Film Persona

  Mikio Naruse's "When a Woman Ascends the Stairs" Although he would go on to make a batch of films over the next seven years, Mikio Naruse's final great work of note is his 1960 film " When a Woman Ascends the Stairs ." He reteams with frequent acting collaborator Hideko Takamine, who was an acting force in Japan at the time. Centering on a woman trying to assert her independence in a male-dominated landscape, " When a Woman Ascends the Stairs " is a perfect encapsulation of the female-centric stories that Japanese filmmakers like Naruse and the late Kenji Mizoguchi were known for. It centers on Keiko, also affectionately called 'mama,' a young widow approaching 30 who works as a hostess at a bar in Ginza. She has reached a turning point in her life where she must decide whether she wants to gather funds to open her own bar or marry. However, it becomes clear that her only path forward is through the approval and support of a men, who hold...

  Kim Ki-Young's "The Housemaid" After hearing nothing but praise from filmmakers like Martin Scorsese and Bong Joon Ho about the 1960 Korean film, " The Housemaid ," I went in fully expecting an underrated masterwork. While there were elements of the film that were deeply intriguing, I felt as though the film seems to fall apart in the end. There is quite literally a nod and wink into camera and a note about not letting 'younger women' occupy your mind in the last moments, wrapping its theme into a packaged and somewhat eye-rolling final sentiment.  The film centers on a happy family who, after moving into a house for the first time, decide to hire a maid for upkeep. However, the maid proves more than they bargained for after she sleeps with the husband and blackmails the family. Things get even weirder from there. While I do admire how ultra-bizarre the series of events start to get, there is a certain level of absurdism that doesn't quite work. I...

  Francois Truffaut's "The Story of Adele H." Had I not known that Francois Truffaut's 1975 film " The Story of Adele H. " were based on a factual biographical account, I would have never conceived it to be so. The story of the film is a total whirlwind of single-minded insanity. And yet, the seeming madness of the central character is viewed through a romantic lens, making her journey and her state of mind almost noble.  It centers on Adele Hugo, the second daughter of Victor Hugo, and the very real account of her pursuit of Lieutenant Albert Pinson - a British officer stationed in Halifax, Nova Scotia during the American Civil War. She is rejected by the Lieutenant every step of the way. However, she endlessly pursues him and even sabotages his military standing and potential engagements. By the end of the film, she has lost sanity and must be taken back to France and her father. I found " The Story of Adele H. " to be a very strange film. There ...

  Michael Powell's "Peeping Tom" Although Michael Powell would go on to direct films for the next two decades, his last great work is probably widely considered to be 1960's " Peeping Tom ." Bearing similar themes to Alfred Hitchcock's " Psycho " from the same year, " Peeping Tom " has an unnerving central protagonist that serial murders due to a having a tormented childhood. Both films deal in voyeurism, as well.  It centers on Mark Lewis, who finds women to film on his portable motion picture camera. He films their deaths and keeps the film for himself. After falling in love with the woman who lives downstairs, he decides that change is possible for him. However, his sick perversions begin to close in around him. My stance on this film might be a bit controversial, given its lauded nature. But, I feel that the film shows real promise in the first half until ultimately unravelling into something more silly and eye-rolling. While much...

Werner Herzog's "Nosferatu, the Vampyre" There is a paragraph in Roger Ebert's review of the 1979 film " Nosferatu, the Vampyre " which notes how most audiences and critics don't recognize Werner Herzog's beautiful images, as his themes are often an overshadowing force. With this film, Ebert notes, audiences can finally appreciate the compositional mastery Herzog has to offer. This doesn't mean " Nosferatu, the Vamprye " is lacking in depth thematically. But, the beauty of the visual images certainly is in the forefront. The plot of the film is directly a remake of the classic 1922 Murnau original film. Even more so, he fuses it with Stoker's original " Dracula " concept (which Murnau's film shameless stole from). A vampire named Dracula buys up new real estate in the town of Wismar, bringing with him plague and death. Lucy, the wife of the real estate agent who sold him the property, must entrap Dracula to end the mad...

  Masaki Kobayashi's "The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer" The third and final installment of Masaki Kobayashi's " The Human Condition " series, 1961's " A Soldier's Prayer " finds our pacifist protagonist reaching his lowest depths. The Japanese forces have now been shattered and Kaji is left abandoned to the treacheries of a dangerous warzone. Kobayashi certainly doesn't wrap up his trilogy into a nice little bow. Nor does this story call for. This makes " A Soldier's Prayer " and the entire trilogy as a whole, a dark tragedy. While I felt energized by the trilogy's first installment, I was very beaten down by the time the trilogy came to a conclusion. Not thematically beaten down, I simply felt the act of continuing with the story was proving to be cumbersome. The thematic point of the film series is iterated from the get-go, making the incredible length of the project feel tiresome.  I do understand the...