Tokyo Story

Before watching this film, I was somewhat reluctant - it is a long slow film about a Japanese family, and I wasn’t sure that I would enjoy it. It’s often the way with things, that those you are looking forward to disappoint you, and those you are dreading turn out not to be so bad after all. And, this film is in fact brilliant. Slow it may be, but that can hardly be said to be a bad thing here. It allows the natures of the characters and their lives to be shown in depth. The film is about an elderly Japanese couple going to visit their adult children in Tokyo, and finding that the children have less time for them than they would perhaps wish.

The film feels, in many ways, very minimalist. Almost every shot is static, and by and large, they are at the eye level of a person sat on the floor in the traditional Japanese manner. The scenes are, in general, not overly emotional in the way that I would expect of a film with these films. Everything is understated - the interactions between the characters are not necessarily out of the ordinary, but the generational rift in the family is apparent anyway. Between the scenes of family life, there are beautiful shots of Japan - city scenes, trains, and countryside.

All in all, this is a film that can only be described as beautiful. It is heart warming and heart breaking in equal measure in its quietness.

Citizen Kane

Citizen Kane begins with an extended news report about the death of Charles Foster Kane. It is not the most gripping of openings, but it provides a way into the story of his life - through showing us a journalist trying to get a different story from anyone else and looking for the meaning of Charles Foster Kane’s last word: Rosebud.

The film then proceeds through interviews of those he knew, and flashbacks on scenes from his life. The life shown throughout is complex, and doesn’t lend itself to easy moral judgements. Charles Foster Kane is at times generous and well loved, and at others jealous and despised. The film is a portrayal of a man who was never truly satisfied with his life - mirrored in the way the journalist never finds the answer to his questions, though the audience does.

As relevant to the world today as it was when it was made, the corrupting effects of money, power, and influence on the lives of those who wield them are shown through the feature, and yet there is a compassion in the film’s portrayal of Charles Foster Kane, and it never comes across self-righteous or judgemental. Instead, it is a truly atmospheric piece that is emotionally engaging, and gripping. The reputation that this film has for being the best ever made (and its place at the top of the Sight and Sound poll every decade since 1962 until its fall to second place in 2012) is very well deserved.

Vertigo

I went into Vertigo knowing nothing of the plot, and having not read any reviews, which, while a good approach for some films that I’ve seen (most recently Cabin in the Woods), was probably not the best way to watch this film. While this did mean that I was surprised by the way the plot developed, it meant that I focused on this to the exclusion of everything else about the film. Now, the plot of Vertigo is on the surface pretty far-fetched, to the point of breaking suspension of disbelief - when watched as a mystery film. But really, it’s about the obsession of the main character, and his descent into madness. While this aspect of the film didn’t completely pass me by, it took my subsequent reading of reviews to realise the extent to which this was the heart of the film.

The twists of the film also mean that the first section will be seen in a very different light upon repeated watchings. The knowledge gained from knowing where the plot is going, what is truly happening, and the mental states of the characters changes the meaning of everything on the screen. Only as I’m writing this am I realising the extent to which the surface plot is, in the beginning at least, irrelevant to what is actually happening. It is really just a method to set the real plot in motion, and it’s unbelievability only highlights how unimportant it is. I need to watch this again.

Welcome!

So.  I decided that it would be a good idea to watch all of the Sight and Sound Critics' Top 250 Films list from 2012. I realised during the summer of 2012 that I hadn't seen a lot of films that I really should have, and this seemed like a place to start. Not the best, probably, but it'll be an education of sorts.

My aim is to write exactly 250 words about each (which I may well struggle with), and post one review a week, on Saturdays. I'm already ahead in my watching of the films, so I'll hopefully keep ahead with my reviews. Hopefully.

And, that's it really. Come back on Saturday for Vertigo!