CINEMANIA:

The Kid With a Bike (Dardennes Brothers, France, 2011)

Ben Livant:

French Loach.

By "Loach" obviously I mean, well, Loach; that sort of scrapped-knuckle realism about the fractured domestic lives of working-class people, utterly without sentimentality.  By "French" I mean the cliché conception about that culture always including an element of romanticism; in this case, a mysterious atom around which molecules of love come together.  The Kid With a Bike I like, very much.  It is lean and uncompromising yet delicate and sensitive at the same time.

In the first place, it is a error to think that realism must always be grim.  This story concludes on an upbeat note.  The optimism is earned, however.

This is 40 (Judd Apatow, USA, 2012)

Ben Livant:

Another from the Judd & Rudd camp.  I have seen a few before, mostly without Rudd.

I guess at this point it has to be acknowledged that Apatow is the Neil Simon of today.  I realize he directs almost as often as he writes and he produces much more often than either.  So my comparison may seem misguided.

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Andrew Dominik, USA, 2007)

Ben Livant:

I did not know that this film existed until Jacob asked you for it.  When it was agreed by all parties to the viewing session that we would watch it, I was not particularly interested in doing so.  What a fine surprise!  I was engrossed by this film and for the most part impressed by it too.

First things first, the basic historical facts were for me an education.

Anna Karenina (Joe Wright, UK, 2012)

Be Livant:

I do not want Keira Knightley.  Even weekly, I would perform weakly.  Maybe monthly, but mostly not.  Plainly she has something going for her that many people find movie star-worthy.  It's just not getting to me where I live.  Considering that this is nothing if not a love story, a plot of passion, my inability to get with the leading lady pretty much ruined the film for me.  She's just not sexy enough.

Promised Land (Gus Van Sant, USA, 2012)

Ben Livant:

According to WIKI: " New York Times film critic A.O. Scott praised Promised Land as a film that "works" mainly "by putting character ahead of story."  To the degree that it is felt that the film does indeed work, Scott is correct.  But conversely, to the degree that it is felt that the film does not work - Scott is still correct; the film puts character ahead of story.

Pickpocket (Robert Bresson, France, 1959)

Ben Livant:

A Gallic Tony Perkins playing Travis Bickle in embryo; sans the post-traumatic stress disorder from 'Nam, of course, or Algeria, for that matter; and speaking of which, as scripted by Camus' kid conceived after a one-night stand with Graham Greene.  This is Catholicism in crisis.

Or go to the existentialist headwater.  The man in Pickpocket is a stream that flows from Dostoevsky's "Raskolnikov."  But it flows backwards, so to speak.

Diary of a Country Priest (Robert Bresson, France, 1951)

Ben Livant:

I was taken aback by how little I cared for this film. Naturally, I was expecting the exact opposite having been so impressed by Pickpocket (1959) and notified that Diary Of A Country Priest (1951) was also highly esteemed by you.

Silver Linings Playbook (David O. Russell, USA, 2012)

Ben Livant:

No, Silver Linings Playbook is not nearly as good as writer/director David O. Russell's previous film The Fighter.  But I suppose this is because it's based on a work of fiction, whereas The Fighter is based on a true story.  There is also the working-class social framework, overt and acute in The Fighter, just covert and mellow in SLP.

Killing Them Softly (Andrew Dominik, USA, 2012)

Ben Livant:

I will start by noting that I enjoyed Killing Them Softly, but it is not nearly as good as director Andrew Dominik's film about Jesse James and the guy who killed him.  KTS has a good sense of humour in the dialogue and there are some elegant pieces of cinematography.  But the internal dynamism of the plot is weak due to the quasi-impressionistic story-telling style.