1958: Bonjour Tristesse (Otto Preminger)

1958: Bonjour Tristesse (Otto Preminger)

When I first started this countdown, I mentioned that some of these entries would come from memory, things I may not have seen for a very long time.  Right or wrong, I have always given great value to the lasting impression a movie makes.  Some movies almost evaporate as if I never saw them.  Others expand and become forever embedded (even if in some other form) in my movie memory.  


For instance, I can't remember that much that is tangible about Bonjour Tristesse, yet it is the impression of it that remains so strong.  I can remember Jean Seberg in it as one of the most alluring screen presences.  And I can remember a certain uncharacteristic "softness" in the cinema of Preminger, something for him that seemed far more romantic, more poetic, more tender. 


I can't even fully remember the story well enough to say much more, but instead I am trusting the abstract, intangible impression it has left.  For whatever it's worth, I remember loving it after I watched it, but now that I can hardly remember it, I love it even more.

Other contenders for 1958: I don't have quite as many gaps this year.  These include: Roberto Rossellini's India, Jacques Tati's Mon Oncle, Douglas Sirk's A Time to Love and a Time to Die, Nicholas Ray's Wind Across the Everglades, Andrzej Wajda's Ashes and Diamonds, Jacques Tourneur's Curse of the Demon, Stanley Kramer's The Defiant Ones, Luis Bunuel's Nazarin, Don Siegel's The Lineup, Youssef Chahine's Cairo Station, Budd Boetticher's Buchanan Rides Alone, Satyajit Ray's The Music Room, and Keisuke Kinoshita's The Ballad of Narayama.  I probably should revisit Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo at some point soon as I've never connected with it on the same level as some other Hitchcock.  But from this year, I do love Anthony Mann's Man of the West, Jacques Becker's Montparnasse 19, and Orson Welles' Touch of Evil.  And as one of my closest runners-up yet and one that slightly pains me to not have as a top pick, Vincente Minnelli's Some Came Running.

2/20/11 I watched Jacques Tati's Mon Oncle.  There's no one quite like Tati in the history of cinema.  And how I'd love to see a Tati film now and see what he'd make of all the technological absurdities we have.   He's really a master when it comes to using sound and some of the gags here are laugh out loud funny.  But like much of his work, it can grow a little tedious by the end. 


3/31/11 I watched Andrzej Wajda's Ashes and Diamonds.  One of the most unconventional noirs.  Stylish with extremely effective and expressive camerawork.  Some unusual cross-cutting for its day and a guttural and visceral finale.  Not there all the time with it, but when I am, it's very strong.   


4/16/11 I watched Satyajit Ray's The Music Room.  A strange film with some scenes of beautiful music and dancing.  I'm still trying to understand the tremendous reputation that Ray enjoys.  I understand this one as an interesting mediation on class, age, and wealth, and the difficulties of facing the reality that all of the things might be lost one day.  But the film never grabbed me and seemed far too interested in atmosphere than drama of any kind.  


5/5/11 I watched Irving Lerner's Murder by Contract.  Another Scorsese favorite, this noir is utterly unique in terms of its tone.  Much of its difference comes from its Flamenco-like score that gives the film a very offbeat, bouncy and buoyant feel, in the midst of a good amount of darkness.  Vince Edwards gives a tremendous performance, and although spare and lean, the production always feels formally clean and clear.   A very strong, lesser-known work.  


12/26/11 I watched Yasujiro Ozu's Equinox Flower.  Definitely treads on familiar Ozu territory although to less effect than some of the master's greatest films.  Still worth a look though for major Ozu fans. The arc of the dad is particularly memorable.  


1/14/12 I watched John Sturges' The Law and Jake Wade.  Surtees does tremendous work yet again with town and landscape.  And of course, Widmark is always fresh, spirited, and full of extremely unique choices. It's a pretty hard-hitting, no-holds-barred little western.  Certainly worth a watch.  


2/25/12 I watched Youssef Chaine's Cairo Station.  Not sure I'd go so far as to call it a masterwork, but it's an incredibly ambitious neorealist work with an absolutely amazing lead performance and some truly fantastic moments.  

9/19/15 I watched Jean-Luc Godard's Charlotte et son Jules.  I think it is the first time I have seen this pre-Breathless short.  It is nothing earth shattering but nice to see as a Godard completist and to see certain stylistic touches, such as the hallmark Godard soundtrack ruptures, already firmly within his palatte. 

1/3/16 I watched Agnes Varda's Du cote de la cote.  A pretty mediocre, early effort from Varda.  The voiceover rhythms are very Nouvelle Vaguish but the rest was never very enthralling.

3/10/16 I watched Jacques Tourneur's The Fearmakers.  Some of the plotting, if you think about it more than a couple of seconds, doesn't hold together.  But this very minor Tourneur is somewhat interesting for Andrews' presence and as another Tourneur entry into noir, this time a contribution to the amnesiac noir.   

5/2/17 I watched Nicholas Ray's Wind Across the Everglades.  Ray made numerous films that were haunted with very dark characters spiraling deep, and almost uncontrollably, into their own obsessions and struggles.  His visual sense of abstraction was among the greatest the medium has ever seen and his diseased tone potentially more unique and consistent than that of any auteur.  I have now seen early Christopher Plummer twice (here and in The Silent Partner).  His ability to tap the hysteria within his own compulsion is a perfect match for the sensibility of Ray and his talent simply remarkable.  It is a shame more people do not discuss this work as it is the rawest, most uncompromising Ray film I have seen to date.    

9/17/18 I watched Jean Rouch's Moi, un noir.  Wow, probably the biggest influence I have ever seen on Godard's Breathless.  I have long known that Godard was a big fan of Rouch but this film blew my mind.  The cadence of Belmondo's voicemover and the frenzied rhythms of Godard's feature debut seem to have been lifted almost entirely from Moi, un noir.  It's a remarkable film for its nudity, its post-sync methods and the most pop culture references I have ever seen from a work that came out before 1960.

9/23/18 I watched Eric Rohmer's Veronique et son cancre et Presentation ou Charlotte et son steak.  The first is a very solid Rohmer short that already shows his sensitivity and his unusual ability with actresses.  The second is a tough trudge.  Godard stars and does little for this ten minute piece.

12/7/20 I watched Jacques Rozier's Blue Jeans.  Already in his early work, it feels very much like the work Rozier would become known for.  Most impressive to me was the way Rozier used jump cuts.  In the opening credits, you immediately feel the presence of a new rhythm and a new syntax.

2/26/24 I watched Frank Tashlin's Rock-A-Bye-Baby.  Jerry Lewis continues to be a challenge for me even if I recognize him as one of the couple of successors of the cinema of Keaton and Chaplin.