La pianiste The Piano Teacher Michael Haneke 2001 France / Austria1st time; DVD A piano teacher who lives with her possessive mother seeks solace in a pupil who has fallen for her, but her tendency towards what society looks at as depraved drives them apart. Haneke is a fantastic director: not only is he daring and confident, but also fiercely controlled. His films are rich in all kinds of thematic intricacies, are almost always of visual interest, and uphold an intense and unsettling ambiguity in their exploration of psychologically elusive characters. Not only is this film fascinating to watch as a character study, but is interesting in how its narrative unfolds as a series of matter-of-fact events which never really lead into one another; what might be considered as emotional detachment is made intimate by a powerful performance from Isabelle Huppert. Original stuff, and throughout the entire duration of the film, which seems far longer than it is in some rhythmical resounding way, you can never predict what is going to happen next.
Trop belle pour toi! Too Beautiful for You Bertrand Blier 1989 France 1st time; DVD A car salesman cheats on his beautiful wife with his seemingly ordinary secretary. The promotional synopses and critical responses to this film seem to have missed the point: even positive reactions tend to focus on terms such as 'amusing romantic comedy'. It is certainly not without a good dose of wit, but to say it is funny or even romantic seems to be overlooking: a) its seductive cinematography, b) its elusive editing technique, and c) the melancholic unfolding of the narrative. What begins as a film told in flashes and snippets of reflection moves into something far more weighty and 'active', using Schubert's music as a means of both diegetic and non-diegetic emotional core. Impressive and underseen.
Sauve qui peut (la vie) Slow Motion Jean-Luc Godard 1979 France / Switzerland1st time; DVD The lives of a filmmaker, his lover and a prostitute cross. Difficult to sit through without fidgeting, so few are this film's interesting ideas; it begs for revisits, but doesn't do anything to deserve such attention. Visually dull, it is caught in the creatively inert void between Godard's moving camera of the sixties and his static compositions of the eighties. Tedious.
...dot com bold typeface rhetoric. You go clickety click and get your head split. 'The hell you look like on a message board Discussing whether or not the Brother is hardcore?
