Liliom

Liliom is an expressionist fantasy French film directed by Fritz Lang in 1934. Its based off a Hungarian play by Ferenc Molnár, which is where the movie's name comes from. The film stars Charles Boyer as Liliom, a carousal worker who gets fired from his job after defending a woman named Julie (Madeleine Ozeray), all because his boss was jealous of her and the attention he was giving her.

Julies becomes smitten with Liliom and they begin living together. The problem is that Julie works and takes care of Liliom but he doesn't work, he just takes and is a lazy bastard. Eventually Liliom learns he's about to become a father. So he takes part in a robbery, but it turns out the rich man they tried to rob had a gun! Rather than let himself be arrested he ends up stabbing himself, and his soul is transported to heaven. He sees all these babies with angel wings, and angels playing harps and stuff, space itself (fantasy elements). A heavenly commissioner tells him he's stuck in purgatory unless he goes back to Earth to do one good deed. That's the basic synopsis for the film.

"Liliom was one of the two first French productions by producer Erich Pommer for Fox-Europa and director Fritz Lang's only French film. On the film's release it was protested by the French Catholic clergy and was generally not well received by French film critics or playwright Ferenc Molnár. Despite the reception, the 1934 Liliom was one of Lang's favorites out of all his films." (wiki) 

I can see why the film was berated by French Catholic clergy for sure. The depiction of heaven is quite silly and laughable, however it is a product of its time and quite expressionistic, thus a bit unrealistic. More on the plot.

Once Liliom is in purgatory the commissioner asks him why he beat Julie (he was a woman beater folks), Liliom says he doesn't know. Then the commissioner plays a video of him talking to and then slapping Julie. Then he plays the same video, this time showcasing Liliom's thoughts out loud. He realizes he hit Julie a lot because he hated himself for his cruelty and selfishness (he finished the coffee in that video and didn't offer any to Julie until it was all gone, then proceeded to yell at her).

Sixteen years pass in purgatory and Liliom goes down to Earth to meet his daughter. He catches up with her and tells her that he knew her father, and that he was a violent brute. He had a gift for her too, a star that he stole on the way down to Earth from the heavens. His daughter Louise gets upset and throws the star in the gutter. The scale of good and evil gets tipped more towards the evil. This scale has the pyramid and all-seeing eye at the top of it, and the devil begins to inscribe Liliom's name on his tablet. Liliom slaps his daughter's hand out of frustration before he gets lifted back to the heavens.

Lousie goes to her mother and tells her Liliom's slap felt like a kiss. She then asks her if its possible to be beaten but for it not to hurt at all. Her mother says yes and and the two of them embrace with tears in their eyes. The scales of justice then tips towards the heavenly side and Liliom's name is slowly removed from the devil's tablet. Ending screen, FIN.

The film mostly got negative reception. But that didn't stop Fritz Lang from loving the movie. "Despite the film's reception, Liliom was one of Lang's favourite directorial efforts. In 1974, Lang stated that "Liliom, I always liked very much... Today, I almost like Liliom best of all". 

I actually liked the movie. It's the second Fritz Lang movie I've seen and I think he did a job directing it. I would say most of all I like the acting style in the movie the most. It had a sincere quality, the qualities of the characters seemed so believable and realistic, these characters could be people in real life with real life problems and lack of solutions.

The fantasy element of it was fun. In this film we find that for people who don't necessarily belong in heaven, there's justice waiting for them, and that's what we find in this film. I liked the special effect of the star that he tried to give to his daughter. And then there was the entire heavenly images and the scale with the devil, which was his friend that wanted to rob this rich man, except that he was in black face, or just covered in black paint wearing no shirt and shrubbery as his pantaloons. Kind of makes you wonder if they were trying to portray the evil side as African, which may or may not be the case.

All that being said, I don't think this is a necessary film to watch or know about, after all, its quite esoteric and expressionistic with its ideas. But I do think that its a good movie and quite an entertaining two hours of cinema. I would recommend this film to film students, directors, and film connoisseurs who haven't seen much of Fritz Lang's work. I highly recommend you see Metropolis from 1924 if you haven't seen it.

Liliom Zadowski: Even in Heaven, there's only justice - nothing but justice!

A Trip to the Moon

A Trip to the Moon (French: Le Voyage dans la Lune) is a 1902 French space exploration surrealist silent film directed by George Melies. The film is inspired by a variety of sources, notably Jules Verne's novels From the Earth to the Moon and Around the Moon. I've already checked out these novels in pdf form through Google and I gotta say that it is quite impressive science fiction writing for the time, 1865 and 1870. Fitting for the time of the Industrial Revolution.

The film follows astronomers who decide to build a rocket and get launched into space to reach the moon via a cannon. They explore the moon's surface and find Selenites, (lunar inhabitants) these sort of insect creatures that explode when they get hit by the astronomers. They end up capturing a Selenite and bring it back to Earth. The film features a bunch of French theatrical performers, "led by Méliès himself in the main role of Professor Barbenfouillis, and is filmed in the overtly theatrical style for which Méliès became famous." (Wiki)

The film was very successful and ended up getting pirated a lot in the United States. This movie ended up having a profound influence in cinema because of its use of narrative, through this more movies ended up developing stories more effectively. Although the movie became out of place when Melies went into retirement, later in 1930 the film resurfaced when film devotees noted its importance on the history of cinema.

"A Trip to the Moon was named one of the 100 greatest films of the 20th century by The Village Voice, ranked 84th. The film remains the best-known of the hundreds of films made by Méliès, and the moment in which the capsule lands in the Moon's eye remains one of the most iconic and frequently referenced images in the history of cinema. It is widely regarded as the earliest example of the science fiction film genre and, more generally, as one of the most influential films in cinema history." (Wiki) Now for more on the movie.

The film starts with a meeting of the Astronomic Club, where the leader Professor Barbenfouillis proposes a mission to the moon. After a bit of dissent five other brave astronomers; Nostradamus, Alcofrisbas, Omega, Micromegas, and Parafaragaramus—agree to the plan. They build a rocket in the shape of a bullet and get shot into space via a cannon. They get a little help with the rocket from the 'marines', women dressed in sailor's outfits. As they fly off to the moon the Man in the Moon watches the spaceship, and it hits him in the eye.

One they get on the surface of the moon the astronomers walk around (without the need of a spacesuit) and after a while they get tired and sleep. As they sleep a comet passes, and the Big Dipper appears with human faces in each star, "old Saturn leans out of a window in his ringed planet, and Phoebe, goddess of the Moon, appears seated in a crescent-moon swing. Phoebe causes a snowfall that awakens the astronomers, and they seek shelter in a cavern where they discover giant mushrooms. One astronomer opens his umbrella; it promptly takes root and turns into a giant mushroom itself."

Then, a Selenite (an insectoid alien inhabitant of the Moon, named after one of the Greek moon goddesses, Selene) appears but is easily killed by an astronomer, as the Selenites explode after being hit by blunt force. More Selenites appear and the astronomers get zerg rushed (reference to Blizzard pc game starcraft, insect-like aliens that come to kill you in great numbers), captured, and brought to the Selenite king. An astronomer hits the king on the head and the king explodes. The astronomers get chased as they run back to their spaceship.

As they approach the ship Barbenfouillis himself tips the spaceship off the moon and into space, while a Selenite is attached to it. The ship, astronomers, and Selenite end up in the ocean on Earth. At the ending scene we see a celebratory parade for the astronomers, the captured Selenite in a cage, and a statue bearing the motto "labor omnia vincit" (work conquers all).

The movie is quite thrilling, fun, adventurous, surreal, and perhaps even psychedelic. Running at only thirteen minutes its a great film to show to a film class, friends, and science fiction aficionados. Its the history of cinema at work. And although it isn't quite developed you could say that its still quite good for its time, 1902. This is the oldest movie I've ever seen and its great. I highly recommend watching it. If anything you should watch it so you can see where cinema and science fiction cinema comes from. Education for sure.

You can watch the film here.

Thor Ragnarok

Thor Ragnarok is fun super hero movie. It has Justice League beat. Here's why.

Thor's story-line is simpler and easier to see out on the big screen. The fact that Asgard gets taken over by Odin's first daughter Hela who's Thor's sister. She took over countless civilizations with her father Odian and was the god of Death riding atop a giant wolf. The fact that Thor continues to have family disputes is not a surprise.

Thor's fighting scenes are cooler. The fighting scenes in Thor are marvelous, like a crude man's ballet. The weapons really added flair as there was weapons like swords and spears, guns, and magic.

One guy had some sort of enchanted Mace. He was pretty cool but he got speared through the gut by Hela.

The Hulk used hammers and axes against Thor in a fighting exhibition tournament match, akin to a gladiator affair.

Hela used magic to throw these Asgardian spears at an entire army of soldiers.

Thor was able to channel lightning throughout his body instead of just using his hammer. Because his hammer gets destroyed by Hela (by her bare fists) he learns how to use his powers without it.

Yeah, that was all pretty cool stuff.

Thor had a better soundtrack. At one point Thor gets lightning powers and he starts to annihilate an army of bad guys. The music from Led Zeppelin Immigrant Song is blasting away. That was a standout musical moment for the film.

Thor Ragnarok is good superhero cinema. I thought that Idris Elba, Cate Blanchett, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Mark Ruffalo did a great job in their roles. Actors like these give a good name for superhero flicks.