BEST FILMS OF 1984 - List in Progress
by Mike Lorefice
Antonio Gaudi
Hiroshi Teshigahara
Refreshing documentary on the eponymous Spanish architect that let's his work do almost all the talking. Gaudi used shapes found in nature to design curved, spiral buildings utilizing parabolic arches and hyperbolized structures. His buildings had the upright posture of human beings, though they were probably based more on a tree's growth. Like God's architectures, Gaudi's work contained no straight lines. The fluid camera movement in, around, and through the constructions are in tune with, and flush out, Gaudi's style. Hiroshi Teshigahara lingers on Gaudi's buildings like Kevin Costner lingers on wolves, except in this case there's a point; the architecture is the world of the film and architect, and the world is the inspiration for and basis of his art. The film itself is a work of art with Teshigahara doing his best to eliminate everything beyond the work and influence of Gaudi, including his own presence and opinion. You don't learn many facts, you simply view the works as you would if you visited them. Actually, Teshigahara and his crew provide angles and close-ups of the textures only birds could attain. In any case, the viewer draws their own conclusions unless they are so taken by Gaudi's work they don't need to. The great evocative soundtrack by the incomparable Toru Takemitsu isn't afraid of dead silence, and prefers sound effects to an entire orchestra, though he'll become symphonic when the time is right. [1/18/07] ***
A Hiroshi Teshigahara premise - the hills around the family farm are caving in - filmed as if Andrei Tarkovsky decided to apply his waterlogged color drained highly textured vision to the neorealism of Ermanno Olmi's Tree of Wooden Clogs. That said, it's a quiet, moody, atmospheric thriller playing on the isolation of the family and the threat of a poacher (Frank Whitten) hired because the shepherd father dies in an accident at the beginning, leaving behind a daughter (Fiona Kay) who's too young, her grandfather (Bill Kerr) who's too old, and a widow (Penelope Stewart) who just wants to sell the place before the new shepherd deflowers her daughter. If Roman Polanski made an apartment terror with a girl on the verge of womanhood, it might be something like this clash between reality and fantasy where the possibility/threat of sex sinks the girl deeper and deeper into her fantasy world. The girl's dream world is very unpredictable because she's grown up in a secluded part of New Zealand, free of programming by corporations and their media. The supposed thinness of the plot is what makes it so exciting; the film isn't bound to the boredom of the usual cliches. Ward does an excellent job at portraying the farmers battles, with machine being something he winds up fighting with too often because nature is so unrelenting. An excellent, meditative work with strong performances, memorable visuals and score. If Ward's debut feature falls short of being a masterpiece, it's because it leans the most toward it's weakest aspect, failing to approach the depth and dimension Tarkovsky achieved with his mysticism and spirituality. [1/15/07] ***1/2
The 5th generation of Chinese filmmaking made their first mark with this collaboration between the two members who would become the best known, Kaige Chen & Yimou Zhang. Yellow Earth depicts the harshness of rural life and traditional values for a 14-year-old peasant girl living near the famous river in 1939. Her life is mapped out, struggling against nature on her father's farm until she's soon forced into an arranged marriage with some much older man like her 12-year-old sister was. The girl has an awakening when a communist soldier shows up looking to learn folk songs so he can teach them to his comrades. It seems to have the propaganda aspect of suggesting salvation lies is joining the army, trying to pawn off the joy of singing as a sign of freedom even though at least left alone with the animals you can choose your own song. However, the relationship between the girl and soldier isn't the transcendental one we suspect, instead it subtly shows the gap between the ways of the people and the ways of the party, the fact that a new ideology doesn't readily change an ancient way of life. The end turns out to be another cruel joke of fate. We are left with the ironic closing song "The Communist Party will save us all!" but the communist does not save the girl as he promises. It's a classic subversive closing, showing both the old and new ways to be equally indifferent to providing a quality life, content to just swallow people up. In the process, reviving these folk songs for a new audience helps reclaim some of the old culture the communist party wound up destroying. Yimou was still a cinematographer at this point, and his photography is the biggest reason to see the film. He takes full advantage of the imposing desolate mountainous terrain with lengthy takes and panoramics to show the negatives (loneliness, isolation, inescapability, humans are dwarfed if not swallowed up) as well as positives (space, freedom, nourishment at times). The film has very little dialogue, much is conveyed through the landscapes and the unstated. The use of sound is very important, with the songs that provide the thoughts and feelings of the characters and wind and water running showing nature's undeniable influence. Given the problems these two have had with censorship, it's a wonder this film wasn't banned in China like some of their later works. Perhaps the lack of literal storytelling confused the censors enough that they didn't pick up on the ironies? ***1/2
