MATT'S CINEMA DIARY: October 26 - November 1, 2015
Matt Micucci's personal experience at various screenings throughout the week. Less about the film, more about the personal experience. This week, INTO THE CLOUDS WE GAZE, RICKY AND THE FLASH, SOMEONE YOU LOVE, BUSTER KEATON RETROSPECTIVE and HAWAII, OSLO.
October 26
INTO THE CLOUDS WE GAZE (K oblakum vzhlízíme) (2014) by Martin Dusek @ Kino Svetozor, 20:45
I always try to make the documentary screening on Mondays at SVETOZOR, no matter what. So, despite the fact that I was filled with work and busy as hell trying to start my intensive planning of the Cork Film Festival schedule on a tight timeframe, I saw no reason to miss INTO THE CLOUDS WE GAZE.
But this was despite a few things. One was that the film revolves around "auto-tuning" officially, the such practice on cars, a whole community of pertol heads that turn their bangers into...slightly better looking bangers (??) with lights, colours, tweaks and bobs. I was afraid that the film would be full of auto-tuning heavy music, just to convey its central theme, and indeed it was so, in all honesty, it was tough to sit through such classics as that CHRISTINA AGUILERA song where she sings that she wants to feel this moment over a sampled bit of TAKE ON ME, which played far too many times in the film for my liking.
I guess the setting of this specific sub-culture in Northern Bohemia was interesting to say the least, but my observation is that I have seen a lot of Czech documentaries this past year, and none of them particularly stand out too much. But, thankfully, most of them have the decency to wrap up before they outstay their welcome, and INTO THE CLOUDS WE GAZE clocks it in at a little over the hour mark, so for what it was, it was quite good. And now I know that auto-tune is officially one of my least favourite terms ever no matter in what context it is used.
October 27
RICKI AND THE FLASH (2015) by Jonathan Demme @ Kino Atlas (Prague), 15.30
This screening of JONATHAN DEMME's latest film was pretty trivial. As much as I love DEMME, not much about the film particularly spoke to me, but it seems strange that RICKI AND THE FLASH has literally been screening for well over two months in Prague, while some even more mainstream films and blockbusters only enjoyed a month long run.
So, that in itself made me curious, but in the end, nothing much to declare, apart from some real rocking tunes including a SPRINGSTEEN finale that made me realize that when I get married, I want the band to play BORN TO RUN - although at the same time, I think that if I ever do get married, it would be on the spur of the moment.
Anyways, this was the first "senior" screening I went to in a while. I love going to screenings aimed at an older audience, because they have such warm hearted reactions. There was a lot of sniffles at the end of the film, bless them, I could feel a lot of emotion in the room and I think I would have enjoyed the movie less if it hadn't been for that.
KEATON DADA III (THE LOVE NEST (1923) / THREE AGES (1923) / THE BALLOONATIC (1923) by Buster Keaton, Edward F. Cline) @ Kino Ponrepo, 20.00
This retrospective on the works of BUSTER KEATON from the year 1923, the year in which he made his first feature film, took place in lovely PONREPO, the cinema of the CZECH FILM ARCHIVE, and was compiled of original film prints straight from the archive.
I took a gamble with this one, as it represented the first time since I have been living in Prague that I decided to take in a non-English friendly screening. I figured this way I would challenge the notion of silent cinema being the most universal type of cinematic language. That being said, I was also confident that KEATON's comedic antics and distinctive physicality would at the very least keep me entertained, if I truly did have problems following the plot line - not to mention that the screenings would be accompanied by live piano.
But in the end, it certainly wasn't that much of a problem - the story I could follow without any major problems and I was laughing my head off at some moments, this to the film's credit but perhaps also to the two pints I had before it, that kind of went right up to my head for some reason.
The films screened were THE LOVE NEST and THE BALLOONATIC, two short films that showed the almost surrealist narrative structure of the cinematic great. But what was truly a pleasure seeing was his first feature film, THREE AGES, an ambitious parody of INTOLERANCE, although it's not so much a satire on the film as much as it experiments with the juxtaposition of narratives from different historical period.
It was a little rugged, but how can anyone not be in awe of such an ambitious first feature, that definitely showed KEATON was not one of those comics who liked to simply "phone it in". The audience enjoyed the whole thing to, and I am happy to say that the screening room was quite full.
Click here to read a full report and review of this screening on CineCola
October 28
SOMEONE YOU LOVE (En du elsker) (2014) by Pernille Fischer Christensen @ Kino Lucerna, 16:30 (Nordic Film Festival)
So, after watching the story of an unsuccessful rock and roll musician re-connecting with her estranged family in RICKI AND THE FLASH, I took in a film about a successful rock and roll musician re-connecting with his estranged family. The main difference is that the man doesn't necessarily seem to want to, and he is quite despicable, so all the while it's easy to wonder why we should care about his redemption.
The music is actually quite good, and I think it was written specifically for SOMEONE YOU LOVE - it sounds like a mixture or downright copy of the style of LEONARD COHEN or NICK CAVE.
Much like the RICKI AND THE FLASH film yesterday, there were a few sniffles at the end of this film, but I just found that in its character portrayal, the film ended up relegating itself to a corner, out of which it could only get out in a clumsy way that made the man seem even more of a jerk.
It wasn't my original choice for the day, I had another film of the NORDIC FILM FESTIVAL picked out, one called A ONE WAY TO ANTIBES. Missed it due to far too much work and unexpectedly waking up late for a change. But also, as much as I love autumn, I find it takes its toll on me, and the cold makes me more tired and less productive than springs or summers.
November 1
Nordic melodrama specialist ERIK POPPE's film from 2004 was the second of only two films from PRAGUE's NORDIC FILM FEST I was able to see. Disappointed with missing so many screenings, mostly due to work, and I really had to drag myself to LUCERNA for this one - reason being...I was hungover (Halloween weekend everyone). Spent the first half of the day in bed, then I just forced myself to the flicks. It's like a religious man's ritual, and perhaps the reason why I have been feeling so flustered recently is because I was forced to break the habit of one screening per day.
HAWAII, OSLO is a multiple storyline drama that is too long for its own good, and goes from moments of naivity to surprisingly deep moments. A good melodrama. Thankfully, and surprisingly, the screening was not disturbed by the usual sounds coming from the Music Bar below LUCERNA, which made the experience enjoyable.
At the same time, I was sitting beside some guy who was making a strange clicking sound with his legs the whole time. The sound pattern was so regular that I genuinely thought he was masturbating. Well, actually, I'm not exactly sure he wasn't...