Thoughts: My Weekend in Film 11/24

I feel like I had such a productive weekend that involved a lot of doing nothing. Hey, whatever works right?

Friday PM:

Shooting was on hiatus last week which meant we were able to get out of the office fairly early on Friday. And by early I mean before 7 PM. It was pretty awesome.



I spent most of the night just hanging out and appropriately enough the one movie I watched was the Reno 911! movie. Not something I bothered to watch previously. I wonder why...

The movie had a few moments that made me giggle but I really don't think Reno is a show that lends itself to the feature format. The improv bits come together nicely in short bursts but over the extended storyline... It was exceptionally silly.

Whatever. There are worse things I could have watched. Like Twilight... (am I going to be attacked by angry tweens if I proclaim my complete disinterest in this film publicly? I said nothing!)

Saturday AM:

Why did I wake up so early??? And why did I spend so much time on the damn couch after actually waking up early? Oh yeah. Headache. Too much beer the night before. Skins!



Oh man, of all the bad TV I watched Saturday morning (there was kind of a lot) I am totally in love with this British import. I <3 BBCA. I can't believe I have to wait for January to Netflix it all. *Sigh* I guess that's what the DVR is for.

Seriously though, if you think the hijinks of Gossip Girl are tasty, please oh please check this silliness out. It's a bunch of British teens drinking and getting high and F'ing. Plus all of the drama and scandal that that all entails.

I watched an episode (or maybe it was two, I'm not sure, I was kind of hazy with the hangover) and baby. I want more!

What else did I watch? Um. I dunno. Some South of Nowhere. A little bit of Pee Wee. Some other nonsense. Skins was all that was really interesting.

Oh wait! I'm a liar. I also watched Friday Night Lights. Now that is an actually quality show. One I'm not ashamed to admit I like (as if I have any shame anyway). I'm so going to Netflix this one.

Saturday PM:

I did some other stuff in the afternoon. Ran some errands. Ate food. You know. Life. Exciting!



Before it was time to go out for the evening I watched one of my Netflix DVDs, The Pillow Book.

The Pillow Book first caught my interest years ago during my Ewan McGregor phase. Mmmm... that was a phase that should have probably never ended. He's so cute.

Anyway. I stuck it on my Netflix queue ages ago as part of my search for really good, sexy films (think of classy stuff along the lines of Y Tu Mama Tambien not porn please). I had this idea in college for having a "Sexy Cinema" themed movie night, that never happened, and I still kind of like the idea. I've yet to put together the perfect list of films but I'm working on it. Suggestions are always welcome!

Sorry, tangent. Back to The Pillow Book. The flick is alright. There are some hot moments, the story is intriguing. I was hoping for more visually but I don't think it quite lives up to the hype. I also found it kind of slow and not in a good way.

Not my favorite movie. But if you want to see more of Ewan's junk (this boy is not shy!), that's one place you won't be disappointed.

Saturday Night:



Hung out with some friends and ended up watching a LOT of Triumph the insult dog from Conan. Not something I would normally sit and watch a lot of but I have to admit the dude is funny. Especially that Star Wars one. I also particularly liked the Hollywood Squares bit. Good times.

I know. I lead a very exciting life.

Sunday:

I slept in Sunday morning which was glorious. It's my favorite way to spend Sundays. I don't get nearly enough sleep. After hardly sleeping Friday night and waking up way too early Sunday, it was nice to spoil myself.

After reading for a while (I finally finished Cormac McCarthy's The Road, which has consequently all ready been adapted into a film due out in '09), getting my car smog check done and grocery shopping, L came over for some lazy TV time. We watched some Oprah, I cooked, K came back from PHX. The Wedding Singer was on TV.



The Wedding Singer is all about nostalgia for me. It's a nostalgia film, made for anyone who has any memory of the 80's. And, ironically perhaps, it's a nostalgia film for me in the sense that it always makes me think of high school. It came out when I was still happily dating my high school EX. He was my first serious relationship and a lot of my high school career involved him. There are a lot of memories, good and bad. It was also during this time when I found myself more seriously invested in film. A lot of movies bring back a lot of memories, again good and bad. It was at his house that I first discovered Kubrick and watched Dr. Strangelove. He was the reason I missed the theatrical re-release of The Exorcist (he wanted to see Deuce Biggolo: Male Giggolo. Again. Don't even get me started on that one!). He loved The Wedding Singer.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the movie. I'd probably enjoy it no matter what. But watching it now for me is never about the eighties jokes or the hair or the bad clothes. It's always a trip down memory lane. It brings back warm fuzzy feelings for a time that I really have no desire to revisit but still occasionally miss.

People who say that high school encompasses the best years of your life are either liars or haven't led very exciting lives. High school was no where near the best years of my life. Neither was college for that matter. But there were certainly good times and good people and every once in a while I don't mind a movie that takes me back there. The Wedding Singer is one of those movies.

Sunday PM:

If The Wedding Singer was the warm and fuzzy part of the evening then this next bit was the "gouge my eyes out" part. Oh no. Someone put on Charm School. You know. The thing on VH1 with Sharon Osbourne and the girlies from Rock of Love.



I have nothing to say about this trash. It was so godawfulbad. Do people like that really exist? Do people really like this show?? Whyyyyyy???

After that I had to save my brain cells somehow. What better way than with Fellini and 8 1/2?

Yes. I know. I'm a snob.



I'll be the first to admit that my knowledge of Italian cinema is sadly lacking. I have a cursory acquaintance with most of the big names: Fellini, De Sica, Antonioni, etc but I have not seen nearly enough. I'm using Netflix to reconcile this sad lack and fill the gap.

I have to say, I loved 8 1/2. I think it's a beautiful film that captures filmmaking so neatly. It's true that there are many insider jokes, but I don't think it's so obtuse that people will be left out. I mean, as long as you like old Italian flicks.

It's such an intriguing mix of memory, fantasy, and reality. Where do the lines end? Guido is great. He's such a Man/Boy. Trying to make life fit his fantasy, to make his film fit his memories, to make his fantasy his film. To have it all either fall apart or come together, depending on how you look at it.

This film frequently finds itself at the top of Best Of Lists. You better believe there's a good reason for it. What I wouldn't give to see a print of this in a theater. If anyone hears of a screening in the LA area, please let me know.

On The Slate:

You may have noticed that I still haven't seen Quantum of Solace. I know, excuses. But my parent's have seen it either and they like the Bond stuff and I'll be home for Thanksgiving. So that's now the plan.

Coming from Netflix: Play Misty for Me and Day for Night. Eastwood and Truffaut. I sort of have mixed feelings about Truffaut so I'm especially curious to check this one out. I'm also continuing with the theme of artsy meta-filmic flicks. I'm getting my film nerd on hardcore. Go me?

Review: When A Woman Ascends The Stairs

Originally posted at Epinions



There are times when the academic in me comes out and I really want to talk about a film in the context of something greater than itself. That context may be the director’s body of work, a genre, a time period, or possibly a national cinema. Mikio Naruse’s When A Woman Ascends the Stairs is one of those films.

Why do I want to discuss it in relation to other films? Perhaps it’s the assertion that Naruse is one of Japan’s great directors; it is not unthinkable for his name to come up alongside the names of Ozu and Mizoguchi. He also has an extensive body of work spanning the decades from the early thirties to the late sixties. And while his work has been discussed in terms of his early experimental period and his later
post-war work, the themes have remained consistent throughout.

These are the reasons I would like to talk about When A Woman Ascends the Stairs beyond the experience of a single viewing.

However, there is one very good reason why I cannot. Simply, I’ve never seen another Naruse film. What I know about him, I know from reading. Ozu, Mizoguchi, Kurosawa, these directors I know, I love, and I’ve seen a number of their films. There is a lot that I can talk about. Why is Naruse different? One reason: his films are not widely available in the west. Occasionally there will be a screening, a retrospective, something of that sort, but for the most part our choices are limited. In the US we
have access to all of one of his films, When A Woman Ascends the Stairs, on DVD. If you’re lucky you may be able to find another film, Lady Chrysanthemums, on VHS. Your choices are slightly less limited in Europe but not by much.

I can’t tell you why Naruse’s films are so hard to see in the West but I can tell you that it is a shame. This is another point where I would like to discuss him in the context of his contemporaries. Since I can’t I will skip all of that and discuss When A Woman Ascends the Stairs in more limited terms.

The story of When A Woman follows Keiko, an aging bar hostess working in the Ginza district. She has reached a point in her life where she must decide between her options of marriage and the opening of her own place.Keiko is a unique woman in her world of liquor, men, geisha, family responsibility, and, those ideas that are always just out of reach, love and happiness. She tries to stay above the world around her, she never gives in to the men, but in the end, how long can a woman hold out when all of the tides are against her? And when her choice is between virtue and love, can we really blame her for giving in to either option?

When A Woman Ascends the Stairs is a melodrama. It is a sensitive exploration of the choices given to women trapped in Japan’s class system. The choices become a matter of survival. But even death does not bring freedom.Keiko is never given the option of making the right decision. Whatever path she follows, it will be wrong for someone and she has obligations to all.

While the visuals of When A Woman never moved me as much as, for example, those found in an Ozu film and while I never felt quite as invested in the fate of Keiko as I did in Mizoguchi’s heroine of Osaka Elegy, When A Woman touched me. Naruse’s Keiko becomes a sympathetic character and the themes he explores are just as important and relevant as anything found in any of our other favorite Japanese films.Naruse shows his social consciousness. We care about Keiko. There is a point to be made and by the end of the film, we get it.

Keiko is trapped in her life by the demands and social strictures of the world she lives in. Repeatedly she performs the action described by the title of the film, but her ascension is not one to be envied. She is not ascending to something greater, she finds at the top of her stairs the dead end that she can never hope to escape. Her climb is an exercise in futility. She will continue to travel up and up, finding at
the end only the same dingy bars and the same groping men.

Perhaps one day I will be able to tell you more about Naruse and his films. Until that point comes, all I can say is When A Woman Ascends the Stairs is worth your time. It’s a sad, poignant story that is still relevant for today’s audience. It may not be the greatest Japanese film I’ve ever seen but I am glad that I have seen it. And I look forward to the opportunity to discover more of Mikio Naruse.

A hint for those of you who are curious: it’s available on Netflix.

When A Woman Ascends the Stairs
1960
Japanese with English Subtitles
111 minute

Thoughts: The Cranes Are Flying

So plans actually worked out and we did indeed watch this movie tonight. Now I'm really tired though and I'm not sure how much I'll be able to write or how coherent it will all be. But I'll try.

I first saw this movie a few semesters ago in a Russian Cinema course I took. It was one of my favorites from that class. I really enjoy Kalatozov, his movies are beautiful. He works with the same cinematographer on this one as he does on I Am Cuba, another excellent film. The cinematography is amazing. One of my favorite sequences is the part in the woods with Boris where the trees are spinning and then the spinning shot of the stairs is super-imposed and the whole dream sequence. I found it to be really moving and sad. The spinning did the whole showing the world out of control thing and the dream was really poignant.

I feel so bad for Veronica. Her character goes through so much. I want to cry for her at least four times during the movie. So much is out of her control and there is so little she can do. But she never gives up hope that Boris will come back to her and even though everyone believes she has betrayed him, she never does.

The ending is so Soviet it's wonderful. Hehe. That whole speach and her reaction. Your personal suffering doesn't matter, it's all for the greater good and war is bad. The first time I saw it, the end kind of threw me off but when you think about the social context of the film it makes sense. And as far as Soviet propaganda in Russian Cinema goes, you're hard pressed to find a movie from that time period without it.

I think it's a really interesting, extremely well done film. It is Russian so expect something depressing, but that probably went without saying. I love this stuff.