95. JEANNE DIELMAN, 23 QUAI DU COMMERCE, 1080 BRUXELLES

A ROOM WITHOUT A VIEW

By Darin Skaggs

     There are many different films I will watch that other people have no interest in.  Some people don’t want to watch black and white films, which is something I do not understand.  Others don’t want to watch silent or foreign films.  That one is more understandable, at times I do not feel like taking the time to read subtitles in a film.  Chantal Akerman’ Jeanne Dielman… is probably one of the most qualified for what most people would not like to watch. An almost three and a half hour film with where we watch a single women go through her daily errands around the house and then watch her do it again the next day.

     The film seems boring and a pain to watch but when I put the DVD in my player the film kept my interest the entire time.  The film while doing so little says so much.  One aspect is a character study for an unemployed unmarried people.  Some people can be lonely and not notice it for a long time.  This woman lives alone, sometimes her son comes over. She gets her money from men just as lonely as she is, they are just aware of the problem.  She doesn’t have much to do.  She does the normal daily activities like make lunch and dinner, clean up a mess she left behind and bathe.  It does these parts for the majority of the film.

Her life for the most part is dull.  She doesn’t say much to her son, mainly because he seems to not want to have anything to do with her.  She is not one to talk to her self so the dialogue in the film is very minor.  It seems she has been doing the escorting for a while because it looks like it does not affect her in anyway shape or form.  Another point to the film is that how isolation and loneliness can make you insane or make you do something insane.  This is all told by the end of the film.  The final scene is after she has pleased a male counterpart; the setting is in her bedroom which we have not been let in there before.  She is combing her hair.  The man is still in the bedroom.  Out of nowhere she takes the scissors and stabs the man.  Then the film ends.  This is so shocking and at first seems unpredictable, but the more I think about it I realize she has been living this way for a while and she has been holding it in for that whole time and has finally snapped and blows up.

     The film can sometimes seem like a waste of time and incredibly boring.  I understand if someone would think that way, but for me I would not give up this experience for anything.  This film is a great character study about loneliness and doing the same things every day.  One of the most unique films I’ve ever seen and cannot wait to see it again.

96. HOOSIERS

MOSTLY NET, NO AIR

By Darin Skaggs

     Most of the people in my life were fairly big sports fans.  I do not have anything against sports, but I never became a fanatic like my father or grandfathers.  My focus and passion is on film.  That being said I love a good sports film.  Rocky, Field of Dreams, Million Dollar Baby and the original The Bad News Bears are some of the best sports films out there, but the greatest is 1986’s Hoosiers. 

Gene Hackman, one of my favorite actors plays Coach Norman Dale the new coach of this team in the town where basketball is everything.  He comes in the town and is not very welcomed and is constantly being told how to do his job.  Dale does not take any slack though, he does what he wants and what he thinks is right for the team.  He has to deal with the absence of a talented player, Jimmy, who decides he does not want to play.  He also hires an assistant coach, Shooter who is a recovering alcoholic and a father to one of the players.  Eventually this hack team is made great by coach and the players.  They do so well that they make it to the playoffs. 

     This film has some of the greatest characters and character arcs of any film.  The performances by everyone and the writing makes you care so much about the outcome of these people’s lives during the course of the school year.  Every player gets a good moment in the film and is shown a side of him that makes them feel like real people instead of made up characters.  Hackman is great, giving some of the greatest speeches.  You can’t help but feeling motivated and pumped after any scene in the locker room or right before a play. 

     Another great thing about the film is the realism during the game scenes.  All the actors had to learn and play basketball really well.  The game scenes are just as good as any of the drama behind the game.  The cuts to the players making shots or missing to the score are always exciting.  When the team wins a game you feel the excitement for them like you would your favorite team winning a game.

     Now no film is perfect.  Some have too many problems to give it a positive review, others just have little things here and there but are so overwhelmingly good that you don’t let the flaws bother you.  This film just has one thing wrong with it.  In the beginning of the film Dale meets one of the schools teachers, Myra Fleener, and they have a small argument.  They are at most a decade apart in age and have no real scene where they look like they are attracted to one another.  Yet, a little over half way through the film they kiss.  Dale says “I wanted to do that since the moment I laid eyes on you.”  There is no hint of any feelings for one another and a scene clearly only added for women who had to go see this film with their husband.  It is a love story that did not need to be added, without it the film would be much better and near perfect in my opinion.  Instead it just leaves a bitter taste in my mouth in this mostly sweet film.

     Hoosiers, like I said is the greatest sports film of all time.  It is one of the most inspiring and motivating films I’ve seen. There are great performances by some of my favorite actors.  It’s not perfect but that will not ever stop me from loving it.

       

97. 12 ANGRY MEN

ONE BY ONE

By Darin Skaggs

     If you ask mostly anyone what makes a movie exciting and thrilling the answer would have something to do with the hero running from an explosion or hanging from a cliff.  Others would answer that monster movies where people are hiding in the dark ready to jump out and scare the characters would be the most exciting.  Rarely would the answer have to do with people discussing and debating.  Sidney Lumet’s directorial debut 12 Angry Men is a film full of dialogue and ends up being one of the most thrilling and intriguing movies of all time.

     The film opens with a trail of a young boy for the murder of his abusive father.   While the trial is happening the camera pans past the jury, these are the people who we will get to know for the next hour and a half.  The next scene is all of the jurors going into the office where we will spend the rest of the film.  As every character is quickly introduced the scene ends on Henry Fonda, our protagonist of the film.  The jury takes a vote, all proclaiming that the boy is guilty before and during the announcement.  The vote has to be unanimous, Fonda referred to as Juror 8 is the only ‘Not Guilty’ vote.

     With a film called 12 Angry Men obviously some of the themes are men.  There are all types of characteristics of men.  There is a leader in Juror #1, innocence in Juror #2, stubbornness in Juror #3, man who loves sports and cares little for else when talking about it in Juror #7, kindness in Juror #9, racism in Juror #10 and a big heart in Juror #8.  Everyone has a common characteristic of a man, but not one man just has one characteristic.  The leader for most of the film shows a little heart until towards the end.  The curious man who seems to be just watching the whole thing becomes a leader near the final decisions.  Even the protagonist who seems heartless and cold comes around in the end and shows the most emotion in the film. 

     If you were to explain that there was a movie that had one man that convinced eleven other people that a young man did not murder his father and only did it in in 90 minutes I would say it probably wasn’t that good.  This film though does it so well in so short a time when the final “Not Guilty” is passed you feel so satisfied and convinced yourself that you now feel fine to leave the court house with this decision as well do the twelve others.  This film unlike others, only has three different sets.  The majority of the film takes place in the juror room.  It seems very hard to do a one location film, but we would not get to know these twelve men if there were any more locations.  It works so well because here are moments of claustrophobia when it is awkward to be talking, the room seems huge when the scenes are more dramatic. 

     This is one of the most thrilling films without a bomb or a shootout.  Some of the best dialogue film has to offer and a film that gets better with each viewing.  It is one of Lumet’s best films.