Change Your Image
DARCY-12
Reviews
The Pillow Book (1995)
Another stunner from Greenaway
Pillow Book takes me back to the first time I saw a Greenaway film and said to myself, this is a person who loves the media, wants to push the envelop. He has done it again and again. This film is a multimedia event, watching subtitled Japanese movies and reading the Pillow Book in translation all at the same time. The book was required reading in my Japanese literature course in university so many years ago...and never so mesmerizing as this twentieth century interpretation. Like course after course of a Japanese meal, the layers of a geisha's kimono, Greenaway builds the story in layers of time and space. While his other films feel linear, flowing across the screen; this one plies one image on top of another much like playing three dimensional chess or building a glass cake so that each layer is revealed through the last. And it recalled many of the Japanese films I have search out and sat through over the last 30 years. Another stunner from the master of time and space.
Cold Comfort Farm (1995)
Emma gets it right this time!
The more I view this film - the more I chuckle. It is well written, clever, delightful and downright fun. Strangely enough, it wasn't until a 5th or 6th viewing that it finally dawned on me. I had seen this story before - Jane Austen's Emma. Only this time Flora(Kate Beckinsale seems made for these Emma roles) gets it right with her meddling and matchmaking. 20th Century Austen. And the entire cast is stellar!! Need some cheering up. Then visit Cold Comfort Farm. There is nothing chilling about this rural route.
Death in Brunswick (1990)
Pizza anyone?
This is an interesting black comedy with Sam Neill doing a turn as a "34" (ah hem) year old short order cook, on a loosing streak. That is until he meets the woman of his meager dreams. I enjoyed this downunder flick because of it's unpredictability. It's brutal, but then a loser's life sometimes is. But Carl (Sam Neill) wanders through all of the chaos around him, teettering on this side of naive. Even when he does take initiative, he can't do it all himself. There are some great scenes - including a pizza I'd like to serve my ex-boss! It is slow in parts and not always cohesive, but worth sitting through. A slice of reality. Reminds me of a brother, 30something (ah hem)...
De vierde man (1983)
It's that Sensitive Artist theme. Explains everything...not.
The first time I saw this film in the theatre at a foreign film festival, I thought it intriguing, fascinating, the sensitive bi-sexual artist. So very European, so very Dutch! I recently rented it for a second viewing and could hardly keep from laughing at that overworked theme of the mad writer with a religious-sexual orientation persecution complex. Get a grip! This guy is a freeloader, living off of society. I suspect that the real reason he is having these fantasy-nightmares about the "spiderwoman" is that his guilt complex is kicking in after year's of ignoring mother's advice about getting into cars (and bed) with strangers! Not only is he making outrageous sums of (probably taxfree) loot for making up stories (lying guilt trip) but he is too cheap to pay for a hair cut, hence he hustles the beauty salon owner. Then he has the nerve to complain about the bill! But I also suspect the world has changed alot since this film was made. On a serious note it was entertaining to see some of Jan de Bont's camera work and one of Paul Verhoeven's earlier films. Hmmm, maybe the world hasn't changed so very much after all?
Orfeu Negro (1959)
The music and the magic of Carnival in Rio
I would never have taken a look at this film except for that haunting theme by Jobim. Back in the 60's CBC-TV's Saturday Night Summer movies used the "Carnival" song Orphee composes as their "theme music". After years of hearing it, I had to track down the source and finally the film. And I was not disappointed at all. I had seen this film after viewing Cocteau's version of Orpheus (which I absorbed with fascination). But in the end I decided that I preferred this 'earthy' telling of the tale, set in the magic and hysteria of Carnival in Rio. All the actors seem so natural. I feel as though I am catching a glimpse of "reality", and at the same time I know the universality of the story being told. It is haunting and sad and yet leaves you feeling there is hope. That the sun will rise when the song is played. And that is the magic of Jobim.
Orphée (1950)
Very stylistic, but not Cocteau's best
I caught this film after seeing Cocteau's LA BELLE ET LA BETE (1946), his retelling of Beauty and the Beast. I found the ideas in this film intriguing and the style fascinating. Jean Marais is wonderful to behold. But in the end I still prefer La Belle, which represents Cocteau at his finest. On subsequent viewings, I found myself fast forwarding through some of this film on the old VCR - a sure sign that boredom perhaps may be settling in. However, Orphee far surpasses much of the Hollywood drivel of the same period; and for style is probably outleagued only by the German films of the 1920's and 30's. I recommend it to the poet and the mystic. Make it a triple bill with LA BELLE ET LA BETE and BLACK ORPHEUS.
Kiss Me Kate (1953)
Music and Lyrics by Cole Porter, Need I say more!
If I had to pick that one musical to take with me to my desert island - this one would be it! I watch this again and again, never tiring of the words and music by the one, the only, Cole Porter. How can one go wrong. The cast - superb. The sets, the costumes, the choreography! There are a few moments that one cherishes among all the wunderbar moments. Ann Miller tapping over tabletops. Keenan Wynn & James Whitmore elucidating on the importance of being Willie Shakespeare. That clever cameo of Hermes Pan. Then there is that most electric moment "from this moment on" when Bob Fosse and Carol Haney hit the stage. If these weren't enough reasons... Howard Keel singing Cole Porter would be reason enough.
The Young Poisoner's Handbook (1995)
A Clockwork Orange revisited.
Having embraced 'A Clockwork Orange' when first released, I found this an interesting reworking of the 'misunderstood teenager by society-in-general and politicos-in-particular' theme. The background music was the dead give-away, no pun intended. A historical/period piece, 'Poisoner's Handbook' put 'Clockwork' into perspective, while remaining an entertaining bit of film. All 'round better sense of humour then it's predecessor. Casting was a delight.