge of everyone’s livelihood out on the open sea? What constitutes torture, versus “merely” a heavy hand? What happens to a person’s sense of self when they’ve given up the status they’ve worked for throughout their entire existence?

To the film’s credit, we are curious to see how things end for all involved. Watch for Richard Haydn as the ship’s breadfruit-focused botanist:

… and Hugh Griffith (drunk for the majority of the production) as seaman Alexander Smith.

Note: This movie began life under the direction of Carol Reed, but fairly quickly shifted over to Lewis Milestone; this was his final feature.

Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments:

• Marlon Brando as Fletcher Christian
  
• Trevor Howard as Captain Bligh
  
• Richard Harris as Seaman Mills
  
• Robert Surtees’ cinematography
  

Must See?
Yes, for its historical relevance, its notorious controversy (and box-office failure), and Brando’s performance.

Categories

• Historically Relevant
• Oscar Winner or Nominee

Links:

• IMDb entry
• NY Times Original Review
• TCM Articles

Synopsis:
When a down-on-his-luck former samurai (Tatsuya Nakadai) arrives at the estate of a clan run by daimyō Saitō Kageyu (Rentarô Mikuni), and requests safe harbor to commit seppuku, he is told the story of a younger rōnin (Akira Ishihama) who made the same request several months earlier — and deeper connections between the two men are soon revealed.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Flashback Films
• Historical Dramas
• Japanese Films
• Samurai

Review:
As I’m finishing up all films from 1962 listed in Peary’s book, I stumbled upon this unexpectedly gripping jidaigeki (i.e., period) tale by director Masaki Kobayashi, who I hadn’t heard of (this is his only GFTFF-listed title). Tatsuya Nakadai — easily recognizable to film fanatics from Kon Ichikawa’s Odd Obsession (1959), Mikio Naruse’s When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (1960) (a Missing Title), and Ikira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo (1961), Sanjuro (1962), High and Low (1963), Kagemusha (1980), and Ran (1985) — turns in a masterful performance here as a rōnin (i.e, a masterless former-samurai) with a secret.

The flashback-filled script by Shinobu Hashimoto steadily builds tension as our initial assumption — that the film will focus on Nakadai’s own honor-fueled desire to commit seppuku (a.k.a. harakiri) — becomes more of a cat-and-mouse tale of Nakadai ensuring that arrogant Mikuni understands his connection with the previous rōnin (Ishihama) at their household, and how decisions made at that time were both uninformed and ill-advised.

To say more would be to spoil the adventure, so I will stop here — except to say that while things move somewhat leisurely at first, everything builds to a highly atmospheric conclusion which is well-worth the slow-burn. I’ll be watching more of Kobayashi’s films once I’m done with this project.

Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments:

• Tatsuya Nakadai as Hanshiro Tsugumo
  
• Highly effective direction and cinematography
  
• Numerous heartbreaking sequences
  
• The beautifully shot late-film duel
  
• Shinobu Hashimoto’s screenplay

Must See?
Yes, as an unsung masterpiece of Japanese cinema.

Categories

• Foreign Gem

Links:

• IMDb entry
• The Shogunate Video Analysis
• Criterion Essay
• Six Scriptsleuth: Screenwriting Tips from Harakiri (Video)

Synopsis:
When a young Greek (Stathi Giallelis) in 1890s Turkey begins his journey towards Constantinople and then America, he encounters seemingly endless obstacles to success.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Elia Kazan Films
• Immigrants and Immigration

Review:
Elia Kazan wrote and directed this highly personal film (based on his own book) about the obsessive determination of a young man striving toward America. Life for Stavros (Giallelis) and his family and village at the turn of the century in Turkey is rough, hard-scrabble, and marked by ethnic strife and violence:

… making it easy to see why an alternative subsistence is so highly valued. Indeed, the initial portions of the film masterfully show the relentless determination needed to strive towards a better existence, with Stavros given all the family’s assets as he sets out to seek his fortunes. We get a strong sense of how urgent Stavros’s desire is to make a path for himself — and how quickly he’s taken advantage of again and again, first by a roving con-artist (Louis Antonio):

… and later by a prostitute (Joanna Frank) who has few choices herself for survival.

For better and for worse, Kazan used a mostly unprofessional cast to tell his story — and while Giallelis seems reasonably well-cast in the lead role, his lack of range and one dominant expression of stoic determination ultimately becomes wearying over the three-hour run-time.

As a notable contrast, a young man he meets on a mountain road early in the film (Gregory Rozakis) — and who plays a pivotal role later on — engenders much more pathos.

Also distracting is the obvious dubbing throughout the entire film, with Estelle Helmsley’s voice as Grandmother Topouzoglou particularly grating.

Meanwhile, the entire middle hour or so of this film — in which Stavros (Giallelis) is introduced to the daughter (Joanna Frank) of a wealthy merchant (Paul Mann) who is incredibly eager to marry her off — extends the movie far beyond its ideal length and narrative thrust. While I understand that it’s meant to show the life of comfort, certainty, and male domination Stavros must deliberate upon and possibly reject as he continues his impulse towards America, there isn’t enough dramatic action to warrant the time or emotional energy spent on this section.

Regardless of its flaws, however, film fanatics will likely want to check this unique film out once simply for its historical relevance.

Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments:

• Fine period details and sets
  
• Good use of location shooting in Turkey and Greece
  
• Haskell Wexler’s cinematography
  
• Manos Hadjidakis’s score

Must See?
No — though I went back and forth on my vote for this one, and it’s certainly worth a look for its historical significance as an intriguing outing by a master director. Selected for preservation by the Library of Congress in 2001 as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.

Links:

• IMDb entry
• Slant Magazine DVD Review (spoiler alert)
• Village Voice Review

Synopsis:
When an unknown criminal (Tsutomu Yamazaki) accidentally kidnaps the son (Masahiko Shimizu) of the chauffeur (Yutaka Sada) working for a wealthy shoe company businessman Kingo Gondo (Toshiro Mifune) — rather than Gondo’s son, as intended — Gondo must decide whether to pay the ransom and risk everything he owns; meanwhile, the local police — led by Inspector Tokura (Tatsuya Nakadai) — do everything they can to identify and then capture the kidnapper.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Akira Kurosawa Films
• Class Relations
• Japanese Films
• Kidnapping
• Police

Review:
Akira Kurosawa’s 23rd film was this modern-day police procedural centering on complex moral dilemmas and toxic disparities between “high” and “low” status individuals in Japanese society. As the film opens, we see Mifune negotiating unsuccessfully with his business partners on behalf of producing only high-quality women’s shoes:

… and then clarifying with his wife (Kyōko Kagawa) and assistant (Tatsuya Mihashi) that he plans to leverage every bit of his assets in order to buy out the company for creative control. After this set-up, the storyline shifts to the trauma of Shimizu being kidnapped, and the ethical dilemma Mifune is instantly faced with, despite immense relief at his own son being safe.

Thankfully, we’re not left too long with this discomfort, given that …

SPOILER ALERT

… he makes the only morally viable choice (to pay for his chauffeur’s son to be returned), thus leading to an excitingly filmed sequence (shot in real time) taking place on a moving train, where the exchange takes place.

This all occurs within the first third of the story, which then shifts to a search to determine who the kidnapper is — and, during this portion, we see the tremendous efforts put forth by the (unrealistically) highly organized and committed police force of Yokohama, who systematically and effectively follow one lead after another, culminating in successful identification.

The final portion of the film shows what happens as the police home in on Yamazaki — clearly a deeply disturbed individual who thinks nothing of killing innocent people on behalf of his grudge towards those with more assets and possibilities (i.e., Mifune and his ilk).

There are quite a few ways in which this film — loosely based on an Ed McBain novel, and co-scripted by Kurosawa and three others — effectively explores the central theme of “high and low” (the Japanese title more accurately translates to “Heaven and Hell”). Physically, Mifune’s family is targeted specifically because of the highly visible location of his luxurious home:

… which literally stands in stark contrast with the working class, at times seedy environs where Yamazaki lives and works. However, two more dominant explorations of this theme also emerge: first between high-privilege Mifune and his lower-class chauffeur (Sada), as we see the extreme disparities in options available to each of them:

… and second, between Mifune and his lackey-associate (Mihashi), whose loyalties vacillate with the changing tides of fortune, while Mifune simply becomes more entrenched in his understanding that acting morally is of primary importance above all else. Effective use is made of location shooting through Yokohama:

… and, despite its 142 minute running time, the film holds our attention throughout. This remains one of Kurosawa’s most gripping films, and is well worth a look.

Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments:

• Toshiro Mifune as Kingo Gondo
  
• Highly effective blocking and direction
  
• Atmospheric cinematography
  
  

Must See?
Yes, as a still-powerful Kurosawa flick. Listed as a Personal Recommendation in the back of Peary’s book.

Categories

• Foreign Gem
• Important Director

Links:

• IMDb entry
• Q Network Review
• DVD Savant Review
• Criterion Essay
• DVD Talk Review