Le Monde Vivant (Eugene Green, 2003)
We are alone.
It is strange that we can be alone even though we are two.
Grammar makes it so.
Then I must thank grammar, for letting me be alone with you.Not much I can really say after the awesome triumvirate (triumvirate of awesomeness?) of
roujin,
duder and
worm@work have so thoroughly analysed, lyricised and pictorialised this wonderfully unique film.
The framing of Ozu, yes. The delivery of Bresson, yes. The power of words, yes. The power of words, especially the spoken word, and a wonderfully direct exploration of life, death and love.
There is an absurdist playfulness in its delivery that made me so happy. Here is a film that could come off as mannered, and twee, and precious and all that, but ends up as funny, affecting and resonant. Lines like
"That's all maximus cool.", and
"That's my lion. Are you afraid of lions?" are given such droll, deadpan simplicity, not only by the actors, but by the pitch-perfect editing of Green, who cuts with a wit and directness I rarely see.
The humour leavens the tragic, but also gives it such resonance, and joyousness. Green's sense of play throughout the film - of letting the child actors smile spontaneously, the Lion Knight's stance, hip cocked slightly to one side, the ogre's roar - all work to give the final scenes a sense of revelation, of discovering anew that which is lost, of being naked, stripped bare. Here is a seriousness that is never dull, a simplicity that is never trite, and sublimity results.
Top 50? Natch!