Directed by Pawel Pawlikowski There is a lot of time to roam in Ida but not much space to do it. The film (only 80 minutes in length) takes its time telling a story someone else might tell in half the time. Silences linger, characters listen, and plenty of time is cut out, allowing us to … Continue reading Ida (2013)
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Stray Dog (1949)
Directed by Akira Kurosawa When a young detective has his pistol stolen he undergoes something close to a spiritual breakdown. Teamed up with an older, calmer detective, he hunts down the gun and the criminal who has used it to kill multiple people. The plot allows for the two detectives to discuss their different life … Continue reading Stray Dog (1949)
Gaslight (1940)
Directed by Thorold Dickinson Gaslight is a thriller about the stress of marriage, at least when your husband is a murderous thief intent on convincing you that you need to be institutionalized. The story takes place in a small British neighborhood, where a newlywed couple, Paul and Bella Mallen, move in years after the murder … Continue reading Gaslight (1940)
I Shot Jesse James (1949)
Directed by Sam Fuller I Shot Jesse James makes a melodrama out of Robert Ford's decision to kill famed outlaw Jesse James. Ford shoots James early in the film, hoping to reap the bounty placed on his head so that he can settle down with Cynthy, the woman he loves. After the murder, Ford watches … Continue reading I Shot Jesse James (1949)
Stagecoach (1939)
Directed by John Ford While it wasn't the first western, nor was it close, Stagecoach was the first modern western. Along with the introduction of what would become repeated tropes in the genre, the film was Ford's first foray into Monument Valley, the landscape he would eventually make famous, and it is what made a star … Continue reading Stagecoach (1939)
Stalag 17 (1953)
Directed by Billy Wilder [EDIT: This is a long, rambling review as I try to figure out what Stalag 17 is really about. By the end I decide it's about the postwar conditions of the 1950s, specifically the red scare. It takes me a while to get there, and I still might be completely missing the … Continue reading Stalag 17 (1953)
Birdman of Alcatraz (1962)
Directed by John Frankenheimer Birdman of Alcatraz is a little too long. That's my first thought. I can only listen to the soothing musings of Burt Lancaster for so long, and with this movie I started to tune him out at around the 100 minute mark. Lancaster plays Robert Stroud, a murderer quick to anger. … Continue reading Birdman of Alcatraz (1962)
Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock Shadow of a Doubt, like Hitchcock's Suspicion (1941), is about the deconstruction of myth, to some extent. They are similar films, following one character's increasing paranoia that someone they love is a monster. In the former, Joan Fontaine begins to worry that the man she married, played by Cary Grant, has … Continue reading Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
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