Criterion Collection | www.jaredmobarak.com

REVIEW: 残菊物語 [Zangiku monogatari] [The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum] [1939]

2016/09/282016/09/29 Jared Mobarak

“Wait for me” Writer/director Kenji Mizoguchi‘s Meiji period-set film about a struggling Kabuki actor and his devoted wife, 残菊物語 [Zangiku monogatari] [The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum], is a heartbreaking display of love’s power to endure no matter the external forces trying to extinguish it. For Kikunosuke Onoue (Shôtarô Hanayagi), the adoptive child of master actor Kikugorô Onoue V (Gonjurô Kawarazaki), fame and fortune meant nothing after experiencing true friendship and affection from his baby brother’s nurse Otoku (Kakuko Mori). She told him the truth about his failings on stage,…

REVIEW: 龍門客棧 [Long men kezhan] [Dragon Inn] [1967]

2016/09/012016/09/02 Jared Mobarak

“You still want noodles?” When I told a friend I was going to be watching King Hu‘s 龍門客棧 [Long men kezhan] [Dragon Inn], she surprisingly told me she’d already seen it. I wondered where considering the Janus Films restoration had just released this year and her response was, “El Rey.” Yes, Robert Rodriguez‘s television channel known for grindhouse content. I was taken aback. I had seen A Touch of Zen last month and found myself mesmerized by the artistry and scope, it’s epic tale the type of austere cinema for…

REVIEW: 俠女 [Xia nü] [A Touch of Zen] [1971]

2016/08/042018/05/03 Jared Mobarak

“One should rather believe in ghosts than not” It’s enlightening to read writer/director King Hu‘s press notes that accompanied the Cannes premiere of his then newly-cut 俠女 [Xia nü] [A Touch of Zen]. 1975 was four years removed from the film’s original release—as two parts, a format his producers demanded to try recouping some of its ballooning budget—and six years after he began constructing the elaborate sets utilized during a long, piecemeal shooting schedule to combat changing seasons from ruining continuity. He finally received the ability to restore his three-hour…

REVIEW: Les demoiselles de Rochefort [The Young Girls of Rochefort] [1967]

2016/06/032016/06/04 Jared Mobarak

“The illusion of love is only love unseen” The fair is in town and love is in the air. Welcome to Rochefort—a little seaside navy town in France full of sumptuously bright colors and plenty of light-footed citizens ready to dance accompaniment for anyone willing to belt their hearts out in song. It’s a harbinger of unrequited love, lost love, and dreamers seeking an ideal they aren’t sure reality possesses. Tourists come and go, laughter is shared, and natives seem to always gravitate back after adventures abroad. The city beckoned…

REVIEW: Vredens dag [Day of Wrath] [1943]

2015/10/232015/10/26 Jared Mobarak

“There is nothing so quiet as a heart that has ceased to beat” The Latin hymn “Dies Irae” has been highly quoted musically throughout the centuries in myriad compositions, its words a medieval tale of judgment day wherein the souls of the good are summoned to Heaven and the rest cast down to Hell’s eternal flames. It makes sense then that Carl Theodor Dreyer would include it as the centerpiece of his film dealing with that exact divide between the righteous and damned. His Vredens dag [Day of Wrath] borrows…

REVIEW: অপুর সংসার [Apur Sansar] [The World of Apu] [1959]

2015/10/222015/10/23 Jared Mobarak

“How do you know I’m happy?” After beginning his career in filmmaking with the first two installments of his famed Apu Trilogy, writer/director Satyajit Ray shot two standalone works before rounding out author Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay‘s world with অপুর সংসার [Apur Sansar] [The World of Apu]. This decision is felt as his saga capper feels much more accomplished cinematically as a result. There was an obvious progression between Pather Panchali and Aparajito, but the jump here is astronomical. It’s not just in visual style either as the writing shows maturity in…

REVIEW: Sans toit ni loi [Vagabond] [1985]

2015/10/212015/10/22 Jared Mobarak

“Champagne on the road’s better” When I saw Sans toit ni loi [Vagabond] for the first time as a twenty-year old in college, I did so believing its titular nomad Mona Bergeron (Sandrine Bonnaire) was the focal point. This was a mistake. I was bored—frustrated that I was forced to care about someone who obviously wanted to be alone and on the road. She’s resentful, temperamental, and above all else ungrateful when the kindness shown dries up. It’s not, “Thank you for the time we’ve spent together and the warmth…

REVIEW: Mur murs [1982]

2015/10/072015/10/08 Jared Mobarak

“That’s part of the beauty. It’s going to change.” What’s there to do while you’re in Los Angeles? Shoot a couple films, of course. That’s exactly what French auteur Agnès Varda decided to do in 1981 with her fictional narrative Documenteur and documentary Mur murs. The latter proves a very down and dirty point and shoot piece, immortalizing the myriad murals around Los Angeles as well as the artists behind them. This is important too since so many have been covered in graffiti, knocked down, or hidden by new construction.…

REVIEW: অপরাজিত [Aparajito] [The Unvanquished] [1956]

2015/09/242015/10/20 Jared Mobarak

“He will come if he wants to” After the huge success of Pather Panchali, it would have been strange for Satyajit Ray not to continue Apu’s saga into Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay‘s second novel অপরাজিত [Aparajito] [The Unvanquished]. The only reason I could see him stopping was the fact that the boy’s coming-of-age contains as much tragedy or more as his early childhood. If you remember, the first film follows his finding his grandmother dead, watching his sister die, and being left homeless once a huge storm destroys their family estate. With…

REVIEW: Cléo de 5 à 7 [Cleo from 5 to 7] [1962]

2015/09/232015/10/20 Jared Mobarak

“You shouldn’t use the word ‘despair’” It’s crazy to think that Cléo de 5 à 7 [Cleo from 5 to 7] was just the second feature length fictional narrative French auteur Agnès Varda ever made. The maturity in minimal storytelling, singular visual style, and existential metaphor surrounding death’s value that spans classes are stunning to behold. While following Cléo (Corinne Marchand) in virtual real time for an hour and a half as she distracts herself with shopping and work before calling her doctor for potentially devastating test results, we pass…

REVIEW: La cage aux folles [1978]

2015/07/072015/07/08 Jared Mobarak

“Procreation is wearing you out” The fact The Birdcage proves an almost shot for shot remake thirty years later is a testament to La cage aux folles‘ quartet of writers if not to the original stage play’s creator Jean Poiret alone. This is how funny, resonate, and timeless the material remains—enough to even provide the basis for a 1983 Tony Award-winning Broadway musical in between. Personally I give Mike Nichols‘ refresher the edge, but its exacting resemblance makes it hard not to love this 1978 production just as much. Édouard…