51.
What's Up Doc? (Peter Bodganovich, 1972)
Bogdanovich's vibe is almost too relaxed here. Some of the wackiness is too underplayed, too loose - it hangs around. He would find a more natural marriage between classical screwball scenario and his Hollywood New Wave sensibilities with
They All Laughed. O'Neal can never get past being a pretty boy trying to act aloof, his abs give up the game. Streisand is pretty great here and she's game for pretty much everything. The film's best achievement is the car chase, which is a ton of fun, but it says something when the parts that don't feature the main characters are the best.
★★
52.
Lucifer Rising (Kenneth Anger, 1972)
Anger's editing creates a strange, oneiric effect, where his images become a half-remembered mixture of myths and pomp and spectactle. I don't take much too seriously the content (or the ideas?) of his films, but one always gets the sense of of some kind of private ceremony is taking place, some kind of communion between Anger and some sort of image. Which is interesting and worthwhile.
★★
53.
Blume in Love (Paul Mazursky, 1973)
Mazursky's chosen milieu is probably what works against him the most for me, as I couldn't stand just about any of these people. It's to his credit though that Segal's Blume remains more or less sympathetic throughout, even at his most unctuous and pathetic. His character's actions come from a place of selfishness disguised as love that was dramatized rather effectively The film's denouement, however, is too hard a sell. Although draped in about two layers of remove and critical distance, it's still too weakly supported by the rest of the film to be as powerful as it could be.
★★
54.
Jeremy (Arthur Barron, 1973)
Sweet teenage romance film that benefits from the complete lack of irony or guile. It's incredibly upfront about its intentions and its earnestness in the face of teen romance films that treat everything as a joke is definitely welcome. It also nicely understands the stakes involved for all its characters, and is never melodramatic, even when its characters act like it. The effect is incredibly modest, almost banal, in the best sense of the word. But, Barron's handheld camera often destroys moments. At its best, it comes off as haphazard; at its worst, it's annoying and distracting. It aims for a verisimilitude but its too clumsy to be effective.
★★
55.
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (Woody Allen, 1972)
Series of skits that all outstay their welcome. The funniest one is Wilder's bit with the sheep, which features great, remarkable facial reactions from Wilder. Some of the rest are fun in theory, but not execution (the entire Italian cinema bit is miserable, along with the transvestite bit). Ultimately, the comic ideas remain underdeveloped and not all that funny. So, a sketch film.
★