Film Persona

  Hiroshi Teshigahara's "Pitfall" Based on the play " Rengoku " by Kobo Abe, Hiroshi Teshigahara's 1962 film " Pitfall " is an often surreal experience. Although not completely in the surrealist camp, Teshigahara's unique directing style and experimental editing makes it a very kinetic watch. Centering on a conspiracy involving the exploitation of coal miners, " Pitfall " dives into the avant-garde with its inclusion of undead spirits. Despite some of the convolutions of the plot, the film never fails to be completely engaging. What caught my eye most was Teshigahara's unflinching willingness to make dramatic edits and directional choices. The film can be a bit messy in its execution and its themes constantly swaying from one thing to another, but overall the experience was something of a net positive.

  Masaki Kobayashi's "The Inheritance" After his megalithic film series, " The Human Condition ," Masaki Kobayashi returned to a smaller, more restrained story with 1962's " The Inheritance ." Obviously framed in noir stylings and jazz scores, the film's plot concerns a dying businessman orchestrating his will. The surrounding cast of characters plot and scheme to acquire his inheritance. There was a certain moody charm to this film. Everything is so slick and the characters are so morally duplicitous, hence the noir aesthetic. Kobayashi does an impeccable job of situating these money-chasing characters into the cold, industrial modern world. Their environment is an extension of them and them an extension of their environment. " The Inheritance " certainly displays Kobayashi's bleak outlook on modern greed and corruption.

  Yasujiro Ozu's "The End of Summer" While its ending may have been too 'on the nose,' " The End of Summer " finds Ozu focusing far more on death and the disillusion of life itself, hence the film's title. It contains one of the largest casts Ozu has ever assembled, which is really saying something for the ensemble-favored director. The attention paid evenly among its characters would perhaps normally spread the emotionality too thin. However, in the hands of Ozu, this certainly isn't a problem. The film centers on a large family in the midst of the arranged marriages of a couple of its daughters. All the while, the patriarch is going off secretly to spend time with his 'other' family, a former mistress and her Westernized daughter. However, things get solemn when that patriarch suddenly has health complications. Ozu seems to be reckoning with his own mortality in " The End of Summer ," perhaps even dealing with his health probl...

  Satyajit Ray's "Three Daughters" Perhaps the most uninteresting Satyajit Ray film I've seen thus far is his 1961 film " Three Daughters ." There is plenty to like in this anthological tale, but its loose connectivity and lack of thematic cohesion makes it far less engaging than the typical Ray affair. While there are many things to latch on to in this almost 3 hour event, I walked away feeling as though a certain amount of potential was ultimately lost. The film is separated into three non-connected stories. The first is short and centers on a schoolmaster who teaches a young orphan girl to read and write, only to disappoint her by moving away. The second is a supernatural tale about a wife obsessed with the jewels her husband buys her, only to turn into a ghost haunting the estate. The final conclusory story is about a village girl who becomes a bride for a law student, eventually succumbing to her circumstances.

  Robert Rossen's "The Hustler" Perhaps the most surprising aspect of Robert Rossen's 1961 film " The Hustler " is that its lead actor, Paul Newman, did not win an Academy Award for his performance. He instead lost to Maximilian Schell, whose performance in " Judgement at Nuremberg " is far more of a supporting effort. This notion is utterly wild to me, given the charm and emotionality of Newman's performance. Beyond this fondness for Newman, I was very mixed on " The Hustler ." It's a more thematically complex film that I would have originally given it credit for. The problem is that it can be so rhythmically mundane at times. Its central hero must succumb to both internal and external sabotage in order to build the character he needs to come through a better person on the other side. While this dynamic of the film really drew me in, the path to get there was a bit tedious, story-telling-wise. 

  Ralph Nelson's "Lilies of the Field" The only reason the 1963 film " Lilies of the Field " registers in the zeitgeist of cinema is due to its lead actor, Sidney Poitier, becoming the very first black actor to win for a leading role at the Academy Awards. Beyond this outstanding achievement, the film itself has little effect in the public consciousness. After watching the film, it did little to move the needle in terms of my own personal recognition. However, its admirable themes and solid lead performance made it notable at the very least. Poitier stars as a drifting handyman named Homer, who stops at a remote Arizona farm seeking water for his car. A group of nuns from East Germany who occupy the farm believe that Homer has been sent by God to build them a chapel. Homer begrudgingly agrees to the task and ends up uniting the entire community. Despite my admiration for the progressive themes, the film is too simplistic to contain much depth. Its drama lies in ...