Dogs Bark

To Assume A Pleasing Shape - - Vredens Dag [Day Of Wrath] (1943) - - 27 April 2009

Recommended. This movie, a classic work of black-and-white cinematography, was recently restored, then released on DVD by Criterion to the delight of its devotees. Director Carl Theodore Dreyer (The Passion Of Joan Of Arc, Vampyr) was a true auteur in that every detail of his films fell under his control. The photography is masterful, with long tracking shots and deep shadows, some shots recreating the Flemish masters. This mannered pace and staging may irritate modern audiences but it’s fascinating when fully appreciated. Day Of Wrath concerns the pursuit of witchcraft in a 17th-century Danish village but also echos the poison pen of James M. Cain.  Lisbeth Movin’s performance as Anne, the morally ambiguous younger bride of a clergyman, is the mystery of the film. Her mercurial eyes, by her own admission, won her both the part and the film’s power. Don’t miss her 1966 and ‘95 interviews on the DVD.   

Here’s Looking For You, Kiddo - - Made in U.S.A. (1966) - - 24 April 2009

Recommended - - Made in U.S.A. is a film directed by Jean-Luc Godard in 1966 but only this year released in the title country. It is currently making the rounds of college theatres and will be distributed by Criterion on DVD in the late summer. Made in U.S.A. represents Godard’s continuing homage to American noir, whilst chosing to violently subvert linear narrative. Ostensibly, it’s about Paula Nelson (Anna Karina, Alphaville, Pierrot Le Fou), attempting to solve the assumed murder of her lover. Karina was Mme. Godard at the time and her character continues the director’s love affair with Bogart and other hard-boiled dicks by clothing her in a trench coat, dangling cigarette, and cynicism. The plot is incomprehensible but what, indeed, is the film about? Words, I reckon, and the hopeless political and emotional tyranny of uttered thought. In the end, is her lover actually dead? Or just their relationship? Playing at UNM Southwest Film Center through Sunday, 4/26

Screw The Ubiquitous Bar Code - - Happy-Go-Lucky (2008) - - 12 April 2009

Strongly recommended.  I’ve always fantasized about coupling with a woman who announced her orgasm with a full-body laughing fit.  It seems like Sally Hawkins and director Mike Leigh have produced that sprite in Poppy Cross, the protagonist of Happy-Go-Lucky. Notwithstanding my psycho-sexual dysfunction, this is one of the best female performances of 2008, well-deserving of Hawkins’s Golden Globe.  In a slice of her life, we watch Poppy interact in a slightly dysfunctional but intelligent way with a world of rage. The story seems an inversion of Leigh’s Naked. While Johnny (David Thewlis) spread his anger across London like a bad cold, Poppy tries to medicate the pandemic she encounters. As her primary patient, a road-raging driving instructor, Eddie Marston is brilliant. All of this sounds - - theoretically - - awfully maudlin, but Hawkins honestly indicates the bone-aching sadness of such a task. A feel-good movie without condescension. More, please.

Ever Dance With The Devil? - - Man On Wire (2008) - - 4 April 2009

Recommended. Man On Wire is a well-made documentary about the 1974 tightrope walk of Frenchman Phillipe Petit between the World Trade Center towers; however, I was much less moved by James Marsh’s film than the Oscar voters. While the shots of Petit ‘floating’ in air are astonishing, the back story seemed a bit tedious. Perhaps it's the utter pointlessness of the feat, despite Petit’s great courage and skill. Perhaps it's the intervening destruction of the towers, which isn't mentioned once in the movie. Petit, Marsh, and most critics agreed that the events of September 11 were irrelevant to the story, but I found this nexus fascinating. Two subversive acts, both of them senseless and driven by obsession. Both objectifying the buildings and human occupants. Is there a highwire between acts of great evil and great beauty? Hardly a new question . . . but one walked in an intriguing way by this film.