Ah, University! Work has now fully returned to interrupt all the lazing around and film-viewing I so enjoyed before; of course, studying a film module does mean there’s a guaranteed one or two new films every week, and probably quite unusual ones too. “Hurrah,” cries the statistics! “Ooh,” cries… erm… anyone who likes more unusual choices…
I do feel a tad arty this week, actually. Of the six films listed below, two are French, one German, one Japanese, two are shorts, and five are between 77 and 94 years old. That’s two weeks at the start of a University film module for you!
We begin with the two oldest of all those, both made 94 years ago. That’s no guarantee of anything, mind… well, except no spoken dialogue.
#105 Fantômas: Juve Versus Fantômas
#106 Traffic in Souls
#107 Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion
#108 Berlin: Symphony of a Great City
#108a À propos de Nice
#108b Skyscraper Symphony
#109 The Paleface
#106 Traffic in Souls
#107 Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion
#108 Berlin: Symphony of a Great City
#108a À propos de Nice
#108b Skyscraper Symphony
#109 The Paleface
I’ve always been a bit wary of Chan’s films: he’s renowned for using comedy in his action (to help break away from the frequently-applied “new Bruce Lee” label), which isn’t really to my taste; but after we were shown an impressive clip from this in a lecture I felt I had to give it a go.
For those who don’t know, this isn’t the seventh Final Fantasy film — it’s the second; though it’s not a sequel to the 
Peter O’Toole is again the voice of the famous sleuth in this disappointing animated adaptation of the first Sherlock Holmes mystery.
Recent adaptation of Patrick Süskind’s popular novel, often considered unfilmable because of its focus on the sense of smell. Tykwer covers for that with strong cinematography, with sumptuously rich visuals and a judicious use of close-ups to evoke beauty or disgust as appropriate (the early birth scene in a fish market is particularly rancid — do not watch this right after eating!)
A slightly unusual one to review, this: it’s a 49-minute animated Sherlock Holmes adaptation from the ’80s, one of four in this particular series. But, as best I can tell from IMDb, it’s not specifically TV-based, and it does feature the voice of Peter O’Toole. Vocally he makes for a good Holmes, though the character design could be a little better. I can’t recall the original story well enough to comment on this as an adaptation, but it’s a decent mystery that’s well explained. The animation is not bad; certainly no worse than most kids’ TV animation from the ’80s and ’90s, and better than the flat Flash-animated stuff of today. A solid production.
Empire’s second best film of 2006; 
Urban action fantasy from Russia; the first part of a trilogy (though, apparently, film two wraps the plot up and film three will be made in the US, looking at a different part of the story).
One of the most surprising hits at the box office in 2005, as you’re probably aware this is a documentary about penguins. Specifically, it’s about their mating cycle — there’s little information outside of that. It does manage to touch on the sex, death and violence inherent in most nature things though, albeit in a family-friendly U-rated kind of way.
Godard’s first and most famous film; part of the beginning of the nouvelle vague, a French movement defining a particular youth culture at the time. OK, loose history lesson over.
100Films.co.uk 