LE COEUR FANTOME (1995, PHILIPPE GARREL, A+++++)

THINGS SEEN RECENTLY

EXCLUDING THE NINE FRENCH FILMS I LISTED LAST FRIDAY, THESE ARE THE LIST OF THINGS I SAW FROM JUNE 7-20, 2007, in roughly preferential order:

1.LE COEUR FANTOME (1995, Philippe Garrel, A+)
From video.


2.WASTELAND (A+)
A dance performance by Cie Kafig, choreographed by Mourad Merzouki


3.RAIN DOGS (2006, Ho Yuhang, Malaysia, A+)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0851579/
I saw it at Houserama.


4.REQUIEM (2006, Hans-Christian Schmid, A+)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0454931/
I saw it at Houserama.


5.FUNERAL PARADE OF ROSES (1969, Toshio Matsumoto, A+)
Thanks to Galapapruek, who gave me this video.


6.THE DEAD GIRL (2006, Karen Moncrieff, A+)
Thanks to Graiwoot Chulphongsathorn, who lent me this DVD.

I haven’t seen BLUE CAR (2003, Karen Moncrieff), but it is in Girish Shambu’s 2003 favorite film list:
http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/04/30/favourites3.html#shambu


7.NEVER CONGREGATE, NEVER DISREGARD (2007, Arin Rungjang, A+)
A one-hour video installation at Bangkok University Gallery


8.PLOY (2007, Pen-ek Ratanaruang, A+)


9.CHILLAX (2007, Edward Squire, A+)


10.SOLDIERS OF SALAMINA (2003, David Trueba, Spain, A+)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0314693/
From video

I think parts of this film might be sentimental, but I give A+ to this film because there is one scene that made me cry uncontrollably. It is the scene when Miralles (Joan Dalmau) talked about the soldiers who were killed in the wars and forgotten by everybody.


11.DOUBLE SUICIDE (1969, Masahiro Shinoda, A+)
From video


12.GENESIS (1999, Cheick Oumar Sissoko, Mali, A)
From video


13.THE CREATURES, a ballet performance by Biarritz Ballet, choreographed by Thierry Malandain (A)
I was gladly surprised that a part of this performance is about a gay relationship.


14.SICK NURSES (2007, Thodsapol Siriwiwat + Piraphan Laoyont, Thailand, A)


15.FANTASTIC FOUR: RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER (2007, Tim Story, A-)


16.LOVE AND HONOR (2006, Yoji Yamada, A-)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0483578/


17. MOLIERE (2006, Laurent Tirard, France, A-)


18.CRAZY STONE (2006, Ning Hao, A-)
I saw it at Houserama.


19.DORORO (2007, Akihiko Shiota, A-)


20.OCEAN’S THIRTEEN (2007, Steven Soderbergh, A-)


21.THE HITCHER (2007, Dave Mayers, A-/B+)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0455960/


MY FEELINGS:
--It’s hard to find words to describe how or why I like LE COEUR FANTOME. I often have this difficulty when I tried to describe why I like some of Maurice Pialat’s films, too. Some films by Pialat and Garrel strike me as very life-like. These films portray real life as it is, without overabundant technique, style, camerawork, or plot. This makes it very difficult to explain in words the greatness of these films. They are so simple, but they are so great. It is much easier for me to write about films with showy or bizarre techniques, films with many interesting ideas, films with messages, or films with strange plots.

--I find that many things in LE COEUR FANTOME are also in THE BIRTH OF LOVE (1993, Philippe Garrel, A+), such as a father abandoning his son, a departure from lover (Johanna ter Steege) at a train station, a reference to narcotics, a relationship with much younger girlfriend. Maybe it is because all these films are inspired by Philippe Garrel’s real life.

--In my opinion, one thing that makes LE COEUR FANTOME very different from THE BIRTH OF LOVE is that there are a few dream sequences in LE COEUR FANTOME. However, despite these dream sequences, the film still feels very close to real life.

--Two favorite scenes in LE COEUR FANTOME:

1.A scene when a father (Maurice Garrel) tells his son (Luis Rego) some secrets

After I had watched this scene, I felt immediately that the director shouldn’t have filmed this scene, because it is a secret between a father and a son, and the director shouldn’t have let the viewers know this secret. It is the right of the father and the son to keep this secret for themselves.

Suddenly, I realized that I had just forgotten for a while that what I was watching is a fictional film, not a documentary. My first spontaneous reaction to that scene is the reaction I should have towards a documentary film, not a fictional one.

I watched LE COEUR FANTOME when I had a sore throat. I don’t know that “my forgetting the film is fictional” is caused by my illness, my insanity, or by the talent of Philippe Garrel. Giving the benefit of the doubt, I give this credit to Philppe Garrel, rather than admitting that I may be insane. Hahaha.

A case like this used to happen to me before. Once it occurred after I had watched FREE RADICALS (Barbara Albert, A+). The next morning after I had watched this Austrian film, I woke up crying and wondering about how the characters’ lives in FREE RADICALS would go on. After crying for a while, I realized that FREE RADICALS is a fictional film. Those characters don’t really exist, and I can imagine those characters’ lives to go on as happily as I can.

Well, maybe I am really insane and can’t distinguish fictional characters from real people from time to time. But it still requires such special films as LE COEUR FANTOME and FREE RADICALS to make me realize this.

2.The ending scene of LE COEUR FANTOME

I won’t reveal the ending of this film, but the character’s face at the ending is really inscrutable to me. In other films, the face of the character in the ending might be filled with joy, but in this film, the character’s face is emotionless and lets the viewers think for themselves what the character might feel—Does he feel imprisoned, sad, bored, glad? I don’t know, and that’s what I like.


--One thing that I like very much in LE COEUR FANTOME is the constant change of the relationships of characters. The characters falls in love, gives up, falls in love again, etc, with no obvious reasons or explanations. I think this charactereristic is very much like real life.

I think French filmmakers are adept at making this kind of films, and they make these films in a very realistic way, not in a melodramatic way like the TV series MELROSE PLACE (I like both realistic and melodramatic ways, though.)

French films in this group may include:

1.MY SEX LIFE…OR HOW I GOT INTO AN ARGUMENT (1996, Arnaud Desplechin, A+)

2.WE WON’T GROW OLD TOGETHER (1972, Maurice Pialat, A)

3.LATE AUGUST, EARLY SEPTEMBER (1998, Olivier Assayas, A-)


--For more information on Philippe Garrel, please read:

REGULAR LOVERS reviewed by Jesse Ataide
http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/regularlovers.php

SAUVAGE INNOCENCE (2001) reviewed by Mubarak Ali
http://supposedaura.blogspot.com/2005/11/incomplete-exorcisms.html

Philppe Garrel’s films reviewed by Acquarello
http://filmref.com/directors/dirpages/garrel.html

Articles in Senses of Cinema
http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/01/12/garrel.html
http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/00/9/garrel.html
http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/00/6/revelateur.html


--I love RAIN DOGS by Ho Yuhang very much. The ending of this film should be compared to the opening scene of INDIA SONG (1975, Marguerite Duras, A+). The ending of RAIN DOGS is a long take shot of a rainbow, with no camera movement, while the opening shot of INDIA SONG is the same kind of shot of a setting sun.

--I regret that I haven’t seen as many Malaysian films as I should. I think I have seen no more than 20 Malaysian films, both short and feature films combined. Malaysian films that I like include:

1.THIRD PARTY (2003, Khoo Eng Yow, A+)
27 min

2.RAIN DOGS

3.COMPANY OF MUSHROOM (2005, Tan Chui Mui, A+)

4.A TREE IN TANJUNG MALIM (2004, Tan Chui Mui, A+)

5.LOST (2002, Amir Muhammad, A+)
9 min

6.THE DINNER GUEST (1997, Bryant Low, A)
14 min

7.DEMOLITION FROG (2001, Linus Chung Yao Fui, A)
Animation, 10 min

8.ARTICLE 19 (2001, Eddie Lau, A)
5 min

9.MALAYSIA FRIDAY (2001, Tan Jun Ho, A-)
4.15 min

10.LIVE CONCERT (1999, Juhaidah, A-)
4 min

11.THE BEAUTIFUL WASHING MACHINE (2004, James Lee, B+)

12.MAKYONG – PAGEANTS OF THE ANCIENTS (Bernard Chauly + Ho Yuhang, B+)


However, since most of the films in the list are short films, I hardly remember the details of these films now. I made this list by looking at my old diaries to see the grades I gave to these films just after the viewing. I regret that I didn’t note down the details of what I felt for each film at that time.

--“Alone Again” wrote a Thai-language review of THE LAST COMMUNIST (2006, Amir Muhammad, Malaysia) here:
http://www.bloggang.com/viewdiary.php?id=aloneagain&month=02-2007&date=18&group=1&gblog=30


A photo from REQUIEM
http://outnow.ch/Media/Img/2006/Requiem/