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Jul 27, 2014

The End of the New Wave, the Beginning of My Cinephilia

Francois Truffaut's Day for Night
*This article was originally published at The Film Experience.

Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut were the poster boys of the French New Wave, its most recognizable faces. Their friendship that had begun in the 1940s had carried them through all their years at Cahiers and into their directing careers, was evidenced by Godard’s adoration of Truffaut’s The 400 Blows and the latter’s providing the story for his friend’s first film, Breathless. Their early writings manifest the division they had from the beginning about their outlook on the mechanics and politics of cinema. Nonetheless, their friendship continued even through the fraught days of political disagreement in 1968; but no further than 1973. Truffaut’s Day for Night (La Nuit Americaine) was an unforgivable crime in Godard’s eyes, and the latter’s disapproval of the film was a massive act of hypocrisy in Truffaut’s.  They were to never see each other again, and only after Truffaut’s death did Godard find nice words to say about his old friend.

It’s easy to see why Day for Night made Godard’s blood boil. It’s as conventionally constructed a film as one can expect from a nouevelle vague filmmaker, an unashamed love letter to Hollywood and cinema itself – and with an Oscar in its cap, no less. By this time in his career, Truffaut had already been branded a sellout by some and would continue to be called as such. He had, in the opinion of some of the New Wave’s proponent’s, become the very cinema he criticized in his youth. There was no political edge to Day for Night; no radical revision of how the medium operates. It was “a lie,” thought Godard. Some of those accusations might be true, but there is another truth that isn’t mentioned as often: this is an incredible film.

When I first watched Day for Night, I was 19. It was in the days when Toronto’s Bloor Cinema wasn’t yet devoted to screening documentaries. It was a cheap, dingy but friendly gathering place for the neighborhood’s elderly and University of Toronto’s students. The repertory screenings weren’t of rare, obscure directors but mostly of the films a young cinephile knows are must-watches. It was an ideal way to see the likes of 2001: A Space Odyssey and Vertigo on the big screen for the first time. It was a perfect way to be introduced to François Truffaut as well, the man who would go on to become my favorite filmmaker, give or take Abbas Kiarostami.

Jul 4, 2014

Borgman

Grade: B-


Alex van Warmerdam's Borgman opens with a disorienting, enthralling sequence in which three men, led by a priest, raid on hidden lairs in a forest where three other men, shabby and unkempt, have hoarded a treasure trove of weaponry. The motives of neither group are clear, but the sheer force that propels the scene promises a wild ride. The entirety of the film can't quite match the energy of this scene, but maintains its fresh air of ambiguity.

The titular Borgman (Jan Bijvoet) is a bearded, mysterious wanderer who settles on an affluent house in which Marina (Hadewych Minis) and Richard (Jeroen Perceval) live with their three children and their young, Danish maid. When Richard firmly rejects Borgman’s request to take a bath in their house and viciously beats him, Marina takes pity on the vagrant and hides him in a backyard bunkhouse. The audience is alerted both to the underlying sense of unease that begins with this game of hide and seek, and to van Warmerdam’s overarching allegory about a Dutch society scarred by class divisions and racial tension.

Borgman charms Marina and enchants the children with his story, yet remains inexplicably hidden from Richard’s sight. Borgman’s comfort at the residence, where his presence has brought others nothing but discomfort, has a comic absurdity to it. He prances around the house, takes long baths as he watches television and sips red wine, and tells the children horror stories about a sea monster. Marina is increasingly attached to this intruder whose mysterious, naked presence above her as she sleeps at nights induces in her nightmares in which she sees herself in violent conflict with her husband. Borgman succumbs to Marina's request to stay with the family, eventually plotting a plan to replace the estate’s gardener. With the plan in place, Borgman brings his accomplices, four other lair people who assist him in his progressively ruthless takeover of the house.

Jul 1, 2014

Screening Log: June

Monty Python's Life of Brian

(This month's screenings were limited to a measly seven, partly due to a rigorous reading schedule for a research project and partly because of the Football World Cup.)

Johnny Stecchino (Benigni, 1991, B)
Parodying the conventions of film noir, Benigni's tale of mistaken identities is cliched, mildly inappropriate and slightly dated but it nevertheless doesn't fail to make the audience laugh out loud. Nicoletta Braschi is divine as the film's femme fatale.

Me and You (Bertolucci, 2012, B-) (review)
A surprisingly intimate film from one of the most provocative directors of the twentieth century, Me and You is an empathetic, if slight, look at teenage awkwardness. There is delightful chemistry between the film's two young leads.

How to Train Your Dragon 2 (DeBlois, 2014, C)
Devoid of the sort of character-driven storytelling that made the film one of Dreamworks's few special outings, this sequel is a relentlessly action-packed riot that offers little beyond the beautiful animation.

A Simple Event (Shahid Saless, 1973, B)
One of the most influential films in Iranian history, a work that directly impacted the cinema of Abbas Kiarostami and Amir Naderi, A Simple Event lives up to its title. There is very little in the way of plot, but the final moments of the film are moving and a testament to its lasting impact. A restoration and quality home video release is way overdue.

Venus in Fur (Polanski, 2014, B-) (review)
An amusing exercise featuring two perfectly calibrated performances, Polanski's gleefully kinky adaptation of the Masoch-inspired play is entertaining but doesn't leave much to think about in its wake.  

The Edge of Tomorrow (Liman, 2014, B)
Certain pitfalls of the modern Hollywood action film persist in Liman's otherwise inventive, pleasingly original take on the alien invasion. The Edge of Tomorrow is a whole lot of fun to watch from start to finish, which is a quality few blockbusters possess.

Monty Python's Life of Brian (Jones, 1979, A-)
Thirty five years after its release, Life of Brian remains a refreshingly outrageous and sheepishly funny and insightful romp, excelling at creating a coherent structure from sketch-based comedy and providing sharp commentary on religious and political issues.