Wednesday 7 October 2015

Room (Lenny Abrahamson, 2015)


ROOM
Director: Lenny Abrahamson; Canada-Ireland, 2015
Reviewed by Kiomars Vejdani

The film is from the point of view of a boy of five who has lived from birth in the confinement of a shed with no direct contact with the world outside. We share his restricted world and his confused perception of reality due to limited feedback he receives from his environment. For him a fly is real because it exists in his room but cats, dogs, and trees are illusion because they exist only on TV screen. The fact that he still has a good understanding of the world is because of her mother. She shares her son's confined environment and has made it the main task of her life to teach her son everything about world outside so that his perception of it remains normal. As the story progresses we come to realize the horrifying circumstances which has led to their present situation. The crucial question we face is how the boy is going to react to his own perception of reality after he reaches the world out side. The film answers this question in a most satisfying way. Lenny Abrahamson has built a powerful drama based on an unusual and emotive subject treated with great sensitivity and gentleness.

Tuesday 6 October 2015

Murnau's 4 Devils - Production Design Drawings

Feminine Vertigo [RIP Chantal Akerman 1950-2015]

Notes on Chantal Akerman's encounter with Hitchcock and Marcel Proust
Recently in a collection of articles in an Iranian film journal, dedicated to the Hitchcock’s Vertigo, one of my colleagues had chronicled the films influenced by Vertigo which covers many films from 1958 up to this day, directly inspired by Hitchcock’s masterpiece, or as an homage to it. Though a long and interesting list, it lacked one decisive title which in a sense is the most vertigoic of the all vertigo childrens; A film that presents love, death, voyeurism and obsession in the most contemporary context, reverses some of the gender issues of the original film, and significantly it’s been directed by a woman.  The film is La Captive [The Captive] (2000), directed by Chantal Akerman and an adaptation of Marcel Proust’s La Prisoniere (volume five of In Search of Lost Time).


The story follows Simon (Stanislas Merhar), survivor of a wealthy family who lives with his grandmother (Midge?), and in love with Ariane (Sylvie Testud), while she is in love with both Simon and Andrée (a girl with whom she has a close relationship). Simon is allergic and vulnerable even to the smell of flowers.  Such is Simon’s vertigo and interestingly, there are workers painting the walls, throughout the film, leaving him to cope with allergic reactions to the smell of paint. Simon wants to change Ariane and shape her, like a statue, to his own liking. He tries hard, but fails, as Ariane drowns (or get lost) at sea.
Akerman’s film has a prologue which serves as an equivalent to the roof chase scene at the beginning of the Vertigo. Simon is watching an 8mm film of a woman, whom he will be eventually following. The shots become closer to the woman and Simon is obsessed by her. This is Simon’s fall!

Then story more and less follows the pattern of Vertigo that is mostly evident in the two Hitchcockian themes of chase and gaze. Similarities are more than one can imagine: following her by car and the static medium shot of Simon, following her to the museum and the hotel, she is dressed in grey, he stands in the doorways and looks at her emotionless. In the museum there is a statue of a woman whose hair reminds us of Kim Novak’s famous bun. These alternations in Akerman’s work when become necessary, and even crucial, that the idea of possession turns into male looking at female as a museum piece, a lifeless object that could be the source of passion and inspiration. Akerman points his camera to the masculine mindsets of Simon. One of the most expressive scenes happens in the museum, when Simon is surrounded by statues of women who have missing arms, heads or legs. Simon is unable to link the real identities of the woman he loves, or he thinks he love, with his thoughts and temptations which are based upon “women as an object to worship and idolize”. There is a physical obstacle between him and women (as in the famous poster showing a glass barrier between Simon and Ariane) that makes him a mere observer.


In Akerman’s view, things could be simple, real and tangible for a woman. Woman lives and the man’s life is watching the woman live.  Ariane allows Simon to mold her into the object of his desires, obeys his every whim and wish. The combination of his authority and her total compliance leads the situation to a bitter end, Akerman’s version of the tower of death. During his long drive to the beach, Simon tries to search the real core of Ariane. For the very first time we see him trying to understand her. But his efforts are shattered by her death in the sea. The closing scene shows Simon (Scottie?) on a boat, searching for her body. As in the last scene of Vertigo, everything is in grey. If Scottie overcomes his fear, Simon seems to be lost forever.

La Captive is not a masterpiece, but it has many brilliant ideas in dealing with Vertigo which are executed almost flawless. I think this is one of the best tributes to Hitchcock’s cinema. If Vertigo between psychoanalysis and poetry choose the second, La Captive stays faithful to the first, and creates a powerful dreamlike story of the oldest notion of possession in history: man owning woman! She dismantles this concept, demystifies it, and stays calm all the way.

Feminine Vertigo [Farsi][repost]


شانتال آكرمن، ديروز، دوشنبه، خودكشي كرد. - 14 مهر 1394

پرسۀ شانتال آكرمن در دنياي هيچكاك و پروست
سرگيجۀ زنانه

در شماره مهر 1389 ماهنامه 24 حسن حسيني به فهرستي از فيلم‌هايي اشاره كرده كه زمينه‌ها را براي ظهور سرگيجه فراهم كرده‌اند (كه البته بيشترشان بدون تأثير مستقيم بر خالق سرگيجه فقط پيشينه‌هاي سينمايي سرگيجه محسوب مي‌شوند) و سپس فهرست طولاني‌تري از فيلم‌هاي بعد از سرگيجه، آثاري كه با تأثير بلاواسطه از شاهكار هيچكاك يا به‌عنوان اداي دين به آن ساخته شده‌اند. من مايلم به فهرست او يك فيلم ديگر (از ميان انبوهي از فيلم‌هاي كه مي‌توان جزو چنين فهرستي دانست) اضافه كنم، فيلمي كه به نظر مي‌رسد بيش از اداي دين‌هاي مستقيم و معمولاً آسيب ديده از تصويرپردازي‌هاي خلاقانه، اما بي‌بنيان دي‌پالما مانند وسوسه (1976) و بدل (1984) به روح سرگيجه نزديك‌تر [1] و تنها وابسته به مفاهيم اصلي فيلم و چند تصوير ازلي آن است؛ فيلمي كه مفهوم عشق، وويريزم و وسوسه را در متني امروزي تكرار مي‌كند و از همه مهم‌تر اين كه وسوسه مردانه، كه نقطه ديد فيلم و زاويه روايت آن است، حفظ شده، اما اين‌بار راوي و تعيين كننده مسير اين نگاه، يك زن است: شيفته/زنداني [La captive] (2000)، ساختۀ خانم شانتال آكرمن، بر اساس داستان زنداني مارسل پروست، از جلد پنجم در جستجوي زمان از دست رفته.
داستان تقريباً چنين است: سيمون (استانيلاس مرار) شيفتۀ آريان (سيلوي تسو) مي‌شود. آريان دو هويت دارد (او هم شيفته سيمون است و هم آندره، دختري كه با او روابطي نزديك دارد). سيمون مي‌خواهد آريان را به شكلي كه خودش مي‌خواهد در بياورد. تمام سعي خود را مي‌كند، اما ناكام مي‌ماند، به‌خصوص وقتي در انتها آريان در دريا غرق مي‌شود يا اين‌كه گم مي‌شود. سيمون كه احتمالاً تنها بازمانده‌ خانواده‌اي ثروتمند است كه با مادربزرگش (ميج!) زندگي مي‌كند. او دچار آلرژي است و بوي يك دسته گل مي‌تواند او را زمين‌گير كند. اين سرگيجه سيمون است و جالب اين كه در تمام فيلم در خانۀ قديمي او عده‌اي مشغول رنگ كردن ديوارها هستند. موقعيت بحراني او عبارت است از تركيب آلرژي و بوي رنگ!
 
روايت آكرمن يك مقدمه كوتاه و متفاوت دارد كه مي‌‌توان آن را معادل تعقيب روي بام سرگيجه دانست. سيمون در حال تماشاي فيلمي هشت ميلي‌متري از زني است كه بعدها دست به تعقيبش مي‌زند. نماها مرتباً به زن نزديك‌تر مي‌شوند و سيمون شيفته او مي‌شود. اينfall  سيمون است (كه در انگليسي هم براي سقوط و هم عاشق شدن به كار مي‌رود). [2] سپس فيلم در فصل‌ آغازينش مو به مو الگوي سرگيجه را به كار مي‌برد. سيمون آريان را پياده يا با اتوموبيل تعقيب مي‌كند. رنگ لباس آريان خاكستري است. نماهاي نقطه نظر سيمون از خيابان‌ها و ماشين آريان، نماهايي عموماً طولاني و تقريباً هميشه ساده‌اند. سيمون در تعقيب آريان به هتل و سپس موزه مي‌‌رود. موهاي آريان تاب‌خورده و هميشه باز است، بنابراين به جاي تأكيد روي گره موي او آكرمن مجسمه‌اي با آرايش موي كيم نوواك را جايگزين مي‌كند. تغيير آكرمن وقتي سرنوشت ساز مي‌شود كه در نگاه مردانه، زن، شيئي كه مايل است آن را به تملك خود در بياورد مجسمه‌اي سرد و سنگي است. در سكانس موزه اطراف سيمون مملو از مجسمه‌هايي است كه پيكره‌هايي بي‌دست، بي‌پا يا بي‌سر از زنان را نشان مي‌دهد. سيمون قادر نيست بين هويت‌ واقعي زناني كه احاطه‌اش كرده‌اند، با وسوسه‌هاي خود و تخيلات مردانه‌اش پيوندي برقرار كند. او هميشه با فاصله فيزيكي – مثل نماي معروفي كه او و آريان با شيشه از هم جدا شده‌اند – در كنار زنان قرار مي‌گيرد، يا اين كه مثل مجسمه تنها بهره‌اي كه مي‌برد «نظاره كردن» است.
 
در نگاه آكرمن همه چيز براي زن ساده، واقعي، ملموس و زميني است. زن زندگي مي‌كند و مرد تنها اين زندگي كردن را نظاره مي‌كند. مرد منفعل است و معناي زندگي‌اش را از راه نگاه به زندگي زن به دست مي‌آورد. زن اجازه مي‌دهد تا مرد او را به شكلي كه خودش مي‌خواهد دربياورد. او مطيع خواسته‌اي مرد است و انتخاب، حتي انتخاب آب‌پز بودن يا نبودن تخم مرغ‌هاي شام، را به مرد وامي‌گذارد. اما تركيب وسواس‌ها و فرمان‌بري‌هايِ پايان‌نا‌پذير همه چيز را به آخر خط مي‌رساند. مرد در رانندگي طولاني به سوي دريا – معادل حركت به سوي كليساي اسپانيول– سعي مي‌كند به حقيقت دروني زن پي ببرد. تلاش او با مرگ نابهنگام زن و گم شدنش در تاريكي دريا ناتمام مي‌ماند. آخرين نماي فيلم سيمون را سوار بر قايقي در جستجوي جسد زن نشان مي‌دهد. همه چي مثل نماي آخر سرگيجه خاكستري است.
 
شيفته/زنداني يك شاهكار نيست، و حتي لحظات گذرايي هست كه فيلم در آن كند و بي‌رمق به نظر مي‌رسد، اما ايده‌هاي ساختاري آن درخشان‌اند و به خوبي اجرا شده‌اند. بخشي كه به سرگيجه هيچكاك مربوط مي‌شود فيلم را به يكي از بهترين اداي دين‌ها به دنياي هيچكاك بدل كرده است. بايد گفت دقيقاً به خاطر تغيير نگاه مردانه به زنانه، فيلم شاكرمن به وسوسه‌ها و رنج‌هايي كه بعدي شاعرانه به فيلم هيچكاك داده، نگاهي واقعي انداخته است، به همين خاطر فيلم او بيشتر شبيه به تحليل يك روانكاو است تا روايت يك شاعر. بقيه زناني كه در اين سرگيجه نقشي مهم داشته‌اند عبارتند از: سابين لانسلين با فيلم‌برداري رنگ‌مرده و تابلو وارش، كلر آترتون با تدوين تعليق‌دار و بلاخره كريستين مارتي با طراحي صحنه درخشانش.
 
تصور من اين است كه تأثير سرگيجه بر سينما پاياني نخواهد داشت، درست همان‌طور كه بيل كرون درباره موقعيت مادلن اظهار نظر مي‌كند: «شاید سرگیجه ساختار یک رویا را داشته باشد اما چنین نکات ظریفی آن را تبدیل به چیزی دیگر می‌کند: چشم‌بندی با نوار سلولوید، زنجیره‌ای از وهم. به‌همین‌خاطر توهمی ‌به نام مادلن هرگز توجیه نخواهد شد و تنها تا ابد ادامه خواهد یافت.» تا زماني كه مادلن هست، سرگيجه ادامه خواهد داشت و به همين ترتيب فيلم‌هايي مانند شيفته/زنداني. همه اين فيلم‌ها نمايش مرداني هستند كه دچار بزرگ‌ترين نوع وسوسه‌اند: وسوسه براي خود وسوسه به عنوان راهي براي زنده بودن، شركت در بازي و مادامي كه فيلم‌ها مطرحند، اشاره به ماهيت خود سينما.


پانويس:
[1] منهاي Dressed to Kill ، شاهكاري از دي‌پالما كه چكيده سينماي هيچكاك و رواني است و گهگاه، مثل سكانس موزه، از الگوي اصلي‌اش هم پيشي مي‌گيرد.
[2] اين بازي‌هاي كلامي با تصوير، در خود سرگيجه فراوانند. مشهورترين آن به بعد اروتیک فيلم و عبارت Laying a ghost برمي‌گردد كه Lay هم می‌تواند معنای جن‌گیری داشته باشد و هم تصاحب تن.

Beasts of No Nation (Cary Fukunaga, 2015)


BEASTS OF NO NATIONS
Director: Cary Fukunaga; USA, 2015
Reviewed by Kiomars Vejdani

The film is from the point of view of a small boy in an unnamed war-torn African country. Director Cary Fukunaga has created an infernal atmosphere where chaos and cruelty rules and human life has lost its value. In this nightmarish setting he takes us through the emotional odyssey of its protagonist. We watch the boy's transformation from an innocent and carefree childhood (in the extremely funny scene of "imagination TV") to horror of watching his father and brother being killed, desperation and misery of being left alone and unprotected, to joining the rebel group and becoming a killing machine shooting anyone considered enemy without getting upset or giving it any thought. In the end when he is taken out of war zone and put in a boy's camp we see him reverting to normal boyhood playing with the others on the beach. But how much of his childhood innocence has been lost we can not tell for sure, as such an experience is bound to leave some deep scars on his soul. The film is a powerful drama of loss of human values.

Monday 5 October 2015

The Here After (Magnus von Horn, 2015)


THE HERE AFTER 
Director: Magnus von Horn; Sweden | Poland | France, 2015
Reviewed by Kiomars Vejdani

Film relates the tragedy of a young boy who because of a major crime (killing his girlfriend) has been marked for life. Even though he has been punished by law for serving his term of sentence, community is not prepared to forget and forgive his crime. Director Magnus von Horn builds his drama with assured pace. The film's tension escalates in proportion to the intensity of community's hostility and the boy's frustration. It ends at the highest point of his despair. A morally vague but tue ending, for what he has done can not be forgiven not even by himself.


Sunday 4 October 2015

Bang Gang (Eva Husson, 2015)


BANG GANG (A MODERN LOVE STORY) 
Director: Eva Husson; France, 2015
Reviewed by Kiomars Vejdani

Director Eva Husson uses detailed character study of a group of teenagers to explore sexual behaviour of younger generation of present day, their carefree attitude toward sex even to the extreme of promiscuity such as orgies. But at the end film uses a traumatic scandalous incident to take a morally conservative stand toward sex and a belief in a long term stable relationship, a last minute change of mind which affects the film's thematic consistency.

Saturday 3 October 2015

11 Minutes (Jerzy Skolimowski, 2015)


11 MINUTES
Jerzy Skolimowski; Poland/Ireland, 2015
Reviewed by Kiomars Vejdani

A series of events run alongside each other: A young attractive woman is having an audition by a film director in his flat; A jealous and suspicious husband is trying to find the whereabouts of his wife; A pregnant woman is taken to hospital by ambulance; A young man is trying to commit suicide; A motor cyclist driving very fast worried about his affair with a married woman being exposed; And a street vendor selling hot dogs to three nuns. As the stories of these characters move parallel to each other the tension of each situation begins to rise, and as the tempo of parallel action increases we begin to suspect some connection between them. Their stories seem to be converging towards a collision point, and as they get closer to this point the tension of the drama increases until at the moment of collision it ends in a catastrophic tragedy. Only in retrospect we realize we were watching 11 minutes in the lives of these people (hence the title of the film). The aim of Skolimowski's tense drama is ultimately to show the role of fate in our lives.

Friday 2 October 2015

High-Rise (Ben Wheatley, 2015)


HIGH-RISE
Ben Wheatley; UK, 2015
Reviewed by Kiomars Vejdani

Ben Wheatley's new film has the chaotic world of Fields of England. Although film at its starting point is a satire on Thatcher's era and its values, it stretches far beyond that point into the territory of Apocalypse in the making. An unbalanced world with its standards crumbling symbolised by a tall "high rise" building which despite (or perhaps because of) its elaborately sophisticated architecture, its structure seems off balance and expected to collapse any minute. The metaphor of social distance and class difference has been made only too obvious with lower class in floors below leading a miserable life while upper class on top floor have all the amenities and luxuries at their disposal. Disintegration of social system leads to retrograde movement of civilisation, eventually reaching to a primitive level of existence when people start to eat their own dogs.

Ben Weatley is a master of showing horrors of dehumanisation while in his treatment replacing horror with humour. 

Thursday 1 October 2015

Chevalier (Athina Rachel Tsangari, 2015)


CHEVALIER 
Athina Rachel Tsangari; Greece, 2015
Reviewed by Kiomars Vejdani

A group of six men on a boat on holiday get engaged in a series of games to decide who is the overall best among them. Director Athina Rachel Tsangari uses this setting to explore mental state of her characters and their development in detail. At the beginning of the film they are mature and logical men. But as the games progress they gradually become more immature. They lose their rational way of thinking, their controlled behaviour and altogether civilised side of their nature, with basic and primitive emotions and instincts coming to the surface They regress from state of adulthood to act like a child. Their immaturity, selfishness and low level of frustration tolerance becomes more apparent. Only after the game is over they return to normal state making us think about the futility of the whole exercise. It is a brilliant character study with a lot of humour. The joke of “blood brothers” is something to remember.