Month: August, 2009
Sun 30 Aug 2009
The Rules of the Game
Category: Janus Challenge
4 Comments
Director: Jean Renoir
Country: France
Year: 1939
“The awful thing about life is this: Everyone has his reasons.”Octave, in Rules of the Game
“This magical and elusive work, which always seems to place second behind Citizen Kane in polls of great films, is so simple and so labyrinthine, so guileless and so angry, so innocent and so dangerous, that [...]
Sun 23 Aug 2009
Richard III
Category: Janus Challenge
1 Comment
Director: Laurence Olivier
Country: United Kingdom
Year: 1955
BACKGROUND
THE ACTUAL GUY
Born in 1452, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, became acquainted at an early age with the violent struggle for kingly succession. In 1461, when Richard was 9, his brother Edward was crowned King Edward IV. By the age of 17, Richard commanded a small army. In 1470, Edward was [...]
Sun 16 Aug 2009
Rashomon
Category: Janus Challenge
3 Comments
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Country: Japan
Year: 1950
BACKGROUND
I’ve already written about Kurosawa, in the Ikiru article, so this time I’ll focus more on the film itself – its origins, impact, and legacy.
WHAT IS A RASHOMON, EXACTLY?
A footnote in my illustrated screenplay explains: “The ‘Rashomon’ was the largest gate in Kyoto, the ancient capital of Japan… with the decline [...]
Sun 9 Aug 2009
Pygmalion
Category: Janus Challenge
2 Comments
Director: Anthony Asquith and Leslie Howard
Country: United Kingdom
Year: 1938
“The English have no respect for their language, and will not teach their children to speak it. They spell it so abominably that no man can teach himself what it sounds like. It is impossible for an Englishman to open his mouth without making some other Englishman [...]
Sun 2 Aug 2009
Il Posto
Category: Janus Challenge
1 Comment
Director: Ermanno Olmi
Country: Italy
Year: 1961
“The sensation is that these choices of mine are not only mine but that others have them too. I really don’t feel exclusive… My ambition instead, perhaps because of my peasant-worker background, is to look at the world with others, not as an aristocratic intellectual.”Ermanno Olmi
“The characters of Olmi’s films themselves [...]
