Four DVD Reviews

[John Cole]

After spending most of the past few days working, I grabbed a few DVDs from the library at school and bought another.

First: I watched Ebert's commentary on Citizen Kane, which, although a bit repetitive at times--did he really have to mention that the lower right hand corner of the frame is the spot reserved for the character that "remembers" Kane so often?--certainly contributes to understanding many of Welles' and Greg Toland's innovations. Ebert's obvious enthusiasm for the film comes across quite well.

Next, I watched two animated films, Shrek and Monsters, Inc, both of which are enjoyable, albeit a bit too predictable, but lack some of the magic that the best animated films have. Or, maybe it's just me who has lost some of the magic. Nevertheless, if you haven't seen them, both are well worth renting, if only for the allusions and in-jokes. Highlight for me was John Cale's rendition of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" in Shreck.

Finally, the last, Andrei Tarkovsky's The Mirror is a movie to watch again and again, if only to begin to figure out what's happening. A little experience with Tarkovsky might help, and I'm afraid many viewers will become frustrated with Tarkovsky's disjointed, non-chronological narrative style.

Tarkovsky's somewhat autobiographical film encompasses the social, political, and personal, and includes readings of his father's poetry, along with Pushkin's remarkable passage on how Russia saved Christianity and exiled itself from the rest of the world simultaneously. Tarkovsky's narrative skips from the 1930s to the '40s to the 60s. One actress plays both the narrator's wife and mother, and we only see the narrator as a child and a twelve year old; however, at the end of the film, we do see the narrator's body on his deathbed. Tarkovsky uses both color and black and white scenes and intersperses documentary footage throughout the film, including the bombing of Spain in the Thirties and the Chinese demonstration at Damansky (sp?) Island in the '60s.

Of course, given the film's title, mirrors are a dominant metaphor in the film, but also watch for the number of shots that use corridors, window frames, and doorways. The film is filled with brilliant images throughout, which express the film's sense of loss, longing, and escape.

The Mirror is a very powerful film, one of the world's masterpieces, which both demands and deserves repeated viewings.


(One word of caution: according to some sources, the DVD is inadequately translated, and you may need to read more about the film. One small example: the narrator's mother rushes to work to correct what she thinks is a proofreading mistake--she believes "shralin" (sh*t) has been substituted for Stalin--but when she whispers the mistake to a coworker, we don't know what the mistake is. Criterion needs to get ahold of this film.)

John

[Mark Heide]

John,

I'll skip the cartoons. But, I will see if I can rent the Mirror. I have Tarkovsky's Solaris which I think is an excellent film and is being remade in tinsletown under the same title and is due out in fall. Have you seen Andrei Rubelov?

I also have the Citizen Kane DVD that came with the excellent PBS documentary.

Mark

[John Cole]

Mark,

I've watched both Solaris and Rubelov a couple times, and Tarkovsky's Stalker is also fine, too. The remake of Solaris should be out on DVD any day now since it was released last year. I can't quite believe it can come anywhere near the original. Tarkovsky's Solaris is almost three hours long for a reason. I don't have Solaris or Rubelov on DVD, but the Criterion version of the DVD is the 205 minutes version that Scorcese bought in Russia to save it. BTW, Andrei Rubelov is #1 on my top ten list.

[nicky g]

I've not seen the original of Solaris but I thought the remake was very good. It got favourable comparisons to the Tarkovsky in reviews over here.

[Cyrus]

Here are the top 20 films of all time according to the 2002 Critics' Poll conducted by British Film Organisation magazine "Sight & Sound", in descending order, meaning first in list is #1. Critics from all over the world participate in this poll which is conducetd every decade. (Your "Andrei Roublev" was not voted by any American critic!)

Citizen Kane (Welles)
Vertigo (Hitchcock)
La Régle du jeu (Renoir)
The Godfather and The Godfather Part II (Coppola)
Tokyo Story (Ozu)
2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick)
Battleship Potemkin (Eisenstein)
Sunrise (Murnau)
8 1/2 (Fellini)
Singin' in the Rain (Kelly, Donen)
Seven Samurai (Kurosawa)
The Searchers (Ford)
Rashomon (Kurosawa)
The Passion of Joan of Arc (Dreyer)
A bout de souffle (Godard)
L'Atalante (Vigo)
The General (Keaton)
Touch of Evil (Welles)
Au hasard Balthazar (Bresson)
Jules et Jim (Truffaut)

They are more than 20 due to ties. Here's the complete list -- and how many of those have we seen?..
BEST FILMS OF ALL TIME : SIGHT & SOUND POLL 2002

[IrishHand]

You're going to bring up the old discussion we had about what it means to be a 'good' movie or the 'best' movie.

If a bunch of critics and artists conclude that paintings A, B and C are the 3 best paintings ever, but the vast majority of art-buyers and art-lovers didn't like them at all - can you really say they're the best paintings? Likewise, if a shocking percentage of those same art-buyers and -lovers flock to see the opening of a series of paintings that the artists and critics universally declare are mediocre, useless and unoriginal, what are we to conclude?

For what it's worth, I'm a huge movie-watcher, and I've seen 5 of those movies. I think I is excellent, I is good, and the 3 atrocious. Despite their apperance on that list, I'd guess the remaining 15 will have a worse success ratio than the 5 I've already seen. Of course, I think that the Two Towers and the Bourne Identity were the best films of 2002 and that Chicago was decidedly mediocre.

Irish

[patrick dicaprio]

i thought the commentary by Ebert was very good. i had no idea how much effort went into every shot. one of the best was when he pointed out how Welles kept walking into the background of certain shots so that when something bad was occurring he appeared diminished.

Pat

[Cyrus]

"If a bunch of critics and artists conclude that paintings A, B and C are the 3 best paintings ever, but the vast majority of art-buyers and art-lovers didn't like them at all - can you really say they're the best paintings?"

It's always subjective. The Oscars are what the Academy thinks is best. The 2+2 poll is what 2+2ers think it's best. Your best is your best.

When something is best for quite a lot of people, it then becomes "objectively" best.

(Which was the one film that you found excellent?)

[Vehn]

I have seen the following:

Citizen Kane (Welles)
Vertigo (Hitchcock)
The Godfather and The Godfather Part II (Coppola)
2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick)
Singin' in the Rain (Kelly, Donen)
Seven Samurai (Kurosawa)

And only the Godfather stands out as excellent in my mind. Vertigo & Singing in the Rain were decided mediocre (in comparison to others) but its been some time since I've seen either. Seven Samurai was very good but may be the most overrated film ever, bolstered by film school students and the ubiquitous American otakus who have sprung up in the past decade.

[John Cole]

Cyrus,

Check out the number of critics and directors who voted for Roublev; many of them ranked it #1, and many others voted The Mirror #1.