The IMC is featuring directors this month on both their DVD display as well as their easel display. The easel features Akira Kurosawa, and the DVD display features Woody Allen and Martin Scorsese. While I have watched several of Scorsese’s films, I have not watched many (or any) of our other two directors. With this in mind, I chose to watch Rashomon [IMC DVD 338.952 R224 2002], directed by Kurosawa, and The Purple Rose of Cairo [IMC DVD 306.7 P985 2001], directed by Allen. My third film was a very early crime serial titled Les Vampires that I watched over the course of this past week.
My first film, Rashomon, was recommended to me after watching the movie Hero (which I talked about in my previous post). It has the same idea where there is a story being told from a couple different points of view, and the viewer tries to determine what is true. Throughout the course of Rashomon, the listeners are also forced to examine the human condition, and what justice truly means. I was very struck with how film noir-y this movie felt—there was a lot of play with shadowing and some of the hand gestures the characters made were very reminiscent of film noir as well.
The Woody Allen movie I chose was The Purple Rose of Cairo. This movie was delightful, a perfect blend of charm and Woody Allen’s sense of humor. I haven’t seen enough Woody Allen movies to really comment on his directorial style, but I enjoyed this one the most out of the couple that I have seen. I’m excited to watch a couple more of his films, especially while we are featuring him as a director.
My final film was actually a serial titles Les Vampires. Interestingly, it had nothing to do with vampires; instead, the title referred to the name of an underground crime organization that was responsible for murder and mayhem around France. A journalist begins to look into the organization and then becomes a target. I loved this serial, partly because it was very early cinema, and I was impressed with the scope and acting ability of some of the characters. The story was also charming, going into detailed backstory for some of the original characters, and continuing to introduce new characters throughout. I ended up borrowing this DVD via our Interlibrary Loan, but I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in early film.
If you’re in the neighborhood, stop by the IMC and check out our featured DVD display as well as our easel featuring Akira Kurosawa. Keep following along on your own film travelogue at https://letterboxd.com/peterstanley/list/1001-movies-you-must-see-before-you-die/by/release/ .
0 Comments.