End Of The Week Shorts #30.2
Cyclical, meandering and painfully boring, Band of Outsiders is as vapid as it is pretentious. Apparently Godard's most commercial and accessible film, this then left me questioning if I'm overwhelming biased against him (I thought I was growing warmer after watching a few of his shorts to be honest) or if everyone else is crazy.
In essence, Band of Outsiders is a basic crime film with emphasis on romance, but with nothing to offer in the character department. This leaves the plot droning on and on without urgency and atmosphere whilst idiotic characters who lack personality shuffle about the screen. All notions of tragedy, naivety and innocence are then reduced to a farce some may claim is satire but, in reality, is noting but fodder.
Incredibly amateur, but, at the same time, pretty brilliant.
Made by a bunch of friends who had no money, access to some video cameras, a few tapes and a bunch of horrific wigs, Small Time is as genuine as it is small-budget. Following a group of petty thieves constantly on the nick - anything from dog food to a kid's bike will do - this explores sour, long-term friendships as well as small-town escapism with strong doses of cultural realism. In fact, this is the kind of film that has me reconsider 'world cinema' from the inside out. In such, I felt that I was simultaneously consuming a film made on an alien world and a film made on the streets outside my window - which is surreal, embarrassing and kind of awesome all at the same.
I can't bring myself to fault this one. Meadows simply does a great job in projecting his voice and personality through this film; the work of a nutty auteur that's well worth the watch - especially if you're a Brit.
Understated and simple, but, alas, this is a Murnau picture and so it is, unsurprisingly, a visual spectacle.
Tartuffe is a story about hypocrisy, deceit, family and religion; it is about finding a balance between faith and trust for the sake of freedom. (There is a deeper subtext of religious critique from the homosexual Murnau, however). This story is adapted from a famous French play first performed in the mid-1600s, but it is given a reflexive edge with this being a story within a story; a grandson plays this film for his grandfather as to warn him of his treacherous maid. This narrative consciousness bares subtle commentary on cinema's relationship with the theatre; though the two forms are radically different, narratives are always relevant - as is their projection. Cinema is shown, however, to overcome theatre with its ability to speak to audiences suggested to be more dexterous and effective.
A must-see for anyone interested in art cinema and film history.
Some of the greatest tracking shots of all film history come from Buster Keaton.
With Seven Chances, Keaton brings together the comedy, chase and romance film with themes of marriage - which has been done before him, but, of course, not as well. It's great to see Keaton work with a kind of romance that focuses on inner conflict as well as the physical. The opening in particular then sets down a strong foundation for character (whilst letting Keaton play with transitions wonderfully as he does throughout the narrative). From this basis, though we know how things will play out, the comedy works as there is genuine tension as we do come to care about the two main characters. It is this focus on character that then makes this such a delightful watch. Highly recommended.
A masterfully constructed piece of cinema, Ashes and Diamonds follows a Polish resistance soldier on the last day of WWII. In such, this story explores the utter disarray of Poland and its people who are challenged to find hope and reason in the new and forthcoming days of the post-WWII era.
Though this didn't strike me on a narrative level as much as it did an aesthetic one, I can see why many claim that this is the greatest, if not one of the finest, Polish films of all time. The management of space and the expression of images through lighting and composition is stunning throughout this film. This adds depths before personality to the characters and so the plot seems to meander on for quite some time. However, by the third act and as I started to gather the many pieces of this film together, I felt that there was more to the story than I initially picked up on and so I feel I need to re-watch this before providing a solid opinion.
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End Of The Week Shorts #30.1
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