Synopsis: Tracing a couple of years in the Algerian resistance of the 1950s.

I’ll admit that I was really not looking forward to revisiting this film; my memory of it was that it was dull and completely overrated. Well, I didn’t exactly love it this time around, but at least I can say that I’m no longer baffled by the film’s enduring popularity. It just goes to show you that it’s sometimes a good idea to revisit certain films; I’m not sure why my opinion on this film changed. Maybe I was just in a weird mood the first time I watched it, or perhaps my tastes have changed over the years. It’s funny, because the opposite thing happened when I revisited Amarcord — I liked it on my first viewing, but not so much on my second.

I can see why I didn’t particularly like this film the first time around; there aren’t really any characters, or at least none that we get to know beyond their politics, and there isn’t much of a narrative to speak of. But there’s something oddly fascinating about watching the minutia of the revolution unfold. It probably helps that I watched a film called Outside the Law at this year’s TIFF, which also dealt with the Algerian resistance, and which gave this film some added context that it wouldn’t have otherwise had.

I’m still not sure that this is the all-time classic that many make this out to be, but it’s definitely an interesting film. Pontecorvo’s gritty, documentary-like style suits the movie well, and there are some pretty great moments here — for instance, a tense sequence in which three Algerian women disguise themselves as Westerners in an attempt to get through a checkpoint with bombs. The ending is oddly abrupt, though the more I think about it, the more I think it works.

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Synopsis: A beleaguered director starts pre-production on his latest film while going through a mid-life crisis of sorts.

I’m about to say something that you’re probably not going to agree with. No point in beating around the bush, so here goes: I don’t like 8½. That’s not to say that I hate it; there are some classic films where the appeal just completely eludes me, and that’s certainly not the case here — this is an exceptionally well made movie, and I can definitely see why someone might love it. But it just didn’t connect with me. I don’t know why. I won’t say I was bored, but I wasn’t exactly riveted.

One thing that I can unequivocally say about this film, despite my feelings on the movie as a whole, is that Federico Fellini’s direction is really top-notch. This is an amazingly good-looking film, and almost every frame looks great. Even when I wasn’t necessarily enthralled by the film itself, I was at least able to appreciate what Fellini had achieved on a visual level.

But… I don’t know, the movie itself I just found kind of dull, despite Fellini’s striking direction, and despite the presence of Marcello Mastroianni, who is one of those actors who can liven up a scene without even saying a word. I’ve liked some of Fellini’s other movies (in fact I’ll soon be revisiting Amarcord, which is a film I remembered enjoying), and this is, by most accounts, his masterpiece. Many call it one of the best movies of all time. And yet it just doesn’t do much for me. Oh well. I’m sure there will be a third viewing at some point in my future. Maybe I’ll like it better then.

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Synopsis: A girl goes missing while on a boating trip with her friends; her boyfriend and lover search for her, falling in love in the process.

I have somewhat of a love/hate relationship with Michelangelo Antonioni. On one hand, the man was an impeccable director and made films that are almost always beautiful to look at. On the other hand, entertainment value was clearly not paramount among his filmmaking goals, and pretty much all of his films can be tough to sit through at times (to put it charitably). So despite the fact that I’ve never quite been entertained by an Antonioni film, I keep seeking them out. I guess he was just such a master filmmaker that it’s easy to find something to appreciate in his films, even when you’re essentially bored to tears.

I actually wound up watching this film over three days — I rarely, if ever, interrupt a film once I start watching it, but… well, I started watching the film, got about an hour into it and then thought “you know what, I’m going to take a quick break just to check my email.” I couldn’t bring myself to finish it that night. I think the fact that I had already seen it kind of lessened the urgency to finish it immediately. So the next day I hunkered down, and told myself that I was going to watch the rest of the movie break-free. After about forty minutes I fell asleep. I woke up a couple of hours later in a daze, and found that I had at least had the foresight to pause the movie before my snooze, though my memory of actually doing so was hazy at best. I was pretty sleepy at that point, and there was no way I was going to be able to sit through another forty minutes of Antonioni in that state, so I put it off for the next day. The next day I finally finished it.

I think it probably goes without saying at this point that L’Avventura does not make Speed look like a slow ride to grandma’s house. I’d probably even go so far as to describe it as boring, though I think that word is a bit too derogatory since I would ultimately recommend this film — to certain people at least. If you consider yourself to be serious about cinema at all, then you need to see this film. But if you’re the type of person who goes to the movies once or twice a year and occasionally heads to Blockbuster to rent a movie or two — yeah, you can easily go the rest of your life without watching this movie. It’s absolutely beautifully made with stunning black and white cinematography, and it is kind of compelling in its own strange way, but it isn’t entertaining in the traditional sense at all. Not even a little bit.

It’s kind of odd, because my general philosophy on cinema is that, no matter what a director is trying to say or how noble his intentions are, a film’s first purpose should be to entertain — it doesn’t matter how insightful, artfully-crafted, etc. a movie is, if it isn’t entertaining then it is almost invariably a failure. And there is no doubt that Antonioni wasn’t concerned at all with making his films enjoyable in a traditional sense. And yet I do consider myself a fan of his, and would recommend his films (though, as I mentioned before, not to everyone). It’s odd. I think watching an Antonioni film is kind of like being forced to eat vegetables as a kid — you’re not necessarily going to enjoy it, but you will be enriched by it.

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Synopsis: A strange, ominous black structure is found on the moon; months later, an interstellar expedition is sent to Jupiter to investigate.

I love this movie. Absolutely, positively love it. Stanley Kubrick is without a doubt my favourite director of all time, and this is probably my favourite film of his — they’re all stunningly good, particularly the batch of films beginning with this one and ending with Eyes Wide Shut. It was really starting with 2001 that Kubrick became the obsessive perfectionist that we know and love; as great as Kubrick’s earlier films are (such as The Killing and Paths of Glory), there’s a refinement to his later films, a sense that every single shot has been meticulously framed and perfectly selected that I don’t think any other director ever has (or will) match.

There’s so much I love about this film, not the least of which is how beautiful it is to look at. Kubrick was a master of framing and shot composition (among other things), and he is definitely at his best here. Every shot is perfect; from the breathtaking vistas of outer space to the austere whiteness of the spaceship bound to Jupiter, to the claustrophobic interior of of the pods (“Open the pod bay door, Hal”). The special effects have aged remarkably well, with a few small exceptions that aren’t even worth mentioning — in fact, I’d argue that the special effects in this movie look better than the CGI-heavy films of the late ’90s and early aughts (with the Star Wars prequel trilogy being the worst offender in this category). I think it’s a real shame that this type of model-work has been almost entirely replaced by computer-generated imagery (and if you’re skeptical that there is still a place for traditional models, see Duncan Jones’ stunning Moon), but I’ll save that argument for another day.

Another area in which Kubrick is unparalleled is in his ability to match music with visuals, and again, he is at his finest here. His use of classical music during the outer space scenes is pretty much legendary at this point, and the eerie and unsettling music of Gyorgy Ligeti is used to absolute perfection. The use of silence in some scenes, or near silence (ie. just the sound of someone breathing) is just as striking, and just as perfect. I know I’m coming off like a gushing schoolgirl here, but what can I say, I love this film.

A common complaint about this movie is that it’s not exactly fast-paced. This is true, however the pace suits the film absolutely perfectly, and it is never, ever boring in the slightest. Not every film needs to move at the same pace, and in fact a faster pace would be doing this movie a disservice; the film’s pace sets a tone that is amazingly hypnotic and that really draws you in. Some of the later sequences, when Hal starts malfunctioning, are amazingly tense.

Another complaint is that the film doesn’t make much sense, particularly towards the end. This I take issue with — yes, the film is out there and a bit ambiguous in parts, but I like that about it. I like that it’s open to interpretation, and that it doesn’t spell everything out for you. I recently read the novel, which I think does clarify things a bit, but even without that I was perfectly happy with the way the film unfolded, and completely unperturbed at not having the answer to every single question that the movie poses.

Well, this is getting a bit long, so I think I’ll leave it at that. I could go on pretty much forever mentioning particular shots that I love or scenes that are great, but I’ll leave it at this: the fact that this film is so stunningly great, and yet I’m still not sure if it’s Kubrick’s best work just shows what an amazing, peerless director he was.

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Synopsis: After waiting for most of his life, a famed Kabuki actor finally sees his opportunity to exact revenge on the three men responsible for the death of his parents.

Yeah, so I was hoping to watch 12 Angry Men next — I went to the mailbox today all set to pick up my copy of the film, but alas, just bills and junk mail. That left me with only one other list-related option for today: An Actor’s Revenge, which is unavailable on DVD, but of course, available on the internet. Hey, it was either that or not watch it (which, in retrospect, may have been the preferable course of action).

I’ll admit that I had never even heard of this movie prior to flipping through the list, nor had I heard of its director, who was apparently quite prolific in Japan. 1001 Movies calls this “one of the most outrageously entertaining Japanese films ever produced,” which I can’t really say I agree with. On a technical level I admired it quite a lot — the direction, cinematography and score were all quite striking and certainly memorable. The whole look of the film is extremely stylized, and so on a visual level alone it remained entertaining for a while. However the narrative was exceptionally muddled, and there were parts where I had a hard time figuring out what was going on (though it probably didn’t help that as the film went on my attention was really starting to wane).

What else to say about this film? It’s a movie about revenge, which makes you think it’s going to be much more compelling than it is — however, Ichikawa piles on superfluous side-characters and odd asides which really add very little to the film itself. The review in the book states that “the conventions of kabuki theater are affectionately parodied,” so… maybe I needed to know more about kabuki theater to really appreciate this film? I always knew that my lack of kabuki knowledge would come back to haunt me one day.

All in all I’m not sure if I agree that this is one of the essential films of all time, but the visuals were so impressive I’m almost ready to give it a pass just for that.

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