the trial

by orson welles and starring anthony perkins–excellent choice, he looks awkward and confused but also awkward and cocky. i was watching for shots and was rewarded with an opening that recalled german expressionist films (not so stylized as caligari), shots that takes in the whole of a modern housing block (brutalist? anyone know?) and the tufty and dusty landscape around it (the black and white film made the sky so pale and blank, delicious), a few shots in the strange house of the public defender (welles) and the scenes in the metro, which were dusky and intricate. the tone set by the visuals perfectly matched the kafka’s novel. even if i would always choose the novel over the film. go orson. next is jane eyre.

persepolis…

is not a film i would have chosen to see on my own, but it was interesting. it seems that one of the purposes of comics (and i am coming to this from maus) is to confer a level of distance to an otherwise emotionally volatile topic (as well as to create historical resonance within the genre…cat and mouse) and this is useful in persepolis. to a degree. it might have made the story easier for the author to write. it also creates a not so sentimental story where sentiment could have become syrupy. but it was a  little flat for me; it was too clinical. there were a few scenes where one of the characters made a strikingly human gesture–the father rubs his left eyelid with his index finger, near the beginning of the film–and this intrigued me. i made the observation that it made the film human to my fellow film-goer, who introduced me to rotoscoping. (sorry for the wikipedia link. i couldn’t find a more succinct one.) i said that it ruined the magic, but i am not sure that’s true, sorry k.