Film Persona

  Jacques Rivette's "The Nun" After watching Jacques Rivette's 1966 film " The Nun ," I am thoroughly convinced it is the greatest 'nun' film I've seen. The film stars Anna Karina as a young woman who is forced into becoming a nun against her wishes. While the specific subject matters centers on this religious specificity, the overall context could be broadened to view it as a criticism of society itself and its oppressive restrictiveness. Karina's Suzanne, is forced to enter a convent to prevent her sisters from missing out on their inheritance. After her vows, her kind mother superior is replaced with a crueler woman who reduces Suzanne's possessions, restricts her diet, and locks her away in a barren room. After getting the courts involved, Suzanne is transferred to another church, under the supervision of the more light-hearted Mme de Chelles. After rebuffing sexual advances from her, Suzanne escapes the convent back into society. Wha...

  Claude Lelouch's "A Man and a Woman" While the plot may be deceptively simple, Claude Lelouch's " A Man and a Woman " is decidedly unsimple in its execution of visual imagery. From gorgeous sequences of color, to black-and-white, a sepia-toned shots, every visual demands its own attention as a unique layout of its story. This, along with the artistically-minded edits, makes it a great addition to the French New Wave and a uniquely sublime romance story. The film centers on a man and a woman (obviously). Both are widowed, single parents who meet at their children's school. After spending the day together, they develop romantic feelings for one another and continue their tryst. However, memories of their late partners continue to ring in their minds. There is a certain 'slice of life' romantic quality the film possesses - one that reminds me of Richard Linklater's " The Before Trilogy ." However, with the added 1960s-style New Wave,...

  Norman Jewison's "In the Heat of the Night" Due to the Civil Rights issues taking place all over the U.S. in the 1960s, there were plenty of films coming out that touched upon them. One of those films, 1967's " In the Heat of the Night " has gone on to be recognized as one of the standouts of this type of film. It stars the incomparable Sidney Poitier as a Philadelphia homicide detective who begrudgingly helps a small Mississippi police force solve a murder. There are certain elements of the film that seemed like oversimplifications of complex issues. Other times, it felt like the film added some dimensionality to otherwise black-and-white abstracts. On the whole, the film does a fabulous job of raising concerns regarding racial tensions in the south. More specifically, it turns several notions on their head, including the competent black man helping more inexperienced Southern white men in their line of duty.  First and foremost, the film should be recogn...

Pier Paolo Pasolini's "The Hawks and the Sparrows"  Up until now, the films of Pier Paolo Pasolini have been biting allegories of modern social and political concerns. They're rich and subversive. This is precisely why I feel as though his 1966 film " The Hawks and the Sparrows " is a huge let down from his typical standard of film. The film can be seen as a comedy, although my laughing was kept at a minimum. It centers on the elder Toto and his son, Ninetto, who travers the countryside with a talking crow - who also happens to be a left-wing intellectual. The crow recounts a Marxist allegory involving two friars preaching the Gospel to hawks (representing the powerful) and sparrows (representing the weak). After the story, their journey carries on and faces continued allegories to social injustice. Despite the good-natured satire and irreverence of the piece, it failed to either entertain or intellectually titillate. The thematic nature of the film lacked m...

  Hiroshi Teshigahara's "The Face of Another" Although it was a critical and commercial failure outside of its release, the 1966 film " The Face of Another " still manages to be a critical link the chain of Hiroshi Teshigahara's filmography. Its gothic-noir ambiance is a unique tone for a Japanese production, making it a singularly one-of-a-kind film.  The film centers on Mr. Okuyama - an engineer whose face was disfigured by an explosion in an industrial accident. He only wears bandages on his face to cover his burns. That is until he becomes the test subject for a prosthetic mask resembling a real human face. He uses this opportunity in a new identity to seduce his wife. For me, the entire enjoyment of the film rests on its gothic tone and abstract visuals. Teshigahara and his unique directing style creates some engaging images that titillates the imagination. One can turn the sound off and manage to be enraptured by its qualities. However, for me, the fil...

  Sidney Lumet's "The Hill" There aren't a whole lot of films that make me viscerally angry. Sidney Lumet's 1965 film " The Hill " is one of the rare exceptions. My anger doesn't stem from the quality of the film. Rather, the film is incredibly effective at eliciting this response out of me. It story revolving around a military prison and the obvious injustice and abuse that goes on there is enough to boil anyone's blood. The great Sean Connery plays Joe Roberts, a former squadron sergeant major from the Royal Tank Regiment who is sent to a British Army glasshouse in the Libyan desert after assaulting his commanding officer. The cruel and oppressive treatment of the prisoners eventually leads to a death by negligence, leading Joe to become defiant of his abusive staff sergeants. The dissent grows, leading to more crackdowns and hysteria. Beyond the obvious plot points that are bound to entice the sympathies of its audience, the film somehow manag...