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The Fire Within (1963)

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  Louis Malle's "The Fire Within" The first thing I noticed while watching Louis Malle's 1963 film " The Fire Within " was it's lack of music or soundtrack. Aesthetic choice perhaps. After all, Malle is an engineer of the Nouvelle Vague movement. It's safe to assume that some creative liberties were to be used. However, " The Fire Within " was far from the typical style that Nouvelle Vague had become known for. The film centers on Alain, a rehabilitating alcoholic who vows to kill himself by the end of the week. He is separated from his wife, Dorothy, who is living in New York, while he rehabilitates in a clinic. After leaving the clinic, he meets up with various former friends and associates. None of them are able to convince him that life is worth living, however. To entrench our character's story with the malaise of his own emptiness, Malle really makes the atmosphere as dry as possible. The story plods along without any kinetic ener...
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Humanity and Paper Balloons (1937)

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  Sadao Yamanaka's "Humanity and Paper Balloons" In his very brief career, Japanese director Sadao Yamanaka only made 3 feature length films. All 3 made an enormous impact in Japanese culture and are still praised by the film community today. The final of the 3 films he made, 1937's " Humanity and Paper Balloons " is perhaps the very reason his life was cut short. At the time of the film's release, the Japanese government had already invaded China and was exponentially building its militia. They felt as though Yamanka's film damaged the nationalistic and militaristic viewpoint they were trying to instill in the country. Because they were so displeased with the 'message' of the film, they sent Yamanaka to the Chinese front, where he died a year later in 1938. The reason for this retribution by the Japanese government was because the film focuses on a group of characters who actively display the worst attributes of Japanese society. Yamanaka...
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Bitter Rice (1949)

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  Giuseppe De Santis' "Bitter Rice" Perhaps one of the more melodramatic Italian neo-realist films I've ever seen is Giuseppe De Santis' " Bitter Rice ." Despite its melodrama, the film is completely in line with the themes typical with neo-realist cinema. Produced by Dino De Laurentiis and starring his wife Silvana Mangano, the film would go on to be nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 1949 Cannes Film Festival, nominated for Best Story at the 1950 Academy Awards, and is included on the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage's 100 Italian films to be saved, a list of 100 films that "have changed the collective memory of the country between 1942 and 1978." " Bitter Rice " centers on Francesca and Walter, two small-time thieves who must hide from the law among the crowds of female rice workers working in the Po Valley. Francesca joins the workers and meets the overtly sexual and beautiful Silvana, who attempts to steal the alrea...
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