Tag / 1978

by Jaime Rebanal

‘Watership Down’ Review: A Haunting, Beautiful Tale of Survival Upon Certain Doom

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I remember first watching Watership Down in fifth grade under the assumption that it was a cute animated film about rabbits. If you were one who had watched Watership Down during your youth making that same mistake that I had made at the time, you would already have been left with frightening images in your head after your first viewing – yet it still presents itself as one of the most beautiful animated films of all time. Written and directed by producer Martin Rosen in his directorial debut, Watership Down beautifully translates the debut novel of Richard Adams to the big screen in the most imaginative sense possible, something unlike most other animated films of the era with many of the classics of Walt Disney Studios having preceded what Martin Rosen makes you witness in Watership Down.

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by Jaime Rebanal

The Mother and Daughter Dynamics by Way of Ingmar Bergman’s Autumn Sonata: A Review

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Ingmar Bergman was never a person who had much time for his family, yet there’s something about the way in which he captures family dynamics onscreen that makes for something wholly entrancing. Of course, a perfect example of this would be his theatrical swan song Fanny & Alexander, but there’s a deeply personal touch in Autumn Sonata that also makes said film worth noting. It’s a film that tells of even Bergman’s own dedication to something that he loves most – at the expense of another important building block of his own life. Perhaps often noted for being the first time in which cinema’s most famous Bergmans – Ingmar and Ingrid – had finally come together, Autumn Sonata is a film that puts into question even the very extent to which we fixate our lives on something that we love doing most with our life and what happens when the damage can only become ever so severe. But most admirable about the way in which he approaches such a subject is his own intimacy – something always present in the way Bergman directs his actors. But Bergman has always made his own company as an artist clear, for he interacts with his recurring collaborators just as he would with friends, and it always makes for a rewarding journey.

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by Jaime Rebanal

John Carpenter’s Halloween Remains One of the Best Horror Films Ever Made: Review

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In the many years since John Carpenter’s Halloween has come out, many sequels may have come by under its name but it is with good reason why the original still finds itself standing strong even as the roots of its story may have been imitated by many. No matter how overly elaborate the imitators may present themselves to be, John Carpenter’s Halloween still reigns supreme because of how its simplicity even manages to set up something far more frightening underneath everything else. Even as an age of horror films defined by massive splatters of gore may have come along the way, it’s easy enough to see why John Carpenter’s film still overshadows many – for it didn’t only pave the way for many filmmakers to follow when working in the slasher subgenre. But it isn’t only the horror genre where Carpenter excels with Halloween, because what it accomplishes on a budget of only $300k is absolutely impressive because of how tightly woven it is from first frame to last.

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by Jaime Rebanal

The Hypothesis of the Stolen Painting – Review

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This whole experience almost feels like having walked through an art gallery, trying to deconstruct art that we observe – for we still listen to someone explaining the context. Raúl Ruiz’s The Hypothesis of the Stolen Painting is an experience to say the least, but it’s the question that it brings to what we see in the art medium that ultimately defines what we are to estimate out of life in the very end. Maybe that was the mystery that was being posed through The Hypothesis of the Stolen Painting, because it’s a film that begs us the question about what it is that we truly call “art” for are we being deceived into thinking something may fall under such category, or maybe not. I’m not even sure how exactly did Raúl Ruiz form anything like this because the only thing that was on my mind after this hour-long art gallery trip had ended was how he managed to conceptualize something like this in his head.

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by Jaime Rebanal

Close Encounters of the Third Kind – Review

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There’s a part of me that feels that where I’ve gone today is in part thanks to Steven Spielberg, because as I watch his films the way I do now there’s a line he blurs between what we can perceive as mere popcorn entertainment to something all the more beautiful. Films like Jaws and Raiders of the Lost Ark would have set an example for some among a few but Close Encounters of the Third Kind has only shown him at some of his most personal after having broken new ground with Jaws. If Jaws showed a side to Spielberg that blurred the lines between entertainment and art, then Close Encounters of the Third Kind presents another side of his work that embraces something all the more impactful: his own trademark sentimentality finds itself at its very best in here, it awed me at 12 years old and at 18 it still captivates me with the same impact that I can remember vividly.

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by Jaime Rebanal

Days of Heaven – Review

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A dictionary definition of “heaven” would either take you to “paradise” or “the sky,” yet in Terrence Malick’s second feature, Days of Heaven, its title implies it is already present down below on earth. Terrence Malick’s second feature film carries what could easily look like a muted romance on the surface but beyond that, one of the finest American films of the 1970’s is present, together with one of the most beautifully shot films of all time. Those are the least of what I feel makes Days of Heaven near half as impactful as it really is, because the first experience I had with the film had me at a distance – although as I watched more of Malick’s work, maybe there was more to be said as I grew more attached to what was presented. If it isn’t my favourite Malick, what’s still there to be said is that it also happens to be one of the finest films ever made.

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