“The cinema is always as perfect as it can be”

After the jump: brief notes on the last five screenings I attended. (Note: I added the jump on 6/30/08)

Rope (1948)

Saturday, 6/7/08, Harris Theater, Pittsburgh. Rope was one of the first Hitchcock films I ever saw, way back in high school (on TV, if I remember correctly), so it was lovely to revisit it. The movie feels like a ninety minute-long directing exercise in which Hitchcock tries to make a “classic” Hollywood film using as few shots as possible. He succeeds for the most part — I’m most impressed by the way he draws attention to individual objects without cutting to close-ups and by this unconventional “establishing shot” of the New York City skyline:

When John Dall pulled back the curtain on this painted backdrop I felt my heart rate increase just as it does whenever I first glimpse the real NYC skyline. Neat. Rope lends itself to enjoyable post-film conversation: “Let’s assume that they didn’t really murder anyone, that their secret is simply that they’re lovers. How does that change the meaning of Jimmy Stewart’s speech at the end?”

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Flight of the Red Balloon (2007)

Friday, 6/13/08, CineMagic Manor Theater, Pittsburgh. I loved Flight of the Red Balloon when I saw it at Toronto for the first time and I adore it still. This was my favorite film of 2007 and it’s a sure bet that it will find its way onto my Top Ten list (of films that opened in Pittsburgh in 2008) this year. The second viewing is the one during which I look for flaws, though, so right now I’m wondering whether or not this is a middle class movie and trying to decide if it’s a problem if it is.

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The Incredible Hulk (2008)

Monday, 6/16/08, SouthSide Works Cinema, Pittsburgh. I’d never been to the South Side Works Cinema on a Monday night (when movies cost only $5 and include free popcorn) during the summer before. The theater was packed and the crowd was lively, but not too lively (no cell phones ringing, only one person checking his e-mail that I saw, the kids were cute rather than annoying), so I had a good time. The movie itself was pretty thoroughly “meh”; I do like that Edward Norton, though.

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The Witnesses (2007)

Wednesday, 6/18/08, Harris Theater, Pittsburgh. The 35mm print that Filmmakers was going to show apparently got lost in Ohio, so I saw a digital projection that didn’t look or sound too good. Because I had to strain to see and hear what was going on, I couldn’t fully appreciate the film’s images or performances and I was too distracted to concentrate on (or assess) its structure. The frenetic pace lends an apocalyptic air to the film that is both terrifying and thrilling. I’d like to see The Witnesses (my second Téchiné film after Changing Times [2004]) again.

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Alexandra (2007)

Saturday, 6/21/08, Regent Square Theater, Pittsburgh. I watched The Ladykillers (1955) for the first time earlier this week. There’s a marvelous scene in that film in which a tide of little old ladies oozes out of one room and into another, drowning a gang of hardy criminals. With that image fresh in my mind I first tried to look at Alexandra Nikolaevna (Galina Vishnevskaya) as a piece of grit failing to gum up the Russian military’s works, a reading reinforced by frequent references to dirt, a lengthy sequence of soldiers cleaning their rifles, lots of close-ups of shoes, and a sepia-toned color palette.

That doesn’t really work, though. Neither does anything I’ve come up with based on the film’s obvious concern with memory (I like the brief flashbacks every time Alexandra falls asleep). I don’t know what to make of Alexandra yet, but I’ve only seen one other film by Alexander Sokurov (Russian Ark [2002], of course), so perhaps that isn’t surprising. I admire Sokurov’s reverence for objects, and I love Andrei Sigle’s score and the way Sokurov uses it.

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