Directed by John Huston The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is wonderfully ugly. In it three men set out to hit it rich mining for gold. Rather quickly they find what they're looking for, but the challenge then becomes keeping it. They must deal with forces from outside and forces from within, and in the end … Continue reading The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
Month: August 2019
The Farewell (2019)
Directed by Lulu Wang In The Farewell a family gathers in China to say goodbye to the family matriarch, recently diagnosed with lung cancer. Nai Nai (Shuzhen Zhao) doesn't know she is dying, and the family would like to keep it that way, the thought being that it's not the cancer that kills you so much … Continue reading The Farewell (2019)
Up in the Air (2009)
Directed by Jason Reitman Up in the Air is a feel good movie in part about the recession. One of the first images we see onscreen is of people fired, expressing dismay, fear, anger and the like in regards to being let go. Closing images will revisit many of those same people addressing how they … Continue reading Up in the Air (2009)
Steve Jobs (2015)
Directed by Danny Boyle Danny Boyle's Steve Jobs is operatic and a bit silly. It tells the story of Steve Jobs' career at Apple through three long sequences leading up to a product launch. In each case his conversations (Aaron Sorkin going full Sorkin with all the snappy "walk and talks") take place in the wings … Continue reading Steve Jobs (2015)
Destroyer (2018)
Directed by Karyn Kusama Destroyer is one of those films about a broken character whose present day storyline runs parallel to a recollection of a past storyline that broke said character. Both stories reach their climax at the same time so that, in a sense, the trauma of the past directly affects the present. Another … Continue reading Destroyer (2018)
Dazed and Confused (1993) [revisited]
Directed by Richard Linklater There is actually more 'plot' than I remember in Dazed and Confused. It's a loose story set on the last day of school in 1976, following an ensemble cast of characters as they just try to have a good time. And though the biggest plot point has to do with a party … Continue reading Dazed and Confused (1993) [revisited]
Long Day’s Journey Into Night (2018)
Directed by Bi Gan I've never seen anything like Long Day's Journey Into Night. It's an unsettling, sleepy and disorienting tale about a man looking for a woman from his past, or maybe she only ever existed in his dreams, it's hard to recall. Remembering the story is like trying to piece together the fragments of … Continue reading Long Day’s Journey Into Night (2018)
Close-Up (1990)
Directed by Abbas Kiarostami Close-Up is a deeply humanistic docudrama about a poor man on trial for impersonating a well-known film director. We begin with a conversation in a car (a Kiarostami staple) between a reporter who is eager to expose this imposter and print this sensational story and his taxi driver. In the backseat … Continue reading Close-Up (1990)
The Last Metro (1980)
Directed by Francois Truffaut Francois Truffaut's The Last Metro feels like it belongs in a sub genre of nostalgic films, alongside Louis Malle's Au Revoir Les Enfants, John Boorman's Hope and Glory and Woody Allen's Radio Days. These are films tied to the moments of history in which the director was a child. Often they orbit charged moments in … Continue reading The Last Metro (1980)
Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987)
Directed by John Hughes Goddamn this film is just so sweet. It's an odd couple pairing, the pursed lipped Steve Martin and blabber-mouthed John Candy, and yet it avoids certain cliches perhaps because the subtext of their discord is brought into the open so early in the film. Before any of their travels get too crazy … Continue reading Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987)
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