Happy Together (1997) Film Focus
“Turns out that lonely people are all the same.”
Wong Kar Wai’s film Happy Together, about a gay couple stranded in Argentina, is a passionately vivid portrait of alienation and romance turned sour. The title itself is ironic, Lai Yiu-fai (Tony Leung) and Ho Po-wing (Leslie Cheung) break up at the beginning and continues an on and off explosive relationship throughout the film. Kar Wai’s films are filled with subtle moments of passion, no sweeping romantic gestures, where electrifying connections can form between two people who never meet. Happy Together is no exception, gestures of romance and jealousy are touching, no matter how wrong the relationship seems to be. And there is an element of truth we might not like to admit, flawed people in a flawed relationship is a pure and honest depiction of love we don’t often get to see in cinema.
Béla Tarr (Director)
You would think that creating a film that is so long it’s nearly impossible to screen in a cinema, that would push even the most avid art-house film fan to the edge of their patience, director Béla Tarr could have killed his career. However today he’s still making films that challenge and captivate audiences around the world. Over a period of 30 years he’s only managed to make a handful of films, each film taking years to complete, and when watching his films it’s clear to see why. The most noticeable part of Béla Tarr’s films is the photography. The subject, the people, the places, they’re all so ugly, but every shot is mystically beautiful. Every shot lasts for minutes and Tarr would make the shot longer if he could get film long enough. The camera sometimes dances around a scene, or a scene will dance for the camera, everything can come alive in these long shots no matter how banal. A shot of two men walking down a street becomes a moment in cinema that will stick in your memory forever just because of the way the wind blows rubbish around them (Sátántangó). Tarr focuses on these moments, and he makes something out of them.
Encounters at the End of the World (2007) Review
What one might expect to encounter and the end of the world; mystical beauty, ugly degradation, the narrow line between life and death, they can all be found there. Director Werner Herzog visits Antarctica to see what exists there and what it is like to live in a place that is said to feel like being on the moon. There is 24 hours of daylight and if the wind is calm you can hear a silence that is so abnormal it can wake you from your sleep. As he arrives he finds what looks like a space settlement, it’s filled with the most eccentric people, people who have seen the world, it is here they accumulate. The people who he meets are intriguing enough, but Herzog desires to encounter more than just what is inside McMurdo Station and steps out to find those at the further limits of this harsh frozen land.
Herzog doesn’t want to make a film about cute fluffy penguins, but the drive for the documentary isn’t always clear. He is more interested in the people and how they experience life in Antarctica rather than anything seen in nature programs. It’s the impact of this unusual continent on those who live and work there that peaks our curiosity. But it’s impossible for Herzog to ignore the apocalyptic and destructive nature that hides there. And in spite of his reservations towards making a film about penguins, they contribute profoundly to the pleasure and heartache found at the end of the world.
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (1966) Review
Sergio Leone’s spaghetti western The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is the final instalment in the Dollars trilogy following Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More. As Leone plays tribute to the western, he also criticizes it and redefines it, breathing fresh life into a stagnating genre, making it the western everyone can identify with. Leone’s passion makes The Good, the Bad and the Ugly an epic with a flair for style, the intense close-up camera-work is dizzying. The music score by Ennio Morricone became a big hit and is possibly one of the most memorable features in the film. It seems the negative notion of ’style over substance’ hadn’t crossed Leone’s mind, as there is much more at play here.
The Ugly, also known as Tuco, is a clown with a rat’s tail, a deplorable catalyst who’s comedic performance makes you smile in spite of yourself. The Bad, or Angel Eyes, is so heartless he puts a shiver down your spine with every step he takes. And the Good, also called Blondie, who’s played by Clint Eastwood, is enigmatically cool with his squinting eyes and a cigar butt stuck between his gleaming teeth. They work together and against each other for the sake of a small fortune. Tuco knows the graveyard in which 200,000 dollars is buried and Blondie knows the name on the grave the money is hidden under, neither will tell anyone what they know, even each other. They have to trust one another, but every man is looking out for himself and they’ll try every trick to cheat the other out of the prize, including Blondie who’s good nature is hard to find under his aloof exterior. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is able to build a complicated and satisfyingly ambiguous set of characters who become more enticing at every turn, their dishonourableness is somehow lovable.
Leone wanted to make a statement about the futility of war, and with his tough-guy every man for himself attitude, he makes being bad look so deliciously good. The veil between good and evil is thin, and as Blondie always keeps you guessing, the spectacle is a pleasure to oversee. Every time Tuco puts his head through that noose and preys for his life, Blondie makes the choice to value people over money: a line which even in his good eyes, appears blurred.
Five Great Film Endings
The entirety of the journey a film takes you on might be the most important experience of the film, the twist and turns, the characters, the gradual development of the plot, but the ending can make or break a film. Those films with great endings make an enormous and long lasting impression on the audience, and those that fail to succeed mar the entire experience. An ending doesn’t have to just offer an interesting twist that shocks you to your very core leaving the entire film seen in a new light, they should move you, challenge you, and they should almost never tie up all the loose ends completely. Here I will examine my top five favourite film endings, if you’ve not seen the films yet, don’t read what I say, just check the title and then watch the film for yourself.
Framing Citizen Kane (1941) Film Focus
Citizen Kane’s cinematography might not be something of stunning beauty: it is of enormous intrigue. It’s possible to watch Citizen Kane and never notice the framing of Charles Foster Kane, or, if you are observant, you’ll notice it in nearly every scene. The older Kane gets, and the more the film progresses, Kane is increasingly seen framed within a frame within a frame. The fact Kane is too frequently shot within a doorway, in front or behind a window, or between any other frame, makes it too obvious it’s more than just a coincidence. Although the instances are many and frequent, I’d like to share some of my favourite shots.
Buster Keaton (Director & Actor)
There was a time when I had never seen a silent comedy, and a time when I didn’t think I would like or enjoy them, and then I watched a Buster Keaton film and ever since his films have become not only a source of joy, but some of my favourite films ever. Buster Keaton’s most renowned work was made between 1920 and 1928 and in these years he made an enormous amount of films, both short and feature length, and he was not only the star of the films, but he also directed most of them. He started his career playing alongside Fatty Arbuckle but soon became one of the biggest slapstick comedy stars amongst Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd. Buster was most famous for his ’stone face’, never smiling no matter how absurd the situation is, not even when he wins the girl of his dreams, he still has the same painful aloof expression. This is part of the charm of Buster Keaton, the consistent character with his iconic ’stone face’, tragic things always befall Buster but somehow he, often without realising what’s going on around him, comes out triumphant. He’s the loser who always eventually wins. This can become a bit of a running joke, how he always wins the woman and gets to marry her, often a Priest will appear from the most ridiculous places. But each story runs in pretty much the same way: Buster is a failure of a man, Buster tries to get the woman but he cannot (probably a zealous father stands in his way), some tragedy happens which is a chance for Buster to prove himself, Buster wins the woman’s hand in marriage! Sometimes there are exceptions to this rule which can make them all the more enjoyable, my favourite being Daydreams (1922) where Buster is a failure right to the very end. Another classic is Cops (1922) where the odds are overwhelmingly against him.
Although Buster was famous for is ’stone face’ and staring in and directing some of the best films from the silent era (certainly some of the best comedies) he was also a bit of a stunt man. Many of his films have Buster doing dangerous stunts for real and he once broke his neck, but that’s not the worst of it. One stunt in Steamboat Bill Jr. (1928) had the front of a house fall on Buster, only Buster remained unscathed by luckily standing where there was a small open window. Because the fall of the house was unpredictable and the window so small, this stunt was a risk to Buster’s life… but he did it anyway. The end result, as the house falls around him, has his perfect comic timing. He seems to not notice what has happened, takes a second to look around him, and then runs away as quickly as he can.
Cinema16 World Short Films (2008) DVD
Cinema16 has been releasing a range of short film collections and this is one of their latest offerings, giving us a selection of ‘world films’, so it’s just a collection of a bit of everything from anywhere. As usual they present a diverse selection of short films to suit different tastes, from directors you might have never heard of, to those who are now big names in the industry. A short film is such a different form of art compared to feature films, and it’s a pleasure to have something to enjoy when you’ve only got twenty minutes spare. These DVDs are a chance to see rare pieces of cinema and I get the feeling when this DVD goes out of print, many of these films will not reappear, which is a shame. Short films need not be a niche market.
8½ (1963) Film Focus
“I thought my ideas were so clear. I wanted to make an honest film. No lies whatsoever. I thought I had something so simple to say. Something useful to everybody. A film that could help bury forever all those dead things we carry within ourselves. Instead, I’m the one without the courage to bury anything at all. When did I go wrong? I really have nothing to say, but I want to say it all the same.”
When I recommend people to watch Federico Fellini’s 8½ (and I frequently do as it’s my favourite film) I will be likely to tell them on first watch to not attempt to work it out, to simply enjoy a wave of Fellini’s memories and fantasies. There is no doubt that 8½ is a complicated film, however, depending on how you look at it, and how you try to understand it, it can change your experience altogether. The one thing I love about 8½ is that I can watch it with great attention again and again and see something new. Or, I can sit back, relax, and enjoy it as it is: one of the most imaginative, unique, personal, multi-layered and expressive films I have ever seen.
Some Like It Hot (1959) Review
Some Like It Hot (directed by Billy Wilder) has a reputation of being one of the finest comedies ever made. It bundles together an eccentric group of characters, absurd situations, and the luscious Marilyn Monroe in a role that was just perfect for her. Joe (Tony Curtis) and Jerry (Jack Lemmon) witness a mob shooting and need to flee the city, their only exit comes in the guise of an all woman band looking for female musicians. Thus they get into their new roles, in drag, and try (and fail) to not cause a scene. The innocent yet seductive Sugar Kane (Marilyn Monroe) starts trouble when Joe, who is now Josephine, attempts to win her over by disguising as a British millionaire with a yacht; Sugar’s ideal man. The plot sounds your typical hackney fair, but thanks to the cast and witty writing, it manages to save itself from becoming crass.
Monroe lights up the screen every time she appears. Her part makes Some Like It Hot worth watching, if only to watch a legendary star at her best. Curtis and Lemmon hold their own as a comical couple who never fail to perform all their roles to perfection. Some Like It Hot may have aged and feel tame compared to modern standards, but there are still a lot of laughs to be found in a classic film like this. Love and comedy will triumph all, and as Some Like It Hot admits, no-body’s perfect.
