10 films: Night Porter’s Point of View to The Black Dahlia
Night Porter’s Point of View (original title: Z punktu widzenia nocnego portiera) (Krzysztof Kieslowski, 1978). A Kieslowski documentary of a Polish watchman. His views are harsh, he thinks thieves should get their hands cut off and he catches people who fish without a permit in his spare time. But he’s also human, in that he’s lonely and dreams of a better world. I saw it as part of a double bill on the Gothenburg film festival. [8/10]
Views of a Retired Night Porter (Andreas Horvath, 2005). This was the second of the double bill films. Horvath tracked the same man down almost 30 years later and continued the interview. The man was older, but still lonely and still with a grim view on life and humanity. We got to know he had a wife, but that she had died. Ina way it felt like Horvath tried to give the man a second chance, a chance to redeem himself to the world. [7/10]
Keillers park (Susanna Edwards, 2006). This was also part of the Gothenburg film festival and a very important film that shouldn’t be needed. Keiller’s park is a park here in Gothenburg where a homosexual man was murdered by two satanists in 1997. I’d say their religion had little to do with it, but it’s hard to say why they did it, really. People still call the park “killer’s park”. What makes it extra sad is that the man’s boyfriend was initially the main suspect and has talked about the abuse he suffered from the police for his sexuality. [8/10]
Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro (original title: Rupan sansei: Kariosutoro no shiro) (Hayao Miyazaki, 1979). This is not the third film in a series, but a film on Lupin the third, the world’s greatest thief. He decides to rescue a girl from the castle of Cagliostro, while looking for a hidden treasure. Even though it’s quite silly it manages to have enough of characters and story to be fun. [7/10]
Sílení (American title: Lunacy) (Jan Svankmajer, 2005). Jan Svankmajer’s films are strange and often gruesome, and when he does one based on Poe and Marquis de Sade you can guess the result. I enjoyed some of the philosophical parts, like who is mad and who is normal, but the film itself was tedious. I recommend his earlier works. [5/10]
Holly (Guy Moshe, 2006). Holly is a twelve year old Vietnamese girl sold to prostitution in Cambodia. Moshe both wrote and directed the film that is based on his own experiences of Cambodia. This was another festival film, and he was there and presented it. He talked about the horror of having eight year old children trying to sell you sex, and of the threats of filming on the actual locations of the brothels. In the film, Holly befriends an American tourists that wants to help her escape. I think the film’s subject matter is more important than the film itself, and in part rate the film based on its relationship to the world it portrays. [7/10]
Pee-wee’s Big Adventure (Tim Burton, 1985). Pee-wee is a very silly grown man that gets his bike stolen. He goes on a great adventure to get it back. Too bad the main character was really annoying, that the situations were uninteresting and that the film couldn’t decide if it should please children or adults. [2/10]
Little Miss Sunshine (Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, 2006). Little Miss Sunshine takes a look on American beauty contests for children. It’s a strange world with a lot of messed up people in. For a feel-good film this is about as good as they get. The young girl Olive wins a place in a big competition by chance, and her dysfunctional family tries to help her win. Her performance on stage puts an unsubtle spotlight on what these competitions resemble. [7/10]
Porco rosso (original title: Kurenai no buta) (Hayao Miyazaki and Tony Bancroft, 1992). The crimson pig Marco is a seaplane pilot in the 1920s. He battles air pirates, duels for the woman he wants and lives alone on a secret island. He’s also the only humanoid pig in a world of humans, which makes him a very special character. I’ve seen it before and it’s a beautiful film. I increase my rating, as I usually do with films I re-watch, from 6 to 7. [7/10]
The Black Dahlia (Brian De Palma, 2006). The story of the murder of a young American woman in 1947. Or not that much about her, I think, more about the people put to solve the case. There’s a too obvious love triangle that doesn’t seem that interesting. It’s based on an Elroy story, so there’s lots of characters without any real heroes and a lot of tangled plot. [5/10]
I think the most interesting thing about the night porter was his hypocrisy. While complaining wildly when others did the things he scorned, he had no problem doing them himself. He seemed to fail to make the connection.
Yeah, the fishermen I mentioned! He confiscated their rods and equipment and could later buy them at a discount from the local authorities. In the second film we got to know that he had in fact stolen from the factory he worked at in the first film. But he blamed some woman who had given him the stuff, and didn’t seem to remember his ideas about chopping off hands.
Also, I remembered something about The Black Dahlia after posting. When I played One Can Have Her last Thursday one of the players talked about the film. I said I hadn’t seen it twice before I remembered I actually had. Not a memorable film in other words.
- Jonas
Cagliostro isn’t the best Lupin flick (for all that it’s Miyazaki’s work) and Porco Rosso isn’t the best Ghibli flick (for all that it’s highly enjoyable).
(Admittedly, I couldn’t give a clear answer to which is the best Lupin flick. Fuuma Conspiracy was pretty good, as was Liberty Crisis, as was Die Nostradamus, but I’m probably forgetting some gem. Admittedly there are some real rotten tomatoes in the franchise too.)
You clearly watch way too many movies, as demonstrated by Pee-wee’s big adventure :-)
Yeah, I agree on Pee-wee’s big adventure although I wouldn’t rate it that high… ;)
Alot of movies I want to see, primarily Little Miss Sunshine and Keillers park, but Night Porter’s Point of View sounds really interesting too.