Movie Catch Up

There are three recent films we watched, all of them on Criterion.  For now we gave up our MUBI subscription since we are so far behind on Criterion films.  It truly is the very best channel in the world today for lovers of film. It's the kind of channel that even in one's wildest dreams could never have been conceived not so many years ago.  And yet here it is, with the world's finest films (and some lousy ones, too), for less than $150.00 Can. per year.  Wow!

 

Most recently we watched another Martin Scorcese rescue called Kamatty (Bogeyman).  It is from India in 1979 and was directed by G. Aravindan.  It is a low budget children's fantasy film from the very south of India.  The film is quite slow moving and at times quite hypnotic.  Chanting is used throughout the film, with landscape photography enhancing the timeless effect.  It seems that the film could be taking place almost anytime, except for a few later touches of more modern times.  When Kummatty arrives in a village the children are immediately attracted to him, following him on his local travels and singing and dancing along with him.  Kummatty carries bells which he jingles while he sings and dances, but he also carries several folk art animal masks.  Once the children know him and are used to him they wish to see him do some magic.  The children put on the masks and are briefly turned into various animals.  They frolic or panic according to their nature, but are soon turned back into themselves again.  However, one boy, who was turned into a cute little dog, gets chased from the scene by another dog and misses his chance to be a boy again.  The film is quite charming, with a happy ending for all, even a caged parrot that we have felt very sorry for during the film.  I don't think kids today would enjoy the film, as it is very slow moving.  It isn't a long film, though, and is definitely worth a sit through.

 

Restored by the World Cinema Project's Film Foundation, the film is 

showing on Criterion.  As usual, Scorcese gives a short intro to the film, 

and there is a 'making of' short to go along with the package.  

 

Before that came an epic film once again rediscovered and restored by Martin Scorcese and his World Cinema Project.  The Fall Of Otrar is an historical film from Kazakhstan released in 1991.  It tells the story of how Genghis Khan was able to conquer a highly fortified and strongly defended Moslem city on the steppes of Central Asia.  There is much brutality, some of it over the top, as the story is told in often breath-stopping detail.  Essentially, a scout from Otrar is sent out to investigate Genghis, and returns seven years later with some grim news.  Though he lays out before his leader exactly how the attacks will come, and who within the walls of the city is aiding the conqueror, he is not believed and is tortured for lying.  Alas, what was foretold comes to be and the great city is left abandoned and in ruins.  Based on historical documents this is like the Kazakhstan version of Russia's Alexander Nevsky.  Otrar is even more captivating with its stronger use realism and remarkable use of sepia for much of the film, with sudden leaps into full colour, usually at night in a scene by firelight.  A major film and well worth seeking out.  Introduced by Scorcese there is also an excellent 'making of' film.

 

Now showing on Criterion. 

 

Four Nights of a Dreamer is a Robert Bresson film from 1971.  Adapted from Dostoevsky's "White Nights", the film is about a young man who prevents a young girl's suicide on a bridge at night.  They meet again the next night and become friends.  On successive nights they each tell their life story, and we learn why she was about to jump.  They become better friends and then lovers.  The story is very cynical but well worth watching.  Hailed by Criterion as Bresson's great forgotten masterpiece, this restored version is engrossing and much better than many French films from the time.

 

Now showing on Criterion. 

 

In local news, we both had phone call check ups with our physician, Dr. Alex Shen.  Deb needs some more vitamin D, but other than that we seem to be doing well if recent blood work is any indication.  We are just awaiting Deb's latest iron test results to be certain that she is still on a steady course.  We are both exercising daily, eating better than ever and getting enough sleep.  Other than our recent jaunt to London our alcohol consumption is low.  So all seems well....

 

I enjoyed one clear night recently, the first and likely only one of the June session.  It was a late night as I can only begin observing at 10:45 pm.  But I made it to bed by 3:35 am.  Summer Solstice is just around the corner (Sunday morning for us).  No definite plans have been made, though we might do a day excursion out to some small towns nearby, and to Lake Erie.

 

In piano news it has now been about six months on the new pieces.  Progress was stalled by just over three weeks of travels recently, but I am trying to continue memorization of most of my pieces.  Now that daily practice has resumed I hope to have pieces memorized by sometime in August. 

 

Mapman Mike 

 

 

 

Return To Zork: A Review

There are six Zork games for PC worth knowing.  Three of them are text adventures, followed by three more standard adventure games for PC.  The text adventures are hilarious though all but impossible to get very far into.  They are ridiculously difficult, mostly due to quirky inventories and how they are used. First released in 1977, Zork 1 became the father figure for most adventure games that followed.  Return to Zork, the game under discussion here, was released by Activision in 1993, in the same month that Myst was released.  Two more different games could not be imagined.  Though I love both of them, at least Myst was playable without having an IQ of 160 and a completely warped sense of what to do next in a game.  When I originally played RTZ (March 2000) I found the game impossible to get very far without hints and a newly available walk through guide, and never managed to finish it.  People would congregate on forums trading ideas as to how to progress.  Hardly anyone ever finished the game back then, and I daresay no one ever did without the solutions in front of them.

 

So this review is really of a 2026 walk through, which took us about 5 hours.  Without a walk through in hand frustration will quickly erase any humourous moments the game provides.  And it provides plenty of humour.   The game follows the lead of the text adventures in its absurdity and unabashed use of very confusing mazes.  Yes, there are several mazes and none of them are the least bit fun.  While the humour helps support the game (in walk through mode), the graphics are a complete let down.  After playing Myst and trying this game, I was hugely disappointed back in the day to see what had been done with Zork.  I might have preferred the text games at the time.

 

The game opens at the white house as the man that lives there goes out to check for mail.  Soon he, and we, are sucked into the land of Zork, and our adventure begins on a hilltop overlooking a wide valley with a road leading down towards adventure land.   It all seems so exciting and fun.

 

We arrive in Zork, greeted by a buzzard and then a wizard.  We will soon descend the road into chaos.

   

Somewhere near the beginning this place is encountered.

 

Things I really like about the game are the different characters one encounters, including a cow that eats carrots and will only give milk if your hands are warm enough.  We meet a wood fairy, a bowman, a mayor, a blacksmith, a guy with a boat to take us across to the witch, a schoolteacher, some dwarves, a drunkard who wants to share his rye, a lighthouse keeper, a comedy club manager and a waif.  Now we come to a few of the puzzles.  How about trying to figure out that one must capture several rats to power an outboard motor on a boat?  Or lighting hay on fire in a barn, after feeding carrots to a cow, so you can warm your hands and milk her using a thermos?  How about burning a bra in an incinerator to retrieve a wire in which to pick a lock?  These all very funny, but damned near impossible to figure out.

 

Be prepared to die often, get robbed, and even get turned into a bog rat a few times by a witch who needs to be appeased.  You can be killed by grues at the hotel and booed out of the comedy club (that hurts).  And don't get me started on the bat guano, or the duck Canuk, or the joke book method.  Turning to the game's music for a moment, much of it is midi fun time.  I especially liked the Fools Monument theme.  However, if stuck on a puzzle, the music anywhere can be extremely annoying.

 

Don't expect to go this game alone.  Come prepared with a very good hint system, which will get you places, though not all places, and a walk through guide.  Even with both it still took us five hours to get  through the game.  Expect to spent eternity without help.  The game ran fine on Steam though the graphics are very pixelated.  Funny and enjoyable with help.  Frustrating and maddening without. 

 

East or West Shanbar, the only towns in the game.  You will meet some fun people there.

 

The witch's cave.  Do her a favour and she will do one for you.

 

You are live at Chuckles Comedy Club.  Bring your joke book and tape recorder when you meet people in the game.

 

Looks like we are at the lighthouse.

Up top at the lighthouse, if you get that far.

 

The famous control dam #3.

  

This is one of the most difficult puzzles in the game, lowering the bad bridge and raising the good one.

 

Outside the evil wizard's palace. 

 

There is also one movie to report, another World Cinema Project film, again introduced by Martin Scorcese.  Yam daabo (The Choice) is a film from Burkina Faso and directed by Idrissa Ouedraogo.  When was the last time you watched a film from Burkina Faso?  If like me, then likely never.  Do you even know where Burkina Faso is?  I didn't (but I do now).  Before watching this incredible film I knew nothing about this country.  But I think I know something about it now.  It is a simple story using mostly non-professional actors and limited dialogue.  The opening scene and final scene are nearly identical:  a village of desperate looking people await the coming of a regular food truck.  After the opening scene we watch as a family breaks away from the group and sets out on their own to try and seek a place where they can grow their own food and raise a family.  The story follows the family into the wilderness until they finally reach a river.  They begin to prepare the land for crops and to build huts in which to dwell.  A side story about a jealous bad guy isn't really needed to hold our interest, as the family itself is fascinating to watch, both through tragedy (the youngest boy is killed by a car en route to their paradise) and triumph (their crops grow and a son is born to the daughter of the patriarch).  The film is rich in human endeavour and hardship, and not even the bleak and mostly flat  landscape can keep us from hoping for their success.  A recommended film now showing on Criterion, along with a whole host of other treasured films from the World Cinema Project.  As usual, there is a short but very good documentary about the making of the film.

 

Now showing on Criterion.