Last (x) movies you saw (II)

Just a Good Guy (del Ruth, 1924)
*Charley My Boy! (McCarey, 1926)
Long Pants (Guiol, 1926)
The Undie-World (Stevebs, 1934)
The Creation of the Humanoids (Barry, 1926)
Mandibles (Dupieux, 2020)

Paprika
2006 Japanese cartoon with a surreal bent which gets pretty trippy.
Not helped by the subtitles shifting way out of sync after I had them almost on. Worked out how to get them to sync up initially and had it very slightly out. Then it jumped another 30 seconds or more and the tv only allows a certain leeway. Must be a way of getting them to sync right surely.
Anyway good film which I'd love to see properly.

& I had just given up on Le Doulos by Jean Pierre Melville because I couldn't get that to sync right either. Had seen his Cercle Rouge last week so would have liked to see this.
Having a lot of trouble with subtitles. Also getting quite a few to work. Even when found separately to the film. So I don't know if there is a good reason for it. Drag .

Paprika is a stone cold classic.

Freaky — body-switching horror comedy from 2020. The "Blissville Butcher" (played by Vince Vaughn) stabs a teenage girl with an ancient Aztec dagger and they switch bodies; she's got 24 hours to stab him with it and get her body back. Vaughn-as-teenage-girl-inhabiting-his-body is surprisingly good; he does a lot with the body language without devolving into "Rob Schneider-is-The Hot Chick" grotesquerie. And the actress who plays the teenage girl takes on a Jason-esque personality very well, too, moving silently through rooms, constantly looking for weapons, etc.

Mädchen in Uniform (Sagan 1931)
The World of Gilbert and George (Prousch, Passmore, 1981)
Wander (Mullen 2020)
Film (Beckett, Schneider 1965)
No Sudden Move (Soderbergh 2021)
Stoker (Park 2013)
Destry Rides Again (Marshall 1939)
The Hot Rock (Yates 1972)
*Rushmore (Anderson 1998)
Black Widow (Shortland 2021)
The Furies (Mann 1950)
*Memories of Murder (Bong 2003)
The Gunfighter (King 1950)
Summer of Soul (Thompson 2021)
Gunpowder Milkshake (Papushado 2021)
Flowers of Shanghai (Hou 1998)
Farewell, My Lovely (Richards 1975)
The Wolf House (León, Cociña, 2018)
Swimmer (Ramsay 2012)
Homicide (Mamet 1991)
Slacker (Linklater 1990)
The Conformist (Bertolucci 1970)
Dance, Girl, Dance (Arzner 1940)
The Devil's Harmony (Williams 2019)
La Piscine (Deray 1969)

Le Regle Du Jeu
offbeat comedy about a bunch of toffs weekending at the country house of a well to do society host. THese include the famous aviator who is trying to get the host's wife to run away with him .
Weird atmosphere throughout, possibly way more knowing than films would be under things like the Hayes code. Charming film and quite funny in places.
Maybe there is a French feeling from the time that I just have not got used to yet. NOt sure how English films of the time compare. Are there more working class orientated ones that don't have the stiff upper lip? THis is 1939 I think so just before the war.
Anyway really enjoyed it.

Started watching a bit of Black Lizard which is a 60s Japanese thriller with a transvestite playing a female adventurer who is looking to gain money from a kidnap. WASn't in the mood for that last night so only got a bit into it. Like they just did the kidnap.

i am seeing an in-person screening of Annette with a packed house and Carax doing a talkback after. I have an aisle seat but its still masks off out here (though i will likely be mask on); pray for me.

Le Plaisir. Max Ophuls 1951
Portmanteau film of 3 tales by Maupaissant. Very nice.
Think I need to read more of the writer.
But film is gorgeous.
Did these films get shown on British TV in my youth. Like 70s & 80s. Just wondering if I had a chance to have seen them back then.
Lovely.

Peau d'Ane
1970 retelling of a Perrault fairy tale with Catherine deneuve as the title character. Quite nicely done with some semi trippy sets.
Wasn't deneuve a little old for a teenage princess I thought Belle de jour was like 5 years earlier. Beautiful though.

Deux Hommes Dans Manhattan Jean Pierre Melville 1959
Utterly cool investigation thing about a New York based French embassy sending out a seedy investigative journalist type played by the director to find out what happened to a French delegate to the UN who has suddenly vanished. A bit B and a bit short but. dashed cool as is the alcoholic photographer he does much of the night's investigation with but not exactly the most reliable of people.

*the queen of versailles (lauren greenfield, 2012) 9/10
mainstream (gia coppola, 2021) 2/10
let them all talk (soderbergh, 2020) 8/10
the empty man (david prior 2020) 6/10
lunatics: a love story (josh becker '91) 5/10
downhill (faxon/rash 2020) 6/10

Le Grade Vadrouile
Mid 60s French comedy about a British war plane shot down over Paris and the aircrews escape. Featuring Terry Thomas, Bourvil and others.
Enjoyed it but it does have some bits that seriously stretch credulity.
Quite funny though in places.
Last time I saw Bourvil was in a straight role which he was quite good at.played a cop in Cercle Rouge.

The Ghost Goes West Rene Clair 1935
English language film about a haunted rundown Scottish castle being sold to a nouveau ruche American family.
Stars Robert Don't as the laird who becomes a ghost and his then current day descendant.
A bit of its time but it is Renee Clair. Think the French films may be better though.

somehow managed to not include finally getting to see
Delicatessen
Which I really don't know how come it took me 30 years to get to see . At least in full. Really not sure how that happened.
Surreal post apocalyptic story about the lodgers in a rooming house and various delusions and misdirections.
Very good.

Le Doulos 1962 Jean Pierre Melville
Coolish crime drama with a few loose ends that suddenly get turned into something else towards the end. Feels like a few bits of this were nailed together. I was thinking is this the kind of thing the mods thought was cool at the time while expecting it all to make some kind of sense.
Bits of it look pretty cool though.
Is this the Melville style?
Ends that don't make sense of the film they cap etc. Is it intentional, like?

A Sunday in the Country (1984) 4/5
Tokyo Olympiad (1965) 5/5
Annette (2021) 4/5
The Green Knight (2021) 3/5
Crossfire (1947) 3.5/5
* Clifford (1994) 3.5/5
Death Takes a Holiday (1934) 3/5
* The Visitor (1979) 3/5
* Le Samouraï (1967) 5/5

The Phantom of the Convent (de Fuentes, 1934)
Lady in Danger (Walls, 1934)
The Galloping Ghost (Schaefer & Eason, 1931)
Episodes in the Life of a Gin Bottle (von Block, 1925)
Skyscraper (Higgin, 1928)
Boo (DeMond, mashing up Nosferatu, Frankenstein, and The Cat Creeps, 1932)
Black Friday (Lubin, 1940)
Barnyard Rivals (De Lay, 1928)
*The Electric House (Keaton & Cline, 1922)

Wooden Crosses 1932 Raymond Bernard
One of the best war films I've seen probably ever. Found this really amazing.
Missed that one of the platoon was played by Antonin Artaud too, though I think he is only in it very shortly.
Seems to be a heavy anti war feel and the story follows one platoon through from a young law student joining them as a reinforcement I think towards the beginning of the war. Haven't really been sure exactly when in the war this was though.
Very good images and sound, it was restored very well. It had me wondering if it actually looked this good when it was first released.

whereas started watching
Werther 1938 Max Ophuls
version I was watching is very badly reproduced. Seemed to have the sound doubled or something and scratchy image. So wonder if there is a better version of this around. I thought his version of the de Maupaissant material as Le Plaisir was really good so thought I would try some more of his work but this I couldn't stick with because of the sound problem.
I'm like semi aware of Werther as in Goethe's character as the young boy outsider model of the late 18th century. So thought it would be good to see this film of it. Shame really, will see if I can get another copy though at some point.

Mouchette 1967 Robert Bresson
story of an outsider girl getting estranged in small town France. She's struggling with her age and a dying mother and an alcoholic father among other things. Quite good film. I take it that it shifting in and out of colour to b+w is intentional.
Another director I think I will be checking out other films by since i enjoyed his A Man Escaped.

La Ronde 1950 Max Ophuls
Another beautiful; adaptation . This time about a chain of semi entwined love affairs going on in Vienna at teh turn of teh 20th century.
Really nicely done

Big Deal On Madonna St/i soliti ignoti 1958 Mario Monicelli
I thought I'd swap European countries so went to Italy last night and saw this.
Quite funny , trying to think if this was more overtly sex acknowledging than British films of the time. Not sure though.
Some later notable actors making early appearances as a bunch of bungling criminal misfits.
Quite fun

saw a bit of The French versiom of Lower Deopths but couldn't get subtitles to stay in time. May get another chance with another copy later which has subtitles hard stamped on the film.

also started Flesh of the Orchid but felt it was too late to sit through. will give it another look

So just got to see taht French LOwer Depths which was really nice. Som eodd bits and pieces and I couldn't quite work out which country it was supposed to be in. Seems like there area number of people talking about Rubles in it though.
Didn't seem like a Soviet set up though anyway. Is Gogol like mid 19th century? Anyway its a resetting of a work base din an earlier time which is about as distant to the world of the film as the world of the film is from the present day.
NIcely done anyway and i think I'll be watching more Jean Renoir

8 1/2
Somehow not seen this before taht I can remember.
Weird film about a director trying to come to terms with his past and hos own philandering nature.\
POuring loads of money into a sci fi project and taking a rest cure neither one seeming very successful.

would probably help if the living room cinema didn't have the kitchen/laundry in one continuous space. I didn't get to hear Nino Rota's music very well.
Great film though.

Zazie Dans Le Metro 1960 Louis Malle
Slapstick take on a novel by Raymond Queneau taht I need to finish. Seems to be referencing things like Wile E Coyote and teh Roadrunner and Bugs Bunny and whoever.
Not sure how well that works but may have been early in doing this, well outside of mack Sennett.
I spent the whole film trying to think where I knew a young Philippe Noiret's face from cos he looked a lot like a current or last couple of decades comedian, is it Chris O' Dowd?
Well, think I may check out some more films by Malle. THis did have some ok bits in.

Definitely want to read more Queneau anyuway.

Marriage Italian Style 1964 Vittorio di Sica
Beautiful film with Sophia Loren as an ex prostitute and Marcello Mastroianni as a local aristo falling in and out of love and stuff over a 22 year period.
Sophia Loren was quite radiant in 1964.
THis is quite funny in places.

It Happened TOmorrow 1944 Rene Clair
one of the English language Hollywood films. i think based on a LOrd Dunsany source.
A reporter at the turn of the 20th century gets given tomorrow's paper by the paper he works for's archivist.
Fun ensues, quite charming but I think I may prefer Clair's French films so far.

La Grande illusion 1937
1st World War Priosner of War drama. A working class lieutenant is trying to go and see his lover and has arranged a lift when he is called back to take an officer on a flight. The flight goes wrong they crash and are captured by a squadron lead by Eric Von Stroheim who is a career soldier with aristocratic leanings. They wind up in one POW camp then in a Colditz like castle.

Good film I thought. NOt sure how heavy the rumblings of forthcoming war would have been at the time.
I like Jean Gabin in the films I've seen so far. have been trying to think who he reminds me of in later years either contemporary or 2nd half of 20th century which is what I'm mnore familiar with. Definitely reminds me of somebody and definitely has a palpable screen presence.

THis is mainly in 2 languages French and German reflecting the nationality of teh characters portrayed. Fore some reason it keeps lapsing into English which is a little confusing since the characters taht do that are either French or German. Did this film get wider distribnution or have actors who had become more used to English in Hollywood or whatever careers. Or has this been partially reconstructed from an English language version. I don't get it.
Glad to see a black officer portrayed in the film. Do wonder how he would have been treated by the Germans at the time after r3eading David Olusoga's book The World's War.

L'Amore 1948 Roberto Rosselini
a film made up of 2 sections both starring Anna Magnini portraying different forms of mania. IN the first she does a monologue portraying one half of a phone conversation with an ex lover. Story written by Jean Cocteau or at least idea from him. The other is Magnini playing a marginalised homeless woman who gets seduced by a man who she is convinced is St Joseph portrayed by Federico Fellini.
This hs some awesome scenery as teh backdrop. & shows how uncaring her fellow population are.
BOth films are pretty intense.

Donzoko 1957 Akira Kurosawa
The Japanese take on Maxim Goprky's play the Lower Depths.
I watched teh 1936 French version Les Bas Fonds last week so thought I'd give this a shot. I think I may ahve seen it several years ago but not sure. It seems a lot darker and dourer than the French version, though it ends on a punchline. Won't give any further spoiler for that but really funny note to end on.
I'm not sure when this is set, if its the prefvious century to the film or what. Not sure i could fully tell with japanese culture anyway.
But great film again.

L'Atalante 1934 Jean Vigo
story about a young woman getting married into the crew of a cargo barge travelling French rivers. & how she deals with teh other crew members and her young husband's jealousy.
Nice film , have heard abou it for years but not seen it before . Or at least had heard about the existence of teh film. I wasn't sure what the story was.

Started watching La Beaute Du Diable but couldn't get the subtitles to stay in sync .
Also started watching Germinal but changed my mind , wanted to see if I could get a different set of subtitles to work on La Beaute Du Diable. May retuirn to it tomorrow.
Started watching Le Bete Humaine bt subtitles were skipping loads of things for some reason. Noticed on the opening blurb quote from Zola they translated teh first page tehn skipped teh 2nd and replaced everyuthing with the word drinking once. Odd way of subtitling. Noyt sure if what tehy were skipping was supposed to be technical or something but a bit weird.
Umberto D. just started watching the beginning but not feeling up to watching until about 1am so again will be back to it.

Satyricon 1970 Federico Fellini

Lavish production that starts out very homoerotic and camp and seems to relish in it.
A portrait of debauchery possibly.
I haven't seen that much Fellini but I think this is a style he is well known for though earlier work doesn't really go there as much.
Very spectacular.
THink I'll watch some more of his over teh next few weeks. Don't remember seeing this before .

I checked through some of the maaterial I mentioned above, downloaded another subtitles for Le Bete Humaine and that has the gaps corrected. Covers the 2nd part of the Zola quote for starteers and I thinnk it covered more of the coversation. Like taht wasa weird choice to skip it which I really don't get.

I like your first impressions. Reminds me of when I went to a video store that had a criterion wall, and I'd pick out a random movie from it every week.

La Beaute Du Diable 1950 Rene Clair
GOt a working version of thsi that had subtitles stay in sync . So watched it this evening. Quite fun. MIchel Simon starts off playing the aging Faust then becomes Mephistoles hosted in a replica body and acting a few years younger. Do like a bit of MIchel Simon so must get around to watch Boudu saved from drowning.
It's Rene Clair so you know it must be quality. & yeah did enjoy it.

Lola Montes 1955 Max Ophuls
THis appears to be Ophuls last film and it was cut up nastily by the studio on release., Then gradually reworked back to the original intended film which this most resembles.
Max Ophuls so pretty lavish.
This tells the story of the Irish dancer through the means of a lavish stage show that a travelling circus guy has devised which links back into various vignettes from lola's past. That circus guy is played by Peter Ustinov speaking fluent French which was one of several languages he spoke. Very interesting guy, must reread the memoirs.
I was reminded during watching this, is Lola Montez the first woman that Flashman seduces in the late 60s film of the George McDonald Fraser character or am I misremembering tha
Anyway, beautiful film and i think I am becoming a fan of Ophuls' films.

currently got Rififi underway will say more on taht later.

Rififi Jules Dassin
French crime caper of a dirty realist bent. Introduces a team of underworld figures lead by a recent excon who set up a caper then have to deal with the consequences.
I wonder if there were concessions needing to be made to morality of the time. Don't have square brackets on this phone so can't explain without spoilers.
Though always seems like Sex is less of an issue than in the US or UK or at least that is my understanding of films from those places.
Had thought a director called Jules Dassin would be French from looking at the name but he was a blacklisted yank. I should probably know the name already since I've seen a few of his films.
Didn't realise the same guy made Never On A Sunday which I grabbed last night so will watch before long. Also Topkapi which I enjoyed as a child.

Love Bound (Hill, 1932)
Sixteen Fathoms Deep (Schaefer, 1934)
Moscow Nights (Granowsky, 1934)

Capitolfest 18
Man Hunt (Lang, 1941)
"Blue Blazes" Rawden (Hart, 1918)
The Trial of Vivienne Ware (Howard, 1932)
Madame Spy (Neill, 1942)
Show Girl (Santell, 1928)
She Wanted a Millionaire (Blystone. 1932)
Rich People (E.H. Griffith, 1929)
*Topper (McLeod, 1937)
The Pursuit of Happiness (Hall, 1934)
The Last Card (Veiller, 1921)
So This Is Eden (Rothman & Sarg, 1927)
The River Pirate (Howard, 1928)
Her Wedding Night (Tuttle, 1930)
*Duck Soup (Guiol, 1927)
Wandering Fires (Campbell, 1925)
John Barrymore Technicolor Test for Hamlet (1933)
Artists and Models Abroad (Leisen, 1938)
Dad's Choice (Howe, 1928)
His Nibs (La Cava, 1921)
Week Ends Only (Crosland, 1932)
Four Days Wonder (Salkow, 1937)
Katharine Hepburn Technicolor Test for Joan of Arc (1934)
The Shield of Honor (Johnson, 1927)

Zero De Conduit Jean Vigo
I've heard teh name fopr years but wasn't sure what to expect.or taht it wasa short bieng like 40 minutes long.
It shows the goings on in a boarding school in themid 30s. Where kids are plotting open resistance for getting detention,. So I was reminded of If to some extent and wondered if it might be anything of an influence. I am tryingto think what context I've heard the name in.
It has some surreal bits and some unreal biits.
BUt did enjoy it. I keep seeing Jean Daste appear in films from thsi era. He is here as the new master who arrives just as the kids are returning to school. He appears to be a bit of a gymnast and stuff or at least can stand on his head and walk on his hands. Also amuses the boys by playing at being Charlot's little tramp and whoever taht is in the football game.
Interesting film

Boudu sauvé des eaux 1932 Jean Renoi
Story about a tramp portrayed by Michel Simon being saved from drowning in teh Seine by an aging lecherous bookseller who starts the film by carryong on with his maid. I think I must have dozed off for a bit cos i missed the bit where Boudu is brought into the house and given a new set of clothes. He proceeds to act in a bizarre way being absolutely crassly ill behaved in the house.
MIght rewatch this for that bit. I wasn't as into this as i thought I might be. Bits of it verge on the rapey if not doping more than that. & its seen as a good thing. So gosh attitudes may have changed in 90 years.
Not sure how well this conveys the message it is trying to . Cos I'm not sure what that message is or am being blind to it cos it's not something I want it to be. Seems to want to show that classes don't mix. So maybe it's just a satire on bourgeois attitudes?

A Propos De Nice 1930 Jena Vigo
THis starts with a bit of animation of a few toys then switches to some travelogue like footage of events among the hoi polloi in Nice.
The footage keeps switching from the hedonistic lifestyle of the rich to things taht contrast heavily. Animals in a zoo, the poor in teh town and a few things p-lu sit has some other images taht are obviously staged like a woman changing clothes rapidly and winding up naked anda guy getting really bad sunburn.
NOt sure if teh soundtrack was the original sound you would have heard or done more recently. Its an accordion among other stuff.
Anyway yeah this was a nice way to spend 24 minutes. I think i may have seen it appear somewhere before but not sure.
BIts of it reminded me of the How To series so wonder if that was a conscious thing for the director of that

Moi, UN NOir 1957 Jean Rouch
Late 50s film about migrant workers living in the Ivory coast town of Treichville. Actually not sure how much of thsi was supposed to be people playing characters and how much was them playing themselves. Apparently had no artificial set ups or costumes or anything or at least if it did they were so inconspicuous as such that it looked like somebody just filming every day activity.
JUst realised that the director was a white guy so wondering if that makes this less authentic.
But ok film , semi moving, nice atmosphere. Interesting to see what the living experience was of people at the time., Would have prefered to see what people would come up with if depicting themselves. & now thinking the gaze of a white guy getting a young black woman to strip for the camera may be questionable. I don't know.
Enjoyed it anyway.

Then tried to set up Never oN A Sunday but the subtitles were out of sync. Appeared way before teh lines being spoken which is the opposite direction than I've encountered before.
I have now managed to get a copy from another source. This seems to be harder to get hold of than I would have thought. Thought it was a very well known film. Just not sure if I have seen it before, may have it partially confused with Zorba the Greek.
Anyway, great soundtrack and i will get to watch the whole film later.

Tirez le Pianiste 1960 Francois truffaut
Noirish film about a bar room pianist who has moved away from his more illustrious past because of a serious event. Not sure how much is spoiler etc. Anyway film shows hs past through flashbacks as he is currently dealing with a situation his brothers have got him involved in concerning a heist.
Beautiful moving film . I think i need to catch up with my Truffaut since what I remember seeing by him has been so good. Really should be at a point where I've seen most of him. Ah well will rectify that if I have the time and actually manage to work through everything I've just found out about from various European, Japanese and African cinemas.

La Noire de..... 1966 Ousmane Sembene
story of a young black girl hired asa maid by a French couple in Dakar in the mid 60s and brought to the Antibes when they leave her home town and country. She feels totally isolated and is being a bit abused by a very white privileged white employer who has just doubled her workload without telling her and doesn't seem to be thinking about it. She reacts very badly to this. I won't give further spoilers.
Anyway beautiful film, pretty sad and do wonder what the actress playing the female employer's take on things would be. How deeply this would challenge her preconceptions etc. BUt then again reminded of teh Theatre for Change here's attitudes to how the ywere expanding people's consciousness without reflecting on their own inherent prejudice.
Oh well , it works good and it is an early outing for an African director so I think it served is purpose. Has some interesting uses of location etc.
Glad I saw it.

Watched a bit of Umberto D too but I think I was again thinking it was too late to start into another film.
Well will get back to that shortly.

I love Umberto D. YOU WILL CRY.

A Quiet Place II (2020) 6/10
Borg vs McEnrore (2017) 7/10
*Thats My Boy (2012) 7/10
Kajaki (2014) 7/10
Rambo (2008) 2/10
*Bulworth (1998) 7/10
Do I Not Like That - The Final Chapter (1997) 7/10
The Prostitutes of Lyon Speak (1975) 6/10
The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Maki (2016) 7/10
Woodstock 99: Peace, Rage and Love (2021) 6/10
Gaza (2019) 7/10
Belushi (2020) 5/10
Beat The Devil (1953) 7/10
Pig (2021) 8/10
Wanda (1970) 7/10
Sorry We Missed You (2019) 7/10
First Cow (2019) 6/10
WeWork: or The Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn (2021) 5/10
Pray Away (2021) 6/10
Welcome II The Terrordome (1995) 6/10
*Gimme Shelter (1970) 8/10
Black Bear (2020) 7/10
Greener Grass (2019) 7/10
Le Cercle Rouge (1970) 8/10

Soleo O 1967 Med Hondo
experimental film about a Mauritanina man arriving in France looking for work . It explores colonialism, racism etc in a way taht is still relevant 54 years later.
Really enjoyed it and want to see more by the director.

UMberto D 1952 Vittorio De Sica
Sad story of a pensioner struggling to survive on his pension in post war Italy. Fighting with his landlady who doesn't seem very sympathetic at all. UMberto D is the title character and his one real friend appears to be his dog Flike and the maid in the apartment he has a room in.
IT was pretty moving as you watch the protagonist facing an uncertain fate that is looming in an inevitable way.

started trying to watch Never on A Sunday again and the transfer didn't bring the subtitles I thought were hard coded onto it which si weird.

Yesterday I watched Fear Street 1994 and Moonstruck. There was an unexpected connection between them. body parts in bread slicers

Yaaba (1989) Idrissa Ouedraogo -
African film from the late 80s set in a village in an unspecified time where a young boy befriends an elderly woman that is accused of being a witch.
I couldn't see anything related to a current day world and it struck me that this could have been any time in a few hundred years. THere was no sign of recent technology so could just be that people were simply in a backwater village off the grid.
Anyway, quite moving I thought. Beautiful scenery and nice acting. Showed the interdynamics of village life .
I enjoyed it.

O Drakos/ The Ogre of Athens 1956 Nikos Koundouros
Greek film about a bank worker with a passing resemblance to a gangster which backfires on him one New Year's eve thanks to an a-hole landlord then a wayward policeman. Leads to him being introduced to the criminal underground and 2 nightclub singers with hearts of gold.
nNteresting film, quite funny in places. Showing mid 50s postwar Greece. INteresting to see rhumba big in Greece at roughly the same time it was sweeping Africa and had me thinking that maybe it was a possible lasting fad at teh same time rock'n'roll was taking off but not sure how on the pulse a popular film would be about music at the time.
Moving film possibly though to say why would mean spoilers.

Lone.Wolf.&.Cub.1.-.Sword.of.Vengeance.1972. Kenji Misumi
Japanese samurai film about a disgraced royal executioner going Ronin. This was teh introductory film though I assume the characters had been around as manga beforehand.
Quite enjoyable especially if you like OTT effects of blood gushing from people etc. Cartoony which reflects the story origins in manga I guess.
I have another few of these to watch at some point.

My Fuhrer 2007 Dani Levy
Satire about a Jewish actor being roped in to help Hitler make a speech towards teh end of the 2nd world war.
Ok I thought. Possibly too sympathetic a Hitler

Antigone 1961 Yorgos Tzavellas
British release of the Greek version of a classical play telling the story of teh next generation of Oedipus's family .
It has Irene Papas in the title role and looking rather iconic. I was reminded that she had a role in Guns of Navarone which I then found out was the same year.
NIce version I thought, though I was a little reminded of some of the Dr Who's historical dramas though I don't think the scenery shook as much in this. & it may have been more authentic.
Yeah, glad i watched it. May give Electra a blast this week too.

started trying to watch Mandabi a 1968 African film but couldn't get the subtitle to work right.
Same with La Vaquilla a mid 80s Spanish film which i think is set during teh Spanish Civil War but same thing happened. Stuck trying to get subtitles synched and them drifting out of sync. I've seen teh contents of an SRT now so wonder how editable they are . & if timing is easily connected. Looks like there are lines of text controlling intervals but not sure how easy it is to get that in time. Drag, looked like it could be interesting.

Il giudizio universale 1961 Vittorio Di Sica
early 60s all star cast satire . God decides taht it's time for the last Judgment apparently out o fthe blue and starts announcing it is going to start at 6pm. There are a series of vignettes about people in Naples reactions to the news.
Some of it is quite amusing. There are a couple of very dodgy race based jokes which give things a weird taste now. Would have preferred not to see them appear in the film cos I would prefer not to think of this director as thinking like that. But maybe it is just of the time. I don't know, found out some stuff about anti-black racism in current Italy over the last year which is uncomfortable.
Damn wanted di Sica to not go there.
Interesting idea, not heard about anybody else working with similar though maybe it needed a heavily Christain background to think in terms of it.
I was trying to work out if people were just overdubbed in it since it does have roles by American actors apparently speaking very fluent Italian quite speedily.

Intruder in the Dust 1946 Clarence Brown
I thought the list i got this suggested from was films with black directors and cast though that doesn't seem to be true here. Juano Hernandez plays one of the main characters whose actions set the plot rolling though I think the actual protagonist is going to be the young white guy he sends off to get his lawyer uncle to act as his lawyer.
This had a lot of racism in it , hinged on it, used racial terms and a very white gaze . Though I think Hernandez's role is very sympathetic. The young black guy who is one of the helps in teh house that the white protagonists lie in is portrayed in a bit of a derogatory way though he does seem to have some agency most of the time even if he does comment on that not being true all the time.
Anyway good film I thought and one that could benefit people fro seeing around now. Though maybe the message has been given elsewhere. I think this wa pretty early for it to be conveyed though.
It's based on a William Faulkner novel which is in turn based on a real incident apparently.
Has a lot of use of the n word which I don't remember seeing before though I would think those films that got onto the tv when I was a kid would probably be ones that didn't include that word. So wonder what percentage of films did use language like that without thinking since it was probably prevalent at the time.

Rough Necking (Stevens, 1934)
His Wife's Mistakes (Arbuckle, 1916)
Daybreak (Feyder, 1931)
Monte Cristo (Flynn, 1922)
House of Horrors (Yarbrough, 1946)
She Loved Him Plenty (Jones & Del Ruth, 1918)
Damsels and Dandies (Pratt, 1919)
Kidding Kate (Sidney, 1923)

Val (2021) 3/5
Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970) 3.5/5
Ticket of No Return (1979) 1/5
*Being There (1979) 4.5/5
His Motorbike, Her Island (1986) 4.5/5
*The Party (1968) 3.5/5
*Body Heat (1981) 3/5
*Mind Game (2004) 4/5

Cadaveri Eccellenti 1972 Francesco Rosi
Crime investigation featuring an Italian beat down police detective who seems to be a bit world weary and things trying to work out why a group of top judges have been assassinated. Very good I thought, not seen an Italian version of this genre before i don't think.
Enjoyed it, kind of fits in with things like Parallax View and other contemporary films from the US at the time. I think it was a paranoid time.
Worth watching. I think I started watching it thinking it was more satirical or something but it is very atmospheric .

Blood of Jesus 1941 Spencer Williams
Religious film or at least one using a religious theme. A devout woman married to a non believer has a near death experience where she experiences having died and headed towards the road to heaven.
THis was a black made film with an all black cast which I think was the first one from the era I have seen. Seem to be a few of these around on youtube etc.
Some nice touches, pretty B but not sure what budgets people would have had to work with at the time.

started watching Killer of Sheep which I need to get more into.

Watched the 2nd Lone Wolf and ub film which was cool. Stupid gore that remains really unconvincing but quite funny.
This has the Lone Wolf up against a bunch of female assassins as well as a group of 3 brothers. I think a version of the 3 brothers appear as Strontium Dog enemies at times , assuming that's a bit of a near straight lift.
I have the full series of these. So will probably get through them before too long.

Mikres Aphrodites 1963 Nikos Koundouros
A film about several groups of people crossing paths in 200BC in the wake of a drought. Looks really good. Dialogue is presumably a little self consciously experimental/existential.
I gave up on it last night and went to bed after 1st half hour but may give it another try.

KIller of Sheep 1977 Charles Burnett
story set in Watts about a slaughterhouse worker trying to cope with family and things.
Quite great I think.
NIce picture of the time with a pretty good blues soundtrack

Mandabi 1968 Ousmane Sembene
A money order which the title refers to causes chaos for a poor man in Senegal who may be overly proud.
This was one of the films i was having trouble with subtitles with. I wound up getting a new set which fit the time a lot better bit left several phrases untranslated.
Anyway kind of good. Loved the music and seeing the way that people were dealing with the overlap of cultures. Also that everybody was out to make money off this guy.
Same director as Black Girl which was 2 years earlier than this. This is in colour and mainly set in Senegal though it visits Paris to show the sender of the money order. The main character's nephew.

Django 1966 Sergio Corbucci
Franco Nero as the titular hero dragging a coffin across the borderlands of US/Mexico. I thought this might be another take on Red Harvest buit doesn't quit ego there. It gets into the mud, there's a lot of that in this film.
Quite muddy, quite black humoured and possibly a bit nihilistic.
Seemed to have an anti racist against Mexican message initially but not sure how well it sticks with it.
I think there is a sequel and Return of Django is not just an Upsetters lp isn't there?

Killer of Sheep is all time
http://live.staticflickr.com/2170/2533477571_9c0722f9ed_b.jpg

Emperor Tomato Ketchup 1971 Shûji Terayama
weird groovy transgressive experimental film with a great soundtrack.
Has some very odd bits in and gets into some areas that probably wouldn't be acceptable today. Nudity and things involving kids would probably be heavily frowned on. & do actresses get stunt nipples for things like this.
Anyway glad i got to see this.

started watching le Bete Humaine again but after ahving subtitles exactly right I found tehy drifted away from sync . So need to find a 3rd set of them or a new videofile. Shame , I was just getting into the film after an attempt a couple of weeks ago.

Lumumba 2000 Raoul Peck
The dramatic version of the story of the Congolese leader, the same director did a documentary version 9 years earlier which i need to get hold of.
Not sure if I am seeing faces I recognise or not since this is francophone. May be people who have since crossed over.
BUt good film and I want to see a few more of this director's after having seen his Exterminate All The Brutes earlier this year.
I have his Fatal Assistance/Assistance Mortelle about Haiti on the memory stick already. So need to get to that.

shame that dogmask image from Killer of Sheep appears to have disappeared or had its link cut. Pretty haunting odd image so it was.
Assume that the director just saw a kid walking around in a halloween mask or similar and thought he'd include it.

Hyenas 1993
A local woman who has become rich in her absence returns to her bankrupt backwater Senegalese hometown and causes chaos.
I'm not sure how realist this is supposed to be. Works quite well asa narrative and does have some quite great imagery. Mainly seem sto take place in the shop of her ex lover who also runs a bar.
Enjoyed this, not familiar with all the tropes of African cinema and just educating myself at the moment but also working through some other traditions from other areas so may not be able to derive a full picture of specifically African cinema. Also I think that as with all other things there is unlikely to be a monolithic one take on what should constitute cinema across a full continent. Seeing some good stuff along this journey anyway.
This seems quasi dreamlike in places and i assume it is heavily allegorical though not entirely sure what for , but am not up to date with Senegalese history of the time. I know its west coast will have been heavily colonised etc and there was some pretty fine music coming from there a few years before this film Etoile De Dakar are so sublime.
Anyway I liked it so you may. Its a bit later than a lot of things I have been watching recently but not sure that parameter is fixed. I think I was trying to check out the roots of African cinema but it's a big continent so going to have a lot of films coming from it. Maybe I'll get a decent grounding at some point but maybe that is just overstretching things especially if I am looking at so many other areas traditions of film. Will have fun expanding my knowledge while i have the time and access to do so though.

Baie Des Anges 1963 Jacques Demy
A young bank clerk gets introduced to gambling and goes overboard. wins money, loses money, gets involved with a beautiful older lady who is a lot more committed to gambling to an addictive point.
I'm not sure how long this is supposed to take place over. Was it a film version of an earlier fiction taht took place over a longer period . It just seems that it takes place over something like 3 days which would just be crazy to have the interpersonal interrelation displayed wouldn't it? Otherwise seems to be trying to be semi realistic though I'm really not sure. I guess a film is inherently a fiction even when portrayed as otherwise, any point of editing adds a little subjectivity or fictionalisation doesn't it?
Anyway, nice moving film which looks great and engages one for an hour and a half. Got some good snippets of music on teh soundtrack too.
Ah well looks cool but i wouldn't use it as a lifestyle guide.

Twin Peaks: The Return (7.0)
The Calling (5.5)
The Larry Sanders Show (S1-S6: 10.0)
Nomadland (8.0)
Stillwater (5.0)
Old (1.0)
Better Call Saul (S1-S4: 7.5)
The Night House (6.0)
At Close Range (5.5)

The Black Cauldron (Disney co., 1985) 5/10 possibly seen before as a small child
Hellraiser (Barker, 1987) 6/10 in appreciation rather than enjoyment
Moonstruck (Jewison, 1987) 6/10
It's Such a Beautiful Day (Hertzfeldt, 2012) 8/10
Ingrid Bergman: In Her Own Words (2015) 4/10 way too much about her boring kids
The Green Fog (Maddin, 2017) 6/10
Ralph Breaks the Internet (Disney co., 2018) 4/10 i have now seen every disney animation studios film
Fear Street: 1994 (Janiak, 2021) 6/10
Fear Street: 1978 (Janiak, 2021) 4/10 doing a classic slasher right after a revisionist/parody slasher wasn't a great idea

also all of father ted and a bunch of columbo episodes

Old (1.0)

is the one point for Mid-Sized Sedan

A good question. Stupefied that it's gotten some positive reviews; I sat there thinking, "This is conceivably the worst mainstream studio film with at least a tenuous connection to quality (The Sixth Sense, I suppose) I've ever seen." I think the point is because (0.0) looks like an attention-getting rating.

Touki Bouki 1973 Djibril Diop Mambéty
A student and her cattle herder boyfriend attempt to escape boredom and lack of money in Dakar to get to Paris and swell times etc in experimental movie. Seems a bit dreamlike in places so may make a close parallel to some European cinema of the time. A bit trippy and otherworldly, like.
Interesting soundtrack choices which I'd like to know more about. THis came heavily reccommended to me and I would repeat that recommendation to you. Quite funny in places too.

The Mack 1973 Michael Campus
Blaxploitation. A former revolutionary type survives 5 years in jail and comes out seeking some forms of revenge and beco0mes a pimp.
Wardrobe is pretty great, soundtrack is pretty great.
Cops are bastards of course as are some of his rivals.
This tries to present the main guy as a principled fellow who is looking out for the community or is at least deluding himself taht he is. Which doesn't quite tally with his treatment of his women. NOt sure how normative this would be and so on.
Looks good anyway.

La Bete Humaine 1938 Jean Renoir
Film based on an Emile Zola novel about a train driver who is the descendent of generations of alcoholics and thereby has a very violent streak. Which is not a very realist view of things. This does try to be pretty realist though and it shows a love of teh trains being depicted.
jean Gabin is teh star alongside Simone Simon as the love interest and Julien Carette as his fireman.
THis took me several goes to get through since the subtitles came seriously adrift from sync. I kept getting it in sync and then found it way out again, think I went through 4 different sets of subtitles too. Wound up with the subtitles way ahead of what was said but persevered to the end eventually.
Shame cos it is a nice film. THough the premise does seem overly melodramatic.
Beautiful film anyway.

Dirty Gertie from Harlem U.S.A. 1946 Spencer Williams
A black theatre troupe take a trip to the carribbean. One of them has a bigger ego than others.
Interesting to watch this and wonder what normalisation processes are going on. Who is seen as worth emulating and so on.
I'm not sure so far, may need to watch this a couple of times. Can't tell if Gertie is thought to be sassy or overbearing .
Must have been rewarding to see a character that was somewhat reflective of oneself on the screen anyway.

Got home pretty drunk last night and bunged on both the beginning of this and most of

Rome Open City 1945 Roberto Rossellini
Story about Italian daily life under Nazi occupation . Reflecting Italian civilians, italian resistance and Nazis.
I think I will watch this back through later since i think I wasn't giving it enough attention