Category: movies

>Pickpocket (1959)

Published on by Tucker2 Comments

>

A man walks out of the room through the open door, into the hall and, presumably, out of the building. When he leaves the room his footsteps can still be heard echoing in the hall, but you do not follow him. You stay, staring at the open doorway, waiting. You are waiting for something, the next thing, a new image, action, gesture. You hear the sound of footsteps fading away. But you stay because you are the camera. Or is the camera is you? So you wait because the director controls you because the camera is you and the director decides to make you wait. Your waiting is only a second too long; just enough to make you sense a tension somewhere, but not enough for you to realize the plan behind that feeling. Now you are on to the next thing (an edit has shifted you) and you have forgotten the waiting, but the tension has left its ghost-image at the back of your mind.

That is the simple beauty of Bresson and his little film, Pickpocket.

>film quiz

Published on by Tucker1 Comment

>A little film quiz that doesn’t really mean anything…

1) What was the last movie you saw, either in a theater or on DVD, and why?
Theater:
Casino Royale – for fun
DVD:
Pickpocket (dir. Bresson) – to show some friends
Derrida – documentary – curiosity

2) Name the cinematographer whose work you most look forward to seeing, and an example of one of his/her finest achievements.
Aleksandr Knyazhinsky – Stalker (1979, dir. Tarkovsky)
Henri Alekan – Wings of Desire (1987, dir. Wim Wenders), Beauty and the Beast (1946, dir. Jean Cocteau)
Vadim Yusov – Andrey Rublyov (1969, dir. A. Tarkovsky)

3) Joe Don Baker or Bo Svenson?
Joe Don Baker

4) Name a moment from a movie that made you gasp (in horror, surprise, revelation…)
Opening shot of Star Wars: Episode IV (seen for first time in theater in 1977) – I still think it’s cool.

5) Your favorite movie about the movies.
Visions of Light

6) Your Favorite Fritz Lang movie.
M

7) Describe the first time you ever recognized yourself in a movie.
In junior high making films with my friends.

8) Carole Bouquet or Angela Molina?
Angela Molina

9) Name a movie that redeems the notion of nostalgia as something more than a bankable commodity.
Nostalghia (1983, dir. A. Tarkovsky)

10) Favorite appearance by an athlete in an acting role.
Kareem Abdul Jabar in Airplane!

11) Favorite Hal Ashby movie.
Being There

12) Name the first double feature you’d program for opening night of your own revival theater.
81/2 and Stardust Memories
The Big Sleep (1946) and The Long Goodbye (1973)

13) What’s the name of your revival theater?
Art House

14) Humphrey Bogart or Elliot Gould?
Elliot Gould

15) Favorite Robert Stevenson movie.
Old Yeller

16) Describe your favorite moment in a movie that is memorable because of its use of sound.
When Kane slaps his wife in their tent at the beach party.

17) Pink Flamingos— yes or no?
No

18) Your favorite movie soundtrack score.
Vertigo (for original)
Help (by the Beatles)

19) Fay Wray or Naomi Watts?
Naomi Watts

20) Is there a movie that would make you question the judgment and/or taste of a film critic, blogger or friend if you found out they were an advocate of it?
Many (but I am always willing to be convinced)

21) Pick a new category for the Oscars and its first deserving winner.
Most Improved Director – not sure
Best Effort – don’t know

22) Favorite Paul Verhoeven movie.
RoboCop

23) What is it that you think movies do better than any other art form?
“The cinema gives us a substitute world which fits our desires.” ~ Andre Bazin

24) Peter Ustinov or Albert Finney?
Albert Finney

25) Favorite movie studio logo, as it appears before a theatrical feature.
Mosfilm

26) Name the single most important book about the movies for you personally.
Sculpting in Time, by A. Tarkovsky

27) Name the movie that features the best twist ending. (Please note the use of any “spoilers” in your answer.)
Planet of the Apes (1968)

28) Favorite Francois Truffaut movie.
400 Blows

29) Olivia Hussey or Claire Danes?
Olivia Hussey

30) Your most memorable celebrity encounter.
Talking to Wes Craven
Being in the same short film competition with Gus Van Sant

31) When did you first realize that films were directed?
When I began making them myself in junior high school.

You can find this important film quiz at http://sergioleoneifr.blogspot.com/2006/12/professor-dave-jennings-milton-free.html