Nate's Film Digest

Last night, after taking down my Christmas tree, I watched Tre Fratelli , a 1981 Italian film directed by Francesco Rosi. The English title is Three Brothers . It was nominated for an Academy Award in the category of Best Foreign Picture, but lost to the Hungarian Mephisto . It is very loosely based on a short story called "The Third Son" by Russian author Andrei Platonov, although there is only one scene in the film that can be identified in the short story. The rest of the film has been adapted to an Italian setting and the characters are developed to a greater degree. In Tre Fratelli , three brothers return to their childhood home, a picturesque farmhouse in rural southern Italy, for their mother's funeral. The oldest brother is a judge, the middle brother is religious and works in a correctional institute for boys, and the youngest brother is a factory worker and union organizer. Each is preoccupied with his own sense of justice. The youngest brother has brought...

The Time to Live and the Time to Die is a 1985 Taiwanese film directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien. The film is based upon the young life of the director and takes place from the 1940s to the 1960s. The literal translation of the Chinese title of the film is Childhood Events . I watched it last night after I got home from Christmas festivities. Like other Taiwanese films I've seen, the story progresses at a very slow pace. Hou has many long scenes lingering upon mundane details, and documenting the details of what life was like when he was growing up. Like other Taiwanese films, there is some reward in allowing yourself to become immersed in the story, knowing full well that it's going to be slow, and watching the whole thing. The story is about a family who moves from the Chinese mainland to Taiwan in 1947 because the father has found work there. In 1949, the communist revolution happens in China and the family decides to stay in Taiwan, which is not under communist rule. The f...

Angel is a 1982 Irish crime film, the directorial debut of Neal Jordan, who would go on to direct some more popular movies like Interview With A Vampire , The Crying Game , and The End of the Affair , as well as a host of lesser known movies with prominent actors. I watched Angel last night and I think I prefer it to some of Jordan's well-known works. It's a simple story of a saxophone player named Danny (Stephen Rea), who witnesses a double homicide. He takes it upon himself to track down the killers and avenge the deaths. In doing so he undergoes a spiritual transformation of sorts. Angel is not a tightly-written drama with clever twists. The story progresses in a haphazard manner, meandering along to ponderous saxophone solos. In the first fifteen minutes the plot is set in an opening sequence at a dance hall where Danny's band is set to play. As the band is unloading their gear Danny plays the saxophone and a teenage girl walks up and watches him. She doesn't s...