Change Your Image
yourke
Reviews
Joan of Arc (1999)
Wonderful rendition
I had to write a comment after reading the previous one. I found this to be a very refreshingly straightforward rendition of the Joan of Arc story that taught me, as one who only knows the story from movies, a great deal about the political and social realities at the time, including the hunger for real leadership and real spiritual authority. Not too different from our own times now.
Apparently a great deal of research was done, including a thorough reading of the transcripts of Joan's actual trial in the original French, to get both the setting and Joan's personality right. And I think it shows. It certainly held my interest, and nothing about its budget distracted me.
Plus they did not make her a complete victim - she knew enough to go willingly to the stake. And that's a courageous move on the part of the film's creators which adds that final necessary element of spiritual integrity. Enough so I willingly cried many times through it without feeling manipulated... these matters of soul and spirit felt real to me, and for a skeptical Scorpio like me that's high praise for work well done.
The Hired Hand (1971)
Worth watching, excellent film, but not a masterpiece
I agree with the above commenter though there were distracting storytelling and editing flaws that kept me from considering this excellent film a "masterpiece". I watch movies carefully but I am not clear what the story was of those kidnappers - something didn't connect for me. And who did Harry & Arch shoot when they left that miserable town the first time?
Also minor problems with some of the cuts - creative (I loved the fading freeze-frame as an old life gets left behind), but not always well executed (he lifts the glass of the kerosene lamp, the flame goes out, THEN he blows on the flame, THEN the light fades).
But these are quibbles. The film takes its languid time with wonderful Vilmos Zsigmond cinematography and Bruce Langhorne soundtrack, with pauses and silences galore that makes me ache for more movies with that quality. The relationships work themselves out and hearts reveal themselves in the looks, the silences, and the visuals, a hallmark of the best Westerns. Verna Bloom's part is very strong.
Well done, Peter Fonda.
Waking Life (2001)
Drifting, dreamy, trippy, highly intelligent and original "consciousness" film
I loved it, my wife hated it. Never before have we so differed in our takes on a movie.
If you have spent late nights in dorm-room style conversations (possibly under the influence) discussing the nature of consciousness with like-minded friends, if the question of how we know we are "awake" feels more than an academic concern, if alternate realities and "lucid dreaming" possibilities fascinate you, if you have been seduced by passionate people brilliantly articulating nonmainstream views of the nature of reality but wondered what might be missing, and if sumptuously colorful rotoscope animation turns you on, you will probably love this film as I did.
If your mind goes numb in the face of a rush of ideas and you feel annoyed at any displays of headiness, if you don't like hearing eloquent rants by people who are railing against disturbing truths, if you are impatient with animation, and you need to know where a movie is going earlier than its halfway point, you will probably hate this movie as my wife did.