Film Persona

  Yasujiro Ozu's "Floating Weeds" " Floating Weeds " was Yasujiro Ozu's second adaption of one of his previous films that he did in 1959. The other, " Good Morning ," was adapted from his 1932 film " I Was Born, but... " while " Floating Weeds " was adapted from 1934's " A Story of Floating Weeds ." While " Good Morning " was only a loose adaptation, " Floating Weeds " was far more direct. It centers on a travelling theater troupe who arrive at a seaside town for their next performance. While on this temporary stop, the troupe's lead actor and owner, Komajuro, visits his former mistress and his secret son, pretending to be the boy's uncle. Komajuro's current girlfriend and lead actress, Sumiko, discovers his secret, she pays one of the supporting actresses to seduce the young boy. Things begin to unravel, bringing to light all of the hidden secrets. Like with Ozu's 1934 silent ve...

  Masaki Kobayashi's "The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity" The second installment of Masaki Kobayasi's " Human Condition " trilogy, called " Road to Eternity ," finds our protagonist, Kaji, moving from running a concentration camp to being an army conscript. Like in the first film, Kaji attempts to better the humanity surrounding wartime Japan by holding on to his pacifist ideals. However, his difficulties mount, given the brutal nature of war and, more specifically, the human condition itself. While I found myself not being as attuned to this film as I was in the first one, I think this film is as much of an achievement. Its three hour length is completely necessary to breaking down the audiences' spirits, just as Kaji's spirits continue to be battered and abused. Kobayashi manages to visualize the struggle of holding on to one's sense of humanity during the most inhumane time.

  Karel Reisz's "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning" After Tony Richardson's successful realization of the British "kitchen sink drama" with 1959's " Look Back in Anger ," he went on to produce more kitchen sink dramas. For the adaptation of the 1958 novel " Saturday Night and Sunday Morning ," he handed over the reigns to Karel Reisz. Starring Albert Finney, " Saturday Night and Sunday Morning " went on to be just as prominent in British culture as " Look Back in Anger ."  Centering on an 'angry young man,' a trope integral to the format of the kitchen sink drama, the film takes us through his life working as a young machinist and a social terror. Bored of the mundanity of his empty job, he starts up an affair with a older, married woman and eventually impregnates her. All the while, he also forms a relationship with another woman, Doreen. She wants to live a domestic life - something that feels suffocating...

  Jean-Luc Godard's "Weekend" With " Weekend ," Jean-Luc Godard takes a final bow to France's New Wave movement. After the film, Godard took a break from making fictional feature-length narratives. This move was intended to be permanent, but he could not help himself by the time he reached the 1980s with " Every Man for Himself ." " Weekend " demonstrates Godard at his most extreme, and more importantly, at his most political. To me, " Weekend " seems incredibly reminiscent of a Luis Bunuel film. Bunuel films typically centered on characters attempting to to do something, only to be prevented from doing so time and time again. The lovers in " L'Age d'Or " cannot consummate their affections and continue to get interrupted, the guests at a dinner party in " The Exterminating Angel " cannot physically bring themselves to leave the ballroom, and the wealthy characters of " The Discreet Charm of the B...

  Claude Chabrol's "Les Cousins" Although it was his second feature film, " Les Cousins " was Claude Chabrol's first feature that he attempted to make. Due to its excessive budget, he instead made the cheaper " Le Beau Serge " his first film and used the profits to make " Les Cousins " immediately afterward. The two projects also parallel each other in story, although the two actors - Gerard Blain and Jean-Claude Brialy - switched archetypical roles. Blain played the niave outsider in " Les Cousins " while Brialy played the established insider, both of which were reversals of their roles in " Le Beau Serge ." The film centers on two cousins, Charles and Paul. The naive, innocent, and idealistic Charles has moved to Paris to share his uncle's apartment with his dissolute, profligate, and jaded cousin Paul. Both are studying for their law exams. However, while Charles diligently studies, Paul throws raucous parties, ...

  Robert Altman's "McCabe & Mrs. Miller" Although it received mostly negative reviews when it premiered at the Criterion and Loew's Cine theaters in New York City in 1971, " McCabe & Mrs. Miller " has gone to to receive lauded contemporary reviews. So much so that many consider the film one of the most significant films of the emerging New Hollywood movement. Many credit Robert Altman for the film's lasting success as a Hollywood classic. The film centers on a mysterious gambler and alleged shootist named McCabe who is takes over an unincorporated boomtown in the state of Washington. His quick ascent is largely due to both the inhabitants' simple-mindedness, as well as the floating rumor that McCabe is a notorious gunfighter. He financially partners with Mrs. Miller, a loud and brash cockney woman, who understands how to run a whorehouse far better than McCabe. After McCabe gets into some bad business dealings, he is under the gun of dangerou...