Michelangelo Antonioni, 1960.
On Wikipedia: L'Avventura
On Kanopy: L'Avventura
(JTS, 3/24/2020)
Showing posts with label JTS-topten. Show all posts
Showing posts with label JTS-topten. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 15, 2020
Wednesday, March 25, 2020
Jacob's Ladder
Adrian Lyne, 1990.
Zhuangzi dreamt he was a butterfly and after waking felt or feigned uncertainty about whether he might be a butterfly dreaming of being a man; in Jacob's Ladder a Vietnam veteran has become unable to tell which of the plausible and internally-consistent worlds he experiences is real, and which is something else. Psychological horror is at its most masterful when the hallucinations of terrifying abominations (and even the possibility that they aren’t hallucinations…) aren’t the most disturbing part of the story.
On Wikipedia: Jacob's Ladder
(JTS, 3/24/2020)
The Castle of Cagliostro
Hayao Miyazaki, 1979.
In this masterpiece from Hayao Miyazaki, arch-criminal Lupin III (the ostensible grandson of Leblanc’s Arsène Lupin, and anti-hero of a manga and television franchise since 1967) arrives in Cagliostro, a bucolic European micro-nation with a shadowy past, just as the preparations for the marriage of Count Cagliostro to his distant cousin Clarice seem poised to reunite the rival branches of the Cagliostro family. Will this give the Count absolute control over the legendary treasure of the Cagliostro family? Why is Lupin interfering? Will Interpol’s Inspector Zenagata, hot on Lupin’s trail, finally be able to catch him? A thrilling and visually beautiful adventure story in the venerable tradition of Dumas and Stevenson. (For those interested in the world of anime, all of Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli films are excellent: My Neighbor Totoro, Howl’s Moving Castle, Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke are all classics in their own right, and have the added advantage of being fun for all ages.)
On Wikipedia: The Castle of Cagliostro
(JTS, 3/24/2020)
Apocalypse Now
Francis Ford Coppola, 1979.
On Wikipedia: Apocalypse Now
(JTS, 3/24/2020)
[I have a memory of watching this with JTS and WCS at the home of PSJ, together with a "The Making of . . . " documentary called "Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse" (JTS3, 3/26/2020)]
Apocalypto
Mel Gibson, 2006.
With lush cinematography and a dizzying commitment to immersive realism, Gibson’s Apocalypto delivers a (slightly) secularized transformation of Dante’s descent into Hell, starting with the destruction of an idyllic jungle village by emissaries of civilization. Captured and enslaved, the hero is transported across a landscape that marks the corruption of civilization in progressively starker colors as the slavers and their captives approach ever-nearer to the temple-pyramid of the sun that lies at its heart. The second half is a thrilling anabasis as the fate of protagonist’s wife and infant, hidden in a well for safety and then trapped there and left to die by the raiders, hangs in the balance.
On Wikipedia: Apocalypto
(JTS, 3/24/2020)
Ran
Akira Kurosawa, 1985.
Ran would be the unsurpassable film adaptation of Shakespeare's King Lear had Kurosawa not surpassed King Lear itself to create a classic in its own right. Dark and joyful, ethereal and starkly realistic, a mesmerizingly beautiful portrayal of the ugliness of betrayal and despair.
On Wikipedia: Ran
(JTS, 3/24/2020)
Fun fact: Kurosawa was a talented graphic artist, and made his own storyboards for his films - you can see storyboards for Ran and other films here. (JTS3, 4/9/2020)
Tuesday, March 24, 2020
Moonrise Kingdom
Wes Anderson, 2012.
On Wikipedia: Moonrise Kingdom
See also: Darjeeling Limited, Life Aquatic, Grand Budapest
(ASHS, 2/25/2020)
Comment: "Very creative! (But I fear it may leave some uninitiated viewers with a mistaken impression of the true aims and methods of Scouting.)" (JTS3, 4/6/2020)
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