Review of La Notte (1961) by Bryan K — 27 May 2004

[B]The Umbrellas of Cherbourg [/B](Jacques Demy, 1964) - I was a sucker for the unique sung dialogue from the start which is appropriately a discussion with a mechanic about a car. It does have the effect of, as Jim Ridley said, elevating the normal into something grand and wonderful. And it is indeed a moving love story, although I was disappointed that the second two parts were not nearly as affecting as the first, ending unforgettably with Guy?s train, and the camera, pulling back from Genevieve, enshrouded in mist. The reason, I think, is that while the rest of the film has an air of melancholy and happiness denied, it doesn?t seem all that bad. What it is, is true ? young love passes and new loves are found. That?s a great thing for a movie, to be of course, but I guess I didn?t find this depiction as soaring as the earlier, and I think the movie thought of it differently than I did. [B]78[/B].

[B]Dogville [/B](Lars von Trier, 2004) - Relentlessly and vilely misanthropic, although more repulsive for its lack of connection to reality, despite its clearly evident delusions of import (as opposed to a Kill Bill or Texas Chainsaw Massacre, say). Extreme visions of the world can shed light on reality, of course, but there is nothing constructive here, just unbridled hate and degradation. That it is, by the end credits, quite obvious that von Trier is laying this loathesomeness on the particular door step of America demonstrates conclusively that he is clueless, lashing out blindly and without reason. [B]27[/B].

[B]Persona [/B](Ingmar Bergman, 1966) - A tour de force of visceral impact but without truly cohesive thematic wholeness (insight welcome). A battle of wills, and just as Alma predicts, she is not equal to Elisabet?s challenge. Elisabet has mastered her own need to speak, and Alma soon finds herself dominated. Even so, she cannot maintain her hatred for Elisabet, but is forced to seek her approval, until she is entirely subsumed. [B]84[/B].

[B]The Texas Chain Saw Massacre[/B] (Tobe Hooper, 1974) - Odd and disconcerting for its first half, it doesn?t even seem to really pick up when the kids start getting knocked off, to my initial disappointment. But then night falls, Franklin is gored by a chainsaw and the real film begins, an exhausting, starkly terrifying pursuit of Sally (Burns), complete with a false salvation that heralds a descent into further hell before one last burst of terror ends the film. Exhilarating and one of the best horror films. [B]83[/B].

La Notte (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1961) - Scenes from a disintegrating marriage between the compulsively unfaithful writer Giovanni and the melancholy, wistful Lidia. It really is a minor, and less subtle, run-through of L?Avventura, but it is accomplished with elegance and intelligence. Lidia is confronted between the disconnect between her feelings of love and those held for her. It was Giovanni that excited her, and so she chose him and left their friend Tommaso, who adored Lidia in a more profound way that never even occurred to Giovanni, to reconcile himself to mere friendship. Later, with Tomasso in his grave, she realizes how poor her choice was as she has tired of Giovanni?s shallowness and infidelity. Even so, it?s interesting that Lidia, who no longer loves her husband, cannot bring herself to consummate an affair with a debonair seducer, while Giovanni, desperate to retrieve his marriage (perhaps merely out of comfort or familiarity, admittedly) is still finding his way into the arms of the beguiling Valentina. Films generally don?t have this many ironies and ideas percolating beneath the surface, and it?s a pleasure to peel away the veneer and find them. [B]77[/B].

Also:

- The Rundown (Peter Berg, 2003) [B]56[/B].

- Il Grido (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1957) [B]47 [/B].