Favorites of My Favorites #3 -- Michael Mann

What American director working right now is a greater genre stylist than Michael Mann?  In my very humble opinion, no one.

I taught a course at the local university about a year ago on Mann and am a big fan.  To me, Mann's both classic and modern.  His style might be self-conscious, but he's not your typical post-modern director.  Most of his stories are fluid and told chronologically.  And his films never get into reeling off pop-culture references.   I love his blend of realism and style.  And you can count on me in the theater the first few days whenever he releases a new film.

I think Michael Mann's done as much as anyone to keep the crime film fresh and alive.  He has a wonderful eye for locations and a great ear for sound and music.  Very few, I think, are able to pursue as personal a career in Hollywood as he can.

MICHAEL MANN (in preferential order)
1.  Heat
2.  The Insider
3.  Thief
4.  Manhunter
5.  Ali
6.  Public Enemies
7.  The Last of the Mohicans
8.  Miami Vice
9.  Collateral
10.  The Jericho Mile
11.  The Keep


Never seen:
17 Days Down the Line
Jaunpuri
Insurrection

Favorites of My Favorites #2 -- Takeshi Kitano

I love Kitano's collaboration with his composer Joe Hisaishi.  And he also achieves remarkable results with color, by using it in a minimal but very specific way.  Most of all, I love Kitano's unique sense of rhythm. Along with Hal Hartley and Jim Jarmusch, I find his work to have the most poetic and personal sense of rhythm of any filmmaker working right now.

TAKESHI KITANO (in preferential order)
1.  Fireworks
2.  Kids Return
3.  Kikujiro
4.  Sonatine
5.  Boiling Point
6.  Violent Cop
7.  Scene at the Sea
8.  Dolls
9.  Brother
10.  The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi watched 1/13/10
11.  Getting Any?


Need to re-watch:
The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi


Never seen:
Takeshis'
Glory to the Filmmaker!
Achilles and the Tortoise

Favorites of My Favorites #1 -- Jean Renoir

Today I thought I'd start a new series of entries, entitled "Favorites of My Favorites".  Basically I will list the films of my favorite directors, in preferential order.  In each entry, I'll focus on a different director.  And the entries will probably be pretty intermittent, going forward.

Since there are so many films to see, I always like when someone I respect tells me what to see from a certain director.  I'm hoping that perhaps these entries will serve that purpose for somebody, somewhere.

I thought I'd kick things off with one of my very favorites, the French director Jean Renoir.  During 1996-97, I lived in Montpellier, France. In town, there was a place called the Videotheque where you paid like $50/year and could go and watch movies.  It had about thirty study carrels, each equipped with its own TV screen.  The Videotheque sported a library of about 50,000 movies and would load up the movie you requested, and you could watch it, with headphones, at your carrel.

Anyway, that year, since I didn't go to film school, I decided to do my own little thesis on Jean Renoir.  Most French cinephiles kept telling me that he was the greatest director in their country's history so I wanted to find out the big deal.

I started with Renoir's earliest film and slowly worked my way through his oeuvre, in chronological order.  I took notes on each film.  And by the end (two or three months later), I had a good sense of Jean Renoir, the filmmaker, and why he was held in such high esteem.

JEAN RENOIR (in preferential order)
1.  La Chienne
2.  Toni
3.  Les bas-fonds
4.  Partie de campagne
5.  Night at the Crossroads
6.  La bete humaine
7.  The Crime of Monsieur Lange
8.  Nana
9.  The Grand Illusion
10.  The Rules of the Game
11.  The Diary of a Chambermaid
12.  The Southerner
13.  The Golden Coach
14.  The River
15.  Le dejeuner sur l'herbe
16.  French Cancan
17.  Paris Does Strange Things (Elena and Her Men) watched 1/14/10
18.  On purge bebe
19.  Boudu Saved from Drowning
20.  Whirlpool of Fate watched 10/30/11
21.  La petite marchande d'allumettes watched 10/30/11
22.  La Marseillaise
23.  Sur un air de Charleston (Charleston Parade) watched 10/15/11


Need to re-watch:
La petite marchande d'allumettes
Swamp Water
This Land is Mine
The Woman on the Beach

Paris Does Strange Things

The Elusive Corporal

Never seen:
Charleston Parade
Backbiters
Whirlpool of Fate
Marquitta
The Sad Sack
The Tournament
Le bled
The Bitch
Chotard and Company
Madame Bovary
La vie est a nous
The Story of Tosca
The Amazing Mrs. Holliday
Salute to France

De Palma and Femme Fatale

It's impossible to see everything.  And now that more movies are being produced per year than ever in the history of the medium, it's only getting harder.  Things slip through the cracks.  The noise gets us.  And we can't help but miss a couple here and there.

I've always been a huge fan of Brian De Palma.  No one can move the camera like he can; there's a sexiness (if I dare say) to his camerawork that I don't really think anyone can match.  Plus there's a real interest in telling the story "visually" as much as he possibly can.

I love Greetings, Phantom of the Paradise, Obsession, Carrie, Dressed to Kill, Blow Out, Body Double, Casualties of War, Carlito's Way, and Mission: Impossible.  Somehow I missed Femme Fatale when it came out (Actually, that's not totally true.  I walked out of the theater after the first thirty or so minutes.  Testament that sometimes we must revisit.)

Well I finally caught up with it and loved it.  It's absolutely pure De Palma -- playful, sadistic, exuberant, heavy on the melodramatic music, and masterful in its use of the medium.  It's by far my favorite of his films in a really long time.  And if you're a fan of Mulholland Dr, check it out.  I think De Palma might have really loved the Lynch film, too.


*Thanks to Jeremy Richey and his Moon in the Gutter blog.  He recently listed Femme Fatale as one of his favorite films of the decade.  I couldn't agree more and owe him for the revisit.

Some Elusive Auteurs

A friend of mine recently had the following to say after watching an Ingmar Bergman film, "Wow, I'm so full.  It's like I just ate a five-course meal."  I've been known, too, to gravitate towards some notoriously difficult work:  Bruno Dumont's Humanite, Leos Carax's Pola X, and Hou Hsiao-hsien's Goodbye, South, Goodbye, to name but the first that come to mind.  So I understand the appeal and the unique sense of satisfaction that can sometimes come from watching a more difficult film.

It's been my experience that many of the great filmmakers don't necessarily give themselves to you.  Sometimes you have to find your own special door into them.  And without it, you're just left out, trying to understand what others are raving about.   For instance, it took seeing La Chienne for me to first get Jean Renoir.  Before that, I just didn't get all the fuss. And I've been fortunate to find other "key" works like that for people like Rossellini, Wenders, Antonioni, Bresson, Eustache, Pialat, Dreyer, Moretti, Kiarostami, Almodovar, Godard, Kitano, and Ophuls.

However, there are a few of the greats that I still have not connected to, for one reason or another.  A few elusive auteurs.  For me, from the past, the key one is Pasolini and among those currently working, I'd name Zhang Ke Jia and Apichatpong Weerasethakul.

Is it just me?  Or does this phenomenon of the elusive auteur also affect some of you?

Lullaby Shows up on a Few Lists

This time of year is full of year-end and this particular year decade-end best of lists.  So far, I've seen The Last Lullaby pop up on a few of these. It's humbling and truly an honor when people single out the film.

Here are a few of the lists I've come across:

http://likhna.blogspot.com/
http://www.sonic-cinema.com/
http://mooninthegutter.blogspot.com/2009/12/guranteed-to-blow-your-mind-21-favorite.html

Come and Get It

It's a treat to write something about a new Howard Hawks discovery. Hawks has long been one of my favorite directors.  I could easily count Rio Bravo, His Girl Friday, and Sergeant York among my "desert island group".  And I'm also quite fond of at least another five to ten of his films that I have seen:  Rio Lobo, El Dorado, Red Line 7000, Man's Favorite Sport?, Hatari!, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, I Was a War Male Bride, Red River, The Big Sleep, To Have and Have Not, Bringing Up Baby, Barbary Coast, and Scarface (okay maybe it's a little more than five or ten).

Some of his earlier work is actually quite hard to locate.  But I'll have to keep looking.  There's at least another ten of his films that people talk about that I've never had the opportunity to see.

This film, Come and Get It, is an interesting one.  First off, it marks a collaboration with another directorial giant from the time, William Wyler.   IMDb says that Wyler directed 70 films in his career.  (Ah, what a glorious time the golden age was when a director could have that level of output.)  There's much of Wyler I've yet to see, but I absolutely love Roman Holiday, The Heiress, and The Best Years of Our Lives.

And Come and Get It is no exception.  The film has Hawks' ability to distill and refine.  Watching a Hawks' film for me is like when someone says about a great chef that his/her dish taste clean.  His work always feels uncluttered to me without being overly simplistic.

But Hawks, also, has always felt like an optimist to me.  It seemed like he never really wanted to leave the audience with a bitter taste in their mouth.  Wyler, meanwhile, seems much more willing to go to that place.  The end of The Heiress, for instance, I find to be one of the most disturbing finales of that entire period.  And Come and Get It ends on a note that is every bit as ambiguous, unresolved, and uncomfortable.

Needless to say, since we have two of the most accomplished directors of the period working on the film, the performances are sublime: Edward Arnold, Joel McCrea, and Walter Brennan are all tremendous. And Frances Farmer is magical.

The film might have a little too much music and an extremely basic directorial approach, but I also think it gets at some themes and emotions that most work can only hope to achieve.  Chalk up another one for Hawks and Wyler, Come and Get It is a real keeper.


*I feel I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that, about a year ago, the excellent blog, Only The Cinema, conducted an "Early Howard Hawks Blog-A-Thon" (http://seul-le-cinema.blogspot.com/2009/01/early-howard-hawks-blog-thon.html).  I encourage a look if you want to read more about this period in Hawks' career or Hawks, in general.

Fave Film Books

One of the questions I get asked most often is what books I would recommend to people really interested in making films?  I didn't go to film school so aside from watching movies and making some of my own, some of my best education has come from reading.  Here is a list of some of the books that have been most useful to me:

1.  Anything in the Conversations with Filmmakers Series

(http://www.upress.state.ms.us/search/series/6

I'm particularly fond of the Coen Brothers, De Palma, Jarmusch, and Woody Allen books in the series.

2.  From Reel to Deal:  Everything You Need to Create a Successful Independent Film by Dov S-S Simens

(http://www.amazon.com/Reel-Deal-Everything-Successful-Independent/dp/0446674621/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262030901&sr=1-1)

3.  My First Movie:  Twenty Celebrated Directors Talk about Their First Film

(http://www.amazon.com/My-First-Movie-Celebrated-Directors/dp/0142002208/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262031186&sr=1-1)

4.  I Wake up Screening:  What to Do Once You've Made That Movie by John Anderson and Laura Kim

(http://www.amazon.com/Wake-Screening-What-Youve-Movie/dp/0823088987/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262031265&sr=1-1)

5.  Directing Actors:  Creating Memorable Performances for Film & Television by Judith Weston

(http://www.amazon.com/Directing-Actors-Memorable-Performances-Television/dp/0941188248/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262031435&sr=1-1)

6.  Godard On Godard

(http://www.amazon.com/Godard-Da-Capo-Paperback/dp/0306802597/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1262031547&sr=1-1-spell)

7.  The Films in My Life by Francois Truffaut

(http://www.amazon.com/Films-My-Life-Fran%C3%A7ois-Truffaut/dp/0306805995/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262031618&sr=1-1)

8.  Everything by Pauline Kael

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pauline_Kael)

*I'm also anxiously awaiting Jon Reiss' Think Outside the Box Office:  The Ultimate Guide to Film Distribution and Marketing for the Digital Era

(http://www.amazon.com/Think-Outside-Box-Office-Distribution/dp/098257620X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262031712&sr=1-1)

What are your favorite film books?

Coppola, Zoetrope, and The Black Stallion

I'm sure there are many of us.  But I'm definitely one of those that wishes Francis Ford Coppola made more movies and (maybe even more important) that his dreams for his Zoetrope Studios were still very much alive and well.  He desperately wanted to bottle that potent seventies concoction -- personal filmmmaking with Hollywood-size budgets.  But instead, after a few budget overruns and box office disappointments, One from the Heart being the worst, his dreams fizzled out pretty quickly.

Yet, at least we're still left with a few signs of what Coppola might have produced if someone had reigned him in a bit more.  And one of the best examples of this, I think, is The Black Stallion.  I saw the film as a kid and could clearly remember sections here and there.  But this is the first time I've watched it again in twenty-five years, owing the re-visit to David Thomson and his excellent book "Have You Seen...?"

The Black Stallion is everything you probably remember -- a feel-good fable with a beautiful horse and a kid you wish you could be.  But there are also some things you might not remember.  It sports some very brave cinematography by Caleb Deschanel.  He's not afraid to go deep into the blacks (for instance, the scene when they show off the horse hoping to land a spot in the big race).  And, as a result, Deschanel pulls off this unusually hazy, magic quality that I would imagine is exactly what he was hoping to achieve.  Also backing Stallion is one of the greatest sound technicians in the history of the medium, Alan Splet.  Splet was David Lynch's regular collaborator before passing away in the early nineties.  All you have to do is listen to the symphony of sounds he creates in the final race to get a sense of Splet's special talent. 

I even felt a part of Coppola here.  He's produced many films throughout his career.  But this is the first one where I could really feel his directorial hand, too (in a good way).  I'm not even sure what it is exactly.  But in the final race, once the flashbacks kick in, I entered that Apocalypse Now trance-like state that Coppola pulls off so well in his own 1979 film.

Zoetrope might not have lasted.  But I have to give it to Coppola.  He bet it all more than once in his career.  And our 114 year-old medium is so much better because of it. 

Most Memorable in 2009

I've gotten to play catch up in the last couple of months.  And I've pretty much now caught up with everything I really wanted to see from 2008 and 2009.  The one major film I haven't been able to see yet is The Hurt Locker, but I'll check that out the second week of January when it becomes available through Netflix.  All that said, here are the eight most memorable moments I had with movies this year (some just came out, some have been around much longer than I have):

1.  Tulpan (2008) – The most daring movie I saw this year, and the one that most impressed me with its humanity and approach. 

2.  Alien (1979) – Scott pulls off a Jaws; a complex and thoroughly entertaining genre film with characters we actually care about.

3.  Eastern Promises (2007) – Hopefully the start of more Cronenberg crime films.  Is Viggo the greatest actor of his generation?  And is Cronenberg doing even more with crime right now than Michael Mann, David Lynch, and Abel Ferrara?

4.  Broadway Danny Rose (1984) – My first time seeing this Woody Allen film.  I’d forgotten how formally solid and brave he could be while still being as funny as anyone (helium scene!)  Also this is the most impressed I’ve ever been with Mia Farrow’s acting.

5.  Woman Is the Future of Man (2004) – Rohmeresque.  In other words, simple, modern, playful, and real.  And my favorite so far from Hong Sang-soo. 

6.  Chris & Don:  A Love Story (2007) – Two amazing lives; a great story of loyalty, love, and a unique time in American arts. 

7.  Joy Division (2007) – Barney Sumner’s excellent interviews really bring to life the band and their journey.
8.  The Champ (1931) - Campy and dated, maybe, but also human and very moving.

The Curious Case of Woody Allen

Maybe he already gets enough credit for this, and I'm just not thinking all the way through on this one.  But when I think of Woody Allen, I think of the funny-looking guy who makes funny movies.   What I don't immediately think of is Woody Allen as one of the most innovative and experimental directors working in American cinema.  For some reason, I forget about all the unconventional techniques in Zelig and The Purple Rose of Cairo.  And Robin Williams being literally "out of focus" in Deconstructing Harry.  And what American director has made more movies in black-and-white in the last thirty-five years?

Just got around to watching Broadway Danny Rose for the first time. How have I  missed this one for all these years?  I loved it.  And I guess the consolation here is that occasionally I'll still discover an older film that excites, inspires, and reminds me of why I give so much of my time and energy to movies.   BDR is another black-and-white Woody, with an incredibly well-realized, typically Woody Allen densely structured script.  It also boasts my favorite Mia Farrow performance so far, and of course at least one excellent scene of experimentation.  You have to see it.  But we'll just call it the "helium scene".

Favorites of the Decade

Everyone seems to be compiling these best of the decade lists right now. And I must admit, at first, I was a little reluctant.  Tastes change so much in ten years.  And it's difficult for me to gauge whether or not a response I had in 2001 would still be the same today.

But I like the idea of filters, and have seen my fair share of movies this decade, so I thought I would jump in the game:

1.  All the Real Girls (2003)
My favorite David Gordon Green film.  I still marvel at his naturalism and fully formed style here.

2.  Mulholland Dr (2001)
One of my very favorite films from one of my very favorite directors.  I couldn't explain the plot to you better than anyone else, but I love the labyrintine and alternate world that Lynch lets us play in here.

3.  Funny Ha Ha (2002)
I love Bujalski's ability to be smart, sweet, human, and restrained all at once.  His approach has an ease and grace that I really admire.

4.  Regular Lovers (2005)
A difficult film, probably.  But it's like McCabe & Mrs. Miller or The Mother and the Whore, films that create their own rules for time and space and ones that I never really want to leave.

5.  What Time Is It There? (2001)
When it comes to using color and composition, I'm not sure I like anyone as much as the Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-liang.  Of all of his films I've seen so far, this one seems the most accessible.

6.  Yi Yi (2000)
Epic but also personal.  Feels like the work of a wise and honest director, capturing many of life's truths.

7.  4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days (2007)
That great blend of character and plot that I'm always after in my own work.  Direction at a remarkably high level.

8.  Tulpan (2008)
Another challenging film that's probably not for everyone.  But brings fiction to life in a way that completely awed and inspired me.

9.  Under the Sand (2000)
For me, just a very compelling story well-told.  Not flashy; "the invisible director" in the way that I sometimes really like it.

10.  Milk (2008)
Van Sant back in Hollywood.  Proof that the great stylists can still make films with a lot of heart and appeal.


Note:  Not in preferential order.

Favorites of the Year coming soon.

Ben Lovett and Good News

Just in:

Ben Lovett's Score for The Last Lullaby was selected as one of the best of the decade over at the superb blog Moon in the Gutter (http://mooninthegutter.blogspot.com/2009/12/guranteed-to-blow-your-mind-21-favorite.html).  We're in with some of my absolute favorites:  Badalamenti, John Cale, The Tindersticks, and it feels great.

Thanks, Jeremy.  And Moon in the Gutter.  We're very honored!

Eastern Promises

I admit; I'm way late on this one.  But, truth be told, I've barely been able to see anything the last two years.  So now I'm playing catch up.

Cronenberg's duo of crime films, A History of Violence and Eastern Promises, arrive somewhat unexpected in the director's canon.  But, once I saw them, the choice made perfect sense, and made me wish he'd been working with this sort of material more often during his fantastic career.  I think the two films are like Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures and Closer or The Beastie Boys' Paul's Boutique and Check Your Head.  In other words, two works that chronologically follow each other, almost forcing you to choose which one you like better?  I'm on the unpopular side of all of these, I think, in that I prefer Closer, Check Your Head, and now Eastern Promises.

Eastern Promises has its flaws, but Viggo is working at such a tremendous level (think his moments in Carlito's Way).  And it's awesome to see Vincent Cassel show the same rawness and talent that he's been displaying for years in France (I'd recommend revisiting Kassovitz's La Haine if it's been awhile).  Now, if we could just find a great English-speaking role for Virginie Ledoyen.

I always felt they let the air out of A History of Violence once they let us in on Viggo's real identity.  Whereas the intensity here never really lets up.  Way to go Steven Knight.  I was a big fan of Dirty Pretty Things, and you've done it again.

Elegant, raw, dangerous, and rigorous, Promises will definitely find a spot in my Top Ten at year's end.

2010 Sundance Competition Features Announced

It's a big day for indy film:

http://www.indiewire.com/article/fewer_films_and_a_new_section_for_sundance_10_competitions_lineup_announced/