Daily Archives: October 14, 2016

Hiroshima mon amour (1959)

Posted on October 14, 2016 | 4 comments

Hiroshima mon amour
Directed by Alain Resnais
Written by Marguerite Duras
1959/France/Japan
Argos Films/Como Films/Daiei Studios/Pathe Entertainment
First viewing/Netflix rental
#358 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

[box] Elle: Like you, I have fought with all my might not to forget. Like you, I have forgotten.[/box]

Alain Resnais’ debut feature is an exquisite meditation on loss and memory.

The setting is 1958 Hiroshima.  The characters are known only as Elle (She) (Emanuelle Rivas) and Lui (He) (Eiji Okada).  She is in town to act in an international peace film.  She has a husband and children in Paris.  He has a wife on vacation.  They meet and enjoy a night of unexpected bliss.  He thinks he loves her and wants her to stay.

The intensity of their love and desire awakens long suppressed memories of her first love. During the war, the eighteen-year-old had a passionate romance with a German soldier in her hometown of Nevers.  As the war ended, he was killed and she was publicly shamed for consorting with the enemy.  The affair and the setting provide a catalyst for her to come to terms with her pain.

This movie is a visual and auditory feast.  The images and score have perhaps more impact than the words.

Yet it is also a thought-provoking.  Resnais was asked to make a film about Hiroshima but the tragedy was too big to grasp in mere celluloid.  Instead we focus on a personal tragedy.  Coupled with the setting, the story gets us closer to the grief and loss brought about by the bomb and more globally.  Rivas is fantastic, both as the modern woman and as the young girl in the many flashbacks.  Recommended.

Restoration trailer

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Posted in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, 1959

The Hideous Sun Demon (1958)

Posted on October 14, 2016 | Leave a comment

The Hideous Sun Demon
Directed by Robert Clarke and Tom Boutross
Written by E.S. Seeley Jr. and Doane R. Hoag from an original idea by Robert Clarke and Phil Hiner
1959/USA
Clarke-King Enterprises
Repeat viewing/YouTube

 

[box] Trudy Osborne: [playing the piano, and singing] Strange Pursuit, The pursuit of love, Is a strange compelling desire. Though you’re near, You’re not mine to hold, And I want the joy your lips inspire. / My heart is bare, You know I care, Will you take my love, or throw it away? Please let me know, Just “yes” or “no.” Why the great suspense in this game you play?

Strange Pursuit, The pursuit of love, Has me breathless with a burning fire. On and on, Goes the maddening chase. Never ending is love’s strange desire. / Oo-ooh oo-ooh, Strange Pursuit.[/box]

This spends too much on “singing” and fistfights and not enough on the monster.

Dr. Gil McCenna has a drinking problem despite being warned that “bourbon and Science don’t mix.” One day when he is hung over, he drops a new radioactive isotope at the lab where he works. When Gil is taken to the hospital roof top to sun himself, it starts a process of “reverse evolution” turning him into a lizard man. When Gil remains indoors and at night, he turns back into his normal studly self. However, Gil cannot lay off the sauce or resist the temptations of the buxom “singer/piano player” (and I use these terms advisedly) at the local bar, so he continues to menace society.

This was produced, directed, and starred in by monster-movie actor Robert Clarke on a tiny budget. It is kind of a cross between a film noir (with plenty of two-fisted action) and science-fiction. It is pretty bad but not bad enough to bring a smile to my face. Still, there are some unforgettable moments, mostly involving Clarke and the blonde, that made it worth watching. They must have the most schizoid relationship in movie history.  Oh, and there’s that ultra-cool rubber mask.

The movie was re-dubbed and rereleased in 1983 as What’s Up, Hideous Sun Demon. That sounds like it has potential!

Trailer

Joe Dante on the film – Trailers from Hell

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Posted in 1959