![Screening Log: Weekend of 2 December 2011
1. Tomboy (2011, Céline Sciamma) Review forthcoming, but even for someone who preaches the value of subtlety, this got on my nerves. I’ve been too nice to movies that try to hide thin content by drenching it in subtlety. This made me rebel. [screener]
2. Warrior’s Heart (2011, Michael F. Sears) Review forthcoming, but short version: lulz [screener]
3. /Goldeneye/ (1995, Martin Campbell) Think I only saw this once, and I’ve even seen Tomorrow Never Fucking Dies two or three times. Better than expected! It’s tough where needed, moderately amusing in the right places, and wow, Famke Janssen’s polymorphously perverse villain, giggling orgasmically as she machine guns computer nerds, is something she should bust out more often. (Plus you gotta love Fassbinder regular Gottfried John as a baddie.) Campbell is the Terrence Young/Guy Hamilton/John Glen of the modern Bond era: he knows how to make this franchise work, even if he knows how to do nothing else. [Netflix Instant — all the Bonds save the Craigs are on Instant, by the way; they do this sometimes and it usually lasts like a couple weeks before they’re suddenly and cruelly removed]
4. Uh, parts of /“Crocodile” Dundee/ (1986, the director of Dutch and nothing else). Happened upon this while nightcapping and was sort of fascinated to know what made Paul Hogan the bee’s knees for a small portion of the ’80s. Hogan combined a man’s man shtick with a detached, good-old-boy sense of humor - Eastwood with quips. Admittedly, this does kind of work: the “this is a knife” bit is pretty badass. Can’t vouch for the rest of the film, or defend, say, the subway climax. The sequel has like a drug cartel plot or something, as I recall. [YouTube]
5. /Persona/ (1966, Ingmar Bergman) Hadn’t seen this since college, and was pretty amazed at how Lynchian it is. The final twenty minutes are almost entirely baffling. The movie makes sense for most of it, but it completely lost me after a point. I don’t mean plot-wise (though that, too) but that I’m not even sure what it’s trying to say. That’s a plus, though. Few films are genuinely mysterious, and it’s impossible to classify this as making a clear, obvious comment on, say, the dissolution of personality or the effect of Vietnam on the psyche or the many things people say it’s about. I also really admire how this is a restless, exciting experimental film that always has a foot on the ground. The whole film is predicated on specific neuroses, e.g., the moment halfway through when Bibi Andersson suddenly sneak-reads Liv Ullmann’s letter about her. The violence of Andersson seeing herself through the eyes of someone else, one who is a lot more perceptive than she assumed, is so trauamtic for her it literally burns the film. At base this is a roommates movie, where the strain of cohabitation takes its toll in recognizable and less tangible ways. But that would be limiting it. Also, stunning opening. My favorite Bergman? [Netflix Instant]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lvr167sHrI1qzoio3o1_1280.jpg)
Screening Log: Weekend of 2 December 2011
1. Tomboy (2011, Céline Sciamma) Review forthcoming, but even for someone who preaches the value of subtlety, this got on my nerves. I’ve been too nice to movies that try to hide thin content by drenching it in subtlety. This made me rebel. [screener]
2. Warrior’s Heart (2011, Michael F. Sears) Review forthcoming, but short version: lulz [screener]
3. /Goldeneye/ (1995, Martin Campbell) Think I only saw this once, and I’ve even seen Tomorrow Never Fucking Dies two or three times. Better than expected! It’s tough where needed, moderately amusing in the right places, and wow, Famke Janssen’s polymorphously perverse villain, giggling orgasmically as she machine guns computer nerds, is something she should bust out more often. (Plus you gotta love Fassbinder regular Gottfried John as a baddie.) Campbell is the Terrence Young/Guy Hamilton/John Glen of the modern Bond era: he knows how to make this franchise work, even if he knows how to do nothing else. [Netflix Instant — all the Bonds save the Craigs are on Instant, by the way; they do this sometimes and it usually lasts like a couple weeks before they’re suddenly and cruelly removed]
4. Uh, parts of /“Crocodile” Dundee/ (1986, the director of Dutch and nothing else). Happened upon this while nightcapping and was sort of fascinated to know what made Paul Hogan the bee’s knees for a small portion of the ’80s. Hogan combined a man’s man shtick with a detached, good-old-boy sense of humor - Eastwood with quips. Admittedly, this does kind of work: the “this is a knife” bit is pretty badass. Can’t vouch for the rest of the film, or defend, say, the subway climax. The sequel has like a drug cartel plot or something, as I recall. [YouTube]
5. /Persona/ (1966, Ingmar Bergman) Hadn’t seen this since college, and was pretty amazed at how Lynchian it is. The final twenty minutes are almost entirely baffling. The movie makes sense for most of it, but it completely lost me after a point. I don’t mean plot-wise (though that, too) but that I’m not even sure what it’s trying to say. That’s a plus, though. Few films are genuinely mysterious, and it’s impossible to classify this as making a clear, obvious comment on, say, the dissolution of personality or the effect of Vietnam on the psyche or the many things people say it’s about. I also really admire how this is a restless, exciting experimental film that always has a foot on the ground. The whole film is predicated on specific neuroses, e.g., the moment halfway through when Bibi Andersson suddenly sneak-reads Liv Ullmann’s letter about her. The violence of Andersson seeing herself through the eyes of someone else, one who is a lot more perceptive than she assumed, is so trauamtic for her it literally burns the film. At base this is a roommates movie, where the strain of cohabitation takes its toll in recognizable and less tangible ways. But that would be limiting it. Also, stunning opening. My favorite Bergman? [Netflix Instant]
