Perhaps only a Sam Fuller could have made a
movie that was, at once, a muscular film noir, a spy thriller that got kicked
off by the most unlikely of coincidences imaginable, an unflinching depiction
of the seedy underbelly of a city, a seemingly gung-ho political commentary,
and a controlled melodrama, and all with not a single of its glorious B/W frames
wasted. It in fact made me wonder whether Fuller was a chest-thumping
Right-Winger or was actually having sly, underhanded fun. The tightly plotted
film starts off, in a brilliant opening sequence devoid of any dialogues, with
Skip (Richard Widmark), a career pickpocket who belongs to the bottom-most
spectrum of the society and lives in a shack on the waterfront, stealing a
purse off a saucy lady (Jean Peters) in a busy train. Unbeknownst to him, the wallet
contains a micro-film with confidential government information, thus placing
him right in the middle with both the good guys, viz. the cops, and the bad
guys, viz. the Commie traitors, frantically chasing him. The gleefully amoral
and apolitical Skip, however, realizes he has struck gold, and starts giving
both sides a run for their money, until of course matters of the heart force
his direction. Crisply timed, breezily paced, drenched in cynicism, filled with
memorably orchestrated sequences (including a few deceptive long takes), and
comprising of a superb turn by Widmark as the wickedly self-serving anti-hero, Fuller
managed to dish out a film that was a darn fun watch while also being
deliberately provocative. In the hands of a lesser mortal, this would have
surely become a Z-grade schlock.
Director: Sam Fuller
Genre: Film Noir/Crime Thriller/Spy Thriller/Political Thriller
Language: English
Country: US
The Japanese New Wave film Crazed Fruit, belonging to the sub-genre of taiyozoku (Sun Tribe) films, dealt with the theme of angst and existential
crisis among the youth – particularly among the rich and bored. It thus had a
universal theme but was particularly relevant and topical in the context of
post-War Japanese society. Its seemingly simple tale of brothers turning rivals
on account of the same girl they fall for, received dimensions on
account of the simmering sexual tension and undercurrents, and its trenchant portrayal
of decadence, aimlessness and vacuous existence of the wealthy in a society in
flux and yet to reconcile with its immediate past. While on summer vacation,
the young and naïve adolescent Haruji (Masahiko Tsugawa) falls in love with the
enigmatic and seemingly prudish Eri (Mie Kitahara). Meanwhile his hedonistic elder
brother Natsuhisa (Yujiro Ishihara), an archetypal spoilt brat for whom life is
an endless party of excesses, becomes increasingly obsessed with Ira. However,
as turns out, not only is she a promiscuous and philandering young lady, but is
even married to a much older American man. And thus, while the virginal Haruji
quenches the lonely Ira’s craving for love, oblivious of the fact that she’s
anything but a maiden, the dashing and cocksure Natsuhisa starts satisfying her
lust. Expectedly, the story heads towards a confrontational and mutually
destructive finale, but nothing could have prepared one for the violent retribution
– made all the more jarring by the languid pacing till then. Though uneven in
nature, particularly on the acting front, this managed to be a memorable portrayal of a generation lost in space, with smooth B/W photography and lilting score as added bonuses.
Director: Ko Nakahira
Genre: Drama/Teenage Drama/Existential Drama/Psychological Drama
Language: Japanese
Country: Japan
Sydney Pollack’s anti-Western Jeremiah Johnson was a myth-making tale
on the primeval philosophy of man as a creature of the wild – about his ability
to survive in the wilderness and willingness to develop community from scratch.
It was a story of the titular protagonist (Robert Redford), a jaded and
world-weary lone wolf, who decides to leave civilization behind and take refuge
in the Rocky Mountains. Faced with insurmountable challenges, he is taken under
the wing of an aged and cackling mountain-dweller (Will Geer), before moving on
with hands-on training on survival skills and setting up a small home away from
the madding crowd with the daughter of the Chief of the Flathead Indians he
ends up marrying, and a young boy he becomes a foster father to. Though unable
to communicate with either of the two – she doesn’t speak English, while the
kid is seemingly mute – they form a happy family. However, his tranquility
turns out to be short-lived as members of the Crow tribe massacre them when he
inadvertently violates their burial ground while leading the US Cavalry on a
rescue mission. And thus, from a story of finding peace amidst the harsh and
inhospitable wilderness, it becomes one of brutal revenge, being forced to go
on the run, and becoming mythologized in the process. Shot on location, the
film comprised of excellent visuals that very well captured the indomitable
forces of nature, reminiscent of Kurosawa’s Dersu Uzala. The leisurely pacing and serene tone provided affecting
layers to the film’s motifs and naturalistic setting, and helped it in striking a
chord with the anti-establishment mood that was at its fever pitch then.
Director: Sydney Pollack
Genre: Western/Revisionist Western
Language: English
Country: US
Bunuel made Diary
of a Chambermaid at a phase when he was churning out one masterpiece after
another; consequently it is easy for some of them to be overlooked despite
being gems. This, the first film after his return to France in what can be
classified as the last third of his filmmaking career, remains a sterling
example of that. Loosely adapted from Octave Mirbeau’s novel of the same name,
which Renoir too had adapted a couple of decades back, this was a brilliant, understated
and wryly satirical exploration of class differences in a wealthy, cocooned suburban
mansion – the kind made famous by Renoir in
La Regle du Jeu, with the rise of fascism in France providing a key
backdrop. It begins with Celestine (Jeanne Moreau), a highly alluring Parisian
lady who’s well aware of the effect she has on the men around her, arriving at
Normandy in order to work as a chambermaid. The men in the house, viz. the suave
and fetishistic old patron (Jean Ozenne), his cuckolded son-in-law (Michel
Piccoli), the Right-Wing and anti-Semitic carriage driver (Georges Geret), and
the aged neighbor – all become, at various levels, aroused by her presence,
while the frigid lady of the house starts despising her on account of the
obvious sexual politics. And then a bizarre crime takes place that makes the
atmosphere further charged, and that forces the ambitious Celestine to embark
on a dangerous game of one-upmanship with the people around her. This
sly, disturbing, and brilliantly enacted work was filled to brim
with the kind of droll humour, grotesque sexual undertones and caustic
socio-political observations that were quintessentially Bunuelesque.
Director: Luis Bunuel
Genre: Drama/Political Drama/Social Satire
Language: French
Country: France
The Man Who Left His Will on Film was Oshima’s cryptic, self-reflexive and discursive
treatise on memory and nature of identity, as well as a tongue-in-cheek
exposition on the role of radical politics in cinema and vice-versa. Drawing parallels
with Resnais’ mind-bending classic Last Year at Marienbad would be natural given its freewheeling style, formal
avant-gardism and thematic elements. The film begins with a POV shot of a
nameless guy with a Bolex camera who jumps off a building for seemingly no reason.
The shaggy-haired and perennially angry Motoki (Kazuo Goto), who belongs to a
group of underground left-wing activists, becomes obsessed with the seemingly
mundane shots the guy had captured on film before committing suicide – he doesn’t
just want to find the meaning of the images, but also recreate the exact shots.
And in this deeply existential quest joins the dead guy’s lover, the cute
looking and eerily placid Yasuko (Emiko Iwasaki). But, the film’s nowhere as
simple as that. The identity of the dead filmmaker is so fluid that it’s
impossible to be sure whether or not he even existed – he might be from an alternate
history, a figment of the character’s mind, a powerful abstraction and symbol for
the two aimless youths or just an elaborate joke concocted by Oshima. Throw in
some wryly humorous take on armchair intellectualism and left-wing political
activism sprung from the desire to change the world, alternated with sharp
social commentary, spiritual rambling, deftly sensual touches, and a stylized play on the medium itself, and what one gets is this
simultaneously cerebral, chaotic, amusing, and frustrating piece of work.
Director: Nagisa Oshima
Genre: Drama/Political Drama/Surreal Drama/Avant-Garde/Experimental Film
Language: Japanese
Country: Japan
