Tuesday, September 19, 2006

64th and Broadway Screening Room

Well, yeah I guess I could write about Notre Dame forgetting they had a game to play on Saturday. Or about the most absolutely epic Eagles collapse since, well, last year. But since that's depressing, I will just mention a little on movies I have watched in the past few week. All of which actually deserve more than the few sentances I will write about 'em.

Days of Being Wild - I love Wong Kar-Wai movies. It's a bit of a strange paradox for me. His characters are often times of the playboy variety. I find myself hating that kind of person in real life. I don't seo much care for the detached from tehir feelings sleep with whomever type. It's just not my style I guess. But somehow Wong Kar-Wai makes me sympathetic to these characters, and his films without fail are absolutely stunning to look at. Days of Being Wild was one of his earlier works and actually one of his more straight forward naratives, even if it does have its jumps and twists. Truthfully, it's not that far behind In the Mood for Love when it comes to artistry and the effect of the story. That's pretty impressive for an early work.

In Praise of Love - It's no secret I adore Jean-Luc Godard. He is my favorite director ever. This film is absolutely stunning to look at. It has moments of beauty in dialogue. It has other moments of dialogue that will please many cinema fans as it references John Ford, Bazin, Henri Langlois and others. Godard made this for a specific audience I guess. But I guess he also assumed the audience wanted to hear tons of anti-american ramblings. The movie is disconnected enough as it is (which isn't always bad, Godard has made some great diconected films) but then it gets bogged down in sophmoric pointless anti-american ramlings. It's really a shame, cause if a few themes wre actually chased here instead of just passed over quickly this could have been a great film.

La Promesse - This is simply a gem. Set in Belgium a son is born into a life of crime when his father takes in illegal imigrants to work for his company. Eventually he has to chose between showing loyalty to his father or a young widowed African woman. Moral questions galore. Family ties or maybe doing the right thing. This is just a tight well constructed story that really makes me wanna see more films by the Dardenne brothers who directed this. It's hopeful, it's tragic, and it sticks with you long afterwards. It's pretty much has everything I would want in a movie.

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