All Dogs Go to Heaven

Saw All Dogs Go to Heaven. It felt very over-stuffed to me, not in an entirely bad way. It may be that all children's movies are like this and I'm only just now noticing. There's a lot of little flourishes to catch in repeat viewings but the effect is a little busy and overwhelming the first time 'round. This includes the plot which really zips along, leaving threads dangling and picked up again sort of arbitrarily (or at least unpredictably.) The little girl was very well animated (weirdly it seemed like a lot of attention was given to getting her tights just right) the only prominent adults less so (the woman especially creeped me out). I was happy that the dogs very rarely looked like humans in suits and were generally animated in a rolly-polly silly-dog sort of way. The movie was too cute for any of the threats in the film to be taken very seriously though. The sad scenes were way more effective than the scary ones. Perhaps my adult shell of cynicism is just too thick for me to unreservedly enjoy this one, but it was alright.

The Life of Emile Zola

Saw The Life of Emile Zola. A stirring movie about a muckraking philosopher/journalist. It had a lot of kind words to say about him but I was left slightly cold. Perhaps it's because the editorializing that Zola used to great effect has become so wide-spread that people seem to want a more staid approach to reporting these days. Of course what people actually want is scandal and spectacle, but I think you follow me. The mob is treated curiously in this movie as well. They seem to be utterly swayed by pamphlets and single (paid) agitators and yet they are frequently venerated by Zola as arbiters of fate. Is this a sly dig at Zola's life-work? Probably I'm just seeing things that aren't there. For a while just now, I was convinced I saw a french author inside my television screen!

L'Enfant

saw the majority of L'Enfant. (My version was quite corrupt.) It was touching and sad. It used close-ups a lot which I found annoying. I much prefer long-shots, to isolate and frame, but I guess these work too. I sort of got immediately that L'enfant was L'main character, Bruno, and not actually the baby. He is too innocent of others' emotions to be truly cruel and too impulsive to make it as anything but a career criminal. It is easy and silly to make martyrs out of criminals, but this film doesn't try to do that. Bruno is shown to be deeply flawed and there are times you hate him, but after all he's just a foolish boy grown big. I just wish I could see the scenes I missed.

Taken

Saw Taken. It was a nice taught thriller. A little school-marmish (I'm pretty sure France is safe to travel) but this meshes well with the school-marmish main character who has seen some shit (not recommended) and is become paranoid. Also, there was silly action-movie physics (bones are about as tough to snap as bread sticks. Except for the last Big Boss. He's super tough) and cartoonish super-villains but hey, it's an action film. It aims to please and I was pretty much pleased.

Hiroshima Mon Amour

Saw Hiroshima Mon Amour. It was interesting, but I think it was at the very limit of my current cinematic grasp. I got the love=war theme, and the ending gives away a huge chunk of what's on the movie's mind. I think my lack of history may be hindering me here.

Suspiria

Saw Suspiria. I really liked it. It was very imaginative and anarchic. Very colorful, which is very strange for a horror. I can see how this inspired a lot of other gaudy, red-paint-for-blood films. It's the sort of movie that inspires horror fandom.

Leaving Las Vegas

Saw Leaving Las Vegas. A gloriously absent film. Until the end, the relationship between the drunk and the whore didn't really make sense to me. The soundtrack is awesome. Melancholy and pretty to look at, like neon in the rain.

4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days

finally saw 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days. It was a fairly chilly film about the gulf between a woman and nearly everything else in her life. The catalyst for this is an abortion her friend needs. By this mean, she is separated and alienated from her boyfriend, society, and at last, even her friend. In a shallow way, I found the friend very annoying. She seems unreliable and arbitrary (though of course, through half the film she's just had an abortion, so in another way I can't judge.) The film itself is a big fan of long takes that simultaneously force empathy for the character and isolate the character. A very grimy film. There's only one or two really difficult scenes. Mostly things are just grim and sort of shitty.