Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by sjb (A) on August 03, 2007 at 10:10:28

and the other three films...



Through A Glass Darkly: What can be said about this film? I think it may now be my favorite Bergman film (surpassing The Virgin Spring which surpassed The Seventh Seal). It's the first installment of Bergman's "Faith Trilogy" and his first foray into chamber ensemble filmaking.

I saw this 1st film out of order, choosing to see Winter Light - the 2nd in the trilogy - 1st (mostly because the nuclear war fears of one of the character's in that film hit close to home as I had a good friend when I was younger whose bad reaction to some mescalin led to an experience that revealed his deathly fear of nuclear war causing him to become a Jehova's Witness) but it's not even close for me as to which was the more powerful experience.

The story is fairly simple. A family vacationing on an Island see's their mentally ill daughter/sister/wife, Karin go from being in a remission of sorts to falling more deeply into her illness until she belives she's visited by God, in the form of a spider.

On another level it's a story of disfunction and detachment where all the men (father, husband and brother) have problems and/or traits (flaws?) and the attendent guilt that prevent them from being able to give Karin the seemingly simple love and support she needs.

Harriet Andersson's performance as the mentally ill Karin is truly one for the ages. She fully emodies this character and her distress and what I can only describe as almost enlightenment is fully palpable. I was riveted by a couple of the scenes where she's acting out her illness. I mean riveted, like almost in an altered state. Really powerful stuff.

As with all the Bergman films I've seen it's beautifully shot and scored and wonderfully acted. In the end it's really about wanting, neeeding to be loved and the lonliness and despiar that can come when that's not realized... especially when it's seems so close at hand.





Iraq In Fragments: This documentary film shows us post invasion Iraq through the eyes of three Iraqi's... a poor uneducated 11 year old Sunni boy trying to make a living in Baghdad, a Shia follower of Muqtada al-Sadr in Southern Iraq and some Kurdish brick makers in the north.

It's a sobering look at the deep rooted divisions that have come to the surface and the chaos that has taken hold in that country. Everything is purely through the eyes of the Iraqi's... we basically never see/never talk to or hear from a single American or westerner and it's all the more powerful for it.

The film makers did a fantatastic job of the letting the films subjects speak for themsleves and the way it's shot and the way their words are put to the images makes it extremely poetic. At the same time it's pretty dark.

I found the Muqtada al-Sadr part the most fascinating and frightening. I don't think it's unreasonable to say that a better behind the scenes peek at this kind of militant Islamic movement can be found. Most unsettling.

All in all I think anyone interested in this conflict and the challenges we and they face in trying to make Iraq a viable country (or at least keep it from detroying itself) should see this film.





Harold And Kumar Go To White Castle: If you are, ever have been or just know a stoner and you're still able to enjoy silly movies this may be for you. The piece de resistance is when the star of Doogie Howser appears as a sex crazed high on ecstacy (sniffing coke off of a strippers ass) version of himslef.

It's dumb, dumb, dumb and silly to the core but kind of brillaint and understated in both ways.

What can I say... I laughed my ass off.

Don't piss on my shoe and tell me it's raining.