JSL26

Just saw this at the National Museum of Asian Art's Iranian Film Festival in Washington. I learned a lot about how the film's symbolism fits within Iranian mythology and indigenous history from the sophisticated review in "Senses of Cinema" (link on IMDB). But it was also a really good movie!

The plot has some of the same elements of the Shogun story-the mysterious but charismatic stranger who washes up on the shore of a rather feudal society and proceeds to inject modernism, fear of the unknown, disruption of norms, and a certain idolatry into the village. The setting reminds one of some of the great Japanese depictions of feudal society such as Kenji Mizaguchi's "Ugetsu" (1953) and Kaneto Shindo's "Onibaba" (1964), both of which Beyzaie would have likely seen. Both of those films also share the subplot depiction of assertive women, like Rana in this film, who managed to attain real influence despite their decreed subordinate status.

The staging of the town's rituals and the fight scene were masterful and the cinematographers' milky depiction of the foggy seaside weather cast a foreboding shroud over the village's fortunes, while also making Rana-the only one who wore bright colors-stand out even more.

I'm now eager to see Beyzaie's other films. It took courage for him to make this non-conformist film after the Iranian revolution. Eventually he had to leave Iran and I am glad to see he is still teaching at Stanford at the age of 86.

I watched "He's Not There" after seeing the entertaining new Dylan biopic "A Complete Unknown." I then read a criticism of the new movie as "lifeless" as compared to the "astonishing" Todd Haynes film so I had to check out that one too. My verdict--the critic was mostly off-base on both counts. While "He's Not There" is an ambitious film that is worth watching and serves as a good counterpoint to the more linear new film, if the directors' goal was to tell Dylan's story or at least to evoke it, I think the newer film does a better job of doing so.

"He's Not There" does have its merits. Of the six "characters" meant to evoke Dylan, Cate Blanchett as the uncooperative Dylan, the who went to England and befuddled the critics and some of the British audience (seen for real in D. A. Pennebaker's 1967 documentary, "Bob Dylan: Don't Look Back") is the most remarkable. I also liked young Marcus Carl Franklin's train-hopping "Woody Guthrie." And Charlotte Gainsborough, as the wife in the stormy marriage to the Heath Ledger version of Dylan was excellent. It also has a very well chosen soundtrack featuring many real Dylan songs. But the other four "Dylans" left me cold, and the overall stew did not produce a very coherent picture.

I realize of course that Dylan's real life has not done so either, and that is probably Haynes' point. But "A Complete Unknown" manages to paint that abstract expression type of portrait just as effectively and more entertainingly by just showing Dylan's first few years in New York City.

This is a very engaging and entertaining documentary about Liz Carpenter--best known as Vice President LBJ's executive assistant and Lady Bird's press secretary, but also a trailblazing reporter, author, and champion of equal rights for women. She was one of those "not shy" women from Texas (like Ann Richards, Barbara Jordan Molly Ivins, and Lady Bird herself) who used their sharp wit and feminine wiles to have a great (although sometimes behind-the-scenes) impact on public policy.

The film benefited immensely from having access to Liz's papers and photos, courtesy of her daughter who served as co-director along with the savvy documentary filmmaker Abby Ginzberg. And it weaved in lots of illuminating shots and videos of Washington DC and its various characters from her era.

It also serves secondarily as a mini-showcase for Lady Bird's own impact on her husband's presidency, with her own solo whistlestop train tour of the deep south in the tumultuous election of 1964, her visits to numerous national parks, and her high-profile Beautification of America program, which turned out to be a precursor to the budding environmental movement of the seventies.

Highly recommended.