Rififi

A cracking heist movie from Director Jules Dassin. In fact this is considered the original of the heist genre. It contains a spellbinding, wordless thirty minutes, during which the robbery of an upmarket Paris jewellery store is shown in great forensic detail. The suspense is terrific. An added bonus is the great looking street scenes of Paris in the 1950s, another movie that allows us a little window into a time long gone. The odd title “Rififi” is French slang, meaning “rough and tumble” and is also the title of a popular blues song of the time, which features in the movie.

Tokyo Story

To quote my favourite film maker, Wim Wenders: “If our century still has any shrines…if there were any relics of the cinema, then for me it would have to be the corpus of the Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu. Ozu’s films always tell the same simple stories, of the same people, in the same city of Tokyo. They are told with extreme economy, reduced to their barest essentials. His films may be thoroughly Japanese, but they are also absolutely universal. I have seen all the families in the world in them, including my parents, my brother and myself.”

Indeed, I have also seen myself, my own family and my parents in this moving and simply told story. The lack of artifice makes it all the more compelling. It is about how we escape the big truths of life through small talk and mundane busy-ness. We miss sharing our great joys and sadness; instead we talk about the weather. On another level it is about the destruction of the family through work and modernisation.

Shane

I couldn't help but feel a little sympathy for the old rancher in Shane, who is desperately trying to drive off the pastoral farmers whose fences prevent him from herding his cattle up and down the valley. After all, he would have been the original settler on the land, would have driven off the pesky redskins and made the place safe for the farmers and their families. None the less, the movie makes no bones about who the bad guys are here. The rancher is portrayed as a good for nothing drunk surrounded by gun toting henchmen. In rides Shane, a mysterious stranger, no slouch with his gun and fists, to save the day. He's a complex little gun-slinger, slow to bait and almost effeminate in his ways, but deadly in the ultimate conclusion of his involvement with the hapless farmer folk. Shane is an important and trend-setting Western, paving the way for many other lone gun-slinger-to-the-rescue movies. Of course, this is another Western, like the Magnificent Seven, that harks back to tales of the Samurai. Alan Ladd is excellent in the role and the scenery of the Grand Tetons a pleasure to look at.

Touch of Evil

What a character Orson Welles created in Hank Quinlan, a giant of a man brought down by his own excesses and sorrow. He is the Sheriff who “never let another killer get away” after he failed to capture the man who, many years ago, killed his own wife. So he has taken to acting on his hunches and planting evidence to entrap whoever he suspects. This is Orson Welles’s last great movie and it was by no means a success when released. In fact the story is secondary. It twists and turns and never really engages, but this movie is all about its visual direction and the character created by Welles. It looks the business. He brings to life the sleazy after-hours streets of the Mexican border town where it is set. It contains the very famous opening shot where the camera tracks a car that has a bomb aboard in a long unbroken shot. Amusing to modern audiences is the absolute horror portrayed of narcotics. Even stubs of marijuana cigarettes are recoiled from in fear.

American Gangster

A thoroughly satisfying movie. Convincing performances from Denzel Washington as the utterly competent drug lord and Russell Crowe as the solid, uncompromisingly honest cop. Both men are exceptionally good at what they do. The Washington character could win any number of entrepreneurial awards conducting a legitimate business. He corners the market on heroin by following a text book approach that would impress any MBA graduate. Sell a product that is better than your competitor’s at a fraction of the price. Crowe on the other hand is the text book honest cop. He gets into trouble with his colleagues for handing in a bag full of drug money (apparently the standard approach is to dish it out amongst your mates). A good story, well told and based on astonishing facts.

Two Hands

What a sad loss it was to lose Heath Ledger so young. Here in this edgy little Australian thriller he plays a foot loose young man on the edge of a life of crime, with great sensitivity. It’s an unusual movie, involving touches of the supernatural amongst a grim look at the sleazy underbelly of Sydney. Bryan Brown and the other members of his gang of bumbling small time hoods bring a uniquely Australian flavour to the gangster roles going about as they do in short pants. It’s a gripping and exciting ride with a number of unexpected turns.

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Clearly in the running for the movie with the longest name, but surely also being considered for the longest rambling preamble before it cuts to the chase. Whilst this is a strong story and its well-played here by some very competent actors, the lead up to the events surrounding James’s killing are so diffuse and rambling that it lost me along the way. The last hour or so is compelling, 4-star cinema, but it’s a long wait to get there. What this is, however, is another sign of the current resurrection of the Western, that we are seeing in promising films like this and 3.10 to Yuma.

Juno

Rarely a movie comes along that is so likeable that we never want it to end. The characters are so real and likeable, that we just want to hang out with them. It doesn’t matter whether much is happening or not. Such a gem, is Juno. This movie is the best advertisement I have seen for honesty. Everything about it is honest and true, even the soundtrack of quirky little sing-along numbers. Ellen Page as Juno is flawless. She is only 20 and surely must have a huge career ahead of her. Juno is genuinely funny, genuinely moving and flows as naturally as water. It is a joy to watch. I could have watched it again the moment the end credits started to role. In a season of bleak epics this stands out a ray of light.

The Sweet Smell of Success

The best thing about The Sweet Smell of Success is the New York street scenes from the 1950s. They shine like a neon dream and in crisp black & white look like an art print come to life. There is much else to like about this film, particularly the performances of Tony Curtis and Burt Lancaster. Lancaster is JJ Hunsecker, a powerful gossip columnist, modelled on a real-life columnist of the time, one Walter Winchell. If you find it hard to believe, as I did, that a gossip columnist can wield such power just think of the likes of Alan Jones and John Laws to put it in a contemporary Australian setting. These men wield great power from their bully pulpits and are no more than the gossip columnists of the day. Neither Hunsecker nor Falco, the character played by Curtis have a skerrick of morality and its not giving away much to say that they end up paying a high price. There are stylish scenes and much cracking dialogue to be enjoyed along the way.

The Enigma of Kasper Hauser

Many consider this to be Werner Herzog’s best work. I’m not sure I agree. Whilst the wild young man played by Bruno S. is without a doubt an enigma, deeply strange and not a little bit disturbing, I’m just not sure that there is enough here to fill out the 109 minutes. Herzog’s films are notoriously slow and normally this is a good feature as one needs time to contemplate the striking images he presents and the complex underlying themes. With Kasper Hauser there just seems to be a little too much time. I loved the scenes of the waving fields of corn and the site of Hauser standing in the town square with his letter and prayer book is not one easily forgotten. The music is beautiful. Arguably no one other than Bruno S. could have played this role – it’s hard to imagine him playing any other as role as well. His performance is not so much acting as embodiment. This is not an easy movie to get through, but for those that persevere there are gems of insight to be had. The original German title translates as "Every Man for Himself and God Against All" and gives away a bit more of what the movie is about.