Tag Archives: Mubi

One Second (Zhang Yimou, 2020)

May 25, 2025UncategorizedChinese Cinema, Mubi, One Second, Thinking Aloud Aboutt Film, Zhang YimouNotesonFilm1

Zhang Yimou’s very beautiful film has things to say about the cultural revolution and Chinese History and other things we’re not best placed to discuss. However, it is also about cinema: it’s lure, it’s power, its enchantments and its fragility; and Zhang Yimou’s magisterial mise-en-scène embodies its themes through its medium as if in the process of unfurling from an editing suite, to a projector and onto a screen.

The podcast may be listened to here:

We’re very grateful this week for Theme Music by Cody https://codyoxford.bandcamp.com/

The podcast may also be listened to on: Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/show/2zWZ7Egdy6xPCwHPHlOOaT

and on itunes here: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/first-impressions-thinking-aloud-about-film/id1548559546

Images from the Film:

In Conversation with Prof. Dolores Tierney on MUBI’S Spectacle Every Day: The Many Seasons of Mexican Cinema

January 12, 2024UncategorizedDolores Tierney, El espejo de la bruja, El Esqueleto de la Señor Morales, La Mujer Murcielago, Mas fuerte que el amor, Matilda Landate, Mubi, Spectacle Every Day: The Many Seasons of Mexican Cinema, Trotacalles, University of SussexNotesonFilm1

Richard and I have been much impressed and greatly entertained by MUBI’s programme of Mexican genre films: Spectacle Every Day — The Many Seasons of Mexican Cinema.

We’ve already podcast on each film individually:

Trotacalles/ Streetwalker (Matilda Landate, 1951)

Mas fuerte que el amor/ Stronger Than Love (Tulio Demicheli, 1955)

El esqueleto de la Señora Morales/ The Skeleton of Mrs. Morales (Rogelio A. Fernández, 1960)

El Espejo de la bruja/ The Witch’s Mirror (Chano Urueta, 1962)

La Mujer murcielago (René Cardona, 1968)

Spectacle Every Day: The Many Seasons of Mexican Cinema is, however, a programme that continues to fascinate so we’ve asked Dolores Tierney, Professor in Film and Media at the University of Sussex to come talk to us, contextualise the programme, and highlight issues that arise from from it and that might enhance our understanding of Mexican Cinema in general and these films in particular.

It might be worth bearing in mind that MUBI”s selection is culled from the Locarno Film Festival’s second retrospective of Mexican cinema — the first was in 1957 — this past August. The Locarno programme was curated by Olaf Möller with the participation of Roberto Turigliatto and brought together 36 films spanning the 1940s to the 1960s, many of them little known outside Mexico. The focus of our discussion is MUBI’s selections, currently 5 of the 36 films shown in Locarno.

As you can see below, Professor Tierney has published widely on Mexican Cinema:

In the podcast we praise Trotacalles and discuss why Matilda Landate isn’t better known, Prof. Tierney explains how Mexican cinema was a transnational cinema almost from its beginnings and how its film industry benefited from the US’s geo-political policies in relation to propaganda over its rival Argentina, who was seen as being too sympathetic or at least nonchalant towards Germany. We talk about Mexican Golden Age Cinema and how this program benefits from highlighting genre, exploitation and cult films. A sparkling talk, generating thought, highlighting links between elements that might seem disparate (Batman and Lucha Libre), and inspiring further viewing of Mexican cinema. The podcast may be listened to here:

The podcast may also be listened to on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/show/2zWZ7Egdy6xPCwHPHlOOaT

and on itunes here: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/first-impressions-thinking-aloud-about-film/id1548559546

Prof Tierney has also provided this note with references:

Podalsky, Laura (1994) “Negotiating Differences: National Cinemas and Co-productions in Pre-Revolutionary Cuba” Velvet Light Trap 34, 59-70.

Talks about the early 1930s Cuban films made by PECUSA and about the 1940s onwards co-productions with Mexico like Mas fuerte que el amor (Tulio Demicheli, 1955), how involvement with the Mexican industry was the only the only way Cuban productions could really continue. From the mid to late 1940s Mexican Cinema (mostly its cabaret based melodramas – the cabareteras) had been featuring Cuban dancers/actresses (Maria Antonieta Pons, Ninon Sevilla) and famous musicians (Rita Montaner, others) who had migrated there for work. Cuban filmmakers without resources in Cuba (PECUSA had sold off all the Cuban studio equipment/buildings) had to reach out to Mexico, Argentina and Spain to fund co-productions.

Rashkin Elissa (2001) Women Filmmakers in Mexico: The Country of Which We Dream

I was referring to her book where she writes about Landeta.

I didn’t refer to Ana Lopez’ work on travelling filmmakers – but when I talked about Tulio Demicheli I was going to talk about other travelling directors from Argentina like Carlos Hugo Christensen (who Ana wrote about) who were invited around different countries in Latin America to make films, so Demicheli’s invitation to Cuba was not so unusual.

Lastly Prof. Tierney also highlighted Mexican Cinema BFI: London, 1995 ed. Paulo Antonio Paranagua (trans. by Ana M. Lopez).

José Arroyo

Thinking Aloud About Film: The Witch’s Mirror (Chano Urueta, Mexico,1962)

November 1, 2023UncategorizedChano Urueta, El espejo de la bruja, Gothic, Horror, Mexican Cinema, Mubi, Spectacle Every Day, The Witch's MirrorNotesonFilm1

The Witch’s Mirror/ El Espejo de la bruja (Chano Urueta, Mexico, 1962) is an immensely entertaining film that is being screened on MUBI as part of their ‘Spectacle Every Day: The Many Seasons of Mexican Cinema’ series. There are claims that it is a ‘uniquely Mexican Gothic’ but we don’t quite agree. Indeed, in the podcast we relate it to Rebecca, Frankenstein, Eyes Without a Face, The Skin I Live In, The Beast With Five Fingers and other well-known films it was clearly influenced by or itself influenced. It is a derivative if visually inventive film, with a director who has an eye for composition, who keeps the camera moving, tells the story at a clip, and who knows how to make the most out of roughly a cast of four performers doing their outmost in about three sets. It’s a considerable achievement in its own terms and great fun to see though those looking for depth will be disappointed.

The podcast may be listened to here:

The podcast can also be listened to on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/show/2zWZ7Egdy6xPCwHPHlOOaT

and on itunes here: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/first-impressions-thinking-aloud-about-film/id1548559546

Here’s the American dubbed version https://cors.archive.org/details/the-witchs-mirror-1962

They removed the Goya etchings and the introductory voiceover.

This is the review Richard found which comments on the dubbed US release:

https://www.dvddrive-in.com/reviews/t-z/witchsmirror60.htm

José Arroyo

Thinking Aloud About Film: De Cierta Manera/ One Way or Another (Sara Gomez, Cuba, 1974)

April 3, 2023UncategorizedAgnès Varda, Cuban Cinema, De Cierta Manera, Feminist Filmmaking, Marxist Filmmaking, Mubi, One Way or Another, Salut les Cubains, Sara GomezNotesonFilm1

Thinking Aloud About Film talks Sara Gomez’ debut feature, DE CIERTA MANERA/ ONE WAY OR ANOTHER, a model of Marxist dialectical filmmaking, mixing fiction and documentary; a dramatic auto-critique of class and race that puts gender at the centre: an extraordinary film, currently on MUBI.

The podcast may be listened to here:

The podcast can also be listened to on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/show/2zWZ7Egdy6xPCwHPHlOOaT

and on itunes here: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/first-impressions-thinking-aloud-about-film/id1548559546

If you want to see the excerpt from Agnès Varda referenced in the film, it may be seen here:

https://notesonfilm1.com/2019/05/10/benny-more-in-agnes-vardas-salut-les-cubains/

José Arroyo

Thinking Aloud About Film: La viuda negra/ The Black Widow (Arturo Ripstein, Mexico, 1977)

February 21, 2023UncategorizedAriel Awards, Arturo Ripstein, exploitation cinema, Isela Vega, La viuda negra, Mexico, Mubi, Sergio de la Mora, The Black WidowNotesonFilm1

We continue our exploration of the Arturo Ripstein films currently available on MUBI with a discussion of The Black Widow/ La viuda negra. The film is based on Debiera haber obispas/ There Should Be Female Bishops, a novel by Rafael Solanas. It’s a film we urge all of our friends interested in exploitation cinema to see. From a producer/audience point of view, the film is all about showing as much of the female star’s body in as many sexual poses as possible. Arturo Ripstein has bypassed and exceeded the expectations of both producers and audiences by providing a film that is a corrosive critique of the pieties of bourgeois life, of the malignant influence of class and of the hypocrisies of the Church. There’s a very powerful moment where the protagonist, punitively shunned by the whole village, dons a priestly cassock to reveal all their secrets and condemn them all to hell. It was made in 1977 and perceived as so blasphemous that it was originally prohibited release. It was released five years later to much acclaim and many Ariel nominations, the Mexican equivalent of the Academy Awards, with Isela Vega winning for best actress. We loved Castle of Purity and think La viuda negra even better. Why this is so is the subject of the podcast.

The podcast may be listened to here:

The podcast can also be listened to on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/show/2zWZ7Egdy6xPCwHPHlOOaT

and on itunes here: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/first-impressions-thinking-aloud-about-film/id1548559546

For those of you interested, Dolores Tierney informs me that ‘This book chapter (by Sergio de la Mora) from Latsploitation has a good bit on La viuda negra: Isela_Vega_article

José Arroyo

Thinking Aloud About Film: A Time To Love/ Sevmek Zamani (Metin Erksan, Turkey, 1965)

November 21, 2022UncategorizedA Time to Love, Antonioni, Dry Summer, European Art Cinema, Metin Erksan, Mubi, restoration, TurkeyNotesonFilm1

We were so impressed by Metin Ersksan’s Dry Summer (Susuz Yaz, 1963), that we decided to continue exploring his work. We’ve just seen A Time to Love/ Sevmek Zamani (1965), and remain impressed. This is the first in-house restoration by MUBI and fully understand why they chose this particular filmmaker and this particular film as a calling card for this new venture. Indeed we are grateful that they did so.

A Time to Love is an easy film to parody: an artsy, philosophical film about love and art, distinctions between being and appearances, class and alienation, traditional and modernity; greatly influenced by the art cinema of its day, particularly the work of Antonioni. But, if one gives oneself over to the style and sensibility of the work, one finds it’s a work of depth, texture and beauty as great as any produced in Western Europe in the same period. We talk about all of this and more in the accompanying podcast:

The podcast can also be listened to on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/show/2zWZ7Egdy6xPCwHPHlOOaT

and on itunes here: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/first-impressions-thinking-aloud-about-film/id1548559546

José Arroyo

Thinking Aloud About Film: Dry Summer/ Susuz Yaz (Metin Erksan, Turkey, 1963)

November 10, 2022Uncategorized1963, Dry Summer, Mubi, Susuz Yaz, THE LAW OF THE BORDER, Thinking Aloud About Film, TurkeyNotesonFilm1

A melodrama about two brothers, Osman and Hasan. Osman is the eldest and has power and rights over how their land is run. Hasan obeys until he realises Osman has broken every rule that binds. A complex film about patriarchy in agrarian culture and the damage it does to all the individuals involved whilst also tearing a community apart. A melodrama that seethes with sexual desire, and where that desire overrules familial relations that would normally be considered taboo. A complex film depicting a way of life that is not so distant, probably still current in some parts of the world and which is not afraid to be poetic and allegorica. It is instantly and thoroughly engaging in spite of two incidents involving animals that inadvertently act as a distanciating device and might make some think twice about watching it. Much of the podcast is devoted to exploring why we recommend people do so.

The podcast may be listened to here:

The podcast can also be listened to on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/show/2zWZ7Egdy6xPCwHPHlOOaT

and on itunes here: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/first-impressions-thinking-aloud-about-film/id1548559546

If this is of interest, listeners might also wish to follow up with another extraordinary film, The Law of the Border:

José Arroyo

Thinking Aloud About Film: La femme au couteau/ The Woman with a Knife (Timite Bassori, Ivory Coast, 1969)

November 6, 2022UncategorizedIvory Coast, Mubi, Thinking Aloud About Film, Timite Bassori, Woman With A KnifeNotesonFilm1

The first fiction feature made in the Ivory Coast. A land-mark film. But is it good? And by what criteria? And if not good, how is it nonetheless very interesting? Art cinema, post-colonialism, and psychoanalysis as imbibed through Hitchcock films, all get an airing in this podcast.

The podcast can also be listened to on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/show/2zWZ7Egdy6xPCwHPHlOOaT

and on itunes here: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/first-impressions-thinking-aloud-about-film/id1548559546

The Interview Richard references may be accessed here:

José Arroyo

Cinema Rediscovered 2022, Bristol Watershed 2022, Final Round-up

July 26, 2022UncategorizedBaby Face, Barbara Stanwyck, Bristol, Chess of the Wind, Cinema Rediscovered 2022, Mark Fuller, Mubi, Paul Newman, Sidney Poitier, Spencer Tracy, Twentieth Century Flicks, WatershedNotesonFilm1

We discuss the last two days of the Cinema Rediscovered 2022 program at Bristol’s Watershed; and then take a step back to discuss the event as a whole. We praise the variety of programming, the extraordinarily efficient organisation and the very welcoming community feel to the whole event. I’m very jealous we don’t have anything like this in Birmingham, and it really is made possible by the contributions of so many committed individuals. So many thanks to all of them for making this such an intellectually stimulating and socially welcoming event. We highlight the workshops and talks (the one on film criticism led by MUBI; the 40th anniversary discussion of Twentieth Century Flicks, Mark Fuller’s Sunday Cinema Walk)and then evaluate the many different strands that constituted a superb programme. We discuss Fury, Paris Blues, Chess of the Wind , Baby Face; Spencer Tracy and Barbara Stanwyck, Josephine Baker and Sidney Poitier; …and much else, not the least Richard and his pals winning the film quiz!

The podcast can also be listened to on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/show/2zWZ7Egdy6xPCwHPHlOOaT

and on itunes here: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/first-impressions-thinking-aloud-about-film/id1548559546

José Arroyo and Richard Layne.

Thinking Aloud About Film: The Child of Another/ Muna Moto (Jean-Pierre Dilcongué Pipa, Cameroon, 1975)

June 19, 2022UncategorizedAfrican Film, Cameroon, Jean-Pierre Dilcongué Pipa, Mubi, Muna Moto, The Child of Another, Thinking Aloud About FilmNotesonFilm1

A discussion of the first Cameroonian feature film, a story of a doomed love, marriage made impossible by patriarchal structures shored up by tradition. Ngando and Ndomé are young and crazy about each other. Ngando’s uncle has promised him the dowry for the marriage, which he has a moral obligation to provide, as he inherited everything Ngando’s father owned upon his death, including Ngando’s mother. But the uncle takes one look at Ndomé and wants her for himself. Ndomé thinks the way forward is for her to have a child with Ngando, which would shame her and her family but might get the uncle out of the way – he already has four other wives — and allow her to marry her love. Instead, the uncle forces Ndomé into marriage and claims the child as his own. The film begins as Ngando kidnaps the child, setting up an inventive flashback structure that allows the film to unfurl as if that moment is the film’s continued present, a present where tradition enables injustice after injustice and in varied dimensions: social, sexual, economic, affective. The film is currently on MUBI and the podcast an array of reasons to view this wonderful film.

The podcast may be listened to here:

The podcast can also be listened to on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/show/2zWZ7Egdy6xPCwHPHlOOaT

and on itunes here: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/first-impressions-thinking-aloud-about-film/id1548559546

José Arroyo and Richard Layne

Thinking Aloud About Film: Soleil Ô/ Oh Sun (Med Hondo, France, 1970)

June 3, 2022UncategorizedFrance, Med Hondo, Mubi, Oh Sun, Political Cinema, Revolutionary Cinema, Soleil O, The Criterion Channel, Thinking Aloud About FilmNotesonFilm1

The Criterion Collection calls SOLEIL Ó/ OH, SUN , ‘A furious cry of resistance against racist oppression and a revolutionary landmark of political cinema’. The Celluloid Liberation Front, writing for MUBI, calls it ‘one of the most dazzling debuts in the history of cinema’; ‘A work of erudite formalism and incendiary refinement’; ‘never didactic’. We dispute all of this. The film is definitely, flamboyant, anti-clerical, modernist, anti-colonial, deploying folklore and experimenting with style. An important film then, very much of its time, but which can now seem to lack complexity and subtlety, though perhaps subtlety was never its aim; and perhaps we should also acknowledge that our perspective is that of two white men. Richard appreciated it more than I. We both urge everyone to see it. It’s an interesting companion piece to Ali in Wonderland and Mandabi. We discuss all of this in the accompanying podcast. Part of the series of important restorations being screened on MUBI.

The podcast may be listened to below:

The podcast can also be listened to on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/show/2zWZ7Egdy6xPCwHPHlOOaT

and on itunes here: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/first-impressions-thinking-aloud-about-film/id1548559546

The film inspired a series of photographs by Kudzanai Chiurai displayed at Tate Modern as part of the World in Common, Contemporary African Photography Exhibition.

José Arroyo & Richard Layne

Thinking Aloud About Film: THE LAW OF THE BORDER/ HUDUTLARIN KANUNU ( Lütfi Ömer Akad Turkey, 1966)

May 28, 2022Uncategorized1966, HUDUTLARIN KANUNU, Lütfi Ömer Akad Turkey, Mubi, THE LAW OF THE BORDER, Thinking Aloud About FilmNotesonFilm1

A gorgeous film, shot in a quasi neo-realist style that nonetheless aims squarely at poetry and critique; clearly influenced by John Ford Westerns in its use of landscape; with shoot-outs staged amidst minarets and water fountains, horses vying with jeeps. A structure reminiscent of Angels With Dirty Faces in that two childhood friends end up on different sides of the law. With the great Yilmaz Güney as a father caught between a rock and a hard place — does he continue smuggling sheep across the border; the only option to feed his people; or does turn to farming that might not render enough to feed everyone but allow the school to come in that might offer a better life for his son? It’s a film where one feels the heat, the thirst, the despair; an existential noir amidst the barren landscape; with a great feel for places and the people who inhabit them. Güney as the father has something of Clint Eastwood’s granite iconicity about him but with life and feeling behind the eyes. Restored in 2013 by Cineteca di Bologna/L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory, in association with The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project, Dadaş Films, and the Turkish Ministry of Culture. Restoration funded by Doha Film Institute

The podcast can also be listened to on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/show/2zWZ7Egdy6xPCwHPHlOOaT

and on itunes here: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/first-impressions-thinking-aloud-about-film/id1548559546

The film is currently available to view on MUBI in the UK.

José Arroyo and Richard Layne

Thinking Aloud About Film: The Housemaid (Kim Ki-young, South Korea, 1960)

May 21, 2022UncategorizedClass Struggle, José Arroyo, Kim-Ki-young, Mubi, Parasite, Richard Layne, Sexism, South Korea, The Housemaid, Thinking Aloud About FilmNotesonFilm1

We continue with our discussion of the MARTIN SCORSESE’S WORLD CINEMA strand on MUBI, this time focusing on Kim Ki-young’s THE HOUSEMAID (South Korea, 1960). MUBI’s take is that it influenced Bong Joon-ho’s PARASITE – clearly evident – and that it ‘changed the course of South Korean cinema forever. An immense success when released in 1960, this striking masterpiece is a blend of sexual obsession and class struggle, horror and social critique’. In the podcast, we agree with most of what MUBI says about it but question the claim that it’s a masterpiece,’ finding the film deeply misogynistic in ways that go even beyond the patriarchal norms of its time and culture. The very handsome version being screened by MUBI is the 2008 restoration by the Korean Film Archive and is a real pleasure to see, making visible the film’s very real inventiveness with light, composition and movement.

The podcast may be listened to below:

The podcast can also be listened to on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/show/2zWZ7Egdy6xPCwHPHlOOaT

and on itunes here: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/first-impressions-thinking-aloud-about-film/id1548559546

José Arroyo and Richard Layne

Love Meetings (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1964)

April 11, 2022UncategorizedLove Meetings, Mubi, PasoiniNotesonFilm1

Pasolini’s Love Meetings is on MUBI at the moment and I highly recommend. What do Italians think about sex, love, marriage, prostitution, homosexuality, divorce, etc. in 1964? Pasolini goes all over the country and asks them. He covers north and south; city and country, peasants and proles; people in the big cities — Milan, Rome, Palermo; the middle classes; men and women. There’s an attempt at representativeness which he acknowledges is not comprehensive. Those pictured have clearly been given a say on their representation as one occasionally gets a ‘self-censored’ notice as they speak. There’s a bit of voice-over narration, but most of the film is given over to hearing what people have to say, including the prostitutes; so the film never suffers from ‘Voice-of-God’ certitude; and half-way through Pasolini interrogates the veracity of what he’s been presenting: it’s clear many people are not telling the truth, and for various reasons; also all the speakers have been self-selected, what about those who were silent or didn’t get a chance to speak, he asks Alberto Moravia?

Love Meetings is an imaginative and ethical film; one sees the filmmakers grappling with so many of the concerns that would become central to documentary for the next twenty years, including the filmmaker putting himself in the picture, questioning how to represent and whether the representation is truthful, and giving those a represented a say in their representation. Plus it’s all such fun. The analysis is Marxist; the tone humorous, respectful, inclusive. A film that seeks knowledge and radiates intelligence and empathy.

José Arroyo

Thinking Aloud About Film: Four Pere Portabella Shorts on MUBI

February 26, 2022UncategorizedAcció Santos, Don't Count Your Fingers, Mubi, Pere Portabella, Play Back, Premios NacionalesNotesonFilm1

We discuss four Pere Portabella Shorts on MUBI:
Don’t Count Your Fingers (1968); Play Back (1970); Acció Santos (1973); Premios Nacionales (1969) focussing on their play with form, the conceptual cleverness, the surrealist aspects; the sensuousness of the imagery; the potency of their critiques.

Portabella seems to be in touch with all the leading painters, poets and musicians of the day; and their collaborations evoke a spirit of community and resistance that seems particularly powerful considering they were made under a fascist dictatorship.

The podcast may be listened to here:

The podcast can also be listened to on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/show/2zWZ7Egdy6xPCwHPHlOOaT

and on itunes here: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/first-impressions-thinking-aloud-about-film/id1548559546

I made a gif from part of a satirical ad in Don’t Count Your Fingers which you can see below:

An excellent article by Rosalind Galt contextualising Pere Portabella’s work and indeed that of the ‘Barcelona School’ , both in national and international aesthetic and political currents, may be accessed here.

José Arroyo

Ali In Wonderland/ Ali aux pays des merveilles (Djouhra Abouda, Alain Bonnamy, France/Algeria, 1975)

January 3, 2022UncategorizedAched Rachedi, Algeria, Ali aux pays des merveilles, Ali in Wonderland, Avant-garde, Colonialism, deconstructionism, Le Monde, Mubi, Rachid Boudjedra, Tahar Ben JalloumNotesonFilm1

We talk Ali in Wonderland (1975), currently on MUBI. It’s an avant-garde political documentary directed by Djouhra Abouda, and Alain Bonnamy. Its play with form is intended to punch the spectator into awareness, and thus very much part of the Deconstructionist zeitgeist of its time. We discuss the use of split screen, distortions, slow motion on beat, juxtapositions; its rendering of historical memory; the way the film connects colonialism with migration. It’s a work you’d perhaps now expect to find more readily in a gallery rather than in a cinema, like an installation, and worth seeing for many reasons, which we discuss in the podcast below.

The podcast can also be listened to on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/show/2zWZ7Egdy6xPCwHPHlOOaT

and on itunes here: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/first-impressions-thinking-aloud-about-film/id1548559546

Writing in Le Monde on the 3rd of January, Tahar Ben Jelloun described the film as:

‘Ali is a film on time and wear. The derision and melancholy of history. The directors well demonstrate the political link between colonialism and migration. It’s not a militant film. It’s something else: a look which derails the quotidian and returns to the misery and exploitation, of which migrant workers are the victims, an element of the fantastic. The real, edited and displayed, is more powerful and surprising than fiction; it is also more violent than political discourse (translation is my my own and possibly thus imperfect).

“Ali au pays des merveilles est un film sur le temps et l’usure. La dérision et la mélancolie de l’histoire. Les auteurs montrent bien le lien politique entre la colonisation et l’émigration. Ce n’est pas un film militant. C’est autre chose : un regard qui détourne le quotidien et redonne à la misère et à l’exploitation dont sont victimes les travailleurs émigrés, les dimensions du fantastique. Le réel donné et découpé est encore plus fort, plus surprenant que la fiction : il est aussi plus violent que le discours politique”

Tahar Ben Jelloun , Djouhra et Ali au pays des merveilles, Le Monde, 3 janvier 1977

José Arroyo

Eavesdropping at the Movies: 330 – Daguerréotypes

December 14, 2021UncategorizedAgnès Varda, Daguerréotypes, documentary, French, Mubi, ParisNotesonFilm1

Listen on the players above, Apple Podcasts, Audible, Google Podcasts, or Spotify.

In 1975, caring for her infant son and unable to spend much time away from home, Agnès Varda turned her camera on her neighbours on her street, Rue Daguerre in Paris. In Daguerréotypes – the title a pun on the photographic process for whose inventor the road is named – she both observes them at work, running their shops and providing their services, and asks them questions about their lives, discovering where they’re originally from (most are not Paris natives) and how they met their husbands and wives. It’s a gentle, relaxed form of portraiture, one that combines imagery of the practicalities of daily work with the subjects’ descriptions of dreams and histories – although the use of a travelling magician’s show is arguably a little too precious. We discuss the different ways in which we respond to their stories, José commenting on Varda’s clear affection for the subjects, Mike arguing that there’s a tragic dimension that overhangs the film, with talk of dreams and escape.

Daguerréotypes is a sensitive portrait of a local community and a time capsule of an era that is now half a century old, and worth watching.

With José Arroyo of First Impressions and Michael Glass of Writing About Film.

Oliver Hargreaves On Paterson

October 27, 2021UncategorizedJim Jarmusch, Mubi, Oliver Hargreaves, PatersonNotesonFilm1

Oliver Hargreaves and I talk Jim Jarmusch’s Paterson:

Paterson – Podcast

Thinking Aloud About Film: Return Of Prodigal Podcast: The Youssef Chahine Podcast No. 39: Youssef Chahine on MUBI

September 20, 2021UncategorizedDaddy Amin, Mubi, The Devil of the Desert, The Youssef Chahine Podcast, Thinking Aloud About Film, Tom Stoppard, Youssef ChahineNotesonFilm1

We return to the work of Youssef Chahine, spurred on by by MUBI’s decision to screen a selection of his works, in what turns out to be marvellous copies. We focus on two of his films, Daddy Amin (1950) and The Devil of the Desert (1954), we compare the visual quality of the MUBI versions to those we saw previously, confirm our admiration for Youssef Chahine’s skills as a director, José takes a dig at the arrogance of a British film culture that assumes one can just move from writing or directing for the stage to directing a movie, and not even Richard can stop José from sighing over Omar.

The podcast my also be listened to on Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/show/2zWZ7Egdy6xPCwHPHlOOaT

and on itunes here: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/first-impressions-thinking-aloud-about-film/id1548559546

A comparison of the quality of Daddy Amin from the version we saw to the MUBI version:

The version we saw previously:

The MUBI version:

Omar’s introduction in The Devil of the Desert:

The Battle Sequence in The Devil of the Desert as an example of cinematic staging:

The introduction of Omar Sharif in The Devil of the Desert:

You may also be interested in our previous podcast on Daddy Amin:

The Youssef Chahine Podcast No. 18: Baba Amin (Youssef Chahine, Egypt, 1950)

…annd on our previous podcast on The Devil of the Desert/ aka Devil of the Sahara aka The Desert’s Devil:

The Youssef Chahine Podcast: No. 21 – Devil of the Sahara/ The Desert’s Devil/ Devil of the Desert

The Tom Stoppard article Richard refers to may be accessed here.

Also. You might be interested in this:

José Arroyo

A quick note on Yuzo Kawashima´s ‘Sun in the Last Days of the Shogunate/ BAKUMATSU TAIYODEN’

March 20, 2020UncategorizedBakumatsu Taiyoden, Mubi, Sun in the Last Days of the Shogunate, Yuzo KawashimaNotesonFilm1

sun

I´m too distracted at the moment to write even a note on Yuzo Kawashima´s great ‘Sun in the Last Days of the Shogunate’, currently on MUBI, so I merely urge those who can to see it. It´s set in a whorehouse at a time of great social change where everyone seems to be running through the corridors and up and down staircases, very bawdy and funny, with a handling of diverse characters even Altman might envy, and with a nonjudgmental look on the very questionable things people often have to do to survive. It´s a picaresque film with a typical rascal hero, Saheiji, who lives by his wits. One of the things that makes this film great is that it lacks the cynicism of the picaresque: everyone has their reasons here, understanding and usually sympathy are offered to almost every character, and the look on the situation is that of humour tinged with a bit of nostalgia. Times of change are difficult ones and everyone needs to get by as best they can. The film usually comes out third or fourth in lists of favourite films in the history of Japanese cinema and one can understand why after seeing it.

José Arroyo

Further image/notes