To Each His Own Cinema (2007)

As is to be expected from this kind of movie, it has its ups and downs. Some of the participating directors - pointing out Cronenberg, Salles, Polanski, Von Trier and Assayas as my personal favorites - did a remarkable job creating these three-minute-long tributes to cinema. A few of the movies are overtly pretentious, a few are just boring, and a couple - rolling my eyes towards Mr. Van Sant - were extremely disappointing works from excellent directors. Overall though, the majority of the films are enjoyable, and that alone is an impressive achievement. And even the weaker ones are short and varied enough to not be too demanding. I definitely recommend it for any film buff.

This film is impossible to really describe accurately other than to say it 34 short (3 to 4 minutes) films about the movies and movie going. Covering a variety of topics from comedy and tragedy to documentary this is the a look at how many famous directors see the cinema.I saw this on a Chinese DVD, which has 33 of the 34 movie done by various directors (only the Cohen Brothers contribution is missing). Most of the films are good, a couple are not bad rather they illicit a "what was that about" reaction and a few are glorious, explaining why the cinema is something so magical. I'm not sure this really is a film for all film goers since the films can be rather oblique, not to mention the ride is bumpy with a poor film sandwiched between a couple winners (or vice versa). I would love to critique each film, but that is dangerous since the films are so short it may reveal too much. I think the best way to see this film (as suggested by another poster) is to simply watch each film and wait to see what happens. In most cases the director isn't named until the end so you can simply watch each film without any sort of expectation. Granted some films are obvious as to who made them since the directors appear, but many of the others are not so clear.(I was right about half the time and wrong about half) Definitely worth a look. This is a must see for anyone deeply passionate about the movies and going to them.

Those who have seen "Paris je t'aime" will not forget that movie with 18 5-to-10-minute segments of a whole pageantry of short stories with one common theme – the City of Light. "To each…." offers 33 segments each straightly limited to 3 minutes, with the main theme being the Cannes Film Festival (in celebration of its 60th anniversary).The 35 directors (there are two pairs of brothers, if you are doing an audit of the numbers while reading this) from 5 continents and 25 countries are all masters in their own right. It's dazzling just to observe how they take up the challenge to use the 3 minutes to say something that will stand out above the other 32! Some follow their unmistakable trademark style, such as Takeshi Kitano and WONG Ka-wai. Some resort to devilishly funny twists, such as Roman Polanski. Some squeeze as much witty dialogue as possible into the 3 minutes, such as Jane Campion and Divid Cronenberg. Still others take advantage of well-loved songs which almost immediately win the audience over, such as Claude Lelouch ("Cheek to ckeek") and Abbas Kiarostami ("What is a youth"). There are also humanitarian messages, as offered by CHEN Kaige and Wim Wenders.I won't attempt to mention every segment and every director. Suffices to say that with such a large number of attempts there will be good and bad (world-class directors notwithstanding). I am happy to report that there is definitely more good than bad.

CHACUN SON CINEMA- TO EACH HIS OWN CINEMANowhere have I found the shorts listed in the order they play on the DVD. I am listing them here but it is most fun to watch them without looking at the list as most name the director following the 3 minutes short and it is fun to guess who directed each work. Several themes reappear such as blindness, near empty cinemas, projection problems and self reverential moments.OPEN-AIR CINEMA- Raymond Depardon ONE FINE DAY- Takeshi Kitano THREE MINUTES- Theo Angelopoulos IN THE DARK- Andrei Konchalovsky DIARY OF A SPECTATOR – Nanni Moretti THE ELECTRIC PRINCESS HOUSE- Hou Hsiao-Hsien DARKNESS- Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne ANNA- Alejandro González Iñárritu MOVIE NIGHT- Zhang Yimou THE DYBBUK OF HAIFA- Amos Gitai THE LADY BUG- Jane Campion ARTAUD DOUBLE BILL –Atom Egoyan THE FOUNDARY- Aki Kaurismäki UPSURGE –Olivier Assayas 47 years later- Youssef Chahine IT'S A DREAM- Tsai Ming-Ling OCCUPATIONS- Lars Von Trier THE GIFT- Raul Ruiz THE CINEMA AROUND THE CORNER- Claude Lelouch FIRST KISS- Gus Van Sant CINEMA EROTIQUE- Roman Polanski NO TRANSLATION NEEDED- Michael Cimino AT THE SUICIDE OF THE LAST JEW IN THE WORLD IN THE LAST CINEMA IN THE WORLD David Cronenberg I TRAVELLED 9000 KM TO GIVE IT TO YOU –Wong Kar Wai WHERE IS MY ROMEO? –Abbas Kiarostami THE LAST DATING SHOW- Billie August IRTEBAK – Elia Suleiman SOLE MEETING –Manoel De Oliveira 5.557 MILES FROM CANNES WAR IN PEACE –Wim Wenders ZHANXIOU VILLAGE- Chen Kaige HAPPY ENDING- Ken LoachNot on the DVD are a second Walter Salles short, Joel and Ethan Coen's WORLD CINEMA and David Lynch's ABSURDA, all delivered to late to be included.List of actors and segments: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0973844/