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Reviews
Lynch (2007)
Horrible and one-dimensional
(mild spoilers)
This is unquestionably one of the worst documentaries I've ever seen. It's not even the horrible camera work and pretentious editing, it's how the film portrays Lynch. We're told he's a filmmaker, but we're never shown any excerpts from his films, not even stills. We're told he's a photographer, but only one photograph is shown, on a tiny computer screen, blurry. We're told he's a musician, but we learn nothing about his music. We can see he's a painter, but only one painting is shown in its entirety, for a brief moment, at the very end of the movie, a smallish image in the center of the screen.
And what *does* the film show? Well, it shows Lynch talking about popping dead cows, showing his teeth to the camera, shouting the same words over and over again for no apparent reason, congratulating the President of France, swearing, and, finally, admitting, in the midst of making a film, that he doesn't know what he's doing. In other words, the film paints Lynch as a loony. Sure, there's an eccentric side to the man, but there are many other aspects of his personality as well, and none are shown here. Since no work is shown, either, all that remains is eccentricity, shot from awkward camera angles, sometimes blurry, frequently in tiny images in the center of the screen, disjointed, etc. Content is sacrificed to form almost all the time (e.g. when Lynch is talking about a beautiful scene he witnessed and photographed, don't expect the (equally beautiful) photographs to be shown).
If you want a good documentary on Lynch, try to find "Pretty as a Picture: The Art of David Lynch." It was made in 1997 as a promotional piece for "Lost Highway", but has plenty of Lynch's paintings with good close-ups, Badalamenti and Lynch working on a song together, etc. I recommend only watching "Lynch (One)" if you've already seen "Pretty as a Picture", and if you're very, very, very interested in Lynch. Only giving it a 3 out of 10 because it has maybe 3-4 minutes of interesting footage.
Shanghai Express (1932)
Breathtakingly beautiful, one of the best movies of the era
Of all Sternberg films I've seen, this one is probably the best. The plot is not that compelling, but then the same can be said about most films from the period. What makes this one stand out is, first and foremost, the cinematography. Forget Murnau and Lang, forget Vertov and Eisenstein - this is the real deal. Chiaroscuro lighting, silhouettes in the fog, cigarette smoke, and other film noir visual treats? Check. A Kubrick-style shot with long parallel walls? Check. Portraits of women that remind you of Lynch's achingly beautiful "Mulholland Drive"? Check. In a couple of scenes, Dietrich looks more beautiful than any woman you will ever meet. In at least one other, you feel like you're looking at a Renaissance painting.
Of course, von Sternberg always had a wonderful eye for visually stunning shots. You can see hints of film noir in the earlier, silent "The Docks of New York", and one of the scenes in "Shanghai Express" is a direct quotation of one from Sternberg's first film, "The Salvation Hunters" (which is, by the way, the first American independent film - to add to Sternberg's influence). But in "Shanghai Express" this tendency reaches new heights. The movie looks and feels like a dream.
As for everything else... I thought the acting is OK by the era's standards. You may have a problem with Brook's performance, though. The plot is a simple romantic story - if you're not one of those viewers who expect a twist every 10 minutes, you won't be disappointed (or at least, won't be *too* disappointed). And there is some very nice dialogue thrown in. In other words, I enjoyed the movie and would love to see it again. Even if its entertainment value is not as high as its visual value, it works just fine.