Author Archives: Fran

Can a movie taking place in the grim council estates of South London, where aliens have landed and are viciously attacking hapless residents—can such a movie be called “light-hearted”? The answer is “yes” if the movie is Attack the Block, a sci-fi flick by Joe Cornish. Noting that the movie was one of the New York Times’ Don’t Miss Movies You Probably Missed, I sat down to watch and was soon alternately screaming and laughing—how fun is that?

The premise is that a gang headed by a brooding youth named Moses is faced with aliens who have invaded on Bonfire Night, an annual celebration in Britain with fireworks. In all the hubbub, the police don’t notice the meteor-like balls of fire that land in the projects, so the kids are faced with fighting the aliens themselves. Part of the humor of the situation is that the kids have grown up in such grim environment, and are so used to be harassed by cops and other gangs, that the aliens are just another bad-a… thing to deal with. Gathering clubs, knives, and guns, they go after the aliens, who have glow-in-the dark fangs. There are some sub-plots involving another gang, and some mellow drug dealers, but basically the film is a fast-paced, exciting fight between the kids and the aliens. There is an unexpected sweetness to this movie, as we see the kids transformed from a seemingly hardened street gang, to being revealed as vulnerable human beings who are discovering that they are capable of something better. And the aliens, who have been described as “gorilla-wolf things,” look more like Newfoundland dogs to me, albeit with glowing eyes and fangs—but not slimy or scary. So this isn’t “Alien” with its relentless alien horror, but rather has a “Ghostbusters” vibe.

One quibble: the speech of the gang members was sometimes really hard to understand—not only was it a South London accent, but it was gang lingo. But the story is straightforward enough to understand even if you miss a few lines.

I had always meant to watch Au revoir les enfants, by Louis Malle, but it seemed like one of those “art” movies that might be a bit pretentious or tedious. So
it was a revelation to watch it the other evening, as it is a great,
great movie, one that leaves you changed after you’ve seen it. It’s based on Malle’s memories of an event at a Catholic boys school where he was a student, in France in 1943. Three new students had been enrolled, and Malle’s alter ego, Julien, made friends with one of them, a boy named Jean. As it turns out, the school’s headmaster Pere Jacques de Jesus, was providing refuge for the three boys, who were Jewish. A disgruntled kitchen helper named Joseph, who is resentful of the boys at the school because they are well-to-do, informs on the three boys, and the Gestapo raids the school. By a mere glance, Julien unintentionally reveals that Jean is one of
the Jewish students. The three students and Pere de Jesus are taken away and killed in death camps. As Pere de Jesus leaves, he bids farewell to the students: “Goodbye, children. See you soon.”

No matter how much you know about the Holocaust, at a certain level it is still hard to fathom how it happened. This film shows you one of the mechanisms. French society was rife with anti-semitism. The particular Germans shown in this film are pretty decent; it’s the French who are the “heavies.” The resentment of the kitchen helper, who had been disciplined by Pere de Jesus for petty theft, was enough to turn him against the three boys and to take malicious pleasure in sending them to their terrible fate.

This is a memory told with crystalline clarity and beauty. It removes any distance we may feel from a long past historic event, and replaces it with palpable reality. Perhaps Louis Malle made it to atone for what had to be a terrible, shocking moment in his young life. In the movie, as the narrator, he
says “More than 40 years have passed, but I’ll remember every second of that
January morning until the day I die.”

In French, with subtitles.

I hesitated as to whether to review The Mill & the Cross,
because while it is one of the most beautiful and unique movies I have ever
seen, it asks a lot of the viewer. It has a slow and meditative pace, and
sometimes I found myself wondering what was going on, and towards the very end, to
be honest, I was yawning. But it also gives a lot to the viewer, and I found
myself thinking about it for days afterwards. Director Lech Majewski takes us into a painting by Flemish master Pieter
Bruegel the Elder, called “The Way to Calvary.” It was painted in
1564 during a time of turmoil when the King of Spain was sending mercenaries
into Flanders to persecute Protestants. The
canvas is populated with 500 figures, most of whom are peasants simply going
about their ordinary lives. But, meanwhile, Christ is being crucified, and
Bruegel conflates the sufferings of Christ with the sufferings of the peasants.

There is little dialogue in the movie, and most of the
characters are nameless, with only Rutger Hauer, as Bruegel, Michael York, as Nicholas Johnhelinck, a
collector of paintings, and Charlotte Rampling, as Bruegel’s wife, who posed
for his portraits of Mother Mary, emerging as identifiable characters. But this isn’t a narrative–it’s a world we are being drawn into, and it is
the extraordinary visuals that transfix us. It’s to see the most beautiful late Renaissance painting come to life–suddenly, the donkeys start plodding, the
children start playing, and the mercenaries begin erecting the cross. We are drawn into the lives of these people, and learn that the red-coated men on horseback are the Spanish mercenaries. Up on the rock, is the windmill, where God, in the form of the miller, surveys all and “grinds the bread of life.” At any rate, it’s like watching a vivid dream, and if you are up for something completely different . . . here it is!

Moolaadé is a film by the late Senegalese director Ousmane
Sembene. In a village in Burkina Faso
(in western Africa), a conflict has
erupted–six girls who are to be “purified” by genital mutilation have escaped.
Two drown themselves in a well, and the other four seek sanctuary with a woman
named Collé. Collé has not allowed her own daughter to be “purified” and has
suffered condemnation by conservative elements in the village. She casts a protective
spell called “moolaadé” to give the girls sanctuary. The red-robed priestesses
who perform the “cutting” cannot touch the girls as long as they are so
protected.

The above synopsis makes Moolaadé sound impossibly grim,
and the subject–of female circumcision–strikes most westerners as repellent.
The genius of the film is that it is anything but grim, and seems instead like
a magical African fairy tale. There is a young prince (the son of the local
tribal chief, returned from Europe), a fair
damsel (the beautiful daughter of Colle), and an assortment of gremlins,
witches, and ogres. The village itself has a fairy tale quality, with its
walled compounds, drum-shaped storage buildings, and its 150-year-old mosque,
bristling like a porcupine with wooden stakes.

Part of the charm of the movie is that Sembene takes the
time to show us life in the village in a way that is tender and loving: he
shows us the scampering baby goats, the mother guinea hens and their chicks, the
village mothers washing their struggling babies, and even the little toads hopping
by a drainspout. The result is an airiness, gentleness, and lilt to the pace of
the storyline that is a pleasure. I also found myself transfixed by the
beautiful clothing of the villagers, especially of the women. The humblest
woman was a fashion diva wearing vividly colored robes, jewelry, and elaborately
wrapped skirts and headdresses.

Sembene was also a writer, and we have a book called African Short Stories (823.0108996 AFR), which includes one of his stories.

Roger Ebert has included Moolaadé, in his “Great Movies
Archives,” noting that the villagers “…despite some of their practices, are
deeply decent and civilized, and Sembene loves them for it.” This is the film
of a wiseman, and it’s a privilege and pleasure to watch it.

Subtitles

L’Amour Fou is a
documentary about French fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent and his life with
Pierre Berge, his longtime lover and business partner. It was filmed after the
designer’s death in 2008. The documentary is framed by the 2009 Christie’s auction
of the priceless art collection the couple had amassed. First we see the
gorgeous apartment they lived in, then we see auctioneers packing up the art
and furniture, and then we see the sale itself, which included paintings by
Matisse.

Saint Laurent and Berge had three residences–one was a
luxuriously decorated apartment in Paris, another was a walled paradise in
Marrakesh, Morocco, and one was a home hidden away in a forest in Normandy. We
get guided tours to all three amazing homes, products of Saint Laurent’s creative
mind. I couldn’t help but think, “So this is how the other half lives!” We also
get to see snippets of fashion shows, many lovely gowns, and video clips of
Paris nightlife.

Catnip for “fashionistas” and Francophiles, L’Amour Fou is
a bit too long, and focuses a bit too much on Berge, who is extensively
interviewed. Saint Laurent began his career as a 17-year-old prodigy, and went
on to revolutionize women’s fashion. In spite of his success, he was nervous
and moody, and suffered from recurrent depression. We become conscious of the
absence of the mercurial, elusive Saint Laurent, who was the genius behind it
all–the clothes, the shows, the fabulous homes–and he remains an enigmatic
shadow throughout the film.

French with English subtitles.

To get a closer look at some of the fabulous fashions, we have the book Yves Saint Laurent by Jeromine Savignon (746.92).

Johannes Chrysostomus
Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, aka “Mozart,” was one of the greatest musical
geniuses. At the age of five, he traveled all over Europe by stage coach with his
father and older sister, playing for kings and queens. His life story is told
in the documentary In Search of Mozart, a dazzling kaleidoscope of music and
color.

Director Phil Grabsky became
obsessed with Mozart after hearing one of his operas. In the thrall of this
obsession, he shows every apartment where Mozart lived, the roads he traveled, and the palaces where he was welcomed as a music virtuoso.Grabsky also interviews the greatest performers of Mozart living today, and the true jewels of
this documentary are these interviews. All of the musicians and singers
interviewed are born teachers, and show by example on keyboard or by singing
why Mozart is so amazing.

In a way this documentary is
an investigation into the nature of genius, in particular, Mozart’s genius. He
was unusual in that not only was he a musical prodigy, but he was a normal
person. Apparently many musical prodigies suffer from psychological quirks that
render their music unlistenable. But Mozart had a sunny disposition, and much
of his music is filled with joy.

Running 2-1/4 hours long,
this is a lot of Mozart, but it easily can be watched in two sittings. Or it
can be consumed in one long, delicious slurp of gorgeous scenery, beautiful
music, and interesting Mozartian factoids. For instance, Mozart was barely five
feet tall and had long blond hair. Who knew?

A good follow-up to In
Search of Mozart, is Amadeus, directed by Milos Forman. A very much
fictionalized account of the life of Mozart that is dismissed by scholars as
not historically accurate, many Mozart fans were first turned on to his music
through this film. If you can listen to the Queen of the Night sing her famous
aria without your spine tingling, you are made of tougher stuff than me!

If you enjoy watching In
Search of Mozart, you will be happy to know that director Grabsky went on to
make In Search of Beethoven. A similarly dense pudding of letters, musical
demonstrations, and location shots, you will come away with a better
appreciation of this genius, who many consider to be the greatest composer of
all time.

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