a nightmare on elm street - part 5 : the dream child (1989)

the fifth film in the "elm street" series was released at the time when freddy krueger was a genuine pop culture icon, as shown by the inclusion of two absolutely freddy-starring music videos; one of which stars a group of overweight rappers (clad in stripes) faced with the enticing premise of spending the night in freddy's house (one of them is his nephew who stands to inherit the house - christ, i cant believe im explaining this in so much detail...). anyway the point of this explanation has more to do with the fact that it shows just how popular character freddy was at the time, and how this had a hugely negative effect on the film series. to take a horror character and actively promote him as a comedic or likeable character damages the credibility hugely. the second of the videos is another rap song (rap tie ins were de-rigeur towards the late eighties, when vanilla ice made it acceptable for middle class white kids to actively enjoy the genre).

to be fair to it, the fifth film does open with the first genuinely subversive moment in the entire series. and perhaps that is what the problem with the series is, theyre just so blatent and predictable and lazy.

a nightmare on elm street - part 4 : the dream master (1988)

perhaps a more apt subtitle would be "freddy becomes an obvious metaphor for aids", in what is basically a retread of the first film (girl discovers freddy, attempts to stop him killing her friends). one thing i will say, is that at least the camerawork is improving, with uber-hack renny harlin behind the camera. i also like the way that 80's fad aplenty, karate is shoehorned in, in as offensive and patronising a manner as i would expect. what i find most inexplicable about these films, is that despite the evidence proving otherwise, the authorities do nothing to at least attempt to control what is happening on and around elm street, despite the years and years of trouble.

to be fair to it, the last thirty minutes or so, in where one girl is transformed into a cockroach, much in the same manner as cronenbergs "the fly", and where the first genuinely disturbing death of freddy takes place are the highlight of thseries so far.

rope (1948)

a surprisingly early hitchcock work (i genuinely thought it was made in the late fifties, even after the viewing), "rope" is a murder based thriller with a difference. rather than building to the moment of action or at least dragging some drama or statement out of the literal act, the killing in this film takes place in an instant just as the credits have finished rolling. in fact, the way in which all human activity seemingly begins on cue as the final name (alfred hitchcock obviusly...) on the credits rolls by, suggests a great deal. the theatrical notion of the performance begining is apparent, with a clockwork-like moment taking place.

when initially seeing the film literally opening with the murder i instantly presumed that this must have been a reaction of sorts to his critics. ''perhaps the hitchcock method seemed tired or out of date?" i thought, figuring that the drastically different structure was his way of hitting back at those who theoretically spoke out. this was the obvious conclussion that i came to, having most recently viewed "the birds", "shadow of a doubt" and "rear window", all three coming before "rope" i thought. i was shocked to discover that only "shadow of a doubt" came before, and so the reaction that i presumed was an invention of my own thought. needless to say, "rope" is an interesting counterweight to his other work, its almost like a hitchcock film in reverse. instead of the usual build of suspense though we are left with another, one of impending doom for the characters involved. we know the problem, now we await the consequence.

with its (at the time) revolutionary editing, used in a manner to project the concept that the narrative takes place in one continuous shot it could be said that "rope" is hitchcock's most experimental work. again the slow paced nature of "rope" compares interestingly to some of the key scenes in his later work (the bird attacks of "the birds", the shower scene in "psycho").

one of the most unusual aspects of "rope" is that the traditional protagonist of the piece doesnt show up until almost half an hour into the film. hitchcock would later reverse this technique by killing off his "star" name just 30 minutes into "psycho".

"rope" is incredibly self-referential a film. the scenes in which the characters discuss ingrid bergman and company are a sly aside, showing hitchcock's canny wit. the mention of freud could be seen as hitchcock addressing one of the subtle underlying themes from "shadow of a doubt", or, more likely, its critics.

at times the film is highly reminiscent of its theatrical origins, yet at others it is incredibly cinematic. for example the scene whereby james stewart's 'rupert cadell' gives the breakdown of how he would have commited the crime. the camera leads the story, implicating each of the relevent items involved in the act. this reminds heavily of the camerawork later seen in "rear window", and is incredibly visual filmmaking. the lighting at the end of the film, as the friends' plan falls apart is incredibly effective too, in spite of the basic nature. the neon signs used to "colour" the breakdown of philip morgan show literally his being tipped over the edge of sanity. later on in the same scene, the same lights offer a comforting glow, as the film winds down.

a nightmare on elm street - part 3 : dream warriors (1987)

woe is me, im quickly tiring of the task at hand.

the third in the "nightmare on elm street series" comes equiped with a bigger budget, more gruesome death sequences and an arquette (patricia). alas it lacks one thing above all else - dignity. while the effects are much better the soul of the original film seems lost. what really annoys me is that the subtitle; dream warriors, suggests that this entry into the series could have been what james cameron's ''aliens'' was to the original "alien", in the sense that i expected more. i wanted to see a group of "dream warriors" step into freddy's world and cause all manner of excitement, alas i was left with a more depressing "breakfast club"-band of ragtag misfits. theres also lots of patronising hugging and screeching idiots, its like a john hughes directed episode of scooby doo.

l'argent (1983)

adapted from a leo tolstoy story, roberty bresson's final film tells the story of yvon, a young man who, through a series of random events revolving around a forged 500 franc note, sees his life fall apart. this is a tale of greed; of money and consequence.

as this is only my second bresson i decided to take in one of his later works. what is most immediate, and perhaps most surprising about the later film, is just how similiar in style it is to "au hazard balthazar". bresson's unique style remained the same over the course of fifty years, without ever proving stale or under-developed. one of the most prevailing visual motives is the use of lines in his work, be it in the buildings and the streets, or the inner locations of each respective scene. contrasting lines are used to signify a shift in location, time and circumstance, proving a very strong technique when it comes to expressing such shifts. bresson's work has incredibly assured pacing, for example in the scene in which the prisoners are dining and yvon attacks; the movement of the assault is shown in a very literal and theatrical manner, the emphasis on movement through editing and camera placement is wonderful. the similiarity in style to bresson's earlier work here again is astounding.

bresson's incredibly traditional method of storytelling is shown particularly well in the scene set in the church mass. when attempting to show the reason as to why the mass is so popular, rather than using an obvious cinematic convention, bresson instead chooses to simply show the reason (mass is an easy opportunity in which to trade) using his familiar brand of literal visuals. its a hypocritical method of filmmaking in a way, as its very simple in one way, but complex in another. theres no explanation verbally, something which may jar when compared to modern cinematic technique. this concept is introduced using very basic (in style at least) classic film techniques. its very literal.

the nature of the cut makes the film feel like a much longer, much more epic story. theres very little narrative "baggage", with every scene serving to move the story forward. characterisation rarely stems beyond that of which is necessary, hence the streamlined running time of eighty minutes.

the use of sound in "au hasard balthazar" was incredibly prevailant. again in l'argent, the diagetic sound is impressive, the post-trial sound of shuffling feet overwhelming the previously overbearing traffic being particularly memorable. this compares well to the sounds of schubert in "au hasard balthazar". the verwhelming sounds throughout the first half of "l'argent is that of the sound of the parisian roads and the cars that are using them. the sound of the roads are left behind when the scene is moved to the prison, only to be reintroduced the moment that yvon opens the door to return to the outside world. the sound of the road is replaced with complete silence in the prison, with only the sound of the heavy prison doors locking breaking the calm.

the encounter with the woman towards the end of the film could be seen as yvon's encountering of faith, which is the one thing above all else that he is lacking, having had it removed from his personality throughout the course of the film. there are definite parallels between the woman and balthasar the donkey, both seemingly existing to serve those around her. yvon's slaughter of the woman's family could be seen as his reaction to the concept of faith, showing that he has finally gone beyond all areas of return. he is scarred beyond respite and his final arrest is the conclussion of the fate that yvon set himself earlier on in the film, in the scene where, describing to his cellmate prior to lucien's removal from the prison yvon has accepted that he and lucien will encounter each other again.

a nightmare on elm street - part 2 : freddy's revenge (1985)

part two of the franchise see's freddy krueger inhabiting the body of the teenage son belonging to the new family occupying 1428 elm street. with the exception of a genuinely disturbing opening nightmare, involving a schoolbus seeing the ground beneath it literally disappear, the film is fairly run of the mill in terms of the slasher genre. the brief running time meant that the film wasnt as arduous as its predecessor, but to be honest thats pretty much the only saving grace.

i really cannot wait to be through with the bloody (pun intended) slasher genre.

the silence of the lambs (1991)

for whatever reason i hadnt previously seen jonathan demme's seminal nineties horror classic, personally i blame the fact that the film has been spoofed to death in the years since its release.

upon release "the silence of the lambs" was considered to be a step away from the usual detective based crime drama, and its easy to see why it was given such a status. for a start it featured a woman in the usual male driven lead role. there are scenes wherein the viewer is led to believe, be it through their own expectations or those subtly suggested to them through various filmmaking techniques, that clarice, the stereotypical female of the piece will react to a specific event with a stereotypically "female" reaction, when in fact she will act in the opposite manner, pulling the proverbial rug from beneath our feet. its interesting to compare this to the previous alfred hitchcock films that i have looked at this week, in fact a very interesting comparison between the portrayal of women in "the silence of the lambs" and hitchcock's "shadow of a doubt" definately exists. obviously strong female characters existed way before clarice starling (the femme fetale of the 1940's en route to ellen ripley brought with it many an equal oppurtunity), but the emotional standpoint is definately a borderline unique one. whilst watching the film i noted that the way in which our emotions as a viewer are manipulated are very similiar to the way in which the character of hannibal lector manipulates clarice.

it goes without saying that anthony hopkins mesmerises as hannibal lector, and its a testiment to his creation that he is not only the one remembered for the film, but also that he won the best actor oscar for the role, strange considering that hopkins' role (timewise) amounts to little more than a cameo.

the technique on display in the film is much stronger than i expected, with the film displaying some genuinely innovative camerawork, well innovative in terms of commercial cinema, and while the film is fairly basic in terms of narrative structure demme wastes no opportunity for artistic flair when it comes to the aforementioned emotional connotation-interpretation provided through subjective editing.

the ending proves that the pastiche level sequels are pretty much the most pointless ever commited to celluloid, doing nothing but further the spoof-like portrayal of hannibal lector, once a truly terrifying character here in the silence of the lambs. as a sidenote, i found the film useful when applying the concepts set out in the work of alfred hitchcock to a modern day film. "the silence of the lambs" feels like a genuine (and very rare) extention to the work of alfred hitchcock, in that it is an intelligent horror film (not a thriller!!) that utilises pacing above cheap shocks.

rear window (1954)

as a childhood fan of james stewart's "harvey''-era work i often found it difficult to enjoy his more mature roles. having never seen "rear window" prior to this viewing, i am definately realising the error of my ways. sure, these later roles may be very different to the earlier one's, but thats not a comment on the quality of them.

"rear window" opens with one of the most beautifully crafted scenario's i have ever seen. the incredibly limited location is displayed fully with the inventive camerawork on display. specifically placed items tell the whole backstory, as a shot of the broken leg is followed by a shot of a broken camera before the camera moves onto a photograph of a car crashing into view. in this one instance we are shown the problem, the reason and the cause (two very different things). its masterfully paced storytelling, and uses very well paced, traditional techniques.

the opening scene is followed by small vignettes, each told from the point of view of the protagonist, l.b jeffries (stewart), that serve to introduce each of the supporting players key characteristics. this is again, a very traditional technique, used greatly in which to introduce the characters.

although the plot of the film largely revolves around the point of view of our protagonist, we are privy to one piece of information that he isnt, although in turn this is used against us, as if to confuse and throw us off of the mark. the piece of information that i am referring to is the moment quite early on where thorwald, the ''evil'' neighbour leaves his appartment with a woman whilst jeffries sleeps. it is with this action that we are led to believe that thorwald is innocent and jeffries is wrong. alas, as it is later proven, we were too a victim of thorwald's deception.

one thing that i didnt realise until recently is that ''rear window'' was made only 4 years after "harvey" which in turn was made between hitchcock projects. this adds testiment to the versatility of stewart, and only serves to prove just how wrong to seperate the two styles of work.

a nightmare on elm street (1984)

as a child i was always fascinated with the concept of fred krueger, the paedophile janitor and former resident of elm street. im not sure why exactly, but in retrospect thats a tad concerning. my upcoming masters in film theory dictates that i need to know the slasher genre thoroughly, and as i have very little knowledge of the genre, aside from a slight childhood obsession amounting to no more than a film poster on my bedroom wall and the overactive imagination of a ten year old, i decided to check out a few of the key titles. with that in mind i picked up the entire 7 film elm street series, with a view to check out the friday the 13th series and the scream series when finished.

having never sat through an entire "a nightmare on elm street" film in its entirety i entered the first film with the following preconception; the first film is genuinely good, while the rest are pretty awful. post-screening, and taking that in mind i am absolutely dreading the remainder of the series. while wes craven's film wasnt particularly bad it was just deathly dull. there was a point around half way through where i suddenly regretted the task of watching all seven films that i had undertaken. alas for the sake of my studies i will endeaver onwards.

despite climaxing with the most ridiculous ending to a film iv seen in a long time, taking the minute budget at hand into account the film really isnt that bad, especially when compared to the rest of the post-"halloween" slasher counterfitting that was going on at the time.

shadow of a doubt (1942)

alfred hitchcock's "shadow of a doubt" one of his earliest american films, and his favourite of his own films, is the key text in one of my MA modules, and the reason for the current season of hitchcock films being undertaken by myself. the title of the film is represented physically throughout, not only through the use of literal shadows, but also through the use of smoke, black typography (diagetic text ie, on the doors of the library) and even in the form of shrubbery to compliment the use of the "shadow" of the title. the most impressive and perhaps obvious use of shadows comes early on, in the shape of the train arrival in the station, wherein the newton family are encased in shadow by the imposing figure of the train. this simple scene suggests quite literally, the state of things to come.

another fairly basic, yet incredibly effective technique is the contrast between new jersey (being the site of uncle charlie's introduction) and santa rosa (being the site of the newton family, specifically little charlie's introduction and dwelling). the two locations are poles apart, adding another layer to the level of characterisation for all parties. the off-kilter angles in which the locations are initially shot tells the viewer to be wary of what they are about to see, giving off an uneasy and unusual tone.

the character of little charlie ages severely throughout the film, as well as developing emotionally. at the start of the film she is but a little girl, angry at the restrictive nature of the world around her, yet by the films closing moments she is the fully fledged protagonist of her own life, having made the decisions that have moved the narrative. shes no longer a bored little girl, but is instead a strong female character, which was actually quite a bold statement for the 1940's.

with each viewing of a hitchcock film, one of the more apparent archetypes of his work is that of the comedic character. "shadow of a doubt" is no exception, with the paranoid character of herb adding to the comic relief. not only does he add to the lighter tone, but his tales of murder provoke a side of little charlie's character unseen to the point in question. the full importance of the "comedic" role is completely exposed here, as what is presumed to be little more than light relief is shown to be an incredibly important narrative ingredient.

the birds (1963)

what sounds like a ridiculous idea on paper actually works rather well in practice, in the shape of alfred hitchcock's ''the birds''. when the small town of bodega bay is flooded by a mass of birds, seemingly out for the kill mitch brenner and melanie daniels (rod taylor and "tipi" hedren respectively) must survive the onslaught.

with particular emphasis on the eyes, the most vulnerable spot for a bird attack, hitchcock creates an otherworldly atmosphere, and a contradictory tone that promises light (most of the film takes place outside, during the day) but delivers chills. the innovative electronic score only adds to this.

"the birds" is the first hitchcock film i have watched in a while. having never been a huge fan, i decided the time was right to get a grounding in his work. and while "the birds" impressed, from what i have been told its hardly one of his masterpieces, so i look forward to delving in properly.

mallrats (1995)

a childhood favourite that surprisingly holds up still. sure jeremy london is awful an actor (the rumours that he was accidently cast in place of his twin brother jason london are probably true), but jason lee is endearing as ever and the film flows pretty well. in all its a pretty entertaining late night flick, with many a memory for this viewer, and while its hardly a masterpiece, its still a classic of sorts.

the hopeandbullshitlist (at 3/01/2009)

in what may go down as the biggest single shake up in the top ten ever, this week sees 5 brand new films land straight into the top ten, with lars von trier's "the element of crime" lasting only a week at the top. "pierrot le fou" taking the top spot was inevitable really, considering the respect i have for it, and i cant see it moving from there anytime soon, if ever.

1. pierrot le fou (jean-luc godard)
2. the passenger (michelangelo antonioni)
3. au hasard balthazar (robert bresson)
4. the element of crime (lars von trier)
5. sunrise (f.w murnau)
6. traffic (steven soderbergh)
7. che - part one (steven soderbergh)
8. bottle rocket (wes anderson)
9. the outlaw josey wales (clint eastwood)
10. red desert (michelangelo antonioni)
11. mon oncle antoine (claude jutra)
12. che - part two (steven soderbergh)
13. unforgiven (clint eastwood)
14. f for fake (orson welles)
15. the brothers bloom (rian johnson)
16. changeling (clint eastwood)
17. the dark knight (christopher nolan)
18. wall-e (andrew stanton)
19. the limey (steven soderbergh)
20. blow up (michelangelo antonioni)
21. europa (lars von trier)
22. the shop on main street (ján kadár and elmar klos)
23. hellboy - the golden army (guillermo del toro)
24. out of sight (steven soderbergh)
25. days of heaven (terence malick)
26. blindness (fernando meirelles)
27. killer's kiss (stanley kubrick)
28. dirty harry (don siegal)
29. mad detective (johnnie to & wai ka fa)
30. the idiot (akira kurosawa)
31. in bruges (martin mcdonough)
32. play misty for me (clint eastwood)
33. bigger than life (nicholas ray)
34. bronco billy (clint eastwood)
35. the terminator (james cameron)
36. the wizard of oz (victor fleming)
37. hancock (peter berg)
38. the day the earth stood still (robert wise)
39. iron man (jon favreau)
40. the gauntlet (clint eastwood)
41. breezy (clint eastwood)
42. before the devil knows youre dead (sidney lumet)
43. die hard (john mctiernan)
44. magnum force (ted post)
45. casino royale (martin campbell)
46. body of lies (ridley scott)
47. solaris (steven soderbergh)
48. indiana jones and the kingdom of the crystal skull (steven spielberg)
49. the puffy chair (duplass brothers)
50. i am legend (francis lawrence)
51. space cowboys (clint eastwood)
52. quantum of solace (marc forster)
53. wanted (timur bekmambetov)
54. the magnificent ambersons (orson welles)
55. speed (jan de bont)
56. australia (baz luhrmann)
57. coogans bluff (don siegal)
58. the enforcer (james fargo)
59. joe kidd (john sturges)
60. spider-man 3 (sam raimi)
61. dear wendy (thomas vinterberg)
62. goldeneye (martin campbell)
63. night watch (timur bekmambetov)
64. judge dredd (danny cannon)
65. robocop 3 (fred dekker)
66. robocop 2 (irvin kershner)
67. zack and miri make a porno (kevin smith)
68. goldfinger (guy hamilton)
69. you only live twice (lewis gilbert)
70. mad max - beyond thunderdome (george miller & george ogilvie)
71. die another day (lee tamahori)
72. W. (oliver stone)

fanfan la tulipe (1952)

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i must confess that christian-jaque's "fanfan la tulipe" represents an area of french cinema thus far negleted and therefore unknown to myself. gerard philipe, an actor previously unheard of by myself, but somewhat a legend akin to james dean in his native france, leads an enjoyable cast through a fun enough swashbuckling adventure set during the seven years war. the film displays a wit and sense of irony that i, rather patronisingly i must admit, thought would have been lost on the era of the films production, alas i found it to be a surprisingly entertaining 90 minutes. gerard philipe is understandibly lauded in his homeland, judging by his performance in "fanfan la tulipe" it is due to his charismatic and whimisical nature, and proves very watchable. the film is reminiscent of kubrick's "barry lyndon" in many respects, in tone and literal story, and i wouldnt be surprised to find that jaque's film did indeed inspire kubrick's work.

che - part one (2009) & che - part two (2009)

this afternoon i had the privilage of seeing steven soderbergh's epic biography of eduardo ''che'' guevara in one piece on the big screen. the entire film lasts just under 5 hours, and features a 15 minute scored intermission and credit booklet.

five hours for a single feature is a new record theatrically for myself, yet the hours flew by. in fact i would actually compare it favourably to the running time of "australia" in a way, as both are big screen epics that iv seen recently.

benicio del toro is amazing in the title role, to put it simply. he embodies the character, and indeed the figure in a way that i cant imagine anyone else doing so. why there hasnt been as much acclaim im not sure, its one of the strongest lead roles iv seen in a long time. in terms of differences in the character between the two films, che is much more prominent in the first part, whereas hes slightly more in the background in the second. i like to think of the first film as the introduction to the character, both literally and figuritively, whereas the second one explores the influence of the man, again both literally and figuritively. the supporting cast is as epic as the running time, with all proving worthy counterparts to del toro, with santiago cabrera proving a bit of a stand out as one of che's cuban comrades. an appearance from matt damon as a middle aged german preacher proved popular too.

"che" is soderbergh's return to form, after a pretty poor 8 year run (his last truly great film being 2000's "traffic", incidently del toro's finest role to date). drawing comparisons to pontecorvo's "the battle of algiers", alongside the work of terrence malick, the film (s) proves a real joy, is genuinely exhilerating and the first of what is looking to be a great first month of 2009.