Directed by Christian Petzold Phoenix takes place in Berlin, shortly after the end of World War II. It's a bombed out city with rubble in the streets but with thriving night clubs. Everyone, it seems, just wants to forget about what happened. The protagonist is Nelly (Nina Hoss), a survivor of the concentration camps only … Continue reading Phoenix (2014)
world war II
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)
Run Silent, Run Deep (1958)
Directed by Robert Wise Burt Lancaster is the symbol of virtue, it seems, in just about all of his most iconic roles. Maybe he's not so much so in films like The Sweet Smell of Success and others I can't think of right now, but when I picture Lancaster I picture Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, The … Continue reading Run Silent, Run Deep (1958)
Das Boot (1981)
Directed by Wolfgang Petersen Das Boot is a wonderfully intense, painfully bleak vision of war from the perspective of a German U-boat in 1941. Sure, maybe all war is bleak (I think so!), but some movies have a way of finding glory in such a conflict. Its soldiers are heroic, mighty, humble and self-sacrificing, all … Continue reading Das Boot (1981)
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
Directed by William Wyler Three soldiers return home after the end of World War II in The Best Years of Our Lives. The title refers to what they've given up as part of their service, and the film focuses on the quiet tragedy of what they've experienced. This is a film that idealizes the individual but … Continue reading The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
Wildlife (2018)
Directed by Paul Dano Wildlife is a tense, bleak family drama set in the early 1960s, kind of like Sam Mendes' Revolutionary Road (2008). Both films deal with young married couples who are no longer happy and don't know why. Presumably they were sold a false bill of goods about the American Dream, particularly in postwar … Continue reading Wildlife (2018)
Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957)
Directed by John Huston In Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison a marine and a nun find themselves stranded on an island together. This sounds like it's leading to a punchline, but John Huston's film is much more empathetic to the internal code of each character, the respective forces by which they abided that have stranded them on … Continue reading Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957)
Memphis Belle (1990)
Directed by Michael Caton-Jones Memphis Belle is a pretty straightforward World War II film, but I was smitten with it. Maybe it's the cast, composed of welcome and familiar faces like Matthew Modine, a young Harry Connick Jr., Eric Stoltz, Courtney Gains, Tate Donovan or Sean Astin, as well as the always calming presence of … Continue reading Memphis Belle (1990)
The Train (1964)
Directed by John Frankenheimer There's a lot of deep focus in The Train and, from what I recall, other John Frankenheimer films like The Manchurian Candidate and Seven Days in May. Let's start there... These are all political films, much more about conflicts between ideologies than between individuals. We see them in deep focus, carefully staged, so that … Continue reading The Train (1964)
Il Posto (1961)
Directed by Ermanno Olmi In Il Posto a Timothee Chalamet-looking young man, Domenico, reluctantly joins the working force. It's a daunting and certainly droll process that introduces him to Antonietta, another applicant for the large, unnamed and unimportant corporation. It doesn't matter what they do as long as they are paid to do it. Domenico's father … Continue reading Il Posto (1961)
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