LE SAMOURAÏ

WIN

What is the point of life when one lives to kill?  

Le Samouraï makes a methodical study of two distinct processes: one of killing and one of dying.  Simple and deliberate, the film follows hitman Jef Costello through a series of events precipitated by a contract job.  We are presented with his personal code of ethics for this dark profession devoid of morality.  He demonstrates his skill as he builds an alibi, carries out the hit, and frustrates the police.  But the wild card out of his control is at the heart of this line of work:  the shadowy employer--the entity that makes Costello's world possible.

Le Samouraï  is smooth and stylish, yet subtle and suggestive, glamorizing the iron-gazed subject with a romantic notion of a noble samurai transformed in the 20th century (more on that in a moment).  Each scene is a canvas for a process to play out in its entirety.  Just about every character is smart and tenacious--from Costello's lover to the police inspector, as well as the other shady figures who play their lesser parts.  The pursuit of each person's prize propels the conflict and tension, as each must outwit the others to win.  And it's all about winning for everyone, except perhaps the transformed "samurai".

There is a clever portrayal of the police in this story, not as the agents of good against agents of evil, but just as people doing their jobs with every bit of earnestness and self-motivated conniving as the criminal elements.  Rather than howl "hypocrites!" the film deftly outlines the means and motives of policemen out of legal options; they move on to employing unethical leverage to support a predetermined conclusion.  The inspector is, of course, dead right about his hunch; but without unassailable evidence, he applies pressure to squeeze some kind of testimony that will get him what he wants.  Again, he's just doing his job.  And so is Jef Costello.

Le Samouraï  gets a WIN because of its intelligence, meticulous pace, and slick style.  The conclusion is abrupt and surprising.  My first thought was "There are so many loose ends!", but a quick review of the seeming open ends were actually closed with a little reflection.  It is a tidy and fully conceived concept, masterfully executed by the father of the French New Wave and, not coincidentally, one of the greatest directors--Jean-Pierre Melville.

That being said, let's talk samurai:

"There is no solitude greater than that of the samurai unless it be that of a tiger in the jungle... perhaps..."

This opening quote in Le Samouraï  is attributed to "Bushido, the book of the Samurai".  But, of course, there is no such book; bushido was the unwritten samurai code (yes, there were writings about bushido, but no "sacred writ"), somewhat analogous to the code of chivalry for knights.  This attribution puzzled me in the moment, but my research finds that this quote was likely the invention of Melville.  Is it, therefore, a willful manipulation of mind to inject a romantic notion into the story to follow?  I confess that my view of the the idyllic samurai was shredded after watching Masaki Kobayashi's scathing masterpiece Harakiri ("Seppuku" in Japanese).

The samurai way is a fictional romanticism idealized in countless writings and films inside and outside of Japan.  Samurai were to be warriors, trained to kill efficiently and "honorably".  But without wars to fight under the Tokugawa shogunate after 1600, they became aristocratic weight.  The practice of bushido became just a nice idea, especially suitable for any samurai unfortunate enough to have such a meager government income that he could not support himself or his family.  Most of the romantic stories portray these lesser samurai as really sticking to the code and showing themselves to be "true" samurai when compared with their better-off superiors.  The underdog samurai wins the war (usually along with getting killed in the end) through the nobility of their virtue.  And that's pretty much what Melville seems to have in mind in his crime drama.  Great transformation, but again, I think Kobayashi's take on the absurdity of a martial hierarchy in civil society is both keen and provocative.

IMDb page:  Le Samouraï  

MPAA Rating:  PG

GRAVITY

WIN

Gravity is a significant technical achievement. Partly fictional, partly realistic, this outer space thriller delivers screen after screen of dazzling and engaging images. There is an intimate feel to the interior environments of the man-made off-world habitats, with thoughtful touches to put a human mark in each place. There are spectacularly contiguous shots during the first part of the film, which help establish the pace of time (a particularly important element of the principal threat). And the catastrophic sequences unfolding in the vacuum beyond our world have the breathtaking backdrop of the earth in its many glorious shades.

The action commences fairly quickly, and this isn't a very long movie--so I won't dwell on the strictly linear plot. The goal is obvious: Get back to earth. The obstructions, however, are monumental and endless. At nearly every point along the destination something perilous happens. Murphy's law is the law in this universe. The worst possible problem appears in every situation. Returning to earth...it should be so simple. It's right there in plain view all the time; but nothing seems to go right at any point. The tension is persistent.

On the other hand, there are somewhat clumsy attempts to inject some emotional investment beyond what's necessary for the material. Some of the additional "feely" elements feel like gimmicks. Staying alive is enough of an incentive to make the protagonists' struggle believable. But more emotive threads are sewn into places that don't need patches. That being said, there is a particularly touching moment when one character realizes that death is imminent; the scene works brilliantly because, again, just the fight to stay alive is enough to carry the moment on its own merits.

Overall, because of the visual magnificence and the detailed attention to procedure and equipment in off-world emergencies, Gravity gets a WIN. The acting is precisely what you expect from Sandra Bullock and George Clooney; they manage to make even some campy (and uninteresting) opening conversation bearable. The directing by Alfonso Cuarón does not disappoint, even throwing in some fantastic realism (which happens to be one of my favorite genres). While the artistic aspect does not come through quite as well as the technical, the movie succeeds in what it offers: An intense science-fiction thrill-ride.

I recommend seeing this movie in IMAX 3D!

IMDb page:  Gravity

MPAA Rating:  PG-13 for intense perilous sequences, some disturbing images and brief strong language

UPSTREAM COLOR

WIN

Director Shane Carruth delivers a challenging art piece in his second feature film. Eschewing studio trappings for the sake of total creative control, Carruth again spins a dense tale in his own edit-heavy style. Upstream Color requires you to look for the explanations with your eyes and your instincts rather than have them spoken in words. It is an often frustrating task to perform amid a flurry of mesmerizing images and sounds. The explanation may not be satisfying, but the reflection should be.

Much of the setup is disturbing: Youths fall in with a sort of drug dealer, and this dealer later forces the product on an unsuspecting person when he fails to sell it. The product has a bizarre, seemingly endless hypnotic effect on the victim, which the dealer takes advantage of to steal as much money as he wants. When the effect wears off, some pretty chilling, skin-crawling craziness happens to the victim involving worms and pigs. If you make it past this point, you will survive the rest of the film.

The next part of the film focuses on the victim wandering through a life shattered by the crime. Another character enters who was also a victim of the same kind of crime. And then there's an almost completely speechless figure who can hear what these victims - and many others - are experiencing by listening to his pen of pigs. The theme of broad interconnected experience between distant people is slowly established as we listen to the victims confide in one another and try to understand how they ended up where they are. They both teeter precariously on the edge of madness, but a breakthrough in their common experience leads them to the answers.

I won't spoil the ending, but the final chapter of the story shows how the drug-like product originates, and how each person involved in the long production chain is connected...likely without being aware of each other or what they are ultimately contributing to.

It's too early for me to be sure I understand this movie completely. In that respect it reminds me of my experience with Shane Carruth's first feature, Primer. To this day I don't follow exactly what is going on in every frame, but I appreciate picking up something new each time and catching clever details sprinkled throughout.  I will have to watch Upstream Color again and again before claiming to have a clear understanding. Primer appears to be more of a technical challenge, while Upstream Color offers more of an artistic challenge.

The Sampler listens to his pen of pigs

So why the WIN?  I enjoy being challenged with something I don't fully understand but which offers substance. I'm not quick to give up on a puzzle; I'm only dismissive if the puzzle has no substance (like much of what I see, or fail to see, in modern art). Upstream Color carries strong themes of shared human experience and the need for victims to support one another. There are also some enticing possibilities for lively debate regarding what the speechless character (billed as "The Sampler") represents. This is a film built for reflection and debate.  It also features impressive artistic concepts and sharp editing techniques which shape an original story.  And not to be overlooked is the personal satisfaction I get from seeing familiar sights from the city of Dallas.

There are negatives to quibble over: One character spends most of the time looking dazed and spaced out.  While the trauma of the opening crime is understandable, the persistent distant look becomes off-putting and nearly melodramatic. I also couldn't help but think that Carruth has a little Hitchcockian slip in how the male and female victims handle their trauma differently; the woman seems to fall into madness and needs meds and the man to sort it all out. The pendulum does swing back more to the center at the end, but the psychological question marks spring up regardless. Other than that, I don't think there are any other negatives that would make this film a FAIL.

A word of advice:  Watching Carruth's previous film Primer may serve its namesake in preparing you for Upstream Color.  And if you don't like "pretentious" films, don't waste your time on this one.

And on that note, what is a "pretentious" film, and why is that bad?

IMDb page: Upstream Color

Rating:  Not Rated
(Estimated MPAA rating:  PG-13 for drug use, sensuality, and disturbing images)