2nd Chance Hall of Fame

I watched this last night and while I still liked the film my view of Lisa and even Stefan changed. I had previously thought of Lisa as this sweet, enduring young woman who found the love of her life but could never win him. The movie felt like a testament to unrequited love.

This time around I viewed Lisa as a sadly pathetic creature, someone with no self respect and no will power. She literally waste her entire life with her obsession for a man she doesn't even know. Lisa is even willing to destroy her husband's and son's happiness just to chase her pipe dream. In some ways she's even more pathetic than Stefan. Stefan has a one night stand with her and then moves on. But he doesn't know she's pregnant and so forgets her. When he meets her at the opera and wants her, he doesn't know she's a married woman...So he didn't deserve to be called out in a duel to most likely die. That wreck of humanity is on Lisa's head.

I now see the film as a monument to the folly of dedicating one's self to overindulges. With Stefan it's women and booze, which causes him to throw away his brilliant music career. Stefan reminded me of Joaquin Phoenix's character in The Libertine.

Lisa's downfall is her own obsession with an unhealthy dream. I believe people like her do exist.

Anatomy of a Murder is a film that follows proper courtroom procedure, and instead of featuring a dramatic case with surprising reveals, its story is a refreshingly honest look at the US justice system as a whole. The legality of almost any action can be open to interpretation with the right justification, and swaying the jury is frequently prioritized over discovering and upholding the truth. I appreciated those realistic themes, and was a little surprised by the film's bold use of language that would've been practically scandalous at the time, such as mentioning rape and discussing women's undergarments.

Since we witness the case unfold through Biegler's perspective, there is a lot of ambiguity regarding what actually happened on the night of Quill's murder and the alleged sexual assault of Laura Manion. Both the prosecution and the defence are shown to occasionally behave in a morally grey manner, which cleverly avoids colouring one side as inherently more just than the other. This puts the audience in a similar position to the jury, where opinions have to be formed on what limited evidence was presented. While some viewers may be disappointed by the lack of closure at the end of the film, I think it's a great reflection on how, in reality, facts are not the only things that matter in a court of law.

Instead of cutting between different angles, the camera tends to organically move around the room. The longer takes suit the film's slower pace well, and while I am not personally a fan of jazz, the score and diegetic music never felt out of place. The opening credits did a great job getting me in the right mood for the film as well, and while the runtime was a little on the long side, it didn't feel like a chore to watch. The performances were solid across the board, and I wouldn't have objected to some more scenes with George C. Scott. I wasn't able to watch all of Anatomy of a Murder when it was on tv over a decade ago, but I'm glad I managed to make time for it now.

Le Trou is an interesting and tense film that doesn't contain any music outside of the ending credits, just ambient sounds. It's absence is not missed, since the film is able to create atmosphere without relying on a dramatic soundtrack. Noises frequently take the place of a score, such as the rhythmic clanks of digging tools and the laboured grunting of the inmates as they work. Certain sounds, such as the running tap that can be heard in the background of a number of scenes, are also cleverly used to signal plot points before the film actively draws attention to them.

The actors definitely had their work cut out for them, since they are often seen digging the tunnels and filing bars themselves, with one continuous shot in particular clearly showcasing the effort and cooperation needed for them to succeed. The planning that went into the escape was very impressive, as was the ingenuity of the characters. Making the hourglass, cutting objects in a way that they could still stand in place when needed, and the sleeping inmate puppets were all great ideas to help avoid suspicion. Even outside of this escape plan, the prisoners as a whole have creative solutions to their problems, like the manner in which they pass packages between the cells.

As clever as those inventions are, the most remarkable aspect of the film is the portrayal of the prison system. The wardens and guards are not the cruel, sadistic men we almost always see in these types of films. The prison is still an oppressive, authoritative institution, but the men manning the gates are just doing their jobs, and don't harbour resentment towards the inmates. Because of this, the drama doesn't centre around conflicts between the guards and prisoners, which is quite refreshing. Instead, we get an engaging story that doesn't follow the expected conventions. Le Trou is definitely a unique film, and I enjoyed watching it very much.

I really liked the premise of the film: the telling of the lives of two Peking opera stars set agaisnt the dramatic changes that took place in China during the mid 20th century.

I liked how the film showed the two men much later in life and foreshadowed the idea that there was much friction between them...Then flashes back to the beginning, to tell their intertwined stories starting at early childhood in the opera training school. I liked the actors/characters, I liked the historical aspect, I even liked the soap opera style drama...

...but I found the film lacking in it's scene construction and pacing. Even though I was interested in the story lines of the two men and the woman, I struggled as it's a very slow paced movie. The scenes felt overly long without ever coming to much fruition. The individual scenes had this odd pacing that made me feel like I didn't get the emotional story that I should of. They didn't flow in the way they fit into the overall story, but felt like they were pieced together in a patchwork.

I got a feeling this was an ambitious film made by a director who hadn't quite perfected his craft. Or maybe the weird scene pacing could have been fixed in the editing room. Orson Welles once said movies weren't made on the set, they were made great in the editing room. I do like slow cinema but it took me two nights to get through the 3 hour movie which felt very long to me.

I can't say I enjoyed the opera scenes, just not my thing. Though this was made for a Chinese audience and not me, so I can't really complain about that. The opening 40 minutes was mostly in the orphanage where despite the amount of film time spent on it, all I really got was the head master liked to beat small children. Couldn't that message been done in 10 minutes? The film really felt like it needed to be re-edited.

I wasn't a fan of the score either, I don't mean the opera scenes, I mean the background instrument they used which sounded like a wind chime and was reused with the same note over and over.

The costumes and sets were colorful but yet I didn't get a sweeping epic sense from the cinematography. However I am glad I watched it.