All of a sudden I have a lot of films I've seen to talk about plus I have a new entry to do after this so I'll just get on with it. I rented another Kusturica film, this time his first Palme d'Or winner at the Cannes Film Festival - When Father Was Away on Business. Familiar faces in the form of Miki Manojlovic and Mirjana Karanovic, it's about a man who is sent to a work camp after his mistress reported a random political comment he made to the local State Police (headed by his brother in law). The film shows the effect this has on the family and how they endure the hardship but come together in spite of it. Very smooth film, completely the opposite end of the spectrum to Black Cat, White Cat - it's classicly told and the tone is nowhere near where he would later go. I thought it was good, but lacked the emotional impact and broad entertainment of Underground, worth seeing but not top notch.
After that Lovefilm started messing me around (claimed they've sent me the next part of Elizabeth R but they clearly haven't) but I got sent Late Spring by Ozu Yasujiro. I'd rented Tokyo Story a couple of years ago and liked but not loved it, but remembered Hara Setsuko so had added this because it reunited her and Ozu. It's a very fine film about a widower trying to convince his daughter to marry. The only thing I didn't like about it was a couple of scenes went on far too long and didn't really add much, but that aside it's a beautifully played, ebbing tale, which I enjoyed thoroughly. Checking out more Ozu as soon as I can.
So from there to the one disappointment in this batch, Noce Blanche, which I rented because it was the debut film of Vanessa Paradis (that's Mrs. Depp) which launched her career. My biggest problem with this story is how exploitative it is. It's about a middle-aged teacher who begins a sexual relationship with his 17 year old pupil, if I were to summarise it, it's Fatal Attraction, French-style. Now it's exploitative because they've got this very young Paradis (16 when it was made) with a body 5 years too old for her and every scene she's getting her breasts or rear out (or both) and the teacher doesn't even take his shirt off. It abuses her sexuality rather than showing them together as characters, it's just "tits out, CUT!" all the way through. The film is okay, it is watchable and the acting is decent, but it's an extremely distasteful film.
Okay, back to quality, I caught a low-budget noir-ish movie called The Narrow Margin on tv. It's a very short (70 mins) film about a man trying to deliver a witness to the grand jury, with would-be assassins on the train with them. Never heard of any of the people involved (starring Charles McGraw, directed by Richard Fleischer) but they all acquit themselves admirably. Rattles along, some wonderful sparky dialogue between the pair and though we've seen this kind of film done before and after it was a good watch.
So after seeing the new Pushing Daisies episode (I love Americans who abuse the internet) and in the midst of a Samantha Who? marathon (don't ask, I was looking for something completely different and got addicted) I saw the end of the BBC's Tess of the D'Urbervilles, which I've been watching for the past 3 weeks. Gemma Arterton is the best thing about this adaptation, if I were being hyper-critical I'd say at times she is a touch too mannered in her emotional scenes (she cries on cue but I rarely felt for her character), but she blew that away in the final episode tonight, it was her best work. The guys (Eddie Redmayne and Hans Matheson) have very different but difficult roles to make the most of (Angel can be a nothing role and Alec can easily be a 2D git) but I liked what they both did. The score was lovely, the director resisted the temptation to use jaunty angles and told it classically which I enjoyed. The Polanski influence was there in a few scenes but he is such a follower of the source material that's almost inevitable at times. If you missed this, check it out on dvd, it's a ridiculously depressing story but they do it justice.