Kundun (1997)

I haven't talked about Scorsese yet, but he is, without a doubt, my favorite filmmaker still working today. I mean, Taxi Driver is my personal favorite film. Mostly everything else I've seen is great, as well. He imbues his work with such personality, adding little pieces of himself and his life. His characters are great, often loners or outcasts, be it by choice or by circumstances. These characters are where he works best, though. He's amazing at getting into the psyche of a character and examining them, presenting them in an objective and interesting manner. It's hard to explain why I love his work, but I do.

That said, Kundun is one of his most disappointing pictures.Not that it's a bad movie, because even Scorsese's worst is much better than the best effort of some others. But, Kundun, to me, just felt a little flat. Many times I was bored with it, despite the beautiful cinematography. It was interesting to learn about the Dhali Lama and the history of Tibet in general, but the plot just moved far too slow for my taste. Characters were well-defined, though, and the photography is simply a work of art. I love Philip Glass' work, especially in the Qatsi trilogy, and this is one of his best scores. It's not overbearing as some of his other scores can be, and fits the setting well.

It's not a bad film at all, just an 'okay' one.

The River (1951)

The River is a great film by legendary French director Jean Renoir. Before this, I'd only seen Grand Illusion(great), and Rules of the Game(even greater). I own The Lower Depths, Boudu is coming soon, and then there's the Stage & Spectacle set, so I've still got lots to see. But, with the River, so far, Renoir is 3/3 with me.

It's a fairly simple movie about an American (or English?) family, living in Bengal, India. A young man comes to stay for a while, cousin to a nearby neighbor, which affects the family and all their friends, most notably the young girls who all fall in love with his chisled good looks and confused loner-demeanor. Everybody pretty much changes throughout the story, and grows up a little, comes of age, if you will.

The story is told partly in narration by the main character, Harriet. Most of what she explains pertains to the Indian and Hindu culture, which is all fascinating. Admittedly, I don't know a whole lot about their culture, so it was interesting for me to learn it all and connect. Because it's being produced mainly for English-speaking audiences, it's all explained in a way that's easy to understand and pretty entertaining.

Because of the fact that they're an English-speaking family in the center of an entirely different culture, we, the audience, really identify with them, which helps immerse us in the story. Yet, at the same time, they're used to it all by now and have a deep understanding, so it's not a completely alien experience to us. This comes from a deep understanding and respect for the culture in general by everyone on the crew, definitely helped by Rumer Godden, who originally wrote the novel and then adapted it, along with Renoir, for a screen.

The film is shot in Technicolor and looks absolutely gorgeous. Technicolor films do tend to look a little to bright and surreal for my taste, but here it helps bring out the beauty of the River itself and the surrounding land. The 2004 restoration looks amazing, on par with Warner's best efforts.