Film Persona

  Seijun Suzuki's "Tokyo Drifter" 1966's " Tokyo Drifter " is somehow both a prime example of the Japanese yakuza film while also being slightly a parody of it. It centers on a fiercely loyal yakuza operative who must travers through the countryside after a rival kingpin's hires a gun-for-hire to assassinate him. The film is highly stylized and often includes elements of absurdism, which aid in its quest to be entertaining.  To me, the film has the feeling of a 'pop art' film. Definitely fitting into the categories of gangster flick and neo-noir, " Tokyo Drifter " somehow manages to really stylize its action. The action is often absurd - making it feel far more soapy and B-rated.  Beyond its elements of style and camp, the film has underlying themes of corporate corruption through violence. Our characters are yakuza, but are working through the lens of corporate enterprise. One of the things the film seems to be saying is that this adhe...

  David Lean's "Doctor Zhivago" By 1965, David Lean had come to be known for his expansive epics, like 1957's " The Bridge on the River Kwai " or 1962's " Lawrence of Arabia ." So, his 1965 film " Doctor Zhivago " was nothing out of the ordinary. Based on the 1957 novel of the same name by Russian poet Boris Pasternak, the film details the fictional accounts of a Doctor Zhivago (also a poet) through the very real historical events involving the Russian Revolution. Despite the film depicting the tsarist rule and the eventual Bolshevik state as both being hostile and terrorizing, the Soviet Union felt the film was anti-Soviet all together. In the film, Doctor Zhivago is constantly caught in the middle between the factions, ultimately trying to keep himself and his family safe (along with his mistress). Once the Bolsheviks take power, they are portrayed as cold and villainous which clearly upset the Soviet state. The titular character of...

  Robert Wise's "The Sound of Music" Undoubtedly one of the most popular films in history, 1965's " The Sound of Music " continues to be in the forefront of conversations regarding great cinema. Its songs are iconic (and still sung), its Technicolor is remarkable, and its themes continue to be relevant. Winner of 5 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, the film also was a commercial smash it, By 1966, it had surpassed " Gone with the Wind " at the U.S. box office to become the highest grossing film in history. The film is an adaptation of an adaption of an adaption of a real-life even. Specifically, the real Von Trapp family fled Austria in 1938 and Maria wrote about their experiences in the 1949 memoir " The Story of the Trapp Family Singers " after the death of the patriarch in 1947. That memoir was turned into a Broadway production in 1959, which was then turned in to the 1965 musical film. It centers on Maria, a young woman studying...

  Jan Kadar & Elmar Klos's "The Shop on Main Street" The 1965 Czechoslovakian film " The Shop on Main Street " iterates familiar concepts we've come to understand about the World War II period of Europe, particularly the roaming laws against Jews. Various filmmakers approach these subjects in different ways and from different angles. Jan Kadar and Elmar Klos decided to balance the tragedy with humor, resulting in a film that points out the absurdities of these conditions and do so in a commercial format. The film centers on a carpenter named Tono, who is chosen by his Nazi brother-in-law to become the Aryan controller of an elderly Jewish widow's haberdashery (as part of the Aryanization program happening in the First Slovak Republic at the time). The Jewish woman, Rozalia, is nearly deaf and assumes the man is there to be a helper. The Jewish community takes Tono in, even giving him a stipend for assisting the elderly Rozalia. However, when the Jewi...

  Satyajit Ray's "The Coward" Based on the short story " Janaiko Kapuruser Kahini " by Premendra Mitra, Satyajit Ray's 1965 film " The Coward " proves equally short. Clocking in at only 1 hour and 9 minutes, it makes for one of Ray's shortest features. Although it did not go on to aspire acclaim, it remains a vital film in the renowned Indian director's filmography. The film centers on a young screenwriter named Amitabha whose car breaks down in the countryside. A local tea planter, Bimal Gupta, offers his home to Amitabha as a place to stay for night. When Amitabha arrives at Gupta's home, he discovers he is married to Karuna, a girl he once loved back in his days as a student. Amitabha spends the rest of his visit attempting to reconcile with her, even encouraging her to leave with him. Similarly to the film of Jean-Luc Godard (minus all the New Wave tricks), Ray seems to suggest with " The Coward " that real life is no film...

  John Schlesinger's "Darling" Despite its forced charm, John Schlesinger's 1965 film " Darling " lacks any morceau of it. Centering on a young model who sleeps her way up to the top of the British fashion and film industry, the film tries its best to emulate the thematic notions found in films like " La Dolce Vita " or even " I Know Her Well " from the same year. Sure, like " I Know Her Well ," our protagonist feels distant from the viewer as a means to be an object and product for the purposes of her profession.  However, " Darling " lacks a thematic center that illustrates the vibrancy of the rest of the film. No vibrancy can be found in the film aside from colorful moments to paint the film more entertaining. That being said, Julie Christie's performance is stellar. Beyond this, the film itself appears unengaging and paper thin.