Cada Um com Seu Cinema

It's hard to review an anthology movie like this, as it's essentially 33 short films that all go for three minutes or less, and each is done by a different director. There are some recognizable names here (like David Cronenberg, Lars Von Trier, Takashi Kitano, and Jane Campion), and then a few I didn't recognize. Some of the shorts from filmmakers I know I really liked, and some really didn't do it for me at all. I feel like the cast members are generally a little less famous, but there are still a few big names in there from the world cinema scene.

Each short film has to revolve around a cinema in some way, and even with the uneven quality, I guess it is interesting to see how many different approaches all the filmmakers have to tackling such a broad concept. Some shorts are incredibly abstract, at least one was super self-indulgent and just terrible, and others are charming in their simplicity and bluntness (I think Lars Von Trier might have had the best of the lot for this reason - it was one of the only ones that got a real reaction out of me... also, Cronenberg's was a highlight).

It's hard to recommend something like this. It's creative and interesting, but also tedious in parts, and I'd say one-third of these shorts feel pretty disposable. Like, Gus Van Saint's is so weird, and I usually like his stuff. Same for Campion - not sure what was she thinking or trying to say there?

I think it would be fun to watch and react to with a friend who's also a huge, possibly slightly pretentious film buff. It's quite fascinating, but I don't really know many people who I could watch and discuss something like this with, but thank you for reading my ramblings; it's the next best thing I guess!

TO EACH HIS OWN CINEMA is a 2007 collection of 3-minute shorts by some 36 directors around the world on the theme of what cinema means to them. So many auteurs already make films about films inasmuch as they allude to classics, but here most of the shorts are actually set in cinemas, with audiences in rows of seating. You'll need to have a decent familiarity with the art-house canon before watching this, though. It's fascinating how so many of the directors, regardless of what continent they hailed from, choose to have French New Wave films playing in the background as their stories are told.

It opens with Raymond Depardon's "Open-Air Cinema", where a crowd of Egyptians watched an outdoor projection in Alexandria, and in spite of the unusual writing and the women's veils, they seem to be just like us. Zhang Yimou later does much the same in a Chinese village.

One of the remarkable aspects of this collection are the similar ideas. Two stories deal with thieves stealing purses in dark cinemas. Three deal with the blind and how they perceive cinema. Many look back to childhood/earlier eras. Hou Hsiao-Hsien's short recreates 1950s Taiwan on an elaborate set to show the typical visit to a cinema of his youth. Amos Gitai's film juxtaposes 1930s viewers of Yiddish cinema, a vibrant tradition destroyed by the Holocaust, with a modern Israeli audience in wartime. Youssef Chahine's looks back at his first visit to Cannes 47 years before.

Some of the films deal with serious political themes: Amos Gitai on the Israeli-Arab relations, David Croneberg on anti-semitism ,and Bille August with Danish-immigrant relations. However, there are also a number of overtly funny shorts, like Takeshi Kitano's, where a working man's chance to unwind by watching a film keeps getting interrupted by problems with the projector. In Lars Van Trier's contribution, Jacques Franz plays an annoying businessman who can't stop bragging about his success, though the extreme gore and violence that follows makes for very black humour. Elia Suleiman's is Buster Keatonish physical comedy in the modern world.

Some shorts are notable for continuing an aesthetic that the director had already established in an earlier film. Kaurismäki's short is his usual style of an ostensibly contemporary setting, but with 1950s rock music and working class people who speak utterly deadpan. (Unusually, however, it uses none of his typical troupe of actors.) Abbas Kiarostami's "Where is My Romeo?" is a sort of follow-up to his experimental film SHIRIN, which showed only the faces of numerous women as they watched a classic Iranian tale of love; here these women are watching "Romeo and Juliet" instead.

All in all, this proved a continuously engaging film, whose 2-hour running time just flew by for me. Nearly all the shorts were entertaining, the sole exceptions for me being Jane Campion's oddball short, where an adult woman plays an insect that vexes a projectionist, and Gus Van Sant's film with a randy teenager entering into the film being projected. Nothing here seems a must-see classic, but if you like a few of the directors here, you're sure to enjoy this set.

I am familiar with the Studio Canal (Region 2) release of the film. There are English subtitles, but the dialogue is rarely important: you can understand entirely what is happening from the movements of the actors. Only that small handful of shorts with narration really need subtitles. It should be noted that the Studio Canal release is missing the contributions by the Coen brothers and David Lynch. I'm not sure what is missing from other international releases.

Its difficult to assess and review this film because it comprises of so many different directors and direction styles that grading this movie would be quite unfair to them all. Certain segments are simply brilliant whereas certain leave us with a 'wtf was that all about?' emotion. The film as a whole feels like skimming through the personal diaries of various directors wherein we may sometimes come across gems whereas certain sections only make sense to the film makers themselves.

Nevertheless, it is an essential watch for people who love experimental cinema because as an experimental film, it works brilliantly. It will probably make you feel how all movies make you feel. Take it as a taster of all the various genres of movies presented in bite sized pieces. The movie consists of humour, thrills, horror, autobiographies, biographies, drama, romance, erotica, documentaries, surrealism viz every single genre that exists...alas...no animation.

It is a very personal selection and everyone is guaranteed to find something that he/she likes. Overall this is a great collection of shorts and a must see. The star grading reflects how I perceived the movie as a whole - recommended.

This film is impossible to really describe accurately other than to say it 34 short (3 to 4 minutes) films about the movies and movie going. Covering a variety of topics from comedy and tragedy to documentary this is the a look at how many famous directors see the cinema.

I saw this on a Chinese DVD, which has 33 of the 34 movie done by various directors (only the Cohen Brothers contribution is missing). Most of the films are good, a couple are not bad rather they illicit a "what was that about" reaction and a few are glorious, explaining why the cinema is something so magical. I'm not sure this really is a film for all film goers since the films can be rather oblique, not to mention the ride is bumpy with a poor film sandwiched between a couple winners (or vice versa). I would love to critique each film, but that is dangerous since the films are so short it may reveal too much. I think the best way to see this film (as suggested by another poster) is to simply watch each film and wait to see what happens. In most cases the director isn't named until the end so you can simply watch each film without any sort of expectation. Granted some films are obvious as to who made them since the directors appear, but many of the others are not so clear.(I was right about half the time and wrong about half) Definitely worth a look. This is a must see for anyone deeply passionate about the movies and going to them.

CHACUN SON CINEMA- TO EACH HIS OWN CINEMA

Nowhere have I found the shorts listed in the order they play on the DVD. I am listing them here but it is most fun to watch them without looking at the list as most name the director following the 3 minutes short and it is fun to guess who directed each work. Several themes reappear such as blindness, near empty cinemas, projection problems and self reverential moments.

OPEN-AIR CINEMA- Raymond Depardon ONE FINE DAY- Takeshi Kitano THREE MINUTES- Theo Angelopoulos IN THE DARK- Andrei Konchalovsky DIARY OF A SPECTATOR – Nanni Moretti THE ELECTRIC PRINCESS HOUSE- Hou Hsiao-Hsien DARKNESS- Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne ANNA- Alejandro González Iñárritu MOVIE NIGHT- Zhang Yimou THE DYBBUK OF HAIFA- Amos Gitai THE LADY BUG- Jane Campion ARTAUD DOUBLE BILL –Atom Egoyan THE FOUNDARY- Aki Kaurismäki UPSURGE –Olivier Assayas 47 years later- Youssef Chahine IT'S A DREAM- Tsai Ming-Ling OCCUPATIONS- Lars Von Trier THE GIFT- Raul Ruiz THE CINEMA AROUND THE CORNER- Claude Lelouch FIRST KISS- Gus Van Sant CINEMA EROTIQUE- Roman Polanski NO TRANSLATION NEEDED- Michael Cimino AT THE SUICIDE OF THE LAST JEW IN THE WORLD IN THE LAST CINEMA IN

THE WORLD David Cronenberg I TRAVELLED 9000 KM TO GIVE IT TO YOU –Wong Kar Wai WHERE IS MY ROMEO? –Abbas Kiarostami THE LAST DATING SHOW- Billie August IRTEBAK – Elia Suleiman SOLE MEETING –Manoel De Oliveira 5.557 MILES FROM CANNES WAR IN PEACE –Wim Wenders ZHANXIOU VILLAGE- Chen Kaige HAPPY ENDING- Ken Loach

Not on the DVD are a second Walter Salles short, Joel and Ethan Coen's WORLD CINEMA and David Lynch's ABSURDA, all delivered to late to be included.

List of actors and segments: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0973844/