Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Ludwig, The Outlaw and His Wife

Once more unto the breach: Mark Hamill in Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Rian Johnson's Star Wars: The Last Jedi is the best film in the series since The Empire Strikes Back, but it is also interminable; an hour or so too long. Most of the cast are at sea: Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, even Laura Dern are all dull and colorless. Only Adam Driver and Benicio del Toro add spark to the prolonged proceedings. Director and scenarist Johnson gets some rhythmic energy from cross cutting between the two main narratives, but can't sustain it past the ninety minute mark. A sense of bloat permeates the project.

The set design is the thing in Ludwig

Equally interminable is Luchino Visconti's Ludwig, from 1973. This biopic of the mad King of Bavaria is an ordeal to sit through, but does gain some power as Ludwig loses hold of reality. The set decoration, location shooting, and costumes intrigue the eye, but the overall effect, no matter how spectacular the spectacle, is mind and butt numbing. The film, which is poorly structured, has no center because Helmut Berger is not up to the demands of the title role. Romy Schneider and Trevor Howard are good in support, but Visconti's magisterial touch continued to slip here.

Majestic visas in The Outlaw and His Wife

By contrast, Victor Sjöström's The Outlaw and His Wife, from 1918, is a silent melodrama that packs a punch in under two hours. Sjostrom's use of outdoor vistas is nonpareil and the finale flaunts convention by picturing the titular lovers in a morbidly chilly embrace. Sjostrom's acting is superb and the rest of the cast all produce memorable vignettes. Still, Sjostrom does not strike me as a major director. His version of The Scarlet Letter is misjudged and silly and I find both The Phantom Carriage and The Wind overrated. My favorite of his is the audacious He Who Gets Slapped, but The Outlaw and His Wife is just as outstanding and memorable. (4/29/18)