It was a cold and snowy night when I
went with my friends to see Eric Rohmer's film in Cinémathèque Quebecoise
in Montreal. While I was watching the film, I remembered the book that I read
in French a long time ago in Toronto. Eric Rohmer and Claude Chabrol's
book on Hitchcock seems to verge on a moralistic argument in a midst of a
humanist discourse. Rohmer's desire to offer a moral interpretation of
Hitchcock's works does not differ from what the audience can detect in his
film, Full Moon in Paris. One of the fascinations of the film that
surfaces easily is the ambiguity of the narrative that can be interpreted
as Louise's (Pascale Ogier) punishment or her liberation from the
ruined relationship. The point is that the film is lecturing on the moral
uncertainty of the couple's relationship. Regarding Rohmer's ethical
interpretation of the world, he offers a comprehensive account of how this
moral corruption relates to the different characteristics of living in Paris
and its suburbs. Although one can realize that Rohmer's film essentially begins
and ends in the suburbs, the idea of the female protagonist's liberation from
this atmosphere of entrapment weakens the intensity of her punishment for her
immoral choices. During the screening of the film, while becoming acquainted
with the female protagonist, the audience tries successfully to cope with her
disappointments about the consequences of her choices. Her return to Octave
(Fabrice Lucini) at the end of the film makes us believe that the last choice
is not different from the other ones though it seems to be the best.
Review: By Morad Sadeghi
Tuesday, 16 December 2014
Les Nuits de la pleine lune
Thursday, 11 December 2014
Uzumasa Limelight
Uzumasa Limelight appears to be regarded by
critics as a work of Japanese cinema that deals with a nostalgic
appreciation of an era in Japanese film history. At the same time, the
parallelism that exists between the world of reality and the world on stage is
clearly stated by the comparisons between the male protagonist's end of career
and his faked death. His career in the film industry is threatened by the
presence of the new generation that finally pays respect to him at the end of
the film. The joy the audience takes in analyzing the film is the joy of the
viewer who is discovering the cultural perspective of a homage to the jidaigeki genre
of film. The avoidance of sentimentalism is anticipated by preventing of using
many flashback scenes that define the tragic past of the male protagonist.
Finally, what characterizes the importance of the role of the female
protagonist in the film is her capability to control the narrative that is
still run by Japanese male-dominated society.
Review: By Morad Sadeghi
Tuesday, 9 December 2014
Whiplash
The film typically deals with
several different topics. The most important detail stands out as the
sadomasochistic relationship between Andrew (Miles Teller) and Fletcher
(J.K.Simmons). In this respect, the title seems ideal. The film is closer to a
psychoanalytical cinematic text and concerns artistic creativity and
self-destruction. In addition to psychological traits, the distinction between
professionalism and amateurism in a non-ordinary educational relationship sets
up a complex narrative that on its most serious level unfolds the truth of the
protagonist's confusion and perplexity. With various forms of montage aesthetics,
the exhilaration of film derives not so much from the narrative but the
pleasure that the visual format offers to the audience. Artifice and
playfulness of the musical performances are the most prominent characteristics
of the editing process. Undoubtedly, the film conveys an admirable summary of
the protagonist's confrontation with artistic ambition that ruins the other
aspects of his life. At the end of the film, Andrew earns his skill and
achieves a kind of professionalism that satisfies Fletcher, but the consequence
of this aggressiveness and outrage turns him into a monster (Fletcher?) that he
rejects to become. Review: By Morad Sadeghi
Tuesday, 2 December 2014
Under the Skin
Jonathan Glazer's science
fiction film of Michael Faber's novel is about Laura (Scarlett Johansson)
character, an extraterrestrial in female form. She kills the men because she
and her extraterrestrial community need the skins of the men probably to
survive on the planet Earth. Laura's narrative is divided into two parts.
In the second part of the film, an awareness of “Other" is present. Laura
finally realizes that humanity has voices and faces. Her series of encounters
with the men make her more human and finally invulnerable at the end of the
film. The minimalistic structure of the film such as avoiding to use of more dialogue
invites the audience to analyze the cinematic text with more precision and
accuracy. The presence of nature in the film indicates Laura's passion for
exploring the world of humanity. The superimposition of her lying on the ground
with the trees of the forest gives the audience the clue that she is now a part
of that nature that connects her to the world of humanity. The beginning of the
film is visually unique and formally remarkable.
Review: Morad Sadeghi