The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Wiene)
Like with Nosferatu, Wiene's production strives to communicate Weimar-era decadence through fantastical means. This means plenty of distorted visuals, overly theatrical acting, and a penchant for twisting up familiar tall tales. The movie's ending doesn't fail to impress, even after 80 years. What initially seems like a turn in the plot that feels half-baked reveals itself as chilling and, dare I say, topical. It's just a darned shame that, more so than Nosferatu at times, many transitions linger too often and the classic pacing it shares with Murnau's film feels overextended. I usually have no qualms about dead space in a cinematic format until it begins to drag shots past their expiration date.
I also think the cast communicates relative insanity better than the actors in Nosferatu. That's not saying much, considering the blunt acting of most silent films, but it matters in a more low-key story like Dr. Caligari. The way the studio's vivid German Expressionist sets overwhelms both viewer and actor in this manifold experience ultimately defines the movie for what it is: a vivid exploration of how old superstitions catch up to people and destroy them in the process. Once one adapts to the changing film stocks, for example, they become part of the experience and less distracting from the main premise. Elements of this film that shouldn't work anymore still service the kind of vision that Dr. Caligari presented in its time and presents today.
Joe Bob sez check it out!
****
Fritz the Cat (Bakshi, Crumb)
Feh.
There comes a time in one's film-watching career when the first stinker arrives, and it's a film one wanted to like. I enjoyed watching Fritz the Cat, but it has no staying power. Were it not for Bakshi's exuberant and inventive animation, the movie would have nothing worth remembering it for. It takes commonplace subject matter of the early-'70s and anthropomorphizes it; much of the dialogue inconsistently portrays human-like caricatures, either with fondness or with a lack of care. Because there's little reason for me indulge in Fritz's backstorygiven the complete lack of oneI also can't find a universal template through which I can place myself in the zeitgeist. There's no easy entry into this ditty to begin with, but it could have at least gone somewhere!
Episodic and distended as it is, there are aspects that stick out of Fritz's molting bum. Bakshi's rough animation style and scrawly layouts depict a kind of dirty aesthetic largely unique to the '70s, and almost always with immaculate results. I particularly love one sequence involving 7 or 8 or however many doobies Fritz downs on behalf of the crow pimp's girlfriend. Bakshi and his crew just go berserk with both the editing and the frizzle-fry animation in those couple of minutes of sheer invention; future sequences like the power station bombing just can't compare. Fritz the Cat's slicker than a rat whenever it gets around to the central eye-candy, yet Bakshi had a meager budget to work on and, unfortunately, didn't make the most of it.
Ultimately, the episodic structure of the film ruins it because of a lack of character development and elaboration beyond surface-level investigations of the "hippie youth." I adore cartoonists like Bob Clampett and Robert McKimson, two guys who often worked off of tangents when making their respective productions. But, once they finished their stories, the end products featured some of the best, most interesting animation ever produced, and the crazy crap flung around in cartoons like "The Great Piggy Bank Robbery" usually makes up for a lack of narrative cohesion. Fritz the Cat's got neither this nor that, and it suffers for the worst.
Joe the Bob sez check it out anyway.
**
Jiro Dreams of Sushi (Gelb)
Sweet diggity nigiri. This caught my eye from the very first shots, and it never let up with an amazing success story.
I do feel sorry for all the other Japanese sushi masters, howeverthey'll never get to enjoy their faces plastered on film posters, unlike Jiro. Perhaps as repentance for his sheer preeminence, Gelb's documentary suffers from poor pacing during the sushi-cooking montages. I love the RED Camera photography and what I presume to be instances of lens-whacking, but he needs to tone these montages down. Either there's less of them and more footage of other parts of Jiro's community, or the film gets shortened; the pacing sucks at times, and my sister, well-versed in Japanese culture herself, couldn't even complete the darn thing. Maybe I should show to this to my close Aunt Sushi and see what she thinks!
Everything else just reeks of pungent flavors and luxurious film-making that, at the end of the day, perfectly communicates the kind of life Jiro, his family, and his friends live in regards to his backwater sushi joint. It's fairly comprehensive as it is; I could imagine Gelb and company adding in more scenes with the food critics and in Jiro's hometown, but there's not always a lot to go in when making movies about busy, busy men. I won't fault the film-makers' lack of ambition, considering that they wanted to convey this man's simple living through simple and effective means. And, yet, the inconsistent pacing keeps Jiro Dreams of Sushi a ways away from perfection. Perhaps, as Jiro would say, there's no other way but up, and even he doesn't know the sky's limits.
Joe Bob sez check it out!
****
Seven Chances (Keaton)
If people consider The General Keaton's best effort and one of the best comedies yet seen, than that already makes Seven Chances one of the best comedies yet seen.
I literally cannot pick up on anything flawed with this film other than the slow pacing of the first few minutes, which I felt Keaton and company wasted just to show off some neat colorized frames they put together. Aside from that, the story's a perfect vehicle for Keaton to both try more subtle chicanery and improve his outrageous stunt antics from last year's Sherlock Jr. Both halves of the movie turn out spectacularly, and I can see myself watching this gem again and again for as long as I live. Chaplin and Keaton are currently sparring for my attention with their respective filmographiesI think Keaton's won so far.
Joe Bob sez check it out!
*****
