Breathless - Criterion Collection

Description

There was before Breathless, and there was after Breathless. With its lack of polish, surplus of attitude, crackling personalities of rising stars Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg, and anything-goes crime narrative, Jean-Luc Godard's debut fashioned a simultaneous homage to and critique of the American film genres that influenced and rocked him as a film writer for Cahiers du cinema. Jazzy, free-form, and sexy, Breathless (A bout de souffle) helped launch the French new wave and ensured cinema would never be the same.

Customer Reviews:

Essential French Cinema: Godard's 'A Bout de Souffle.'.......2007-09-14

As a French New Wave director, Jean-Luc Godard (1930) was at the head of his class. Drawing from politics, film history, French intellectualism, existential and Marxist philosophy, Godard's radical films challenged the conventions of Hollywood cinema. Breathless (1964) is among his most accessible films. With all the energy of a 1940s' American gangster B-movie, it tells the simple story of Michel (Jean-Paul Belmondo), a young French petty street thief, who steals a car and kills a policeman, while meanwhile pursuing an American girl Patricia (Jean Seberg). Although she is wary of Michel's intentions and questions his lack of ambition, and proving that nice girls have a thing for bad boys, Patricia nevertheless spends time with him in Paris before deciding to turn him in. Throughout the film, using jarring editing techniques, handheld cameras, and a musical soundtrack that seems out of sync with the action, Godard succeeds at making his audience constantly aware that his film is a constructed reality having little to do with actual reality. Although the film's plot is thin, Breathless revolutionized French cinema. Of his films, Bande à part (also called Band of Outsiders) (1966) remains my Godard favorite and should not be missed.

The new dual-disc Criterion edition of Breathless includes a restored high-definition digital transfer (approved by director of photography Raoul Coutard), interviews with Godard, and actors Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Seberg, video essays: filmmaker and critic Mark Rappaport's "Jean Seberg" and critic Jonathan Rosenbaum's "Breathless as Film Criticism," an eighty-minute French documentary about the making of Breathless, with members of the cast and crew, the French theatrical trailer, and a booklet featuring writings from Godard, film historian Dudley Andrew, Francois Truffaut's original film treatment, and Godard's scenario.

G. Merritt

Criterion 2-disc specs.......2007-09-07

* - SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET FEATURES
* - New, restored high-definition digital transfer, approved by director of photography Raoul Coutard
* - Archival interviews with director Jean-Luc Godard, and actors Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Seberg, and Jean-Pierre Melville
* - New video interviews with Coutard, assistant director Pierre Rissient, and filmmaker D. A. Pennebaker
* - New video essays: filmmaker and critic Mark Rappaport's "Jean Seberg" and critic Jonathan Rosenbaum's "Breathless as Film Criticism"
* - Chambre 12, Hotel de suede, an eighty-minute French documentary about the making of Breathless, with members of the cast and crew
* - Charlotte et son Jules, a 1959 short film by Godard, starring Belmondo
* - French theatrical trailer
* - New and improved English subtitle translation
* - PLUS: A booklet featuring writings from Godard, film historian Dudley Andrew, Francois Truffaut's original film treatment, and Godard's scenario

1959
90 minutes
Black & White
1.33:1
Dolby Digital Mono 1.0
Not Anamorphic
French

Average customer rating:

Classy stylish French '60s film noir
Essential French cinema: Melville's 'Le Samouraï.'
Melville's version of a killer's code of honor. Carefully constructed, and cineastes will love it
Dressed to Kill
Le Samourai

Le Samourai - Criterion Collection
Starring: Alain Delon , François Périer , Nathalie Delon , Cathy Rosier , and Jacques Leroy
Director: Jean-Pierre Melville
Manufacturer: Criterion
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000AQKUG8
Release Date: 2005-10-25

Amazon.com

Alain Delon is the coolest killer to hit the screen, a film noir loner for the modern era, in Jean-Pierre Melville's austere 1967 French crime classic. Delon's impassive hit man, Jef Costello, is the ultimate professional in an alienated world of glass and metal. On his latest contract, however, he lets a witness live--a charming jazz pianist, Valerie (Cathy Rosier), who neglects to identify him in the police lineup. When Costello survives an assassination attempt by his employers, he carefully plots his next moves as cops and criminals close in and he prepares for one last job. Melville meticulously details every move by Costello and the police in fascinating wordless sequences, from Costello's preparations for his first hit to the cops' exhaustive efforts to tail Jef as he lines up his last; and his measured pace creates an otherworldly ambiance, an uneasy calm on the verge of shattering. Costello remains a cipher, a zen killer whose façade begins to crack as the world seems to be collapsing in on him, exposing the wound-up psyche hidden behind his blank face. Melville rethinks film noir in modern terms, as an existential crime drama in soft, somber color and sleek images (courtesy of cinematographer extraordinaire Henri Decaë). Le Samouraï inspired two pseudo-remakes, Walter Hill's Driver and John Woo's Killer, but neither film comes close to the compelling austerity and meticulous detail of Melville's cult masterpiece. --Sean Axmaker

Description

In a career-defining performance, Alain Delon plays blue-eyed Jef Costello, a fedora- and trench-coat-wearing contract killer with samurai instincts

Customer Reviews:

Classy stylish French '60s film noir.......2007-08-08

I had never heard of Jean-Pierre Melville, nor of this film. I just grabbed it off of the shelf with several others, five minutes before closing time at the library. When I couldn't get Easy Riders to play and the sound was bad on Tender Mercies, I reluctantly pulled Le Samourai out of the bottom of the bag. Sometimes it's better to be surprised.

I am not a cineaste so I couldn't compare this film with those of Tarantino or whoever else various readers here are discussing. So don't expect a technical analysis here; others have done that. I just liked it!

Melville states in an interview with him that he considers it essential to please the audience; a film must entertain. Another film critic stated that this was a tremendous box office success in France when it came out. So, don't be put off by all of the high-flying discussions--it is a lot of fun to watch. Fun may be an odd word for a film noir but I found it so cleverly constructed and with such a sense of meticulous irony that, yes, it was fun. There are parts where he does seem to be parodying himself but that is part of the fun. He is a tremendously smart and clever man.

The idea of presenting a modern day Parisian hit-man as a samurai is fascinating. The hero, or anti-hero, Jeff Costello, portrayed to perfection by Alain Delon, is the epitome of self-containment, as a samuri must be. One can only imagine the depths of his loneliness as we see him move through life, never dropping his mask like expression. Only when he is dressing a gun shot wound in his bathroom do we see the muscles in his face relax. Even with his sometime girlfriend, played by Nathalie Delon, he rarely drops his guard.

A beautiful Black jazz pianist in a nightclub where he has been hired to kill the owner seems to get through to him in some mysterious way. We don't even know her name and their relationship is unclear. (Melville explains in the interview that he likes to leave the audience a little confused about what happened.) The way his eyes seer into hers in the closest thing we see to some deep human emotion. (She is wonderfully played by Caty Rosier in a performance that totally wipes out that of Nathalie Delon, in my opinion.)

The story is fascinating. It is set in Paris of 1967, when the film was made and it's thorougly enjoyable to see the trappings of that time and place. There are some terrific scenes in the Metro which should bring back memories to anyone who has ever tried to navigate the underground rail system. The nightclub with the Courrege style decor is fun to see.

Mostly it's a character study. We don't know anything of the background of this mysterious guy...no case study of what drove him to crime. His personality is totally submerged beneath his handsome, glossy surface, dressed in perfectly tailored suits and the requisite beige trench coat and fedora. Only a tiny bird in an antique cage shows that there is a real human being sharing the space of his monochromatic gray apartment.

I don't want to tell too much to spoil the enjoyment of the story unfolding. Warning: some of the reviews do spoil the ending...so be careful what you read if you haven't seen the film.

I think it is a film that can be enjoyed on many levels. It has been revolving around in my brain ever since I saw it. The interviews with Melville, Delon and others are good for those who want to think about it, but for others, it can simply be enjoyed as a good exciting film. I'm definitely going to look for more of Melville's work.

Essential French cinema: Melville's 'Le Samouraï.'.......2007-07-27

French film director, Jean-Pierre Melville (1917-1973) is best known for his austere films noir, Le Samouraï (1967) and Le Cercle Rouge. He remains an important influence for directors like John Woo and Quentin Tarantino. Le Samouraï is a classic crime/drama/thriller featuring Alain Delon as the leading character, Jef Costello. Costello is a blue-eyed contract killer with the instincts of a samurai, who lives in a minimalist apartment with little more than a pack of cigarettes and a strange pet bird. The film opens with glacier-cool Costello smoking in bed, the screen captioned with the following text from The Book of Bushido: "There is no solitude greater than the samurai's, unless perhaps it be that of a tiger in the jungle."

Costello is contracted to kill a nightclub owner, and his blonde girlfriend Jane (played by Delon's wife, Nathalie Delon) gives him an airtight alibi. However, the club's black piano player Valérie (Caty Rosier) witnesses the killing. The police believe Costello is the killer, but cannot prove it. Soon Costello finds both the police and his criminal employer in pursuit of him, generating most of the film's suspense. All the while, Costello never loses his cool. The film's ending has prompted much discussion about its meaning. Le Samouraï has influenced later films including John Woo's The Killer, and Jim Jarmusch's Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, though both films fall short of Alain Delon's unforgettable performance.

Criterion presents Le Samourai in an impeccable digital transfer and a clear jazzy score; interviews with Melville, Alain Delon, François Périer, Nathalie Delon, and Cathy Rosier; and the theatrical trailer.

G. Merritt

Melville's version of a killer's code of honor. Carefully constructed, and cineastes will love it.......2007-07-17

Melville is one of my favorites, and not just Herman. A director like Jean-Pierre Melville, who can give us the wry humanity of Bob le Flambeur and the austere fatalism of Army of Shadows, is a man to be reckoned with. Le Samourai, on the other hand, left me unsure whether I was watching an homage to American gangster movies or a comedy routine. Whenever Jef Costello went walking quickly down the street or through a crowded nightclub, shoulders slightly hunched, hat pulled low over his face, hands thrust deep into the pockets of his trench-coat, collar pulled up, all I could think of was Bugs Bunny doing his cartoon take on Sam Spade. When Jef barges into the office of the owner of Martey's, I expected him to ask "What's up, doc?" before plugging the guy.

Don't get me wrong. There is much to admire in Le Samourai, not the least of which is the clarity and style of the film and the carefully constructed persona of Jef Costello (Alan Delon). Melville reportedly told Delon that Delon didn't need to act in the film, just be photographed. Delon scarcely moves a facial muscle throughout the film. In my view, this pushes the movie awfully close to film caricature...and would tip it right over if it weren't for the counter-balancing performances of Francois Perier, as the police superintendent determined to catch Costello, and Cathy Rosier, as the nightclub piano player. Perier just about steals the movie for me and Rosier is used to develop layers of ambiguity and possible betrayal. Delon gives us what Melville wanted, an artifice of movement, posture and expression, fascinating as time passes but with no more depth than a carefully dressed manikin in the window of an expensive shop. The gangster with a code of honor? That really is a Hollywood fairy tale, which Melville gives us without blinking an eye.

Le Samourai, for me, is a movie well worth watching, but is best enjoyed by those intrigued by style over substance. It's a sad day, however, when praise from such "stylists" as John Woo and Quentin Tarantino can be taken as proof of Melville's stature as a director. Woo and Tarantino are as different from Melville as Morton's table salt is from fleur de sel. Neither has shown himself capable of producing films such as Army of Shadows or Bob le Flambeur. Melville might be a stylist, but he used serious content on which to build style, and style almost always served content. Melville's curse, partly due to his own statements, is that he is the kind of director some cineastes love to natter about. "Creative art," Melville said, "is based on lies -- which can only be exploited properly, in my opinion, if one is not a liar in real life." This is a statement pregnant with apparent truth but which makes no sense at all...except to passionate film students. Melville is the sort of director cineastes can talk to death. Fortunately, we have his films to judge for ourselves. By all means buy and watch Le Samourai. But, please, also buy and watch Army of Shadows.

The Criterion DVD transfer looks just fine to me, although sometimes on the dark side. Extras include archival interviews with Melville, Delon, Rosier and Nathalie Delon. There also is a substantial booklet which, among other articles, includes a John Woo piece, "The Melville Style." It first appeared in, what else, Cahiers du Cinema.
Army of Shadows - Criterion Collection
Bob le Flambeur - Criterion Collection

Dressed to Kill.......2007-07-16

Alain Delon stars as Jef, a docile hitman who was spotted when committing his last murder. The police are on his trail, but he has an airtight alibi; his girlfriend vouches for his presence in her home during the time of the crime. The police know better, but without any concrete witnesses, they can do nothing but let Jef go. However, they set plenty of traps along the way to catch him, and the people that hired Jef to commit the crime aren't too happy with the way he almost got caught.

This French film is very slow-going with very little focus on the individual characters. The fact that Jef is impeccably dressed at all times complete with a gangster-era hat gives us some clues, as well as his stone-faced demeanor. In spite of his charm, he is a murderer, so it is unclear as to whether we are supposed to like him or not. The dingy sets and a mostly objective camera leave an unfavorable impression as well.

The extra features on this disk certainly lead one to believe that this film was a labor of love by people who worship the movies, but this love does not necessarily show up in the film itself. The use of the camera and sound in the film betray an understanding of the medium, but the film fails to penetrate the emotions.

Le Samourai.......2007-06-27

Seminal gangster movie homage combines elements of Kurosawa and American film noir to create a spare film strikingly short on dialogue. Delon is ideal for the role of Jef, as his surface male beauty amplifies the character's underlying moral and emotional vacuum. Behind those icy, classic features, you glimpse nothing but oblivion. (Note: Delon's wife Nathalie plays Jane, who furnishes Jef's alibi).

Average customer rating:

A first-rate crime noir from 1946; a flawed and dated crime story from 1964
Film Noir "The Killers" reviewed by Chroesus
THE KILLERS(1946) CLASSIC NOIR
Why can't all DVDs be like this?
Marvin the Hit. Man, O Man.

The Killers - Criterion Collection
Starring: Claude Akins , Hall Brock , John Cassavetes , Virginia Christine , and John Copage
Manufacturer: Criterion
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ASIN: B00007ELDG
Release Date: 2003-02-18

Amazon.com

The Killers (1946)
This 1946 adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's short story adds well over an hour of new material to the original tale. The reason is, while director Robert Siodmak, star Burt Lancaster, and an outstanding supporting cast are faithful to Hemingway's work, his story only takes up about 15 minutes of screen time. Burt Lancaster plays the doomed man sought by hired guns in a small town. Hemingway's bruisingly concise dialogue makes an early sequence set in a diner quite unnerving, but after the killers dispense with their prey, Siodmak turns to an insurance investigator (Edmond O'Brien) who looks into the reasons behind the murder. An exemplary film noir (complete with a fickle femme fatale played by Ava Gardner), The Killers is all mood and fatalism.

The Killers (1964)
The 1964 remake (of sorts) by Don Siegel builds another whole world around Hemingway's narrow, if intense, premise. The two assassins of Siegel's film (Clu Gulager, Lee Marvin) go in search of their intended victim--a teacher (John Cassavetes) at a school for the blind--and find that he not only recognizes his fate when they show up, but seems entirely resigned to it. Curiosity leads the killers to seek out the party who hired them and discover why Cassavetes's character didn't run or fight. Soon the facts tumble into place--the dead man had once been a top-drawer racer who fell for a glamorous woman (Angie Dickinson), the latter gradually pulling him into the orbit of a criminal villain (a convincingly evil Ronald Reagan)--and the film becomes increasingly dark and dangerous. Originally shot for television but rejected for its violence, Siegel's film is a blistering experience of swimming against the currents of fate for one's survival--and losing. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews:

A first-rate crime noir from 1946; a flawed and dated crime story from 1964.......2006-12-17

The Killers (1946) - How do you make an interesting movie when the character the movie ostensibly is all about is just a dumb lug, as interesting as a boiled potato? The Swede stumbles into one situation after another, willing to believe in true love or lies. For me, director Robert Siodmak and screenwriters Anthony Veiller, Richard Brooks and John Huston (the last two uncredited) solve this problem three ways.

First, there is the great look and style of the movie. I think it's impossible to say one movie looks better than all others, especially when it comes to noirs, but The Killers nails as well as any the dark, foreboding feel of cheap hotel rooms, shadowy streets and close-ups of white, worried faces. Second, all the flashbacks in this movie create the sense of a complex jigsaw puzzle slowly being solved. The story not only becomes complicated and interesting, it's great fun to see what the next piece in the puzzle is going to show us. And what helps make all those puzzle pieces interesting is the cast of characters who take turns in the flashback spotlights. There's not a dud actor in the lot. And third, for me, is the sourness of the ending. No, not the last scene of a smiling Edmond O'Brien jauntily leaving his boss's office. It's the revelation of what a nasty piece of work Kitty Collins really was and how far out of her league was the Swede. He was just a big, thick-eared guy who, in other circumstances, might have gone straight, but he didn't have a chance when he saw Kitty that first time at the party sitting next to the piano player. I don't think this was what Rodgers and Hammerstein had in mind when they wrote about seeing a stranger across a crowded room.

Besides, "I did something wrong once" is a great line to power a crime movie with.

What also struck me is the simplicity of the logic behind Jim Colfax' decision to unleash the two hit men onto the Swede. At first, it seemed so much smarter just to let things coast by. But Colfax's reasoning holds up if you think about it, and that logic powers the action of the movie. What doesn't hold up is the motivation of the two hit men's behavior in the diner. How much easier it would have been to walk in, sit down and order a couple of cups of coffee. Then mention they were in town to pay back some money to the Swede but they don't have his address. Anybody know where he lives? Someone would have said, "Why, sure. He lives at Ma's boarding house just a couple of blocks from here." I know, this more practical approach would have gutted the foreboding and nervousness of the movie. I'm not advocating this, just suggesting that it's a little bothersome when a great plot device has a flaw.

The Killers (1964) - You know there's a problem when the extras on the DVD disc are more interesting than the movie itself. The excerpts from the memos written by whoever worked at Hollywood's Department to Avoid Naughty Situations are great fun. What is sadder are the memos and notes from director Don Siegel pointing out the weaknesses in the 1946 version and how they needed to be avoided...then seeing how he managed to turn out a movie considerably less interesting than the original.

Siegel was making a TV movie, then saw it released on the big screen when the violence seemed to be too extreme for home viewing. The movie has that flat, clear look that says "television." The back-screen projections are even worse than Hitchcock's. The racing sequences seem to go and on, looking both artificial and silly...actors who wear racing goggles end up looking as out of place as politicians who let themselves be photographed wearing helmets. The Sixties look has dated the movie mightily. When I saw the two bad guys, Lee Marvin and Clu Gulager walking around with their sunglasses on, I thought I was watching an Ackroyd/Belushi skit. (Marvin quickly set me straight on that.)

On the plus side, depending on how much you respond to vicious bullies, Lee Marvin does a fine job. The last third of the film, starting when the robbery takes place and then into the last two flashbacks and the conclusion, picks up a nice head of double-crossing steam. The last fifteen minutes or so, starting when Marvin and Gulager show up in Ronald Reagan's office, are so good I wished the whole film had reached that level. I suspect that without this movie sharing the same title as the 1946 film, and without Criterion resurrecting it to accompany the 1946 film, Siegel's version would be forgotten.

The Killers (1946) is a first-rate movie. The Killers (1964) is not. It's amusing to be able to see them side-by-side. Both have first-rate film transfers and a multitude of extras. Thanks, Criterion.

Film Noir "The Killers" reviewed by Chroesus.......2006-10-16

I could not wait to view this set of DVD's. I found both versions to be
well acted divergent takes on a classic noir theme. The one bad step that
leads to more mis-steps and a long dark spiral with plenty of crime drama
and action to boot.
The sixties era version took a bad rap in many of the reviews I read but
I found the Lee Marvin performance action packed and entertaining all the
way thru. It lacked the noir atmosphere but managed to preserve almost all
of the mystery and depth of charactor the original had.
The original movie is a classic noir, told partly in flashback, a boxer
struggles against fate. A bad break ends his career early. His own flawed
character leads him to a femme fatelle and a decent into darkness.
Without giving too much away for those who have never seen it, an inves
-tigater is intrigued and follows his footsteps into the dark underworld
of crime, deceit and fate.
The extras are pretty good too. They give the viewer a look into two in-
triging eras of film making in distinctly divergent styles...well worth the price.

THE KILLERS(1946) CLASSIC NOIR.......2006-07-16

Burt Lancaster made his motion picture debut in the Mark Hellinger Produced and Robert Siodmak Directed classic noir "The Killers",from a short story by Ernest Hemingway.Screenplay by Anthony Veiller and uncredited John Huston.
Lancaster plays "the Swede",an ex-boxer,now working as a gas station attendant.One envening two toughs(Charles McGraw and William Conrad,also his film debut) arrive in town and terrorize a local,Brentwood(N.J.) greasy spoon,and then proceed to find Lancaster and kill him,because he, "did something wrong,once"!Insurance Inspector Riordan,played by Edmund O'Brien,Lancaster's life was insured by O'Brien's company, is intrigued,about the murder."Why would two profesional killers kill a nobody",O'Brien asks his boss(Donald MacBride)?
After convincing his boss he needs more time to look into the Swede's death,Riordan comes across Sam Levine,a Philly police detective,and long-time friend of "Ole"(Lancaster) and Levine wife and ex-Ole girlfriend played by Virginia Christine.From here much of the story is told mainly in flashbacks(common for noirs),where we meet Albert Dekker,Jeff Corey,John Miljan,Jack Lambert,Vince Barnett,as various baddies,and as the femme fatale(a noir staple) Ava Gardner(Kitty Collins).This 1946 version is great,and ALL noir buffs should see it.In includes a very good audio commetary!

This is a two-disc collection and the second disc includes the 1964 remake starring Angie Dickinson,Ronnie Reagan(as a baddie),Lee Marvin,Clu Gulager,Claude Akins,and John Cassavettes and directed by Don Siegel.Originally scheduled as a made-for-TV film it was moved to movie theatre's because it was deemed too violent for the small screne.The story is told from "the killers"(Marvin-Gulager)point of view.I DON'T care for this film.The audio commetary compares the two films and gives the re-make a higher grade than I do!
This version: * star The original: ***** stars
"Criss Cross,a similiar(and too me a superior noir,by just a nose) reteams the Lancaster-Siomak duo,with the sultry Yvonne DeCarlo(as a knock-out femme fatale)and the slimy Dan Duryea.Please see my review which is included on this web-site!

Why can't all DVDs be like this?.......2005-10-14

A wonderful, intelligent, grown up package which is almost worth the price for the extras alone.

Marvin the Hit. Man, O Man........2005-08-18

One of the best things about this dvd (I'm reviewing the second version of the Hemingway base story) is the interview with Clu Gulager. This was quite a surprise. It is a really outstanding commentary on what makes this film something special, and after watching it I am left with a respect for Gulager's brains and judgement which I didn't have, and had no reason to have, before. Gulager is careful not to denigrate any of his co-stars, or the director, or anyone involved in the movie. But somehow he lets it be known that, fundamentally, it would be virtually nothing without the towering presence of Lee Marvin. Play it a couple of times and you realize that the scenes which don't have Marvin in them are, let's be honest, fairly ordinary and even downright dull. Reagan is merely coasting along. Cassavetes and Dickinson are just not that charismatic, either together or alone: although Angie does seem to rise above herself in the final scene, just before Marvin plugs her. The story seems to drag, and there's too much padding. But, as Gulager stresses, Marvin's performance is stratospheric. Like the man says, every moment he's on screen, every movement he makes, every word he utters, is humming with pure mastery of the cinematic actor's art. He is colossal. That is why the film is so memorable, so unforgettable, even after 40 years.

Branded to Kill - Koroshi No Rakuin - Criterion Collection

Average customer rating:

A monochrome dream
A Suzuki Masterpiece!
an odd crime film
great movie
NON STOP ACTION

Branded to Kill - Koroshi No Rakuin - Criterion Collection
Starring: Jo Shishido , Mariko Ogawa , Annu Mari , Koji Nambara , and Isao Tamagawa
Director: Seijun Suzuki
Manufacturer: Criterion
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ASIN: 078002205X
Release Date: 1999-02-23

Amazon.com

Seijun Suzuki's absolutely mad yakuza movie bends the hit-man genre so out of shape it more resembles a Luis Bunuel take on Martin Scorsese. Number three killer Goro Hanada (Jo Shishido) is a hired killer who loves his work, but when he misses a target after a mere butterfly sets his carefully balanced aim astray, he becomes the next target of the mob. Goro is no pushover and easily dispatches the first comers, leaving them splayed in death contortions that could qualify for an Olympic event, but the rat-a-tat violence gives way to a surreal, sadistic game of cat and mouse. The legendary Number One mercilessly taunts his target before moving in with him in a macho, testosterone-laden Odd Couple truce that ends up with them handcuffed together. Kinky? Not compared to earlier scenes. The smell of boiling rice sets Goro's libido for his mistress so aflame that Suzuki censors the gymnastic sex with animated black bars that come to life in an animated cha-cha. Because Suzuki pushed his yakuza parodies and cinematic surrealism too far, his studio, Nikkatsu, finally called in their own metaphoric hit and fired the director with such force that he was effectively blackballed from the industry for a decade. It took about that long for audiences to embrace his audacious genre bending--Suzuki's pop-art sensibilities were just a bit ahead of their time. --Sean Axmaker

Description

Branded to Kill, the wildly perverse story of the yakuza's rice-sniffing "No. 3 Killer," is Seijun Suzuki at his delirious best. From a cookie-cutter studio script, Suzuki delivered this brutal, hilarious, and visually inspired masterpiece-and was promptly fired. Criterion presents the DVD premiere of Branded to Kill in a pristine transfer from the original Nikkatsu-scope master.

Customer Reviews:

A monochrome dream.......2006-10-18

Japanese novelist Yukio Mishima cranked up the concept of reality T.V a few notches in 1970 when he invited a few of his media pals along to a hijacking of a government building where he then performed seppuku (Ritual self disembowelling) as a protest against the erosion of traditional Japanese values. Japan in the late 60's saw an upsurge of such demonstrations against western influence - an uprising which had seen riots outside the Budokan Sports Arena a few years previously when the Beatles appeared there. Somewhere during this volatile chapter of cultural osmosis director Seijun Suzuki got fired by the Nikkitsu film company for making his masterpiece BRANDED TO KILL.

This maverick film maker was already on thin ice with his fiercely conservative paymasters when his 1966 film TOKYO DRIFTER took the Yakuza (Japanese gangster) genre into new (and thus feared) directions but BRANDED TO KILL was the one that finally broke the chopstick - Rendering the director unemployable for a decade.

BRANDED TO KILL charts the fall and fall of No3 Killer, (Jo Shishido) a down at heel hitman, who bodges an assignment when a butterfly lands on the end of his rifle just at the crucial moment. For this gaff he is now subject to the murderous attentions of the mythical No1 Killer.

Looking like a giant Gopher in a mohair suit and Raybans, No3 Killer finds himself in a bizarre vortex of shadows and monochrome as he attempts to save his girlfriend from being incinerated, get the better of superior Killer No1 and to survive to become No1 himself. His bizarre quirk of using boiled rice as a form of Viagra does nothing to make his journey anymore straightforward.

Surely one of the most beautiful black and white films ever, BRANDED TO KILL is a collision of American `Noir' and giddy Japanese oddness. A genuine cinematic experience - everything within the frame appears to be sculptured from mercury.

Cultural Osmosis is rarely an easy thing, but when it works, the result is often something like the offbeat gorgeousness of BRANDED TO KILL.

A Suzuki Masterpiece!.......2005-04-10

This movie was my first introduction to the films of Seijun Suzuki and man, what a ride! On first glance this movie appears to be just another gangster movie relegated to late, late night television. Tough talking gangsters, intrigue, action, etc., etc. However, watching for more than 5 to 10 minutes highlight the ultra-bizarre characters, very substantial level of brutality, and the uniquely perverse (and amusing) sense of humor that really set this movie apart from other "stock" gangster films. I have all four of Suzuki's films that have been released through Criterion up to this point (Branded to Kill, Tokyo Drifter, Youth of the Beast, and Fighting Elegy) and I feel that this one is the best of the four. The major drawback is that the bonus features and booklet that come with the DVD are still a little skimpy by Criterion Collection standards. However, the exclusive interview with director Seijun Suzuki is excellent. This one is definitely worth renting and if you are a fan of Japanese cinema do yourself a favor and pick this one up.

an odd crime film.......2004-04-13

This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD edition of the film.

This move is one of the most odd gangster films I have seen.

The film follows a gangster [who] is known as the "number 3" killer and is epeatedly threatened by the "number 1" killer.

This film contains nudity to a degree of which I am surprised was legal in Japan at the time the movie was filmed. The film has several clever tricks by the characters to avoid being shot and there is some witty humor in the film also.

The director of this film was fired by the studio after aming this film and was blacklisted for 10 years.

The Criterion Collection DVD has 2 special features on it. There is an 11 minute interview with the director Seijun Suzuki, and a slide show of Japanese movie posters and lobby cards from the collection of John Zorn, who also wrote the liner ntes thant come with the DVD.

great movie.......2004-02-03

I really can't understand how people see this movie as being "incoherent" or "boring". Maybe I've seen too many mst3k movies...now those, THOSE movies that are riffed are incoherent! Plain and simple it's a yakuza movie, there, was that so incoherent? I just saw it on IFC and I loved it. I personally enjoyed Tokyo Drifter more, I really dug the groovy music. And artsy...you haven't seen artsy until you've seen the skateboard video memory screen. They take artsy over the top; of the 44 minutes about 5 minutes is actual skateboarding the rest is weird random images but still good. And boring...at least to me it was boring is Gerry -- it's just walking in the desert. Maybe not boring to others but it was just too much for me. Anyways Branded To Kill and Tokyo Drifter are great movies and not at all boring.

NON STOP ACTION.......2003-09-14

Here it is: BRANDED TO KILL is director, Seijun Suzuki's best movie. Japanese film lovers will tell you that Seijun is one of Japan's greatest filmmakers. A different style than Kurosawa. If you like action, then prepare yourself for a real treat. You will not regret owning this film.
Forget that this film is Japanese, has subtitles, and was released in 1967. This film is a classic masterpiece. Heck, even the director got fired after its release. The film is fast paced and beautifully shot. The musical score is so smooth and keep in mind, we're talking no special effects. There is a scene where a man is literally on fire for over 20 seconds.
All in all, the story is straightforward. A Yakuza gangster is hired to kill 4 people. He learns that he is the Yakuza's third best killer. He does not know who the #1 killer is but he wants his spot. The women in this film are beautiful and the action is intense. Take a chance and see why this film has inspired so many over the years.

The Honeymoon Killers - Criterion Collection

Average customer rating:

STOP READING AND BUY THIS NOW!!!
Really unexpected
Sleazy but captivating
What a good thing for low budget
A fellinian nightmare!

The Honeymoon Killers - Criterion Collection
Starring: Shirley Stoler , Tony Lo Bianco , Mary Jane Higby , Doris Roberts , and Kip McArdle
Director: Leonard Kastle , and Donald Volkman
Manufacturer: Criterion
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ASIN: B00009MEA3
Release Date: 2003-07-22

Amazon.com

There's Bonnie and Clyde--then there's Martha and Ray. One-shot writer-director Leonard Kastle set out to make a film about lover-murderers that was everything Arthur Penn's movie was not. He succeeded. Consequently, The Honeymoon Killers, based on the Lonely Hearts Killers case of 1949, may be too lurid for some. But there's a heart beating inside its (tawdry) chest and Kastle clearly cared about these two crazy, mixed-up kids who should never have met. But met Martha (Shirley Stoler) and Ray (Tony LoBianco) did and proceeded to fleece several widows before doing them in. The film isn't graphic in its violence, but each murder is increasingly disturbing. Dramatic lighting and dark passages from Mahler keep the mood close and clammy throughout. Keep an eye out for Everybody Loves Raymond's Doris Roberts in a sharp cameo--and for shots directed by original helmer Martin Scorsese (fired for working too slowly). --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Description

Martha Beck (Shirley Stoler) is sullen, overweight and heartbreakingly alone. Desperate for affection, she joins Aunt Carrie's Friendship Club and strikes up a correspondence with Ray Fernandez (Tony Lo Bianco), a suave, charismatic smooth talker who could be the man of her dreams—or a wicked con artist bound for trouble. Based on a true story and filmed in documentary-style black and white, The Honeymoon Killers is a stark portrayal of the desperate lengths a lonely heart will go to find true love, from brutally immoral killings to a passion that transcends all bounds.

Customer Reviews:

STOP READING AND BUY THIS NOW!!!.......2007-07-20

This is turning into one of my favorite movies ever. It is so rich, dark and complex, genuinely shocking and disturbing, well written, well photographed, well acted... I just can't say enough good things about it.

This is also one of those movies that I think it is better to know as little as possible about before seeing it, so if I were you, I would turn the Internet off and go buy it right now. But since I know that if you don't know anything about it, you have no reason to buy it, I will tell you that it is a true crime drama that concerns a very perverse relationship, the bilking of innocents, and elements of very black humor. Okay, stop reading now and go buy it. I'm really serious, you NEED to see this.

SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT >>>>>
I have watched this movie four times now, and it just keeps getting richer each time. Though it may not always seem like it, every single element is in place and the script and direction are as tight as they can possibly be. The remarkable thing about this movie is how the characters--ALL the characters, not just the main ones--are so richly delineated, and yet at the center of the film some puzzling ambiguities remain. What is it that Ray really sees in Martha? Is it that she says she'll kill herself for him? Or does he simply think he can make more money with an accomplice? And why doesn't Martha realize that what he's doing to all these other women is also happening to HER? How many times can she hear that he'll marry her after their next job?

There are scenes that stand out for their content, and scenes that stand out for their technique. Among the former are the scenes with Bunny [Doris Roberts, who later went on to be Ray's mother on Everybody Loves Raymond], who one could argue is responsible for the entire situation. It is she who submits Martha's name to the lonely hearts club, and it is her who actually first tells Raymond that Martha is going to kill herself. Then there is the shocking scene in which Martha leaves her elderly mother at home to die while she runs off to be with Raymond. The mother's bitter rage/sudden reversal and begging/bitter damnation is shocking, true, and desperately pathetic all at once. "Unforgettable" is a word too often applied to movies, but for me this scene is truly unforgettable. And this is only the first 20 minutes!

The performances are also astonishing. Shirley Stoler--I don't even know how well she's acting, because her character is such a powerhouse that it's hard to tell. To me she is utterly convincing. Tony Lo Blanco is a good actor, all narcissism, menace and sociopathy, and the film could not have the impact it does if he was not a LEGITIMATE SEX BOMB [just wait for the swimsuit scene]. He makes it very easy to see why all of these women would fall for him--and why you would still consider staying with him even if you knew what a slime he was.

And then there are all the individual women, each of whom stand out clearly from each other. There is an undercurrent of black humor to the film. You can't help but laugh and marvel at the women because are all so astonishingly pathetic, and yet there is a simultaneous feeling of pity and pain for them, because they're all SO PATHETIC. Of all of them, Mary Jane Higby as Janet Fay stands out for the moving vulnerability of her affection for Ray, the hilarity of the scenes demonstrating her cheapness, the persistence of her arguments during her fight with Martha, and the real terror she seems to be feeling as she begs for her life. The brutality of her murder is truly shocking.

The technique on display in this film is also electrifying. This is said to be Truffaut's favorite American film. I would LOVE to know what Hitchcock thinks about it, as many of the scenes are very Hitchcockian. The shots are often strange and off-kilter, for example, expressing Ray's cunning by showing only his mouth, or placing the character to the extreme right or left of a shot. There are several very long takes that are executed so well you may not even notice. The scene showing just the eyes of Delphine Downing as she watches helpless as Ray and Martha discuss shooting her is one of the highlights of the entire film. And throughout the film the light is either overexposed or perfectly balanced in such a way as to deliver a sense somewhere between menace and documentary. Furthermore, Kastle is able to suffuse the movie with an overwhelming sense of sex and violence, without showing a great deal of either. All the more surprising when one realizes that this is his first and only film.

This really is unlike any film I have ever seen. Everything is perfectly in place and delivers an experience that is both moving, funny, and deeply discomfiting. When you think about the horror and action films of the past 30 years, and all the stories and images they have included, for a film like this to maintain the power to truly shock is quite an achievement. Please, please watch this.

Really unexpected.......2006-10-05

I picked this up thinking - I'm not sure what I was thinking, actually. I guess I thought noir-ish crime drama. French film makers, apparently, really like this, and it's easy to see why. It's stark, honest and miles away from American studio formula. Much more like a European or Japanese film. Very strange at first (I can see why an earlier reviewer though 'John Waters'), this is an involving, compelling film made for almost nothing. If you like "Indie" films, foreign films or the documentary look of films like "In Cold Blood," grab this offbeat winner.

Sleazy but captivating.......2006-05-28

It seems nobody told the two leading actors (Shirley Stoler and Tony Lo Bianco) in this crime drama that it was a low-budget affair, because they act as strongly as if they were in a major blockbuster. Stoller plays an obese nurse from Alabama looking for love; what she finds through a lonelyhearts correspondence club (today it would be Myspace) is Lo Bianco, a Spanish immigrant in NYC. They write to each other, and then he comes to visit her. He steals her money - that's his racket - but she sticks by him anyway, and they team up to bilk other desperate women in the same way. It gets pretty gruesome after that, with Stoler turning into a jealous murderer after Lo Bianco marries Marilyn Chris. The atmosphere throughout the picture is frighteningly claustrophobic, and, again, Stoler and Lo Bianco give all they've got in their roles. The Mahler score also fits in well with the action. Thematically it's fairly low-brow, but the acting and gritty photography make up for that.

What a good thing for low budget.......2005-07-03

it helps this film's seedy atmosphere. It does remind one of John Water's early films in the acting department, but it is a truly engrossing film.This film takes a trip into the minds of 2 truly ill individuals. At one point, directly after the first murder, Ray Says to Martha "I want to make love to you"But Martha soon turns the tables on Ray when she discovers a lie....Avery good low budget film that works effectively

A fellinian nightmare!.......2005-01-16

The painful loneliness of a nurse who suffers a little problem of overweight (two hundred pounds) , lives with her senile mother . Martha decides to join a correspondence friendship club . She will receive torrid and voluptuous letters love from a Spanish born immigrant .He will visit her in Alabama and he will be back to NYC. They will rejoin very soon in New York and Ray confess her he is just a gigolo . But as you know sometimes the love is blind and she doesn't matter at all his venerable profession.

In this particular and light and shadow state of things , Ray will start to compose a real horror symphony . Betrayal , suspicion , infidelity , black humor, greed , and sinister fatality will be their fellow partners journey .

But as you know in love the domain relapses in those who love less . Ray hardly will change his previous costumes and Martha will act in consequence .

Those early seventies were impregnated of a gloomy poetry . The collective needed evasion . Those were the first films where the sci fi renewed with new proposals , the racism films , the first denounces about Vietnam War , The French May . In this sense you may remember that filthy cult movie for a great audience - Pink Flamingos - the most famous work of John Waters , Antonioni `s Zabrizskie Point , Kubrick ` s A clockwork orange , Michael Anerson 's If , Perry Henzel `s The harder they come , Dennis Hopper 's Easy Rider , Richard Rush's Hell' s Angels , Strawberry statement or Billy Jack to name the most representative items in this category of outlaw movies , made usually with a low budget but filled with a brutal denounce load and no satisfaction , not only by the teenagers but also the thirties generation who were the first generation post Beatles and Elvis Presley who decided to swim against the current making films which walked in the knife edge .

Curiously all those films were not authentically originals but were born from the French New Wave with two notable films : Breathless and Jules and Jim . In fact you can note a
little homage to Jules and Jim when the camera remains stationary in Ctaherinep's living room .

These characters are based in real events . The real Ray and Martha , the far descendents of Bonnie and Clyde and Gun Crazy were executed in Sing Sing on March 7 1951 .

Average customer rating:

I Believe In Justice
One of the greatest of the genre
RE-ISSUE!!!!!
What a movie
The Killer AMAZING

The Killer - Criterion Collection
Starring: Yun-Fat Chow , Danny Lee , Sally Yeh , Kong Chu , and Kenneth Tsang
Director: John Woo
Manufacturer: Home Vision Cinema
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ASIN: B000009EBU
Release Date: 1998-06-16

Amazon.com essential video

This 1989 rouser is apocalyptic pulp--the bloodiest, showiest, most shamelessly sentimental specimen of Hong Kong's gangster melodramas. A torch singer named Jennie (Sally Yeh) is accidentally blinded during a slaying in a night club, and Chow Yun-fat's sad-eyed Jeff, a self-lacerating assassin, drags himself out of retirement to take on one last job--rubbing out a major mobster for major bucks--so he can pay for the singer's cornea transplant operation. But Jeff pauses to ferry a wounded child to the hospital during this final outing, and because of this a cop finally gets a good look at him: "He was seen on the job," snarls a saturnine Mr. Big, "and I want him wasted." Armies of thugs converge on the saintly slayer. Some of writer-director John Woo's flourishes are kitsch classics (doves flying upward in a candlelit church), while the action sequences are rapturous. "Life's cheap," a character opines. "It only takes one bullet," but in this case it actually takes about a dozen spewing bullet hits to kill anyone, as soulful triads in mirror shades and duster overcoats blaze away with high-tech weaponry. (A favorite trick involves grasping an enemy by the lapels, pulling him into a waltz embrace, and pumping several slugs into his duodenum.) Danny Lee, Chow's costar in City on Fire, is the intense, young officer who fixates on the killer's contradictory personality. --David Chute

Description

Hong Kong's preeminent director John Woo transforms genres from both the East and the West to create this explosive and masterful action film. Featuring Hong Kong's greatest star, Chow Yun-fat, as a killer with a conscience, the film is an exquisite dissection of morals in a corrupt society, highlighted with slow-motion sequences of brilliantly choreographed gun battles on the streets of Hong Kong.

Customer Reviews:

I Believe In Justice.......2007-06-17

John Woo:you either love him or hate him but there is no way of looking at him except as a force of nature. The Killer was one of Woo's greatest Hong Kong features; long before he came to America and made films such as Face/Off and Mission Impossible 2.

Made on a small budget this film is an homage to the classic action directors of Hollywood. There are shades of Peckenpah and of Scorsese. The films grainy look makes it almost perfect for this genre.

The story of a killer with a penchant for justice and loyalty has been done many times before but Chow Yun Fat and Danny Lee make it their own as the killer and the renegade cop who follows him.

Many have complained about the violence in this film. The film is extremely violent but the violence comes off as campy rather than as serious. When you have two men fighting hundreds it is hard to take anything too seriously.

The disc that I reviewed was the Criterion Collection edition. This edition gives a pristine transfer of the film and has a decently subtitled audio. Beware of editions that have any English dubbing since these editions tend to heighten the camp elements of the story rather than give a true translation of the dialogue. Also note that the Criterion Edition is expensive but you get what you pay for. Some of the lower priced editions of this film are known bootlegs that should be avoided.

The disc contains a commentary track by Woo and producer Terrance Chang and five deleted scenes.

If you can find or afford it this is essential viewing for action genre fans and for fans of purist Hong Kong cinema.

One of the greatest of the genre.......2007-06-14

I first got interested in Woo's work after seeing "Broken Arrow" in 1996. I was able to get my hands on a VHS copy of The Kiiler and watched it thinking it would be at least as food as Broken Arrow.

It wasn't.

It was ten times better.

The plot is similar to the Rock Hudson film Magnificent Obsession (although Rock is not an assassin). Chow-Yun Fat is an amazing actor who portrays the title character with great depth and believability.

But let's get down to why everyone REALLY likes this film: The action scenes are AMAZING. When the shooting starts, all hell breaks loose and you'll probably have to watch the scenes in slo-mo or rewind and watch them again. There is so much going on that it's hard to beleive that anyone would be able to choreograph and film such stylistic and hectic battle scenes, but John Woo does just that.

My biggest question is, why aren't Woo's Hollywood films just as wild and stylish. Woo's Hollywood work is very good, but why are his Hong Kong features so much better? They seem to be gritty and real whereas his Hollywood features seem to be glossy and watered down.

No matter. If you like action films, this is one of the best, but be warned. This film is VIOLENT and much of the violence is very graphic, so it's not for everyone.

Also, sometimes the dialogue seems a bit hammy, but I feel that it may be because of the loss of translation when the film was dubbed in English. If you're able to, watch the original Chinese version with English subtitles. I know it's heard to read while your trying to watch the action, so watch the dubbed version a couple of time to where you pretty much know what's happening and then watch it with the subtitles. The original actors' voices convey much more emotion and intensity.

RE-ISSUE!!!!!.......2007-06-09

I don't know much about the secondary "market" for DVD's, but when I look to buy a copy of "The Killer" on amazon, I am filled with disgust. $300.00 for a copy of a !@&%$*@ DVD? It's time that whoever owns the distribution rights to re-issue this film and take control of this situation back from these scalpers.

This comment refers to the "Criterion Collection" version.

What a movie.......2007-03-28

More hong kong action from the greats. You really should see this movie if you're into hong kong action. The shoot outs are great, and the action is incredible. I also really love the story. Also, you can really see alot of John Woo's tradmarks appear in this movie, like the use of dove's and religion. A great movie.

The Killer AMAZING.......2007-02-21

This is the best one of John Woo's movies and has to be seen in widescreen format for the ultimate thrill.

Chow Yun Fat blinds a woman by accident during a shootout and he feels he has to atone which makes this more than just another violent action movie. John Woo gives the movie a psychological side that you don't see too often in this genre.

The action sequences needless to say are some of the best out there.

This is an essential DVD for action lovers.

The criterion version is excellent too.

Average customer rating:

The Grim Reaper
an interesting mystery film.
A Young Director Makes A Film That Sticks With You
Bertolucci's First Cinematic Masterpiece of Proven Guilt...
Very Entertaining! Comparable to "Rashomon"

La Commare Secca - Criterion Collection
Starring: Maria Fontana (II) , Gabriella Giorgelli , Renato Troiani , Lorenza Benedetti , and Marisa Solinas
Director: Bernardo Bertolucci
Manufacturer: Criterion
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ASIN: B0006Z2NB8
Release Date: 2005-02-01

Amazon.com

Signaling the arrival of a gifted young filmmaker, La commare secca (or The Grim Reaper) marked the promising debut of Bernardo Bertolucci, who would attain world-class prominence in less than a decade. Having served as director's assistant on his friend Pier Paolo Pasolini's successful debut Accattone the previous year, Bertolucci was only 21 when he co-wrote and directed this impressively structured drama (based on a story by Pasolini) about a murdered prostitute and the police interrogation of several potential suspects. Bertolucci has denied the influence of Kurosawa's Rashomon (which he hadn't yet seen), but that film's prismatic structure is echoed here in the chapter-like retelling of circumstances surrounding the murder, as described through the suspects' unclear memories, conflicting testimonies and subtly hidden agendas. Punctuating the mystery with scenes of the prostitute's final hours, Bertolucci defies his directorial assignment (Pasolini had declined the job, and Bertolucci was hired to approximate Pasolini's visual style) with an ever-moving camera that tracks each suspect through a variety of ominous Roman locations. As he explains in an exclusive interview on this Criterion DVD, Bertolucci was the youngest person on the set, and extremely anxious as a first-time director, but his talent speaks for itself. La commare secca was not a hit with critics, but it's a remarkable debut by any standard, fully vindicated by Bertolucci's subsequent greatness. --Jeff Shannon

Description

The brutalized corpse of a Roman prostitute is found along the banks of the Tiber. The police round up and interrogate a handful of possible suspects. In this, his stunning debut feature—based on a story by Pier Paolo Pasolini—Bernardo Bertolucci utilizes a series of interconnected flashbacks to explore the nature of truth and the reliability of narrative. The Criterion Collection is proud to present La commare secca, the first full realization of a legendary talent.

Customer Reviews:

The Grim Reaper.......2006-12-10

I've only seen two Bernardo Bertolucci films (Last Tango in Paris and The Dreamers), but I consider myself a semi-big fan of his. This film, La Commare Secca (which translates to The Grim Reaper), is his debut film with an original story by legendary Italian writer/director Pier Paolo Pasolini. I've only seen one film by Pasolini ("Teorema") but I know that he wrote a few films about prostitutes (Mamma Roma & The Canterbury Tale)...Ironic, since he would be killed by a male prostitute. This movie, which has been frequently compared to a 1950 Japanese movie called Rashomon, tells the story of a prostitute who is murdered near the Tiber River and the interrogations of several people who may (or may not) have been involved in the murder. I don't remember the characters names; but, in the end, this movie is not about characters or even who killed the prostitute. The movie is about the events leading up the murder. It shows the events from several different perspectives and it's fascinating, even though this form of storytelling has been used so many times in the past years it's almost cliche. The movie is still fantastic and enticing; despite the fact that when you find out who the murderer is, it's far from surprising. The black & white photography of the movie works perfectly. If this movie had been filmed in color, it's unlikely it would still look as good. The acting is sometimes over-the-top (or maybe it just looks better in Italian), but the transfer of the film is wonderful. Sound quality and picture quality is superb. I don't think this film is better than the other two Bertolucci efforts I've seen, but it's definitely good without question.

GRADE: B+

an interesting mystery film........2005-04-05

This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD edition of the film.

"La Commare Secca" or "The Grim Reaper" is about police in Italy attemptign to solve the murder of a prostitute in Rome. The police track down and interrogate people who were in the park a at the time and they talk about what they saw through a series of flashbacks.

The film is based on a story by the late Italian director Pier Pasolini and is well written. It has been compared with Rashamon
based on it's similar plot.

Unfortunately, an new interview with the director is the only special feature.

This is a good film for someone who enjoyed Rashamon.

A Young Director Makes A Film That Sticks With You.......2005-02-17

In the video interview he did for this criterion film release Bertolucci goes to some length on his collaboration with the great director Pier Paolo Pasolini - pointing to 'Accatone' as the birth of cinema. Then when speaking of his own work - he says that it was as if all his efforts were in vain - as the critics judged it as a copy of Pasolini. This judgement is very unfortunate - despite the fact that the story was written by Pasolini and the class of people to which it pertains is Pasolini's beloved lower class - this film has a radically different feeling from anything Pasolini ever did.

I am kind of a bit unsure as to whether this film rates 4 or 5 stars - certainly it is the work of a very young director and lacks the fine tuning of later Bertolucci films. Nevertheless, this film hangs with me like a strange dream and it has proven itself worthy of an excellent rating.

Bertolucci's First Cinematic Masterpiece of Proven Guilt..........2005-02-07

Death suggests the ultimate end for an individual and it often travels together with fear stemming from awareness of the unknown destination after the heart ceases to beat. The destination after death has been taught by religious leaders for several millennia and frequently the tales after death include those of devils, demons, and other scary creatures that embed fear in the listeners. Tales told in regards to life after death reveal, as many religious leaders have suggested, that the destination is based on the choices made while alive. Thus, these choices better have a moral direction where the person abides to the rules of the society, or consequences might be dire when the heart halts. However, when death arrives to a poor soul those who live must deal with the remains of the deceased, which heavily will affect the destination thereafter.

Bernardo Bertolucci's tale La Commare Secca opens with the camera in a tilted lower angle on a bridge while the sound of a car swooshes by, as some pages are thrown over the edge of the bridge. The camera pans with the pages that drift with the wind, which gives the audience a good view of the Tiber river and the apartment complexes across the river. Increasingly the wind speeds up the movement of the falling pages as they blow along the man-made river bank. The pages appear to be newspaper pages as they get stuck in the high grass. Some pages struggle to get free from the grass as the wind keeps tearing at them. Slowly the panning camera moves out of focus and then back into focus as it's attention is aimed at the drifting pages. Suddenly the camera stops it's panning motion, and playfully soothing music appears in the background. The camera has discovered a body, a dead body of a woman laying face down in the grass as the pages drift over her body. The camera zooms out and gives the audience another view of the river while keeping the body of the woman in the lower right corner of the framed image, which is followed by the title.

The story that Bertolucci depicts is based on a story by the late artist, philosopher, and filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini, and he gives the story an honest portrayal. Brilliantly Bertolucci begins with the audience discovering the body, not a character in the story, but through the camera the audience is making a macabre discovery of what seems to be a murder. Newspaper pages give the bizarre discovery a true, yet grotesque analogy of the situation, as the dead woman is not the only story, but her story is surrounded by numerous similar stories. Yet, the dead woman's story manifests itself through the presence of her body.

An investigations follows the discovery of the dead woman, as the police begin to question suspects for information that could lead to the capture of the murderer. The interrogations of the suspects are filmed in the perspective of the audience, as if the viewer were the cross-examiner or present in the room. Several suspects are brought in for questioning such as a young unemployed man, a freeloader, a soldier, a drifter, and two teenagers. In the cross-examination the suspects are asked who they are, how old they are, where they come from, where were they before they ended up in the vicinity of the murder, and why they were at the area of the murder. Each person gives a detailed description after they are more or less cooperative with the police. The narrative accounts from the suspects are displayed as flashbacks to the audience, as the audience is allowed to make their own judgment based on the accounts.

The suspects all are given the opportunity tell their story, but they are never free from suspicion from the audience or the police. Being in the wrong place at the wrong time has burdened all suspects with an internal fear of merely being under suspicion, as they are all aware of the seriousness of the situation. There is also more fundamental power at work, the power of moral enlightenment provided by a catholic upbringing. In some it is more evident than others, as some of the suspects have a dubious background and former experiences with law enforcement. In addition, the suspects know all too well that being in a park at night is often connected with some immoral or indecent act. The stories within the story give the audience several insightful perceptions of the 1960s Italian lifestyle and culture and also on human interaction. This enhances character development in the film, which is essential as it will eventually lead to how the audience perceives each character -- guilty or not.

La Commare Secca was Bertolucci's first feature which he framed poetically as each scene provides more than what meets the eye. This visual poetry, which could be seen in the opening scene offered the world great promise of his talent. He later made films such as Il Conformista (1970), 1900 (1976), and Sheltering Sky (1990), which are all wonderful films. The organization of the flashbacks in La Commare Secca brings a vivid visual expression of the story in it's entirety, as the characters avoid everything connected with the bestial act. This is thanks to Bertolucci's understanding of human behavior in Italian culture, which is heavily influenced by the Catholic Church and family. In addition, the film has strong influences of Pasolini, which was desired by the producer. Ultimately, Bertolucci leaves the world with a cinematic experience that is visually stunning and brave, as it will leave the viewers thinking for some time.

Very Entertaining! Comparable to "Rashomon".......2001-01-02

Berna