Daniel's 2021 Movie Watching

Jumping on the bandwagon of a few other members here in opening up a thread where I will be keeping track of and sharing my thoughts on the movies I watch this year.

I find that posts can get easily lost in the RTLMYS thread and Movie Tab is pretty dead. I'll use this post to manage an index of the films too so I don't lose track of what I've posted about already.

I ended 2020 with a rewatch of North by Northwest on BBC2, fitting given its recent appearance on the Top 100 Countdown list. It's one of my very favourite films so it was a great way to end the year.

The last "first viewing" of the year was Vincente Minnelli's Meet Me In St. Louis which I thought was fantastic. What I enjoyed about the film was that there are only really a handful of scenes that make up the movie, it appears simple on the surface yet it's so rich and full of detail. This to me is what cinema is about, it reminded me of one of my favourite films The Best Years of Our Lives where each frame almost feels like an intense tapestry of detailed, interesting characters each with their own unique lives, experiences, ambitions and so on. Some Came Running is a similar film, also by Minnelli, almost a combination of those two films. I'll definitely have to visit some more from him.

My posts in this thread will be like my posts in the RTLMYS thread and probably vary greatly in length. Some films I might just write a couple of lines, others a lot more.

2021 films

January

The Trial (Orson Welles, 1962)
Carboard Gangsters (Mark O'Connor, 2017)
The Equalizer (Antoine Fuqua, 2014) [REWATCH]

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The Trial (Orson Welles, 1962)

After watching Mank I had a good excuse to once again rewatch Citizen Kane before the end of 2020. It's widely regarded as possibly the greatest film of all time and for good reason. All these years on and the visual inventiveness of Welles continues to amaze me. With each viewing I notice, or re-notice delightful and clever tricks that add layers to build-up character and story in a way that cinema should as opposed to relying purely on exposition.

The astounding thing about Kane is that Welles created it in his early Twenties. There's an arrogance about the film, confidence in writing, directing, and starring as a character throughout different points in his life. Welles uses make-up, flashbacks, clever editing such as dissolves, and an array of other techniques to bring the story to life.

The techniques deployed by Welles are not done so for the first time, there are a ton of outstanding filmmakers before Welles that created incredible films with breathtaking and innovative techniques. The remarkable thing is how Welles combines all his filmmaking knowledge to create the perfect symphony of elements together in such a successful way. There is a really evident playfulness about the whole film that I find more amusing and comedic on each viewing.

The legend of Kane is made more fascinating by what subsequently happened to Welles career after its release, effectively being exiled from Hollywood. Thankfully he was still able to great a number of superb films and even late on in his career there is a fresh cheeky playfulness to his films that makes them immediately appealing to me, at least.

In F for Fake (another French production, like The Trial) he crosses the line between truth and fiction, introducing himself as the auteur of the film and as a magician wishing to play with his audience.

Although The Trial is a fiction film and far from a documentary, Welles starts with a similar introduction, announcing himself as the author of the story via a voiceover telling us an old parable over a series of pinscreen scenes.

I have not read the Kafka novel this is based on (although I do own it, better rectify that!) although I do not feel it is necessarily important to draw comparisons between different mediums. Much like Kafka is the author of his novel, Welles is the author of his film and is in complete control over the elements at his disposal to create a work in his vision.

The nightmarish, logicless world that the story takes place in acts as the perfect environment for Welles to show off a number of stunning effects. The cinematography, editing, the sets themselves. Welles combines everything to create a film that feels like it's taking place inside the mind of a deranged magician. Josef K (our protagonist) runs between rooms in a way that we travel through space in dreams, not reality. The camera moves between different angles and points of view, there is a fluidity to the size of objects, foregrounds, backgrounds that helps capture the despair of the story.

Welles gleefully seeks to examine the absurdity of life itself and our attempts to explain reality and give structure to what surrounds us. How we capture, record, tell stories, I find this to be a consistent theme throughout Welles work. There might be over twenty years between them and the subject matter incredibly different, but I think there's a lot to be said about the similarities between Kane and The Trial.



Cardboard Gangsters (Mark O'Connor, 2017)

I watched this low-budget Irish film with a friend, definitely not my usual sort of viewing. Like a lot of these gritty British crime films, it seems to want to appeal to its audience through its brutality and "realistic" depiction of crime and other issues but although not executed poorly (all the performances are decent, it has a few well-shot moments) it never moves beyond an obvious surface-level message about the dangers of gang life and violent retribution.



The Equalizer (Antoine Fuqua, 2014) [REWATCH]

I watched this a few years ago with my parents and I wasn't a big fan. I found it too be too vulgar and violent, over the top and self-indulgent in its violence. I still have these concerns, as well as others about some of the scripts very formulaic elements but for whatever reason, I found myself more able to enjoy the action of the film. Decent light entertainment, give me Fuqua's tranquil pacing and Denzel's cool lead performance other some of the more gung-ho director/actor action combos of recent years. I'll probably give the sequel a watch soon.

I'll suggest you pass on the Equalizer sequel based on your comments...just my opinion though

The sequel isn't great, but I enjoyed the first Equalizer.

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"A laugh can be a very powerful thing. Why, sometimes in life, it's the only weapon we have."

Suspect's Reviews

Cool thread Haven't seen any of the first three films but I've wanted to see The Trial for a while. I love Orson Welles even more so as a person than as an actor or filmmaker (not taking anything away from his films of course, I particularly like The Lady from Shanghai, Touch of Evil and F for Fake). He was a fascinating character and just an absolute delight to listen to. His interviews with Dick Cavett in the 70s are my favourite. If you haven't seen them:



Might start one of these threads up for myself I've been watching a lot more lately and it might be another good way of passing some of this free time

Should I make one of these threads, Daniel? I'll let you decide.

Yeah Daniel, decide for us!

Sexy said no

The Trial had been on my watchlist for a while too, and after I rewatched Citizen Kane in December and then saw MUBI had The Trial added to their library, I finally decided it was time to get to it.

I absolutely love Orson Welles. Such a great orator, I could listen to him everyday. An absolute genius with a great sense of humour, I love his playfulness which definitely runs through all those films you've mentioned too.

The Other Side of the Wind was one of my favourite films released in the last few years, it astounds me that even at old age he was still looking for unique ways to be fresh and creative. I've heard him be critical of certain directors like Antonioni, I don't agree with his criticisms but I thought it was interesting that Wind felt in a way to be an anti-thesis or satirisation of the likes of Antonioni.

Watching those videos with Dick Cavett too, makes me depressed about the current state of the world. Talk shows now are all about laughs and entertainment, silly stories, big character presenters. It's rare to get a presenter who asks interesting questions and where we get guests talking in such an interesting way. There are not many characters like Orson about nowadays and it's a real shame.

Do it, both of you! Even when I'm inactive I always pop in and post about the movies I've seen, even if it's just a rating and a few lines. In the RTMYS thread I have noticed sometimes if I post at the bottom of a page my post might only get a few reps and no replies. I don't care about rep but if it's low it's normally an indication that my post isn't getting seen. So I guess if people know I'm posting in here and it shows up with a new post, those who care can engage.

@donniedarko I know you have always been a big fan of The Trial, so want to tag you in here too to, to take a look at my thoughts

Yeah, in the modern era there's really only been Craig Ferguson who comes close to what Cavett achieved, on the TV stage at least, and his show has been off the air for 5 years (replaced by the genuinely awful James Corden). It's odd because I sometimes find myself thinking that Cavett can come off as slightly awkward at times yet gets such genuine, thoughtful, interesting answers from his guests. But then I think, that is what a real conversation is, there are pauses and gaps and silences, and that impression must be a symptom of being fed this over-produced, scripted style we get so much of these days.

You might already have done so but it's so easy to get lost down the rabbit hole of those Cavett interviews, btw. Hitchcock, Woody Allen, Brando, Polanski, Olivier... even Kurosawa and Bergman. It really is a goldmine.



Now to think of a snappy title...

Great review Daniel- bolded sentence describes my thoughts perfectly.

Kafka may be the toughest author to adapt, but Welles does an amazing job bringing the concept to film with a extremely unique touch, feels more like a stand alone piece than an adpatation to me, I recommend the book enough but I'd probably take the film media. There are many modern directors I think could do a great adaption of Metamorphosis

My second favorite OW film after Touch of Evil

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Yeah, I haven't read the book yet but I think that can be beneficial and don't think it's useful to compare mediums. Literature and cinema are completely different, and the authors have different tools at their disposal. Like I mentioned though I do actually own a copy of The Trial as well as some other Kafka works. I haven't read anything from him yet.

What directors do you think would be good for Metamorphosis? I don't know too much about it but sounds like something David Cronenberg would do for me.

Love Touch of Evil too. Have you seen Chimes at Midnight? I might watch that from him next.

Oh you’d love Kafka man, start with Metamorphosis and try a few short stories. It’s like David Lynch in print

Ari Aster is the first that comes to mind, but I’d watch anything that man does right. Lars Von Trier could do great with that material I imagine as well.

I watched Chimes years ago, I see rated it pretty poorly ( 2/5) but I can’t really recall too much about it, I’ll see if I have an old post to refresh my memory. Welles was a bad ass though