Digital Watch
DVDs from the Kobal Poll
by Jeffrey M. Anderson
In 1988 I was a young film enthusiast with not much in the way of
guidance. Fortunately for me, a book came out that changed my life. The
historian John Kobal conducted an international poll of film critics,
filmmakers and other people involved in the world of film, and
constructed a book-length list of the 100 greatest films ever made.
The book arrived under my Christmas tree that year, and in the 15 years
since, I've made an effort to see every one of the 100 films. Since some
of them are irritatingly difficult to find, I'd only made it up to 76 as
of a few weeks ago. But these five DVDs recently arrived and brought me
up to 81. I'm in the home stretch!
#25: Tokyo Story (1953, Criterion Collection, $39.95)
I just can't recommend this Yasujiro Ozu masterpiece enough. The film
alone -- about relationships between parents and grown children --
delves into such painful levels of beauty that it could change your
life. But Criterion's double-disc set makes it even more worthy. Start
with the stunning new black-and-white digital transfer. Then Ozu scholar
David Desser provides a commentary track and critic David Bordwell
contributes a written essay. The second disc includes the film's
trailer, a two-hour documentary on the life and career of Ozu, plus a
40-minute tribute to the great Japanese filmmaker by eight other
acclaimed international filmmakers including Paul Schrader, Claire Denis
and Aki Kaurismaki.
#35: The Apu Trilogy
Pather Panchali (1955, Columbia/TriStar, $29.95)
Aparajito (1956, Columbia/TriStar, $29.95)
The World of Apu (1959, Columbia/TriStar, $29.95)
Indian director Satyajit Ray forever changed the face of Indian cinema
with this practically homemade trilogy depicting the life of a village
boy as he grows up and tries to make his way in the big city. Ray pays
special attention to the small details of the story, which inevitably
make up the substance and the poetry of life. None of the discs come
with any extras, the English subtitles are non-optional and the
transfers aren't exactly spectacular, but the films are highly
recommended nonetheless. A then-unknown Ravi Shankar adds his spirited
score to the mix.
#40: Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959, Criterion Collection, $39.95)
Alain Resnais' feature
debut was praised almost unanimously upon its release and became known
as an all-time classic just a few years later. Barely anyone has
bothered to dispute it. It's a beautifully elegant film -- written by
the French playwright Margeurite Duras -- and its plea against the
atomic bomb is truly heartfelt, but it has an icy deliberateness to it,
and a lack of spontaneity. A French actress making a film in Japan meets
a Japanese architect and they share a brief fling. She tells her
gruesome story; she fell in love with a German soldier at the end of
WWII and he was killed just hours before the liberation. As a result,
she was locked in a basement for years. After Resnais finishes his
preaching, nothing remains but the painful final hours of the two lovers
in late-night Hiroshima. These final scenes resonate with a touching
beauty. The new Criterion disc comes in a gorgeous black-and-white
fullscreen transfer, with lots of extras and a commentary track by
critic Peter Cowie. Best of all is the music and effects track, which
allows the viewer to dump the movie's heavy, heavy dialogue.
#62: Ashes and Diamonds (1958, Facets, $29.95)
This great film by Andrzej
Wajda is considered the greatest Polish film ever made, and I'm sure
that's not too far off the mark. Taking place just after the liberation
of Poland at the end of WWII, several private factions still feel the
need to fight. But the young James Dean-like Zbigniew Cybulski wonders
why, especially after he meets and falls in love with a beautiful
barmaid. The story takes place over the course of one day and depicts
the failed assassination attempt of a new Communist district leader and
the subsequent second try. The achingly charismatic Cybulski virtually
makes this film work all by himself; after the film's release, legions
of young Polish men rushed out to buy copies of his trademark dark
glasses. Facets' digital transfer has the expected film flaws, but
they're not enough to ward anyone away from seeing this classic.
#83: La Strada (1954, Criterion Collection, $39.95)
A landmark in Federico
Fellini's career, La Strada showed him just beginning to get away from
Italian Neorealism and into the fanciful imagery that defined his later
work. Here, it's still pure and human enough to work like magic. The
lovely Chaplinesque waif Giulietta Masina stars as Gelsomina, who is
sold to a circus strongman (Anthony Quinn). Masina's Chaplin-like
performance makes the strongman's cruelty all the more heartbreaking.
Criterion delivers the film in another indispensable two-disc set,
complete with a feature-length documentary, a commentary track by author
Peter Bondanella, an introduction by Martin Scorsese, an essay by Peter
Matthews, and the original English dubbed soundtrack featuring the
voices of Quinn and Richard Basehart.
