La Bête humaine (1938)

4/5

Jean Renoir's La Bête humaine, or The Human Beast, is a stunning film in the noir tradition. Written by Emile Zola, the story follows a train engineer with an unexplained mental affliction (Jean Gabin) as he falls in love with the wife of a train station manager (Simone Simon). They meet following a murder committed out of irrational, violent love and that is how their own relationship unfolds. It is a dark film and there is surprisingly little levity, at least compared to Renoir's other works. The themes it explores are fantastic, but I'm a little puzzled by the choice to have Gabin's character mentally aberrant--it seems to counter the power of the "human" condition by singling him out as abnormal.

Renoir has always been technically advanced, and this film is no exception. Its age is easily forgotten; it still seems crisp and fresh after 70 years. Both the cinematography and editing were pristine--I absolutely loved the intro and ending sequences. I liked the acting, but was unimpressed by the characters themselves. Maybe back then they didn't seem as archetypal as they are now. Still, it is a highly recommended film for noir lovers and Renoir fanatics.

IMDb link: http://imdb.com/title/tt0029957/

La Femme Nikita (1990)

3/5

La Femme Nikita stars Anne Parillaud as a cop killer given a second chance at life as a government assassin. As you can guess, this is an action movie. But it's by Luc Besson, which means that it's one of the most bizarre action movies I've seen in a long time. Weird camera angles, editing that's just a bit off, and characters that are off-the-wall combine to form an interesting viewing experience, to say the least. But I found the action to be too excessive, the romance too bland, the plot too predictable, and the characterizations too unrealistic. It all didn't match up to form a cohesive whole. And yet it works. The unique story pulls you in and never lets you go. It had a strange attraction that forced me to keep watching, intrigued. The pacing was flawless. The imagery was startling, vivid, and memorable. And I absolutely loved the ending. Knowing that Jean Reno was in the movie, I kept waiting for him to appear. When he finally did, his little cameo didn't quite live up to my expectations. But his role was really cool. I guess that's what Luc Besson movies have to offer to me--cool little nuggets in weird action movies.

IMDb link: http://imdb.com/title/tt0100263/

The Grand Illusion (1937)

4/5

The Grand Illusion refers to war--the Great War, and every other war. Renoir shows how life and social interactions remain unchanged in times of war; are we really in a war then? But its thematic underpinnings go so much deeper. Countries themselves are illusions, separated only by man-made, self-imposed differences. Even language is an illusion; with the right person speaking, the right emotions on display, the engaged listener, it doesn't even matter what words are coming out of their mouth. This was Renoir's point of view, and it seems a little too idealistic and romantic for me to believe. Also, I was not particularly impressed with the acting, the editing, or the music, but the story (on thematic and emotional grounds) and the camerawork were absolutely stunning. Without a doubt, Renoir knows long tracking shots and mise-en-scene.

IMDb link: http://imdb.com/title/tt0028950/

The Rules of the Game (1939)

5/5

This movie is a testament to films as a legitimate form of art. The abundance of content in this film is overwhelming; every single aspect of life is covered from the lower classes to high society (and the surprising parallels between them), from truth and identity to lies and mistaken identity, from fate to chance. Fully and completely. And in only 110 minutes. Yet it flows smoothly from scene to scene; nothing is rushed or lingered on. The acting by all characters was flawless in all respects; the subtle mannerisms precisely understated, the outrageous flamboyancy perfectly sensational. The shot composition, like the movie's content, is so simple superficially, but incredibly complex beneath the surface. The use of depth of field and background action is mesmerizing and ever-present. Every single scene is so accurately shot and technically breathtaking, but the camerawork is so airy and light that it feels completely natural, even dreamlike.

The depth of thematic material is ridiculous, strengthened by matching cinematic qualities. There is this idea hovering around throughout the film of Christine being trapped in her social class. The rules that govern her behavior are like prison bars, almost zoo-like in nature. This theme is demonstrated with Christine's final lines: "People are watching." Though the movie is incredibly funny throughout, this ending is remarkably sad in its quiet acquiescence to society's inescapable rules. Ironically, the moment when she had the chance to be the most free, she was behind the bars of a greenhouse and mistaken as another woman entirely.

Having so much ground to cover, the film gets a bit talky. I didn't mind though, because it would be like finding more gold in a gold mine and complaining that it was too heavy to carry. If I were forced to choose one film to hold the title of the best movie of all time, The Rules of the Game would be it.

IMDb link: http://imdb.com/title/tt0031885/