alexander sokurov Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Most critics simultaneously look forward to and dread awards season. We get to see slightly higher quality films, and the studios begin to act a lot nicer towards us -- no more horror remakes that are not screened for the press. But on the downside, a lot of prestige pictures can get tiring. The worst part of all is the extreme length that most films get away with this time of year. Quite a few films this year get close to the three-hour mark, and most of them run longer than two hours. If you look at the history of the Oscar winners, length has always been an important factor. But this does not have to be the case; many award-worthy films have used their time wisely and succinctly.

1. Duck Soup (1933)
Judd Apatow, please take note. While I enjoyed Knocked Up and Superbad as much as anyone, it just won't do to continue making comedies over two hours long. I found many great comedies that run less than 80 minutes, including several from Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, W.C. Fields, and even one each from Jerry Lewis (The Bellboy) and Woody Allen (Zelig). But this Marx Brothers classic tops my list for its uncanny speed and anarchy. It's like watching a crazy lawnmower ripping all over the yard, but at the end of the run, everything falls exactly into place.

2. Following (1998)
Before he became the king of summer blockbusters (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight) and before he made one of my favorite movies (Memento), Christopher Nolan scraped together this equally impressive crime thriller in black-and-white, running just 69 minutes. It jumbles the three acts together over a fractured timeline but very cleverly leaves clues that tie them all back together. Jeremy Theobald plays a man who enjoys following people, but gets himself into deep and unexpected trouble. See also Shane Carruth's exceptional, low-budget time travel head-scratcher Primer (2004).

Alexander Sokurov achieved considerable art house success with his 2002 Russian Ark, and with that newfound clout he returns to complete his "dictator" trilogy. The rather grim Moloch (1999), about a weekend with Hitler in his bunker, is available on DVD. Telets (2001), which as far as I can tell, never found much of a U.S. audience, was about Lenin, and now we get the surprisingly enjoyable The Sun, depicting the last days in power of Emperor Hirohito. (Please see also the very capable Martha Fischer's previous review from NYFF.)

Issei Ogata (Yi Yi, Tony Takitani) gives an amazing performance as Hirohito, waited on hand and foot, and barely able to dress himself. He's considered a quasi-deity by his people, too important to bother with the mundane details of mere human life. He has an odd tick in which his lips puff in and out, as if he were speaking and we simply can't hear him, or as if he were a fish out of water, gasping for breath. He spends a good deal of time writing bad poetry and letters to his son, as well as puttering with his hobby, marine biology.