Cineste

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It's difficult to resist commenting on the current controversy over "Wuthering Heights"

Including the current film, there are 25 movie/TV adaptations of Emily Bronte's magnificent novel Wuthering Heights. I know of no other literary work that even approximates that astounding number of adaptations. And Emily's descendants receive not one red penny or pence in compensation, though they do have the distinct pleasure of enjoying the litany of fame their brilliant ancestor has bequeathed them.

Alas, of these 25, the most recent, Emerald Fennell's so-called “interpretation” of Wuthering Heights, would seem to be - the massive number of negative reviews tell us - a severe desecration of that wondrous novel in countless ways. Perhaps, this release should have been called “Horniness on the Moors.” That might have been a more honest way to get bums in seats than the lure of seeing Bronte's glory on the screen.

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I had the great pleasure of watching Sentimental Value last night, and it is indeed worthy of its 9 nominations. It's performance driven with all four principal actors being nominated, each woman stunning in her own way, and the best thing Stellan Skarsgård has ever done. The power of the film is foregrounded on the screen in the tight and semi-tight shots between characters, in their looks and their reactions. And the narrative thread that weaves through the film is the making of a movie and the power of film - which the film itself is enacting. Joachim Trier deserves an Oscar for both his masterful direction and co-written screeplay, and the film deserves an Oscar in either of its Best Film categories. Highly recommended.📽️

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ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER is not an Oscar film, but it would not be the first time an unworthy film won.

 The storyline is analogically about the current situation in the U.S. - which is no doubt why it's popular - woven together with a father-daughter relationship storyline and a perversely humourist secondary plot line featuring Penn. But it is an ackingly didactic film that leaves little or no room for the viewer, in my judgment.

Both De Caprio and Penn give great performances - perhaps the only redeeming feature of the film - and it's well-directed. The rest of the cast does its job, but nothing more. The visuals aren't particularly foregrounded, although some will find the road scenes in the last act interesting.

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The Death of Warner Bros: A Sad Day for Those of Us Who Have Loved the Hollywood Studio System of the Golden Age

Warner Bros. produced The African Queen, for which Humphrey Bogart finally got the Oscar he deserved. And they are the Hollywood studio that produced perhaps the greatest Hollywood sound stage film in history, Casablanca, also with Bogart in an iconic role.

A beautiful example of the great collaborative art of studio made films. In many ways that art is more significant than location shooting. An intriguing storyline,magnificent performances, astounding support and extras casting, production design, set decoration, extraordinary lighting and cinematography, brilliant direction, fabulous editing, a great script with love and humour, and an incredibly effective sound score. This film is perfect in so many ways. And in 1941, besides Casablanca, WB made 49 other films.

What a wound to witness personally something I have found so precious.

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Streaming services have diminished if not destroyed film as the significant art it has always been through their increasing use of algorithms. If you watch a particular film, the algorithm nudges you to watch a similar film, and the reductionness effect is almost always a leveling of storylines. Some contemporary films do have a degree of interest even in this context, but very few if any are truly intriguing in my judgment. But there's another important component of filmmaking that seems to be, in my judgment, compromised, and that is that there are few if any contemporary actors with genuine screen presence. Most contemporary actors can "act," to be sure, but most lack the magneticism that real screen presence generates. And the old guard actors, such as Clooney, Pitt, etc. have simply become boring or irrelevant.

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With the proliferation of streaming services, filmmaking has increasingly lost its status as a unique precious entity. There's just too much mediocre product out there, almost all of it driven by an algorithm of a given streaming service.

The opportunity to batch watch contributes to this profoundly disturbing phenomenon, undermining one of the greatest cultural practices the entire world has ever known.

I might also add that the release of a given film first in a theatre has become a mere marketing strategy either to promote the upcoming stream to qualify for an award or to boost sales.

Will the relentless drive of AI into our lives destroy the precious art we have known and loved for over a century?

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The White Lotus: Misery Loves a Viewership

Finally got 'round to watching Season 1 of The White Lotus. Each of the main characters slips and slides out of his or her illusonary lives during the 6 episodes, but only 1 actually makes it out. The rest slip back into even firmer illusionary structures, one's ambition is totally destroyed, one's moral integrity implodes, and one dies absurdly. This is what the new nighttime soaps have become. If you like misery, tune in.😟

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Department Q is well worth checking out: set in Edinburgh with a superb Scottish and English ensemble cast and an intriguing investigative story line with interesting personal interactions among the investigators. It's on Netflix. And don't forget the other series I've recommended strongly.📽️

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A Note on the Oscar Best Picture Anora is an interesting film, but not one weighty enough for Best Picture. In terms of storyline, performances, theme, and cinematic practices in general, both The Brutalist and Conclave, in my judgment, are worthier films. Still I can see why Anora was chosen: a bit edgy but not too much, yet allowing the Academy to avoid endorsing the vision we get of the horror of America in The Brutalist (with a little compensation nevertheless thrown in by way of Brody's Best Actor award) and avoiding the recognition of the possibility of a trans Pope. In the end, I suppose, we all like the films we like regardless of whatever awards they garner.🎞

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Genre bending in Emilia Pérez

Rather than thinking of Emilia Pérez as a "musical," think of it as opera; much of it is stylistically recitative, and there are moments of dance and gestures in the direction of arias. All this interacting with a redemptive crime drama driven by love.

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The Worse Kind of Kindness: Kinds of Kindness

It's got four of my favourite actors - a fact that accords its worthiness immediately, and each gives a superb performance. Nevertheless, it's an emotionally challenging film.

Kinds of Kindness is a triptych of horror - sometimes violent, sometimes subtle - and disturbing comedy, and the discordant piano and choral moments contribute significantly to the brooding sense of unease that all three narratives generate.

It's a film about abuse if anything, in my judgment, and how much we allow ourselves to suffer in an attempt to satisfy our desires - and disturbing for that reason. 😏 You've been warned.🥺

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A Note on Golden Globes categorizing of The Sustance as a musical/comedy

Interesting that the Golden Globes slotted The Substance into the Comedy/Musical category. I suppose I can understand that, for it is over the top in terms of gore and "action" sequences. I think it's a bit predictable too in that we know that the two selves are bound to fall out. It's not really satire either, for it mocks the fame and beauty game and TV producers, but it doesn't do so to inspire a remodeling. It's pure invective. "Food" is an interesting recurring visual in that regard.

Still hasn't stopped me from liking Margaret Qualley.

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A Note on Black Doves.

Black Doves is not your usual espionage tale. It has a tantalizing story twist, and it's well paced in its unfolding of the psychological and moral complexities of the two main characters played by Kiera Knightly and Ben Whishaw - both through the experiences of their individual lives and their interactions with each other.  Each gives a surprisingly strong performance.

Nothing startling in terms of cinematic practice but well edited with effective shot selections, especially the tight facial shots that reveal emotion.

The series is laced with a considerable amount of humour, frequently in the action sequences. Black Doves is not at all sophisticated, but it is entertaining. It will be interesting to see where it goes in Season 2.

.The popularity of season 1 has prompted Netflix to renew it for another season.

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A Few Brief Observations about Disclaimer

From the getgo, we are warned to “Beware of narrative and form." That's essentially what this series is about.

We have several different voiceovers, two of which are anonymous, and multiple visual narratives that accompany them. Which one of them or do any of them render the truth? In what ways do narrative and form determine truth, and what role does the reader/viewer play in that process? if Catherine's forceful rendition of her right to be heard rendition of events is "the truth," why is it so in contrast to the other narratives? Is it the way she tells her story or the fact that it is she who is telling it or the fact that it is the last full narrative and that we as readers/viewers have been invited to sympathize with her throughout the first six episodes?  There are multiple ways to read this extraordinaily interrogative series.

There is no given meaning in any text - linguistic, visual, or audio. We construct meaning, and each of us does so differently. However, if the answer to all the questions I ask about Catherine's narrative is yes, rhetorical conditions can persuade us about what we might determine is "the truth."

A few other items of note to ponder:

The paintings on the ceiling are different in the two Jonathan encounters with Catherine, and in the latter, there is no voiceover or dialogue. 

The performances are exceptional, especially because of the long takes.

Notice the use of the transition wipe in the first Jonathan episode, a very noticeable transition used frequently in silent film. Its foregrounding asks us to see this episode as a “movie,” a fiction.

The telephone conversations with Sasha's mother suggest that what we thought was "real" in the opening sequence with Jonathan and Sasha may not be real, and is there a voice-over or narrator for that sequence? Once again, a questioning of narrative and form.

Notice how mood jaring two particular moments are: when the police constable suggests tea 30 seconds just after Stephen and his wife have been told about their son's death, and Catherine's assistant's remark about how Catherine will be "so cancelled" now after her encounter with her superior and the exposure of the revelations in Nancy's "fiction" to Catherine's coworkers.

Needless to say, this is a very challenging series

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A Note on Rebel Ridge

Aside from the superb casting in Rebel Ridge, especially Aaron Pierre,* other notable features of the film are worth mentioning. Where one might expect lethal shootouts, we have non-lethal  weapons and smoke bombs in the gun scenes from our protagonist. Where we have been conditioned to expect superbly choreographed fight scenes in such a plot line, we have “real,” sloppy fight scenes. And where we certainly might anticipate a full-blown romantic relationship between Terry and Summer, we have deep friendship instead. We might also expect racism to raise its ugly head, but there is no overt, articulated racism even though it is a powerful subtext throughout almost every scene. Serpico's real identity is also a surprise - to Terry and the viewer. And where we would expect full closure, we get only a degree of closure accompanied by an ending open enough for viewers to construct any full closure we might wish to imagine.

Exploring Saulnier's strategy of mocked expectations** here for meaning is an exploration worth undertaking. Check this creative entertaining film out on Netflix.

*Pierre's screen presence here is magnetic: you can't keep your eyes off him. Saulnier obviously recognizes this power as an abundance of closeups and tight medium shots on Pierre testifies.

**Including what at first sight might seem a plot weakness: the absence of more intense screen time with Terry's cousin and the complete screen absence of Summer's child.

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Viggo Mortensen's recent film (his second as a director), The Dead Don't Hurt, is quite interesting for a couple of reasons. He not only directed, but also wrote the script and composed the music. It was shot in Missassuga, just outside of Toronto, and in BC. It's a sophisticated "western" with the female lead being a French Canadian played brilliantly by a Luxembourg actor, Vicky Krieps. VOD streaming on a couple of services. Check it out.

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Furiosa lacks the thematic and figurative richness of Fury Road,* but it's the epitome of action filmmaking. Everything and everyone are in constant motion, and the production design is extraordinary. 72 people worked on production design alone. So if you like "action," this film will reward you.

*See my post on Fury Road.