Paprika

Notes on Rotten Tomatoes.

Vera Drake

A new favorite film: "Vera Drake", viewed May 30, 2005. Directed by Mike Leigh; Vera played by Imelda Staunton. Interesting rehearsal technique, where actors improvised and developed their own scripts, seems to have payed off brilliantly. Roger Ebert's review is dead on. Ebert's a deeper thinker and better writer than one might expect based on his television persona. I guess the TV studio has a dumbing-down effect. Ebert has a nice database of what he considers to be the Great Movies of all time.

"Twisted Path of Love" (Kumashiro)

[2005-02-25]
"Koibitotachi wa Nureta" [literally, "Lovers Get Wet"] directed by Kumashiro Tatsumi, Nikkatsu studio, 1973. A so-called "pink film", or "Roman Porno", but not a shallow work. Reminds one obliquely of "Easy Rider", of characters without future, savoring pleasures and sufferings of the moment, but mostly oblivious to long-term consequences. Protagonist is Katsu who returns to run-down Japanese coastal town, finds solace in arms of boss's lonely wife. Reviewer sees Katsu, who denies having been raised in same town, representing Japan's loss of identity following Second World War and disorienting effect of U.S. occupation. Recommended for background reading: William Johnson's "A New View of Porn: The Films of Tatsumi Kumashiro." Film Quarterly Fall 2003, vol. 57, no. 1, pp.11-19.

Film: Mean Girls (2004)

[2004-11-12]
Truly amusing, with crackling screenplay by Tina Fey, who also played Cady's mathematics teacher. Tim Meadows, regrettably more subdued than usual, plays the school's exasperated principal. Lindsay Lohan is Cady; Rachel McAdams is Regina, leader of the "plastics". Lizzy Caplan is perfect as counter-culture Janis. Produced by Lorne Michaels and directed by Mark Waters.

Films

Watched Ken Loach's "Sweet Sixteen" last night.

Martin Compston is great as delinquent Liam, waiting desperately for the release of his mother Jean (Michelle Coulter) from prison, maintaining good opinion of her despite much evidence to the contrary.

Locale: Greenock in Scotland, overun by junkies, but still in beautiful area overlooking North Atlantic coast.

Liam often on verge of redeeming himself, but circumstances keep dragging him down.

Thought it was a great film. Not exactly uplifting, but inspiring in depicting innocence that endures in miserable hopeless world.

Touches similar issue to Tim Blake Nelson's "The Grey Zone." Some times there are only choices between bad options. Hard to judge someone, when you haven't been in their place.

In "Grey Zone," Sonderkommandos are forced to operate Auschwitz gas chambers and crematoria, and they like Liam are trying to survive with their innocence intact.

Watched Andrej Wajda's Korczak Sunday night. Story of doctor who ran Jewish orphanage, even after all its children were transported to Warsaw Ghetto and then to death camp. Well acted. Depressing.

On his website, Wajda writes that the initial reaction to his film in 1990 at Cannes was a standing ovation.

"By the next morning," he writes, "the review in Le Monde had tranformed me into an anti-Semite, and none of the major film distributors would agree to circulate the film outside Poland. My good intentions were useless."

In any case, Best Video has the New Yorker Films video release.