Bertolucci Again

The “Conformist”, is, as I remembered, brilliant. I’m no farther along on deciding if “The Dreamers” is a very good movie that goes off the rails or is a mediocre movie that plays above its skill level. I might revisit the question in light of this post from Filmbrain about a movie Bertolucci made in ’68, “Partner”, coving the same events.

http://www.filmbrain.com/filmbrain/2009/04/2-or-3-things-bertolucci-knows-about-godard.html

Filmbrain includes a clip from the film that is certainly outstanding, but also shows more than a little of what is weird about Bertolucci.

Malle, Moreau, Davis

Cl, do I remember you saying that you are a fan of Jeanne Moreau? I just watched Louis Malle’s 1958 “Elevator to the Gallows” with that fantastic score by Miles Davis. Strange how I can have been a fan of Davis’s music all these years and never have seen this movie. You’ve seen it?

The Visitor

This is by the same director, Thomas McCarthy, who did "The Station Agent" (Erin's pick a while back), which I thoroughly enjoyed. I saw "The Visitor" last night, with sky-high hopes. Alas, this latest effort doesn't hold a candle to "Station Agent." Dang! It has some of the same charm — an unlikely collection of people thrown together to forge unlikely relationships; moments of quiet, poignant humor; insights about how we're all really the same despite seeming so different — but it lacks any kind of forward thrust and becomes fairly tedious about halfway through, in addition to having a kind of naive political agenda and a hugely unsatisfying ending. It's worth seeing for the superb acting of Richard Jenkins in the lead role, but it has little else to recommend it. I think it's garnering a lot of praise, though, so if anyone sees it and concludes I'm full of crap, please let me know.

Bertolucci?

Does anybody have a comment on Bernardo Bertolucci or any of his films? I don’t think I have a steady opinion of him. I’m planning on rewatching his 1970 movie “The Conformist” because Annette Insdorf, in her commentary on “Red” (which is better even than I remembered, btw), brings it up several times. Unrelated to this Kieslowski project, I just watched “The Dreamers” which is certainly good but I haven’t decided if it is great since it obviously is and obviously isn’t. Did I say unsteady?

Last winter I watched “1900” which was rather un-epic for a movie of such scale and duration. My memory of “Stealing Beauty” isn’t very sharp except I remember it was gorgeously shot. I liked “The Sheltering Sky” better than I did Bowles’s book—there’s a good book and movie comparison for you Kc. And I think I fell asleep a third of the way into “Last Tango in Paris” while trying to watch it on cable very late at night.

Anyway, anybody see any of these or other Bertolucci movies?

Cabaret

Has anyone seen this recently? I watched it last night and found it a little cheesier and Liza a little less compelling than I remembered. Granted, I was a kid when I saw it last — I must have been because I had totally missed all the homo clues between Brian and Max and I imagined Liza was a great singer. Liza is just doe eyes with fake lashes, really. Hehe. The story is still good, but, man, would it be terrific as a remake! With a less silly Sally and a more appealing Kit Kat Club cast and an even darker look at the Nazis. I found Joel Grey as the master of ceremonies a little hard to watch. I even fast-forwarded through some of his numbers. I sort of wonder how authentic that was as a 1931 Berlin nightclub act — the sense of bawdiness in the film seemed a tad dreary and unsophisticated.

Atonement

This movie garnered a lot of praise, but I'm not sure why. I haven't read the book, so I can't comment on any aspect of the adaptation. I suspect people like it for its setting: pre-war, super-wealthy Britain — a vast estate with beautiful gardens, lush interiors and gorgeously bored inhabitants — then wartime Britain and France with all the somber hues and pathos. That's all quite appealing. But the story — a young man ruined by a child's false accusation of rape — doesn't really grab, at least not the way it's told. It has initial interest and a lot of potential, but then the film's pacing slows way down and seems to focus on the wrong things. Plus there's a trick ending that seems rather clunkily tacked on. Has anyone seen/read this? Care to comment?

(DW, there's a drawn-out scene on the evacuation of Dunkirk, which I remember from your Proust Questionnaire was the military event in history that most impressed you.)

No Country for Old Men

I finally saw this on pay-per-view last night. I'm eager to see the reaction of someone who hasn't read the book. My main thought was, "This is good, but it's not better than the book; it's more or less a predictable visualization of the book." I wonder what the point is. Is it really an accomplishment? I mean, obviously it's some kind of accomplishment, but what kind, really?

What is the best book-to-movie transfer you've ever seen?