Death in Venice (1971)

Italian director Luchino Visconti brings Thomas Mann’s short novel to screen in a beautiful radiant way.  This is Visconti’s most gorgeous looking film, proof he was as great a director as most critics claimed.  I was in doubt, especially after seeing The Damned (1969).  But this one sealed the deal for me.  Gustav vacations in Venice.  While staying in a hotel he becomes infatuated by a young teenage boy staying there with his mother.  It’s as intense a crush as any I’ve seen in film.  Soon Venice falls under a cholera outbreak but even though he was planning to leave, he can’t resist staying so he might connect with the young teenager.  Using Gustav Mahler for his score to seduce us into the main character’s passion, Luchino succeeds in doing what most films fail to do and that’s recreate a novel’s inner spirit without feeling like you’re reading a book.   My only complaint is that it does run a bit long at 130 minutes.   I wonder if it could have been edited a bit tighter.  Grade: B+

The Last Metro (1980)

Truffaut makes one of his best films, taking us to a theater during the French occupation of WWII. Catherine Deneuve plays an actress who runs the theater after her husband fled the country, or so it is believed.  Actually her husband played by Heinz Bennent lives in the basement, writing and directing from behind the scenes.   Enter Gerard Depardieu, an actor who just joins their newest production where he plays opposite Deneuve.   Soon a love triangle of sorts unfolds and the dramatic rewards are tremendous.   I love this film.  It was like a better version of To Be or Not to be (1942).  I can’t help but wonder if this was this film that inspired Mel Brooks to remake the classic Ernst Lubitsch film.  It makes me sad that Truffaut would only go on to direct two more films.   At least we have films such as this one to inspire many future generations to come.  Grade: A

The Magic Flute (1975)

If you’re going to film a stage version of Mozart’s famous opera, you can’t really fail with a director like Ingmar Bergman at the helm.   He sets the mood by taking you into the audience as the overture plays, showing the faces of all ages, as if to say this is for everyone to enjoy, come with me.  Then you get to experience the magic of a fairy tale set to music by a genius.   I’ve never seen this opera before and knew nothing of the tale it’s based on but I did enjoy it.   I would recommend this for anyone who enjoys theater and especially opera.  Of course I’m not a huge fan of opera and I liked it so maybe you just need to be opened to older styles of entertainment.   Grade: B+

The Third Generation (1979)

I guess I can’t get enough Rainer Werner Fassbinder.  After finishing his mega film Berlin Alexanderplatz I decided to view this dark comedy that mocks the German terrorist group the RAF.   The RAF are not mentioned by name but if you know even a little bit about German history during the sixties and seventies it’s very much implied.  It’s not a particularly funny film but it does have a great sarcastic approach to its subject.   I can’t say it will stand the test of time, it feels old and unmade but it’s a great example of what kind of artist Fassbinder was.  Grade: B

The Conjuring (2013)

James Wan sure knows how to make spooky films but unfortunately for me, this one was really unsatisfying.   Without giving too much away, the ending left me gagging.   Was this a Hallmark Movie-of-the-Week or a horror film?   Is this Christian propaganda or am I too easily annoyed by such supposedly true stories?  Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson are fantastic as husband and wife paranormal investigators who assist in helping Ron Livington and Lili Taylor’s family, the Perron’s with the haunted house they just purchased but in the end I felt beat over the head with scary effects and cheesy sentimentality.   Lili Taylor, an actor I love, gives one of her worst performances.  I felt bad for her because what the script was asking from her almost no actor could make believable.    In the end I’m tired of exorcism movies and here, while technically well-made, Wan failed at coming up with anything new to excite me.   If you’re overly religious and easily manipulated by teary faces and moaning mothers than this will probably succeed at entertaining you.  I just wanted something more menacing I guess.  Grade: C+

Spoiler Alert:
Not all horror films have to have unhappy endings but if you’re going to have one, please keep it mysterious and scary.  Poltergeist is a great example.   Everyone lives but not without being forever changed and emotionally scarred.   Here it’s all joy and we’re going to live happily ever after.   Yuck.

Harlan County, USA (1976)

For those who don’t understand the reason we have unions, watch this documentary which won an Oscar in 1976.  It puts the viewer right on the front lines of a strike between miners and the Coal Company (owned by Duke Power) in Kentucky.    Barbara Kopple directed the film while living with the strikers and you really get a sense of these people and their struggles.  Whether its black lung or the tactics to bring in scabs, the Coal Company is the villain in this historical document and I feel it’s an accurate portrayal.   Grade:  A

Playtime (1967)

Jacques Tati was a genius.   A visual master at creating humor by showing us the world in all its quirky silliness.   Very subtle but razor sharp wit, this guy’s work should be watched by everyone.  His fourth film was his most ambitious project yet.  He practically built a city block to make this movie and I’m glad he did because I don’t know how else he could have shot it.   Here he comments on the modern world and how it disconnects us and makes us robots.  I wonder what Tati would have thought of our world today with Facebook and iphones?   He certainly believed in keeping life simple and provincial as seen in his earlier films, especially Mon Oncle.   Just understand this isn’t laugh-out-loud humor, it’s humor with a grin of joy.   No one today comes close to making movies as smart and sly as Tati did.   I doubt any one ever will.   Grade: A