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Thursday, January 30, 2014

February Film Club

Hello everyone, thank you to everyone who made it out for Last Year at Marienbad.  Already we find ourselves at the second month of the year, and with it comes another film.  Don't worry, this one isn't as complicated as the last one.  For the month of February we will be watching the feature debut of director Sidney Lumet:  12 Angry Men

12 Angry Men is a 1957 American drama film adapted from a teleplay of the same name by Reginald Rose.  Written and produced by Rose himself and directed by Sidney Lumet, this trial film tells the story of a jury made up of 12 men as they deliberate the guilt or acquittal of a defendant on the basis of reasonable doubt.  In the United States, a verdict in most criminal trials by jury must be unanimous.  The film is notable for its almost exclusive use of one set:  with the exception of the film's opening, which begins outside on the steps of the courthouse followed by the judge's final instructions to the jury before retiring, a brief final scene on the courthouse steps, and two short scenes in an adjoining washroom, the entire movie takes place in the jury room.  12 Angry Men explores many techniques of consensus building, and the difficulties encountered in the process, among a group of men whose range of personalities adds intensity and conflict.  Apart from two of the jurors swapping names while leaving the courthouse, no names are used in the film.

The film today is viewed as a classic, highly regarded from both a critical and popular viewpoint:  Roger Ebert listed it as one of his "Great Movies", and the film currently holds an enviable 100% "Certified Fresh" rating on rottentomatoes.com (click link for more info) out of 45 critical reviews.

This is one of the films that if you haven't seen it, you must, and if you have seen it, you should see it again.  I think we can get some really good conversation going from this film.  Hope to see you there!

Here's the trailer:



Monday, January 6, 2014

January Film Club

Happy New Year everyone!  A new year means a whole new lineup of films for Film Club.  We will continue to meet on the third Thursday of each month at 6:15pm (unless otherwise indicated).  In the tradition of previous years of Film Club, I'd like to create an experience that will challenge you as a viewer.  I want to show you films that will make you think, spark up lively discussions and maybe even just entertain you.  One of the goals for this year's club, I think, will be a greater emphasis on the discussion following the film.  We have had some good talks this past year, but I'd love to amp that up a bit, and the best way to do this is with films that lend themselves naturally to discussion, so be prepared for some really stellar films this year.

Now, remember when I said Film Club meets on the third Thursday of each month (unless otherwise indicated)?  Well, that holds true, except for this month.  I will be out of town on the 16th (normal Film Club night) so I will be pushing this month's film to the following Thursday, the 23rd.

Ok, so, to kick off our exciting new year of Film Club, allow me to introduce our first film.

On Thursday, Jan. 23rd at 6:15pm we will be watching Alain Resnais' wonderful, enigmatic film:  Last Year at Marienbad.

Last Year at Marienbad is a 1961 French film directed by Alain Resnais.  The film is famous for its enigmatic narrative structure, in which truth and fiction are difficult to distinguish, and the temporal and spatial relationship of the events is open to question.  The dream-like nature of the film has fascinated and baffled audiences and critics; some hail it as a masterpiece, others find it incomprehensible.

The film takes place at a social gathering at a chateau or baroque hotel, a man approaches a woman.  He claims they met the year before at Marienbad and is convinced that she is waiting there for him.  The woman insists they have never met.  A second man, who may be the woman's husband, repeatedly asserts his dominance over the first man, including beating him several times at a mathematical game (a version of Nim).  Through ambiguous flashbacks and disorienting shifts of time and location, the film explores the relationships among the characters.  Conversations and events are repeated in several places in the chateau and grounds, and there are numerous tracking shots of the chateau's corridors, with ambiguous voice overs.  The characters are also unnamed.

The film continually creates an ambiguity in the spatial and temporal aspects of what it shows, and creates uncertainty in the mind of the spectator about the causal relationships between events.  This may be achieved through editing, giving the apparently incompatible information in consecutive shots, or within a shot which seems to show impossible juxtapositions, or by means of repetitions of events in different settings and decor.  These ambiguities are matched by contradictions in the narrator's voiceover commentary.  Among the notable images in the film is a scene in which two characters (and the camera) rush out the chateau and are faced with a tableau of figures arranged in a geometric garden; although the people cast long dramatic shadows, the trees in the garden do not.  The manner in which the film is edited challenged the established classical style of narrative construction.  It allowed the themes of time and the mind and the interaction of past and present to be explored in an original way.  As spatial and temporal continuity is destroyed by its method of filming and editing, the film offers instead a "mental continuity", a continuity of thought.

The film received mixed reviews when it was released and even continues to receive much of the same, that said, it has cemented itself as one of the great works of cinema.  It currently holds an impressive 95% on Rottentomatoes.com out of 42 critical reviews, and Roger Ebert awarded the film 4 stars and included it on his list of Great Movies.  He said of the film, "The idea, I think, is that life is like this movie:  No matter how many theories you apply to it, life presses on indifferently toward its own inscrutable ends.  The fun is in asking questions.  Answers are a form of defeat."

This is a VERY interesting film:  a mystery and a romance wrapped up inside an enigma.  I hope that you can make it out to see this wonderful film!

Here's the trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yc6n2McMAnY