Why Are They Made?

Sometimes while watching a movie, usually one which is not very good, I wonder why it was made. People can have a good reason for making a movie, but then make it poorly. Talented people can do a good job with a movie that did not have much reason for being made in the first place. When people with no talent try to make a movie which never should have been made, the result is a bomb.

Pushing the envelope of still photography, inventors came up with moving pictures. One celebrated example is the machine that was made to prove that a galloping horse does at some point have all the feet off the ground. Another famous early film is the one of the belly dancer, and then there is the one with the rocket hitting the face of the man in the moon.

Commercial use of movies was first to titillate and entertain and maybe later to educate. The first nickelodeon theaters provided cheap entertainment to immigrants and also educated them about American culture, at least as filtered through the eyes of the movie makers. Nickelodeon operators learned early on that they could make more money selling popcorn than selling 5 cent movie tickets, so they pushed for the production of longer movies.

Entertainment and education can blend in a movie, with education coming in a variety of ways. I like to ask myself after watching a film, how I can relate the people and events in this movie to what I know and wonder about real life.  Sometimes it is hard to see much of a message in a film that seems just very entertaining, but I believe it is always there in a good film.

So many films are made, not because there is a need for a new message or a better delivery of an old message, but rather just because there is a whole industry that lives off making films and a whole bunch of people, more young than not, who love to go to the movies. Unfortunately the result is sometimes endless sequels, prequels and remakes.

Movies often disappoint us and sometimes pleasantly surprise us. To paraphrase a famous movie line, "Movies are like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get."

No No Netflix

[UPDATE 3/10/10  - The problem at Netflix that prompted this article appears to be fixed. Checking the rating predictions today, they are back in line. Whatever caused the "growth spurt" in ratings has been taken away. I was not seeing UFOs - it happened right here on my same old computer that I was using exactly the same way as I always do to access Netflix. Now I do not have to waste time modifying my personal movie database file]


What's with Netflix?  A few days ago they changed the look of the details pages for the movies. Things are moved around on the page and it looks less colorful, but it still seems to have the basic info I want, so I did not think much about it. Then I started noticing the predictions for how I would like the movies seemed to be a lot higher all of a sudden. I don't follow news releases or similar information at Netflix, so I don't even know where to look for information about such a change. So I did a Google search and did not come up with anything from Netflix itself, but I did come up with some forum discussions by subscribers.

The people on the forum were overwhelmingly irritated with Netflix, but their complaint was that Netflix had made changes to the friends features which seemed designed to phase it out. The complainers also agreed Netflix was non-responsive to customer input and as an egregious example cited how their numerous complaint postings about the matter at hand are being systematically removed from the Forum by the Netflix moderator.  I did find one stray posting asking about predicted ratings jump ups, but the poster said he did not have a record of the prior predictions. Well I do.

Since the Netflix queue cannot be sorted by column (a glaring deficiency in my opinion), I maintain my own database of the queue for sorting purposes. When I enter a movie in my database, I put the date of entry and the Netflix prediction as of that date as part of the movie title. Then later, as I update the database, I change the entry date and put the current prediction in a separate column. I have been doing this for over two years, and I have never noticed the Netflix predictions changing much over time.

So now what I have done now is go through about 100 movies in my queue to see how much they have changed, and the changes are astounding. Of the 50 movies in my queue added most recently or up[dated within the last three months, 34 increased by up to almost one full star, 5 decreased mostly by just one tenth of a star, and 11 stayed the same (but one of these I had already rated and 5 were not predictions for me but rather all member predictions). The average increase for these 50 was .366 stars, quite significant for me since my own ratings usually only span from 2.7 to 3.5. Of the oldest 50 movies in my queue, last updated by me between May and November, 2009, 40 increased by up to 1.2 stars, 5 decreased by just one or two tenths of a star, and 5 stayed the same. The average increase for these 50 was .392 stars. For me personally, I will be discounting the Netflix predictions by .4 stars; my old cutoff for putting a movie in my queue was 2.8, but will now have to be 3.2.

Netflix has always skewed the features of its web site to encouraging rentals more than making the site useful to subscribers, but this unexplained, significant padding of the recommendation ratings is going too far. I read that the company stock has been running high, based on projections of adding new subscribers, but some financial analysts think the stock is overpriced. If the Netflix predictions of new subscribers re as inflated as their new projections of how I will rate movies, I think the analysts are right.

Through Oscar Night

Yes, I watched the whole Oscar show - after all, I am retired. It was the same old formulaic hodge podge of industry commercial, stand up comedy, celebrity roast, mutual love fest, celebrity worship and thanks by the winners to numerous people who are unknowns to us including the obligatory nods to parents, current spouse and acknowledged children. 

I use the award nominees as another list to check into to see if they might be films I want to watch. But I could do that by just going to the list on the Internet and not have to watch the awards broadcast. There was no particularly memorable moment last night. The tribute to those who died in the past year is always touching and should be expanded, perhaps into a separate show. In fact the awards show would be more useful to film lovers if it was made into several one hour shows: the tribute to deceased; actors and writers (more fathomable to the general public; English language films by genres; foreign films, documentaries and shorts; and technical awards including directing.

The line from an acceptance speech that most hit the nail on the head for me was one several years ago from a young Asian-American woman who had won the award for , I think, best documentary short, who said [I paraphrase], "You know something is wrong when my dress cost more to rent than my picture did to make."

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?

Elsa & Fred - 2005    I was quite pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this Spanish film about two octogenarians, a recently widowed quiet man and a quirky woman who lives in the apartment to which he just moved. This 3.5 film is somewhat like Harold and Maude with Harold more age appropriate. China Zorilla who plays Elsa is absolutely delightful.

The General - 1927.  This is Buster Keaton's favorite film and the one you should see before you typecast him. The General was a railroad locomotive that was hijacked from the Confederates in Georgia during the Civil War by a clever group of undercover Yankees, who were immediately chased by the determined engineer who overcame thrilling obstacles to get his engine back. Because of his comedy reputation, the State of Georgia refused to cooperate in the filming, so Keaton ended up making this 3.5 film in Oregon. As the excellent special features point out, this is not slapstick but an accurate looking drama with some moments of broad humor, some of subtle comic acting by Keaton and many examples of this trained acrobat's amazing stunts.
               
Every Stewardess Goes to Heaven - 2002. This Argentine film has a touching sweetness in spite of the fact it touches on death, suicide and unintended pregnancy. I still think its 90 minute length is ideal for a movie, with an economy of montage. Every minute of this 3.3 film is worth watching, the leads are engaging without rubbing glamour in our faces and the cinematography of Patagonia in the winter is beautiful and thematically appropriate. The minor characters all have charm and appeal, even the boorish pilots who act like fools on the ground to balance the seriousness of their airborne task.

Touching the Void - 2003. Filmed 18 years after the harrowing mountaineering experience that spawned the famous book, this 3.2 film combines interviews of the two climbers with re-enactments using them and also actors in their place. The result is an exciting drama and documentary mix that comes across as a full documentary. The Andes mountain scenery and the Alps where some was filmed are breatrhtaking.

Far from Heaven - 2002. This is sort of a film of a film, an homage to melodramas of the fifties and particularly those of director Doug Sirk, a director's director. While Mad Men recreates the fifties in what to me seems a heavy handed way, this 3.2 film creates the fifties the way people back then saw them, which I think is ultimately more accurate and more enjoyable. Dennis Quaid did well with the role of the crumbling executive and Julianne Moore as his wife did an excellent job.

Coming Home - 1998. Based on Rosamunde Pilcher's novel, this 1998 British production tells the story of an upper crust young girl living in a boarding school while her parents and younger sister are in the foreign service in Singapore on the eve of WWII. The girl is befriended by the family of a school mate and this 3.2 film follows her family and romantic developments, in the context of showing the affect of the War on the home front. The special feature interview with Pilcher shows her to be a very enjoyable woman.

Berkeley in the Sixties - 1990. This was a pretty good 3.2 documentary about the development of the protest movement on the Berkeley campus and spreading wider, starting with the Free Speech Movement, then moving into civil rights, Vietnam War protests, the Black Panthers, women's lib and some anarchy. Using archival footage and interviews with participants looking back, the film presented a picture of idealistic youth working within the system and then becoming disillusioned as the power structure met protest violence with greater institutional violence. These were turbulent times that led to worthwhile changes and also spawned a conservative backlash, both of which continue to this day.

The Wrestler - 2008.  Mickey Rourke inhabits this role as a washed up wrestler hanging on, because he is not capable of change. This 3.1film stays so intently focused on the hero (the most memorable exception being its exciting movement to watch Marisa Tomei's exciting movements as an exotic dancer) that everything we learn about him comes from him as the source and we end up almost feeling like we inhabit him too.

What Makes Women Laugh - 1997. In this Spanish film, three half-sisters have minor success as a trio of uninhibited singers, though one of them is actually happily married, only to find out after the death of her husband that he was a philanderer. This bit of a sex farce, complete with advice to the widow from the ghost of her husband, did not have any great morality or immorality to convey, other than to say in a 3.1 way, life is to be enjoyed and not taken too seriously

The Buddy Holly Story - 1978. The best thing about this movie is the liberal performance of the songs of Buddy Holly, whose short career fell entirely within my high school years. Gary Busey did a very good job in the title role, but the script was not much and the opportunities for character development and dramatic tension were almost non-existent. Other contemporary music is also played on the soundtrack and it is the music and the performance of Busey that got this my 3 rating. The DVD is not full screen width, which is always annoying.

Adam - 2009. This movie is about a young man with Asperger's syndrome finding love with a young woman writer who moves into his building. Well acted and an interesting showing of this newly identified form of autism, with a self-proclaimed subtle ending (in two barely distinguishable versions), I give it a 3, in spite of the lack of potential drama.

Her Name Is Sabine - 2007. For 25 years French Actress Sandrine Bonnaire filmed her younger sister, Sabine, who as a young girl was quite attractive and a free-spirited non-conformist. A bad experience in public school caused the family to keep her at home and she eventually became too hard to handle and was institutionalized, with devastating results. Finally diagnosed with autism and a sort of infantile non-development, Sabine was placed in a group home where she did better, but the life of separation anxiety and sedation medications has taken a sad toll. We must respect Sandrine for doing what she can to maintain a relationship Sabine and for using this 3.0 film to call attention to a need for better societal treatment of special needs people.

Sequins - 2004. In this French film the woman director uses an abundance of close ups and fine cinematography to tell a simple story of a bonding that begins between a young woman facing an unintended pregnancy and an older woman coping with the unexpected death of her son. Not much plot, and maybe too much embroidery for some, but a very watch worthy 3 rating.

El Alamein - 2002.  This Italian film tells the story of the desperate plight of a unit in the Italian army during the North African campaign in 1942. Unsupplied by Mussolini and all but abandoned by their officers, these men faced insurmountable odds and were ultimately overwhelmed. Though the performance of the Italian army in WWII is nothing to be proud of, this 3 rated film shows that there were individual soldiers who deserve to be remembered for their honorably brave service.

George Wallace -1997. This political biopic of the four (non-consecutive) time Alabama Governor, directed by John Frankenheimer, showed him to be an ego driven Southern politician of no depth, who learned to use racial discord to court white voters before blacks had been able to vote in effective numbers, and then, after being extensively disabled by an assassin's bullet, was "born again" and sought forgiveness from blacks, and of course, their votes. Fairly evenly done and earns my 3 rating, with the apology of Wallace, well played by Gary Sinise, appearing genuine.

The Servant - 1963. This British film about a valet who schemes to overturn the social tables on his employer, was not dark and brooding as I expected, nor was it particularly dated by its style, other than the music was a little blaring and eclectic. The adaptation screenplay by Harold Pinter and direction by black listed American Joseph Losey, which is what made me curious to finally see the picture, hold up well enough, as does the acting, to earn my 3 rating.

The Long Way Home - 1998.   This Hallmark presentation showed Jack Lemon was always good, even in the twilight of his career. Young Sarah Paulson did commendable with her role as a lonely rich girl who bonds with the elderly Lemon. The story did not actually have a lot to offer to lift it beyond a 2.9 for me, but the scene at the end where two people whose paths had crossed and who had formed an instantly deep bond went their separate ways, probably never to have contact again was evocative and effectively wistful. Far from Heaven had a similar scene. One always wonders whether renewal would verify the depth and durability of the bond.

The Invention of Lying - 2009.  Ricky Gervais is always interesting and fun, and he had an interesting premise for this movie, but it came across uneven and unsure of what it really wanted to say, so I only give it 2.8. In a world where everyone speaks with complete honesty ("I just had a really great poop. Have you ordered yet?"), Ricky's fabrication of the wonderful afterlife and its terrible alternative for evil doers, all as revealed to him by "the Man in the sky", had great satirical possibilities, which were barely explored. I often watch double bills with unintended connections, which occurred when I followed this film with "Adam", in which the "Aspie" speaks the blunt truth and fails to grasp irony, pun or the unexpressed feelings of others. Good fodder for a philosophical discussion of truth, morality and human relations.

Another Batch

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?

Snow Cake - 2006. This quiet Canadian film takes place in a small town in Ontario and tells the story of the affect of an unexpected tragedy on the lives of three people who don't have much in common. Good performances and a worthwhile script make for a 3.2 movie.

He Knew He Was Right - 2004. This BBC filming of the Anthony Trollope novel had all the expected qualities of these productions, good script, excellent acting and wonderful production values. The story of the naive indiscretion of a young wife and the excessive jealousy of her husband is played with the usual commentary on the norms and mores of society, but not with the depth and subtleties of Jane Austen pieces, so my 3.2 rating is not as high as for Jane's.

The Hidden Blade - 2004. This middle film of the trilogy by Japanese director Yoji Yomada is set in 1861 and tells the tale of a very honorable lower level unmarried samurai who struggles with the coming of Western ways to Japan (including something so simple as learning to move the arms when running) and the affect these changes have on the samurai. He must also deal with changes in his personal life and confronting the corruption of his superiors. This 3.1 movie is well made and creates a good feel of that time in Japan.

War Games - 1983. It is always fun to look at high tech of the past and marvel at how far we have come. The computers in this movie look ancient, but they were fourteen years newer than the ones that put a man on the moon. The film itself is well written enough to hold its age fairly well and gets my 3.1 rating. The cold war issue of the role of computers versus humans in national defense is still relevant today when we are using "smart" weapons and drones to pinpoint terrorists and avoid friendly forces and civilians. The lesson of the movie about the non-winnable game of nuclear war will always be true; if only we would learn it. The Seattle setting as the hometown was inadequately exploited. However, as an aquatically challenged Seattle native, I had to answer in the affirmative when Ally Sheedy asked, "What kind of an a__hole grows up in Seattle and doesn't know how to swim?"

Lea - 1996. This Czech film is like a dark fairy tale with glimmers of sun. There is nothing of pure beauty to look at, but the dark cinematography has an appropriately haunting quality. The music goes from intentionally annoying to quiet and back to annoying at the end. The acting is very good and the plot enough to provide some movement while still concentrating on the strange relationship between the two leads. Some summaries of the plot make it sound like a cliche, but they are not accurate. If you turn the movie off at 1:30, when Lea starts to dance and twirl, you get a very different movie than if you watch the final few minutes after that. I give it a 3.1 based on the full story. I cannot say what I would have given it if it had ended sooner, since I did watch it in full. You might try watching the short version and reflecting a while, then play the final minutes and see what you think.

Up - 2009. I found the first few minutes of this Pixar animated movie quite touching as it told a capsule version of the life of a young couple into old age. Having an elderly sympathetic central character is a bit unique for a cartoon. If the whole movie had been like that, it would really have been something special. But that is not where the Disney market is, so the rest of the film was fairly conventional, putting it overall at my 3 rating.

The Bank Job - 2008. This British thriller is based on a true story involving government intrigue and the use of petty thieves to break into safe deposit boxes. A tight script abetted by true basis and good acting make it a 3 rating for a genre of which I am not particularly enamored.

Beyond Desire (Deseo) - 2002. This Spanish/Argentinian thriller told a story of the interesting time in Madrid around the time of Hitler's suicide, and of an Argentine agent for the Nazis who was smuggling German officials off to new identities in Argentina. This man complicates his life by becoming involved with a Spanish woman whose Communist husband is about to be released from prison. Despite the interesting possibilities and the good production, I only gave it a 3 rating, because the script did not tell us enough about the relationship of the husband and wife before she got involved with the Nazis, and I also thought the ending was hastened. Stories should have a beginning, middle and end and this one had little or no beginning, too much middle and not enough end.

Family Law - 2006. Another Spanish/Argentinian film, this time lighter, but with an intended message about parenting and fathers and sons. Though pleasant enough to watch, and with fun lawyer life vignettes, the message did not seem to be much other than spend time together and recognize individuality, and I gave it only 2.9 because it did not leave any particular impact.

Little Voice - 1998. This may technically be an American movie, but the cast and setting are English. The story is a bit of a fable about a reclusive young girl who has learned to imitate the singing voices of many famous female singers. The actress, Jane Horrocks, actually did all the singing, but the show seems more a vehicle for the three older stars, Michael Caine, Brenda Blethyn and Jim Broadbent to play really over the top roles. A little different, but not really much of a story, and my 2.9 rating is for the old hams.

Cold Comfort Farm - 1995. In this 2.9 British film an orphaned young lady of societal standing is economically challenged and ends up staying with some oddball shirt tail relatives on their farm. Being an aspiring writer, she expects them to be fodder for her creative mill, and self-assuredly sets about to right all their lives and fill them with new hope, before blissfully moving on to her own happily ever after. If you want something for simple fun, with no dramatic tension or downturns, this is it.

Seven Beauties - 1975. This Italian movie was one of the first films of acclaim written and directed by a woman, Lina Wertmuller. This story of a petty Neapolitan at the time of WWII who believes he has a special gift for attracting women, in spite of his lack of goods looks or money, is told, somewhat unnecessarily, through non-sequential flashbacks. The treatment of male honor and female virtue and what war does to them is interesting, especially coming in 1975 from a woman film maker. The cinematography has a certain grittiness but the camera movement and zooming in the first part of the film is dated. After bordering on farce, the film becomes quite serious once the hero is put in a German war camp. At a 2.9 rating, it is worth a watch if you have any particular interest.

Michael Clayton - 2007. This formulaic thriller was well acted by a good cast and was slickly done, but did not rise above 2.8 for me, because the story of an evil corporation hiding its foul deeds at any cost, while truly terrible, deserves a better telling than this rehash.

Twelve More

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?

The Andersonville Trial - 1970. Having recently watched the drama of life in this terrible Confederate run prison camp, I had a better feel for this film recreation of the military court trial of the camp commander for war crimes. The entire movie took place in the courtroom and the hallway outside, but the issues being argued were so fundamentally engrossing and perpetual (e.g. the "we must answer to a law of basic humanity" prosecution and the"I was only following orders" defense) and the script was so true to the highlighted actual words of the participants, that I gave it my 3.5 rating. Excellent technical work and acting (including a surprisingly effective performance by William Shatner as the prosecutor) contributed to the overall quality.

Flores de Otro Mundo - 1999. This Spanish movie, from the director of Take My Eyes, told the story of three women who came to a dying Spanish rural town to be matched up with men. A shallow young Cuban was matched with a shallow old Spaniard, with predictable disaster. A middle aged couple was a good match, except she couldn't give up the city and he wouldn't leave the countryside. A Dominican with two small kids ended up with a quiet farmer who lived with his bitter mother. No fluff or pretense in this 3.2 film, just a straightforward, respectful and efficient telling of an attempt by three women and three men to become permanent couples.

Manhattan Murder Mystery - 1993. I like Woody Allen's shtick, embraceable NYC, comfortable ensembles, Woody kvetching and exchanging witty comments, nostalgic references to classic moves, though the strange sexual attraction he often has for the sexy women in his films is a little too narcissistic. I smile all the way through his comedies. With an oddball mystery element, this was a 3.1 film for me.

I Fidanzati - 1962. This Italian film from director Olmi tells the story of an engaged couple in Milan who are separated when the man takes temporary work in Sicily. Olmi has roots in documentary and it shows strongly in this 3.1 movie which shows the impression of Sicily from the point of view of the man, demonstrates the disruption of the traditional Sicilian lifestyle by the construction of a new chemical plant and plays with time to show the lonely separation of the couple. There is not much plot or character development but the movie captures a reality in time.

Chaplin - 1992. Robert Downey, Jr.did a quite effective job of playing Charlie, both off and on screen in this solid 3 rated biopic. His long life covered lots of ground and the movie tried to get to all of it in less time than needed, so it helped to be familiar with the facts. Chaplin's bittersweet life and wistful sentiment was a central theme and came across fairly well.

Cadillac Records - 2008. This 2.9 drama of the founding of Chess Records in Chicago and the start of rock 'n roll in the 1950s was more effective as a musical revue than as a story telling. The look was right and the acting good and the music better, but the script lacked focus. We did not learn anything much about the technical aspects of the music itself, what made it different. We saw the characters struggle with their own demons constantly, but received very little insight into the specific sources of their problems and how they felt about them. The business dynamics were lightly brushed but there was not much detail provided of the economics and the nature of the contractual relations between the artists and the label owner.

Last Orders - 2002. An excellent ensemble of actors and a prize winning book to adapt were not enough to make this British film as good as it should have been. The problem was the script, which jumped around in time way too much in telling us the story of the men taking the ashes of a friend to be scattered at the seashore. Keeping a group of characters straight is hard enough, but twice as hard when different actors are playing the characters in all the flashbacks. We ultimately learn little in this 2.9 film, but the actors are good enough to make it marginally worth watching.

My Favorite Wife - 1940. This return of the presumed deceased spouse scenario features Cary Grant playing his Cary Grant role with as little more bumbling, while Irene Dunne does a good job as the returner. This marginal at 2.8, and better in the 1963 re-make, Move Over Darling, with James Garner and Doris Day, which I gave 3.1.

Rembrandt - 1936. Charles Laughton stars in this British biopic, which rushes us through the economic fall of Rembrandt, without telling us anything about the art of painting other than that even a great artist can go broke. Character development in this 2.8 film is nil, except for Rembrandt's humility increasing in proportion to his poverty. The minimal subplot involving his romance life after the death of his wife is not particularly engaging. The acting other than Laughton and his real life wife Elsa Lanchester, is theatrical.

Human Condition: The Road to Eternity- 1959. In this second part of the Japanese trilogy the hero, who has been defeated by the bureaucracy in his efforts to run a humane labor camp, has been drafted into the army and is now encountering the inhumane treatment of army recruits. Again he tries to improve the situation by staying true to his principles, but it is pretty hopeless, and as the Japanese war effort wanes, he barely manages to survive. For a picture about a war unit, there is no combat until the very end, with the focus on recruits constantly being slapped around and humiliated leading to a 2.8 rating for me, not as good as the first film.

Yi-Yi - 1999.  A real slow starter, this too long Chinese film finally makes some progress in letting us get to know and start to care somewhat about the characters in this contemporary Taipei family, but not enough to get it beyond a 2.8 rating for me. There is some philosophy and reflection on life, including the ending message from the most engaging character for me, the eight year old boy, but overall it was hardly worth the time involvement.

Primal Fear - 1996. The script for this movie was so bad that not even OK acting could lift it above a dismal 2.2 rating. The presentation of a criminal trial and the jail were technically ridiculous. Subplots went nowhere. The supposedly shock ending lost out to the overall inaccuracy of the script. There was a premise for a good movie about how a lawyer can defend someone he knows is guilty, but this film missed it by a mile.

It's Only A Movie

The other night, while watching "Primal Fear" with Susan, I quickly began a running commentary pointing out technical errors and plot holes. Susan appropriately chided me, "It's only a movie". That got me thinking about the suspension of belief that underlies the movie watching experience.

The most realistic viewing should be a documentary, then maybe a dramatization of a true story, followed probably by the drama "based on a true story". Then we edge out to pure fiction and further out to sci-fi and fantasy.

But regardless of the degree of reality inherent in the genre, a good movie will grab us quickly and make us want to believe and care about the characters whose lives we are so intimately observing. Even an animated cartoon character can become real to us if the story is appealing enough. Repulsion is the other side of the appeal coin. Some actors, settings and genres we may find particularly appealing or especially repulsive. Some dialogue is so poorly written or delivered that it makes us laugh at the wrong time, thereby straining credulity.

Production values alone cannot make a movie believable, nor can lack of such values destroy belief in an otherwise good movie. The story and acting are much more important. And so is the director, who can botch a good script and accept mediocre performances, or enhance what is on the page and draw out the best acting.

Artistic license is allowed in movie making, but has its bounds. The grammar of film permits certain shortcuts we all take for granted, and the rules are soft enough to allow some experimenting. But if a film goes too far with license or experiments to the point of annoying distraction, it risks calling attention to the unreal artifice of the entire experience and puncturing the balloon of disbelief.

Characters on the screen who seem real cause us to react viscerally. We root for or against them. They stir our emotions We care about them. But they have to remain true to their character. They can and often should change in the course of the movie, but the change has to feel real, based on the character we have come to know in the course of the movie

Sometimes a movie has us in its grasp and then lets us go, by doing something so inconsistent with what has gone before that we cannot accept it. The failed trick ending or even just an ending that seems wrong can cause this let down. Sometimes movies are filmed with alternate endings, both of which are tried out in sneak previews. I suppose if a character has inherent ambivalence, then the ending could legitimately go either way. But if that is true, then maybe the film should end with the character facing the fork in the road while the screen fades to black.

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.