910

Ceddo (1977)

Absurd, complicated rituals and conventions govern every aspect of the harsh life in the outbacks. Things does not exactly become easier when power and religious practice change.

Different and intriguing african »western«, following a succession of men and a damsel in distress during ever more severe social unrest. Absolutely in my book.

Ceddo

909

The Phenix City story (1955)

Almost parodically slow and clumsy documentary start leads to an equally slow and clumsy fictionalized recounting of a corrupt city, dominated by organized crime. The sordid small-town look and didactic amateurishness almost becomes an asset as the escalating drama goes from from ordinarily petty to brutally cruel, never losing its authentic feel despite all the melodrama.

Slowly wins me over. In my book.

Phenix

backtrack; Gangs of New York (2002)

Scorcese's lavish and mammoth fresco of freedom, immigration, and prejudice is an impressive production that – sadly enough – deteriorates swiftly into little more than excessive and pointless bloodshed. Which may well hold some kind of ironic symbolic value, considering the themes at hand, I suppose.

Not in my book of male violence.

Gangsofnewyork

908

Pensionat Paradiset (1937)

Rightfully bashed by critics then and now, this is the most notorious swedish »pilsnerfilm«, a genre of quick-and-dirty simpleton comedies catering to all the lowest common denominators. Surprisingly weak – formulaic and boring with bland story, clichéd characters, and tired jokes.

Blissfully short, though still tedious and dramaturgically inept, with few worthwhile moments and limited nostalgic charm. Not in my book.

Pensionatparadiset

907

Il Conformista (1969)

»Everyone would like to be different from the others, but instead you want to be the same as everyone else«

Dottore – or »comrade« – Clerici waits blank-faced in the night while lights shift between red and black. So begins this allegory of power and sexuality – set in a cold and treacherous 1930s Europe where lonely individuals immerse themselves in the collective.

Slaughter and melancholia. All ends full circle and detached, back to the original sin. In my surrealistically stylish book of collaboration and resistance, personal and political, superiority and subjugation.

»I intend to construct my normality, but it won't be easy«

(download)

906

Fröken Julie (1951)

Heavy-handed symbolism and ill-fitting farcical elements aside, this is a neatly woven Strindberg story of class and gender, told with eminent flow and flair by Sjöberg.

Part gothic romance, part erotically charged powerplay. In my book of misguided emotions.

(download)