Criticultura em Portugal

The Manchurian Candidate (1962) Directed by John Frankenheimer Starring Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, and Angela Lansbury The Manchurian Candidate (2004) Directed by Jonathan Demme Starring Denzel Washington, Liev Schreiber, and Meryl Streep The 1962 classic film The Manchurian Candidate points out that no matter how anxious we feel about the present era, it’s better than living in 1962, when nuclear missiles were being installed nearby and the world seemed on the brink of destruction. This edgy, tense film ably reflects its era, and projects a nervous forward motion that few films succeed at. And that includes the 2004 remake, quite nicely done with a director skilled in action and suspense movies (e.g. The Silence of the Lambs ), and an all-star cast including Denzel and Meryl. But it just cannot quite make us as nervous as that earlier version did. The plots of both versions are very similar. A soldier is kidnapped in battle, and is released as a hero, winning the Medal of...

Election (1999) Directed by Alexander Payne Starring Reese Witherspoon and Matthew Broderick Leading up to the presidential election, I will focus on several election-oriented films of different styles. The first, Election , is a comedy I admired when it came out, but enjoyed even more now, as it seemed to foresee things like millenial-generation overachievement, the Bush-Gore hanging chad controversy, and even our own president’s campaign style. The director Alexander Payne (b. 1961) is known for his dark humor in films like Sideways (2004), and this one is certainly in that genre. This film stars the 23-year-old Reese Witherspoon near the start of her career, when she was just getting bigger roles. This one led to numerous awards. She plays Tracy Flick, an intense high school student determined to bulldoze her way to success, starting with winning the high school student council president election. Her opponents are a football hero Paul (Chris Klein) known for his terminal niceness...

La Camarista (The Chambermaid) (2018) Directed by Lila Avilés Starring Gabriela Cartol Roma (2018) Directed by Alfonso Cuarón Starring Yalitza Aparicio These two 2018 films from Mexico seem superficially similar, at least regarding plot. Both deal with the travails of a maid, and starkly contrast the differences between the classes. These are not just differences in creature comforts, education, and priorities, but contrasts in opportunity and the ability to survive setbacks. Both star Mexican actresses whose physical short stature and indigina appearance contrast with the more light-skinned and taller people they serve. And both lead actresses give ultra-realistic, natural, unforced performances that make us pull for them. However, the two movies could not be more different in approach, appearance, and emotion. When I reviewed Roma in 2018, I marveled at the complexity of construction, including sound design, visual metaphors, and virtuosic camera work that captured the Mexico of ...

The Apu Trilogy Directed by Satyajit Ray Pather Panchali (1955) Aparajito (1956) The World of Apu (1959) Satyajit Ray (1921-1992) was a pioneering and great Indian director, the first to win international awards, and one revered by other great directors such as Akira Kurosawa and Martin Scorcese. Prior to his work, Indian film was mostly dominated by fluffy musicals, such as the Bollywood films that are still popular. But with the premiere of Pather Panchali in 1955, both India and the world saw a lens turned on the complexities and beauty of their country, especially the qualities of rural India. The art of his films is to show the difficulties (death, disease, poverty) while maintaining an upbeat confidence in how people, with all of their flaws, still can still live fulfilling lives. Ray was from an intellectual but poor family (a theme of these films). This was a common dyad in India then, since education was valued but not always rewarded with financial success. His mother pushed...

The Golddiggers of 1933 (1933) Directed by Mervyn LeRoy Starring Joan Blondell, Ruby Keeler, and Dick Powell I have a fatal weakness for 1930’s musicals, made in the first years of sound in films. It’s fascinating to watch their evolution from filmed stage shows to multiple-camera angle extravaganzas. The at pushed the technique of filmmaking forward rapidly. In the first few years of the 1930’s, cameras were still evolving, so that when directors zoom into the face, or other features, of a nubile chorus girls, the shot does not stay in focus consistently. By 1935 this was fixed, but such flaws give a charming innocence to these early talkies. While Fred Astaire was developing how to film dancing stars close-up, Warner Brothers’ specialty was in cast-of-thousands diversions, many choreographed by the brilliant Busby Berkeley, who I have raved about before. He popularized the ceiling shot showing girls forming intricate geometric forms on the stage or in the pool. This use of massed st...