Film Honors: 1961

My own personal choices for the year. They reflect not just necessarily what I think is the best or essential cinema, but perhaps resonate with me or inspire, both at the time, and still today. Subject to alter choices if new viewings are worthy enough. Other published Film Honors posts can be found at the menu at the top of the page.

Sound Design

Matka Joanna od aniolów
One Hundred and One Dalmatians
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
West Side Story
Yojimbo

Costume Design

Divorzio all’italiana
El Cid
The Guns of Navarone
West Side Story
Yojimbo

Cast Ensemble

Accattone
Judgment at Nuremberg
Matka Joanna od aniolów
West Side Story
Yojimbo

Set Design

El Cid
L’année dernière à Marienbad
The Pit and the Pendulum
West Side Story
Yojimbo

Special Effects

The Absent Minded Professor
The Guns of Navarone
Mysterious Island
The Pit and the Pendulum
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea

Score Composing

Saul Chaplin, Johnny Green, Sid Ramin, Irwin Kostal (West Side Story)
Giorgio Gaslini (La Notte)
Michel Legrand (Une Femme est une femme)
Henry Mancini (Breakfast at Tiffany’s)
Masaru Sato (Yojimbo)

Actor Support

Gunnar Björnstrand (Såsom i en spegel)
George Chakiris (West Side Story)
Jackie Gleason (The Hustler)
Fernando Rey (Viridiana)
George C. Scott (The Hustler)

Actress Support

Anna Ciepielewska (Matka Joanna od aniolów)
Silvana Corsini (Accattone)
Rita Moreno (West Side Story)
Monica Vitti (La Notte)
Lucyna Winnicka (Matka Joanna od aniolów)

Picture Editing

The Guns of Navarone
L’année dernière à Marienbad
Matka Joanna od aniolów
Yojimbo
West Side Story

Cinematography

Gianni Di Venanzo (La Notte)
Daniel L. Fapp (West Side Story)
Kazuo Miyagawa (Yojimbo)
Sacha Vierny (L’année dernière à Marienbad)
Jerzy Wójcik (Matka Joanna od aniolów)

Actor Lead

Franco Citti (Accattone)
Marcello Mastroianni (Divorzio all’italiana)
Marcello Mastroianni (La Notte)
Paul Newman (The Hustler)
Mieczyslaw Voit (Matka Joanna od aniolów)

Actress Lead

Harriet Andersson (Såsom i en spegel)
Piper Laurie (The Hustler)
Jeanne Moreau (La Notte)
Silvia Pinal (Viridiana)
Natalie Wood (Splendor in the Grass)

Screenwriting Original

Michelangelo Antonioni, Ennio Flaiano, Tonino Guerra (La Notte)
Ingmar Bergman (Såsom i en spegel)
Henri Colpi, Marguerite Duras, Gérard Jarlot (Une aussi longue absence)
Ennio De Concini, Alfredo Giannetti, Pietro Germi (Divorzio all’italiana)
Alain Robbe-Grillet (L’année dernière à Marienbad)

Screenwriting Adapted

Julio Alejandro, Luis Buñuel (Viridiana)
Sidney Carroll, Robert Rossen (The Hustler)
Jerzy Kawalerowicz, Tadeusz Konwicki (Matka Joanna od aniolów)
Ernest Lehman (West Side Story)
Abby Mann (Judgment at Nuremberg)

Directing

Michelangelo Antonioni (La Notte)
Ingmar Bergman (Såsom i en spegel)
Jerzy Kawalerowicz (Matka Joanna od aniolów)
Akira Kurosawa (Yojimbo)
Alain Resnais (L’année dernière à Marienbad)

Motion Picture

Accattone (Pier Paolo Pasolini) Italy
Divorzio all’italiana (Pietro Germi) Italy
L’année dernière à Marienbad (Alain Resnais) France / Italy
La Notte (Michelangelo Antonioni) Italy
Matka Joanna od aniolów (Jerzy Kawalerowicz) Poland
Såsom i en spegel (Ingmar Bergman) Sweden
Une Femme est une femme (Jean-Luc Godard) France
Viridiana (Luis Buñuel) Spain / Mexico
West Side Story (Robert Wise, Jerome Robbins) USA
Yojimbo (Akira Kurosawa) Japan

Wow, what a year – and I thought 1960 was immense. Good showing from Italy too. A real struggle to limit the film choices to 10. Tell us your great loves from 1961.

100 Films Made By Women – Part 8 of 20

Two of the finest romantic comedies coming up to feast on. Speaking of appetite, there’s also a cannibalistic tale in the mix. So fulfill your hunger for female directed films by reading on.

The Holiday (2006) – Nancy Meyers — Robin Write @WriteoutofLA

Writer-producer of such prominent female-centric movies like Private Benjamin, Baby Boom, and Father of the Bride, Nancy Meyers strolled into feature film directing with ease. The Parent Trap and What Women Want were pretty good starts, before seemingly making comedies utilizing similar generational female performers from earlier works in Something’s Gotta Give and It’s Complicated. What Meyers achieves with The Holiday is take a well known crop, and accentuate particular qualities they have on the big screen with eye-catching results. Sporadically irritating Cameron Diaz is extremely funny here, Kate Winslet too proves she is charmingly good in light comedy. Jude Law is sensitive enough to warm to, while Jack Black appears very competent at playing it a lot more straight. This film now appears more bittersweet with the loss of Eli Wallach, who plays a sympathetic veteran Hollywood writer. The Holiday has good spirit, and is down-to-earth and engaging enough to be many a film fan’s guilty pleasure.

Ravenous (1999) – Antonia Bird — Robin Write @WriteoutofLA

Other than the cannibalism bedlam on show in the late Antonia Bird’s Ravenous, for me the stand out haunting is the psychedelic, brilliant score. An unorthodox, but effective, collaboration between Damon Albarn (of Brit-pop Blur / dance-funk Gorillaz) and Michael Nyman (The Piano), using banjos, electronic beats, and who knows what else. Ravenous is a wild animal of a motion picture, a cocktail of comedy, horror, gore-fest, satire etc. Guy Pearce, Robert Carlyle, and company are soldiers at war in California sometime around the mid-1800s, and with mysterious encounters and starvation looming it is not long before cannibalism shows up on the menu. A gripping kind of entertaining madness this, director Bird forgets the rules of morality and goes for the throat instead, really enjoying herself it would appear, following more composed British efforts like Face and Priest. By the final bloody conflict you find you are laughing, your stomach is churning, you’re all tensed up, or even all three – but enjoying it shamelessly all same.

Bright Star (2009) – Jane Campion — Jade Evans @enchantedbyfilm

Feminist filmmaker Jane Campion follows the success of her previously directed costume films The Piano (1993) and The Portrait of a Lady (1996) with Bright Star (2009). This glorious biographical focus on Romantic poet John Keats is a dream-like, sunlit poem in itself. As Campion draws the viewer into the story, in true Romantic tradition, the tale of John Keats and his muse Fanny Brawne is reflected in the idealistic backdrop. From the neutral shades of brown and blue present throughout the house at the start, John and Fanny become closer as his spool of poetic prose achieves its purpose in winning her heart. Campion projects their developing romance in the saturated shades of purple and green in the beds of bright flowers and the woodland paths. Much like nature, which provides us with bright blossoms that wither and die, so does Bright Star’s imagery transition into shades of white, grey and black as winter falls. Campion’s stark contrast in color conveys Fanny leaving her idealized fantasy of her childhood and experiencing the bleak realism and melancholy of her adulthood. Every image in the film is a work of art and is a testament to Campion’s strong eye for detail and love of artistic imagery.

Firaaq (2008) – Nandita Das — Asif Khan @KHAN2705

Firaaq is the directorial debut of the prominent Indian actress, Nandita Das. She has worked in many acclaimed, multilingual films and won awards from around the world. Das has continuously advocated for human rights, gender equality and taken public stances against many social injustices. Hardly a surprise that she would make a film around one of the biggest problems that India has faced. Violence against minorities. Firaaq is a Hindi political thriller rooted in much more realism and a sense of narrative importance that is not often seen in movies there. A fictional film set a month after the horrific 2002 violence in Gujarat against Muslims. Aptly titled Firaaq, which means quest as well as difference. Difference of religion, values and perspective. Quest for tolerance, acceptance and belonging. This is a film that stands for the many true stories, unspoken, forgotten or never really given acute focus. A great ensemble (featuring some of the most talented actors), the characters in the film are either victims of violence or assault, the perpetrators and those who watched all of this silently without doing anything. It’s a well-written and focused film with dramatic tension that rarely goes into the melodramatic or problematic territory. Das’ competent and well-edited feature is the story of ordinary people affected by violence.

You’ve Got Mail (1998) – Nora Ephron — Robin Write @WriteoutofLA

Now, I love a good laughfest, and am a bit of a sucker for romance, yet romantic comedies are generally not my bag. So let me tell you why I like You’ve Got Mail. Firstly, I have little issue with ever-so-slight regurgitation of the love from a distance notion Nora Ephron explored in her writing so brilliantly in Sleepless in Seattle and most notably When Harry Met Sally. You’ve Got Mail, the movie, is echoed deep, deep in my subconscious whenever I find it charming or amusing to repeat the phrase of the title in the style of AOL, perhaps. The soundtrack is very much up my street with the likes of The Cranberries, Harry Nilsson, and Carole King. Seeing Tom Hanks playing a character with a bit of ruthless business gusto, and still finding I like him. Meg Ryan’s ‘Shopgirl’, fighting the cause for the tiny, family-run, traditional bookshops against the more corporate mega bookstores. That Ryan and Hanks continue to prove their irresistible chemistry (Joe Versus the Volcano, Sleepless in Seattle). That love over the internet is possible, no matter how far away they feel or which neighborhood they live in. The line “I wanted it to be you.”. The main reason though, well, that would Nora Ephron, who owned the romantic comedy genre, and gave it some real depth, a kind of comfort we happily embrace, and genuine wit we simply adore. God rest her soul.

Originally posted August 2015.

Two Days, One Night At The Cannes Film Festival

So thanks to my adorable wife I’ll be In #Cannes Saturday and Sunday for the sheer hell of it – let’s meet up / take selfies. #Cannes2017 pic.twitter.com/2N7eZjWshv

— Robin Write (@WriteoutofLA) May 16, 2017

I was on the train from my home town in Yorkshire, England, en voyage to Cannes France, and found there was something instrumentally surreal about travelling so early in the morning (the train departed sometime before 6am), the day has barely opened its eyes, I was doing something new, adventurous, spontaneous – I had so much anticipation, adrenaline, anxiety in my semi-awake state to the extent I didn’t recognize where I was from. And that was a good thing, I thought, I was somehow focused on where I was going. When I opened the care package that my dear wife had lovingly put together (sausage / egg sandwiches, a flapjack, apple pies, a bowl of magnificent, homemade keftedes), I was indeed comforted. She could have almost been here with me, and obviously wish she was. And the kids too if they must.

Cannes is a wonderful place to write about. Primarily, though, the writing comes hard because the soaking up of this extraordinary experience takes up the majority of your time. And so it should. At the back of your mind you know at some point you simply have to write these moments down, and, of course, sleep. Breathing comes with the territory. As does eating. Finding a place to sit is relatively easy given the hustle bustle every which way you turn. But this is so due to the sheer amount of venues to park your butt, pick up a menu, and make your choice. And those choices are seldom easy, so much variety of food and drink, that even succumbing to your default favorites is hardly possible as the range almost brainwashes you.

I overheard an American say “Hey they do croissants here”, even the implicit, buried notions of France (and indeed Americans) and the French ring true at times as a pleasant surprise. Of course they do croissants here, I mean, where you searching for the basics for some time? The idea the French are rude is perhaps exaggerated too – a stereotype with as much weight as me having a cup of tea and looking down my nose at you. You should come walk around the streets of the UK sometime, we have rude people too, folk that hardly look where they are going, and struggle to hold a door open for you. From what I saw, the French people walk across the street when they feel like it, even during police / security patrolled barrier – no man in uniform or indeed red lit man man is going to tell them what to do. That’s the nature of the beast.

And although the Cannes experience at this time of year is about the movies, there are so many social strands you simply must live through – the full benefits of which you will have to settle for dreaming about as the variables are just too vast. Overhearing conversations about a film they saw, they produced, they wrote, they were part of in some way, here to represent, even seeing the red carpet arrivals – those faces we don’t recognize, they all contribute to film and we have no true way of measuring to what significance – thy are integral all the same. While I was finishing an espresso, two young women sat at my table, one was telling the other, while finger pointing through a program, about various Canadian funded film projects she was perhaps endorsing. I eavesdropped naturally, I would be an idiot not to. The film talk exudes and is part of the oxygen. It was exhilarating at that moment, and not just because of the caffeine, to hear them mention names I had mostly not heard of – the art of discovery.

I often wondered is this laid back aura here when the festival is not with us. I suspect with less congestion and hectic flocks of people with badges it is far more serene. And for those that reside here in the south of France this is all so normal anyway. Those badges then, you’re basically an outsider if you are not wearing one. Every man and his dog is wearing an official festival badge on a lanyard around their necks. Like the one I wear for work but with far more prestige, pride and power attached. In fact so many folk from around the world were donning these badges I wondered why on Earth I didn’t apply for accreditation this year. I mean, I love this festival as much as anyone who has yet to experience the full force of it. And I endorse it with unadulterated passion, especially this time of year. You could say, they need my publicity. You could. I saw people of all demographics with a badge – photographers, journalists, bloggers, students, young, old, female, male – hell, I was in danger of being stampeded by badge-wearing children. Okay, I kid. But it was a peculiar feeling, that I sat at opposing ends of an abstract spectrum, I was too old, too young, shackled, privileged, all simultaneously.

I thus felt completely out of it from time to time, like that will never be me queuing for a press screening, or do I even have the ultimate confidence and audacity to partake. I’m not ashamed to admit that at minor times during my French rendezvous, I felt a suffocating despair and regret, an overwhelming sense of being a complete outsider. Those emotions are fleeting, but they hit hard. Certainly not helped by the amount of walking I did, immeasurable, self-inflicted, but my poor feet hated me I know it. Acting on the age-old tip to pack comfortable shoes would have somewhat halted the severe pain I was in, and still feeling the aches up to my calves days later. Alas, the Cannes Films Festival is not just about watching movies. But as well as enjoying the sun, the walking (to a point), the food, the hospitality, the views, the high life, you also have to have your wits about you. A little bit of sneakiness, minor shoulder charging, nifty footwork amidst the event crowds doesn’t have to be rude barging or kicking. Skills I will work on, and be better and stronger the next time.

With the beautiful Claudia Cardinale plastered all over town, on one of the festival’s finest posters I might add, Cannes was aglow with the movies. But the true starlet, the angel that stood grander than the iconic Italian / Tunisian actress towering above me in red, was the Greek legend who made this small but immense trip possible. I’d like to add to that what else she has made possible in my life but there are too many words to attribute to. In this instance, my uncompromisingly, generous wife gave me the kick I wanted to just get up and go to Cannes. It’s true I missed her dearly, even in those two days and one night, and ultimately returning home was something concrete I could look forward to beyond the excellent film adventure I had. Efharisto agapi mou. Je t’aime.

V.O.D. or a Palme d’Or?

That’s an anagram of Pedro Almodóvar by the way.#Cannes70 #CannesFilmFestival #Cannes pic.twitter.com/cDVwz08Luz

— Robin Write (@WriteoutofLA) May 19, 2017