Kurosawa turned 100

So Akira Kurosawa’s centennial came and went, and of course, few noticed. Just another sign of the sad state of the global awareness that American film fans have. All over the world cinephiles are more than aware of Kuro-san’s greatness, but here people were too busy wondering if the white powder all over Lindsay Lohan’s feet was baby powder used to counteract athlete’s foot, or if she tripped over a large bag of cocaine on her way out of a party.

I really enjoyed Kuro-san’s 100^th birthday. I read some of Stephen Prince’s scholarly work on Kurosawa’s development of humanist themes, and then I watched the great Kurosawa classic “Throne of Blood”. Going through this semi-memorial exercise got me curious if other people have any film traditions. I know my co-host on our show, Jason Spencer, has a tradition that he watches Planes, Trains, and Automobiles every year on Thanksgiving. Obviously a lot of people have certain traditions with Christmas films. What about you? Any traditions?

Here are my films that close out March:

Samurai 1 (rewatch)

Samurai 2 (rewatch)

Samurai 3 (rewatch)

Miller’s Crossing (rewatch)

Cape Fear (rewatch)

Throne of Blood (rewatch)

Ghostbusters 2 (rewatch)

Greenberg

Monster Ark

How to train your dragon

A lot of rewatches this time through. 21 films in March, not bad.

Hunger

Last week I saw an Irish film called “Hunger”. The film is based on a true story about the 1981 hunger strike carried out by IRA members that have been imprisoned for various crimes. The IRA was seeking a free and united Ireland, so they engaged in a political war with British officials for decades. The problem is that the British didn’t see the IRA as a legitimate political organization; they saw them as an organized crime ring. So when IRA members were arrested they weren’t treated as political prisoners, they were treated as criminals. The hunger strike was a protest to gain political status and treatment for their prisoners.

The film was devastating. Steve McQueen, a first time director, handled each scene with such intense realism that I felt as if I was in the prison, viewing the events as if I were a fly on the wall. Despite being an Irish film I felt that McQueen’s treatment of each side was incredibly fair. He did a great job of simply telling a story of events, and telling it well. The cinematography was particularly astounding, to the point where some critics have felt the need to criticize the camera work as being an overdone exercise in artistry rather than a story telling mechanism. I couldn’t disagree more. The true highlight of the film for me was one 17 minute long shot, the longest in any film of the modern era, where Bobby Sands consults with his priest on the strategy of the hunger strike. The film has very little dialogue apart from this one long take, and the scene explains the first half of the film while setting up the second half perfectly. The dialogue was masterfully written.

The film is graphic. Some may disapprove of the graphic nature, but for this film it is a must, and it works so well. We need to see what these men are going through, and we see it in this expertly crafted masterpiece of filmmaking. Watch it.

11 films in for March now. The latest 3 are:

Alice in Wonderland

Hunger

Trust the Man

Watch Godard in the 60's

Earlier in the year I mentioned that I was going to revisit Kurosawa’s films this year, as well as read quite a bit on his life and career. This is still the plan, but it hasn’t really happened at this point. I started his autobiography, and then got stalled and haven’t picked it up in a few weeks. I will get back to it. Another thing I said I was going to do was revisit much of the French New Wave, which did happen, and I saw some really excellent films. I still want to watch a bit more Truffaut, but so far I have really enjoyed spending some extra time with French cinema. Watching Godard’s New Wave stuff got me on a bit of a Godard kick, and I’ve watched 14 of his films in the past two months.

I have to say that Godard’s early stuff has fared much better with me than his more recent stuff. Starting with Breathless in 1959 and ending with Pierrot Le Fou in 1969, the man directed some stunning films. By the time the 80’s hit, Godard seemed to be focusing so much on the art that he left his dialogue and storytelling powers behind. The films were still well crafted, but just not as much of a joy to watch. Overall, the man is clearly a great filmmaker. If you’re interested I recommend Alphaville, A Woman is a Woman, and Band of Outsiders. Breathless is also an important one to watch simply because it helped create an entire film movement that took France by storm for nearly a decade.

Add 6 more films to my list for the year:

Breathless (rewatch)

Notre Musique

Kundun

The King of Comedy

Major League (for like the 20^th time)

Brooklyn’s Finest

Global perspective

The Oscar’s are upon us. Just a few more days. I’ve done a lot of thinking about the Oscar’s in the past couple of months, and I mentioned this on our show, but I really feel like the Oscar’s fall short in accomplishing a presentation of true greatness in film. In the United States, when a baseball team wins the World Series, Major League Baseball refers to them as the world champions. Are they really? Or are they just the United States champions?

Likewise, when the academy gives out awards for best picture, are these really the ten best pictures? In 2008 there is no question that “Revanche” was one of the best films of the year, but it was relegated to the foreign film category because it wasn’t American. I understand the Academy is designed to mostly celebrate Hollywood, but that means that the biggest night in movies is actually not about movies at all, it’s about American movies. Shouldn’t the biggest night in movies have a bit more of a global perspective?

Now I understand that if the Academy was designed to celebrate film on a more global level, people in the U.S. wouldn’t watch, because they don’t know jack about movies and are uncultured and shortsighted enough to believe that all movies are made in the U.S. This is disappointing. The Academy needs ratings, so it will just chug along on the current philosophy, but there is a bit of injustice here. Some people thought that something ridiculous like “The Hangover” deserved a best picture nom. Where is the outcry for the French film “A Prophet”?

Don’t get me wrong. I still love the Oscars. It’s one of the best nights of the year.

For the year, add seven more films.

Last of the Mohicans (yes again)

Oh Woe is Me

Revanche

Umberto D.

Goodbye Solo

Crazy Heart

Gomorrah

January – 33

February – 21

March so far – 2

56 total