Favorites Part 1

Rules of the Game(1939) - Jean Renoir

One of my all-time favorite scenes from one of my all-time favorite films.

Mother Ocean

From a young age, I can remember being drawn to the vastness of the ocean, dreaming of what lay beyond its infinite horizon. Time has only increased my awe. I identify with past civilizations’ belief of the ocean as god. It’s soothing tidal sounds and the tranquil beauty belie the uncontrollable power surging beneath. We are so small and helpless when faced with the natural world’s omnipotence. And if one is to believe, as some suggest, that all life emerged from the sea, then it only makes sense that we return to the comfort of its embrace like the warm arms of a parent. Personally, I find the contradiction of the cold indifferent natural world as a loving parent to be reassuring -- serenity and chaos coexisting, reminding us that we are but specks of sand in the annuals of history.

Three films, Truffaut’s The 400 Blows, Hal Ashby’s Coming Home, Woody Allen’s Interiors and Jonathan Glazer’s Birth, have beautiful examples of this. Each of these films concludes with a main character somberly advancing to the ocean like a child returning to the womb. In the grief of loss, they seek solace in the oceans harsh embrace. Both physically and emotionally, they have come to the edge and their internal isolation has led them to a place of complete helplessness. The bittersweet irony is that in their anomy they have stepped to the edge of the void but have also come to an open place of infinite possibilities and a chance for rebirth.

**It has been difficult to find the exact clips I want. I can’t find the end for Coming Home, so I’ve just included the trailer. The trailer isn’t a fair representation of this brilliant film.

**The Interiors clip is far too dark and therefore doesn’t capture the vivid red of Pearl’s (Maureen Stapleton) bathrobe -- a splash of color in an otherwise muted tableau.

**Birth is not nearly on the same level as the other 3 films mentioned here, however, Harris Savides’ cinematography is marvelous.

Alone Together

Darren Arnofsky’s Requiem for a Dream was released around the same time that Dr. Morrissey introduced me to Milton’s Paradise Lost. I haven’t been able to find the passage, but I swear there is a passage about being alone together. Anyhow, shortly after discussing this passage I saw Requiem for a Dream and one scene in particular stuck out as being connected to this idea of alone together. Harry (Jared Leto) and Marion (Jennifer Connelly) are in bed together but the screen is split so that each encompasses their own frame within the larger frame. The use of the split screen makes for a discordant image, as hands in one frame don’t meet with limbs in the parallel frame. It is a wonderful depiction of the concept of alone together; two drug addicted people who share the same space but trapped in their addictions are never truly together. From here, their relationship begins to slip apart as they enter the darker isolation that comes with addiction. This might be a stretch but I am going to throw Richard Linklater’s Before Sunset in here too. Before Sunrise and Before Sunset are two of the best American pictures of the last fifteen years, especially when viewed as two parts to one film. I should probably put the two together in a separate post but I also wanted to juxtapose a scene from Before Sunset with the aforementioned scene in Requiem for a Dream. After walking through Paris and sitting in cafes, Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy) take a ride on a river boat where they discuss their missed opportunities. In this scene, both Jesse and Celine strike me as lonely people. They’ve both been longing for ten years to recapture the romantic night they had in Prague and wondering what might have been. But like the river, time only runs one way and for all their “what ifs” they can’t go back. Jesse especially seems lonely openly admitting that on his wedding day he was thinking about Celine and Celine, dusk dancing in her golden hair, fondly recalls how the morning light shimmered in Jesse’s beard on their last and only morning together ten years ago. During their separation, both have been in serious relationships but always dreaming of each other. The difference in their relationship with the relationship of Harry and Marion is both presented stylistically and in story. Unlike Arnofsky, Linklater’s style is more organic, allowing Jesse and Celine to occupy the screen together most of the time while letting their emotions isolate them. It is clear from the start that there is still a spark between Jesse and Celine but neither knows how to take it a step further. However, theirs appears to be a happier ending, slowly overcoming their doubts and fears and perhaps truly being together.

**Unfortunately, I can't embed the clip from Requiem for a Dream, so follow the link.

One Coin, Two Sides

Steven Soderbergh is a frustrating filmmaker. There is no better modern filmmaker at exploring what is possible with film direction and storytelling but rarely do these explorations amount to a great film. The concepts are interesting but overall his films seem to lack emotion, at least for me. One exception to this is his adaptation of Elmore Leonard's Out of Sight,
where Soderbergh was able to pair some of his editing and directorial concepts with an already solid story. There are a number of standout moments but none so wonderful as "Gary" and "Celeste's" encounter in a hotel bar. No doubt Soderbergh felt inspired by Nicholas Roeg's Don't Look Now in which Julia Christie and Donald Sutherland engage in a similarly edited love scene. However, the nature of these scenes and what it says about the respective couples' relationships is quite different. Roeg intercuts footage of Christie and Sutherland engaged in erotic and very realistic sex with images of the couple getting dressed postcoitally for dinner. Particularly, I find it interesting that the couple begin their pre-dinner preparations nude, completely comfortable with each other. This juxstaposition helps establish the intimacy and familiarity between them as a married couple. Whereas, Soderbergh's use of this technique, intertwining Clooney and Lopez flirting in a hotel bar with footage of their post-drink affair, exudes sensuality and sexual tension, both slowly undressing, metaphorically and physically. Two of the greatest love scenes using the same technique to very different ends.
**Unfortunately, I am unable to find a clip of the scene from Don't Look Now.

A Morbid Child

Just Five Minutes

**One of my favorite Schwarzenegger moments**