Man With A Movie Camera (1927)

Man With A Movie Camera  (Soviet Union 1927 : 70 minutes) Directed by Dziga Vertov

Early experimental Soviet "propaganda" film from director Dziga Vertov, aiming to document the realities of everyday life in a bustling Russian metropolis, celebrating the impact of industrialisation and the processes of urban progress.

This is an extraordinary film.

At a time when most US and British film makers were content with a single set and a fixed camera position Vertov took his camera out on to the streets of Moscow in an attempt to capture the look and feel of a single day in that city's life.

The novelty of this approach aside he then used the footage to create a dazzling collection of images using every single camera technique available to him and a structure that today would probably be called meta-textual.

So many shots are of the titular man with a movie camera speeding from location to location, several sequences are followed by brief "how we did it" explanatory footage, there are scenes set in the editing suite. The film stops resolves in to a single frame, reverses, winds in on itself and then speeds on.

The pace is frenetic, cut to a seemingly industrial rhythm that pounds and marches into the future at a relentless pace.

The camera is itself the starring character - at the centre of everything while also giving context and a wider view to the images that we are watching. But the people of the city are also given starring roles with big, full-frame close-ups of older people, their faces ceased and worn from a lifetime of struggle and worry; younger people smiling and happy in the sunshine as their day unfolds.

Beginning with empty streets and people waking and rising the film rushes on through all the aspects of modern life : births, marriages and deaths, industry, commerce, relaxation, dancing are all captured by the camera's roving, restless eye.
The streets change from deserted wastelands into bustling thoroughfares filled with horses, carriages, motor buses and cars and people. Thousands of people all moving at once, scattering in every direction under the unmoving eye of the camera.

The camera is hoisted high, slung low, spun, twisted - held stock still and shot forward on foot, in cars and on a train. The effect is a visual poem to the city and it's many facets.

There is criticism that the film is little more than propaganda for the new Soviet regime, but that's patently not true.
There are, for example, several shots of rough sleepers, the film isn't uncritical - but it's aim is not to celebrate the successes of the new government but to capture the effect that change has had on the population.

It's a joyful, uplifting celebration of life and a Utopian hymn to a possible future.

These days Man With A Movie Camera is most often seen with a newly composed Michael Nyman score ; while (in places) the soundtrack pulls against the images, for the most part Nyman's music underpins and accentuates the visuals, feeling like an integral part of the film rather than a (much latter) addition.

This is an extraordinary film.

Manderlay (2005)

Manderlay (2005) [Den / Swe / Fr / UK / Ger / Neth / It  : 132min.] Written and directed by Lars Von Trier

A companion piece to the same directors Dogville (2003) and intended as the middle part of a trilogy - it picks up the story where the first film left off. Grace has left the township of Dogville in the company of her gangster father and his small army of hoodlums.
Attempting to stay one step ahead of the law they are motoring through the southern states of the US and come to a stop at the gates of an ancient plantation, the Manderlay of the title.

Grace intervenes to prevent the whipping of a young black man (Timothy) and is shocked to discover that the estate is staffed by slaves, despite slavery having been abolished more than 70 years previously.

She persuades her father to allow her to remain at Manderlay with a handful of his men, and sets about reforming the closed society.

Nicole Kidman took the role of Grace in the first film and was excellent ; here she is replaced by Bryce Dallas Howard who, will not quite in the same league, makes a brave and dignified effort to portray Grace's burning idealism and essentially liberal outlook.

Willem Dafoe replaces James Caan in the role of Grace's father and is perfectly fine. Lauren Bacall appears (briefly) as the matriarch of the Estate and Danny Glover is her head of household staff in a performance of quiet strength.

However, despite the acting talent on show it's von Trier and his director of photography Anthony Dod Mantle and their cameras who are the true stars.

As with Dogville von Trier reduces the set to a collection of blocking lines on the studio floor and a handful of props. This could have had the efect of reducing the film to something approaching a filmed version of the rehersal stage of a theatrical play, instead of which Manderlay is bracingly cinematic.

It's filled with intense close-ups and two-shots, dizzying overhead and crane shots and some very smart use of filters.

Dod Mantle and von Trier are the only credited camera operators and it's obvious that an immense amount of thought has gone into the positioning of the cameras and their subsequent movements.

It's a shame, therefore, that given the care that's gone into the presentation and look of the film that the script is a bit too weak for the subject matter and too often reaches for the cliche of memelodrama where a stronger, more social-realist or satirical approach would have served better.

It's a great looking film and a remarkable technical achievement - I'd have liked a bit more meat on the bare bones of the script though.

The end credits sequence, however, almost makes up for this weakness : a powerful set of images that will burn themselves into your brain.

Freeview film of the day (UK) : Wednesday 28th of May

Leaving Las Vegas (1995 107min.) [Film4 11.15pm &+1)

Drama featuring an Oscar-winning performance by Nicolas Cage, and co-starring Elisabeth Shue. Ben Sanderson, an alcoholic, drives to Las Vegas after being fired from his film production job with the intention of drinking himself to death within four weeks. In Vegas he meets Sera, a self-assured young prostitute, and, with each pledging not to try to change the other's chosen destiny, they fall in love and carry on a romance over Ben's last weeks.


Directed by the usually excellent Mike Figgis has Nicolas Cage giving a great performance (sic) as a writer who travels to Vegas to drink himself to death.
With a strong supporting cast (Elizabeth Shue, Richard Lewis, even Julian Sands) it's a downbeat film but ultimately rewarding due to the strength of the acting and Figgis' sensitive direction.

Johnny Suede (1991)

Johnny Suede  (1991)  [US 92min.]  Written and directed by Tom Di Cillo

Comedy fantasy starring Brad Pitt. When a stylish pair of suede shoes falls into dreamer Johnny's lap, he begins cultivating his fantasy - to become a rock 'n' roll hero like his idol Ricky Nelson. But the road to stardom is paved with complications.

As Television never sang on their debut single "Little Johnny Suede/He's so cool".

There is a parallel world where Johnny Suede (the character) would be as famous as Riff Raff or Del Trotter or Edward Scissorhands. He is an immensely likeable character, an innocent torn out of time and thrown down in a world he can't hope to understand or cope with. In the end he's saved from a life of quiet desperation and miserable failure by the love of a good woman.

There's all sorts of magic and nonsense going on here - the plot is of little consequence as it's really nothing more than a bunch of scenes glued together with a sense of fun and adventure.

Johnny's trademark shoes appear from heaven; Nick Cave plays brilliantly with and against as his own image as Johnny's personal angel and/or devil, there's dream sequences worthy of Lynch and the charming conceit that Johnny would love to be a rock'n'roll star but rather than taking the easy route and setting out to be Elvis or Buddy or Gene he wants to be the reincarnation of Ricky Nelson.
That's Ricky Nelson - the American for Cliff Richard.

Two great performances - firstly from Brad Pitt , in his first real leading role, he's all wide eyes and gawky awkwardness and giant,enough hairspray to deplete the ozone layer on it's own, quiff. The second from Catherine Keener - just setting out on the road that leads to Being John Malkovich and beyond.

Nod of the head too for the soundtrack - handled in the most part by the rumbling guitar of Link Wray.

DiCillo seems to have had trouble finding much work off the back of it - I saw his name on the credits for rubbish TV cop show "Monk" recently - which is a shame as he's clearly got the eye and the talent to be a fine director of small scale films.

An utterly charming and unpretentious little film about innocence, hope ,desire and love. An absolute joy to watch.

Freeview film of the day (UK) : Tuesday 28th of May

Let The Right One In (2008 109min.) [Film4 1.20am wednesday &+1]

Horror starring Kare Hedebrant and Lina Leandersson. In a small town in 1980s Sweden, bullied 12-year-old Oskar befriends Eli, who appears to be a normal girl his own age but is actually a vampire.

Sweden has almost no tradition of horror films so the release and subsequent success of Tomas Alfredson's film version of John Ajvide Linqvist's screenplay from his own best selling book came as a real surprise.

Easily one of the best films released anywhere in the world in 2008, it's the multi-award winning (but overlooked by the Oscars due to the stupidity of their nomination process) story of lonely twelve year old Oskar's developing relationship with his new female same-age neighbour Eli and is beautifully realised with extraordinary performances by the two young leads.
There are some moments of gruesomeness but the overall tone is subtle, gentle and soulful - beautifully done and pretty much essential viewing.

Seven Days In May (1964)

 
Seven Days In May (1964) [US 113min.) directed by John Frankenheimer, written by Rod Serling.


An American general schemes with fellow officers to overthrow a president who supports nuclear disarmament, but a loyal military adviser attempts to foil the plot. Political drama, starring Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Fredric March and Ava Gardner.

"I'm suggesting Mr President, there's a military plot to take over the Government of these United States, next Sunday..."

Burt Lancaster, if he's remembered at all these days, is usually recalled as a clean cut, square jawed leading man in any number of anodyne Hollywood place holders from the immediate post-War period. In addition to these, though, he turned in three truly astonishing performances.

The last of these was as the oil man Felix Happer in Bill Forsyth's Local Hero ( 1983), the first was as newspaper columnist J.J. Hunsecker in the outstanding Sweet Smell Of Success (Alexander Mackendrik 1957) and in between came General James Mattoon Scott in this John Frankenheimer parable of political will and might,released in 1964.

Amid all the Cold War paranoia films of the previous decade and following the real world tragedies of the McCarthy witchunt and the Kennedy assassination, this film asks : rather than what will happen if/when the Russians drop the bomb,what would happen if we sought peace and removed the possibility of mutually assured destruction ?

So it's a "what if ?" film ; what if in a future United States a liberal President sought peace rather than conflict, what if in the US of now a President felt sure enough of his course of action to ignore the military and the polls and declare peace ?

And who, back in early sixties America, did you bring in to imagine possible futures ? Rod Serling was your go- to- guy. He'd created the TV phenomenon that was The Twilight Zone and demonstrated that he had the sci-fi writers vision of an Ellison, Bradbury or (especially) Phillip K. Dick coupled with the control of plot and dialogue honed from writing hour upon hour of primetime TV.

Here though he doesn't look at a future of alien invasion,interstellar travel and humans driven insane by automation and being forced to wear one-piece lycra jumpsuits. He imagines a future/ now where a frail but determined President (Fredric March) sees the opportunity to leave a legacy for the future of the race by signing a treaty with Soviets ending the policy of M.A.D. and bringing to an end the nuclear arms race.

And here comes Burt... Four Star Gen. James Scott - decorated war hero and vocal opponent of his President's selling out of the country to the enemy.

Burt was an actor of limited range and in the three films highlighted above he achieves the greatness of his performance by almost not acting. He speaks through a barely opening mouth, adding menace to everything he says. His eyes are immobile yet steely determined. His body movements are small; minimal flicks and twitches.Yet throughout he is upright and brooding. He is the perfect symbolic embodiment of the inflexible attitudes of the US military toward the supposed enemy.

Ranged against Burt and his Army Of The Night are the Presidents rag-tag collection of aides and friends.They drip liberal wetness from every pore.They drink,t hey smoke, they hang out with unsuitable women, they live in the academic world (possibly the worst offence of all to the flag waving patriots we see picketing the White House in the opening shot).

And caught in the middle is Colonel Casey (Kirk Douglas). A military man who worships (maybe even loves) his commanding officer, Big Bad Burt, but who also knows enough to recognise that might can not be allowed to trample the flower of democracy under it's tank tracks.

There's a genuine tension running throughout the film - aided by a clever visual device that precludes the use of "Washington,Wednesday Morning" title cards. There's gadgetry - early teleconferencing from the POTUS - Bond villain style video screens with sliding shutters for Burt - but above all is an engaging story, visually simple yet expansive and with a fine cast of supporting actors : Martin Balsam, Andrew Duggan and Ava Gardener all add weight while Edmond O'Brien turns in a terrific performance as the drunk with a conscience Senator from Georgia.

It's two hours of " what if ? " that reaches for a different conclusion from that which was fashionable in the early sixties and, in that sense, feels more like an anti-war film from the late Vietnam period.

There's also razor sharp dialogue and (even) a few decent jokes - and there's this final scene duologue :

PRESIDENT: And that would be General James Mattoon Scott, would it? I don't know whether to laugh at that kind of megalomania, or simply cry.
GENERAL SCOTT : James Mattoon Scott, as you put it, hasn't the slightest interest in his own glorification. But he does have an abiding interest in the survival of this country.
PRESIDENT: Then, by God, run for office. You have such a fervent, passionate, evangelical faith in this country - why in the name of God don't you have any faith in the system of government you're so hell-bent to protect?

It's a morality tale that has stayed relevant.

Freeview film of the day (UK) : saturday 25th of May

The Man Who Fell To Earth (1976 113min.) [BBC2 10.50pm]

Cult science-fiction drama starring David Bowie. A humanoid alien from another planet mysteriously arrives in New Mexico. Calling himself Thomas Jerome Newton, he rapidly amasses a fortune by coming up with a series of revolutionary inventions, money he hopes will enable him to return to his home planet. But Newton's success arouses the curiosity of a chemistry professor whose investigations threaten to reveal the visitor's true identity.

Nicolas Roeg's sci-fi drama benefits enormously from the casting of non-actor Bowie in the lead role; his limited range is used to great effect to portray the disconnection with those around him that marks out his character as not of this world.

I'm a huge fan of Roeg's work and though the story is rather slight and the performances rather underwhelming the film is cleverly structured, beautifully photographed (especially the exteriors) and directed with his usual fluidity of movement.

Not exactly a classic but a film that was ready made for the move into the cult category.
Interesting.