#216 The Rules of the Game 1939 // France // Jean Renoir Criterion Collection (LINK) / Letterboxd (LINK) Hailed as one of the greatest films ever made, Jean Renoir’s whimsical tragic-comedy has charmed its appreciative audience twenty years after its original hostile reception in a reconstructed cut approved by the director himself. Made between the… Continue reading #216 The Rules of the Game (Jean Renoir, 1939)
L’Age d’Or 1930 // France // Luis Buñuel Letterboxd (LINK) L’AGE D’OR is basically Luis Buñuel raising a middle-finger to the bourgeoisie and the church while embracing the erotic fetishism and obscenity that would be recurred in Buñuel‘s subsequent works. Provocative yet insightful, blasphemous yet truthful, L’AGE D’OR is an unclassifiable film comprising “a series of vignettes, wherein a… Continue reading L’Age d’Or (Luis Buñuel, 1930)
Faces Places ‘Visages, villages’ 2017 // France // Agnès Varda, JR Letterboxd (LINK) My eyes filled with tears one moment and next I roared with laughter, there’re instants of exhilaration and moments of melancholy, it’s a rollercoaster ride kind of documentary. FACES PLACES is a profound journey across the French countryside and villages, a travelogue and… Continue reading Faces Places (Agnès Varda & JR, 2017)
The Beaches of Agnès 2008 // France // Agnès Varda Letterboxd (LINK) Seldom an autobiographical documentary about a filmmaker made by herself could be so life-affirming, heart-warming, and exhilarating all at once. It’s not the first time Agnès Varda incorporates herself, her voice and appearance, into her own films. Yet THE BEACHES OF AGNES feels playful and… Continue reading The Beaches of Agnès (Agnès Varda, 2008)
The Gleaners & I 2000 // France // Agnès Varda Letterboxd (LINK) In retrospect, THE GLEANERS & I basically announced the beginning of the last chapter in Agnès Varda‘s filmography and her personal journey of life. Here she picked up a digital camera, allowing herself to freely interview the person she found intriguing on the… Continue reading The Gleaners & I (Agnès Varda, 2000)
Jacquot de Nantes 1991 // France // Agnès Varda Letterboxd (LINK) As much as I love Jacques Demy and Agnès Varda and their respective films, I find myself at times at odds against JACQUOT DE NANTES, an autobiographical fictional film based on Demi’s childhood memories directed by Varda before Demy‘s death in Oct 1990 from complications of… Continue reading Jacquot de Nantes (Agnès Varda, 1991)
Kung-Fu Master! 1988 // France // Agnès Varda Letterboxd (LINK) A 40-year-old woman falling in love with a 14-year-old boy is the taboo subject matter in Agnès Varda‘s empathetic KUNG-FU MASTER. This doomed intergenerational love is rendered into an innocent urge of affection and attention invoked from a lonely divorced mother, Mary-Jane (Jane Birkin), and a sexually… Continue reading Kung-Fu Master! & Jane B. by Agnès V.(Agnès Varda, 1988)
#74 Vagabond 1985 // France // Agnès Varda Criterion Collection (LINK) / Letterboxd (LINK) It’s regrettable that Agnès Varda‘s masterpiece VAGABOND fails to resonate with me as much as I anticipated. It has nothing to be with the film’s misstep, if there’s any; instead its the fundamental distancing nature of the ‘puzzle portrait’ Varda imparts… Continue reading #74 Vagabond (Agnès Varda, 1985)
#978 One Sings, the Other Doesn’t 1977 // France // Agnès Varda Criterion Collection (LINK) / Letterboxd (LINK) ‘You could say it’s the story of a friendship. You could also say it’s a feminine musical. You might also say it attempts to illustrate very naturally that beautiful line by Simone de Beauvoir “One is not… Continue reading #978 One Sings, the Other Doesn’t (Agnès Varda, 1977)
#5 The 400 Blows 1959 // France // François Truffaut Criterion Collection (LINK) / Letterboxd (LINK) THE 400 BLOWS was premiered at Cannes Film Festival 60 years ago, announcing the complete transformation of François Truffaut from a film critic to a film director. It’s also the first screen appearance of the legendary French actor Jean-Pierre Léaud, who… Continue reading #5 The 400 Blows (François Truffaut, 1959)
The Films in My Life (OnCriterion) 