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First Reformed (2017)
Classical and Haunting
'First Reformed' is not 'Dog Eat Dog'. The two are almost laughably different. In place of Dog's reckless stylism and (impetuous) experimentation, writer-director Paul Schrader has sired a quiet, introspective study of a man who is above all else; lost, in a world we unfortunately share with him.
Ethan Hawke plays Reverend Ernst Toller of the usually scantly populated First Reformed church, a man dying in tandem with his earth, faced with an overwhelming spiritual crisis and a bleak outlook on the future, who begins to lose his faith. I say begins, by the time we meet Toller he's already lost a son and subsequently a marriage, and finds himself unable to pray. Instead, he documents his thoughts in a journal which he will destroy in one year. When a newly pregnant woman, Mary (milked for all the optimism her name and condition inspire, a counter to the starkly hopeless Hawk-character), asks him to speak to her radical-environmentalist husband Michael, who is concerned with bringing a new life into such a broken planet, Toller is pushed to confront his ills even more unswervingly.
Hawke captures his character's weary-eyed uncertainty and despondency perfectly, serving to make the all too tangible Reverend always sympathetic as he slips closer and closer toward despair. Indeed, Schrader's most compelling work comes to fruition in flawed and fascinating characters, plagued by contradictions and conflict, no different here. As the film progressed, I found myself surprised by how far I went in agreeing with the by then clearly unstable Toller.
Schrader sticks to a boxy 1.37:1 aspect ratio, filling it with intimate portraits and austere locals, emptied of colour, appropriately matching the film's bleak tone. The exception comes when Schrader undercuts a breathlessly intimate moment with an honestly goofy translation of said intimacy. It must be said he does coerce the viewer into a certain hypnotically desolate state before the sequence ends, although why he couldn't let his transcendental style lead the scene evades me. It's an attempt to elevate our emotional response to the scene through contrast with the discreet previous hour or so of film, but Tarkovsky it is not. The enigmatic final scene does the same job, to much greater returns.
The best way to describe 'First Reformed' is as a spiritual meeting-point between Bergman's 'Winter Light' and the Schrader-penned 'Taxi Driver'. The plot largely resembles the Bergman, and the two share an exacting questioning of belief. Schrader acknowledges the 'Taxi Driver' connection a few times to my mind, in an uncomfortable close-up of a glass here or a blurry, street-light filled town drive there. In many ways Toller is a modern equivalent to Travis Bickle. Two men so lost in the horror of their time that they fall prey to the ego-centric belief that their self-sacrifice (among other actions) will change things. 'Taxi Driver' was written by Schrader honestly, with a concerned understanding born of his own anger. It's been over forty years. If anything, 'First Reformed' documents, in no uncertain terms, our modern crisis, spiritual, worldly and personal.
Ukigusa (1959)
A Great Comfort and a Brilliant Film
'Floating Weeds' is a quiet, devastatingly beautiful masterpiece. It also serves, I think, as the perfect example of an Ozu-film. By this time, having traversed decades of intoxication, the tofu-maker (as he called himself) had fashioned his style and craft to perfection, and moved from project to project steadfastly tackling similar subjects, locations, and themes, all through his signature approach, altering only the slightest of characteristics to better suite each project's forte. His work is so uniform, as with most of the best directors, you could tell it apart from others virtually from the opening credits (almost always played against a hessian background) onward. 'Floating Weeds' is no exception. There are only hard cuts, characters speak to each other by addressing the camera directly, a camera which incidentally never moves, is often placed only a few feet off the ground, and which captures uncluttered, symmetrical beauties unlike anything else in the world of cinema.
'Floating Weeds' does stand out from most of Ozu's work in being one of his few colour-films. I'll admit, I do prefer Ozu in colour. The medium gives his perfectly organised and salient images a clarity they deserve, and how could audiences not relish in yet another element for Ozu to practice his mastery over. Here we see a collaboration with Kazuo Miyagawa, one of the greatest of all cinematographers, brought on via the Daiei Co.(of 'Rashomôn' and 'Ugetsu' fame)-alignment of the film. 'Floating Weeds' is the best looking film of either's career, I'd say, with it's rich, pastel shades of turquoise and sky-line blue and eye-catching accents of red. It is one of the great splendours of the cinema.
Lest we forget, sound plays a great part in a film's impact, and naturally, Ozu doesn't drop the ball here. You'd never notice it, just watching the film, but upon inspection sound creates a first-rate mood in certain scenes, not limited to the musical themes of the film, the romantic and the bombastic, respectively. On your second or third watch, listen for those cicadas, how loud they perform and how often they appear. Does that pivotal scene near the middle of the film play as well in silence?
In sound, and in image, statements are made (subtlety) by comparison. As the film begins, and we know just about nothing of the characters, the tone is more jovial and comedic. Scenes take place mostly at the day-time and are relatively short. It isn't until about 30 minutes into the film that we even know which story strand serves as the primary. And as we begin to understand more, as people's natures become clearer (revealed in the smallest of gestures and expressions, in desires and dynamics), we turn to drama, scenes become longer and take place in the rim-lit night, and the story inches toward tragedy. We care for these stubborn, selfish people, despite their flaws. If we didn't, how could we face anyone in the real world.
The comparisons apply to individual scenes as well. Take the powerful argument at the mid-point of the film. I will try not to spoil the context of the scene (which of course lends a certain gravitas to the moment). The unstable couple stare each other down from across the path, separated by a curtain of rain. It visualizes the distance between them, and hisses down, further agitating them both, and consequently, the audience. A red umbrella lies to right, pulling at the scene exquisitely, but precariously. These two are, at this moment, hanging on by a thread. And in a later scene, between a young man and woman, as a flirtation develops, they stand, as the older couple did, across from each other, now in bright day light, with an amorous red bicycle to the right. One could even say these two red objects continue the minor theme of the future overtaking the past, something Ozu concerned himself with often, notably in the film that came before this, 'Good Morning', with its critique of the westernization of Japanese life. Parents facing children, classic kabuki versus realism on stage, arriving by boat and leaving by train, a traditional wagasa and a novel bicycle. I by no means want to conjure images of Ozu hunched over stacks of diagrams, rubbing his hands together over how clever he is for designing such an exclusive puzzle. I simply mean that these patterns emerging are, to me, in part the mark of a great artist who knows what he's doing. It could be nothing, or not. After all, 'Floating Weeds' is a remake of Ozu's own silent 'Ukikusa monogatari' (A Story of Floating Weeds, 1934). Why return to something if you aren't going to best yourself.
Ballade vir 'n Enkeling (2015)
'Ballade vir 'n Enkeling' is an embarrassing melting pot of bad ideas
I love my home country, South Africa, from which this film spawned. I think it's great that local films are being produced in a more professional way than ever before, but that does not make this a good film. It's being hailed as a great movie, simply for being better made than most Afrikaans films. I know I sound cynical, but this film was recommended to me by a friend, who claimed that it was a thrilling, gorgeous looking movie that I would surely enjoy. It really wasn't.
I have many problems with the film. I think the director and screen-writer worked together to toss as many clichés in as possible, with the hope that it might remind some viewers of what terrible Hollywood dramas feel like. This is probably because, when you watch an average Afrikaans film, it doesn't feel like a movie. It's just not right.
The best aspect of the film was the cinematography, which actually was pretty bland. There isn't focus on composition or meaning in the images, it just feels slightly more professional, because it moves smoothly. This was already accomplished with 'I-number number', a pretty surface level S.A. action movie, that was ignored because it didn't pretend to be amazing. It knew it was simple action, which is good. But with 'Ballade', they think making things look more professional will keep the audiences believing that it is actually of quality. Apparently, it worked.
The clichés and stereotypes continue throughout the film, with needless plot elements shoved in because the director or writer thought; "This is the kind of stuff that happens in real movies, right?". Needless fight scenes, needless romantic scenes, needless plot twists, etc., all just happen with no motivation. They don't develop characters, they just happen. It should perhaps come as a surprise that the screen-play is written by one of South Africa's most respected film critics. Some performances are okay, particularly the lead journalist, but her friend is unbearable. Her character is unnecessary, and similar to a lot of other aspects is there because 'movie'. Some of the performances however, are laughable. The teen friends in particular make for a lot of embarrassment. There are a number of motto's the characters have, that they repeat so many times. It doesn't help that these motto's are extremely generic. There are many scenes and choices by characters that make little to no sense. No emotional connection is formed with any characters, because they're all just cookie-cutter people. They're like the terrible and generic picture that comes with your new frame.
To top it all off, 'Ballade vir 'n Enkeling' has one of the worst endings to a film I've seen in a long time, mostly because of how lazy it is. This is a terrible and in-excusable film, do not see it. Watch 'Noem My Skollie' instead. I'd give that film a 6/10. It isn't particularly good, but it isn't bad either. Either way it'll make for a much better watch than 'Ballade vir 'n Enkeling'. I'm giving the film one extra point for caring ever so slightly about it's production. 2/10.