Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939) – A-
Director: Sam Wood
Starring: Robert Donat, Greer Garson, Terry Kilburn, Paul Henreid
Awards: Won – Actor (Donat), Nominated – Actress (Garson), Director, Editing, Sound Recording, Written Screenplay, Picture
Goodbye, Mr. Chips is a heartwarming tale about a stuffy schoolteacher who takes a position at Brookfield Public School in Britain and remains there for sixty years. The film’s many charms include Donat as the initially misunderstood and later beloved Mr. Chipping, who eventually comes out of his shell at the school and becomes an institution almost equally important as Brookfield itself. His interactions with students through the years are artfully written, as we see Chipping teach the sons and grandsons of his first classes of students. The honest and believable love between Chipping and his wife Kathy (Garson) is an additional treat in this joyful look at a long and fulfilling life. Goodbye, Mr. Chips was later made into a 1969 musical starring Peter O’Toole and Petula Clark in the lead roles.
Westworld (1973) – B
Director: Michael Crichton
Starring: Yul Brynner, Richard Benjamin, James Brolin
Westworld is perhaps the apex of unsettling, dystopian 1970s science fiction. The film follows two men (Benjamin and Brolin) and their vacation to Delos, an amusement park populated with lifelike androids who indulge the human guests with their every wish. Naturally, the robots malfunction and turn on the humans, systematically killing them. Westworld’s bleakness and grimness in story and in look and feel play nicely against the fancy, technologically advanced androids and the gizmos and gadgets that control them. Brynner, playing a mindless, automated version of his character from The Magnificent Seven (1960), is very effective as a methodical robotic gunslinger.
Control Room (2004) – C-
Director: Jehane Noujaim
Featuring: Hassan Ibrahim, Josh Rushing, Samir Khader
Control Room would have been more interesting if it discussed the nuts and bolts of how Al Jazeera, the Arab-language news channel, operates and functions. We hear motivational ideology and political strategy from those who represent the channel, and Control Room does clearly display the fine line Al Jazeera had to walk following the 2003 coalition invasion of Iraq. Al Jazeera had a responsibility to present the news to its constituents honestly and fairly while facing pressure from coalition and anti-coalition governments, and this conundrum is expertly discussed and argued by both sides. However, it felt like Control Room could have gone deeper, that the viewer never gets a sense of the influence of the network, and that the backdrop of the 2003 Iraq invasion limited the scope of the film too intensely. Watching it made me very much like to see a better, more informative film about Al Jazeera and media in the Arab world.
Some Kind of Monster (2004) – B+
Director: Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky
Featuring: James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Robert Trujillo, Kirk Hammett, Bob Rock
Although Some Kind of Monster came out seven years ago, and although by the time it was released the long hair and, I would argue, the good music were long gone, there is still something jarring about seeing Metallica sitting at a therapist roundtable talking about their personal problems. Some Kind of Monster is an honest, personal and oftentimes emotional look at the world’s most famous heavy metal band. It works because of that honesty; because we feel we’re seeing things that the people involved don’t want to show us. Of course, these aren’t the smartest men in the world, and they don’t always eloquently relate their emotions to each other or the camera, but seeing through their bravado infused dimness and bullshit reveals real drama. At the time this was filmed, the members of Metallica had lost all confidence in themselves and in each other. It’s a sad but important document if you wish to understand what twenty years in a world famous rock band can do to some people.
Throne of Blood (1957) – A
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Starring: Toshiro Mifune, Isuzu Yamada, Minoru Chiaki
Throne of Blood is a retelling of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, set in feudal Japan. It is directed by Akira Kurosawa and stars his longtime collaborator Toshiro Mifune. It would seem to be easier to work within the boundaries of a famous story, but we’ve looked at films on this blog before (Stray Dog, Yojimbo) that confirm to us that Kurosawa is a master of working within his own material as well. What Kurosawa does here is more impressive because he transforms one of the most famous stories in history and makes it his own.
The film stays true to the Macbeth story, with Mifune playing the title character and giving in to his inert evilness with prodding from a witch’s prediction and from his power-hungry wife. The gradual disintegration of Mifune’s soul as he is pulled by the evil forces around him is haunting and mesmerizing. I assume this won’t spoil anything, because the source material for Throne of Blood is so ubiquitous. In one particular scene of the film, the Lady Macbeth character (played by Isuzu Yamada) is prompting Mifune to kill his lord and hands him a samurai sword with which to commit the deed. Mifune, in one of the better moments of acting I have seen, takes the sword, wild-eyed, and cackles, briefly but maniacally. He realized what he is about to do, and in that split second gives in to his self-degradation. It is a brilliant scene in a brilliant film.
I’ll be back very shortly with Part Two, where we’ll talk about On Golden Pond, The Darjeeling Limited, A Man for All Seasons, In the Heat of the Night, Hoop Dreams, and Bullitt.
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