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Lore (2012)
Twisted and bitter
I just finished watching "Lore" on Amazon Prime. Immediately one can guess that her real name was Hannalore, and that Lore was what her family called her.
The film is in German, but my German is somewhat rusty so I activated the English subtitles. From what I did understand, I'd say that the English translations were accurate and faithful (except the annoying inability of the software to produce the ü, so that Günther was always rendered as G nther. Perhaps other platforms don't have that problem.)
The film is set initially in a small town in Bavaria in the spring of 1945. The wehrmacht has been defeated by the armies of erstwhile weaker nations.
Lore's father was an SS officer who is seen scrambling to erase evidence of war crimes, including burning paper records of the annihilation of those deemed "genetically inferior". The mother knows that she must also turn herself in to the allied authorities, leaving her four other children in the hands of Lore, who is probably 15 or 16 years old. She leaves young Lore with instructions to get the family safely to Omi's house, along with her best jewelery and the few reichmarks that she still possesses.
They must reach the Heligoland Bight to find their grandmother's ("Omis") house, near Hamburg. It is a long, harrowing, and exhausting journey from the Black Forest to the North Sea coast. The group encounters border crossings, unrepentant Nazis, and a young thief/murderer/rapist who was imprisoned at a concentration camp and who pretends to be a Jew because "Americans like Jews" stand in their way.
Lore and the thief develop an unusual relationship in which they are interdependent, to a point.
It's an anti-war film that isn't preachy and doesn't offer alternatives or solutions, but it's a gritty, suspenseful examination of the lives of the civilians enduring chaos in a defeated country after a war of attrition.
Highly recommended. Beware: there are some grizzly death and blood, but that is to be expected for any film set in Germany during this period.
The Holdovers (2023)
Satifying and enveloping
This film was a refreshing change of pace for us. No special effects. No glamorous soundtrack. And the only product placement was Miller Beer ("The champagne of beers").
Set in a college-preparatory boarding school for boys in small town in Massachusetts in 1970, the film told the story of a group of misfit students and their misfit teacher. The costumes, opening scenes, and sets were perfect for the period--within minutes I could not only guess the year within a decade but also felt myself transported to that time and place.
Paul Giamatti superbly portrayed the character of a bitter, cynical professor of history. Immediately we perceive him as impatient, sheltered, and arrogant, but in the end he is shown to be compassionate and adventurous.
Another principal character was played by Dominic Sessa. I was not familiar with him but I think the casting was perfect. Sessa's character was a brooding and bored student with a history of being expelled from private schools and a financially stable but emotionally unstable family life.
Through the story we learn that the teacher and the student have more in common than they might have guessed. Their bond culminates in a surprisingly self-sacrificing act by the erstwhile arrogant mentor.
An excellent supporting role was played by Da'Vine Joy Randolph, who portrayed the dining hall manager who becomes an unlikely advisor to Giamatti's character.
Elements of dry humor, surprise, and scenes of Boston including Fanueil Hall and the Commons, add flavor to the film and help keep the tempo upbeat, which is important for a film with no special effects, big-name stars, or a trendy soundtrack.
The Homesman (2014)
a bit confusing
The Homesman is a watchable film depicting the old west in a more true, and less glorious, fashion that most westerns. At first it is confusing, with flashbacks to explain the story, but later it becomes clear.
Prarie madness sets in and three women are slated to be returned Back East. The problem is that one of the three "responsible" men is unwilling to step up, so a woman volunteers. She is strong and courageous, more than most men, but isolated and desperate for a husband because she is "bossy, and plain as an old tin can."
Her ultimate fate is incongruous, completely at odds with her character. A willful suspension of disbelief is required at this point.
Solid performances by Swank, Jones, Lithgow, and the actress who played the madwomen make it entertaining, if a bit long.
Les trois mousquetaires: D'Artagnan (2023)
Takes some liberties, but not too far from the original story
I just finished the film. Perhaps I should say, "Je viens de regarder le film" but I think I'll write this review for an anglophone audience. There may be a version with English subtitles but the one I watched did not have that option. I had to pause and listen again a few times, but the dialogue is generally not too hard to follow if your French is not too rusty.
For purists, it may be a disappointment, but for me it was a delight. The film was not exactly faithful to the original story by Alexandre Dumas, although overall it followed the same trajectory. For example, when Athos told the story of his wife to D'Artagnan, they were not drunk and sprawled across a table at an inn, but in the forest where Athos had just mocked D'Artagnan with a bit of friendly swordplay. Also, D'Artagnan was buried alive in the original story, but he was in a coffin and it was Athos who dug him out of the ground. In this film he dug himself out of an open-pit grave coughing and wheezing.
D'Artagnan's letter of introduction to M. De Tréville from his father was particularly annoying. An important part of the story was that it was in his doublet when it was stolen in Meung.
Also, where were Grimaud, Bazin, Mousqueton, and Planchet? They figured large in the original story, but weren't even a footnote in the film.
But the introduction of D'Artagnan to the trio was perfectly faithful to the original, and delightfully amusing. Within an hour of his arrival in Paris, D'Artagnan had managed to rile Athos, Porthos, and Aramis and he had agreed to fight them in duels, one after the other. He paid his rent four weeks in advance (4 livres) "au cas où." The humor was morbid, dry, and subtle, and I think it was faithful to the description by Dumas.
The actors chosen for the parts represented interesting choices. Porthos was not as portly as he should have been, in my mind, nor Athos as taciturn, nor Aramis as refined and beautiful, nor Richelieu as commanding. And none of them had particularly long hair (except for Athos before they cut it in anticipation of slicing through his neck.) Moreover, the actors portraying the mousquetaires were all a bit long in the tooth.
Still, after a bit it all came together with credible performances. I'm not very familiar with French actors, but the actors in this film all carried their characters brilliantly. (Ils ont crevé l'écran, as the French say. They "crushed" it.) The actress chosen for Constance Bonacieux was perfect. She was charming and pretty and young, but not beautiful or refined, just as Dumas painstakingly described her in the book.
However, it was jarring was when Constance was stitching the wound of D'Artagnan and she said something like "Quelques centimètres" meaning that it was lucky the shot wasn't just a bit to the left. But anything set in that period would have used "puces" (inches) and "pieds" (feet). To be sure, the French got so upset with the clergy and the nobility that they changed the names of the months of the year, the days of the week, the units of measurement, and the position of the head relative to the shoulders of 17 thousand aristocrats, but that wouldn't happen till 165 years after this story was set. (Would be interesting to see if, in the versions subtitled in English, the translation given was "a few inches to the left". I know they often use different units in translations meant for US consumption. Pounds, miles, etc.)
I really appreciated it when the king said, near the end, "Messieurs, voici les fameux trois mousquetaires, qui sont désormais quatre" (or something like that), even though it wasn't in the book. The complete lack of political correctness was refreshing as well. If he had said "mesdames et messieurs..." it would have lacked historical authenticity.
The fighting scenes were particularly stunning. There was plenty of violence and blood, just as in the novel, and the réalisateur chose to go with that quirky NYPD Blue-style camera angle, which I think gave it a gritty reality often missing from films set in the early 17th century. Combatants in close quarters do not have a drone's-eye view, and this is reflected in scenes of more recent battles (e.g., Thin Red Line). It was refreshing to see that treatment in a depiction of more ancient battles.
The locations were real, or so it seemed. The white cliffs of Dover are hard to simulate, and the château de Vincennes is probably also hard to replicate. I'd guess that all the places were filmed in situ.
Overall I can recommend it to--well, I'm going to borrow a Spanish word here because we don't have this one in English (nor, as far as I know, in French)--to aficionados of Les Trois Mousquetaires. Just keep an open mind regarding the small details, which will be different from the book.
Note that this film corresponds to Tome I of Les Trois Mousquetaires, roughly the first 30 chapters. Hopefully they'll make sequel. That was hinted after the credits with a small "à suivre" teaser featuring Milady and le Cardinal Richelieu in which she referenced "les mousquetaires".
For those who have not recently read the book and who might want to reference it, The Gutenberg Project has several versions in its excellent and free collection.