more movies

Les Bas-fonds (The Lower Depths) (1936). Not much coherent plot, but some engaging characters. The director Jean Renoir said he made a point of moving the story to the banks of the Marne, but didn’t say why he kept the characters’ Russian names (so odd in French mouths!) and had them spending roubles. — I (or my housemate) rented this once before but I falsely remembered that I didn’t watch it.

The Women (1939). Too long.

Kiru (Kill!) (1968) is said to be derived from the same book as Kurosawa’s Sanjuro; both are about a scruffy ronin who helps some naive young samurai against a corrupt official, and both are quite good and told with humor, but similarity ends there. — The title is a bit of a mystery; I couldn’t identify the kanji.

Mad Max (1979), unlike its sequel, did not hold my interest. Was it more novel thirty years ago?

Raising Arizona (1987). I’d like it better if it did not rely so heavily on mocking a rustic stereotype.

Mies Vailla Menneisyyttä (The Man Without a Past) (2002). A welder on his way to a new job gets off a train, is beaten and robbed, and loses his memory. He begins to rebuild a life, with difficulties because he cannot supply a name; it’s admirable that this is not played for broad comedy or for tragedy. In the end he learns that he’s a better man than his old self.

Finding Nemo (2003) is superb eye-candy, and an absorbing story.

Someone recommended watching these two together, but I don’t know why. Finding Nemo is primarily about a father’s successful quest to recover his son. The welder, rather than seeking his lost name, learns to live without it (though this process is incomplete when his name and past are revealed). Both protagonists are strengthened by adversity, but that describes much of fiction.