Is Leo McCarey's Make Way For Tomorrow the Great American Film? Possibly. Long-neglected, only recently discovered a few years back at the Telluride FIlm Festival, this tearjerker (part of a particularly astonishing year for McCarey, 1937, which also saw his legendary The Awful Truth) is one of the most poignant, unsentimental experiences imaginable. Even for those who are somewhat resistant to black-and-white films, the movie's power is a bit undeniable. There are no movie stars here - just superb character actors Victor Moore and Beulah Bondi as an elderly couple whose home is being foreclosed. The couple is forced to move in, separately, with their children, neither of whom wants them. It's a deceptively simple premise, but McCarey milks it for all its worth. Who can't relate to these scenes? Moore's folksy, stubborn father moves in with his daughter, but is largely ignored by her family, finding sole companionship with a store owner nearby. Bondi's character moves in with her son, but is largely a nuisance to him, her daughter-in-law, and her granddaughter, all of whom are embarrassed by her. There are superb scenes here, that McCarey lets unfold with a wonderful application of the nuances within the mise en scene: my favorite was when Bondi's character intrudes on the bridge class her daughter is teaching. But first and foremost is the relationship between the old couple - coy, tipsy, unadorned. And the final shot truly is one of cinema's great achievements. As Orson Welles exclaimed, this film could "make a stone cry." It's Ozu's Tokyo Story, only shorter.
I've seen Rogue, Greg McLean's follow-up to his startling Wolf Creek, twice now and was unsettled by it both times. It's worth checking out. An Australian wildlife tour is stranded on a tidal island after the guide, responding to a distress flare, wanders into the domain of a territorial giant crocodile Michael Vartan, Radha Mitchell, and Sam Worthington are among the cast members, but it's a director's film all the way. The pacing is tight, the special effects are good, the locale vivid and well-evoked, and there are some outstanding, vise-tight sequences. There isn't a wasted frame in the picture - and you never know who's going to get chomped, either.
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