What Classics Did You See Last Week (Jan 30-Feb 5)

No Blood Relation (Japan-1932) dir. Mikio Naruse
The second wife of a businessman has a loving relationship with the child from his first marriage, raising her like a daughter, but then, just as her husband goes bankrupt, his first wife, who abandoned father and child to pursue an acting career in Hollywood, shows up demanding custody.
The influence of Ozu is obvious (the opening scene is almost an exact copy of the beginning of Ozu's Walk Cheerfully), but Naruse adds some bold visual experimentation of his own, while turning in a fine and affecting tearjerker.
***


Jackie (US-2016) dir. Pablo Larraín
Or, Natalie Portman would like an Oscar.
**1/2


Brimstone (The Netherlands-2016) dir. Martin Koolhoven
A mute woman (Dakota Fanning) lives with her husband and two children in the American West, until the arrival of a mysterious preacher (Guy Pearce) ruptures her peaceful existence.
Brimstone is a Dutch(!) Western and a mighty good one.
Filled with traditional Western tropes (and with more than one reference to Night of the Hunter), it nevertheless finds its own, unique voice. Writer/director Martin Koolhoven permeates his film with an unnerving atmosphere of doom and damnation, and packs it with unsettling scenes that skirt close to horror.
There are a few missteps (something happens in the climax that defies human anatomy), but overall, this is a excellent work and Fanning and Pearce make a great pair of antagonists.
Game of Thrones stars Carice Van Houten and Kit Harrington also make an appearance.
***1/2