Post 3

I screened Vincent Ward's 1984 feature-length debut Vigil on Saturday, February 15th. Visually a very interesting film with a mostly engaging, yet cryptic story. Overall, a pleasure to watch and a unique film (I can't recall anything else like it). I have very vague memories of it when it hit U.S. shores back in the mid-to-late-1980s, but my existence (and mental state) at the time was such that I never did get to a theater to see it. After that, as with many near-misses in life, I suppose my attention shifted on to something else, then something else, then something else, and then, well, Vigil faded from my view. Nice to have rediscovered such an intriguing and gripping film. Speaking of Ward, I saw his big-budget U.S. debut Map of the Human Heart recently (streamed via Netflix) and, while it was also of interest visually, the script tried to cover way too much, which resulted in a muddled and ultimately frustrating production. I can't help but surmise that, like many other foreign directors who encounter the surreality & vagaries of movie-making in Hollywood, Ward found his interest in that profession waning after the experience of Map of the Human Heart (as well as his ill-fated work on Alien³); his output has slowed to a crawl since. A real shame as Vigil is a memorable debut and his second feature, The Navigator: A Mediaeval Odyssey, also appears to be worth a look (I've seen some very interesting-looking sequences of it). An organization known as NZonScreen (I believe it might be the New Zealand Government's film board) has a section on Ward, which includes a clip of an early student film, a short entitled A State of Siege (its source is a Janet Frame novel), and this looks like another Ward production worth viewing. Almost makes me willing to spring for the Region 4 DVD of Vigil that includes this as well as a short documentary by Ward.

Late last night & very early this morning (February 16th-17th), for the first time in more than 25 years, I watched the delightful Turtle Diary. Wow, what a fantastic film (much more thoughtful and wistful than I recall the first time-around)! Then again, how can you go wrong if you combine a Harold Pinter screenplay of a Russell Hoban novel with leads Glenda Jackson & Sir Ben Kingsley in addition to supporting players Michael Gambon & Jeroen Krabbé (among others)?!??! Funny that as a young man I found the film pleasant, yet unexceptional; however, with time and experience between that me and today's me I now see this film (and its source novel, also entitled Turtle Diary) as a truly sublime work on the joys & sorrows of life (and being truly alive). Remarkable accompaniment as well from the late Geoffrey Burgon.

I also squeezed-in Bergman's Winter Light (via Criterion's DVD release) on Saturday the 15th, so a terrific weekend as far as film-watching goes. IMHO Winter Light is one of the more accessible Bergman films (still, it's jammed with meaning layered upon meaning) and, although it seems hopeless & pessimistic in many ways, it's ultimately uplifting.

I'll conclude with a couple of odds-n-ends:

• My VHS of Vigil included some very faint, extraneous noise on the audio track. At first I thought I had left the radio on in another room or that my neighbors kids were outside playing. Eventually I realized it was on the tape. Not sure how it got on to a new, shrink-wrapped, never before viewed cassette. It sounded like dialog from a Spanish-language film, but it didn't ruin Vigil for me.
• I tried to watch an inexpensively acquired VHS of Turtle Diary that I purchased about two months ago, but the tape was unusable. The picture was almost nonexistent and I was unable to even rewind or fast-forward. Luckily, someone has posted the entire film on to YouTube, so I was able to access it just the same. Still, it was hard to discern some of the more dimly-lit sequences, so I checked Amazon and noticed a vendor selling a brand-new VHS of the film for only $28. Decided to purchase it right away (impulse buy?) as this is a memorable flicker and that price is a steal when you consider Turtle Diary has never seen a DVD release (and, at this point in time I assume, likely never will) anywhere.