Monday, July 30, 2018

THE WEEKLY RECAP: July 23 - 29



Before the Rain (1994)

Directed by Milcho Manchevski

* * * ½

Before the Rain recalls a time of political unrest in Macedonia via three intertwined stories. The first chapter, “Words”, follows Kiril (Gregoire Colin), a young monk who has taken a vow of silence. His life becomes complicated when Zamira (Labina Mitevska) stumbles into his life, begging him to keep her presence a secret. As events unfold, she is being hunted down after allegedly murdering a local. “Faces”, the second chapter, takes us to London and Anna’s (Katrin Cartlidge) torn feelings between her husband and Aleksandar, a war photographer. In “Pictures”, the final act, Aleksandar is further explored in his return to war-torn Macedonia.

In spite of an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Picture and seemingly widespread acclaim, this is a tremendously overlooked movie. In all fairness, perhaps it’s because it deals with an issue – the Balkan conflict – that doesn’t have much significance outside of its respective region. I must admit that I had no knowledge of this point in history, and while my lack of perspective might have impacted my thoughts on the movie, I still found myself really into it nonetheless. All three stories are incredibly gripping. The photography of Macedonia’s hilly countryside are captured beautifully (I’m honestly stunned at the lack of a Best Cinematography nomination), and don’t forget Anastasia’s terrific score for the movie.

I’ve already mentioned that my lack of knowledge on this particular issue may have impacted my appreciation for the movie. The one thing that did impact my thoughts, I just can’t help but feel like we didn’t get to spend enough time in any of these chapters. These are all gripping stories with fascinating characters that we all care for (especially in the first chapter). It’s not that they’re not well paced or anything, it just feels like they’re just too short (the Katrin Cartlidge-driven centerpiece is almost insultingly short) – all three of these chapters could have feature films around them. I digress, though. As underrated and overlooked as Before the Rain is, it’s really worth checking out.



My Life as a Dog (1985)

Directed by Lasse Hallstrom

* * * *

With his ailing and bed-ridden mother unable to care for both him and his troublesome older brother, 12-year-old Ingemar (Anton Glanzelius) is sent to stay with his uncle Gunnar (Tomas von Bromssen) in a small countryside town. Though this new life takes some adjusting, Ingemar seems to find himself right at home as he mingles with the town’s many eccentric yet warmhearted townsfolk – he finds himself becoming particularly close with Saga (Melinda Kinnaman), a tomboyish girl with a passion for boxing. Though things become more and more grim for his mother, Ingemar’s narration proves himself to be quite the optimist, always aware it could be worse.

I was originally planning on giving this movie a 3.5, but as I sat here writing and thinking about My Life as a Dog, I bumped it up to a 4. I simply cannot think of anything glaringly wrong, even in the slightest. On a plot level, yeah, it sounds more or less like a typical coming of age film (and I do admit I have a huge soft-spot for films like these), but Hallstrom captures the transition from childhood to adolescence beautifully through a combination of wonderful performances (particularly from Glanzelius and the exceptionally charming Kinnaman), its depiction of quirky everyday folk, and its balance in tone, which is perfect – it knows when to be warm, when to be funny, when to be sad, and so on.

Doing light research on the film, I discovered that My Life as a Dog was nominated for two Oscars, one of which was Best Adapted Screenplay. This nomination is fully deserved, and it’s all because of the dynamic between Ingemar and Saga, two pre-teens coming of age together and discovering feelings totally foreign to them – their friendship is truly something magical. While I’m not sure if this qualifies for my Great Favorites yet, I still can’t think of anything glaringly wrong with this movie. It’s near-perfect, if not totally perfect.


Personal Shopper (2016)

Directed by Olivier Assayas

* * *

Some time ago, Maureen (Kristen Stewart) and her brother, Lewis, once made a pact that when one of them dies before the other, they will keep in touch with their living sibling by way of paranormal means. Well, Lewis has passed, and a silent yet grief-stricken Maureen is hell-bent on receiving some sort of sign from her late brother’s spirit. In the meantime, she works as a personal shopper for Kyra (Nora von Waldstatten), where Maureen seems to exist as a ghost of sorts as she runs Kyra’s various shopping errands without any significant acknowledgement of her employer. Things take a strange turn when Maureen begins receiving strange texts from an unknown number, texts from somebody claiming to know her and following her every move. A stalker? Perhaps the paranormal sign that she’s been waiting for?

With the exception of the flawed yet otherwise terrific and underrated Clean, Assayas doesn’t have the best track record in my book. His previous collaboration with Stewart, Clouds of Sils Maria, is no exception – along with never once engaging me, I do not remember a single thing about it. And now we have Personal Shopper, a film that I wasn’t too keen on seeing, but one I knew I’d have to face due to its overwhelming hype last year. While I can’t say it lived up to the hype (which I was expecting), I must say that Personal Shopper sucked me in. While not horrifying, per se, this is a film that haunts you while you watch it and will continue to do so after it’s over, helped by an enigmatic quality that sometimes indulges too much in arbitrary obscurity, but otherwise adds to the haunting mystery of the story – I never thought a text conversation (of all things) could be as tense and gripping as depicted here.

Of course, we have to address Kristen Stewart. Her name alone will induce some eye-rolling from her Twilight reputation, but she captures grief and loss terrifically in a very reserved and subtle manner – we can read her every emotion and thought without her having to vocalize those emotions. Though I can’t find too much to complain about with Personal Shopper, and while it did hook me, it still never affected me as much as it did many others. I can’t quite put my finger on it yet, but there’s so much to take in with this movie. A subsequent watch might clarify my opinions a bit more, but overall, I didn’t love it, but I did like it. Consider double-featuring it with A Ghost Story.



A Taste of Honey (1961)

Directed by Tony Richardson

* * * ½

Jo (Rita Tushingham) is a teenager in Greater Manchester, confined in a microscopic flat with her mother, Helen (Dora Bryan). Helen is selfish and irresponsible, taking frivolous nights out with various men over her maternal duties – she eventually marries Peter (Robert Stephens), who later turns out to be a drunken louse. Though Jo doesn’t find much love at home, she finds love from Jimmy (Paul Danquah), a young sailor. They strike a relationship, but it doesn’t last long when he has to leave port for a while. At this point, though she is seemingly without a support system, Jo perseveres onward when she lands a job at a shoe shop, but it gets complicated when she discovers she is carrying Jimmy’s child.

One of my favorite films from the previous decade was Fish Tank, particularly because of the fascinating mother-daughter dynamic. Because of this, I was right at home with A Taste of Honey, which is quite, dare I say, shocking for its time. Granted, it’s not vulgar or gratuitous, but it seems so rare for films this old to deal with such domestic claustrophobia on this heightened a level (then again, this is one of the defining characteristics of British “Kitchen Sink” Realism, so maybe I’m being a bit too generous). Both Tushingham and Bryan are terrific, the former especially, who is quite charming. I also loved the curious beauty that the film captured in Greater Manchester’s worn industrial-urban environment.

A Taste of Honey is based on a play of the same name by Shelagh Delaney (who also co-wrote the script), and the stage quality is very present here, perhaps a bit too present. As much as I loved how the environments were filmed, I still felt more like I was watching a play rather than a film most of the time. This is already problematic, but it becomes even more so when the script feels the need to vocalize the feelings and psyches when the film could have easily conveyed those same things without a single word spoken (one of the many magical qualities of the art form). Also, as much as I enjoyed watching the movie, it kind of felt like it came and went when it was over, kind of like “Wait; that was it?” But, then again, maybe that’s because I was so involved in it that I didn’t notice an hour and some-40 minutes had passed. Consider that a compliment, because this is riveting slice-of-life drama.

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