Criticultura em Portugal

The Wizard of Oz (1939) Directed by Victor Fleming (and Norman Taurog, Richard Thorpe, George Cukor, King Vidor) Songs by Harold Arlen Score by Herbert Slothart Starring Judy Garland Sansho the Baliff (1954) Written and Directed by Kenji Mizoguchi Photography by Kazuo Miyagawa Starring Kyōko Kagawa and Kinuyo Tanaka I was in an atypical mood for an upbeat film last night, so, for the first time in years saw The Wizard of Oz in a spectacular restoration that makes each detail and color pop. Rather than putting me in a mood for other musicals, or happy endings, it made me think of the Mizoguchi classic film of death and despair Sansho the Bailiff . Lest you think I am deranged, I will now explain myself. Relax, settle back, and free yourself up a little time to look as some wonderful film clips in this review. Both of these immortal films are depictions of the importance of family, but each is done from its own special cultural perspective. In Oz , Dorothy experiences adolescent rebell...

Europa, Europa (1991) Written and Directed by Agnieska Holland The Pianist (2002)            Written and Directed by Roman Polanski It can be argued that the Holocaust is the central symbolic event of the twentieth century. When we think of the horrors of that century, we often ignore the significant improvements in life expectancy, health, wealth, and leisure time that were in place by 1999. These were largely brought about by technology and the breakdown of the aristocracy. Yet, we have always sensed that these improvements came with a cost. This was symbolized in the Holocaust, when centuries-old prejudices against “the other” merged with modern industrial technology to create millions of murders. There have been many cinematic treatments of this. Most focus on the drama of individuals caught up in the death camps. But some of the best films do not show a single gassing or death camp train arrival, instead allowing our...

Au Hasard Balthazar (1966) Written and Directed by Robert Bresson Vagabond (1985)             Written and Directed by Agn è s Varda Well, dear readers. I have been able to keep up my live performance reviews until now, but with Broadway and the NY arts scene shut down, like the rest of you I have   been confined to a world of online work, novels, and film. Luckily, the Criterion Channel exists, providing a rich source of fine films that can keep the cinephile occupied indefinitely. With some time on my hands, I thought this would be a good opportunity to revisit some of the great films resident in my memory-banks. Are they really as good as I remembered? And do they remind me of other films I might have seen in intervening years? So we will see how many editions this memory-lane film retrospective lasts--I will continue until live performances return! Here we go with Part 1. Robert Bresson (1901-1999) was t...

The Host (2006) Parasite (2019) Directed by Bong Joon-ho Secret Sunshine (2017) Burning (2018) Directed by Lee Chang-dong The recent Best Picture Oscar for Parasite piqued my interest in Korean cinema, something that I was completely ignorant of. It turns out that’s it’s a rich, diverse industry, populated with the typical mix of adventure, romance, sci-fi, et.al. But there are a couple of directors that seem to stand out, and have achieved an international presence at film festivals, and now, even at the Oscars. Bong Joon-ho (b. 1969), who made a quirky and charming appearance at the Oscars to receive his surprise Best Picture award, has been making films since 2000. He favors films about average people who do uncommon things, such as a professor who abducts a neighbor’s barking dog ( Barking Dogs Never Bite , 2000), serial killers ( Memories of Murder , 2003), and average-guy sociopaths ( Influenza , 2004). The first of his films that I have seen is The Host (2006)....

Hadestown Music, Lyrics, and Book by Anaïs Mitchell Directed by Rachel Chavkin Walter Kerr Theater, NYC March 4, 2020 There’s been a recent flurry of media articles honoring the 90th birthday of Steven Sondheim, the great musical theater composer of works like Company, Sweeney Todd , and A Little Night Music . He’s a great example that you do not have to be a supreme melodist a la Richard Rogers to make a compelling musical. He hits just the right balance of literate words, contemporary plots, and sophisticated music with just enough hummable-ness to make the whole package work. But it turns out that it’s hard to do. I have only found a few musicals in the past two decades to be truly excellent: The Book of Mormon, Hairspray, and Dear Evan Hanson. Enter Hadestown , the Emmy winner from last year. Hadestown  is yet another popular musical with an interesting concept, but mediocre music that does not justify the question “why are these people singing?” These days most...