The Final Stage of Ozu: ‘Tokyo Story’ & ‘Floating Weeds’
Only the best can evoke the cycle of life and all its intricacies and broadness through a concentrated story of a single family. Yasujirō Ozu is one of the best, and Tokyo Story (1953) is maybe the greatest example in cinema of such a story, one of a relatively small number I’d argue should be rewatched.
Three Films by Sean Baker: An Assessment
The Italian neorealism movement rose from the ruins of WWII, and its characteristic pseudo-aimlessness was a powerful metaphor for life in the time of recovery. Without war recovery, the effect is mostly lost; the movement’s been dead for 70 years and a longshot for revival, especially in American cinema.
Two by Bresson: ‘Lancelot of the Lake’ & ‘A Gentle Woman’
Stories are never equal to reality, and legends are the furthest from it of all stories. The legend of King Arthur, the Knights of the Round Table, and their quest to find the Holy Grail (collectively referred to as the Matter of Britain) is one of history’s most appealing and enduring stories. Alas, storytellers embrace its heroism, its romance, its magic — because it’s a tale that invites an audience’s imagination and admiration.
‘Mouchette’ & ‘The Old Man and the Sea’
Objectivity, in relation to art, cannot exist. Art is, in the most basic terms, an expression of an artist, and consequently subjective. However, the conceit of an “objective eye,” still technically a misnomer, can be illustrative of a genre of artist that supposes to present his or her subject(s) without explicit comment. Film and literature are especially conducive to this style because they traditionally describe a string of events. The artist’s method for description informs an audience as much or as little as the artist chooses. In Robert Bresson’s 1967 film Mouchette, and in Ernest Hemingway’s 1952 novella The Old Man and the Sea, both men posit an “objective eye” — that is: they choose to inform the audience almost entirely of what occurs and rarely provide ancillary information such as internal thoughts or indications of consumer guidance.
‘Hereditary’ & ‘The Exorcist’
When a movie, particularly of the horror genre, truly confounds and disturbs people, superlatives often follow en masse. It’s easier to generalize such a visceral viewing event as “the scariest film since The Exorcist” or one that’s “absolutely terrifying” than it is to identify and articulate what makes it so confounding and disturbing (and indeed absolutely terrifying).