A Baker's Dozen

Here is what I have watched on DVD since I posted my last list. They are listed in declining order as I rated them. The ratings I give are on my own number system as explained previously in this blog.

How about letting us know if you have any comments regarding any of these films and about what you have been watching at home or in the theater?

Two Days in October - 2005. From PBS American Experience this documentary told the story of a day in 1967 when 61 American soldiers in Vietnam were killed in a Viet Cong Ambush, while local police perpetrated violence on University of Wisconsin students peacefully protesting Dow chemical recruiting on campus. These two events were precursors of much of the American public souring on the war and many more students taking to the streets to protest. The blatantly false spin put on both events, by the Army and by the University and police, was disgustingly familiar. Archival footage and current interviews with ambush survivors, Viet Cong participants, protestors, police and witnesses added a retrospective dimension, resulting in my rating of 3.3.

Kabei: Our Mother - 2008. This Japanese film set at the time of the build up to Pearl Harbor, told the story of a happy, gentle family whose father was a professor imprisoned by the thought police and whose mother had to carry on to hold the family together. Though many people were caught up in the militaristic nationalism, there were others who quietly disagreed, and this movie, like a profoundly simple haiku, told their story, earning my 3.3 rating.

The Miracle Worker - 1962. Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke both won Oscars for this movie about blind, deaf, mute Helen Keller and her family learning that she could learn. The film, from the play based on Keller's book concentrates on the battles between Keller and her teacher, Annie Sullivan, but does not feel stage bound and holds its age well. Trapped inside Helen's young body was a brilliant mind and spirit, and this movie is about the battle to set them free. I watched the 2000 made for TV version a couple months back, and it was pretty good, but nothing can top this original, which I rate 3.3.

Departures - 2008. Winner of the Oscar for best foreign film, this Japanese movie introduces us to the profession of encoffiner, with the serene visuals and respectful treatment of characters one should expect in a quality film from Japan. The reverence showed the deceased and the impact the preparation of the body in their presence has on the family is quite moving. I would have rated this slightly higher than 3.2, but I had a personal problem with how the ending addressed the matter of the father who had abandoned the family.

Love and Honor - 2006. This Japanese movie, third in a series from director Yoji Yamada about the last years of feudalism in Japan, tells the story of a young samurai who becomes blind and how he, his wife, servant and others react. Beauty and simplicity imbue the images, while a subtlety unusual for a film about samurai accompanies the plot, making for a solid 3.2 film.

Johnny Belinda - 1948. Nominated for 11 Oscars, this morality tale had the authentic feel of its Nova Scotia locale and a plot that held interest throughout, even though we knew how it had to end, considering when it was made. Jane Wyman deserved an Oscar and Lew Ayres, whose Hollywood career had been punished by his conscientious objector status in WWII (Ginger Rogers divorced him about that time), had a role that seemed to mimic his real life experience as a battlefield non-combatant medic who returned from the war with a deeper perspective on life. Well enough done all around (except of course for the overdone music scoring of the time) and holds its age enough for a 3.2.

Chaos - 2001. I really liked the way this French film started, with the men all taking the women for granted and us sensing that this was going to be turned on the scoundrels. The relationships and characters were starting to be developed quite interestingly, but then the film took a turn and became a caper film with a sting. Still, it was well done and earns my 3.1, though if it had stayed with the promise of the beginning, it could have been much higher.

Andersonville - 1996. Impressive production telling part of the story of the Yankee prisoners of war in the infamous Confederate prison near the close of the Civil War. The South was going bankrupt and running out of soldiers, so the North refused any further prisoner exchanges, resulting in over 40,000 prisoners in this one camp alone and atrocious conditions leading to almost 12,00 deaths. Extensive cast again made it harder to be become attached to any particular prisoner, and the made for TV length of almost three hours meant a lot to keep track of, but the uniqueness of the story and the subplot of one group of prisoners preying on others, results in a 3 rating.

Human Condition: No Greater Love - 1959. First film in a Japanese trilogy from a six book novel revolving around WWII. In this opener, we meet the hero, a young managerial newly wed man who tries to apply his humanistic idealist approach to overseeing a Manchurian mining camp in Japanese occupied Manchuria, with forced Chinese laborers and prisoners of war, in the face of the war machine. The production is impressive, the script intelligent and the direction and acting highly skilled, but the style of the time seems today occasionally stilted, so I rate it a 3.

Lady Chatterley - 2006. I watched the uncut version of this French film, which was almost twice the length of a regular movie. Like most lads, I only read the "good parts" of the novel, so do not know the whole story arc or whether this movie was faithful to the book. It did not seem like there were so many sex scenes in this version, so the extra length may have come from other materials, but there was not an abundance of plot or character development, so the slower pacing contributed to the length. We did get the feel of the natural environment of the grounds and of the loneliness of both well played leads, so that their passionate bonding felt real, even if naively pathetic. At 2.9, watch it if you are interested in the material in addition to the sex scenes, which though steamy were sensitively done.

Whose Life Is It Anyway? - 1981. Richard Dreyfuss played a sculptor turned quadriplegic and fighting for his right to die, which was quite a hot topic at the time this movie was made. I felt no sense of attachment to Dreyfuss or his girlfriend, since we only had one quick scene with them before the accident happened and therefore had no sense of what their relationship was like. The Dreyfuss character (like all he plays?) was quite self-assured and irreverently spirited, witty and flippant, even while concentrating on his very serious mission. Lack of emotional attachment and only surface treatment of the legal issues made this a 2.9 movie for me.

The Kid -1921. Chaplin's first full length feature had elements of autobiography from his poor house roots. Jackie Coogan was the perfect child actor and the plot was fairly interesting, but the movie does not seem to have the staying power of his later silent features. At 2.9, it is worth a look if you have any interest in Chaplin.

Freaks and Geeks - 1999. I only watched the first disk (two episodes) of this one year TV series about two groups of high school kids in 1980 Michigan, and I do not intend to watch more, because I found it to be quite shallow, especially in comparison with the much deeper "My So-Called Life" from four seasons earlier. Everyone came across like a caricature, though the central girl and her young brother seemed to have some potential to become real. However, with a 2.4 start, I can't see investing more time to find out.