Friday, October 31, 2008

Jules et Jim

Jules et Jim (François Truffaut, 1962)


François Truffaut with Jean-Luc Godard and Éric Rohmer were radical film critics who turned to filmmaking in the 1960s under the given title the French New Wave. They were the critics responsible for the auteur theory that proposes it is the filmmaker who is responsible for the creative process of the film and that there is a personal projection through the mise-en-scene. François Truffauts 1962 masterpiece is one of the most romantic and stylistically evocative film of the entire movement. The story takes place in France, Germany and Austria before, during and after the first world war. The two friends who the film is titled after Jules (Oskar Werner) and Jim (Henri Serre) are two writers who are interested in the world of the arts, actively participate in a bohemian lifestyle and fall in love with the same beautiful women Catherine (Jeanne Moreau). All the while transporting the viewer to an ancient ideological lifestyle visiting cool french bars Parisian landmarks and gorgeous summer homes. The themes involve alternatives to the traditional couple relationship and on love, life and tragedy that were beautifully summed up when Catherine sings Le Tourbillon over the enchanting musical score by Georges Delerue. This was Jeanne Moreau first encounter with François Truffaut and her role of Catherine is staple of French Cinema. Catherine is a disenchanted women whose strife's never end well and who has perpetual feelings of ennui. To make the beautiful black and white cinematography by Raoul Coutard even more enjoyable, Truffaut beautifully alternates between grave and joyous subject matter that entices a wonderful feeling that is both funny and melancholic. In French with subtitles. 105 min.-David Davidson

Jules et Jim plays at the ByTowne Cinema Nov. 17 at 8:55 p.m. and Nov. 28 at 4:30 p.m. Tickets are $10, $6 for members.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Kym's smile

Rachel Getting Married (Jonathan Demme, 2008)


A entralling film on a familiar subject, this suburban melodrama play's with prolonged montages that evoke endearing sympathy and with an acute use of sound and music especially a indie-rock accoustic adaptation of the wedding march it profiles Kym (Anne Hathaway), a recovering junkie that got out of rehab for her sisters Rachel`s wedding. Jonathan Demme started his carrer in the 1974 under AIP`s Roger Corman and pays his dept to his mentor by having him appear in a cameo where he picks up a camera at the wedding. Through a shaky hand-held camera and versatile tracking shots the film create`s enchanting and devastating moods. The screenplay by Jenny Lumet treats all the characters with respect and dignity as it examines Kym personal imperfection, repressed memories and her hope of overcoming them.-David Davidson

(Bytowne Cinema, 324 Rideau Street)

Friday, October 17, 2008

Truffaut, Leigh & Demme

Coming to the Bytowne Cinema in november.

Happy-Go-Lucky (Mike Leigh, 2008)
Rachel Getting Married (Jonathan Demme, 2008)
Shoot the Piano Player (François Truffaut, 1960)

Saturday, October 11, 2008

It was kinda fun in a necrophile sort of way

This was published in the Volume 69, Issue 9, Oct. 16-22, 2008 issue of the Fulcrum. —D.D.

Rosemary's Baby (Roman Polanski, 1968)
**** (A)

Mia Farrow as Rosemary Woodhouse portraits one of the most paranoid and alienated women in motherhood in cinema. A good-hearted wife to Guy Woodhouse (John Cassavetes) in 1960 New York once pregnant gets entangled in a series of sinister coincidences. Ambiguously portrayed in a feverish nightmare or during a satanic ritual Rosemary gets raped by satan. Much of the film’s intensity derives from Polanski style, the claustrophobia of the appartment, the over bearing dark ancient building, the eerie decor and the unnerving tone fills each frame of the film with dread, grief and apprehension. With an adhering use of expressionistic actors the film sets the mood for an intense fright. A perfect companion before Halloween, show up!-David Davidson
(Bytowne Cinema, 324 Rideau Street, Monday October 20th, 9:05)

***

Selected Conversations with Innovative and Influential Creative Figures in Film, TV and Digital Media at Pinewood Dialogues and more Jonathan Rosenbaum.

Friday, October 10, 2008

October Indefinite Openings

Changeling (Clint Eastwood, 2008)
(scheduled opening October 24th)

Synecdoche, New York (Charlie Kaufman, 2008)
(scheduled opening October 24th)

Happy-Go-Lucky (Mike Leigh, 2008)
(scheduled opening October 10th)