Sex & Melodrama

This episode is a sort of bait and switch, starting off with James Dean and the theme of sex before quickly -- very quickly -- switching to African and Asian cinema.

We learn of "Cairo Station", the first great African and/or Arab film (which I had never heard of). We see the rise of Indian film and Bollywood, the transformation of the Chinese film under Mao, and the renewed importance of Japanese film. We are especially focused on Kurosawa (a "one man film school" who influenced Westerns and even "The Godfather").

Getting back to sex, we briefly cover Kenneth Anger and fetishism, someone who far too few people know about. His work is disturbing, but ground-breaking in many ways. Few pushed the boundaries harder.

Cousins finds sexuality where there may or may not be (such as "Lawrence of Arabia"), but hey, he is a film critic.

The Story of Film: An Odyssey 'Sex and Melodrama' (2011)

*** (out of 4)

The six episode in Mark Cousins' series takes a look at the melodrama's of the 1950s but much like earlier episodes, the film jumps around to cover a wide range of topics. We start off seeing a clip of James Dean but then we hear Cousins' say that the real Dean was Youssef Chahina who made CAIRO STATION. From here we take a look at some films from India (PANTHER PANCHALI, MOTHER India) and then the works of Kurosawa, Mexican cinema and Bunuel, Nicholas Ray and even Ken Anger. As I go through this series it's becoming very clear that Cousins isn't trying to tell a general history of film but instead he's staying true to his vision and his opinion by telling you what his idea of the story of film should be. I think this approach might turn many off but if you stick with it there are some very good moments throughout. I think some of the highlights here include a look at ON THE WATERFRONT and we even get to see a location and how it looks today compared to in the film. Cousins has an interesting take on the taxi scene and compares it to a scene in RED RIVER. Overall this is another fine episode but the remark on Dean was... a little off I guess you could say.

This is a study of the early 1050's in cinema. It starts with James Dean in "Rebel Without a Cause." He is seen as the rebellious representation of sexuality. It then goes into how European and Asian filmmakers presented the subject of sexual power. Several movies dealt in themes that the Code would never have allowed on our shores. There are numerous examples of some really abrasive portrayals of sexual deviance. In America, the closest we got would be things like Hitchcock did in "Vertigo" where voyeurism is really the hallmark. It's all he could get away with during this time. The person doing this documentary is criticized for his prejudices in favor of non-American films. When one looks at the sterility of so many films with censors taking over at every turn. Still, this is an excellent installment in this series.