Happy Birthday to Jeanette MacDonald, Paul McCartney, Isabella Rossellini and Roger Ebert! Last night, I investigated three great cinematic examples (all 9/10 and enthusiastically recommended) of extreme bravery when your back is against he wall, so to speak, in Wit (Mike Nichols, 2001), Sophie Scholl: The Final Days (Marc Rothemund, 2005) and, my Curtain Call, as best film of the day, The Year of Living Dangerously (Peter Weir, 1982), as well as two more early short film music videos by Michel Gondry for his French pop band at the time, Oui Oui (both late-80s; 8/10): Les Cailloux and Junior et sa Voix dOr. There was a proliferation of fine actresses, in Linda Hunts portrayal of a male news photographer and Sigourney Weaver as a sultry, bored and homesick Brit in Indonesia counting the days until her return to England when she finally discovers the man she loves in Mel Gibson while Indonesia is about to explode into a Communist/Muslim-sided civil war in 1965 (both from Weirs film), Emma Thompsons incredible tour-de-force performance as a tough-as-nails English professor who now has to use that defiance against a life-threatening cancer (in Wit) and Julia Jentschs awe-inspiring turn as a true-life thorn-in-the-side of the Nazis on their own turf when theyre starting to lose the war in 1943. Weirs film is up there with Picnic at Hanging Rock (in terms of amazing mystique and atmosphere) and Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (in terms of epic in all the right senses of the word) as outstanding works with his stamp, and Wit is right up there with The Graduate as wonderful work from Mike Nichols, far better than the likes of Wolf and The Birdcage. Great film can certainly make your day, especially when, as in Windsor, terrible thunderstorms and hail are bombarding from seemingly all directions. I just wish I had a backup generator in case the power went out, but, I digress. My Five Stars, for cinematic excellence, were: --Actor: Mel Gibson (probably the best acting Ive ever seen from him, in The Year of Living Dangerously) --Actress: Julia Jentsch (Sophie Scholl: The Final Days) --Director: Mike Nichols (Wit) --Cinematography: Russell Boyd (The Year of Living Dangerously) --Soundtrack: Maurice Jarre (The Year of Living Dangerously). Tonight: Probably Orchestra Rehearsal (Federico Fellini, 1978), Battle of Britain (Guy Hamilton, 1969) and Nurse Betty (Neil LaBute, 2000). All the best, and dont forget your umbrella, raincoat and galoshes, from Film Club! =)
Posted on: Wed, 18 Jun 2014 21:18:16 +0000
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