Me and you and everyone we know

It starts badly and goes along quite nicely and quirkily. Some of the shots and the music reminded me of, gasp, American Beauty, but overall it is quite god with touching characters and scenes, and some funny bits along the way.

The curse of the Scorpion's Tail

Another Sergio Martino giallo, with our friend George Hilton, set in London and Athens, more black leather gloves and sharp shiny blades, but less twisted than The Strange Vice of Mrs Wardh (the set design is also less good), and less nudity, but a great score by Bruno Nicolai (except the cheesy Richard Clayderman like bits). The plastic plane blowing up in a black sky is classic Italian cheese.

Boudu saved from drowning (CC 305)

Michel Simon is a real punk! He spits on the floor, then inside a rare edition of Balzac's Psychology of the marraige', interesting since shortly after he will sleep the wife of his benefactor (although this one shags the maid). Boudu brings disorder and bad behaviour in a typical middle-class household and goes back to where he belongs best. Watching this film really transports back to 1932. The Douchet/Rohmer analysis included on the disc is exceptional.

Boccaccio '70

The Visconti segment with Romy Schneider was quite good, and the Fellini one is very good, funny and very well made. The De Sica was rubbish and painful to watch. I chose to ignore the Monicelli one for now.

Mother Kusters Goes To Heaven

Another excellent Fassbinder with a brilliant ending (much better than the one for the US version). Brigitte Mira is Muter Kusters, whose husband killed himself at work after murdering his boss. Her children don't care so much for her and the media is not very kind with her husband. She finds comfort with the communists and end up with an extremist group.

Salvatore Giuliano

Some kind of docu-drama about the Sicilian bandit, who is found murdered at the beginning of the film, and whom in fact we never really see alive during the film. So it's all a bit annoying and long, confusing, with lots of different charaters whose roles are a bit unclear. It didn't convince me that Rosi was particurlarly interesting.

Sin City

I don't like Rodriguez but he did a great job with Sin City. It looks great and is very faithful to the comics, obviously thanks to Miller's help. It is extremely dark and violent. There is a bit too much voice-over, and it's a bit too long, and the middle story with Del Toro and Clive Owen is a bit weak, despite all the lovely ladies (although Devon Aoki kicks ass).

Le Notti Bianche (cc 296)

The short story adapted from Dostoyevsky adapted and filmed by Visconti (and later by Bresson), shot in Cinecitta on a great set at night. Fantastic and subtle score by Nino Rota, good performances by Mastroiani and a very low-key one from Jean Marais, although Maria Schell is a bit annoying, and the ending in the snow is almost heartbreaking, and beautiful.

End of Summer

A very beautiful colour film from Ozu,with a tiny bit of red in almost virtually every shot. Unfortunately I was tired and fell asleeps for a while arounf the middle of it and got a bit confused by who was who, as I focused on the little bits of red from the very beginning.

Vertigo

In the park near the Serpentine Gallery, with a picnic before the film started. Unfortunately it rained quite a bit, to fully appreciate one of the greatest film ever made, and we had to relocate.

Humanity and paper balloons (MOC 11)

One of the 3 surviving films from Sadao Yamanaka, is short and largely uneventful, except that it starts and end with a suicide, and a gitl is kidnapped by some dude and the big boss is pissed off. Most of the action takes place around a landlord's place in feudal Tokyo.

Prenom Carmen

Love and suffering, death and sunrise, typical Godard. Young people play Carmen in a modern setting, with Beethoven's quators instead of Bizet, and the fantastic song from Tom Waits that JLG will use again in Histoire(s) du Cinema.

The Browning Version

Michael Redgrave is playing Andrew Crocker-Harris, a tired school teacher with a nasty wife who is having an afair with his colleague the science teacher. Lots of posh accents, especially from the Head Master. He is seen as cold and distant by his pupils and colleagues, until he finally opens his heart. The lack of sentimentality is particularly remarkable, reinforced by the lack of music. Anthony Asquith has to be commanded for such a choice, which makes the ending all the more powerful.

Under the flag of the rising sun

Awesome film by Fukasaku, a very personal one, far from his yazuka films. A Rashomon-style story with a widow investigating the death of her husband in the last days of WW2 in new Guinea. Dark and violent, where are ready to do anything to survive. The film is also about post-war Japan and the difficulty to survive such trauma, at a country and personal level.

Danger: Diabolik

Very disappointed! Cheeesy dialogues, probably the English dub doesn't help (Piccoli in English?) and bad acting. The pacing is also pretty off. So visually it looks great, but that's about it.

Maestro

Interesting documentary on what was really the birth of clubbing, New York in the 70's, The gallery, The Loft and Paradise Garage. Most of the doc is around Larry Levan, with interviews with all the main players (well, the surviving ones), dancers and staff.

Seinfeld Season 4

Ep. 23 & 24. Serie over.

Seinfeld Season 4

Episodes 18-22. All very funny, particularly the smelly car and the junior mint.

The Strange Vice of Mrs Wardh

A crazy Italian giallo from Sergio Martino with Edwidge Fenech and George Hilton. It starts quite badly but ends rather great, with lots of twists. The soundtrack obviously influence Goblins later with Argento, and the costumes and sets are excellent. Bad acting, but lots of scenes with topless girls with their throats being cut by a crazy killer with black leather gloves. But the direction although a bit off at times is overall very innovative.

Steamboy

Amazing production and design, Otomo takes it up where he left it with Cannon fodder, this time in England in 1866. But the story is not that great, and it drags on a bit towards the end.