Dragisa Krsmanovic

Here is the second, more ambitious, Super 8 we made in 1984. Just a few months after the first one. We named it ” Te Deum”. (15min)

I just received a DVD from my old friend Milan. It’s an amateur 8mm movie we made in Belgrade in 1984. I was 20 at that time. (4min)

Yesterday i went to see Spanish film Take My Eyes and the show was interrupted by a fire alarm in the building. We had to leave the theater and wait outside. Fifteen minutes later we were allowed back. This is the sound I recorded. The movie is very good. Pilar is a young mother living with a violent husband. Slowly she manages to set herself free.

Here is another sound from the streets of the Mission I recorded today.

The Descent (UK, 2005) New horror by Neil Marshall who did Dog Soldiers three years ago. A story about group of soldiers fighting werewolves in Scottish Highlands. This time it’s all hot chicks fighting creatures in a dark cave. What else can one want !

The Sun (Russia/France/Italy/Switzerland, 2005) by Aleksandr Sokurov. Slow, detailed portrait of Japanese emperor prior to his surender to Americans and his decision to renounce his divine nature. Great acting by Issei Ogata as emperor.

The Wayward Cloud (Taiwan, 2005) A porn actor and a girl meet during a water shortage in Taipei. With dancing and singing. I loved it. Ming-liang Tsai’s previous full feature, Goodby Dragon In, is one of the best movies that I saw in last few years.

Sa-Kwa (Korea, 2005) A story about one women and her relationship with different men in her life. A non-simplifying portrait of romantic relationship. Good first feature by Yi-kwan Kang.

Underground Game (Brazil, 2005) Probably my favorite movie from San Francisco International Film Festival. A lonely lounge pianist stalks women in Sao Paolo subway looking for his true love. And he finds her. Directed by Roberto Gervitz. Based on a story by Julio Cortazar.

A Short Film About the Indio Nacional (or The Prolonged Sorrow of Filipinos) (Philippines, 2005) A first feature by the 22-year old Raya Martin. Most of movie is silent, black and white. Done in style of early 20-th century theatrical films. So, so.

I Saw Ben Barka Get Killed (France, 2005) French are digging dirty moments from their recent past. This one is about kidnapping and disappearance of famous Moroccan political leader Mehdi Ben Barka in Paris in 1965 (Including involvement of Margaret Duras and Georges Fraju in it). Done in noir style. Interesting political thriller. By Serge Le Peron.

Workingman’s Death (2005, Austria/Germany) Great documentary about people doing hard physical work in different parts of the world. Filmed in Ukraine, Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan, China and Germany. Beautiful camera. By Michael Glawogger.

Art School Confidential (USA, 2006) I bet Terry Zwigoff went to art school at some point. Fun, fun !

Drawing Restraint 9 (USA, 2005) by Mathew Barney with Bjork. I felt asleep during the show but it’s not the fault of the movie. I liked it. Not as much as his Cremaster movies but it’s good. Realy.

Just saw Classe tous risques (1960) starring one of my favorite French/Italian tough guys Lino Ventura. Also starring young Jean-Paul Belmondo.

Lino Ventura is old gangster on the skid. His wife and his partner get killed running from Italy to France. He has to find a way to Paris with his two kids, help of a young thief (Belmondo) and bunch of old pals who are turning their back on him. Great, realistic, acting. No nonsense, old style, noir flick.

“It’s the sense of touch. In any real city, you walk, you know? You brush past people, people bump into you. In L.A., nobody touches you. We’re always behind this metal and glass. I think we miss that touch so much, that we crash into each other, just so we can feel something.” … is the first sentence in Crash directed by Paul Haggis.

That sentence might be the best part of the movie.

I think it was pretty good. For Holliwood that is. Yes, there is a positive ending, everyone is pretty and even the bad guys turn good at the end. Everything evolves around 5-6 groups of characters of different ethnic background that cross each other’s path in many different ways. So we have oportunity to see how biased and racist each group is. Everyone is linked by bunch of coincidences. How likely is for two complete strangers to meet twice in LA by accident ? But that happens in this movie all the time. I guess it’s easier to write a story that way.

Did I mention that everyone looks great and storry ends, more or less, happily with lots of moralist lections ?

Crash is not a bad movie. I’d give it 4 out of 5. Kuddos for tackling racial issues and it can bring couple of tears in your eyes. It was just too Holliwood-ish (or to LA-ish?) for me. I think Holliwood still should stick with what it does best – entertainment. Let others do “serious” movies.

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So, I went to cinema every night this week so far. I saw “Match Point”, “Capote” and “Caché”. All three good movies. If I would need to rank them, I would put Woody Allen’s “Match Point” on top and “Capote” on bottom of this list.

Match Point has some great acting and a very interesting crime story.

Michael Handke’s Caché is a much more disturbing movie than Match Point. Not as much as his previous movies. Slow tempo. Ambigous ending. That’s all fine with me.

Capote is a good movie too, altho it ended last on my list. I just couldn’t grasp seriously either character’s feelings – Capote’s or the murderer’s.