Reviews :D
Oct. 2nd, 2007 10:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rebnessI was a little burnt-out after the whirl of activity last week, so over the weekend and yesterday, I decided to catch up on some films and my reading. O hay review time!
Film: M
Trufax: when my brother Paul was at university, he had to do a semester on Weimar cinema for his German classes. I watched a lot of films with him and helped him draft his essays (morally dubious, but also awesome considering I was still only studying for my A-levels) and I grew to really love films of that era. He has been pestering me for years to watch M, so I finally downloaded it over the weekend and watched it.
The film is about a serial killer who targets children in a German city, throwing the people into panic and forcing the police to step up raids on the criminal underworld in a bid to catch him. The criminal fraternity decide that, in order to end the raids, they must do the work for the police and catch the killer themselves.
Of course, given the period in which this film was produced (1931), the film is more than just a thriller – it was a critique of German society at the time and when the killer (Peter Lorre) gives an impassioned plea for mercy from a hostile crowd, the hysteria and hate directed at him has inevitably uncomfortable resonance. I also read that during the rise of the Nazi party, some took Lorre’s role (Lorre himself was Jewish) as proof that Jewish people were morally corrupt, which just proves that the public will always, always manage to miss the point.
Regardless, I love Peter Lorre! The film is just so sinister and well-crafted. I’m going to watch it again.
Film: The Simpsons Movie: Fun, but just an extended episode with better animation.
Film: Ratatouille: Just downright charming. I loved the story, the animation, the characters, the lack of Hey I’m a Celebrity Voicing a Cartoon Character (see Aladdin, Shrek…) aspects and just, oh, everything. I’m going to buy this film when it comes out on DVD. Yaay. :D
Book: Cloud Atlas (still reading) I don’t know. I think I’m done with dystopian literature. It used to thrill me; now it alternately disturbs and bores me. I like reading about the past, not environmentally-damaged futures, so when the narrative segued from past to present, I could cope, but when it went on to Brave New World-esque dystopia and all that incredibly tiresome genetics crap that I’ve read/watched a thousand times before, my heart sank. Seriously, does anyone actually visualise a future where things just are rather than robots vs mankind, anymore?
I also found myself struggling through a couple of chapters because getting into the dialect of the characters was just too much for my brain at 7am on a packed metro. I came to regard those chapters as like when you have a plate of really awesome things for your dinner, but there are garden peas or cauliflower polluting your meal, so you resolve to finish them off first before getting to the tasty stuff.
Anyway, the next chapter goes back to the present day. Huzzah.
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no subject
Date: 2007-10-02 09:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-02 09:11 am (UTC)You can get it streamed at www.alluc.org if you look under the classics section.
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Date: 2007-10-02 09:19 am (UTC)M, as I recall, was not dated at all - the silent filmmakers of the time were able to instill a certain 'adulthood' in films which is seldom surpassed nowadays (movies now being aimed mostly on popcorn-munching 15-year olds).
And yes, Peter Lorre is a fine actor! Watched Casablanca the other week, and still trying to get Ang to see The Mathese Falcon. We've seen other Fritz Lang movies (and assorted silent films), so no doubt Ang will like "M".
no subject
Date: 2007-10-02 09:24 am (UTC)I adored Lorre in Casablanca, though I think I liked everyone in that film. I like that he didn't shy away from playing such a character in M and even managed to give someone like that a certain vulnerability. I felt I should hate the character, but my heart was in my mouth when the criminals were searching for him.
Are there any silent films you'd recommend?
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Date: 2007-10-02 09:43 am (UTC)If you can, find "Der Mude Tot", which holds up pretty well (it's various segments, only 1 is outdated), "Der Golem" is pretty awesome too.
Try for Lon Chaney's "phantom of the Opera", but more importantly his "Hunchback of the Notre Dame". Good characterizations!
Not silent, but of the same sensibility, is the 1932 "Jeckyl & Hyde" (With Frederic March), which comes on a cheap DVD with the Spencer Tracy-version (not so good).
As you can see, we (I) tend to flock towards the spooky stuff. There's some other movies that have been recommended to us (Pandora's Box, other Louise Brooks films), but haven't actually seen 'em yet...
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Date: 2007-10-02 12:46 pm (UTC)I've wanted to see Pandora's Box for so long (mainly because I love the OMD song and video about Louise Brooks), but I've never been able to locate it. Puh.
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Date: 2007-10-02 12:53 pm (UTC)"That's exactly it. You watch these old films and they never patronise you. They are always multi-layered and expect you to work these things out for yourself. Nowadays, most cinema seems to like hitting you over the head with a blunt instrument."
So true. I like entertainment that treats me as an intelligent adult and doesn't assume that the cinema is a place to switch off your brain.
We saw a great Arena documentary recently, about post-war British cinema. It left us with a huge list of things to track down. I've looked without success for a page online about that doc., but when we've watched it again to get a list down I'll forward you a copy.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-04 11:20 am (UTC)