My Week In Film (5/5 - 5/11)

There's no overall message that I would like to impart this week. Just read and enjoy.

Teeth (2008)
(Directed by Mitchell Lichtenstein)

Do I fear the vagina? I don't know. Maybe I should? Teeth concerns itself with the wonderfully ripe myth, Vagina Dentata. I don't know about you but the thought of a vagina having teeth doesn't so much make me fear for my member (being the male that I am) as it does make me wonder about the anatomy of it all. Maybe if they had given me something to work with instead of casually cutting to images of castrated members discarded on the floor covered with blood, I would have a more interesting reaction. So, the movie's castration fantasies do nothing to either raise or lower my anxiety. OK. Does it work as female empowerment? The ending suggests maybe but the stuff before that doesn't really wash. Maybe it's supposed to be some kind of metaphor for Dawn's (the main character) sexual awakening? I keep wondering about what I felt about the film but feelings weren't really involved in the process. I watched it. I remember moving images. Then it was gone and I didn't miss it. So, it's not really scary, not funny, not much of anything. It is purely about its subject and I suppose it succeeds at that. Hey, now there is a film about it. We don't have to worry so much.

★1/2

A Man Escaped (1956)
(Directed by Robert Bresson)

I haven't seen a lot of movies. To add to that, I haven't seen many prison break movies. Shawshank Redemption counts, right? Anyway, the point is...
A Man Escaped is simply about that. There is literally nothing else to the movie. It begins with an escape attempt and ends with the escape. The film is concerned with nothing else. It is filled with the hushed voices of men robbed of their freedom. All of this is nice and all but is it gripping? Is it exciting? Well, I would hardly call a man chipping away at a door for 30 minutes exciting. However, for the majority of the film it becomes strangely riveting. Perhaps it's due to (what I believe) is almost pitch-perfect pacing? I really have no idea. I'm becoming used to not knowing why I feel what I feel. I'm fine with that.

★★★★

Hiroshima mon amour (1959)
(Directed by Alain Resnais)

I used to have clear idea of what I thought of this film yesterday night. Now, I can't even even begin to tell you. Anyway, more than any other film ('cept maybe Last Year in Marienbad) it exists both in the past and in the present. Both are inseparable. Yeah, that's probably simplifying it by a lot. I had something more articulate in my head a couple of days ago. Oh well. I'll rewatch this and form a clearer opinion. However, don't let my muddled mind confuse you. This is without a doubt a masterpiece. Wow.

★★★★

No doubts over here.

Jhon's Movie of the Week is... Hiroshima mon amour