The Night of the Hunter (1955)

Star Rating: **** (4/4 stars)
Charles Laughton's "The Night of the Hunter" combines exquisite cinema with two of the most classic areas of literature: fairy tales and religion. Its biblical attributes range from numerous bible quotations, to the allusion of two endangered children being found in a boat by the side of a river by a woman who becomes their savior and protector. It also explores the concepts of false prophets and human duality, adding to its biblical nature. On the other hand, Jeffrey Couchman, author of "The Night of the Hunter: Biography of a Film", said that the film is like a traditional fairy tale, in the way that it features children all alone on the run from unfathomable evil.

"The Night of the Hunter" is about the Harper family in West Virginia during the Great Depression. Ben Harper, the father, is arrested and executed for killing two men during a robbery, in which he stole about $10,000. Before his capture, he gave the money to his young son John (Billy Chapin), and told him and his younger sister Pearl (Sally Jane Bruce) to hide it on the property and tell no one of its whereabouts. While in jail waiting for his sentence to be carried out, Ben shares a cell with the Reverend Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum), a fortune hunter and serial killer masquerading as a reverend. He hears Ben talking about the money in his sleep, but Ben refuses to tell him about it. After Ben dies without telling him anything, Powell finds the home of the Harpers. He quickly beguiles the grief-stricken widow Willa Harper (Shelley Winters), and marries her.

John instantly knows that Powell is only trying to find the money, and is cold and indifferent to him. Powell tries to find out where the money is from the children, but staying true to their promise to their father, they say nothing. Powell becomes more and more threatening. When Willa realizes what Powell is doing, he murders her, and hides her body at the bottom of the Ohio River. He now becomes the children's' guardian. After abusing and threatening the children, they run away. They paddle up the Ohio in a small boat, where they are eventually found by Rachel (Lillian Gish) a strict and tough-spirited lady who looks after several stray children. She takes John and Pearl under her wing, and gives them a place to stay. For the time being, she protects them from Powell.

"The Night of the Hunter" was the first film I saw starring Robert Mitchum, and I can't see him in anything else without seeing him as Reverend Powell. I won't even bother calling him "evil", because in addition to being a cliché, the term doesn't even do him justice. To coin a biblical phrase, he's a false prophet. The film virtually spells this out for us when we see him for the first time during a voice over from Rachel warning the children against false prophets. Powell lets his religious and charming persona blind others to his true criminal nature, and when all is done no one even suspects him.

While he's ultimately the bad guy of the piece, Powell is also somewhat of a metaphor for human duality. The word "hate" is tattooed on each of the knuckles of his left hand, while the word "love" is tattooed on the fingers of his right hand. He symbolizes the fight of good against evil for a group of onlookers by comically wrestling with his own fingers, having "love" pin "hate" to the table. This whole bogus performance, together with the contrast of his roles as a killer and preacher, symbolizes treachery in the form of decency, but is also a symbol for good and evil because these traits exist within one person.

The other staple in the film is Lillian Gish, whose performance as Rachel is both relieving and highly entertaining. When we first meet her, she's a tough and protective lady, whose very religious and peaceful. However, when danger threatens her children, she dashes into the house and unexpectedly emerges brandishing an enormous shotgun. Rachel is like Frances McDormand's Marge Gunderson in "Fargo" (1996). She steps in and becomes a driving force in the story's resolution, and brings the tragic series of events to a close with some calming words that sooth the audience, and establish the film's core message. "There's more to life than a little money ya know," Marge says to the killer she's just arrested. In Rachel's case, she smiles proudly after the Harper children, and proudly declares that "children are man at his strongest", and that "they abide, and they endure."

"The Night of the Hunter" was the first and only film directed by actor Charles Laughton, star of "Mutiny on the Bounty" (1935), and "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" (1939). Laughton took immense care in the making of "The Night of the Hunter", and gave it his all. He had a very clear vision of how he wanted his film to look. To distinguish it from other films of the time, he directed the film using lyrical and surrealist techniques that recalled films of the German Expressionist period, like "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" (1920), and "Nosferatu" (1922).

The film frequently makes use of visually distortive and manipulative elements to emphasize mood and evoke emotion, such as the stylized use of light and shadows on the sets. No matter how frightening the scene might get, there's still so much poetry in the camerawork. It makes the scene even more frightening, but also radiant at the same time. One such scene is the one where Powell's shadow darkens the interior of the children's bedroom when he arrives for the first time. Another is when Willa's dead body is tied up in her car at the bottom of the river, with her long hair drifting in all directions amongst the seaweed. In short, in bringing a very deliberate artistic vision to life, Laughton filmed one of the most beautiful nightmares you'll ever have.

When "The Night of the Hunter" first hit theaters, people didn't know what to make of it. Most audiences in the 1950s wanted entertaining movies that they could "escape to", to avoid the hubbub of everyday life. Instead, they got a movie that was challenging, scary and unlike anything they'd seen before. They didn't react positively to the experience at all. This was a huge disappointment for Laughton, who never directed another film, which is probably one of the greatest pities in cinematic history. There can be little doubt that "The Night of the Hunter" is a masterpiece, and even one of the most beautiful, and most uniquely photographed movies ever. It is quite the feather in Laughton's cap, as well as in Mitchum's, and Gish's, and the actors' playing John and Pearl for that matter.

"Brick" (2005)

Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Nora Zehetner in Rian Johnson's "Brick"

Star Rating: **** (4/4 Stars)
The best part about Rian Johnson's thriller "Brick" is how easily he (Johnson) takes the defining characteristics of a classic Film Noir, and applies them to a high school setting. The players in this drama may be teenagers, but no Noir elements are watered down. There are real criminals, real crimes, and real murders. This contrast between youthful "innocence", and horrific adult brutality is what makes Brick stand out in the library of recent Noirs.

It's also very well connected with other films of its genre. It has the dense, dramatic, and suspenseful feel of a Film Noir down perfectly. It's wide landscape shots recall John A. Alonzo's cinematography of "Chinatown" (1974). Our protagonist's persisting love for his deceased ex-lover also suggests movies like "Laura" (1944), and "Vertigo" (1958). An exchange between the protagonist and a femme fetale-like character ends with the line, "Now you are dangerous", was directly taken from "The Maltese Falcon" (1941). It's haunting, experimental, often sinisterly upbeat and almost Spaghetti Western like soundtrack even channels "The Third Man" (1949) at times.

The title of this film is a reference to a brick of heroin, which is the device that drives the plot forward. The whole complicated situation begins over the murder of a high school stoner named Emily (Emilie de Ravin). Her ex-boyfriend Brendan (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) investigates into the killing without notifying the authorities. He uses three seemingly unrelated words Emily had mentioned during their last phone call before abruptly hanging up as leads to begin his investigation. He delves deep into his high school's underworld, and penetrates a community of drugs, corruption and temptation.

Along the way, Brendan encounters such obstacles as a dangerous drug baron and his agent (Lukas Haas and Noah Fleiss respectively), and a seductive member of their drug ring named Laura (Nora Zehetner). Brendan is also aided in his quest by an acquaintance named The Brain (Matt O'Leary). All the necessary plot advancers are in place, and Brick film unfolds at an easy pace, not too fast, and not too slow. It keeps you engaged as it throws its complex plot at you, and it doesn't disappoint when it the ending comes. The film even ends with a catchy line as icing on the cake.

It seems like an artsy film that takes so many risks as this should have flaws. I will say it requires an enormous suspension of disbelief in order to take Brick seriously, because all these horrible things are happening to a group of high school kids, and no adults seem to notice till much later in the movie. Regardless, the film's intelligent script, surprisingly beautiful cinematography, engaging premise and characters make it well worth watching. Brick actually makes a fine companion piece with Christopher Nolan's "Memento" (2000), a film which also uses classic Noir elements to make a wholly original work. The premise of Memento is that a man with short term memory loss tries to find and kill the man who murdered his wife. There are two plotlines in that movie. The main one, about the man searching for his wife's killer, is told in reverse chronological order. In the other plotline, the same man is in a hotel room having a lengthy phone conversation with an unknown person that is moving in chronological order. At the climax of the film, the two plotlines intersect, and the film ends (or begins?)

Obviously, the two films differ in terms of plot structure. Aside from a few flashbacks, "Brick's" narrative is chronological. The similarity between the two movies lies in the innovative ways that the their directors tell an otherwise standard story. In "Memento's" case, it's the two plotlines going in opposite directions, while in "Brick" it's these complex crimes happening within a high school community rather than an adult one. Similarly, after watching "Memento" I said to myself, "there has to a flaw or plot-hole here somewhere", and simply couldn't find one. Even if there are flaws, these films both have enough else going for them that they can be forgiven.

"Brick" is writer/director Rian Johnson's first feature film. He's since made two other acclaimed films: "The Brothers Bloom" (2008), and "Looper" (2012). The latter is an ambitious twist on time travel movies with an inventive, thought provoking premise in much the same way "Brick" is an inventive variation on modern Film Noirs. Johnson seems to have a talent for taking the basics of making films of classic genres, and running with them to create something a little different. He's only directed three films so far, but I think he shows a lot of promise as a filmmaker.

Summer of Film Debuts

Happy (almost) summer, everyone!

Let the months of taking it a little easier begin. For me, summer is the time to catch up on all the things I've put on the backburner during the school year. Things like watching movies, or rather watching *more* movies. Summer is also a grand opportunity for rising filmmakers to make a movie or two, which is even part of the premise of the J.J. Abrams movie "Super 8" (2011).

In view of this, I thought I'd try something new on "The Magic of Film". Every Friday this summer, going from today to the 20th of September, I'm going to be posting a review of an acclaimed director's first theatrically released film. I won't say what movies I'm posting and when, you'll have to find out for yourself. But some of the directors I'll be focusing on are Terrence Malick, Stanley Kubrick, Quentin Tarantino, Jean-Luc Godard, The Coen Brothers, etc.

A director's debut isn't always their most remembered film, but it's one of their most important. It's their trial run in the field of filmmaking, and it takes so much courage to make. It's exciting, terrifying, and wonderful at the same time. It's also fun to watch a director's debut after they've launched a successful career for themselves, and look for elements that might have blossomed into prominent motifs in their later films. For example, would the colorful shots, quirky characters and moral dilemmas featured in Paul Thomas Anderson's "Hard Eight" (1996) reappear in "Boogie Nights" (1997), "Magnolia" (1999), or "There Will Be Blood" (2007)? In some cases, a director's debut may be very different from their other films. After making a high school coming of age film like "American Graffiti" (1973), would've thought George Lucas would become famous for the "Star Wars" trilogy?

I've chosen a wide variety of directors to honor this summer, including Classic Hollywood, modern, foreign, and independent filmmakers. In addition to being directors I really like and admire, they have also left very distinct marks on filmmaking. Some of these marks are so deep you don't even notice them when you see them. Whether you know it or not, every time you see a movie today with highly philosophical themes, you are seeing the impact of the French New Wave of the 1950s and '60s, of which Jean-Luc Godard is one the pioneering filmmakers. Whenever you see a summer action blockbuster, you are seeing the impact of Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. Many of the films I'll be reviewing are some of the films from which modern cinema draws such a heavy influence, while some are among the director in question's lesser known work. But whether they are well known films are not, they are all the starting points of incredible artists.

While I can't possibly honor all of the most inspiring and domineering creators in the film industry in a single summer, the directors I'll be honoring are some of my favorites, and ones that I have the most fun discussing. You might not agree with or be enchanted with all of these choices, but hopefully I can at least convince you to look at the work of all of these amazing artists in another light.