A Film Rumination: He Who Must Die (Celui Qui Doit Mourir), Jules Dassin (1957)
May 12, 2011 § Leave a Comment
7.5/10 (Good)
American director Jules Dassin — famous for his 40s and 50s film noir works Brute Force, Rififi, Night and the City, The Naked City – departs from his normal stomping ground with an adaptation of Nikos Kazantzaki’s 1948 novel The Greek Passion. Dassin left the US for France because of his Communist affiliations — hence, the film is in « Read the rest of this entry »
A (short) Film Rumination: La Charcuterie Méchanique (The Mechanical Butcher), Auguste and Louis Lumière (1895)
March 9, 2011 § 2 Comments
The brothers Auguste and Louis Lumière were two of the earliest and most influential film directors. La Charcuterie Méchanique (1895), considered one of the earliest “sc-fi” films of all time, predicts the mechanical butcher. A rather simple machine “transforms” a pig into « Read the rest of this entry »
A Film Rumination: Three Crowns of the Sailor, Raoul Ruiz (1983)
November 25, 2010 § 2 Comments
8.25/10 (Very Good)
If Jan Potocki’s fantastic 18th century novel A Manuscript Found in Saragossa — a frame story within a frame story within a frame story – was recited over the course of a wine filled evening by a drunken sailor the result might conjure something of the kaleidoscope of heavily tinted « Read the rest of this entry »
A Film Rumination: Life and Nothing But, Bertrand Tavernier (1989)
October 8, 2010 § 5 Comments
7.75/10 (Good)
Won BAFTA Award for Best Film not in the English Language, 9 Caesar Award nominations (French Oscars) and two wins
Fresh off « Read the rest of this entry »
A Film Rumination: Muriel, or The Time of Return, Alain Resnais (1963)
September 24, 2010 § 6 Comments
7.5/10 (Good)
Delphine Seyrig has always been my favorite French actress — this was mostly based on her icy, regal, and hauntingly beautiful role in Alain Resnais’ seemingly impenetrable masterpiece, The Last « Read the rest of this entry »
A Film Rumination: The Hypothesis of the Stolen Painting, Raoul Ruiz (1979)
August 20, 2010 § Leave a Comment
8/10 (Very Good — read the friendly warnings before you embark….)
We enter, from the street, a sprawling house occupied by a single long-winded art collector of dubious authority and his proliferation of mannequins and silent helpers « Read the rest of this entry »
A Film Rumination: La Guerre est Finie, Alain Resnais (1966)
August 15, 2010 § 6 Comments
7/10 (Good)
Alain Resnais – most famous for his early French New Wave film Hiroshima Mon Amour (1966) and the impenetrable masterpiece Last Year at Marienbad (1961) — also has the ability to craft an astute political drama: La Guerre est Finie (1966). Sadly, in part because of the dated political situation, La Guerre est Finie « Read the rest of this entry »
