Viewing Log #4: Tastes like the tap [7/20/09 - 7/26/09]

by Ryland Walker Knight

• A Matter of Life and Death [Powell & Pressburger, 1946] Gorgeous fantasy in delicious technicolor, weird-to-great propaganda. Nivens' charm is unending and the Cardiff-lensed images pool light in otherworldly ways, as you'd expect. The loveliest P&P theme is the beauty of the imagination—though it can spell peril, too, with actual consequence.
• The International [Tom Tykwer, 2009] Like everybody else, I dug the Guggenheim roundelay, and the cynicism. The pathos can't cut it, but it's conceptually perfect, as most Tykwer movies are, and, although it's not exactly tautologically fun, the redundancy is almost a non-issue when thinking "story" or "screenplay." Ignatiy wrote some smart notes and I'll push it further: it's about half a movie. Wish I'd seen it theatrically. —Tosser comparison: I prefer Bourne 3.

• Duelle [Jacques Rivette, 1976] Those aren't women, they're goddesses. Amazingly sexy, and fun, everything coils and weaves; it's a circulatory system coursing—and you can see the veins. Also, of course, we sing: Lubtchansky. For serious. More soon, I hope, after Noroit.
• Charade [Stanley Donen, 1963] Tons of fun. I wrote that bit for Mike, yes, but also for Arne.

• Love Affair [Leo McCarey, 1939] Irene Dunne is amazing, the movie's a little daft, but the chemistry between my favorite wife and Mr Boyer is just fabulous—even if the DVD looked lousy.