the 1001 movies challenge
List activity
46 views
• 0 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
4 titles
- DirectorRené ClairStarsRaymond CordyHenri MarchandRolla FranceSeeking better life, two convicts escape from prison.Quite a good film. Although I have grown up around Western entertainment and French cinema from the 30s is still quite new to me, I found this movie to be interesting and effective in its goal in creating a screwball comedy with much heart. This film comes at an interesting time in history when many silent era filmmakers were trying to find their footing within a brand new, sound-filled environment, and this really shows throughout "Freedom". Most of the film is free of dialogue (bar the songs) and when they do speak it is often very short, fairly uninteresting lines that would have previously been displayed across a title card indicating dialogue. The production design and cinematography were fantastic - giant sets were in full view as they were shot from far back, low angles, so an audience could really feel the goliathan size of the prison, factory and mansion settings. Overall quite an enjoyable experience. 7.5/10.
- DirectorKen JacobsStarsKen JacobsJack SmithAn experimental short film that variously features singing and storytelling, touching upon topics such as nations, death, religion, sex, and evil.Unwatchable garbage. Could not bring myself to make it past the twenty minute mark, sadly. Cited as one of the best and most significant films of the New York underground film movement, this piece of "video art" comes across more as a self-righteous film student's project, in which he has nothing interesting to say, convey, or show to his audience, but still makes a nearly forty minute video purely for him to indulge in his perceived 'genius'. Mildly salvageable for the now antique aestheticisms of its old home film camera visuals (when Mr. Jacobs decides there are visuals to show) and for Jack Smith's slightly amusing improv as he narrates tales of violence and sex. Would definitely not recommend, especially if not at all familiar with the genre in which it resides. 1/10.
- DirectorBilly WilderStarsRay MillandJane WymanPhillip TerryThe desperate life of a chronic alcoholic is followed through a four-day drinking bout.Another classic from the obscenely underrated Billy Wilder. Addiction is creatively and masterfully shot in ways that were fairly new and unorthodox in western films at the time, perfectly reflecting the start of a brilliant change in Hollywood as films started to depart from the traditional, Hayes Code-approved format.
The acting is excellent, but of course Milland steals the show, bringing a sense of humanity to the role in order to help the audience sympathise with him and his problem rather than chastise him for it, at a time when drunkenness was only played for laughs and was never a role treated with any dignity.
It can be said that, perhaps, Milland was one of the first Hollywood 'method actors' - intensely researching for his role, Milland neglected eating food, as many alcoholics usually do, and checked himself into hospital alcoholism ward. During the night, Milland had an experience not at all unlike the one his character has in the film, and he desperately tried to escape, making it out the front door before a policeman found him and took him back to the hospital, refusing to listen to Milland's claims.
Perhaps its due to his hand in writing his own scripts, but Billy Wilder understands people - his work always focuses on real - sometimes brutally so - people, and his films stand out amongst their contemporaries due to the problems each face, never shying away from the subject material and backing down so as to make the experience more digestible for a viewer.
Wilder also brings his usual unconventional shooting styles to the table, often showcasing abstract, metaphorical sequences in order to further his plot, and always employing memorably beautiful and sometimes haunting cinematography. Perhaps it's due to my love of horror but the scene that will always spring to mind when thinking about this movie is the innovative bat and mouse sequence - the bat looms over Birman, beating its wings and flying circles over him, until it mercilessly attacks and maims a mouse poking its head out of the wall, leaving a single drop of blood to roll down behind it, leaving a dark trail.
Great film, a must watch. 8.5/10 - DirectorWoody AllenStarsMia FarrowDianne WiestMichael CaineBetween two Thanksgivings two years apart, Hannah's husband falls in love with her sister Lee, while her hypochondriac ex-husband rekindles his relationship with her sister Holly.