Le temps du loup

Just saw TIME OF THE WOLF in New York City, and it is a complete pleasure. A very subtle film about individual and mass psychology after an unnamed cataclysm.

Also a cautionary tale about having plenty of fresh batteries, lighters, and a good knife, or knives, on hand (you never know when you're going to have to skin your own dinner; hey, call me extreme when that unnamed cataclysm comes around).

An added bonus: no digital effects (although I think they got lucky with fog one day, and made a beautiful scene with it), no manic editing as a substitute for storytelling, no facile heroics, no predictable deus ex machina...it will cleanse the visual palette. It stars Isabelle Huppert, but she is so naturalistic you forget she's Isabelle Huppert.

For an altogether different, but equally pleasurable, although more theatrical, yet completely underrated take on the unnamed cataclysm bit, see

A BOY AND HIS DOG. A dream of a movie.

Haneke's nightmare vision of a post-apocalyptic world is darkly atmospheric and beautifully photographed. True, there isn't much of a plot and the pace is slow. The film is primarily a mood piece, but a very good one. Unlike the usual end-of-the-world thriller, the characters aren't facing any ghoulish monsters other than each other. This approach lends a striking realism to the movie.

Some of Haneke's films -- especially "Funny Games" -- are marred by heavy-handed social commentary. Happily, this is not a problem in "Time of the Wolf." One can always read politics into any allegory, but it is quite unnecessary in this film. I neither know nor care whether Haneke had a specific political situation in mind; what matters is that the resulting movie stands on its own as an artistic achievement.

8/10. Recommended for fans of grim, moody films.

Hanneke is the only director of his kind. His world is depressing. Courage, kindness, love is of no use.

But there is a glimpse of light at the end of this movie. Courage is rewarded from someone you didn't expect that from. Maybe Hanneke is getting old, but you think a little about Tarkovskij's "Ivan Rublov". Whatever happens, man begins to create again. Even in a total social collapse and it doesn't matter whether it's 15th century Russia or France of today.

There is great power in Beatrice Dalle's acting here. European film needs her. Isabelle Hupert is tuned down. Not a big sacrifice for such a big artist.

This is a stark, dark, unconventional, and unsettling story film. But in the context of that chaos, what it means to be human is beautifully developed. The story revolves around a single French family thrown into the countryside in some post-apocalyptic period. The producer uses an almost documentary approach to the story. This reveals to us the rather drastic and desperate nature of their circumstances, but, unexpectedly, also reveals things like kindness to strangers, forbearance with other's weaknesses, fortitude, and reaching out. These positive human traits are contrasted with those of the stubborn uncaring adolescent boy who would rather hang off in the wood, and venture in only to steal what he wants... the lone Wolf. Its a very engaging and moving work. At one point, I found myself in tears at one particularly heart-rending scene. Humanity at a time of great stress is poignantly pictured, both in its strengths, and in its Sin. The acting is simply incredible, especially the mother and her younger daughter. Unlike the Hollywood films, this film offers no magic solutions, no instant fixes, no easy outs. Goverments have failed, and now common people are paying the price. Society has been reduced to the lowest common denominators. But the film seems to conclude with the idea that recovery is possible, through cooperation and sacrifice. There is some closure to the family's immediate straits. This film has the power to make us think about what we are doing to each other, and what might possibly happen if we let them go over the edge............

As a grand fan of Haneke, I went to this film without looking to the critiques. I know that his "German rigidity" can be incomprehensible for the Anglo-Saxon and French point of view. But after one hour, I quited the film, that is one of the worst screenplays that I have ever seen, Haneke's abstraction that works very good in "Die Klavierspielerin" does not work at all in this film. Nearly all of the elements of the story has no context. The plot is more than abstract or far from comprehension, it does not exist. I think I understood what was he trying to do, but I should admit that it is a shame for such a great director. Haneke should have written this screenplay with an amnesia for the basic rules of dramatic construction. There are NOT any explanation of the events in the film. But even Bunuel or Lynch have to explain the events in their films. And they do so, that's why they are great directors. So did Haneke. But how can we explain the passage between the Parisian bourgeoisie and the third world? Haneke's "I do it, and it's OK" is just makes his film unbelievably forced to disturb the public. Haneke used to not to force the spectators to disturb them. That was natural, let's say existential in his films. Please see again "The Seventh Continent", "Benny's Video" or "71 pieces of a hazardous chronology". Those are masterpieces of the contemporary cinema. But "Les temps du loup" is just a complete failure. The fascination of the admirers of this film are astonishing to me. I highly recommend to compare to "German Haneke" with the "French" one. I wish to see a Heneke coming back to his roots in Vienna.