Film Festival Weekend

April 27th and we are getting June weather.  The heat is on this coming week, and I don't mean the furnace.  Very warm temps and humidity have arrived a month early.  No surprise there, after this past year of record temps in these parts.  The grass received its first cut of the season yesterday, after the tractor was returned to us following its annual oil change and tune up.  And I got my teeth cleaned!  Let's see, what else happened yesterday.  Ah, we had a small natural gas leak fixed, and the gas was off much of the day.  And the new beer fridge was delivered, and is up and running in the basement.  But there is still a lingering smell of gas in the basement.  Just waiting a few minutes before going to check it again.

 

For travel buffs, I have finally completed my road trip blog on our recent trip to the deep south.  Find the road trip blog in the upper left margin, and scroll down towards part 1 (it's in 5 parts).

 

It's my turn for the film festival this month.  Each month one of us gets to pick three extra films to watch.  Combined with the two regular choices we each get in turn, that makes five in a row for me every two months (and for Deb).  At least one of the films must be chosen from the 'leaving soon' list, either from Mubi or from Criterion.  The others can come from anywhere.  So far we have completed watching three of my five choices.  Most recently we re-watched The Tale of Zatoichi #1 in the terrific samurai series from Japan starring Shintaro Katsu as the blind swordsman.  This first film, in widescreen b & w, contains all of the ingredients of the films that would follow in the series, though the pacing is much slower and more meditative here.  Ichi does not kill a mass of warriors, either.  He dispatches two who are sent to kill him for hearing a conversation, and he kills another master swordsman at the very end.  At this point he is bothered by killing, finding it a huge waste of human life.  Though we have seen this film at least four times now, there is always something new to discover or appreciate.  Highly recommended series, best watched in order.

 

Always showing on Criterion. 

 

Before that came a short BBC film part of their Screen Two series.  From the description on Prime:  Sin Bin stars Oscar nominee Pete Postlethwaite as a psychiatric guard at odds with a brutal system in this unflinching but darkly humorous view at humanity at its best and worst. In a prison for the criminally insane, Mitch witnesses an assault on a patient who dies 24 hours later. Compelled by his conscience to speak out, Mitch is forced to choose between self-preservation and justice.  Quite a disturbing and tension-filled little film, from a play by Catherine Johnson.  The tension builds as the union fully supports the offender.  Postlethwaite is a fine actor who can share slight nuances really well.  Recommended viewing.

 

Showing on Prime.

 

My leaving choice came first in this festival, a b & w comedy from 1941 called Here Comes Mr. Jordan.  Robert Montgomery stars as a boxer who crashed his plane on the way to a big prize fight, and is killed.  Only he wasn't.  It was a clerical error.  Or something.  He ends up having his personality placed inside another body, a man who has just been murdered.  The film was nominated for 7 Oscars (it won two--best story and best screenplay).  Mr. Jordan is a bureaucratic angel who helps the boxer get along in his new shoes.  Diverting, but not essential.

 

Leaving Criterion April 30th. 

 

Two films remaining, one of which is another BBC screen Two production, and the other the winner of the Oscar for best foreign film.  Stay tuned.  And it's almost time for the monthly books read summary, too. 

Mapman Mike