Films This Week

(Click here to read my general introduction to the 'Films This Week' series of posts.)

Only two this week…

1860

07/05/13

Went to the BFI to see 1860, which was great – I haven't seen a film depicting war as beautifully and as barbarically as this since Paths of Glory. The opening was frantic – effective, but also frustrating. The images were so stunning I wanted to soak them in for longer. So it felt overcut. Luckily, the editing soon settled down, but the splendour of the images remained throughout. It's not only a visual feast, though – there's a very quick, clever and convincing entwining of the personal with the political, making it an engaging and moving tale of the sacrifice of war.

La cicatrice intérieure

08/05/13

Back to the BFI for La cicatrice intérieure. It rendered me almost speechless. Writing about it seems reductive. (I am reminded both of my response to The Legend of the Suram Fortress

, and of Kubrick's statement that films are an experience). Perhaps something more abstract – like a poem – might be suitable. In fact, that might be fun… A poem:

Footsteps of the Black Sail

Fire
Footsteps
Faces
(Faces in longshot)
Black. White.
Dark light.
We fight.
Histrionic.
A primal scream.
A primordial screen.
Overplayed.

Sand. Water. Air.

Fire. Flesh.

Rock. Cock.

Footsteps
Trudge on.

Mystic mythic black.
Where are your balls?
Trudge on.

A boat.
We float.
Black sail.

Fire. Water. Air.
Footsteps
Footsteps
Faces (in longshot).

I suppose I could persist, and write something proper. But why? Because I know this will be published on my blog? I can't let that alter the way I write this journal – it defeats the purpose. And to persist in writing something for no reason, on this occasion, seems like it would diminish the primal impact of the film's power.

Spellbound.

An aside: I wonder if it was an influence on Gerry?

La cicatrice intérieure