Review in Brief: Femme fatale

Tonight I will be watching the latest Brian De Palma film, Passion, at the New York Film Festival. In preparation, I watched Femme fatale. Here's a brief review:

Femme fatale begins with a close-up of a screen playing Double Indemnity. As the camera zooms out we realize that Laure Ash (Rebecca Romijn) is not only watching the screen, but perhaps also studying actress Barbara Stanwyck. This sets out a couple of the themes of the film: how we watch screens and how screens affect us. Throughout the film, people watch each other as if everyone was the star of their own movie and act as if they were a character in a movie. This is particularly true of a paparazzi photographer and artist played by Antonio Banderas who uses his acting skills to manipulate others and yet falls for one of Laure Ashe’s false, cinematic personas. De Palma’s beautifully fluid camerawork and editing communicate a lot of the story through visual cues most notably in the astounding heist sequence that takes place early in the film. De Palma’s great sense of rhythm and Ryûichi Sakamoto’s playful music make it, arguably, one of the most engrossing heist sequences in the cinema. (Brian De Palma, 2002)

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The Master

One of the first images we see in Paul Thomas Anderson’s “The Master” is a close-up  profile of Joaquin Phoenix. He is wearing a white helmet. We study his face – something we’ll get plenty of opportunities to do throughout the movie. We then see him on a beach with other Navy sailors. They celebrate. World War II is over.

The first hour of “The Master” is wonderfully dynamic. Anderson elegantly communicates both the exuberance of the American soldiers at the end of the war and the debilitating effects the war has had on them. We are introduced to Freddie Quell’s (Joaquin Phoenix) neurosis when he attempts to have sex with a sand sculpture of a woman.

After the war, Quell finds a job taking photos at a department store. One of Anderson’s most dazzling and beautiful camera movements occurs here when we are introduced to Quell’s current love interest, played by Amy Ferguson. In a single shot, the camera follows Ferguson as she sensuously glides through the store attempting to sell a fur coat. As New Yorker critic Richard Brody noted, the dance aptly captures post-war capitalist lust in addition to conveying Quell’s desire to have sex with every woman he meets.

Perhaps the most striking thing about this film is Joaquin Phoenix’s wiry and contorted body. His cheeks are sunken and his eyes hidden within his cavernous skull. When he speaks, he tilts his head up and we are made all the more aware of his scarred lips. The most memorable images in this movie may be of Phoenix resting his thin arms above his comically high-waisted pants.

After assaulting a customer, Phoenix loses his job. He stows away on a cruise ship and encounters Lancaster Dodd (Philip Seymour Hoffman), the leader of a Scientology-esque cult. Hoffman, with his face often sweaty and flush, plays up the vaudevillian skills and charisma a cult leader such as Dodd must posses in order to be successful. At this point, the film moves from open expanses, such as the beach and the department store, to cramped spaces – mostly rooms either on the ship or in a home – that are composed largely of static close-ups.

Though this second half has its strengths (Hoffman and Phoenix’s great performances, Anderson’s non-judgmental treatment of Quell and Dodd, and even more 1950s pants depicted in grand 70mm detail) it fails to live up to the promise of the terrific first hour. The dynamic, visual storytelling of the first half becomes a languishing, close-up and repetition-driven second half. However as Mubi critic Ignatiy Vishnevetsky wrote, “there’s at least an hour of a masterpiece in there.”

This article will be published in the October 1st issue of The Commentator.

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50th Annual New York Film Festival

The 50th Annual New York Film Festival begins for me tomorrow evening with Brian De Palma's Passion. I plan to write some brief reviews of each of the films I see during the festival. Here's what I'll be watching during the festival:


Passion (Brian De Palma)
The Satin Slipper (Manoel de Oliveira)
You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet! (Alain Resnais)
Jean Renoir, The Boss: The Rule and the Exception (Jacques Rivette)
Like Someone in Love (Abbas Kiarostami)
Differently, Molussia (Nicholas Rey)
The Blind Owl (Raul Ruiz)
Jean-Pierre Melville: A Portrait in 9 Poses (Andre S. Labarthe)
Catherine Breillat: The First Time (Luc Moullet)
Night Across the Street (Raul Ruiz)
Something in the Air (Olivier Assayas)
Lines of Wellington (Raul Ruiz & Valeria Sarmiento)
Chantal Akerman by Chantal Akerman (Chantal Akerman)
Philippe Garrel, Artist (Etchegaray)
Where Does Your Hidden Smile Lie? (Pedro Costa)
Tabu (Miguel Gomes)
Shohei Imamura: The Free Thinker (Rocha)
One Day in the Life of Andrei Arsenevitch (Chris Marker)
HHH, A Portrait of Hou Hsiao-Hsien (Olivier Assayas)
Jacques Rivette: The Night Watchman (Claire Denis)
Leviathan (Lucien Castaing-Taylor & Verena Paravel)

Capsule Review: "A Corner in Wheat"

One of the most densely packed short films of the silent movie era, "A Corner in Wheat" (DW. Griffith, 1909) is a cogent and evocative critique of an entire economic system in just fifteen minutes. The film's clashing montage depicts the differing lifestyles and interactions of two economic groups: the rich and the poor. The actions of a wheat speculator who goes on to become a wheat monopolist deprive the poor of food. However, he too meets an unfortunate end when he falls into a wheat silo. Griffith conveys the plot and ideas of the film entirely through images. Of note are the images that bracket the film. The former of these shows two laborers working a wheat field. The latter, capturing the consequences of the wheat monopolist's actions, shows only one, even more downtrodden laborer working the field.  "A Corner in Wheat" is available for free on YouTube, here.

Greatest Films List (SM)

Sight & Sound has laid its cards on the table, and now we must all follow suit.  Right then.  I like the idea of a tier system (see TP's post just below), but I'm too afraid I'll omit or misclassify something crucial and be branded forever with the mark of Kane.  So here are 36 or so masterpieces that eternally and immutably belong on my top shelf.  All the usual disclaimers apply, plus many others (haven't had my coffee yet, I'm an Aries, probably didn't get enough love in my childhood, etc.)  Here goes something.

[In alphabetical order.]

Aguirre: The Wrath of God (Herzog, 1972)
Annie Hall (Allen, 1977)
Brief Encounter (Lean, 1945)
Casablanca (Curtiz, 1942)
Children of Paradise (Carne, 1945)
Chinatown (Polanski, 1974)
Citizen Kane (Welles, 1941)
City Lights (Chaplin, 1931)
Days of Heaven (Malick, 1978)
Double Indemnity (Wilder, 1944)
The Earrings of Madame de... (Ophuls, 1953)
Fanny and Alexander (Bergman, 1982)
Five Easy Pieces (Rafelson, 1970)
Goodfellas (Scorsese, 1990)
La Grande Illusion (Renoir, 1937)
Ikiru (Kurosawa, 1952)
Jules and Jim (Truffaut, 1962)
The Lady Eve (Sturges, 1941)
The Last Picture Show (Bogdanovich, 1971)
Lawrence of Arabia (Lean, 1962)
Make Way for Tomorrow (McCarey, 1937)
Nashville (Altman, 1975)
The Night of the Hunter (Laughton, 1955)
The Passion of Joan of Arc (Dreyer, 1928)
Paths of Glory (Kubrick, 1957)
Sans Soleil (Marker, 1983)
The Searchers (Ford, 1956)
Sherlock Jr. (Keaton, 1924)
Sherman's March (McElwee, 1986)
Singin' in the Rain (Donen/Kelly, 1952)
La Strada (Fellini, 1954)
The Third Man (Reed, 1949)
Tokyo Story (Ozu, 1953)
Vertigo (Hitchcock, 1958)
The Wild Bunch (Peckinpah, 1969)
Winter Light (Bergman, 1963)

Greatest Films List (TP)

I fear this list will only serve to show how few movies I've seen and the various national cinemas I have so far neglected in my viewing (Russian, Chinese, Japanese, etc.), but by request below is my list of best films. The list is divided into two tiers. The first tier is comprised of films I believe could be one of the 10 greatest films ever made (you will see there are many more than 10) and the second tier is comprised of other masterpieces and great films. [Other than the separation by tiers, the films are listed alphabetically by title.]

Note: I updated the list on 1/29/13.

First Tier:
L'Argent (Robert Bresson, 1983)
Au Hasard Balthazar (Robert Bresson, 1966)
Badlands (Terrence Malick, 1973)
Battleship Potemkin (Sergei Eisenstein, 1925)
Certified Copy (Abbas Kiarostami, 2010)
City Lights (Charlie Chaplin, 1931)
Cleo from 5 to 7 (Agnes Varda, 1962)
Close-Up (Abbas Kiarostami, 1991)
Contempt (Jean-Luc Godard, 1963)
Days of Being Wild (Wong Kar-Wai, 1990)
Deja Vu (Tony Scott, 2006)
The Devil, Probably (Robert Bresson, 1977)
Die Hard (John McTiernan, 1988)
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (Howard Hawks, 1953)
The Gold Rush (Charles Chaplin, 1925)
Hiroshima, mon amour (Alain Resnais, 1959)
In Praise of Love (Jean-Luc Godard, 2001)
The Leopard (Luchino Visconti, 1963)
Letter from an Unknown Woman (Max Ophuls, 1948)
The Lovers On the Bridge (Leos Carax, 1991)
M (Fritz Lang, 1931)
Made in U.S.A. (Jean-Luc Godard, 1966)
A Man Escaped (Robert Bresson, 1957)
Me and My Gal (Raoul Walsh, 1932)
Mysteries of Lisbon (Raul Ruiz, 2011)
Notorious (Alfred Hitchcock, 1946)
Pierrot le fou (Jean-Luc Godard, 1965)
RoboCop (Paul Verhoeven, 1987)
Scarface (Howard Hawks, 1932)
Scarlet Street (Frtiz Lang, 1945)
Sherlock, Jr. (Buster Keaton, 1924)
Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958)
Weekend (Jean-Luc Godard, 1967)
World On a Wire (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1973)
Zero for Conduct (Jean Vigo, 1933)



Second Tier:
The Addiction (Abel Ferrara)
Alphaville (Jean-Luc Godard)
Annie Hall (Woody Allen)
"L'arrivee d'un train en Garede la Ciotat" (Auguste & Louis Lumiere)
"At the Suicide of the Last Jew in the World in the Last Cinema in the World" (David Cronenberg)
Bad Lieutenant (Abel Ferrara)
Band of Outsiders (Jean-Luc Godard)
Barbara (Christian Petzhold)
The Battle of Algiers (Gillo Pontecorvo)
Beau travail (Claire Denis)
The Bicycle Thief (Vittorio De Sica)
Black Girl (Ousmane Sembene)
Blade Runner (Ridley Scott)
The Blue Angel (Josef von Sternberg)
Blue Velvet (David Lynch)
Boarding Gate (Olivier Assayas)
Body Snatchers (Abel Ferrara)
Les Bonnes Femmes (Claude Chabrol)
Boy Meets Girl (Leso Carax)
Breathless (Jean-Luc Godard)
Cache (Michael Haneke)
Calendar (Atom Egoyan)
Capitalism: Slavery (Ken Jacobs)
Les Carabiniers (Jean-Luc Godard)
Casablanca (Michael Curtiz)
Un Chien Andalou (Luis Bunuel & Salvador Dali)
Children of Paradise (Marcel Carne)
Chinatown (Roman Polanski)
Citizen Kane (Orson Welles)
A Corner in Wheat (D.W. Griffith)
Cosmopolis (David Cronenberg)
Dangerous Game (Abel Ferrara)
A Dangerous Method (David Cronenberg)
David Holman's Diary (Jim McBride)
The Day He Arrives (Hong Sang-soo)
Dawn of the Dead (George A. Romero)
demonlover (Olivier Assayas)
The Departed (Martin Scorsese)
Despair (Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
Distant Voices, Still Lives (Terence Davies)
Django Unchained (Quentin Tarantino)
Duck Soup (Leo McCarey)
Eccentricities of a Blonde-haired Girl (Manoel de Oliveira)
Eraserhead (David Lynch)
Essential Killing (Jerzy Skolimowski)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry)
F for Fake (Orson Welles)
Une femme mariee (Jean-Luc Godard)
Film Socialisme (Jean-Luc Godard)
The Fly (David Cronenberg)
Fort Apache (John Ford)
4:44 Last Day On Earth (Abel Ferrara)
Four Nights of a Dreamer (Robert Bresson)
Full Metal Jacket (Stanley Kubrick)
The Gay Divorcee (Mark Sandrich)
The Ghost Writer (Roman Polanski)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (David Fincher)
Go Go Tales (Abel Ferrara)
The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola)
The Godfather, Part II (Francis Ford Coppola)
Goodbye First Love (Mia Hansen-Love)
Groundhog Day (Harold Ramis)
Halloween (John Carpenter)
Holy Motors (Leos Carax)
House of Tolerance / Pleasures (Bertrand Bonello)
Irma Vep (Olivier Assayas)
Ishtar (Elaine May)
Jacques Rivette: The Night Watchman (Claire Denis)
La jetee (Chris Marker)
King of New York (Abel Ferrara)
The Lady Vanishes (Alfred Hitchcock)
Lancelot du lac (Robert Bresson)
Laura (Otto Preminger)
Leviathan (Lucien Castaing-Taylor & Verena Paravel)
Like Someone in Love (Abbas Kiarostami)
The Maltese Falcon (John Huston)
Man's Castle (Frank Borzage)
Manhattan (Woody Allen)
Martin (George A. Romero)
Mauvais sang (Leos Carax)
"Merde" (Leos Carax)
The Merry Widow (Ernst Lubitsch)
Miami Vice (Michael Mann)
Monkey Business (Howard Hawks)
New Rose Hotel (Abel Ferrara)
Night and Fog (Alain Resnais)
Night Moves (Arthur Penn)
North by Northwest (Alfred Hitchcock)
Out of the Past (Jacques Tourneur)
The Party (Blake Edwards)
Passion (Brian De Palma)
Paths of Glory (Stanley Kubrick)
Peeping Tom (Michael Powell)
Pickpocket (Robert Bresson)
Pola X (Leos Carax)
The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (Billy Wilder)
Public Enemies (Michael Mann)
Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino)
Punch-Drunk Love (Paul Thomas Anderson)
The Reckless Moment (Max Ophuls)
Rear Window (Alfred Hitchcock)
Resident Evil: Retribution (Paul WS Anderson)
Road to Nowhere (Monte Hellman)
Rope (Alfred Hitchcock)
Rosemary's Baby (Roman Polanski)
Rushmore (Wes Anderson)
The Satin Slipper (Manoel de Oliveira)
Shadows (John Cassavetes)
The Shining (Stanley Kubrick)
The Skin I Live In (Pedro Almodovar)
The Social Network (David Fincher)
Something Wild (Jonathan Demme)
La sortie des usines Lumiere (Louis Lumiere)
Spartacus (Stanley Kubrick)
Stagecoach (John Ford)
Starship Troopers (Paul Verhoeven)
Summer Hours (Olivier Assayas)
Suspicion (Alfred Hitchcock)
Tabu (Miguel Gomes)
Taste of Cherry (Abbas Kiarostami)
Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese)
There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson)
Thief (Michael Mann)
This Is Not a Film (Jafar Panahi & Mojtaba Mirtahasebi)
The 39 Steps (Alfred Hitchcock)
Three Colors: Red (Krzysztof Kieslowski)
Time Regained (Raul Ruiz)
Touch of Evil (Orson Welles)
The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick)
The Trial (Orson Welles)
The Turin Horse (Bela Tarr & Agnes Hranitzky)
12 Angry Men (Sidney Lumet)
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (David Lynch)
Two Lovers (James Gray)
2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick)
Vamps (Amy Heckerling)
Vengeance (Johnnie To)
Videodrome (David Cronenberg)
Vivre sa vie (Jean-Luc Godard)
The Warriors (Walter Hill)
We Own the Night (James Gray)
What's Up, Tiger Lily? (Woody Allen)
White Material (Claire Denis)
Who's Minding the Store? (Frank Tashlin)
Wild Grass (Alain Resnais)
The Wizard of Oz (Victor Fleming, King Vidor, & Mervyn LeRoy)
You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet! (Alain Resnais)


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Beauty in Michael Mann's Miami Vice