BEST FILMS OF 1962
by Mike Lorefice

Antoine and Collette
Francois Truffaut

Number two in the Antoine Doinel incrementally and quality wise, Truffaut's segment of Love at Twenty charts the first love of the said 18-year-old (Jean-Pierre Leaud). Antoine, now a huge music fan that works in a record company stock room to support himself, notices college student Colette (Marie-France Pisier) at several classical music concerts. In largely wordless segments Truffaut depicts Antoine building up his courage until he finally talks to her. They soon become close friends, but things quickly break down into an unstated war of wills as both must define the relationship in their own terms. Antoine, who has been on his own for years, wants to be seen as a man, while and the slightly older Colette sees him as a younger relative. Antoine wants her to love him, but Colette only wants him for a friend. Poor Antoine's love is completely unrequited, but when you are the one that loves what can you do beyond hope that something will change in your favor or despair that it won't? One of the great things about the short is that it's willing to realistically depict a situation where the dreams and desires of a main character who is anything but a loser never turn into anything more. Even something like Colette's parents practically adopting him, which seems like such a great break, turns out to hurt his chances with her because she doesn't get along with her parents that well and won't let her pushy mother make decisions for her. Antoine can't quell his own determination; he can't stop himself wanting and needing her right now, from thinking short term, and that's something everyone can probably relate to. We can see that Antoine should have settled for a friend because they had great times together, let Colette have her own life rather than putting relationship to the test as taking chances will eventually backfire and cost you. Everything is easy when you have distance and hindsight, but when you are in Antoine's situation it's very hard unless you just hate yourself to understand why another person you really get along with wouldn't love you back. This is another melancholy Truffaut film in the sense that there is no happy ending as Colette does everything in her power to crush Antoine's love, but the youthful exuberance of Leaud and the way Truffaut's cinema loves life makes the work never feel like a downer. Though one of Truffaut's most autobiographical works, enough time has past that he can take a carefree attitude and laugh at himself without losing any of the awkwardness and desperation felt by his main character. Antoine & Colette is actually a playful film with lots of silly asides like Antoine's friend hinging his love on the length of the girl's hair. I appreciate how Truffaut will let certain things forever remain a mystery; it's such an important aspect of any film about memory but one that almost no filmmaker is willing to depict because plot always winds up equivalent to "fact". [9/18/06] ***1/2

An Autumn Afternoon
Yasujiro Ozu

****

Billy Budd
Peter Ustinov

***

Birdman of Alcatraz
John Frankenheimer

***1/2

Cape Fear
J. Lee Thompson

***

Carnival of Souls
Herk Harvey

***

La Commare Secca
Bernardo Bertolucci

***

Days of Wine and Roses
Blake Edwards

***

Eclipse
Michelangelo Antonioni

****

The Four Days of Naples
Nanni Loy

***1/2

Hatari!
Howard Hawks

***

Ivan's Childhood
Andrei Tarkovsky

****

La Jetee
Chris Marker

****

Full Movie Review

Jules and Jim
Francois Truffaut

****

A Kind of Loving
John Schlesinger

***

Knife in the Water
Roman Polanski

****

Lawrence of Arabia
David Lean

****

Full Movie Review

Lolita
Stanley Kubrick

***1/2

The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner
Tony Richardson

***

My Life To Live
Jean-Luc Godard

***1/2

Proces de Jeanne d'Arc
Robert Bresson

Telling the truth was the most important thing to Robert Bresson, and he accomplished his goal of creating the most historically accurate account of Joan of Arc's trial imaginable. Though masters Carl Theodor Dreyer & Jacques Rivette also based their very worthy films on the transcripts, Bresson barely has Joan say a word that isn't directly lifted. He downplays every other aspect to make the text the film; simplistic visuals merely complement the audio. The total lack of gesture and inflection force us to focus on the dialogue. In a sense it's the least dramatic film ever, but Bresson's economic reenactment of the interrogations makes every sentence important by eliminating everything that could separate one from another. One reason it works is Joan's trial obviously isn't fair; her accusers are just looking for any misstep to burn her over. Beyond focusing on the trial, Bresson opposes Dreyer at every turn. In The Passion of Joan of Arc, Dreyer depicted the internal by accentuating Joan's external physical torment. Bresson depicts the internal by downplaying the external, focusing on the spirituality contained in Joan's words of faith. In a sense Bresson is the films only villain, as his intrusive interrogating style makes Joan yield to and fight with Leonce-Henri Burel's camera. Florence Delay isn't even allowed to gaze into the camera, she must keep her eyes down. Bresson has her surrounded by hostile beings at all times, torturing her psychologically to break her faith while making sure Delay remains gentle in the face of the relentless onslaught. Delay's Joan is very human, she's uncertain how to respond since she's allowed no counsel, which perhaps leads us to believe her thoughtful and restrained answers are sincere. Joan is scared but courageous, resolute, and dignified. Joan is acting on faith, the basis of any religion, but the church is making a political power play asserting their earthly stranglehold over the ability to represent God. Bresson doesn't need to force any judgements on us; his cinema of restraint based on the removal of falseness allows us to come to his truth on our own. His style is ritualistic and spiritual, so whether we believe Joan actually communicated with angels and God, we at least believe she's sincere in believing she did. Joan finds her promised freedom when she realizes the available escape is to the heavens, where men can't tell God who to work though or dictate "God's justice". [3/26/07] ***1/2

Ride the High Country
Sam Peckinpah

***1/2

Seppuku
Masaki Kobayashi

****

Full Movie Review

To Kill A Mockingbird
Robert Mulligan

****

What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?
Robert Aldrich

****

Full Movie Review

Window Water Baby Moving
Stan Brakhage

***

Winter Light
Ingmar Bergman

***