Movies to Fall For… - theHumm July 2016

By Matt Roche

Our summer season is finally winding down. Those mega-blockbusters and frivolous flicks are ending their run, and fall Oscar season will kick into high gear soon enough. In the meantime, while we await those contenders, you should take a trip down to the Bytowne Cinema in Ottawa because this September they have a fantastic array of films, old and new, to pass the time.

Last year I raved about the absurdist, dystopian social commentary that is The Lobster. Why it is just now arriving to local theatres is beyond me, but in any case it should not be missed. With a great cast (Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz and Ben Whishaw are all in top form here) directed by the Greek surrealist filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos (Dogtooth), The Lobster is unlike anything you will ever see. And it is a film that deserves to be seen. The Lobster will be playing at the Bytowne on September 13 and 14.

Last month I also raved about the latest addition to the Jane Austen canon, Love & Friendship, which is an uproarious, charming film of the likes they rarely make anymore. You can catch it in Ottawa on September 28, but Film Night International will also be screening it on November 23 in Perth and November 24 in Smiths Falls. Another recent release, the French film Les Innocentes, is definitely worth going to see, although it is a tough, unsentimental film about a series of pregnancies at a convent in Poland shortly after WWII. It is an unflinching look at the devastation inflicted in the aftermath of that horrid war. In the lead role, actress Lou de Laâge gives a powerful performance as the one woman who seems to care and is willing to aid those afflicted and haunted by the war. And a great supporting cast evens out this beautiful (the cinematography from Caroline Champetier is striking and painterly) albeit gloomy tale of love and loss. The director, Anne Fontaine, commands the entire screen with her obvious passion. It is by far her most assured and confident film to date. Some of her previous films, such as The Girl from Monaco, Coco Before Chanel and especially Adoration, all displayed a strong, singular voice, but it is with Les Innocentes that she has seemingly perfected her vision. It’s another great film to seek out, but not one to easily swallow. You can catch it in Ottawa on September 9, 10 and 11.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, we have some classics of world cinema coming to the Bytowne. Two in particular should not be missed if given the chance. These happen to be two of my favourite films from two masters of the medium. The first is from legendary surrealist Luis Buñuel: The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972). The film is a brilliant satire on the deference and prejudice and hypocrisy of the upper class. A series of dinners are set out for an array of characters who never seem to be able to actually sit and have a meal, while Buñuel plays ingenious, inventive tricks on them and on the audience, luring them (and us) away from the decadence and majesty of the dinner and showing us the dark underbelly of our ways. A working-class gardener shows up and is greeted with disdain. When he proves himself to actually be a bishop of the clergy, he is suddenly greeted with warmth and reverence. But this bishop is not admirable and good, as such a symbol is often portrayed. Various telling dream sequences occur, as well as clever dream-within-dreams, all played out for very specific and incisive reasons. But again, the true brilliance of the film is in the way Buñuel and writer Jean-Claude Carrière toy with the audience as well as the characters. For instance, at one point a fancy dinner setting proves to be part of a stage set on an actual theatre stage. It’s clever moments like this that make The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie one of the most daring and fascinating films ever created.

The second classic that deserves as much if not more recognition is the 1954 masterpiece Seven Samurai, from one of the great filmmakers of all time: Akira Kurosawa. Kurosawa’s mark on film has been etched into solid stone. His films have influenced more filmmakers than you could possibly imagine. Seven Samurai has been remade and Americanized various times over the years. The western classic The Magnificent Seven (1960) with Steve McQueen, Yul Brynner and Charles Bronson is the American version of it (which is being remade yet again this year with Denzel Washington and Chris Pratt in lead roles). The Guns of Navarone (1961) and The Dirty Dozen (1967) are loosely based on it as well. And two other masterly films from Kurosawa — Yojimbo (1961) and The Hidden Fortress (1958) — were used (and abused, to some) by George Lucas for his space extravaganza Star Wars (1977). In almost every genre of film, the mark of Kurosawa can be found. Most reference Rashomon (1950) and Ran (1985) as his masterpieces, but I feel strongly that Seven Samurai is not only his masterpiece but also one of the finest films ever made.

In it, a group of bandits are terrorizing a small village in ancient Japan. The villagers, who usually look down at samurai with disdain and contempt, find the bandits even more contemptable and so enlist the remaining seven samurai to vanquish them. Why the samurai protect the villagers, who have never been nice to them, is a question of honour. Even though it seems they are all doomed and outnumbered by the rapacious bandits, the samurai stand stalwart and give their lives willingly for the greater good. They are more or less led by the rambunctious Kikuchiyo, played by Japanese thespian and Kurosawa staple Toshiro Mifune (one of the greatest actors of all time). And as we experience battle after battle, we are struck with a sharp sense of the clash between good and evil, of obdurate traditionalism and compassionate humanism. I don’t want to give too much away in case this will be a first viewing for you, but all I can say is that Seven Samurai is one of the finest films ever made, a true classic, a real adventure and a work of art. Mark out some time on the evening of September 26 and go see this masterpiece of world cinema.

Pieter Doef —In the Service ofArt and Humanity - theHumm July 2016

Fifteen years ago, theHumm was pleased and privileged to feature artist and sculptor Pieter Doef as our profiled artist in April 2001. The headline read “Pieter Doef — A Life-long Art of Givin......

Movies to Fall For… - theHumm July 2016