X. T. C. (columbiatch)

This has some good ideas, but is too amateurish and simplistic in execution. It poses Godard's quote that cinema is truth at 24 frames/sec (which really doesn't mean anything depending how one defines 'truth'). As far as a mocku-diary trying to be the real thing, the contrived nature of its fictional parts stick out sorely compared to the improvised scenes, especially one where a transsexual hooker tries to pick up the cameraman. From the current perspective all it does it affirm that there is no unique formal quality to non-fiction, and that direct cinema is no more honest than what came before.

I probably need to see this again after getting more acquainted with the Salome story. I can say that this is Tsai's most self-reflexive film, like he's channeling Rivette. It's like the flip side of the coin to What Time..., plus plenty of musical numbers(though they have a more concrete context here), and that only describes part of it. The mis en scene is crazy good, definitely his most accomplished thus far. The problem I had was that it felt too disconnected, with too many major characters, and the Amalric and Baye cameos were pretty pointless.

Along with Murnau's Sunrise, this is something of a cinematic miracle.

One of Ozu's very best films. The film shows the life of the Hirayamas, a middle-class family that is adjusting to the changes in society. It has an unusually large cast for an Ozu film, and he juggles these disparate characters effortlessly. The film is mostly concerned with the older generation dealing with the present while cherishing the past as embodied by Ryu's character. That ending is an incredibly moving ode to life and the passage of time.