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(Back to JANUARY) FEBRUARY... Catch
That Kid 2.8.4 At the Movies February
2004 ***
Catch That
Kid; Rheem; Sunday, February 8, 2004, 12:10; $5; ticket bought
at 12:11pm. My review for mediasharx.com is here.
*** February 15, with Hannah at the Castro: Friday‚Thursday February 13‚26 THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS "Probably the most emotionally stirring revolutionary epic since Eisenstein's Potemkin!"Pauline Kael. Daily: 1:30, 4:15, 7:00, 9:35 Algiers, 1957: French paratroopers inch their way through the narrow, labyrinthine byways of the Casbah to zero in on the hideout of revolutionary stalwart Ali la Pointe (Brahim Haggiag), the last rebel still free in the city. Flashback three years earlier to the beginning of the conflict, as the Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN) decides on urban warfare. Thus begin the provocations, assassinations, hair-breadth escapes, and reprisals, with the torture of prisoners done to a Bach chorale; Algerian women -- disguised as chic Europeans depositing bombs at a sidewalk café, a teenagers' hang-out and an Air France office; and massive, surging crowd scenes unfolding with such gripping realism that the original U.S. distributor had to insert the disclaimer "Not one foot of newsreel or documentary film has been used." Having clandestinely written the film treatment on an envelope while in French prison, FLN boss turned producer Saadi Yacef (who also plays rebel leader El-hadi Jaffar, based on himself) interviewed several European filmmakers before settling on Italiansódirector Gillo Pontecorvo and screenwriter Franco Solinasówho then spent six months in research, interviewing many actual participants in the less-than-a-decade-old events, and six months writing; then filmed on the actual locations. Marcello Gatti's telephoto lenses jam us into the crowd scenes, with their movements orchestrated by Pontecorvo via chalk marks drawn on the pavement; with many sequences shot and edited to the driving pre-recorded score by Pontecorvo and the legendary Ennio Morricone (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly). Seen by some as a textbook for urban guerrilla warfare, but with surprising balance, Algiers today has a startling relevance to world events, from its random bombings to the French commander's chilling press conference pronouncement that to combat terrorism "you must accept all the consequences": the Pentagon screened Algiers last August to wise up potential Baghdad occupiers. As paratroop leader Colonel Mathieu (based on the actual granite-jawed General Jacques Massu), Jean Martin dominates with a biting, unashamedly in-your-face evisceration of bleeding heart cant; with equally striking performances by non-pros Haggiag and Yacefóso convincing that they earned the kudos of legendary theater director Harold Clurman. The opening night film of the fourth New York Film Festival (Buñuel and Godard had opened previous years), The Battle of Algiers was Oscar-nominated for Best Foreign Film, Best Screenplay and Best Director and took the Golden Lion (Grand Prize) at the Venice Film Festival. This new 35mm print features new subtitles that convey the French and Arabic dialogue accurately for the very first time. -- Bruce Goldstein and Mike Jeck, Film Forum (New York) notes. Directed by Gillo Pontecorvo. (1965) 123m. In French and Arabic with English subtitles. I don't have much more to add here. I think Hannah and I got cookies at Hot Cookie, and/or popcorn. At imdb. *** Lost In Translation; 4:15pm; Monday, February 16, 2004; $7; UA Metro. Great movie, still. It rained. I bought cigarettes. Previous notes on this film. At imdb. *** Miracle; 2:15pm; Tuesday, February 17, 2004; Walnut Creek Century; Ticket bought at 2:05pm, from Bryan; $5.75. Miracle tells the true story of Herb Brooks (Kurt Russell), the player-turned-coach who led the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team to victory over the seemingly invincible Russian squad. Russell is quite good, but not quite as good as his wonderful late 70s hair style. The great Patricia Clarkson is more than fine in a largely thankless role as "the wife," Noah Emmerich (Beautiful Girls) is the assistant coach, Kenneth Welsh ("Twin Peaks") is the team's doctor, Eddie Cahill ("Friends") is a player, Don Davis ("Twin Peaks") also appears. Directed by Gavin O'Connor. Written by Eric Guggenheim. Original Music by Mark Isham. The film wears it's inspirational sports movie moniker proudly. Tagline: If you believe in yourself, anything can happen. At imdb. *** Eurotrip; 2:20pm; Monday, February 23, 2004; Kabuki, Aud #3; $7; bought at 2:15pm. Review at mediasharx.com here. *** Twisted, Kabuki, 1pm, Friday, February 27, 2004; Aud #3; $7; Rated R; bought at 12:59pm. Review at mediasharx.com here. *** Friday‚Saturday February 27‚28 and Monday‚Tuesday March 1‚2 New 35mm Print of Georges Franju's Horror Classic EYES WITHOUT A FACE Daily: 2:00, 4:30, 7:00, 9:15 For his second feature, Georges Franju, co-founder of the Cinémathèque Française and award-winning documentarist, invested a script by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac (authors of Clouzot's Diabolique AND Hitchcock's Vertigo) with "exquisite, dread images... a vague, floating, almost lyric sense of horror" (Pauline Kael) in a savage parody of the scientific method gone to its Faustian limits (the film was originally released in the U.S. as The Horror Chamber of Dr. Faustus). With the great Pierre Brasseur (Children of Paradise) as the doctor; Alida Valli (The Third Man) as the nurse/mistress with her own secrets; and the ethereal Edith Scob, haunting in her simultaneously beautiful and creepy mask. Scob floats through operating room and dog kennel in her high-collared, almost iridescent white coat as doves fly pastómade all the creepier by the stark black & white cinematography of Eugen Schüfftan, creator of the special effects for Fritz Lang's Metropolis, and a suitably eerie score by Maurice Jarre (Lawrence of Arabia). In French with newly translated English subtitles. (1959) 95m. I saw this movie, last minute, with Pete (I think). It was a bit of a let down. Sort of silly, poorly acted (unless that was the "parody" quoted above), long. Whatever. At imdb.
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