Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Random Musings - November 2011

Random Notes of the Month

The end of another month means it's time for some random musings.  Why does it seem like I just did one of these last week?

November saw some steady growth in traffic here at Bonjour Tristesse, we passed the 20,000 pageview mark for the first time, and also moved up to PageRank 4 in Google's toolbar.

One thing I did notice was a sharp dip in traffic corresponding to the recent American holiday.  It seems people don't do as much blog reading around turkey day.

I was able to catch up on several more of the 2012 Foreign Oscar hopefuls, bringing my watched total to 13 out of the 63 films in the running.  It's still a bit early for me to make an official shortlist prediction, but I've already seen quite a few very strong films this year, and it's shaping up to be quite the race.

I'm also quite enjoying watching and writing about the films for my new feature on the Czech/Slovak New Wave, which is just getting to the good stuff now.  I will continue to cover another one every three or four days until I make it through the entire list. 

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Black Peter (1964)

Black Peter • Cérny Petr (1964)
Black Peter • Cérny Petr (1964)

Czech New Wave
Genre: Drama
Director: Milos Forman
Starring: Ladislav Jakim, Pavla Martinkova, Jan Vostrcil, Vladimír Pucholt
Language: Czech
Duration: 85 min.
Rating: 7.8  

Summary:
Chronicling a few days in the life of 17-year-old Petr.  A shy teen just starting his first job, falling in love, and dealing with overbearing parents.   

Monday, November 28, 2011

Le Havre (2011)

Le Havre (2011)
Le Havre (2011)

Best New Film
Genre: Comedy • Drama
Director: Aki Kaurismäki
Starring: André Wilms, Kati Outinen, Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Blondin Miguel, Evelyne Didi
Language: French
Duration: 93 min.
Rating: 8.4  

Summary:
Fate throws young African refugee Idrissa into the path of Marcel Marx, a well-spoken bohemian who works as a shoeshiner.  With innate optimism and the unwavering support of his community, Marcel stands up to officials doggedly pursuing the boy for deportation.

Sunday, November 27, 2011

2011 Taipei Golden Horse Awards


The 48th annual Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival came to a close on Saturday November 26th with its traditional awards ceremony honoring the years best Chinese-language films and filmmakers.

The Taiwanese big budget epic and representative to the 2012 Oscars, Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale, won 5 awards including Best Feature Film.  While Hong Kong's own Academy Award submission, A Simple Life, took home 3 major awards for Best Director - Ann Hui, Best Leading Actor - Andy Lau, and Best Leading Actress - Deanie Ip (who also won for best actress at the 2011 Venice Film Festival).

I'm very much looking forward to seeing those two films, hopefully soon.  Read on for the complete list of Golden Horse Award winners.

Saturday, November 26, 2011

La Vie de bohème (1992)

La vie de bohème (1992)
La vie de bohème (1992)

Genre: Comedy • Drama
Director: Aki Kaurismäki
Starring: Matti Pellonpää, Evelyne Didi, André Wilms, Kari Väänänen, Christine Murillo, Jean-Pierre Léaud
Language: French
Duration: 100 min.
Rating: 8.3  

Summary:
A contemporary dramatic retelling of the story most familiar to audiences from Puccini's great opera La Bohème.

Friday, November 25, 2011

Midnight in Paris (2011)

Midnight in Paris (2011)
Midnight in Paris (2011)

Genre: Fantasy • Comedy • Romance
Director: Woody Allen
Starring: Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Marion Cotillard, Kathy Bates, Michael Sheen
Language: English, French
Duration: 94 min.
Rating: 7.5  

Summary:
A romantic comedy that follows a family staying in Paris for business. The party includes a young engaged couple that has their lives transformed throughout the journey.  The film celebrates a young man's great love for Paris, and simultaneously explores the illusion people have that a life different from their own is better.

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Icarus XB 1 (1963)

Icarus XB 1 • Ikarie XB 1 (1963)

Czech New Wave
Genre: Sci-Fi
Director: Jindrich Polák
Starring: Zdenek Stepánek, Frantisek Smolík, Dana Medrická, Irena Kacírková
Language: Czech
Duration: 81 min.
Rating: 7.4  

Summary:
The year is 2163. Starship Icarus XB 1 embarks on a long journey across the galaxy, to search for life on the planets of Alpha Centauri.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

The Silent House (2010)

The Silent House • La casa muda (2010)
The Silent House • La casa muda (2010)

Genre: Horror
Director: Gustavo Hernández
Starring: Florencia Colucci, Abel Tripaldi, Gustavo Alonso, María Salazar
Language: Spanish
Duration: 86 min.
Rating: 5.8  

Summary:
Laura and her father Wilson settle down in an old farmhouse to make some repairs and update it prior to its sale.  But during their night there, Laura hears sounds coming from the upper floor and things start to get strange.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Harakiri (1962)

Harakiri • Seppuku (1962)
Harakiri • Seppuku 切腹 (1962)

Genre: Drama
Director: Masaki Kobayashi
Starring: Tatsuya Nakadai, Akira Ishihama, Rentaro Mikumi, Shima Iwashita
Language: Japanese
Duration: 135 min.
Rating: 9.0  

Summary:
An elder ronin samurai arrives at a feudal lord's home and requests an honorable place to commit suicide.  But when the ronin inquires about a younger samurai who arrived before him, things take an unexpected turn.

Monday, November 21, 2011

Les invisibles (2005)

Les invisibles (2005)

Genre: Drama
Director: Thierry Jousse
Starring: Laurent Lucas, Lio, Michael Lonsdale, Margot Abascal, Noël Akchoté
Language: French
Duration: 85 min.
Rating: 6.4  

Summary:
Attempting to assuage his loneliness by seeking companionship though a telephone dating service, Bruno, an aspiring electronic musician becomes obsessed with the voice of a woman named Lisa.

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Jose and Pilar (2010)

Jose and Pilar • José e Pilar (2010)
Jose and Pilar • José e Pilar (2010)

Genre: Documentary • Biography.
Director: Miguel Gonçalves Mendes
Starring: José Saramago, Pilar del Rio
Language: Portuguese, Spanish
Duration: 125 min.
Rating: 8.0  

Summary:
José and Pilar shows us the hidden Saramago, unravels any preconceived ideas we may have about the man and proves that genius and simplicity are indeed compatible. José and Pilar is a glimpse into the life of one of the great creators of the Twentieth Century and shows us that, as Saramago says, "there is always another way to say everything."

Saturday, November 19, 2011

The Cassandra Cat (1963)

The Cassandra Cat • Az prijde kocour (1963)
The Cassandra Cat • Az prijde kocour (1963)

Czech New Wave
Genre: Fantasy • Comedy
Director: Vojtech Jasný
Starring:Jan Werich, Emília Vásáryová, Vlastimil Brodský
Language: Czech
Duration: 91 min.
Rating: 6.8  

Summary:
A mysterious traveling circus that arrives in a village accompanied by a sunglasses wearing cat named Mokol. When the cat's glasses are removed, people in the village appear bathed in different colours that reflect their true feelings.

Friday, November 18, 2011

As If I Am Not There (2010)

As If I Am Not There (2010)
As If I Am Not There (2010)

Genre: Drama
Director: Juanita Wilson
Starring: Natasha Petrovic, Fedja Stukan, Stellan Skarsgård
Language: Serbo-Croatian
Duration: 109 min.
Rating: 7.0  

Summary:
Samira is a modern schoolteacher in Sarajevo who takes a job in a small country village just as the war is beginning to ramp up. When Serbian soldiers overrun the village, shoot the men and keep the women as laborers and sex objects, Samira is subjected to the basest form of treatment imaginable.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Wings of Desire (1987)

Wings of Desire • Der Himmel über Berlin (1987)
Wings of Desire • Der Himmel über Berlin (1987)

Genre: Fantasy • Drama
Director: Wim Wenders
Starring: Bruno Ganz, Solveig Dommartin, Otto Sander, Curt Bois, Peter Falk
Language: German, French, English
Duration: 127 min.
Rating: 9.6  

Summary:
Damiel, is an angel perched atop buildings high over Berlin who can hear the thoughts—fears, hopes, dreams—of all the people living below. But when he falls in love with a beautiful trapeze artist, he is willing to give up his immortality and come back to earth to be with her.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

The Sun in a Net (1962)

The Sun in a Net • Slnko v sieti (1962)
The Sun in a Net • Slnko v sieti (1962)

Czech New Wave
Genre: Drama
Director: Stefan Uher
Starring: Marián Bielik, Jana Beláková, Olga Salagová, Pavel Chrobak
Language: Slovak
Duration: 90 min.
Rating: 7.9  

Summary:
An examination of a young relationship over the course of one summer that intersects the uncertainties of first love, and the contrast of life in the city and the countryside.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Another Earth (2011)

Another Earth (2011)
Another Earth (2011)

Genre: Drama • Sci-Fi
Director: Mike Cahill
Starring: Brit Marling, William Mapother
Language: English
Duration: 92 min.
Rating: 6.1  

Summary:
Rhoda Williams, a bright young woman accepted into MIT's astrophysics program, aspires to explore the cosmos. A brilliant composer, John Burroughs, has just reached the pinnacle of his profession and is about to have a second child.  On the eve of the discovery of a duplicate Earth, tragedy strikes and the lives of these strangers become irrevocably intertwined.

Monday, November 14, 2011

Melancholia (2011)

Melancholia (2011)
Melancholia (2011)


Genre: Sci-Fi • Drama
Director: Lars von Trier
Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Kiefer Sutherland
Language: English
Duration: 130 min.
Rating: 8.9  

Summary:
Justine and Michael are celebrating their marriage at a sumptuous party held at the exclusive home of her sister and brother-in-law.  Meanwhile, the planet, Melancholia, is headed on a deadly collision course towards Earth...

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Womb (2010)

Womb (2010)
Womb (2010)

Genre: Drama • Sci-Fi
Director: Benedek Fliegauf
Starring: Eva Green, Matt Smith, Lesley Manville
Language: English
Duration: 111 min.
Rating: 7.8  

Summary:
A woman's consuming love for her deceased boyfriend leads her to give birth to his clone.  From his infancy she faces the unavoidable complexities of her controversial decision; but when he grows to be a man, she struggles even more between the maternal love for her son and a more troubling attraction to the duplicate of the man who won her heart years ago.

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Moon (2009)

Moon (2009)
Moon (2009)


Genre: Drama • Sci-Fi
Director: Duncan Jones
Starring: Sam Rockwell, Kevin Spacey
Language: English
Duration: 97 min.
Rating: 8.1  

Summary:
Astronaut Sam Bell has a quintessentially personal encounter toward the end of his three-year stint on the Moon, where he, working alongside his computer, GERTY, sends back to Earth parcels of a resource that has helped diminish our planet's power problems.

Friday, November 11, 2011

Paris, Texas (1984)

Paris, Texas (1984)
Paris, Texas (1984)

Genre: Drama
Director: Wim Wenders
Starring: Harry Dean Stanton, Dean Stockwell, Nastassja Kinski, Hunter Carson
Language: English
Duration: 147 min.
Rating: 8.7  

Summary:
An epic road film that follows the mysterious, nearly mute drifter Travis as he tries to reconnect with his young son, living with his brother in Los Angeles, and his missing wife Jane.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

The Boxer and Death (1963)

The Boxer and Death • Boxer a smrt (1963)
The Boxer and Death • Boxer a smrt (1963)

Czech New Wave
Genre: Drama
Director: Peter Solan
Starring: Stefan Kvietik, Manfred Krug, Valentina Thielová, Józef Kondrat, Edwin Marian
Language: Czech, German
Duration: 102 min.
Rating: 7.7  

Summary:
In a Nazi concentration camp, an escapee awaiting execution is spared when the commandant, a former prize-fighter, discovers the prisoner has amateur boxing ability.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Elite Squad: The Enemy Within (2010)

Elite Squad: The Enemy Within • Tropa de Elite 2 - O Inimigo Agora É Outro (2010)
Elite Squad: The Enemy Within • Tropa de Elite 2 - O Inimigo Agora É Outro (2010)

Genre: DramaActionThriller
Director: José Padilha
Starring: Wagner Moura, Irandhir Santos, André Ramiro, Milhem Cortaz
Language: Portuguese
Duration: 115 min.
Rating: 8.0 

Summary:
When a BOPE mission to stop a jail riot ends in violence, Nascimento finds his job on the line--and BOPE accused of a massacre by human rights activists. But a public fed up with the violence and gangs that plague Rio loves it, and Nascimento finds himself embraced as a hero who gets results. With elections around the corner, he's promoted to Sub-Secretary of Intelligence. In his powerful new post, Nascimento strengthens BOPE and brings the drug gangs that run the slum to their knees-- only to come to the sobering realization that by doing so, he's only made things easier for the corrupt cops and dirty politicians who are truly running the game...

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Elite Squad (2007)

Elite Squad • Tropa de Elite (2007)
Elite Squad • Tropa de Elite (2007)

Genre: Action Drama
Director: José Padilha
Starring:Wagner Moura, André Ramiro, Caio Junqueira, Milhem Cortaz
Language: Portuguese
Duration: 115 min.
Rating: 7.2  

Summary:
For decades, the South American metropolis of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, has clocked in as staggeringly lethal. Its violence-scarred and blood-strewn favelas are regularly patrolled by crazed drug gangs whose open-fire battles with police often spread out onto the main thoroughfares and turn ordinary civilians into casualties. In response, the Brazilian government formed a crack paramilitary force known as the BOPE to take matters into its own hands.

Monday, November 7, 2011

Romeo, Juliet and Darkness (1960)

Romeo, Juliet and Darkness • Romeo, Julia a tma (1960)
Romeo, Juliet and Darkness • Romeo, Julia a tma (1960)

Czech New Wave
Genre:Drama
Director: Jirí Weiss
Starring:Ivan Mistrík, Daniela Smutná, Jirina Sejbalová, Frantisek Smolík
Language: Czech
Duration: 92 min.
Rating: 6.7 

Summary:
A young man shelters a fugitive Jewish girl in the attic of his apartment building during the brutal 1942 Nazi occupation of Prague, becoming her only link to the outside world. Fear, anxiety and suspicion soon turn into gratitude and love between them.

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Bullhead (2011)

Bullhead • Rundskop (2011)
Bullhead • Rundskop (2011)


Genre: Drama
Director: Michael R. Roskam
Starring: Matthias Schoenaerts, Jeroen Perceval, Jeanne Dandoy, Barbara Sarafian
Language: Dutch, French
Duration: 124 min.
Rating: 8.1  

Summary:
The young Limburg cattle farmer Jacky Vanmarsenille is approached by an unscrupulous veterinarian to make a shady deal with a notorious West-Flemish beef trader. But the assassination of a federal policeman, and an unexpected confrontation with a mysterious secret from Jacky's past, set in motion a chain of events with farreaching consequences.

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Les Cousins (1959)

Les Cousins (1959)
Les Cousins (1959)

Genre: Drama
Director: Claude Chabrol
Starring: Gérard Blain, Jean-Claude Brialy, Juliette Mayniel, Claude Cerval
Language: French, German
Duration: 109 min.
Rating: 7.6  

Summary:
The tale of two cousins with vastly different approaches to life.  Charles, a young studious provincial man who moves to Paris to study law; and Paul, a decadent privileged youth who throws wild parties and travels with a large entourage.

Friday, November 4, 2011

Desire (1958)

Desire • Touha (1958)
Desire • Touha (1958)

Czech New Wave
Genre: Drama
Director: Vojtech Jasný
Starring: John Jakes , Vaclav Babka , Vera Bublíková , Vlastimil Brodsky , John Brejchová
Language: Czech
Duration: 90 min.
Rating: 7.1  

Summary:
The cycle of life told in four separate segments.

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Pina (2011)

Pina (2011)
Pina (2011)


Genre: Tribute
Director: Wim Wenders
Language: German, French, English, Spanish, Croatian, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Korean
Duration: 100 min.
Rating: 8.3  

Summary:
A feature-length dance film in 3D with the ensemble of the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, featuring the unique and inspiring art of the great German choreographer.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010)

Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010)
Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010)

Genre: Documentary
Director: Werner Herzog
Language: English, French, German
Duration: 90 min.
Rating: 8.0  

Summary:
An exclusive expedition into the nearly inaccessible Chauvet Cave in France, home to the most ancient visual art known to have been created by man.  Providing a unique glimpse of the pristine artwork dating back to human hands over 30,000 years ago, almost twice as old as any previous discovery.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

The Czechoslovak New Wave

The Czechoslovak New Wave

When most film buffs hear the term "New Wave", they probably think about Godard, Truffaut, Rohmer, Rivette, and Chabrol.  However in the mid to late 1960's, just a few years after their counterparts in France, another film movement emerged, led by names such as Miloš Forman, Věra Chytilová, Jiří Menzel, Jan Němec, Jaromil Jireš, Juraj Herz, Juraj Jakubisko, Štefan Uher, among others.  This group of Czech and Slovak directors combined to produce a new genre of film internationally known as The Czechoslovak New Wave.


Loves of a Blonde (1965), Milos Forman
Although most of these filmmakers were already experienced directors, something special happened in the period between 1964 and 1965 where they all combined to produce an amazing catalog of work of unprecedented success on the international stage.  Including four straight Academy Award nominations for Best Foreign Language Film, which resulted in two wins, the first in 1965 for The Shop on Main Street and the second in 1967 for Closely Watched Trains.

This New Wave was characterized by its innovative use of unconventional free-form narrative techniques, often using dark and absurd humour; the casting of non-professional actors, and clever critical political messages.  This was all made possible by the relaxation and liberalization of the political climate of the time.  Unfortunately this movement was rather short lived, coming to an end soon after the Soviet led invasion of Czechoslovakia in late 1968.

Intimate Lighting (1965), Ivan Passer
However, the result of this brief social and artistic awakening has left us with some of the best examples of cinema not only limited to Eastern Europe, but of the entire world.  Although less celebrated than their French counterparts, the films of the Czechoslovak New Wave stand up just as magnificently and leave behind a legacy of remarkable quality and influence that is still relevant today.  It is also responsible for the beginnings of master director Milos Forman, who would later win the Best Director Oscar twice for his American films One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and Amadeus.

The most wonderful aspect I have observed so far from the films of the Czech New Wave, is the often witty and humorous yet genuine way in which the characters, the stories, and everyday life is presented.  There is a tendency to focus on the little ironies of life that are timeless and universal, giving us the opportunity to reflect not only on these profoundly touching stories, but also on our own lives.

Coach to Vienna (1966), Karel Kachyňa
Join me over the next few months, in my ever ongoing quest for the hidden gems of cinema, as I watch and review as many of the incredible films from this era as possible.  Afterwards, I will also be showcasing some of the later and current works from the countries now known as The Czech Republic and Slovakia. 

The Shop on Main Street (1965), Ján Kadár & Elmar Klos