Tenth Five Films, 2007

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Holiday (Jacques Tati)
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Traffic (Jacques Tati)
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I honestly don't know what to say about the films of Jacques Tati. Briefly: narrative takes a back seat to visual comedy, both slapstick and more complex manipulations of the mise en scene. I can tell you that the seats at the French Institute in Florence Gould Hall are among the least accommodating in which I have ever taken in a movie. Ideally I could link you to some of Jonathan Rosenbaum's writings, but I think they're all on paper.

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Killer of Sheep (Charles Burnett) at the IFC Center. The low-budget black & white scenes of intimate, awkward dialogue could bring to mind Stranger Than Paradise or Mutual Appreciation, but this film feels more mature than either of those. World-weary without being jaded or snarky, Burnett presents characters who stumble dazedly onward through their meager surroundings, but retains a wry sense of humor, which seems to me critically important. I guess my feeling is that he captures on film some essential truth(s) about life, probably broader than though certainly inclusive of the neighborhood of Watts was like in the 1970's. There has been a ton of praise recently heaped on this film, but as usual if you read just one piece, read J. Hoberman's. (By the way, did you see his incredible Elliott Gould profile this past week?)
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Los Muertos (Lisandro Alonso) at Anthology Film Archive. I'll be reviewing this for Stylus.
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As Tears Go By (Wong Kar-wai) at home on DVD. This was a very enjoyable movie, but compared to most everything else I've seen by him, it doesn't feel as refined. It was, after all, his first feature. I must say, I am excited to see how Wong makes use of Jude Law in the upcoming My Blueberry Nights.
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