Directed by Tod Browning Freaks is a bit of a melodrama about a group of circus "freaks" and a trapeze artist who goes by Cleopatra. Most of those in the traveling circus are severely disabled and deformed, whether they be limbless, legless, stunted or otherwise different. They see Cleopatra as an outsider, partially because she … Continue reading Freaks (1932)
Month: June 2019
Fury (1936)
Directed by Fritz Lang The main character of Fury, at least for the first half of the film, is Joe Wilson (Spencer Tracy), a man almost unbearably wholesome. He's a blue collar worker struggling to make enough money to marry the love of his life, Katherine (Silvia Sydney) and who chastises his brother for his illegal … Continue reading Fury (1936)
We Are Columbine (2018)
Directed by Laura Farber We Are Columbine never once mentions the names of the perpetrators of the event which so loaded the term "Columbine." The documentary, directed by one of the survivors, instead focuses on the community and several of the students, all freshmen at the time, who were there during the shooting on April … Continue reading We Are Columbine (2018)
Hud (1963)
Directed by Martin Ritt Hud is a black and white Neo-Western about generational differences, all embodied by a young man and his elderly father. They are Hud (Paul Newman) and Homer Bannon (Melvyn Douglas), and their relationship is underscored by strife and the long-teased absence of Hud's better-loved brother, whom we later learn died in … Continue reading Hud (1963)
Under the Silver Lake (2018)
Directed by David Robert Mitchell Myth is a constant theme in the three movies directed by David Robert Mitchell. Those three are The Myth of the American Sleepover, It Follows and now Under the Silver Lake. They are all a bit different, one a slice of life film about teenagers, another a horror film and this one a sort … Continue reading Under the Silver Lake (2018)
The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (2018)
Directed by Terry Gilliam In The Man Who Killed Don Quixote a burned out tv commercial director returns to the small Spanish village in which he shot his thesis short film ten years previous, only to discover that the shoemaker he cast as Don Quixote is lost in a delusion that he is indeed Don Quixote. … Continue reading The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (2018)
Trouble Every Day (2001)
Directed by Claire Denis Vincent Gallo can really act with his eyes, maybe not quite as much with his voice, but holy sh*t those eyes are at times frightening and magnetic. Claire Denis takes advantage of it in this moody, disturbing, sensual cannibalistic daydream of a movie. It's not exactly overtly frightening but rather deliberate … Continue reading Trouble Every Day (2001)
Alphaville (1965)
Directed by Jean-Luc Godard Alphaville imagines a grim future dominated by detrimental logic and a computer system with a voice that sounds as though it's been yanked from the death rattle of a long-time smoker. Combine that with the loud beeps, flashing lights and all around lack of personality of noir hero Lemmy Caution (Eddie … Continue reading Alphaville (1965)
Tender Mercies (1983)
Directed by Bruce Beresford The small Texas roadside motel upon which Mac Sledge (Robert Duvall) stumbles might as well exist outside of the real world. It's the place of his rebirth, a slow, arduous process that takes place over the course of this film. The movie opens there with a drunken fight that leaves him … Continue reading Tender Mercies (1983)
Tony Manero (2008)
Directed by Pablo Larrain There's some overlap between the physicality of violence and dancing, or at least they seem to be paralleled in certain movies and media. In the music video to The Shoes' "Time to Dance" Jake Gyllenhaal plays a serial killer whose compulsion seems to come from his inability to dance (so he … Continue reading Tony Manero (2008)
idrawonmywall.com 