Epistemophobia on 6/7/09 at 7:32 PM

Although Satyajit Ray is a fairly well-known director, he has made so many films that it is difficult to know which ones to look out for. Hence I recommend 'Days and Nights in the Forest' as one of his best. Four men go on holiday together for a week, and they act as four men on holiday would.

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TheWanderer on 6/6/09 at 1:19 PM

This forum is sure going to have a lot of posts! Let's get the ball rolling with four great movies.

First movie is a TV movie series called "Marco Polo" (1982). I was first attracted to it by Morricone's fabulous score, and the few comments on IMDB and Amazon that highly recommended it. It's one of the few highly rated TV series not available on DVD, and I was one of the lucky few to get my hands on it! It is a wondrous work of art; a beautiful piece of story-telling based on this medieval traveler's experiences as he followed the silk route caravans deep into Persia, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan and reaching China.

It's always good to see cameo performances by established stars and this version of a historical wonder-man is no exception (Gielgud, Bancroft, McShane, Lancaster, to name a few). The over-all casting deserves high marks, especially the role of Marco (young and older). Filled with humor, pathos, excitement, and welcomed verisimilitude, this is a series that deserves to be re-run.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083446/

2nd movie is Hakuchi (1951) by Kurosawa, based on an adaptation Dostoevsky's novel "The Idiot." Kurosawa modernizes the story and moves it from Russia in summer to Hokkaido in winter. The great Russian director Grigori Kozintsev thought this film captured the spirit of the novel remarkably well -- and who am I to disagree. I seriously wonder whether someone unfamiliar with the novel could follow this film, in its currently disjointed state -- but for those who know and love Dostoevsky's story (and characters), this film is a delight and a revelation. By and large, the actors do a remarkable job of capturing the essence of Dostoevsky's cast. I recently also saw an otherwise fine Russian version of "Crime and Punishment", which failed to capture the richness of tone of the novel, missing every trace of any sort of humor (an essential element of the book). Kurosawa, on the other hand, managed to ricochet from melodrama to humor to tragedy without missing a beat -- sometimes within the bounds of a single shot. Frankly, I never would have thought this possible. Another interesting facet of the direction here -- this often looked more like a silent film from the 20s or 30s than a film of the 50s.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043614/

2nd topic would contain the later two movies!

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Epistemophobia on 6/6/09 at 5:22 AM

Let us begin with a personal favourite of mine. 'Morning Patrol' is a very moving post-apocalyptic sci-fi film, with an evocative, dream-like aesthetic that you will surely lose yourself in.

My full review can be read here: http://monoursblanc.wordpress.com/2008/07/13/morning-patrol-nikos-nikolaidis-1987/

Has anyone else seen this?

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