September 05, 2004
With no screenings on weekends, I turn my wayward eyes towards the idiot box. Three Netflixed films seen over the past three days:
-- Monte Hellman's Two Lane Blacktop, which lacked the landmark iconic road-movie moments of Easy Rider but is, nonetheless, a much better and far subtler film. Incidentally, I'm writing this as I listen to a great This American Life program (but aren't they all great?) about road trips. Synchronicity.
-- Toshiya Fujita's Lady Snowblood, a really great 1973 revenge film. It's got lots of delightful bloodletting, but it also has some really lovely cinematography and a closing scene that is surprisingly moving. If you've heard of this film, it's probably because it's gained some notoriety as one of Tarantino's big inspirations/sources for Kill Bill. For a more detailed comparion between the two, I'll refer you to this post from Like Anna Karina's Sweater (who, incidentally, also reported a while back on a Monte Hellman retrospective and guesses that his upcoming Western film might be an adaptation of a Cormac McCarthy novel -- I can see where he's coming from with that, but I hope he's not right because it would probably be the one I want to adapt).
-- Jafar Panahi's Crimson Gold, recommended to me by Matt Clayfield, which was just all around wonderful. What at first seems to be a story of a troubled man gradually, quietly reveals itself as a portrait of the equally troubled city he lives in: Tehran, Iran. It's a beautifully understated film, sad but full of genuine warmth; the kind of mood you'll often find in Jarmusch's film, if you need a point of reference. It was comforting to see these people in such a terribly oppressive culture, to see them laughing and finding the bright side of things; something I've always believed in is the essential goodness of humanity, and this is one of those films that gives you faith in that notion, even as it also shows how that essential goodness can go awry. It also, in a roundabout way, gave me a bit more appreciation for the scene I criticized in Farenheit 9/11, the one depicting the "happy" pre-war Iraq.
I slept too much yesterday. The day was overcast with a general malaise. Today, however, is significantly brighter.
Posted by David Lowery at September 5, 2004 02:40 PM