What movies have you watched this week?

Been catching up on some classic films mainly. I rated all of these films 8/10 and watched all of them for the first time.

Werckmeister Harmonies (Béla Tarr, 2000)
This was the first Béla Tarr movie I watched and I liked it a lot. It reminded me of Andrei Tarkovsky's work in some ways, as it seemed to favour the depiction of human interaction and creating an atmosphere over straight storytelling. Loved some of the tableaus depicting 'real life', like bored children being noisy and drunk people dancing with each other. I thought the music was a bit too present in some scenes.

Rififi (Jules Dassin, 1955)
A very American-feeling French movie. Good fun. A great heist movie, with the heist itself being the highlight of the film. Loved the music as well.

Samurai Rebellion (Masaki Kobayashi, 1967)
This could be blasphemy, but I daresay Kobayashi's samurai flicks (this one and Harakiri) are a little bit better than Kurosawa's. Kobayashi tells a very engaging yet completely unpredictable tale. Fantastic role of the great Toshirō Mifune (the love for his granddaughter is very touching), starring alongside Tatsuya Nakadai, another samurai cinema veteran.

Cesare Deve Morire (Paolo Taviani & Vittorio Taviani, 2012)
Great little documentary and probably the least orthodox Shakespeare film you'll come across. The black-and-white cinematography is fantastic. The most interesting scenes are those in which the inmates seem to lose themselves in the characters they play. It's a great statement as well, I think, showing the power of expressing oneself creatively.

Stalker (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1979)
My fourth Tarkovsky (after Solaris, The Sacrifice and The Mirror) and one of the best, just like the other three. Tarkovsky creates a fascinating world and let me witness some very interesting shifts in the way I perceive the characters. The shooting locations are even more chilling given the backstory to Stalker's production.

The 400 Blows (François Truffaut, 1959)
Well-acted, engaging and by times funny film. Also gives one a good cultural insight into France at the time. The interviews between the main character and the psychiatrist were surprisingly moving.

Anatomy of a Murder (Otto Preminger, 1959)
A good and solid courtroom drama, with a great role by a young Ben Gazzara. I like that it gives you quite a bit of room to doubt what really happened. Good jazz score and I gotta love James Stewart.

Le Trou (Jacques Becker, 1960)
One of the best prison films out there, with a great eye for detail within the walls of a cell shared by five people. Similar to Rififi (see above), I think it's fascinating how engaging it can be to see people working towards a clear goal, in this case the creating of The Hole of the title.

/r/flicks Thread