a record of consumption, part two (being a new film journal)

1.12.2022
Chang Cheh, Pao Hsueh-Li The Boxer from Shantung 1972

From Arrow's ShawScope Volume One box set. Full immersion into Shaw Brothers films, of which I am a total neophyte. Kung Fu star Kuan Tai Chen has extreme screen presence, in the way Charles Bronson did, from simple scenes with him sitting and smoking to balls out fight sequences. Knife fight/death scene with David Chiang also brings this film to next level quality as does the mind blowing Peckinpah ending. Assistant director was John Woo! Blu ray has interview with him, very much worth watching.

Ryusuke Hamaguchi Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy 2021

Recently saw Hamaguchi's Drive My Car, based on the Haruki Murakami short story, which was my favorite film of 2021. Also read the short story afterwards which brought attention to the virtuosity of the screenwriting in Drive My Car. Now seeing his second feature from 2021, a film in three parts, or four parts as one section has a break in time, with each story equally solid and without mediocrity. Hamaguchi says "I think the biggest incentive for me to becoming a director was watching Cassavetes", good enough reason to watch his work over and over, these 2 films of 2021 are incredibly well written, beautifully performed, odd stories that are both basic in the way you understand them but having many layers of subtlety that keep them at the threshold of clear/unclear.

1.13.2022
Jeong Chang-Hwa King Boxer (Five Fingers of Death) 1972
(rewatch)

Second time watching King Boxer by the veteran Korean director Jeong Chang-Hwa, this time with David Desser commentary.

Chang Cheh Five Shaolin Masters 1974

From Arrow's ShawScope Volume One box set. Full chaos. Sublime fight scenes out of doors, in the fields, in rivers, blood and flying axes... Ends with cinematic bliss with 5 fights flawlessly intertwined with some of the most technical editing imaginable, and even though the cuts are far from invisible, they perform like a silent killer, perhaps much done within the camera. Unreal film.

Julia Ducournau Titane 2021

Truly bizarre and uncomfortable film. Hated it initially, the flashiness and amped up photography, but it really grew on me as the story moved on. Really liked the Future Islands dance sequence. Very good music (Jim Williams) / sound (Séverin Favriau, Fabrice Osinski, and Stéphane Thiébaut). Very Cronenbergian.... yet in its own trajectory, a powerful film.

Nicholas Ray Johnny Guitar 1954
(rewatch)

Umpteenth time rewatch, both straight and with Adrian Martin commentary. From Master's of Cinema blu ray, also includes discussions with Tony Rayns, David Cairns, Geoff Andrew, Susan Ray, and Martin Scorsese's DVD intro. I remember in late 90s/early 2000s collecting many DVDs with the Scorsese intros, almost as good as the films some of them, the master can really access the magic of a film with apparent little effort.

1.14.2022
Joel Coen The Tragedy of Macbeth 2021

Denzel Washington! Stephen Root! Brian Thompson! Corey Hawkins! Extreme black and white photography by Bruno Delbonnel, just beautiful and tactile. Coen music collaborator Carter Burwell returns and delivers a beautiful score. Set design by Nancy Haigh, buildings sort of look like a combination of black and white Luis Barragán with Giorgio de Chirico added in. My letterboxd account told me Denzel Washington was the actor I spent the most time with in 2021, after seeing his performance here I can understand why.

Favorite Denzel performances:

Devil in a Blue Dress (Carl Franklin)
Flight (Robert Zemeckis)
Philadelphia (Jonathan Demme)
Unstoppable (Tony Scott)
The Equalizer and The Equalizer 2 (Antoine Fuqua)
American Gangster (Ridley Scott)
The Taking of Pelham 123 (Tony Scott)
Inside Man (Spike Lee)
Deja Vu (Tony Scott)
Training Day (Antoine Fuqua)
The Mighty Quinn (Carl Schenkel)
The Magnificent Seven (Antoine Fuqua)
Glory (Edward Zwick)
The Manchurian Candidate (Jonathan Demme)
Roman J. Israel, Esq. (Dan Gilroy)
Man on Fire (Tony Scott)
Out of Time (Carl Franklin)
He Got Game (Spike Lee)
The Hurricane (Norman Jewison)
The Pelican Brief (Alan J. Pakula)
Crimson Tide (Tony Scott)
Malcolm X (Spike Lee)
Remember the Titans (Boaz Yakin)
Mo' Better Blues (Spike Lee)

Born 1954 in Mount Vernon, New York, just outside Manhattan, Mr. Washington studied Journalism at Fordham University and then moved to San Francisco and studied a year at the American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.). Left to work as an actor, and made his first big screen appearance in Carbon Copy (1981) with George Segal. Married Pauletta Washington in 1983 (they met in 1977) and is still married to her with 4 children and lives in Los Angeles. Tom Hanks said working with him on Philadelphia was like going to film school.

1.15.2022
Scott Frank The Queen’s Gambit 2020
(rewatch)

4k rewatch. Enjoyed this the first time, and even more now. Really love Bill Camp in this. Moses Ingram from The Tragedy of Macbeth stars here as Jolene, as childhood friend of Beth Harmon, as does Macbeth's Harry Melling. Marielle Heller on rewatch really struck me as well, her Steve Buscemi facial expressions and strange way of talking are very charming.

Francis Ford Coppola The Outsiders: The Complete Novel 1983
(rewatch)

Arrow 4k release. Classic Coppola film with memorable cast which includes C. Thomas Howell, Matt Dillon, Ralph Macchio, Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez, Tom Cruise, Diane Lane, Michelle Meyrink, Tom Waits, and Flea. Looked and sounded quite insane in 4K which much rear speaker action, Atmos atmospherics to give a powerful sonic experience.

1.16.2022
Paul Thomas Anderson Licorice Pizza 2021

Couldn't find a point of entry into this film, and the pointlessness of the story made it unwatchable. I like that my friend's complaint was he thought all the running around was of irritating, it was indeed. On a positive note, it was nice hearing Chico Hamilton on the soundtrack.

Paul Thomas Anderson Phantom Thread 2017
(rewatch)

Fourth time rewatch. Splendid, simply splendid film.  Hard to not love dwelling in the ambiance of this narcissistic, pompous, arrogant, and vulnerable man. Sort of the worst qualities of men, yet presented in an absurd manner.

1.17.2022
Chang Cheh Shaolin Temple 1976

Fourth film from Arrow's ShawScope Volume One box set. A common theme in these films, martial arts training techniques throughout the film yield fruit in the end, in a Karate Kid type manner (wax on wax off). End is bliss.

Ryszard Bugajski Clearcut 1991

From Severin's All the Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium of Folk Horror boxset. Native American perspective on nature, capitalism, and the beyond, here seen through the lens of the horror genre.  Worth seeing also for Graham Greene and Floyd 'Red Crow' Westerman.

1.18.2022
Liu Chia-Liang Challenge of the Masters 1977 & Executioners from Shaolin 1977

2 from Arrow's ShawScope Volume One box set.

Ridley Scott The Last Duel 2021

Scott's Rashomonesque violation film. Great performance by Jodie Comer.

1.19.2022
Kent MacKenzie The Exiles 1961

Have been wanting to see this for many years, after watching and rewatching Thom Andersen's Los Angeles Plays Itself. Stunning film, shot by Erik Daarstad, Robert Kaufman, and John Arthur Morrill, a portrait of the no longer Bunker Hill, and Native American's getting loose and wild in the once atmospheric location, and offering an alternative view of West Coast Beat Culture. Essential.

Boaz Yakin Remember the Titans 2000

Disney film dealing with race, starring Denzel Washington, Will Patton, Ryan Gosling (small role), and Wood Harris (Avon Barksdale in The Wire).

Don Siegel The Shootist 1976
(rewatch)

"I’m a dying man scared of the dark". Despite the made for tv quality, the film really stands up to multiple rewatches over a period of time, first saw in the mid 90s, being a huge Don Siegel and John Wayne fan, and have watched it a few times since, has some problems, but overall a very good film about a dying outlaw and a disappearing time in the same vein as the 1962 film Lonely Are the Brave.

1.20.2022
Don Siegel Escape from Alcatraz 1979
(rewatch)

Endlessly rewatchable film, really starts cooking when Fred Ward shows up.

Walter Hill The Warriors 1979
(rewatch)

Perfect way to spend an evening, had to erase the director's cut from my mind with the straight up version.


Christian Petzold Undine 2020

Recent Petzold film with the magnetic Paula Beer & Franz Rogowski. Hard to not see Rogowski as a young Brando with the interesting addition of the hairlip. Lovely film.

1.21.2022
Peter Tscherkassky Dream Work 2001

Flicker film merging into an homage to Man Ray.


George Cukor My Fair Lady 1964
(rewatch)

Last time seeing this was probably 25 years ago. Had little memory of it except that there were great performances by Audrey Hepburn, Rex Harrison, Wilfrid Hyde-White, and Stanley Holloway (best known to me from Brief Encounter). If it is not clear enough that we are living in a world of near darkness, I was told and shown proof that many young people today only see this as a misogynistic film with little to no value. Having this in mind whilst watching, could only come to the conclusion that many film enthusiasts today are not watching what is on the screen but something else perhaps in their mind, with no ability to read a film as presented to them. Beautiful stuff, looked great in 4K Dolby Vision!

1.22.2022
Frank Capra Mr. Deeds Goes to Town 1936
(rewatch)

Essential cinema 4K rewatch.

 
George A. Romero Dawn of the Dead 1978
(rewatch)

Watched the 3 different versions of this film many times in 2021, now watching the theatrical cut in 4K. Glorious film. Can it get any better?

Julia Ducournau Titane 2021
(rewatch)

Second time with Julia Ducournau's powerful film Titane, paying close attention to the use of music and sound.  As the film's antihero Alexia/Adrien shows a duality and goes through a noticeable transformation, the sound and music mirror these levels of consciousness experienced with Alexia/Adrien. In addition to the composer Jim Williams' score and the powerful sound design by Séverin Favriau, Fabrice Osinski, and Stéphane Thiébaut (like in the forest fire at night scene), there are songs used that either in themselves show transformation, or are manipulated sonically to demonstrate change. Wayfaring Stranger covered by 16 Horsepower in the opening sequence and a later version by Lisa Abbott as Alexia/Adrien dances atop the fire truck, same song rendered quite differently. The Kills' Doing It to Death is heard in the car/dance sequence. Caterina Caselli's Nessuno Mi Può Guidicare accompanies the first kill. The Zombies' She’s Not There from 1964 drives along the male bonding in the dancing/fighting scene between father and son. The most spectacular is when Future Islands' Light House is heard during the fireman's dance sequence, the song begins as the only audible part of the sound, then when an interruption breaks the transcendence, room sounds are added in as the song drops in volume a bit, and as we get back into the scene's transcendence the song is shifted and abstracted for a spell and then brought back to dominate the experience as the scene ends blissfully. Johann Sebastian Bach's St. Matthew Passion is modified for the extremely uncomfortable lust/birth sequence giving the cinematic illusion of angels watching over the events. End credits have Jim Williams' elated Sarabande. Ducournau is not only a master story teller, but also virtuosic with constructing an experience unlike any other through the medium of film.


Peter Tscherkassky Outer Space 1999

Flickering fuckery, being a rendition of Sidney J. Furie's 1982 film The Entity with Barbara Hershey. Pure virtuosity, Tscherkassky is a master of the visceral film experience.

Derek Simonds The Sinner, season one 2017
(rewatch)

Going through the first season again, perhaps also the second.