søndag den 5. september 2010

My friday in movies

Friday was an exciting day for me as I could take the time to ONLY watch movies from morning till night.

The two italian movies I saw resulted in me dreaming in italian, and as my knowledge of italian is extremely limited my dreaming consisted of this sentence in many different tones of voice said by everyone in the dream: "el treno per Roma e pertito" (the train for Rome has left). I was quite tired in my ears wen I woke up as this mantra had been going on in what seemed like forever. Well, here are the movies I watched anyway:

Akira Kurosawa - Scandal (1950)

Scandale - Akira Kurosawa - Trailer
Uploaded by k-chan. - Watch feature films and entire TV shows.

A very sweet movie. Would recommend it, but other Kurosawa-movies are higher up on my list, such as his Dreams, Rashomon or Dersu Uzala for instance. I liked the scenes set in court (as I always like scenes set in court) and the story was very nice and highly relatable to still as it concerns untruthful journalists/media and their hunt for selling a good story at all costs.

Then I watched my very first Luis Bunuel movie that definetely made me want more: That Obscure Object of Desire. Quite interesting how the movie has two different actresses play the same part - something that I did not notice until after the movie was over. I though that she was quite versatile (also look-wise) and found it strange how I liked her more in some scenes. Both women are dropdeadgorgeous, and the movie itself is outstanding and defenitely recommendable. Many film adaptations have been made of the book about the tretrechous and deceitful Conchita and a rich old man's love/desire/lust for her. I will for sure check out both the novel and especially one of the other film adaptations; a french silent from the 20s that looks quite brilliant too: La Femme et la Pantin by Jacques de Baroncelli. Here is the trailer for Luis Bunuel's That Obscure Object of Desire from 1977:


After this I continued in the lustful/erotic corner and watched my first Passolini film. Arabian Nights from 1974. Would I recommend it? Well.. It consists of many interwoven tales that are truly wonderful. But how they are interwoven is so confusing that you often wonder whose story is being told and how these relate to the main story. However, I liked its imageworld so much that I think I will go for a recommendation.
Here is the trailer (in italian):


After this I continued with even harder stuff and watched the last half hour that I had left of The Piano Teacher. The last time I watched it I saw it with someone not used to such hardcore-movies and we chose to stop it when it got incestual. I finished it, and was quite happy that I had divided this movie into two sittings as one whole watch might have been a bit much (even for me). A great movie, but not something I will ever want to watch again. Isabelle Huppert must be one of the greatest actresses ever. Any aspiring actress should watch this movie just for its showcase of acting at its absolute best. Here is the trailer for Michael Haneke's The Piano Teacher from 2001:


To be able to get a good night's sleep I finished this moviemarathon day off with Robert Redford's beautiful movie from 1990; Il Postino. I am now much more interested in the poet Pablo Neruda than I was before I watched it. And I am even more eager (if that is actually possible to get more eager than I already was) on going to Italy. A very sweet movie indeed. But out of all the ones I watched today, perhaps the easiest one to forget.


One other movie that I started watching, but didn't finish (for the second time) was the Rumanian movie The Death of Mr. Lazarescu from 2005. A movie that feels like something I will definetely love, but have fallen asleep from every time I have tried watching it. An extremely long movie that I put on way too late in the evening. Here is the great trailer:


This was my friday in movies. Hope you got inspired to watch one or more of them!

2 kommentarer:

Frenzy sagde ...

Looks like a great bach of movies there. You have chosen maybe one of Pasolini's least appreciated films, so I would highly and strongly encourage you to watch Mamma Roma, The Gospel According to St. Matthew and of course Salo. Pasolini takes some getting used to; his films are full of symbols and deeper meanings.

I also have a (slight and not too good) review of the brilliant Pasolinifilm "Teorema" on my blog;
http://vaagnes.wordpress.com/2010/07/07/teorema-1968-av-pier-paolo-pasolini/

jannicke sagde ...

Thanks for your comment!

I did not know it was one of his least appreciated films. Will definetely watch more from him. I have mixed feelings towards Salo. Saw it as a theaterplay in Copenhagen a few months ago (www.villa-salo.dk), and it made quite the impression. I think I have to wait until that experience has sunk in before I dare to put on the film.

I like your review of Teorema. Makes me really want to watch it! Ah, cant wait to delve more deeply into Passolinis world. Have a feeling it will be exactly my cup of tea.