I Lived, But ...

Kazuo Inoue's documentary on the director Yasujiro Ozu, I Lived, But ... (1983), is a stunning achievement. It represents a comprehensive and compelling summary of his filmography and a touching portrayal of the director's personal life. The mystery surrounding the kanji mu (embedded on Ozu's grave) is also nicely explored.

Through clips of actual behind-the-scenes footage, interviews and thousands of photos, Inoue manages to build a truly brilliant biography of the great director. Especially the interviews of the stars of his films are essential and Sugimura's interview gives the film the required sentimental touch which makes it more unforgettable than any other documentary. There's also a great deal of imagery used a bit like Ozu's pillow shots accompanied with great music. They serve in a nicely cathartic way along with giving the documentary a relaxing pace and mood.

The name is not only a clever reference to Ozu's early filmography, but it also captures the possible internal conflict of the director's loneliness. Inoue employs a number of little subtle things like this to get under the viewer's skin and manages to move us by the end of the film by giving Ozu the respect he deserves.

Score: 10 out of 10

The Last Emperor

Bernardo Bertolucci's Oscar-winning The Last Emperor (1987) tells the story of the final Emperor of China, Pu Yi. He became an Emperor already at the age of 4 and due to the changing world he had to give his title away.

Narratively the film isn't anything special when compared to the other biographical films - which is probably only for the better. While it provides interesting observations on how the Chinese value were changed and it is a proper depiction of Chinese history, the film never becomes anything truly memorable.

At least the film's form is fascinating: beautiful camera drives, fascinating compositions and the entire production is executed on a spectacular scale. However, the English dialogue and stiff acting distracted me a lot - it was hard to get used to them.

In the end, The Last Emperor is a film that could have been better, but it is quite good in its present shape too.

Score: 8 out of 10

The Elephant Man

David Lynch's The Elephant Man (1980) is easily one of the most conventional films the director has ever made. Surrealism is almost non-existent and storytelling is rather simple. The flick is based on the true story of a badly deformed man who lived during the 1800's. It is a tale of discrimination and dignity. The film handled its themes properly enough to be satisfying. However, I found some of the characters to be a bit lacking. Even though the main character was well developed, sometimes I couldn't tell whether John Hurt's performance was brilliant or terribly over-the-top.

Lynch's form is very good: the black and white photography was beautiful and menacing and the editing was marvellous.  However, the musical score put me off on a few occasions by being way too dramatic.

Ultimately, The Elephant Man works well in all aspects even though it had its own flaws and it didn't impress me in any special way.

Score: 7 out of 10