The Pagan Agenda

Having spent last year watching most of the spine titles 1-101 (‘The Passion of Joan of Arc’ and ‘Carnival of Souls’ still pending), I am now ready to start with the next batch. First a few remarks on discoveries from the first 100:

Henri-Georges Clouzot’s ‘Diabolique’: I enjoyed the hell out of this film, and how much so was a bit of a surprise for me. Perhaps I am ageist but I just didn’t think a film this old would have this much of a punch in the suspense and horror departments. Clouzot’s ‘Diabolique’ is well-crafted murder mystery (so mysterious it is not about who did it but how) that is as admirable from a technical standpoint as it is rewarding as suspense/horror fare. The dvd case mentions that this was influential in Hitchcock making ‘Psycho’ and one can instantly see the same loving appreciation for pure cinema and archtechtonic control of mis-en-scene. The bulk of the story is situated in and around a boarding school in France and I love the way the environment is used to give the impression of a dimensional plane where the drama unfolds… windows overlook other key scene sites, and you feel properly situated in the space. This seems like a minor thing to bring up but I have a real fondness for this sort of … well archtechtonic control of mis-en-scene (I don’t know how else to say it). Kurosawa is a master of creating space, and Clouzot is working nearly on this level. I know Hitchcock gets a lot of praise for his pure cinema but I find something lacking more often then not in his films… the big exception being Psycho… which does have the spectre of Diabolique. Paul Meurisse as the bastard husband is stellar, he is the french Bogart and every scene is elevated by his presence. The film is true showmanship, the placard at the end of the movie demonstrating just how much of a showman Clouzot was, and like I said, I am surprised how well this film aged, because there are very few Hitchcock films working in the same genre that I feel carry the same punch in present day.

Ingmar Bergamn’s ‘Autumn Sonata’: It is cumbersome, lumbering, clunky, naive, contrived, exhaustive, but it is also ‘Russian’ in the way all good Dostoevsky stories are. It has that feverish pitch of expression, the hyper-catharsis, like everyone has taken a truth serum and can now emote free of all inhibition… Somehow I can tolerate this now in a way I never could before, I have bought into the conceit and let it carry me part way into the drama. I still see the caricature in the style, the Woody Allen ‘Love and Death’ flavour, but at least in this Bergman film I didn’t care. The mother daughter relationship was harrowing despite the contrivances… due in large part to performances of Liv Ullman and Ingrid Bergman which are revelatory. The first half of the film was Ingrid, the second all Liv… with a kind of bravado that left me mesmerized. I couldn’t shake the performance aspect, but still what performances! I admire this film more then I love it, certainly one of the best Bergman films I have seen, second only to Seventh Seal.

Al Reinhart’s ‘For All Mankind‘: This is an utter joy to watch on every level: the surprisingly crisp footage taken from the Apollo missions to the moon, interspersed with the astronauts own words about the events, underscored by their selection of music which they took on the voyages makes for a complete firsthand glimpse into what truly is the event of the 20th century. It is also a well-crafted documentary, a piece of art which went beyond my expectations. Those who watched the first steps of Neil Armstrong on the moon in real-time must have felt something akin to the awe I felt in Reinhart’s assemblage, probably less so seeing as this is an artistic enhancement by the manipulation of music and dialogue, but then I will never know. There was a commercial on last month about the new Windows Vista which collects a series of events which make you stop and go ‘wow’... and they use the Armstrong footage as an example… so it has become a cliche… but seeing it in the context of this documentary/historical document I cannot but utter the same kind of ‘wow’ ... it does make everything else look insignificant in comparison… it does unify all mankind in a way, it transcends all petty differences in its profundity. Very cool: Kubrick’s 2001 preceded the first misson to the moon, and the theme music was taken on the first mission where the astronauts got to watch the panorama of space with that soundtrack climaxing in the background… how cool is that.

Hyperlinked full reviews to other gems of this batch: David Lean’s ‘Summertime’ and Henri-Georges Clouzot’s ‘Wages of Fear’

Others I thoroughly enjoyed but did not get around to writing about: ‘The Third Man’, ‘The Lady Vanishes‘, ‘Picnic at Hanging Rock‘, ‘Grand Illusion‘, and ‘All That Heaven Allows’

Now, to the future:

I begin with 30/100 on Feb 11th 2008.

101 Cries and Whispers Ingmar Bergman Sweden 1972
102 The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie Luis Buñuel France 1972
103 The Lady Eve Preston Sturges USA 1941
104 Double Suicide Masahiro Shinoda Japan 1969
105 Spartacus Stanley Kubrick USA 1960
106 Coup de torchon Bertrand Tavernier France 1981
107 Mona Lisa Neil Jordan UK 1986
108 The Rock Michael Bay USA 1996
109 The Scarlet Empress Josef Von Sternberg USA 1934
110 M. Hulot’s Holiday Jacques Tati France 1953
111 Mon Oncle Jacques Tati France 1958
112 Playtime Jacques Tati France 1967
113 Big Deal on Madonna Street Mario Monicelli Italy 1958
114 My Man Godfrey Gregory La Cava USA 1936
115 Rififi Jules Dassin France 1955
116 The Hidden Fortress Akira Kurosawa Japan 1958
117 Diary of a Chambermaid Luis Buñuel France 1964
118 Sullivan’s Travels Preston Sturges USA 1942
119 Withnail and I Bruce Robinson UK 1986
120 How to Get Ahead in Advertising Bruce Robinson UK 1988
121 Billy Liar John Schlesinger UK 1963
122 Salesman David Maysles, Albert Maysles USA 1968
123 Grey Gardens David Maysles, Albert Maysles, Ellen Hovde, Muffie Meyer & Susan Froemke USA 1976

125 Day of Wrath Carl Theodor Dreyer Denmark 1943
126 Ordet Carl Theodor Dreyer Denmark 1955
127 Gertrud Carl Theodor Dreyer Denmark 1964
128 Carl Th. Dreyer – My Metier Torben Skøjdt Jensen Denmark 1995
129 Le trou Jacques Becker France 1960
130 The Shop on Main Street Ján Kadár & Elmar Klos Czechoslovakia 1965
131 Closely Watched Trains Jirí Menzel Czechoslovakia 1966
132 The Ruling Class Peter Medak UK 1972
133 The Vanishing George Sluizer France/The Netherlands 1988
134 Häxan Benjamin Christensen Sweden 1922
135 Rebecca Alfred Hitchcock USA 1940
136 Spellbound Alfred Hitchcock USA 1945
137 Notorious Alfred Hitchcock USA 1946
138 Rashomon Akira Kurosawa Japan 1950
139 Wild Strawberries Ingmar Bergman Sweden 1957
140 8 1/2 Federico Fellini Italy 1963
141 Children of Paradise Marcel Carné France 1945
142 The Last Wave Peter Weir Australia 1977
143 That Obscure Object of Desire Luis Buñuel France 1977
144 Loves of a Blonde Milos Forman Czechoslovakia 1965
145 The Firemen’s Ball Milos Forman Czechoslovakia 1967
146 The Cranes Are Flying Mikhail Kalatozov Soviet Union 1957
147 In the Mood for Love Kar-wai Wong Hong Kong 2000
148 Ballad of a Soldier Grigori Chukhrai Soviet Union 1959
149 Juliet of the Spirits Federico Fellini Italy 1965
150 Bob le flambeur Jean-Pierre Melville France 1956
151 Traffic Steven Soderbergh USA 2000
152 George Washington David Gordon Green USA 2000
153 General Idi Amin Dada Barbet Schroeder France 1974
154 The Horse’s Mouth Ronald Neame UK 1958
155 Tokyo Olympiad Kon Ichikawa Japan 1965
156 Hearts and Minds Peter Davis USA 1974
157 The Royal Tenenbaums Wes Anderson USA 2001
158 The Importance of Being Earnest Anthony Asquith UK 1952
159 Red Beard Akira Kurosawa Japan 1965
160 A nous la liberté René Clair France 1931
161 Under the Roofs of Paris René Clair France 1930
162 Ratcatcher Lynne Ramsay UK 1999
163 Hopscotch Ronald Neame USA 1980
164 Solaris Andrei Tarkovsky Soviet Union 1972
165 Man Bites Dog Rémy Belvaux Belgium 1992
166 Down by Law Jim Jarmusch USA 1986

168 Monterey Pop D. A. Pennebaker USA 1967
169 Jimi Plays Monterey & Shake! Otis at Monterey D. A. Pennebaker USA 1986
170 Trouble in Paradise Ernst Lubitsch USA 1932
171 Contempt Jean-Luc Godard France 1963
172 Pepe le moko Julien Duvivier France 1936
173 The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger UK 1943
174 Band of Outsiders Jean-Luc Godard France 1964
175 Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Terry Gilliam USA 1998
176 The Killers Robert Siodmak / Don Siegel USA 1946
177 The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum Volker Schlöndorff & Margarethe von Trotta Germany 1975
178 My Life as a Dog Lasse Hallström Sweden 1985

180 I Am Curious – Yellow Vilgot Sjöman Sweden 1967
181 I Am Curious – Blue Vilgot Sjöman Sweden 1967
182 Straw Dogs Sam Peckinpah USA 1971
183 Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne Robert Bresson France 1945
184 by Brakhage: an anthology Stan Brakhage USA

186 Stolen Kisses François Truffaut France 1968
187 Bed and Board François Truffaut France 1970
188 Love on the Run François Truffaut France 1979
189 The White Sheik Federico Fellini Italy 1952
190 Throne of Blood Akira Kurosawa Japan 1957
191 Jubilee Derek Jarman UK 1978
192 Coup de grace Volker Schlöndorff Germany 1976
193 Quai des Orfevres Henri-Georges Clouzot France 1947
194 Il posto Ermanno Olmi Italy 1961
195 I Fidanzati Ermanno Olmi Italy 1962
196 Hiroshima mon amour Alain Resnais France 1959
197 Night and Fog Alain Resnais France 1955
198 Ali: Fear Eats the Soul Rainer Werner Fassbinder Germany 1974
199 Schizopolis Steven Soderbergh USA 1996
200 Honeymoon Killers Leonard Kastle USA 1970
201 Umberto D. Vittorio De Sica Italy 1952
202 Indiscretion of an American Wife /Terminal Station Vittorio De Sica Italy/USA 1953
204 The Marriage of Maria Braun Rainer Werner Fassbinder Germany 1978
205 Veronika Voss Rainer Werner Fassbinder Germany 1982