September Film Journal
The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)
Junebug (Phil Morrison, 2005)
Volver* (Pedro Almodóvar, 2006)
Claire's Knee* (Eric Rohmer, 1970)
The Mayor of Casterbridge (David Thacker, 2003)
The Innocents* (Jack Clayton, 1961)
Pickup on South Street (Samuel Fuller, 1953)
Old Joy (Kelly Reichardt, 2006)
Lifeboat* (Alfred Hitchcock, 1944)
Petulia (Richard Lester, 1968)
Contempt (Lean-Luc Godard, 1963)
Kingdom of Crooked Mirrors (Aleksandr Rou, 1964)
Roman Holiday* (William Wyler, 1953)
The New World* (Terrence Malick, 2005)
The Knack...and How to Get It (Richard Lester, 1965)
Insomnia (Erik Skjoldbjærg, 1997)
Fast, Cheap & Out of Control (Errol Morris, 1997)
Ballad of a Soldier (Grigori Chukhrai, 1959)
The Marrying Kind (George Cukor, 1952)
Gimme Shelter (Albert Maysles, David Maysles, and Charlotte Zwerin, 1970)
Notes on a Scandal (Richard Eyre, 2006)
Sidewalk Motion Picture Festival:
Deconfliction (Edward Tyndall, 2007) (short)
I Always Do My Collars First: A Film about Ironing (Allison Bohl and Conni Castille, 2007) (short)
Fish Kill Flea (Brian Cassidy, Aaron Hillis, and Jennifer Loeber, 2007)
All Day Long (Andrew Semans, 2007) (short)
Hannah Takes the Stairs (Joe Swanberg, 2007)
From the Files of a Very Concerned Psychologist (Sam Frazier, Jr., 2007) (short)
Lunch (James Brown, 2007) (short)
Shrinks (Carey Rayburn, 2007) (short)
Cutting Teeth* (Jonathan Barnette, 2007) (short)
Reunion Days (Christopher Haber, 2007) (short)
All Angels Have Rat Tails* (Jason LaRay Keener and Jeremiah Ledbetter, 2006) (short)
Cup of Joe (Christopher Hilleke, 2007) (short)
Asclepius Fandango (Sam McDavid, 2007) (short)
Mr. Extion (Griffin Hood and Barry Battles, 2007) (short)
The Jesus Guy (Sean Tracey, 2007)
*repeat viewing
theater
Labels: film journal (2007)
posted by Diane @ 5:02 PM
15 comments
15 Comments:
What did you think of OLD JOY, JUNEBUG and CONTEMPT? Any other movies you really loved this month?
I'd also be curious to hear about your thoughts on Volver, a film I'm itching to rewatch (and really liked the first time).
Comments are forthcoming, guys. Thanks for your patience. :)
Russ, Old Joy seemed to keep me at arm's length, though I guess that's only fitting considering the problems the characters have connecting. :) It's probably a good thing that the film frustrated my expectations and didn't go where I might have thought it was going, but I found it to be a rather challenging viewing (not that that’s necessarily bad). It’s funny—everybody I know who has really liked the film has been male. Not that I’d make any sort of declaration about this based on gender, but I do find this somewhat amusing. Maybe I was hoping I’d get some sort of revelation about male friendships. I was able to appreciate the honest look at the fact that friends do drift apart, move in opposite directions in life, etc. I need to track down what you wrote about it a while back.
Junebug: I found this one pretty frustrating because it seemed to roll out one Southern stereotype after another. I will praise Amy Adams' performance, though. (Adams, who I'd previously seen in a small role on the U.S. version of "The Office," really surprised me.) Is this film only supposed to be a character study? I wasn't sure why I was supposed to care about the lead couple. And why do the brothers hate each other? But my biggest problem was probably still the stereotypes. Of course, that's only my opinion. If you loved it, I'd enjoy hearing your comments.
Sorry, I seem to be wearing my Negative Nancy hat today. ;) More positive comments to come....
Adams had a small role on "The Office"? When? I've watched the U.S. version since the beginning but can't remember Adams' role.
Remember the purse salesgirl who briefly became Jim's girlfriend? I was clueless until I looked her up at the IMDb.
Any other movies make any particular impression on you? How about the Sidewalk events?
How many females do you know who have watched Old Joy? I would guess that almost all the people you know who love Bresson are males.
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Game, set, match. You win.
Between this faulty argument of mine and what I said to you earlier about Good Will Hunting, I just need to quote Kurt Cobain: "I feel stupid."
More comments on the films will come later--two deadlines today.
Bit by bit here....
Comtempt: Interesting film that I liked, though not as much as my favorite Godard, My Life to Live. I especially appreciated the lengthy scene inside the couple's apartment, where the actual degree of contempt becomes very apparent. Wow, that was painful--watching the marriage fall apart like that. Frustrating to see the lack of communication and understanding.
I can't claim that I really "got" everything out of the film that I maybe should have. For example, why do so many film books describe this as a comedy? I mean, sure, some of the Jack Palance stuff is funny in a satirical way, but overall? Not a funny film, at least to me.
A bonus: absolutely gorgeous music.
I need to watch more Godard. I've only seen this one, My Life to Live, and Breathless. Post recommendations if you'd like.
I'm with you on Contempt, Diane. The apartment scene was the standout for me as well. And it sounds like you and I have seen the same Godard's, except that I've also seen Pierrot le Fou which I hated. Of course, it was my first Godard, yes, even before Breathless, so that might have had something to do with it. And My Life to Live is just amazing.
I'm interested in your dislike of Junebug, since I responded pretty positively to it and we tend to agree on these matters. For whatever reason, I wasn't bothered by the stereotypes, and I appreciated what I thought was a kind of quiet, unassuming handling of the story. I also cared about the main couple, though it probably started mostly with the girlfriend and ended with the boyfriend. In other words, I'm not sure I was ever sympathetic to them at once (until maybe the very end). Maybe that's because they never seem to be on the same page, and one always seems to be at some sort of disadvantage. I guess I tend to like the underdog.
Go Rockies. :)
John, thanks for your comments and for your patience (as I've still not commented on Volver). I've fallen behind here due to all that's been going on (work deadlines, upcoming vacation, and, now, some sort of allergy flare-up or cold or something). My apologies.
Oh, no worries. I'm really into the slow conversations these days, as I get so little time to contribute to them myself! Curse that dissertation!
John, I hope that's going well. I know you'll be glad when that's done!
Now I'm really behind because I was out all last week. I was supposed to go out of town, but I ended up getting sick and having to cancel. Still, it was nice not to worry about work for a week. I'm paying for it now, though.
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