Raiders of the Lost Ark - I'm too young to remember the adventure serials of the 1930s that "Raiders" was based on, but I understand the spirit and the appeal of them, thanks to "Raiders." Steven Spielberg and George Lucas combined forces to pay tribute to the cinema of their youths, resulting in one of the greatest pieces of pure entertainment ever made. The level of filmmaking craft remains astonishing, and it was all in service of making sure the audience had a roaring good time. And in Indiana Jones, they had their iconic American adventurer, a rough-and-tumble reluctant hero with a heart of gold.
Thief - Michael Mann's debut film is a neo-noir awash in neon lights, featuring an unusual degree of polish and self-assuredness. Clearly, his sensibilities as a director were already well established, with many of his usual cinematic trademarks on display. Here he creates an immersive nocturnal world to serve as the backdrop to the story of James Caan's titular professional burglar, a charismatic character who undergoes a bitter journey of self-discovery. It's violent, thrilling, and utterly uncompromising, with the added bonus of showcasing a fairly realistic heist scenario, one I've never seen anything like since.
Possession - There are some films that are built around great performances, but you don't often see ones that are so utterly dominated by them the way that "Possession" is by Isabelle Adjani's jawdropping turn as a woman undergoing a terrible mental and emotional collapse. The nightmarish narrative is difficult to parse, but director Andrzej Żuławski does a fantastic job of keeping the mood strange and steadily ratcheting up the tension. There are plenty of horrors to be found, but the most memorable are totally due to Adjani's terrifying, seemingly out-of-control fits of violence and madness.
Blow Out - One of Brian De Palma's most chilling films is this psychological thriller about a sound engineer man who gets caught up in a murder investigation and cover-up. The filmmaking is showy, but executed with care, creating some incredibly visceral scenes of suspense and action. Though based on the Antonioni film "Blowup," De Palma's work here is more political, more cynical, and ultimately more impactful. This is one of the few De Palma films I enjoy unreservedly because it's unusually straightforward and serious for him, and there are elements of self-criticism that are good to see.
Feherlofia - Marcell Jankovics's "Feherlofia," or "Son of the White Mare," is a traditionally animated Hungarian fantasy film based on several stories from Central European mythology. It's a vibrant, beautiful feature that uses visual designs that are very unique, clearly not derivative of any of the other popular styles of animation of the time. The use of psychedelic colors, abstracted forms, minimalist backgrounds, and circular motions are especially eye-catching. The film's production was clearly a labor of love, and it remains one of the high water marks of Eastern European animation.
Blood Wedding - This is the first film in Carlos Saura's "Flamenco Trilogy," where each story is told through elaborately choreographed flamenco style dance performances. The theatrical nature of this interpretation is emphasized, and we begin by watching the members of the dance troupe arrive, warm up, and put on costumes and makeup. When the performance begins in earnest, it's thoroughly entrancing. Saura allows little to distract from the powerful physicality of the dancers, who deliver performances that equal the expressiveness and emotion of any traditional actor.
Pennies From Heaven - One of the most subversive and ambitious musical films ever made. The conceit of a miserable Great Depression era tragedy being juxtaposed with the lighthearted musical numbers common of that era would be daring on its own. However, the melodrama is memorably poignant, and the ending unusually harrowing. And those numbers are staged so elaborately, and performed with such gusto by Steve Martin, Bernadette Peters, and the other performers, the film's criticisms of the characters' embrace of escapism, self-delusion, and fantasy end up hitting that much harder.
Reds - Is it possible that a film about a prominent American Communist should have won so much acclaim in 1981? Well, this was the era when Warren Beatty could do no wrong, and his approach to "Reds" was to make it an epic love story between the activist John Reed and his fellow journalist Louise Bryant, played by Diane Keaton. I think the trick is that "Reds" feels so personal, a story about personalities rather than politics, about nostalgia for a more innocent bygone era. I especially enjoy the framing device, where anecdotes about the couple are shared by the real people who knew them.
Time Bandits - I've grown to appreciate Terry Gilliam's weird little fantasy adventure more over time. When I was younger, I found it a little too nasty and cynical for my taste. Now that I'm older, the social satire and the digs at historical figures are much more enjoyable. I adore David Warner's exasperated take on Evil, the ridiculous dwarves, and the careless Supreme Being. There's a lovely chaos to the whole film, where the characters bounce from historical scenes to fantasy worlds to mythological worlds to a rollicking grand finale that seems to take place in a realm of pure imagination.
Das Boot - I'll never be able to hear "It's a Long Way to Tipperary" without thinking of the crew of the U-96. Wolfgang Peterson made the ultimate submarine movie, tracing the fortunes of a German U-boat and her crew during WWII. A technical marvel with its complicated battle scenes, claustrophobic enclosed spaces, and swooping camera, it's also an excellent adventure film. Few big-budget productions were ever made about WWII combat from the German point of view, for obvious reasons, but "Das Boot" does such a good job of humanizing the Germans, it's very hard not to root for them.
---
No comments:
Post a Comment