In The Mood For Film: My Week In Film (10/13

Who let these animals into my kingdom?

L'Atalante (1934)
(Directed by Jean Vigo)

Hmmm, where to start? I really loved the look of this film and how everything had kinda of this really dreamy haze to it, sort of. However, this masked what I thought was an often unengaging film. I'm not sure I can pinpoint what led to my bouts of boredom but they were there. Most of the time, I just liked spending time on the ship and seeing them work and seeing the lovers play around and just be in love. The performances were pretty good although Michel Simon bordered on the verge of ridiculousness almost too much (although he has a couple of pretty awesome scenes). However, what has to got to be the best moment in the entire film... (and one of the best scenes of all time) is when... well, if you've seen it, then you already know... so I'm glad I got to watch it just for that. It was fine and enjoyable... but not enough of the time.

★★★

The Lady From Shanghai (1947)
(Directed by Orson Welles)

A really, really entertaining noir from Orson Welles. The story is all kinds of ridiculous and nonsensical (sort of) but it does give you lots of opportunities to just stare at Rita Hayworth ( Shocked

) so that's great. The film looks great with lots of unexpected angles and shots used (and one of the greatest endings ever!!!!!!!) so even more points for that. So while the ending's the highlight, I really loved Welles' on and off Irish accent and his self-deprecating narration (which was one of the things that bugged me about Detour; the constant narration but in here it worked fine). This really reminds me that I got to rewatch Citizen Kane and Touch of Evil to see if this is my favorite Welles film. I still haven't seen many, many of his. He is a great man though

★★★1/2

Los Olvidados (1950)
(Directed by Luis Buñuel)

Uh, this was so awesome and heartbreaking and just plain

. Loved all of the characters and the way that they're portrayed as just being kids (loved how Pedro just wanted to go back home and hold his mom). Not only is the social realism aspect handled extremely well but all the plot stuff is handled superbly (and there's even these crazy awesome dream sequences that blew my mind). In short, it succeeds at just about everything. Perfect characterization, pacing and acting. Just all kinds of great!!!

I watched another 25 minutes of it the other day and it was so fucking gripping. This is definitely a new favorite in the roujin household.

★★★★1/2

Day of Wrath (1943)
(Directed by Carl Th. Dreyer)

Definitely not as great as Ordet but about the same level if not a bit more engaging than Passion. This is a really nice study of repression and all that boring crap. It has some pretty striking cinematography (although not as impressive to these eyes as others). What I liked the most though was the forbidden love aspect to it though. And it was really great seeing Johannes as a young man and not spouting crazy shit about being Jesus. So, it was enjoyable and at the end extremely engaging but it wasn't enough of the time...

*not really a spoiler but whatever*
However, by film's end, it actually got pretty good as it reminded me of the ending of Ordet. Something that had been denied the entirety of the film does actually happen and the conflict between these provokes what turns out to be one of the more interesting parts of the film.

Plus HER EYES!!!

★★★

Sherlock Jr. (1924)
(Directed by Buster Keaton)

Just hilarious. This really caught me by surprise. I kinda expected to chuckle here and there a bit but I had completely forgotten how much I go for silent comedy. Plus there's actually quite a bit level of sophistication at play here with the meta stuff going on (the whole "movie" bit is just sensational). Plus the ending! So, yeah, the stunts are great and hilarious. Keaton's whole deadpan thing is really funny and I enjoyed this much, much more than I thought I would. So, hooray for me.

However, I still agree with the french on this issue....