100 Classics to See in 2017 ~(64/100)~
No doubt spectacularly gorgeous - as per standard Max Ophuls - and it has a pretty brilliant framing of how a famous/controversial person's life becomes a circus attraction. However, the story to fill these gaps is unfortunately unengaging. Ophuls is usually much better. He still becomes one of my favourite directors as this is my 5th film of his.
100 Classics to See in 2017 ~(63/100)~
I know, it took me a long time and an extra 3 hours to finally see Celine and Julie Go Boating. It's an interesting film that's difficult to digest. It didn't really come together for me until the second half, and it's generally a film that gets better as it goes along. I like the interpretation of how it's about how an audience interacts with art they're a fan of and it definitely…
100 Classics to See in 2017 ~(62/100)~
Woman doesn't want to marry hastily? Is this Ozu? I actually hadn't heard of Yearning until I came to Letterboxd and it turned out to be one of the highest rated films here I hadn't seen. This isn't Ozu though. The pacing, melodrama and use of music is closer to Western cinema but still distinctly Japanese - the story does revolve around tradition and Asian etiquette after all. It's the tragedy of its central story and the tenderness of the characters that truly earns your investment, even if I feel it indulges in its sadness a little too much.
100 Classics to See in 2017 ~(61/100)~
I had one big reason to watch The Tree of Wooden Clogs and that's because it's my (former) favourite director Mike Leigh's all-time favourite movie. It's easy to see why it suits his tastes. It's perhaps the ultimate slice-of-life film, arguably close to a documentary. Leigh's films aren't realistic, but they capture the spirit of slice-of-life. However, I would have way preferred a stronger sense of story and character from this film. The…
100 Classics to See in 2017 ~(60/100)~
As beautiful, introspective and satisfying as Claire's Knee. Actually, I'd put them on a par. I really prefer the subdued cinematic style of this and Claire over the rough stripped down style of The Green Ray. I was worried Rohmer was going to be hit or miss, but he seems mostly hit now.
Again, I adored the honest demonstration of the relationship between men and women but I especially connected with the way…
100 Classics to See in 2017 ~(59/100)~
I'm not certain why this didn't work for me since I've loved every other Antonioni. I guess some 'woman has breakdown' movies for me feel very lazy sometimes since the director's just throw everything in aimlessly, or they're ridiculously blunt. Naturally, this film is about how modernity poisons the soul but I find this kind of viewpoint taken in the kind of the 'makes fog = bad' way the film demonstrates as overly…
100 Classics to See in 2017 ~(58/100)~
Andrzej Wajda is living up to the hype I had for him. All three of his films I've watched so far (this, Ashes and Diamonds and his last film Afterimage) are solid 8/10s. Kanal feels like it is or should be the influence for in-the-shit war films like Saving Private Ryan and Dunkirk. It's brutal, and that brutality with a human edge, even without character development, is all it needs for its power. This is war. And it's a world of shit.
100 Classics to See in 2017 ~(57/100)~
As wild and creative as any other Kusturica (a very long time ago I watched Underground and loved it, then a few years after I watched Black Cat White Cat and loved it... and nearly 10 years later I watch this... overdue on rewatches for the other two). It had my heart to start with, but as Perhan's personality soured, so did my affection. Still, Kursturica's poetic ironies are powerful.
100 Classics to See in 2017 ~(56/100)~
Perhaps a touch too preachy or on-the-nose with its politics, but the intense execution, the expert cross-cutting, and its timeless relevance combat any hesitance that the project was a misguided idea. Instead, it's a thoroughly gripping microcosm of the conflicts between liberal and conservative extremists (excluding religion). Both sides are wrong - but this is America.
Gut-wrenching in every respect.
100 Classics to See in 2017 ~(55/100)~
Probably the most underwhelming film of this project so far. I've wanted to be a Hirokazu Koreeda fan for years, but each film doesn't live up to the hype, and I've been excited for After Life for about 10 years.
Great on paper, yes. But it doesn't have the characters or the confidence to pull it off. I hate to be the guy who suggests a remake, but Michel Gondry could've done it…
100 Classics to See in 2017 ~(54/100)~
Kicking myself for not watching this years ago. This would've been so my jam as a teenager, though I still fell in love with it now. Going back 4 years ago, I was hyped for Ben Stiller's Walter Mitty but thoroughly disappointed with its superficiality. I loved the concept of imagination come to life - but the result was uninspired.
Billy Liar came up as a point of comparison often and I was…
100 Classics to See in 2017 ~(53/100)~
Okay, Bresson is officially a favourite director of mine now. I really have to revisit Au Hasard Balthazar because now I love the stilted poetic approach to his films. L'Argent may be a little too bleak for its own sake, but the way it shows the tender balance between the corruption of everyday people and morality is told in a humanistic and profound way.
This is Bresson at his most stripped down and efficient - and he was already pretty damn efficient. Also his most gorgeous movie, even if the performances aren't up to his usual standard.