If... (The Criterion Collection)
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Movie Reviews of If... (The Criterion Collection)
Movie Review: A director seeking direction.
Summary: 4 Stars
Has it's moments, though can be slow-ish. I guess I didn't understand it. I liked O Lucky Man better (cheaper too). The artiness of this film fits right in there with Criterion though, as does the price.
The story starts becoming sort of a surreal montage near the end. It's well-shot, but still slow and not incredibly interesting. What was this movie trying to say, somebody tell me.. the high school some metaphor for government or some destructive controling force man must break free of? Or was it just an over-controling boys school that the guy got sick of? I lost track of what was going on when they threw logic to the wind in the end. Finally I felt 'who cares?'
Malcolm MacDowel in one of his earliest films is reason enough to see this, but beyond that, is there any substance to this movie? "If.." was half entertaining, but GREAT? I don't think so.
I can't help remembering the coffee mug my grandma gave my father for Christmas one year that read: "If you can't dazzle 'em with brilliance, baffle 'em with BULL$#!T!"
If.. is a combination of brilliance and that other B word - thus my less than 5 star review. It has all the value that'd be given to the early sketches of any famous artist that later acheived recognition or greatness, and for that alone it is worth viewing. But I didn't see what other reviewers seem to have found in it. If it's a choice between this and "O Lucky Man", see O Lucky Man. Furthermore, if you have a region-free player, the UK version of If.. is half the price though may not include the extras of the Criterion.
Movie Review: Good
Summary: 3 Stars
The film was a smash hit in the U.K., but also came under critical fire. Most contemporary critics immediately tried to tie it to the massive student protests that swept through Europe that year, but the single-minded violence of Mick and his acolytes really is at odds with that movement. Later critics tried to portray the film as a precursor to the Columbine shootings, in America, as well as similar `going postal' incidents. Yet, those comparisons failed, too, because Mick's anger is not of the `take all of the bastards with us' sort, but purposely directed at removing an evil blight- one of his mottoes being: One man can change the world with a bullet in the right place. As naïve an opinion as that is, at least his acts are political acts, albeit different from his real world contemporaries on college campuses, and directed at no one person nor party, just the oppressive cosmos, whereas the Columbine killers were just psychotics and psychopaths. Of course, that critics continually missed the boat on this film should come as no surprise since most of them regurgitated the meme that the film was somehow surreal. While the film does stretch reality, and occasionally blend fantasy with realism, that is not what surrealism is. Surrealism is when there is a break with reality that is unforeseen, and seemingly beyond reality. There are scenes in films by Federico Fellini that involve moments- like a horse that appears where it should not be, and in others' films, that are surreal, but fantasy alone is not surrealism. There needs to be an initial seeming randomness that, after the fact, seems less random, something that invokes John Keats' Negative Capability. Nothing like that occurs in this film, nor are there any real `poetic' moments. This film, despite some great moments, is always prosaic- in the best sense.
I mention this because, in the two disk set, by The Criterion Collection, on the commentary track by Malcolm McDowell and film historian David Robinson, both claim director Anderson a poet of cinema. This is generally just a platitude that such moments accord, but it is nonetheless wrong. Filmmakers like Stanley Kubrick, Terrence Malick, Ingmar Bergman, Theo Angelopolus, Bela Tarr, and Andrei Tarkovsky, etc., are poets with a camera. Anderson is not. But that does not mean this is not a good film; just not one filled with poesy. That commentary for the film comes on Disk One. Disk Two has features such as a 2003 episode of the Scotch television show Cast And Crew, which reunites McDowell with the film's cast and crew (save for the deceased Anderson), and interview with one of the minor actors from the film, and an Oscar-winning 1954 documentary by Anderson, called Thursday's Children, about a school for deaf children. Before he made feature films, Anderson was a documentarian. The film runs about 110 minutes and is shown in a 1.66:1 aspect ratio.
While the film's visuals, by cinematographer Miloslav Ondricek, and editing are solid, it is the lack of contemporary and non-diegetic music that make the biggest impact. So much of what McDowell conveys through his character is enhanced by the fact that it is character-driven, not manipulated via music. Along with some of the great films by Robert Bresson and Yasujiro Ozu, this film is one of the best arguments against scoring films. In fact, the only music in the film, diegetic or not, is an Africanized Latin mass called Missa Luba. While the screenplay, by David Sherwin, has its moments, the thing that most keeps the film from approaching greatness is that it is simply too one dimensional. While we get dimensions of Mick Taylor's persona, that's about it. All the whips, adults, and younger boys- even the nameless waitress, are little more than props to tell Mick's tale, and, while Mick has some moments, they are good pearls on a rather tattered string. The same could be said, in fact, for all the episodes in this picaresque film. Like so many other films that are hailed as masterpieces, If.... is not one. But it is a good film, and, perhaps one of those rare instances when it is something even better than a good film, it is an interesting film, warts and all- from its extended anomies to its over the top depictions of British youth. Its title is often claimed as deriving from the similarly titled poem by Rudyard Kipling, but Anderson never made such a claim, and the title (four dot ellipsis and all- gotta love that!) more likely refers to the film as a hope of some sort, a desideratum, if not of the filmmaker, then his lead character. In fact, the film could very well be a daydream of Mick's, much like the film American Psycho is a fantasy of its lead character, Patrick Bateman. Regardless, whether one sees affinities with American Psycho or The 400 Blows (especially the classroom scenes), If.... is a film worth seeing. Its ability to develop characters (via peering vignettes that move quickly) and mix humor and drama are admirable, even if it never quite meshes into a fine whole, makes it an important film, for both world and British cinema. But, as I've stated before, the import of a film, artistically, philosophically, or politically, is a different creature from its excellence ort greatness, and, unfortunately only the former beast lives onscreen. Luckily, for cineastes, so did McDowell, even if Mick Travis may not have.
Movie Review: not as bad as I expected
Summary: 3 Stars
This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD edition of the film.
If... stars Malcolm McDowell before his rise to stardom in A Clockwork Orange.
The film is about a boarding school in England. The upperclassmen routinely haze the younger students and the faculty use corporal punishment on unruly students. McDowell's character is a major deliquent. The film has a surreal ending which remains controversial today.
The Criterion Collection released this in a double disc set with fine special features.
Disc one contains the film with optional audio commentary by movie critic David Robinson and Malcolm McDowell.
Disc two contains a 2003 Episode of the Scottish television program "Cast and Crew" which has interviews with McDowell and other people in the film, an interview with actor, Graham Crowden and a documentary about a school for deaf children titled "Tuesday's Children"
The film initially recieved an X rating in the UK on it's release but the rating was lowered to 15. In the US it would probably get a PG-13 rating today but I think it should be R because it may inspire imitative behavior in school age audiences. Watch it before letting your kids see it.
Movie Review: Edited film
Summary: 2 Stars
One of the memorable moments in the orginal occurred when one of the faculty matrons took up arms and joined the climactic rebellion. That moment and others inexplicably did not appear in the dvd I received. It was as though someone thought these images too offensive or scathing or something, and decided to take sheers to them.
Considering what's out there nowadays on video, this is a most disheartening act, and I'm sorry to even have to report it. Thus, "If . . " receives a less than perfect rating from this quarter.
Movie Review: NOT the original version
Summary: 1 Stars
This is not the original version of the film. This is the censored version. As such, it should be labeled that way. The fact that this film has been released in a censored version so many years after its original release is a sad testament on society today. I have lost respect for Criterion.