between the mountains

The Virgin Spring

Based on my experiences I would say the wise thing to do would not be to watch Ingmar Bergman’s "The Virgin Spring" right before going to bed. The film is sure to leave you with dreams of a gloomy, barbarous medieval Sweden, all in black and white with scary religious symbolism. That said the films is brilliant, in large parts because of all that scare and gloom, but it is far from comfortable viewing.
( ++++ )

Il Gattopardo/The Leopard

The film is based on the novel of the same name by Tomaso di Lampedusa, and tells the story of Don Frederico,( ++++ )

One of the reasons I loved this film might have been that I just finished a great book called The Force of Destiny – the history of Italy since 1796 by Christopher Duggan, which deals with just this period. The book is wonderful and utterly fascinating (queenofthorns? Have you read this? It made me think of you, with your love of history and Italy). A central point in Duggan’s book is the conflict between North and South Italy, a conflict still apparent to this day. This conflict is also a central point in Il Gattopardo, but more than that it is the story of changes and the reality of these changes.

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List of films watched in 2009.

As part of my job is watching a lot of movies (oh the hardship...)I figured I might as well make a list of what I have seen, and write a snippet or two about them. For some strange reason I decided to begin with a film about hermit-monks.



In some sense continuing the monastic trend from a precious post, though this time instead of adorable dancing Franciscans there are silent, meditative Carthusians.

The Carthusian order are followers of the rules of St. Bruno, and are considered one of the most ascetic orders in western monasticism. The goal with their monastic existence is to live a life of constant prayer, and to do so solitary and in a strange sense a hermit-like community. Documentary filmmaker Philip Gröning released Into Great Silence in 2005, claiming the film was "an intimate portrayal of life in Grand Chartreuse". The film uses no non-diegetic sound, it has no voiceover or any form of explanation and this has caused many to laud the films near meditative qualities.

( pictures and such )

The official web-page is here. ETA: The trailer is on YouTube, which gives you an idea about the use of sound and perspective in this film.

+++++

The great blog Self-Styled Siren has an absolutely wonderful post about George Sanders, described by one of his wives as possessing "caddishness of Homeric Proportions, here. I quote:

Then there's Sanders, determined to rid himself of second wife Zsa Zsa Gabor, arranging to break into her bedroom on Christmas Eve with a detective and a photographer in hopes of catching the Hungarian beauty in flagrante. Sanders climbed through the window. Flashbulbs popped and Zsa Zsa's lover sprang, too late, for the bathroom. Sanders held out a gift and boomed, "Merry Christmas, my dear!"

Since Sanders was and remains my favorite part in All About Eve I read this with glee. If you know who Sanders is then run and read, and if you haven't yet had the pleasure (?) then please do the same.

I’ve watched a ton of films lately, but I haven’t posted about any of them – and I’ve pondered a bit why that is. Today, after finishing a far too thick and comprehensive anthology about film criticism I struck upon a possible answer. It’s all the film theories fault.

For instance this is what one theorist said in regards to romantic films (or genres of indeterminate space as he calls them. Don’t ask.):

[...]These genres rely upon a progression from romantic antagonism to eventual embrace. The kiss or embrace signals the integration of the couple into the larger cultural community.

I’ve come to suspect that theories like this work in direct opposition to my enjoyment of the film. I mean would you want to contemplate the integration in the cultural community when all you really want to do is watch Mr. Thornton kiss Margareth?

But at any rate, I’ve decided to get my act together, and actually write a bit about all the films I see:


Harakiri (1962)
( poster )

Two things you should now about this film:

1. I think it is possibly one of the best films I have ever seen.
2. I’m a bit loathed to talk about the plot, because there are some twists and turns that really work best if you’re unspoiled.

The story starts with the ronin Hanshiro Tsugumo (played brilliantly by Tatsuya Nakadai) one day showing up at the house of the feudal lord Saito, and asking for a suitable place to commit Harakiri. While readying for his suicide Tsugumo starts to tell the lord his story, and slowly but surely we learn the reason behind his actions.
( +++++ )

Ni Livor Nine Lives (1957)
( poster )

This is a Norwegian film detailing events during the German occupation of World War II. I don’t usually watch Norwegian films, as they are often uniformly bad. (and if you think – silly me, how bad can they be, then picture a film containing a fifteen minuets long, graphic sex scene on top of live herring! And if you picture watching that film with your class and an extremely religious teacher then you have a bit of my embarrassed youth to go with) But back to Nine Lives, which has the distinction of being not bad. In fact it is very, very good.

It details the exploits of the resistance fighter Jan Baalsrud, who has the rather unfortunate fate of being on the run from the Nazis in rural North Norway. As a result of this he gets to swin across an icy fjord while being shot at, and in one particularly memorable scene cut of his own toes because they have become infected with frostbite. And that is just the first half of the movie. ( ++++ )

Swedish Scandinavian Templars! Coming this December the movie Arn - Knights Templar. (ps. there is a little language sign at the top of the page that turns everything into English)

The film is based on the books by Swedish author Jan Guillou, which have been a huge success in Scandinavia. They tell the story of Arn, a young Swedish noble man and later knight who fights in the Crusades and later in Sweden. Not to fond of the books myself, but I'm unable to pass up a film set in the Middle Ages and with Templars! Also it doesn't look all that bad. Hee.

Five reasons I love the things I do:

Being a full and honest account wherein our heroine (?) lists the things she loves about the things she loves. + also a list which is possibly connected to her trying to finish a paper and being very clearly stuck + resulting in lists whose numbers should not be read as priorities, but mere ordering of facts :

( Star Wars )

( Rome )

( Deadwood )

( Babylon 5 )

Coming up will be "The Wire", "ASOIAF", "Tolkien" and other things that at the moment escape my articulation.

Lawrence Durrell: The Alexandria Quartet

( In which our narrator proves to be most unreliable+ there are mentions of Cavafy + questions are asked if its what really happens or if its what we remember happening that is of the greatest value + the dealings of a large numbers of ex-pats in 1930’s Alexandria + Gnosticism and Coptic beliefs.  )

Flags of Our fathers

( In which colours are very saturated + Eastwood gives a visual comment on war movies + one of our heroes (?) proves that being a medic is probably the least desirable position to have )

So tomorrow I'm watching "Letters from Iwo Jima". More about that then.