Film Persona

  Alf Sjoberg's "Torment" Even though the 1944 Swedish film, " Torment ," was directed by established Swedish filmmaker Alf Sjoberg, it was the scriptwriter of the film that gets the most notable attention: the great Ingmar Bergman. Bergman was at the very beginning of his career in film, being only 24 when he wrote this script. Even the subject matter of the story deals with youth and school.  The film centers on a high school student, Widgren, on the precipice of graduation. He clashes with his oppressive and sadistic Latin teacher, "Caligula," after Caligua catches him cheating. After Widgren starts to romantically see an alcoholic cigarette shop girl named Bertha, he learns that she is being tormented by another man. This other man harasses her, beats her, and pushes her further and further into alcoholism. With a newfound romance with Widgren, she starts to recover. However, after this mysterious man manages to break into her apartment, Bertha rea...

  Rene Clement's "Purple Noon" Adapted from the 1955 Patricia Highsmith novel, " The Talented Mr. Ripley ," Rene Clement's 1960 film " Purple Noon " takes it liberties with a source material that centers on a young man who attempts the life of a luxurious man. Starring Alain Delon in the role that would become a breakout role for the young actor, the film would go on to be considered one of Clement's most memorable films. However, this adaptation of the Highsmith novel would eventually be overshadowed by Anthony Minhella's 1999 film " The Talented Mr. Ripley ," starring Matt Damon. I was excited going in to the film. I had never seen the 1999 version of this story before, so I was intrigued to get in on the ground floor with this original adaptation. I've got to say that I was a little disappointed with the film. Don't get me wrong, it was mildly amusing. However, there was not much intrigue to the story beyond the protago...

  Maya Deren & Alexandr Hackenschmied's "Meshes of the Afternoon" There is a clear inspiration from Luis Bunuel and his seminal works, 1929's " Un Chien Andalou " and 1930's " L'age d'Or ," in Maya Deren and Alexandr Hackenschmied's 1943 surrealist short film " Meshes of the Afternoon ." Continuity, temporality, time and space, and meaning are all fuzzy in " Meshes in the Afternoon ," as they are meant to resemble an inscrutable dream state.  The longer you watch " Meshes of the Afternoon ," the more impossible it seems to grasp on to reality. There are repeating patterns, physical congruency layouts that don't make sense, and camera works that make the visual images appear free from any visual constraints. Watching the film makes you feel like you're floating through a dream, unable to land on anything solid to comfort your sense of reality. Despite this, there is still a thread of congruen...

  Preston Sturges' "The Miracle of Morgan Creek" Although it was released in the US in February of 1944, Preston Sturges' " The Miracle of Morgan Creek " had its feature debut in Scotland in December of 1943. It centers on a young couple who get tangled in a series of unfortunate events after the young girl, Trudy, get intoxicated and married to a unnamed soldier. I've got to say that Sturges' films are usually quite quaint and are very entertaining at the very least. However, I felt that " The Miracle of Morgan Creek " is by far the most eye-rolling film I've seen of his yet. Not only is it TOO slapstick and silly to be taken seriously, it is also incredibly convoluted. Normally, convolution doesn't necessarily bother me, but in the case of this film, I felt it to be incredibly detracting and borderline nonsensical.  

  Jean Gremillon's "Lumiere d'ete" I was a bit distracted watching Jean Gremillon's " Lumiere d'ete " last night but it was still able to entice and intrigue me. It centers on a young woman named Michele who arrives at a shimmering palatial glass hotel at the top of a remote Provencal mountain. There, she awaits her alcoholic painter husband to arrive. With his arrival, the cast of characters are caught in a love pentangle between her, her dilettante husband, the wealthy and obsessive Patrice, Patrice's lover Cri-Cri (who owns the hotel), and the mine worker Julien. Like many other French films at the time, " Lumiere d'ete " was a subversive film that commented on the current state of French society during the occupation by the Nazis.  The hotel, The Guardian Angel Hotel, along with Patrice's Chateau Cabriere, are elegant bourgeois estates that house amoral and selfish proprietors. They stand atop a hill while the labor workers ...

  Stanley Kubrick's "The Killing" As someone who has seen almost the entirety of Stanley Kubrick, I feel as though it is safe to say that his first non-independent film, 1956's " The Killing ," is unlike any of the films that would come thereafter. Kubrick would mold his form into the auteur style we think of when we think of Kubrick, but he had to start somewhere. " The Killing " is billed as a noir film, but I would argue that it is not a noir at all. I do feel as though the ending is very nihilistic like a noir would be, but I don't feel as though it shares the same ingredients of a typical noir film.  " The Killing " is what you would call a proto-" Ocean's 11 ," as it centers on a group of men who team up to stage and execute a meticulous heist operation at a horserace track. In fact, Frank Sinatra was the original intention to lead the film, although that honor ended up going to a frequent Kubrick collaborator, Ste...

  Manoel de Oliveira's "Aniki-Bobo" Perhaps one of the very first iterations of the neo-realist movement, Manoel de Oliveria's 1942 Portuguese film " Aniki-Bobo " centers on a group of delinquent youths as they navigate the streets of Porto. The film was not very well-received at the time of its release, however it has gained recognition in retrospect. This is especially true due to the proto-neo-realist elements of the film which would signal the oncoming shift in cinema. Although I do not think it is quite  the same neo-realism we would come to see in Italy a year later with Luchino Visconti's " Ossessione ," I do think that it bares the prototype markings of neo-realism.