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Stroszek is one of Werner Herzog's most accessible films, and one of his best. Herzog's clever use of kitschy folk music is just one perfect element in this mesmerizing, seriocomic "ballad" of America, in which a trio of unlikely friends leave their dreary lives in Berlin, certain that wealth and comfort await in America. Their naive American dream turns sour in rural Wisconsin, and the title character (played by Bruno S., the fascinating nonactor from Herzog's The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser) becomes an insanely tragic figure, celebrating a bitterly absurd Thanksgiving in the film's unforgettable closing scenes. By fusing his own intuitive, enigmatic style with factual details from the life of Bruno S., Herzog captures the elusive "ecstatic truth" that motivates his enduring cinematic vision. While deepening one of the most unusual actor-director collaborations in the history of film, Stroszek presents an American nightmare that's funny, bizarre, and deeply, magnificently human. --Jeff Shannon ... Read more

Reviews (10)

A MASTERPIECE, ONE OF THE GREATEST FILMS EVER MADE!
Werner Herzog's Stroszek (1977) is one of the ten greatest films ever made. It's almost equally as good as Herzog's The Enigma of Kasper Hauser (1974) and Aguirre the Wrath of God (1973).

Bruno S., the unknown soldier of cinema once again gives one of the finest performances I've ever seen. Eva Mattes is also wonderful as the prostitute Eva who along with Bruno and Herr Scheitz decide to emigrate from Berlin to Wisconsin to fulfill the elusive American dream. This tragicomedy is one of the bleakest films I've ever seen and also one of the funniest.

Herzog's brilliant film making style gives the entire film the look and feel of a documentary, yet like all of his films Stroszek is highly stylized. An absolute masterpiece! Rating: A 10 out of 10.

A Rare Gem
I find it frustrating that American filmmakers cannot make a film as good as this one is. The whole story of misplaced hopes and lost dreams on the dreary American landscape is more powerful in it's telling than many films have been. The action of this film moves us from birth to death in a philosophical journey of the soul. The arrival of these obviously hopeful and distraught people on American shores is like the rebirth many immigrants went through when they escaped their own countries and arrived here. Dreams of streets paved with gold and the easy credit of American commerce is the undoing of many yet, here we see the disaster of it all. One doesn't have to be a recent immigrant to experience the foibles of modern credit like our characters do. They exemplify it though and it is to their peril that they do not understand it. The closing scene where we hear the solitary gunshot is most powerful. That it is done near a roadside zoo with it's caged animals is perfect because it portrays the cage our man has put himself into. There is only one way out, he takes it. Like many powerful financiers of the twenties who lost everything he does the only thing which will solve his problems.
The gunshot is his goodbye to his problems and the beginning of his new life. A shame that American studios cannot produce movies such as this. They are in need of lessons from directors who understand cinema and should study films of this type. Maybe they will be able to improve the fare they offer to us.

1st favorite farting film
The 2nd favorite, if you are interested, is Good Morning, by Ozu, of course, of course.
I am not interested in contracting AIDS! Sorry!

"Is This Really Me?"
Absolutely brilliant. Stroszek is THE quintessential film on the American experience. A dark fable revolving around the hopes and dreams of three postwar Germans and the disintegration of a relationship. But also incredibly funny and cynical. Herzog's best film to date, in my opinion.

GREAT MOVIE
Superb direction.

Once again, Herzog takes relative unknown and fairly untested talent, mixes in a few real actors and come away with a movie that's much,much more than following the typical storyline to the end.

As funny as you want, as dramatic as possible. Herzog is a genius. He's done it again!!! ... Read more

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Befitting a filmmaker of Akira Kurosawa's masterly stature, this sumptuous limited-edition DVD set pays tribute to Kurosawa's cinematic legacy and Japanese heritage. Like Japanese architecture, the packaging is simple yet elegant, with Ran--Kurosawa's epic reworking of King Lear in feudal Japan--at the center of attention. Kurosawa's 1985 masterpiece was remastered for this set, a clear improvement over the notoriously disappointing Fox Lorber DVD. The transfer is now vividly colorful and crisply detailed, presented in anamorphic widescreen with optional yellow subtitles that are easier to read (though the earlier release probably wasn't as bad as the "old" image used in the restoration demo). The 5.1-channel sound option allows deeper immersion into Kurosawa's painstakingly crafted soundtrack, and film historian Stephen Price's superlative, feature-length commentary track provides engaging and scholarly perspective on Kurosawa's development of theme through composition, camera placement, editing, and highly stylized direction of actors. Another comparatively sparse commentary track by Japanese cultural expert Peter Grilli is worthwhile for its insider's view of Kurosawa's personality and methods. Ran--a tragic, awe-inspiring study of human folly--remains timelessly magnificent, marking the first step in Kurosawa's gradual move from the confines of conventional narrative.

The gatefold packaging includes four glossy, postcard-quality reproductions ofKurosawa's personal storyboard paintings for Ran and Madadayo, as well as a beautiful miniature fold-out shoji screen paying tribute to Ran. (A commemorative Ran miniposter is also included.) While the DVDs of Kurosawa and Madadayo don't differ from their previous releases, their inclusion is fitting: Kurosawa (coproduced by Grilli) serves as a comprehensive study of the director's life and films, and Madadayo--Kurosawa's last and perhaps most personal film--is an evocative expression of the moral themes and unconventional storytelling that emerged in the final years of Kurosawa's legendary career. In honoring the sensei's lifetime of peerless creativity, this boxed set is guaranteed to please. --Jeff Shannon ... Read more

Reviews (21)

Wonderful set of Kurosawa movies
I purchased this box set as a way to dip my toes more deeply into the ocean that is Kurosawa's work. I own and love the Criterion "Seven Samurai" DVD, and so awaited this set with anticipation. It didn't disappoint! I think I'd seen "Ran," but it had been long enough that seeing it again it was like a new movie. The "Ran" DVD is stunning in all its restored splendor, and the story is emotionally gripping. Full of symbolism and compelling performances, I recommend this set for just this movie alone, but in addition, "Madadayo" and "Kurosawa" are both included. Neither is in anamorphic, but they are worthy additions to the set in any case. I'd never seen "Madadayo" and I'm happy to report it's a wonderful movie. It's a character study with a depth and personal warmth that radiates from the movie in waves. The performances are so natural and unassuming, you forget it's a fictional movie, and not a video journal of a real person. "Kurosawa" is an in-depth documentary on the man and his works. It's great stuff!
Last, the only downside to the package is the packaging itself. The DVD's are not held on their spindles well at all. One of mine had fallen off ("Ran") but thankfully had not taken any damage. I wish they'd taken more care with that. The included booklet, screen, and postcards are a nice touch, but I'd have been happy with just the DVD's, frankly, and in a much simpler case. Still, overall I recommend this to film fans and especially Kurosawa fans.

Not just hype, this is a terrific set!
Many people have been complaining prior to the release of this set that it looks like a clever way to take money from Kurosawa fans. This isn't the case folks. Yes, it's expensive, I don't deny that. In my view, however, it's worth it. Ran is one of Kurosawa's greatest achievements. Of his entire body of work, I think only Seven Samurai, Ikiru, Rashomon, and Throne of Blood are superior. Ran is terrific cinema, and this 16:9 transfer with yellow subtitles is far better than the previous DVD release which did the picture no justice, and had very atrocious looking subs. The 5.1 channel sound is excellent, my uncle's cinema room was vibrating with every slam of the great gates in the film. The commentaries are great, with Prince's being the better of the two. In short, the Ran DVD is splendid, and vastly superior to the Fox Lorber edition. Madadayo, also included in the set, is not one of Kurosawa's best, but it's still worth owning as it's his last film, and by no means is it as bad as Rhapsody in August or, heaven forbid, Sanshiro Sugata II. It's a quiet little film about an old man who isn't quite ready to leave the world. A bit too sentimental perhaps, but some scenes are rather touching. Definately worth having. The Kurosawa documentary is underrated and overrated at the same time. It has excellent interviews I think, but the narration gets incredibly annoying. However, that may be because I've read Kurosawa's autobiography, and therefore excerpts being read from it seem useless to me. In other words, those who haven't read his book may find the narration incredibly informative. I've only seen one better documentary on Kurosawa overall anyway, so I recommend it. The box is great looking, with the number of your edition on the front along with a logo that says: KUROSAWA. The shoji screen with art from Ran is excellent looking and would make a terrific display. Ditto the mini-Ran 15th Anniversary poster (which I personally prefer to leave untouched, rolled with a seal). There is also an informative little booklet about the filmmaker, well, informative for newcomers to Kurosawa, and an authentication certificate, along with four postcard size Kurosawa storyboards for the two films in this set. Overall, I think this set is a great buy for die hard Kurosawa fans and even casual fans. It's a great way to celebrate his later works.

A great look...
...into a fabulous piece of cinema. This collection really assembles the best of all the tools for understanding Japanese cinema in general, and Akira Kurasawa in particular, good, comprehensible subs, expert commentary, and other extras. RAN is my second favorite Kurasawa film, and the presentation here really enriched my viewing of the film. I read Prince's book, THE WARRIOR'S CAMERA, but his commentary really opened up new windows into the film and its brilliant director.

Granted, greater care could have been taken to protect the discs. Mine did arrive a little worse for the wear.

Great movies, lousy presentation.
My review here is more about the presentation of the set, and not the movies themselves. The movies are great and the documentary is also good. One of the main problems is that the packaging is terrible. The discs fit loosely in the packaging and as a result moved around a great deal in shipping. In the first set I received the documentary disc was covered in scratches and glue and was completely unplayable (the glue was from the poorly made cardboard case). The Ran disc was also scratched badly. Amazon was good about getting another set out but even in that one the documentary disc was scratched, although it plays for the most part. The "extra" items are cheaply made and not worth the money either. Also, I must agree with another reviewer that complained about the RAN transfer. This is not much of an improvement over the Fox Lorber transfer, and there is a lot of noise at the edges of the "letterboxing". If you already own a copy of Ran or Madadayo don't bother with this set. If you must own a newer transfer of Ran this one is coming out as a single DVD in 2003. This set is just not worth the money, unless you just have to have that cheesy cardboard "miniature shoji screen" or the "mini" Ran poster.

I wanted this set - but not if the DVDs are floating around
What a shame that like the recent E.T. debacle, bad packaging is ruining customer enjoyment of what should have been a great title. Many of us would not have minded paying the extra to get an early copy of the new remastering of "Ran." (That disc is set to be released on its own next year). But hearing the sad stories of how discs were broken out of their spindles and damaged in shipping from so many folks, changed my mind. It is the same problem I've seen on many CD's, DVDs and DVD Audio discs. ... Read more

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Most people associate the director Werner Herzog with the actor KlausKinski--but few know how twisted and enmeshed their relationship was. Though Kinski has made dozens of movies, he probably remains best known for the five he made with Herzog: Aguirre: The Wrath of God, Woyzeck, Nosferatu the Vampyre, Cobra Verde, and Fitzcarraldo. In this documentary/cinematic memoir, Herzog uses clips from these remarkable films, on-the-set footage, and personal recollections to create a portrait of Kinski as both a deeply passionate actor and a raving lunatic; it's hard to say whether he's defaming Kinski or being generous to this mercurial, erratic actor. There's no question that their relationship is fascinating; after their first movie (Aguirre, probably the best of their collaborations) they both described moments of wanting to kill each other--in fact, both agree that Herzog threatened to shoot Kinski at one point, though they differ on the details. Yet they went on to make four more movies, almost all of them under circumstances that would be difficult for the most serene personalities. My Best Fiend was inspired by Kinski's death, and probably the movie's weakest aspect is that we don't get Kinski's side of their friendship. But even though it's one-sided,it's still a remarkable portrait of two artists who were willing to go toextremes to capture their visions. Any fan of either will find this uniquedocumentary indispensable. --Bret Fetzer ... Read more

Reviews (18)

Comic, Fascinating, Filled With Brilliance.
There probably could never be anybody capable of making a documentary about Klaus Kinski other than Werner Herzog. After all, as the title emplies, Kinski was Herzog's best fiend. This is an endlessly fascinating portrait of an actor who was a genius, a madman and a tender soul. Herzog creates a rich film here that never bores. He doesn't turn it into a mournful memory where he might just sit in a chair and talk to a camera, no, he takes us to the locations where he and Kinski filmed, travels to visit crew members and friends and shows us unique behind the scenes footage. The beginning is shocking but intuitive, as Kinski gets into heated arguments with audience members during a performance as Jesus Christ. And if you look at it, shouldn't this be the way hecklers should be handled anyway? Kinski remains a fascinating figure through-out, a brilliant actor who could perfectly become a character and take over the screen. Herzog is a mad genius too and so his portrait of his best friend is really filled with depth and even touching at times. We see them filming in the harsh conditions they went up against to make the masterpieces "Aguirre, The Wrath Of God" and "Fitzcarraldo." We see Kinski and his famous tantrums as he chews out crew members and Herzog in truly violent-mouthed ways.... It is always interesting to hear Herzog talk about the making of the movies and there stunning vistas, like the amazon and Andes where the two mentioned films were made (we see the stunning sequence from the beginning of "Aguirre" where we see hundreds of Spanish conquistadors look like ants as they walk down an Andean slope). One thing the movie should be valued for is that Herzog does not only show the dark, crazy side of Kinski, he also shows the nice side. The last shot is truly memorable where Kinski is gently playing with a butterfly and we see his gentle, tender side. The movie is also comic, especially when we see two brilliant artists battle it out. It's funny to see that Kinski and Herzog loved and loathed each-other equally. "My Best Fiend" is a must for movie buffs, fans of Herzog or Kinski, and for anybody who is fascinated by films that explore unique minds. It is a fascinating, memorable piece of work.

My Best Fiend
"I was not excellent! I was not extraordinary! I was monumental! I was epochal!" Klaus Kinski, in response to a compliment from a theatre critic.

From the moment the film "My Best Fiend" begins, you are shocked and mezmerized by the sight of Klaus Kinski in a live performance piece, where he assumes the guise of an iconoclastic Jesus Christ, who proceeds to berate, denounce and even physically challange members of the audience. From that moment on, it is clear that Kinski is either completely mad, or teetering at the very edge of insanity. What director Werner Herzog has done, is to reveal their fascinating working relationship, by which he had to manipulate and channel Kinski's madness, so that his intensity could be captured by the camera, and used in his movies. Their collaboration resulted in such great movies as "Aguirre, The Wrath of God," and "Fitzcarraldo." The series of catastrophes that occured during both of these movie shoots on the Amazon, coupled with the stars' total instability, brought out the best and worst in Kinski, demonstrating that great art can sometimes be the result of two artists at war with each other. The location scenes along the Amazon are hauntingly beautiful, wild and frightening. It is the perfect backdrop and metaphor for Klaus Kinski's performances in these movies. The DVD offers the option of hearing Werner Herzog's narration in German or English.

Conflict is good
The title's play on words pretty much sums up the sentiment of the film. Herzog's depiction of his relationship with Kinski is painfully honest, but it is not hard to see the affection mingled with the frustration. Kinski was a mad man and nearly impossible to work with. And yet Herzog chose to work with him again and again, and with great results. This film is a tribute to their contentious and productive relationship.

There are some really funny stories here, including one where Herzog actually threatened to kill Kinski. Some may have heard of this spat, but it is still interesting to hear Herzog's dead-pan account.

Very honest, very informative, very entertaining documentary about a very complex relationship. It goes beyond friendship. It just had to be, whether either of them wanted it or not.

Character assassination
While providing an interesting behind-the-scenes glimpse at Herzog's truly stupendous films, this amounts to little more than a sustained attack on Kinski. Perhaps Kinski deserves it, but Herzog constantly pushes anyone who says anything nice about Kinksi (which is most of those interviewed) to say something negative about him, usually trying to remind them of some horriffic episode or another. This gets trying in a hurry. Perhaps the greatest display of pathology here are Herzog's transparent attempts to smear someone held in affectionate regard by people he worked with.

How not to Manage Conflict
I first recommend that a viewer rent Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes and Fitzcarraldo before viewing this documentary. To undestand the importance of this collaboration it is necessary to first see the films that it produced.

Herzog revisits the locations near Macchu Pichu where artistic passions blossomed into homicidal rage in the crucible of the Peruvian rainforest.

Herzog is fascinated by notions of human madness, obsession, and conciousness. This theme is the focus of most of his films. In Fitzcarraldo, the madness leads to incredible triumph and success, in Aguirre it leads to revolt, death, and utter chaos. What is most important to note is that in both instances is that the madness of the dominant individual, whether Fitz or Aguirre, is an intoxicating charisma that conforms a following to the individual's will. This is Kinski's obsession even when the cameras aren't rolling, and it is this passion that attracts Herzog's interest, an interest perhaps tied to his childhood in post-Third Reich Germany. Perhaps Herzog underestimated Kinski's persuasive rage that nearly turned Herzog's jungle endeavors into Pizzarro's folly. ... Read more

Description

Some of the world's leading directors (David Lynch, Spike Lee, Wim Wenders, Zhang Yimou, John Boorman) use the original Lumiere picture camera to create short films all over the world.Interactive Menus, Production Notes, Scene access, Trailer, Languages: French, Subtitles: English ... Read more

Reviews (9)

A Filmmakers Dream Project
In 1885, the Lumiere Brothers perfected a hand-cranked movie camera that moved the world. This 100th year anniversary takes forty filmmakers to task with the same camera to produce a film less than a minute. It's not as interesting in its results as one might have hoped. It was a huge challenge and few really completed something of interest. Of those, David Lynch, Patrice Leconte and Alaine Corneau are the most intriguing, while well known directors like Spike Lee and Liv Ullmann are less so. However, this is subjective. Many of the directors are asked simple questions with the hopes of profound answers. "Why do you film" and "Is cinema immortal" get answers as mundane as 'climbing a mountain because it is there'. Film students will, however, be fascinated with this project and historians will marvel that an invention so old can still be of artistic use. For the average viewer, this 88 minute documentary might seem boring, but at the very least, it is historic.

Cinemaphiles will love this film
As a tribute to the spirit of motion pictures, Lumiere & Company is a tremendous achievement and a sublime experience for true cineastes who are fortunate to find a copy on DVD. Produced in celebration of the centennial of what is considered to be the first motion picture camera, invented by the Lumiere Brothers of France, the approach is similar to asking the most accomplished electric guitar player to go acoustic.

The producers asked a collection of international film directors to create a 52-second piece each using the same technology as the Lumieres did more than one hundred years ago, 52 seconds being the amount of time it takes for one spool of film to run through their camera. Therefore, each of the segments is done in one take. All the directors are well respected, but among the more well-known participants are David Lynch, Wim Wenders, John Boorman, Spike Lee, James Ivory, Zhang Yimou and Liv Ullman.

Each segment is intriguing. While the results are understandably uneven, the pleasure of watching this film is in discovering the remarkable diversity in the working minds of motion picture's prominent practitioners. The DVD allows for free roaming and alternative selection of each short film. Given the nearly limitless possibilities available in the modern film industry, it's worth noting how the directors make use of their limited time and yet still reveal their own styles.

The subject matter ranges from miniature narratives to political statements and social documents. The locations are as varied as the directors themselves, from Bedford-Stuyvesant to Hiroshima. Although this film may seem a bit obscure and tedious to the non-enthusiast, historians and die-hard cinema fans will marvel not only at how limitations forcibly create ingenious ideas to spring forth, but also at how well the Lumiere camera still functions.

The DVD release also offers production notes, a trailer, French language, and English subtitles.

GOOD GOOD VERY GOOD
THIS IS GREAT WORK,GOOD GOOD GOOD VERY GOOD,YOU MUST TO SEE

A gem.
Lumiere and Company (Sarah Moon, 1995)

No, Lumiere and Company is not some sort of obscure sequel to Disney's Beauty and the Beast. (And where I got that idea, which I had for years, is completely beyond me.) Instead, it's Sarah Moon's third film, and a kind of global version of her second, Contriere l'oubli. Moon took the original camera manufactured by the Lumiere brothers, set some ground rules, and asked forty world-famous directors to shoot a fifty-two second scene with it. She then made a documentary incorporating behind-the-scenes footage with the short pieces themselves.

The result is a wonderful look into the mind of the filmmaker as he goes about the filmmaker's art. Each of the filmmakers does something completely different, and each answers the five questions put to him by Moon so disparately that the overall effect is one of a sort of comprehensive feeling about how films get made; one that no one director would subscribe to, but all embrace.

The short films themselves are directed by such luminaries as Costa-Gavras, Spike Lee, David Lynch, Liv Ullmann, Lasse Hallstrom, and many others who are easily recognizable; the trick was to get Moon, the relative neophyte, to create a wrapper that is the equal of the movies therein. And she did so, admirably. The is a fine little gem of a film, and well worth seeing. **** ½

Less Is More
What an intriguing idea. Take several well known directors used to working with today's state of the art equipment and see what they can do with the first practical motion picture camera. And to make it more of a challenge, give them less than a minute to work with. The results are naturally uneven. How could they not be? I won't name names but even the weakest entries have something to offer while the best lend credence to the old adage "less is more". The viewer will ultimately have to decide for him or herself which is which. As a longtime admirer of silent films I found the voiceovers during the segments rather distracting in the manner of Mystery Science Theatre 3000. One of the rules should have called for no comments made during filming to be allowed on the soundtrack. Let us supply our own voices to what we see. All in all an interesting concept that is well executed and worth seeing for any serious student of film. The DVD format is ideal for this type of omnibus film as you can easily select the segments that you want to see again and again. You should also check out the LUMIERE BROTHERS FIRST FILMS on DVD to see what was originally done with this remarkable piece of equipment. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Family Viewing
Atom Egoyan's second film (1987) seems dated and grainy, and sitting through it until you are used to the pacing can be excruciating, but ultimately you may find this to be one of your favorite films, especially if you are interested in how film affects our lives. Told through film augmented by home movies and juxtaposed television viewing and security cameras, this deep and complex film shows that Egoyan was interested in themes surrounding the act and effects of filming right from the beginning. Also, his layers upon layers style is here in all its glory, as is actor-wife Arsinee Khanjian.

The story revolves around a young man just graduating from high school, his strained relationship with his father, his doting on his maternal grandmother who lives in a shabby nursing home, and his friendship with the telephone sex operator who visits her mother in the next bed.

This is one of those films that you will watch again and then watch with commentary and then want to talk to others about. Egoyan is a wonderful filmmaker, always interesting.

Extras include commentary, a very interesting bio/filmography of the director, over 12 minutes of rehearsal footage, stills and three early short films by Egoyan -- Open House (25 min), Howard in Particular (12 min, 1979) and Peepshow (7 min, 1981). The film can be heard in English with English or French subtitles.

"When you're not feeling connected."
In this double DVD set "Family Viewing/Next of Kin" from director Atom Egoyan, both of the films are about alienated young men who are unable to interact in any sort of healthy fashion with their emotionally dysfunctional families. When watching these films, I recall a quote from Tolstoy's Anna Karenina: "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." This quote can be easily applied to the unhappy families in Egoyan's films "Family Viewing" and "Next of Kin."

In "Family Viewing" a 17-year-old named Van lives with his video and television obsessed father and his father's lover, Sandra. Van's mother disappeared years ago, and Van's maternal grandmother Armen is stuck in a nasty nursing home. Van has a complicated relationship with Sandra, but his relationship with his father is strained. The fact that Armen is neglected in a nursing home--regularly visited by Van--only serves to alienate the father and son even further. Van's father is gradually erasing home-made videotapes of Van and his mother--filmed in Van's childhood--and replacing these treasured memories with some nasty films of his own. While visiting his grandmother in the nursing home, Van, strikes up a relationship with an emotionally stunted telephone sex operator named Aline (played by Egoyan's wife Arsinee Khanjian).

"Family Viewing" may seem amateurish at first, but don't let Egoyan's techniques fool you. Egoyan's films are created with the precision of mathematical equations, and "Family Viewing" is a very concise, perfectly constructed film. It has the feel of a daytime soap opera, and this is intentional. The scenes with Van's family seem almost mechanical, and indeed perhaps the lives of the quiet and restrained emotionally dysfunctional do boil down to simple television watching. Watching television and eating seem to be the two activities Van's family indulge in regularly. In this film, Egoyan uses technology as a way of recording history--or showing the truth, but of course, tapes can be erased or rewound. The plot moves forward with the use of video, television, and surveillance cameras. Television programmes serve as an ironic background to the real life action taking place in Van's home and also in Armen's nursing home. For example, Van's mother has simply disappeared off the face of the planet, and yet a nature programme watched intently by Armen notes that Polar bears are tracked with implanted devices--no matter where the bears roam--so they can always be found.

I really liked the character of Van in "Family Viewing." He progresses from adolescence to adulthood in this film, and he emerges as a strong, intelligent, and independent person. I particularly enjoyed the scene between Van and the nursing home Dr when they discuss the charitable and the business sides of their natures. This really is an excellent, excellent film. I think it may be my favourite Egoyan.

"Next of Kin" is the story of 23-year-old Peter--an only child--who still lives at home with his eternally bickering upper-middle-class parents. As a result of years of listening to his parents fighting, Peter gradually retreats, and soon he rarely emerges from bed. Peter's parents seek help from family counseling, and they participate in video therapy. The family meets with a therapist who videotapes their sessions, and each individual family member then reviews the sessions. Peter views a videotape carelessly left from another family's session.

The other family---the Deryans--are Armenian immigrants who gave up a son, Bedros, for adoption before coming to America. The parents feel extremely guilty about this, and unfortunately the guilt manifests itself in dissatisfaction with their other child--Azah (Arsinee Khanjian). Peter is fascinated by video therapy, and by the powerful role of the therapist, and so he tells everyone he's going off on a holiday. Peter presents himself as Bedros to the hardworking Deryan family. He's rapidly accepted--no questions asked, and soon he's swamped in a different set of family-related issues. Peter simply steps seamlessly from one unhappy family to another.

"Next of Kin" is a very early Egoyan film, and it's not as sophisticated as "Family Viewing." Peter's acceptance in the family is a little too smooth, and the solutions he offers are a bit too simple. Nonetheless, "Next of Kin" is a marvelous film, and it makes some very powerful statements about the nature of family, and the fact that we are not able to choose who we are related to. Peter manages to overcome this obstacle, however. Keep an eye open for a glimpse of Egoyan in this film.

I love the emotional distance Egoyan creates between his audience and his characters. There's nothing I dislike more than a tear-fest. While I find myself riveted to Egoyan films, and fascinated by the characters, I never feel emotionally manipulated by the characters or by the director--displacedhuman

Next of Kin
Atom Egoyan is quickly becoming one of my favorite directors. While many people consider his films "too artsy," I find them brilliant pieces of filmmaking. I have yet to view FAMILY VIEWING, but I will soon. NEXT OF KIN, however, was an incredibly impressive first feature, especially considering Egoyan was only 23 when he made it. I mean, what a fascinating plot. I commend Egoyan for having his first film deal with an Armenian family, he being of Armenian descent (as am I). The film follows a troubled family, who decide to go through video therapy to solve their problems. Peter, their 23 year old son, comes across a tape of another troubled family, Armenians (surprisingly, the film never mentions that the family is of Armenian descent, but they are) who had years before given their only son up for adoption upon moving to Canada. Peter pretends to be their long-lost son, suitably named Bedros, which is the Armenian equivilant of Peter. The family accepts him with open arms and treat him like he was never gone. Peter (Bedros) tries to fix the troubled relationship between his "father" George and "sister" Azah, as he learns about the family's Armenian culture. Now, I found the film very enjoyable, well acted, and for the budget, wonderfully directed. However, I felt Egoyan could have explored many more aspects of the Armenian family and at a mere 69 minutes, the film was WAY too short. (Why does the IMDB have this at 105 minutes, did I get an edited version??) How would the relatives have treated Bedros since he had been gone for some long? (They all gather for his surprise party, but we hardly see them for two minutes before Bedros disappears to the bedroom with Azah.) The relationships between George and Sonya, and even Bedros and Azah could also have been explored quite a bit. Overall, this was a fascinating, interesting, and wonderful film, but it didn't seem fully developed and ended way too quickly...This is one film I wish was longer.

Atom Egoyan's First Two Terrific Films
If you like Atom Egoyan or you just want to see two great movies, watch this 2-disc DVD set, with great commentary by the director. It's Egoyan first two features. Next of Kin is a funny, touching film about a young man who is unsatisfied with his parents and learns about another family suffering from the guilt of giving their son up for adoption twenty years ago. The young man decides to pose as the long-lost son and gain new parents that love him more. Family Viewing is about a young man who finds that his father is recording over home movies of his childhood with his homemade porn sessions. Wim Wenders won the Grand Prize at the Toronto Film Fest for Wings of Desire, but he gave his award to Egoyan saying that Family Viwing was one of the most honest films he had ever seen. Both Next of Kin and Family Viewing were nominated for multiple Canadian academy awards, including picture, director, and screenplay. Egoyan is one of today's great auteurs and has received numerous accolades, including Oscar noms for Director and Screenplay for The Sweet Hereafter. See these two films. Of interest are also Egoyan's Speaking Parts, Exotica, The Adjuster, Felicia's Journey, and my personal favorite, Calendar. Check 'em out.

Odd.
Family viewing tells the story of a not so typical family going through the motions of their perverse and depressing lives. To sum it up. Technology will destroy all.

A teenage boy, Van, lives in an apartment with his father, Stan, and stepmother, Sandra. At some point Van carried on an affair, or so it seems, with Sandra. Meanwhile Van and Stan have a very strained relationship, although they do not talk about it. It becomes worse when Van finds out Stan is recording "private" videos with Sandra, using old VHS tapes of Van as a child. Addtionally Van wants Stan to visit his mother, who has been abandoned in a nusring home. Enter into the picture a woman named Aline, who makes her money soliciting phone sex and things really get interesting. It all ties together in the end, with some surprising plot developments, into a twisted little story.

All of the characters in this film are strangely sedated. This is a very effect plot device though, because it really helps isolate the characters from one another. It also leaves the impression that these peoples' lives are so empty and unfulfilling they have become numb to it all.

Very well shot, and poignantly directed, this is a good film. Atom Egoyan is a director new to me. I have heard nothing but positive things about his films so I will certainly be checking out others he has made. Unfortunately I have not seen Next of Kin which is also featured on this DVD. Sorry, but Family Viewing is worth checking out. ... Read more

Reviews (15)

J'AI FAIM!!!
This is a WONDERFUL, striking movie...I watched in French class several years ago and have always looked back on it fondly. So many of the issues are "shocking" to Americans, and serious issues are treated plainly with humor and wit, instead of the dramatic "dressing up" that they usually recieve on "popular" films. I LOVE THIS MOVIE...

Enjoyable!
I finished this movie today in French class. It is a very good comedy. There is no plot to the movie it is basic scenes of these children who go to a school. I would not buy it but if you find it somewhere you can rent it you defianately should rent it.

The Surviving Child¿
Small Change is a film that describes interactions between different children and their social macrocosm and this leads to different results in their social microcosms, since the children are under the complete control of their guardians. The adults' parenting sometimes leaves the children vulnerable and which is presented in a number of troubling scenes. Despite these perilous situations, the children survive and have to learn how to manage by themselves in order to live a happy life. Nevertheless, the parents do offer affection and love for the children, which aids in their struggle through life. In turn, the children also affect adult rule over them through different actions. Truffaut displays great understanding for children through this film by creating a next to perfect dissection of child development and child psychology that psychologists such as Harlow, Vygotsky and Piaget would call "a functioning experiement in action". Overall, there are several pleasurable moments in the film that are well balanced with the serious occasions, which leaves the audience with a brilliant cinematic experience that is full of wonderful life lessons.

Not really a comedy
I've read all the reviews and they all seem to be missing the REAL point of the movie. Sure, it shows some delightfully comedic vignettes about childhood in France (and well, really the nature of childhood), but all of those funny bits like Geoffrey a fait boum and the police chief's daughter with her megaphone "j'ai faim" stand in stark contrast to the outcast Julien Leclerc (please pardon me if that is not precisely his name, but I am relying on my memory on this), who lives in a run down shack on a street where people just did not live and who was regularly abused by the "unseen enemy" of his family members (which yes, you do see in the end).

In this film we see the contrast of the innocence of childhood shattered by the heartbreak of abuse. This was an era where child abuse was just beginning to be dealt with in the media and we see Truffaut giving us intermittent glimpses of a child on his own, finding it hard to stay awake in class because he was forced out of the house for the night, picking up coins that dropped out of people's pockets at a local carnival, and fearing taking his clothes off for the school physical because of the bruises on his body.

I think we do a great disservice to the film and to Truffaut to call it a comedy. There is so much more to it than that.

gregory went boom!!
oh my gosh i love this movie!! i'm watching it in french class right now and it is the funniest thing ever!! when gregory fell out the window i almost died laughing and when slyvie stood on her porch saying j'ai faim over and over again!! that was hilarious!! i want to buy this soo much and everyone should watch it!! it's the best!! ... Read more

Amazon.com

The expressionistic, stylized visual brilliance (courtesy ofAustralian cinematographer Christopher Doyle) of Happy Together is sobreathtaking and enveloping it nearly detracts from this startling, queasy, despairing glimpse at a gay relationship gone amok. Director Wong Kar-Wai(Chungking Express, Fallen Angels) won the Best Director Prize at Cannesin 1997--surprising many--but on viewing the film it's easy to see why. The subjectmatter may not be the easiest to swallow--any relationship on the rockssometimes gets dirty and pathetically disturbing--but there is auniversality to Happy Together that rings true and real and less like anedition of The Honeymooners than isolation tinged with the embarrassment ofintimacy. Ho (Leslie Cheung) and Lai (Tony Leung) have left Hong Kong forBuenos Aires. The journey is another in Ho's attempts to "start over." Buttheir initial optimism is short-lived, and once they become dislocatedstrangers in this strange land it only further thrusts the two into their already codependent, caretaking dark love affair. But like all crazylove, the trip through masochistic hell--from violence to apathy--leads toself-enlightenment, and Wong Kar-Wai's gorgeous, grasping film is true,tricky, difficult, and emotionally wrought, aided by Hong Kong superstarsCheung and Leung, who contribute greatly to creating a work that isexceptional--and lump-in-throat brutal--in image, story, and performance. --Paula Nechak ... Read more

Reviews (47)

I love this movie
The first time i saw this movie, I have to admit, I fell asleep. And the second time I saw "HAPPY TOGETHER", I fell asleep again. But each time, I just wanted to slap myself because I had been told and knew deep down inside, it was a great movie. And finally, the third time I saw it, the movie just captured my heart.

"HAPPY TOGETHER" is a love story in it's most darkest and bittersweet form. Two gay lovers venture out to Argentina from Hong Kong and the idea of them being happy together is seriously tested. One lover (I can't remember the name) is stable, diligent, and so giving while the other one is just simply a selfish gay slut. They try several times to start over, but each time, the selfish lover wants to eat his cake too.

Like all of Wong Kar-wai's films, this one has little dialogue and the story is told mainly through visuals. The waterfall is a major theme running through the movie. The beginning opens up in black and white and later on, when the lovers start over again, color (in a very Wong Kar-wai-esque cinematic sense of it) comes in. And the soundtrack (mostly Astor Piazola) is just an unforgetable part of the movie.

I heard that before making this film, Wong Kar-wai was reading a lot of Manuel Puig (gay Argentine writer of "KISS OF THE SPIDERWOMAN"). Puig dealt with mainly the themes of unrequited love, impossible love, the love that hurts you more than gives you pleasure. And often, his characters where pretty much society's castoffs, whether because they were gay, revolutionaries, or just plain freaks. You can see a lot of these same themes in many of Wong Kar-wai films, but it hits the hardest in this one.

The plot is rather simple, but Wong Kar-wai seems to be the master of capturing those feelings people don't talk about-- those feelings that show up only on our faces. In the end, I cried. Not because I had my heart broken in the same fashion, or because I'm one of those people uncapable of attaining love. I cried because the movie just eats away at your heart little by little and anywhere within the last 15 minutes of the film, the tears come and you don't know if you're crying because you're sad or you're happy.

Changing perspectives...
Happy Together, by Chinese director Wong Kar-Wai, is one of my all-time favourite movies, and - along with The Tango Lesson - one of the movies that has effected me the most. To me, HT is one of those (rare) art products that manage to combine formal beauty, intellectual sharpness and emotional depth all into one.

I have watched HT many times, and each time I felt that it had a new meaning to convey. My impressions about this movie have therefore shifted with time, leading me not to a definite interpretation but to the knowledge that art - as life itself - can be looked at from different points of view.

The story line is quite simple: two lovers leave Hong Kong and go to Argentina; once there, they argue so much they decide to break up; one of them (Ho Po-Wing) prostitutes himself, while the other (Lai-Yiu Fai) works in a tango-bar and virtuously puts money aside to return home; one day, chance unites them and for a short while they live happily together; inevitably, however, the friskier one becomes dissatisfied with their conjugal life; they separate again, and this time it's really the end. Needless to say, the movie's title - as light-hearted as it sounds - is actually quite deceiving: the two men's relationship turns out to be a rather "unhappy" one.

The first few times I watched HT I couldn't help feeling disgusted by Ho Po-Wing's moral hideousness - I thought of him as the negative-model the movie meant to point the finger against. I thought the movie proved that although there are no "real heroes" some people do behave better than others, and that by self-discipline one could "redeem" one's soul... I thought the movie was about Aesthetics as a means of purification, as if Beauty could protect one from squalor. I admired Lai-Yiu Fai and mercilessly condemned Ho Po-Wing.

I still admire Lai-Yiu Fai, of course, but I now feel I was too superficial in judging Ho Po-Wing. I see he's not the monster I made him out to be in the past: he's a victim of his own temperament, a person misfortunate to the point of being unable to grasp the good life offers him. In this, I feel he well portrays many homosexuals, who, I'm afraid, often let happiness slip out of their hands, perhaps because a sick environment has taught them not to "love" but to "want." In my opinion, not only are we "all the same when we feel lonely," as Lai-Yiu Fai puts it - that is: inclined to promiscuous sex - we're also "all the same" in that we are all constantly on the verge of self-inflicted unhappiness.

Last time I watched HT, about a week ago, I got extremely sad, because I realised how easy it is for anyone to fall, and because through experience I've come to understand that so many of us are like Ho Po-Wing, damned to suffer the pains of degradation and solitude because of our "insatiability." We are taught that since we aren't attracted to someone of the opposite sex we are "bad" and have no values. Of course the effect of this is that we end up believing they are right. Thus, monogamy and fidelity become accessories, as tenderness and mutual support.

To me, Happy Together is about all this.

watchable travalogue, love story, human portrayal of gay men
My wife and I got different things from this movie, but we both
enjoyed it enough to be worth the time.

What struck me most vividly was the idea of just bravely taking
off to another country on little enough of a plan that running
out of money and being forced to survive like they do is even a
possibility. I don't know if that speaks more for the main
characters' love of life, or just their incompetence, but for me
it was a vividly portrayed and compelling case for the value of
the former. This might not have been a focus of the movie, and
I'm sure that for many people the grim conditions if anything
make the opposite case, but it really made me want to seize the
day, take off on a motorcycle and so on.

I think my wife was more affected by the love story. She grew up
in China with a moderately negative but mostly non-existent
awareness of homosexuality. Her reaction at the end of this
movie was that now she could much better understand the idea of
two men actually being in love with each other, just like anybody
else. I figure I got my money's worth just for that.

Now, as her husband, I do find it a little bit disturbing that
she finds such a screwed-up relationship so easy to relate to,
but it speaks well for the movie as tolerance propaganda.

The visual style didn't particularly speak to me. It was
occasionally intrusive, occasionally neat to look at, every once
in a while participated in the story-telling, and mostly I just
ignored it.

I spent much of the first half of the movie complaining to
myself that the director gives us no clue at all why these two
would want to be together, let alone as obsessively as they are.
Eventually, I accepted that the director's not incompetent, so if
he's not letting us know it's because he doesn't want to. Okay,
Kar-wai, whatever, man. I got along much better after I gave up
on that.

Not in the Mood
This movie tries to present deep, complex and intriguing characters but that pretension ends up delivering a flat, tedious and emotionally empty story. The plot focuses the relationship of two gay men, their co-dependence and the everyday struggles they must face, most of them with each other.
It coul be interesting if the characters weren`t so distant and devoid of any life or worthwile qualities. Instead, they turn into shallow, selfish people that only add to a slow and lifeless movie. Director Wong Kar-Wai ("Fallen Angels", "In The Mood For Love") delivers some stylish, beautiful images with creative camera angles and an engaging use of lightning, but it doesn`t help much since the story itself drags on and on and fails to captivate one`s attention. Some pretty and original details aside, "Happy Together" is a long, boring and useless waste of film. Disposable.

murky disappointment
Having seen three of Wong Kar-Wai's films (Chungking Express, Fallen Angels, In the Mood for Love), I have become a big fan, and was eagerly looking forward to this one, the last available in my video store.

It turned out to be a big letdown -- indeed, before I checked the actual date, I thought it was an early precursor of his unique style (combined with seemingly extreme low budget).

What I could distinguish of the plot and characters was at least mildly interesting, but that's the catch, "what I could distinguish" -- the film style and (VHS) print combined to make it very hard to figure out what was happening on the screen. The subtitles were especially hard (or impossible) to read.

A lot can be blamed on the print, and I envy those reviewers who saw it in theaters, but even trying to look through that, the film seemed to have only touches of the trademark WKW style. It was interesting to see so much shot not just exterior but outdoors, under wide skies. [The WKW films I've seen were almost entirely interior, or at least enclosed (with the exception of the Cambodian scene in Mood for Love) -- even a motorcycle is ridden at night in a tunnel.] And WKW doesn't seem to do well with the wide open spaces. Maybe it is his not being on the familiar territory of Hong Kong (or Asia). But the style here did not develop the interest and momentum for me that it did in the other films mentioned.

As to the plot, it was the usual theme of obsessive love, impossible love, and sad reflection on lost possibility. Yet their story doesn't grab me the way the others' do, I think because they are brought down by their own disfunction (and such extreme, almost clownish, disfunction)with little relation to events or societal expectation. It's like watching a habitual drunk driver wrap his car around a tree. ... Read more

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Although best known for his samurai classics, Japanese master filmmaker Akira Kurosawa proved himself equally adept at contemporary dramas and thrillers, and 1962's High and Low offers a powerful showcase for Kurosawa's versatile skill. The great Toshiro Mifune stars as a wealthy industrialist who has just raised a large sum of money to execute his planned takeover of a successful shoe manufacturer. Fate intervenes when he receives a phone call informing him that his son has been kidnapped, and by unfortunate coincidence the ransom demand is nearly equivalent to the amount Mifune has raised for his corporate coup. A philosophical dilemma emerges when it is revealed that the executive's son is safe, and that it is actually his chauffeur's son who has been taken. What follows is both a tense detective thriller, as the police attempt to track down the kidnapper, and a compelling illustration of class division in Japan--the "high and low" of the title. Far be it from Kurosawa to make a mere thriller, however; this loose adaptation of the Ed McBain novel King's Ransom provides the director with ample opportunity to develop a visual strategy that perfectly enhances the story's sociological themes. The Criterion Collection DVD of this extraordinary film is presented in the original "Tohoscope" aspect ratio of 2.35:1. --Jeff Shannon ... Read more

Reviews (40)

Decisions, decisions.
Does a wealthy Japanese industrialist care enough about his chauffer's son to pay the kidnapper's ransom? Could he live with himself if he didn't? I found this to be a rather interesting film. I first saw it in a philosophy class I was taking at my local community college a couple of years ago. It captured my interest. Toshiro Mifune hardly smiles throughout the whole film but can you blame him? If he pays, he's out of a large sum of cash. If he doesn't pay, the kidnappers will kill the boy hostage and Mifune will be the scourge of society. Everyone will detest him for his selfish act. And what would his son think? It's been awhile since I saw the movie but if my memory serves me correctly, were not Mifune's boy and the chauffer's son friends? That's another dilemma. It was a nice experience seeing something like this come out of Japan. It's clear that the Japanese film industry is more than competent enough to go beyond Godzilla movies and anime. Akira Kurosawa has proven that for years.

GRAND-DADDY OF THE COP MOVIE GENRE
And I thought Kurosawa was big on Samurai movies. This is a stunning cop thriller grounded in real-life Japan of the 60s.

Toshiro Mifune is an honest and hugely successful businessman who loves his job as a shoe factory exec and is in a battle for corporate control against a pack of hyenas. He has mortgaged and borrowed and scraped to raise the money for a surprise coup to takeover the firm. Until his son is kidnapped.

But then there is a major plot twist: it is not his own son who was taken but his son's friend, the chauffeur's kid, and the ransom demanded is atrocious. If he forks the dough, he stands to lose everything he has worked so hard for, but can he simply sacrifice the chauffeur's child because it is not his? From here on High and Low (perhaps better translated as Heaven and Hell) is a riveting "police procedural."

Watching Kurosawa's maestro camerawork is a rare, almost unique experience, he is a man in complete control of his visuals and his subject matter. The DVD is letterboxed and the print B&W. This not only lends beautifully to a cinematically compelling human drama, but it also draws you into the theme emotionally.

A superb film, captivating from start to finish. Highly recommended!

This Is An Extraordinarily Good Film
Watched this a few days ago for about the fifth time and have been thinking about it ever since. I think it probably is my favorite Kurosawa film.

Toshiro Mifune plays a top executive in a shoe company who is secretly planning to take over the company. He wants to keep making quality shoes and gradually expand the market. The other executives want to make cheaper shoes and take advantage of the company's reputation. Mifune has raised every yen he can, including using his house, for the buyout, but his son is kidnapped. For the ransome he'll need all the money he's raised. He's prepared to do this for the sake of his son.

Then he finds out that the kidnappers made a mistake. They kidnapped his driver's son, who is the same age as his own. What a terrible moral dilemma. Would you or I give up every dime we had to save a neighbor's or an employee's son? Mifune does, and this act has a great effect on the police and the public.

The first half of the movie takes place in his house on a hill while all this unfolds. The second half is the chase to find the boy before he's killed and to capture the kidnapper. We move from the intensity of the dilemma unfolding in Mifune's home to the gritty business of the search which takes us into some of the lowest parts of the Japanese underworld.

Mifune is powerful in the role of the father, at first torn by the decision he has to make, then commited to finding his driver's son. Tatsuya Nakadai plays the detective, handsome, smooth, professional, and ultimately deeply touched by Mifune's integrity. Years later Nakadai played the leads in Kurosawa's Kagemusha and Ran. And it was good to see Mifune out of samurai costume.

High and Low is the work of a master. The DVD has the quality and extras one has come to expect from Criterion

Delivers the excellence we expect from Kurasawa
Those from high and low positions in modern industrial Japanese society clash in this drama. While I don't easily commit to watch a long subtitled movie, this one kept my eyes glued to the screen through an effective suspense that grabs early and never lets go. The main story line comprises related subplots that are realistic and gripping without overwhelming. The acting is consistently excellent in portraying a full gamut of human emotions and difficult situations. Select this when you're ready for real entertainment from masters of their craft.

a great movie and one of Kurosawa's best.
This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD version of the film.

This film is well written and based on the Novel "King's Ransom" by Ed McBain. Having not read the novel, I cannot determine how faithful the film is to the book.

In the film a wealthy man's son is the target of a kidnapping and ransom. The ransom is ¥30 million (Yen) which in those days was a lot of money, but today is little over a quarter million US dollars.

The movie itself has some cinematography that has been imitated or is an imitation of. Most of the first 30 minutes of the film take place exclusively in a single house, similar to the film "12 angry men" and it having taken place almost exclusively inside a jury room.

The film is in black and white with a single scene in where part of the film is hand colored. I would go into further details, but it might be considered a spoiler. This scene immediately reminded me of the scenes in Schindler's list involving the girl in the red coat.

The film has some well photographed scenes and is impressive.

The Criterion DVD has no special features which is a bit dissappointing. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Forty-three years since the release of À Bout de Souffle (Out of Breath), Jean-Luc Godard has still got it. And like his first film, the English title (in that case, Breathless) incorrectly represents the essence of this intricate work. "In Praise of Love" suggests a joyous celebration, but in actuality, Éloge de l'Amour (Eulogy for Love) is a meditation on life, love, and particularly loss.The 2001 film is highly reminiscent of Godard's films from the '60s in structure and attitude. On the surface we may be watching the making of a film (similar to Le Mépris), but in actuality, we are deep in the exploration of love's melancholic elements. In the typical Godard style, In Praise of Love's essence is told through its characters' conversational criticisms towards art, literature, philosophy, politics, capitalism, and cinema, all displayed through the unstructured use of digital video that has the director's distinct, rebellious look and feel. It is amazing that at 73 Godard still has the capability to successfully redefine how we look at film. In Praise of Love definitely requires repeat viewings and may not be for everyone, but for those interested it is well worth it. --Rob Bracco ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Europe uber Alles
It is important that "In Praise of Love" is watched by many ordinary intellectuals in US, for it is a beautifully stated manifesto. "We are all tricksters" states Godard, and here he tricks the cinema lovers into the formalist heresy of acknowledging his "masterful" technique, his "outstanding" cinematography.
However, the supposedy profound content of this film is actually nothing other than a set of actions, thoughts, and presumptions usually found in a teenager who is well read, lives in Europe, and never lived in US: extensive citations from unpopular books by the great (French) philosophers, paranoidal hate of the Americans, and the constant mention of death...
Has the great European film director Jean-Luc Godard become wiser and better with age, or the most horrible is true? That he has finally shown us the true face of his and of European intellectualism in general: an adolescent burdened by his own thoughts of love and death.
Aside from it all, this film has moments for which the author could get punched in the face. There is a mention of the "fact" that most Albanian "refugees" were in their home at the time of the Serbian army attack. Mr. Godard ommits the fact that they were not refugees at that precise moment yet.
It is neccessary to see and look deep into what Godard is saying and what he is showing us. The great repository of culture (Europe = France) has History on its side, and that makes all of US population - an inferior breed of humans. It is all very "profound" indeed!!!

A Poetic Essay
If you only know Godard from his 1960's films this late phase masterpiece will come as a surprise. In Praise of Love could just as well be titled In Praise of French Culture as this film is like a testament to all of the things Godard loves most about his countries cultural traditions. We know Godards taste in philosophy, music, literature, painting and most importantly film because his favorite sources decorate every frame of the film. References abound within the film to Robert Bresson -- who I think could well be called the patron saint of French Cinema. The New Wave film makers were always fond of Bresson but here Godard not only shows a young man standing in front of a movie poster for Pickpocket but he also quotes from Notes of a Cinematographer-- this book provides wonderful insights into Bressons mind set but also Godards who obviously reveres him . There is also a moving reference to Vigo's L'Atalante. The Godard of the 90's is a much matured artist less concerned with shaking things up than with learning how and teaching us how we must look backward and remember in order to move forward. The view of an aging artist yes but also the view of a mature artist.

The first half of In Praise of Love is shot in black and white and the most memorable shots are of Paris at night -- the cinematography is achingly romantic which is fitting for the first halfs main theme is the search for romantic love. It is misleading to say this is the only theme though as while that theme is explored Godard also speaks of the current state of France and through his actors offers his insights into the modern state of French public life and politics which obviously leave him cold -- ie the state has no love for its people, and, anyone who makes over 10,000 francs a month in France no longer has a political conscience. As he films his young actors you can tell Godard is reminiscing about his own youth and own first love Anna Karina. For Godard politics are never far from love -- the two seem to go hand in hand for him -- because the search for love is intimately connected with our search for an ideal. Love will always fail, Godard seems to say, because we can never achieve our ideal of it -- or, searching for the ideal we cease to see the object that we love. In support of this examination of the early stages of love by a young man he offers an older gentlemans memory of his first love and how the memory of it still stings him. The film has a decidedly documentary feeling and a decidedly somber tone which is reinforced by the elegiac piano music. Though the narrative is not strictly linear it is fairly easy to follow. In addition each time Godard quotes one of his cherished sources (Chateubriand, Balzaz, Bataille's Blue Noon) the book is usually in the frame. The Godardian methods will be familiar to someone who has only seen his sixties work but you will also notice that those methods have mellowed, deepened, and become more intimate, and furthermore the pace of his films has slowed considerably reflecting the directors age and this is actually a welcome nuance as it allows one to absorb the content of each sequence. I am tempted to say I prefer this late phase of Godards career to his early phase but of course one would not exist without the other.

In the second part the main theme shifts away from love, although that continues to be a minor theme, and towards history -- in truth the two themes are interrelated and comments made about one topic invariably have significance for the other. Memory becomes an obsesion for the aging artist and Henri Bergson is a major reference point in this section of the film. Godard argues that until nations are willing to confess their crimes and own up to them and allow for open discourse they will remain in a kind of infancy. National identity and growth is dependent on memory and thus America is ridiculed for failing to have any kind of memory. In fact in the funniest part of the film a representative for an American film company is in France trying to purchase the rights to a resistance fighters memoirs. Godard has a character comment that America has no memories of its own and thus must buy them from other countries. America is seen to be suffering from the worst case of arrested development but France is also seen to be guilty of it as well.

The film is a rich essay with many themes which complement each other in unusual ways. I found it moving and thoughtful and infinitely rich -- at any given moment you will find yourself contemplating a particularly evocative reference which connects the past to the present. This is the kind of film you like immediately and the kind of film that invites you back to it. There is much here and I've only hinted at some of the things I noticed on a single viewing but I plan on watching this many more times.

Melancholy
An incredibly melancholy movie by Godard. Interesting experimental use of digital video too.

what a junk! 1 star minus 100
this is one of the worst movies (if you could called this junk, a movie) that i've ever watched. the whole thing is such a pretentious and obscure junk that tried very hard to be DEEP and nostalgic, but only resulted in an aimless and purposeless dead-beat. the quality of this film, my god, the worst i've ever encountered. i've tried 5 times to restart and to rewatch this junk, from the very beginning to the end, or by selected chapters or scenes one by one, but never could get any meaningful thing out of it. the whole film was chopped into pieces, suddenly black n white, or terrible colored and fuzzy scenes, suddenly, two years back, suddenly two months later. And, did you ever see the sea turn red? or it's the 'red sea' geogrphically speaking? those characters in this so-called film, either sitting around or walking around, for what? NADA! most of them were talking deep, i mean, really deep, and everybody was a philosopher, aimlessly gazed through windows at outside, talked about time, life, all the necessary evils about life, but in the end, what goes around, comes around, the u.s. hard currency, man, to make a better living in france. what a pretentious and pathetic junk. if you could call this a movie, i'd prefer watching chaplin's black/white silent ones, at least they sometimes could still make me laugh. i rest my case.

The best film of 2001...another great Godard film
I really love this film. Like most of Godard's best work, it yields itself to repeated viewings (I have seen it now 4 times) because it is such a rich work, including so many ideas (on language, love, memory, Paris, America, poverty, and of course cinema). The film is very much like a novel in that each scene is imbued with more and more layers one on top of the other. Highly complex, original, and intelligent cinema is hard to come by nowadays, so thank you Jean-Luc for making movies for INTELLIGENT people. ... Read more

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Writer/director Pedro Almodóvar's dark, sexy Hitchcock homage is his best work since his Oscar-winning All About My Mother, and deepened by a sun-dappled sadness. Handsome, enigmatic Ángel (Gael García Bernal) arrives at the Spanish movie offices of director Enrique Goded (Fele Martinez) and happily proclaims that he's actually Enrique's long-lost school chum Ignacio--an announcement that is both less than convincing and more than it seems. A novice actor, Ángel pitches a semi-autobiographical screenplay in which he's determined to star, a revenge-laden reflection of the doomed love he and Enrique shared as boys before a pedophile priest cruelly intervened. The script, and the lost days it recalls, carefully unfurls into a series of brooding movies-within-movies and memories-inside-memories, which allow the sensual, multiple-role-playing Bernal to give the performance of his young career--among other things, he makes a stunningly convincing drag queen--and Almodóvar the opportunity to movingly suggest that people will pay any price to ensure that their stories are told. --Steve Wiecking ... Read more

Reviews (37)

'¡Eh!' '¡Despierta!'
This film is incredible. I'm relatively fluent in Spanish and had to make do without subtitles which always tend to detract from the full experience of a film. It took me a couple a viewings to fully understand everything that was said but when I finally twigged, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up.
We start off with Enrique, an up and coming movie producer. He's on the look out for a good story and one comes walking right through his door. Turns out his old school friend, Ignacio, who now wants to be known adamantly as Angel, has the perfect solution. He's written a screen play depicting certain points of their lives with added fiction, naturally, and hopes Enrique will consider producing it, with him staring as the principle character Zahra, a transvestite. Sound unusual? We haven't even scratched the surface. When Ignacio and Enrique were boys, they attended a strict catholic boarding school. The two of them were in love, much to the distress of El Padre Manolo, who wanted Ignacio all to himself. One poignant scene is during a field trip. We see the school boys frolicking happily in a lake while hearing a beautiful coir boy rendition of `Moon River'. All of a sudden the song is cut short with Ignacio running out from behind a bush with El Padre in pursuit. Ignacio falls, a rock cutting his forehead. As the blood slides down the centre of his face, we here him remark `I knew that ever since that moment, my life would for ever be divided in two'. After a little mis-hap in the boys bathroom after lights out, El padre Manolo expels Enrique and continues his advances on Ignacio, which is left to the viewers' imagination. The years go by, and they never meet again, until now, back to the present day. Enrique is delighted to have been reunited with his lost love but Ignacio or `Angel' is behaving rather strangely. Not remembering their favourite song from their school days and indeed turning a rather horny Enrique down in a risqué pool sequence (¡calienta poyas!), something's definitely not right. Angel leaves in a huff and forgets his lighter which conveniently has his hometown address on the side. Enrique journeys to Valencia only to find that *his* Ignacio died 4 years ago and his brother Juan, Stage name Angel, took it quite hard. Part devastated part intrigued, Enrique decides to play along, giving Angel the part and taking him as a lover, all in the desire to find out what makes Juan tick, he's an impenetrable mystery. The story, aptly named `La Visita' has its ending rewritten and as the final dramatic shoot comes to an end Enrique is still at a loss, that is, until he receives a visit of his own!
I'll leave the rest to you; this movie has many intricate threads woven in. A story within a story as they say. The actors are spectacular and Gael García Bernal manages to come off as childish, sensual, innocent, conniving and in the end quite chilling, he also makes a stunning drag queen. I recommend this move to anyone that likes a good mystery. I'm on the hunt for the soundtrack. ¡Cómpralo ya!

Intense & Provocative but not how you'd think
This exceptional film is entirely unique in its intensity and depth, but not how I expected. The priestly molestation is rather matter-of-fact, and not dramatized to the extreme as so many movies have done of late. The sex & nudity is very carefully placed, not at all gratuitous (unfortunately-more would have been welcomed albeit unnecessary for the story). In fact I can not tell why this version is NC-17, have Americans really become That Victorian?
Much has been written about the story, what I didn't know prior to viewing was the intensity of plot twists and turns. I won't spoil any secrets here, but suffice it to say that it isn't even the secrets that are so intense, it is the masterful way in which things are revealed. This is really a film about sex as power, and all of the power plays which don't make anyone happy.
Almodovar's direction and cinematography are stunning, erotic, and intensley emotional. He tells so much of the story visually without dialogue. What a treat.
The film ends on a realistic note. There are no firey car crashes, no earth-shattering explosions, no full-frontal nudity, none of the usual supects, but this film sneaks up on you, shakes you to your being, and as you are drawn in by the sensuality and drama, the film demonstrates that life isn't fair, kind, or even very pretty sometimes.

all stars
After watching many of Almodovar's films in a Spanish cinema class at UNC-Chapel Hill, I must say this one is the most accessible so far.Gael Garcia Bernal does one of the best acting jobs I've ever seen in a film- ever.If you can stomach the subject matter it's worth watching.

Almodovar's attention to detail is amazing, just watch Sr. Serrano cut stories out of the newspaper and you'll see what I mean... Amazing.And Almodovar messes with your mind by the way he does the casting.. don't want to spoil it for anyone, just see for yourself.

Almodóvar Illustrates the Aftermath of Bad Education...
To see is to believe, some say, yet what one sees in Bad Education should not be trusted, as everything has a sinister characteristic.All of the characters are ominously sleazy, even the protagonist of the film offers an element of darkness around him, which seems to stem from a criminal background.This dark theme suggests that the story offers a film noir experience.However, even the concept of film noir does not give this film justice, as it goes beyond the known borders of this genre while venturing into a new territory.Pedro Almodóvar creates a refreshing cinematic experience that takes sudden turns when least expected while traveling into a dubious world.Many of Almodóvar's previous films offer laughter and contemplation, yet most of them deal with a dubious theme, as does Bad Education. His personal insignia with colorful photography still leaves traces throughout the film, even though it is slightly subdued.

Enrique Goded (Fele Martínez), who some might have seen in the bloodcurdling Thesis (1996), or in the mesmerizing Open Your Eyes (1997), is on the rise in the Spanish world of cinema as he has recently made a successful film.Nonetheless, he is now struggling to come up with an equal or better idea for his next film when Ignacio Rodriguez (Gael García Bernal), from Amores perros (2000), Y tu mamá también (2001), and the recent Motorcycle Diaries (2004), appears from out of the blue.Together Enrique and Ignacio used to attend a private catholic school where sexual and physical abuse was predominantly common while the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco heavily tainted the school regulations.They were close friends, but they also discovered their first love in one another in the unforgiving school run by Catholic priests.Now years later they reunite, as Ignacio offers him a film script that he has written based on their time at the Catholic School.

At first, the film seems to focus on the Catholic School where Ignacio was a victim of severe sexual abuse, which is told through the screenplay.This is a clever curveball that Almodóvar throws at the audience, but it is necessary to understand what happens as the development of the story rests in the past of Ignacio and Enrique.However, this review will not elaborate on the notion of what happens next, as it would skew the initial experience with the film.Nonetheless, the script that Ignacio gives to Enrique portrays a world where Ignacio seeks a way to have an operation to reach what he desires the most - to be a woman.Cleverly, Almodóvar throws out the gender boundaries of film noir, as he exchanges his femme fatale for a man that seeks womanhood through modern technology.This displays Almodóvar's ingenious way of telling a captivating story, as it does not follow the conventional rules that often make films one of dozens.

As mentioned previously, the film does not concentrate on the Catholic Church, but instead the aftermath of Ignacio's education.Through several turns the film illustrates what happen to Ignacio.Much of this goes back to his years when the head priest sought him out for his own pleasure, which continues to trouble Ignacio well into adulthood.This seems to be the reason why Ignacio wrote the script in the first place, as he tried to exorcise his demons while trying to find an existence that fits with his upbringing and education.The story drifts between Enrique reading the script to the present time with occasional flashbacks that provide additional information in regards to the story.Initially, it might seem a little confusing, however, Almodóvar has been nice enough to add a couple of side bars whenever there is a flashback or a scene from the script that Enrique reads.Eventually, the audience will have gone through a very troubling, yet spellbinding tale that makes All About Eve (1950) seem like a Cinderella story.

Excellent acting from Bernal
García Bernal is not only doing one, but three roles in the same movie, and he plays them all convincingly. Seeing dressed in drag is quite an experience. However, the movie is darker than previous Almodovar works, because of the nature of the plot: church, sex and homosexuality. Those are touchy subjects, but Almodovar makes us watch by using a well played game of role reversals and twists. It's and enjoyable film, I recommend it. ... Read more