Saturday 29 January 2011

Let's Go Back to #250

This is it. I'm now officially starting my IMDB Top 250 challenge. I already watched Toy Story as a tester, but now I'm starting from the bottom and working my way up to #1. I have a print out of the list from January 5th so that's what I'll be counting as 'my' 250. I won't stick rigidly to the order because it might take a while for me to get hold of some of the films, so if I get stuck on one I'll move onto the next one and watch it later. Clear? Good. Let's go!

Film #250: Talk To Her (2002) 112mins

We start with the first of an impressive amount of foreign language films on the list - Talk To Her is a Spanish film focusing on two men whose lives are hugely affected by the women they love being in comas. One of the men, Benigno (Javier Camara), is a nurse at the hospital and has looked after Alicia (Leonor Watling) for four years, talking to her every day and gradually falling in love with her, though obviously the feelings are one-way only and Benigno daren't tell anyone what has happened for fear of losing his job. The other man, Marco (Dario Grandinetti), was in a relationship with bullfighter Lydia (Rosario Flores) when she was gored by one of the bulls. Marco's love was returned, though unbeknownst to him Lydia was preparing to leave him. The two men meet in the hospital and become great friends due to their somewhat similar circumstances. As they grow closer Benigno reveals his secret to his new friend just as a remarkable, and criminal, discovery is made concerning Alicia.

The film explores some pretty dark themes such as loss and loneliness, though it never lets the audience forget that there is also hope and love in the world. Benigno is an interesting character. There is no doubt he loves and cares for Alicia but you cannot deny that it's all a bit strange and he does at times come off as a bit of a pervert, especially when 'massaging' and 'washing' a bare breasted Alicia. You sense from the start that something a bit funny is going on, and when Benigno eventually reveals to Marco that he wants to marry Alicia it's hardly a shock. Marco's relationship is much less complex, but when he finds out about Lydia's plans to leave him he must suddenly come to terms with splitting up with a coma patient. It's crushing to think how that must feel - being at the side of the woman you love for nights and days on end, praying for them to wake up, only to find out they were about to leave you. For whatever reason though Marco never actually seems too upset by it. Weirdo.

The direction by Pedro Almodovar is inspired. At one point it is revealed that Alicia is a big fan of silent cinema and Benigno goes to the cinema every week to see a silent film 'for her'. As he sits and describes to her what this weeks film was about, the picture changes and we see the film for ourselves, silent and in black and white, with title cards and everything you would associate with the era of silent cinema. It's a bold thing to do but it works, especially as what happens in the silent film becomes more important later on and is somewhat revealing as to the overall story of Talk To Her. Seeing the images of the silent film provides answers to some of the questions later on in the film, without us initially being aware of it. Very clever.

Overall I enjoyed the film, though I couldn't say that I'd put it on a personal top 250 list. There are plenty more foreign language films to come, so I'm hoping this project will help me discover a lot of great foreign films I might not otherwise have thought to watch. I'm sure this is just the first of many.

Film #249: Rope (1948) 80mins



Here we have an ingenious experimentation with the art of filmmaking from the master of cinema himself, Alfred Hitchcock. The whole film takes place on a single set, the apartment of young intellectuals Brandon Shaw (John Dall) and Phillip Morgan (Farley Granger), and is made up entirely by a number of long, unbroken scenes with few edits. The film begins as Brandon and Phillip murder their friend David, strangling him with a piece of rope. They hide him in an old chest and go ahead with a dinner party which they hold in the very same room, with David's father invited, Brandon revelling in the fact that they are deceiving so many people and are so close to being caught out. Phillip is less thrilled by the idea and proceeds to get more and more anxious and drunk as the night goes on. One of their guests is their old schoolmaster Rupert Cadell (James Stewart) and as the party guests grow increasingly worried as to the whereabouts of David, Rupert begins to piece together what has happened.

Each shot in the film runs continuously for up to ten minutes and there are only nine cuts throughout, necessary because of limitations on the amount of film that could fit into the camera. Hitchcock masks half of these cuts by having, for example, someone walking past the camera so the picture goes black and he can switch to the next shot fluidly. This means that in the end there are only four visible cuts to a new camera setup, something which may be hard to comprehend for anyone used to watching modern action films in which you could see four cuts in less than four seconds. The way the film is shot really draws the audience in as you spend all of your time with the same characters, watching as Phillip slowly has a breakdown and Brandon's plans fall to pieces. Both are superb and Dall portrays Brandon's strange pleasure with the situation with rather disturbing authenticity. The shining star though is James Stewart as Rupert, in his first of four Hitchcock-directed films. Stewart plays Rupert's discovery of the murder clues very subtly and, though you can always see his mind whirring away and his suspicions rise, the audience is for a time left wondering if Rupert really has figured things out.

The intensity of the scenes is only heightened by not cutting away from the tense atmosphere, always confined exclusively to being inside the walls of the apartment. To make matters worse the murder weapon of the films title persists in constantly showing up during the party, always serving as a reminder to the audience and Phillip in particular as to what has happened. The focus of the camera often coming to rest on the old chest with the body in it, and the party guests proximity to it, raises the tension further still. The direction, as you would expect from Hitchcock, is fantastic and the style of filming has been borrowed and payed homage to many times since, most enjoyably in an episode of the BBC's comedy series Psychoville. That the film is still so fondly remembered today is a sure sign it deserves its place on the list, though I might have placed it a little higher myself. It is one film, as I suspect many on this list will be, that I think everybody should see.

Film #48: Black Swan (2010) 108mins

I saw Black Swan at the cinema this week after its UK release on the 21st Jan. It seems to have made a good impression on a lot of people, managing to make its way up to #48 very quickly. I suspect that's just over-enthusiastic fans rushing to give it a 10 rating, and it'll even out to something lower eventually. It is very good though and I'll be providing a full review of it in the next issue of Filmic. Anyhow, it is now crossed off my list. Taking into account Toy Story, that's 246 films to go...

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