La femme d’à côté

La femme d’à côté (François Truffaut, 1981)

Two ex-lovers wind up living next door to each other with their respective spouses. Forbidden passions ensue.

Lola (1981)

Lola (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1981)

West Germany, late 1950s: Lola is a singing prostitute working in a brothel that the town's bigwigs, even the mayor, like to frequent. To the annoyance of the corrupt construction entrepreneurs, especially a crass man named Schukert, the town's new building commissioner von Bohm is an honest and idealistic man who tries to clean up the building license politics from bribery and cheating. 

Raiders of the Lost Ark

Raiders of the Lost Ark (Steven Spielberg, 1981)

Archaeologist and adventurer Indiana Jones is hired by the US government to find the Ark of the Covenant before the Nazis.

Just like any young boy, I was fascinated with Steven Spielberg when growing up. It was the first director I ever knew he was making films but he was not in front of the camera like the actors. My opinion of this director has been changing with the years. As much as I loved Jurassic Park, Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and the Indiana Jones trilogy, I've been struggling with his more serious films. With time, I learned to put aside the fact that he he is the kind of director with multiple personalities. The naive charm of his adventure/action films will compensate for his lack of talent at handling more serious subject matters. His subjectivity may or may not have tarnished his reputation but his talent will always be there.

With Raiders of the Lost Ark, a collaboration between George Lucas and Spielberg with the help of screenwriter Philip Kaufman, will lead to one of the most iconic films of all time. This without mentioning John Williams' legendary score for the thing. Add to that a friend of the Lucas/Spielberg family, Harrison Ford as the stellar character that will become Indiana Jones. 

Mr. Ford's ability to be the intellectual Prof. Jones but also the action hero of calm and courage, except for his fear of snakes, is now a pattern for many actors. He is the all American man, with a brain, wit, whip, and he doesn't fear to get his hands in the dirt. And he sure knows how to fight. 

One aspect of Raiders I often like to discuss is the opening sequence that is in itself a complete short film that presents the character of Indiana Jones. It is also very iconic, even The Simpsons have parodied it. 

As I already mentioned, Indiana Jones is an American hero. He fights Nazis and works for the US government to bring back the lost Ark that belongs now in the United States of America where no maligned or ill-intentioned nation will use it. There's all this symbolism with the Ancient Testament that is evoked in Raiders and it demonstrates how the success of this film is clearly linked with the American myth of the foundation of the USA but also how this country is the culmination or the end of the world. In fact, just like the Jews were running out of Egypt to find their promised land. Well, this promised land in Raiders is the USA.

As an archivist, the final shot of the film makes me laugh in its comment on how things are sheltered and relegated to the past when archived. So much is in the final minutes of Raiders that a short essay wouldn't summarizes it. 
I cannot say enough how I like this film and overly praising it would not be fair to anyone who hasn't seen it yet. But I highly recommend this yet entertaining and fun film.

Scanners

Scanners (David Cronenberg, 1981)

A scientist (Patrick McGoohan) sends a man (Stephen Lack) with extraordinary psychic powers to hunt others like him.

An American Werewolf in London

An American Werewolf in London (John Landis, 1981)

David (David Naughton) and Jack (Griffin Dunne) are two young men on a backpacking trip in Europe beginning by England and then fleeing to Italy. After a long day of walking in the rain, they attend a weird pub where they get expelled for asking a wrong question. Just after, they are attacked by a mysterious beast. It easily get obvious that it was a werewolf. Jack dies of his wounds but David got saved by the villagers who kill the beast. David then wakes up in the hospital getting treated for his scars and traumatism but it slowly gets clearer that he is now the new werewolf and that the curse of the werewolf must be stop by killing the last of them.

Possession

Possession (Andrzej Zulawski, 1981)

A young woman left her family for an unspecified reason. The husband determines to find out the truth and starts following his wife. At first, he suspects that a man is involved. But gradually, he finds out more and more strange behaviors and bizarre incidents that indicate something more than a possessed love affair.

Of the few Horror films I’ve seen there are not many that I can say they are overlooked or less known. But one of the films that left an indelible mark is Polish director Andrzej Zulawski’s masterpiece. Exploring the same streets as Roman Polanski with his Repulsion, The Tenant and Rosemary’s Baby, Possession  is a virulent psycho-sexual horror story of the 20^th Century. With Isabelle Adjani and Sam Neill as the central characters, we enter in one of the most unique films to ever have been filmed.

The bleak cinematography and the superb presence of Isabelle Adjani in a double role with Sam Neill as her husband is quite something. Often read as a metaphor on divorce and how the man sees and projects his perception of his wife and the other side how the wife dooms her marriage with her new lover, Possession  is easily one of the finest Horror films to ever fuck with our minds. I remember seeing this films at fifteen years old and being left with a weird impression of disturbing imagery and unexpected story.

The whole movie has an European feeling to it and the dark and grey colors give a glaucous aura to the characters portrayed. Possession is the only film from director Zulawski I ever saw and I always wondered if he was the case of a one hit wonder director. None of his other work seem to be as interesting or well received as the lesser known Horror movie.

When I first saw it, the channel it was aired on showed Polanski’s Repulsion in the same week. Both are very disturbing films while being excellent in the frights and in their second degree of reading. Personally, I would rank Possession a little bit higher than Repulsion because of the extremity of the images and the greater meanings it involves. 

Das Boot

Das Boot aka The Boat (Wolfgan Petersen, 1981)

Before I start I want to make clear that this review is about the TV version of this feature that has been release in three different format: the Theatrical release, the Director's Cut aka TV version, and the mini-series. This viewing was a part of my quest to watch the entire list of the 1000 Greatest Films of the passionate folks at They Shoot Pictures Don't They? Das Boot being the 508th film I've seen from the list I am way ahead my goal to achieve my 500th film by the end of 2011. This adventure/War/Action/drama transgenre extravaganza from writer director Wolfgang Petersen a director who made more ordinary movies than he did great films managed to do an ok job with Das Boot. Since the film has its confortable spot on IMDb Top 250, a list I don't really give too much credit, still it gives the recognition of a popular film amongst film enthusiasts. I had more than one good reason to watch it. Anyway, it wasn't a film I wanted or had the urge to see. However, I recorded it on my DVR and it was time to give it a spin.

Introducing us to the crew of the u-boat by the exterior journalist as the witness of the inside of the litteral machine that is the works of this ship, was a classic yet efficient way to dip the audience into the core of the sets and society that represents the whole film. The kind of job that isn't related to mariners or army men makes it even more reliable to us while we enter this closed fauna. However, I think this technique is kind of bold and lacks in originality especially here, in a three hours film where anyway you get into the action and the suspense, no matter if you don't belong here no one belongs into a war!

At the same time I quite enjoyed lots of interesting aspects of the plot, the German side in the Second World War shot by Germans: I mean, how many German films were made about their side of the whole events and depicted their almost doomed ending in the last moments of the war? I can't relate to much either especially before 1981. Also I want to give credits to Petersen for having directed a very efficient film on the side of suspense, tension, and understanding of the moments of reclusion and bore these guys should have lived in the submarine. There's a claustrophobic kind of feeling when you are watching Das Boot as in the same time when the ship sinks into the depths of Ocean it almost feels like the comfort and safety of being inside the u-boat and not outside gives it a sense of maternal symbolism to the ship. Even if the whole crew is in the worst place it can possibly be I think that these are the greatest and most succesful moments depicted. The character development is at its best and the relationships between the men has this little thing that missed all along the rest of the film, urgency and enough time to let the moments fill the scene. It is almost as if the time stopped and the film took a step in quality.

After all the wait and the expectations about seing Das Boot I probably got my expectations too high or wasn't really interpelled by the story and its whole "dénouement", it kinda bored me and even if the aforementionned scenes were interesting I don't hink the entire movie is worth the time spent for the enjoyment or entertainment it brought to me. It reminded me of the Band of Brothers miniseries. It was all about entertainment, action, and few character developpment a piece of History brought back to life to fulfill the taste of distraction but no real approach or comment about war and the consequences of it all. It doesn't have to be moralist about it but at least present a coloured view and/or commentary. Worth a look.

La femme de l'aviateur (1981)

La femme de l'aviateur (Eric Rohmer, 1981)

A minimalist film from Eric Rohmer, La femme de l'aviateur, tells the story of François (Philippe Marlaud) and Anne (Marie Rivière) a couple that has very common problems. He works by night, she works all day, Anne wants to live alone and is very independant. She also recently ended an affair with an aviator. François is insecure and he wants to have a normal relationship with Anne.

This simple but beautiful film by Rohmer sums Mies Van Der Rohe most infamous line: Less is more! With so few scenes the film has something particular about it. It's simple and beautiful as life itself.

But beware it's a very talky film and the few scenes are only rythmed by the long dialogues. Eric Rohmer's films depicts intellectuals with common lives. His movies are for initiates and Woody Allen fans can have some interest in his films too. I would be surprised to see one day one of his films on the Top 250 of IMDb. But his fans are dedicated to his films. I must say that I am becoming one.