Borges Meets Hitchhiker’s Guide How Greenaway surprises. Here is an early work that is rich in ways that in later works seem submerged. The concept: A ‘Violent Unexplained Event’ occurs at 11:41 PM GMT, 14 June, People experience physical changes, often transitioning to birds. 92 new languages appear, and 92 birdnames are embossed in some… Continue reading The Falls (1980)
Category: Threes
Films rated three stars out of three
The Big Clock (1948)
Gears This has a crackerjack beginning: you zoom into a city through a window (common today but rare then) tracking a man going into the inner workings of a giant clock, then we zoom from the inside of the clock top the outside, then focusing on the time, zoom back three days and across the… Continue reading The Big Clock (1948)
Betty Boop’s Hallowe’en Party (1933)
Underaware I really like some of these Betty Boop cartoons. Many of the early ones deal with the overlap of evil, sex and hallucinogens, often mixed with jazz and Black men. This is one of the tamer ones in terms of the evil tone: she’s in control where often she isn’t. But it is worth… Continue reading Betty Boop’s Hallowe’en Party (1933)
No Bears (2022)
Religions All religion is about sex, all tribalisms about religion, and all film about tribalism. This is the form of how I approach things these days, with three layers of introspective epiphany, and a token from the film for each layer. In this case, I thought to share it as a self-referential film comment, meaning… Continue reading No Bears (2022)
Being Julia (2004)
Unaware This is a well made movie. Such things are rare, and when they come around, we celebrate them. Many extend this celebration to Bening, who is similarly competent. But something is ajar. The project is based on a familiar device: we see a film (really a play) which has a character who is an… Continue reading Being Julia (2004)
Tango (1998)
Making Film Dance I love this stuff. This film has weaknesses, but the ambition is so grand one can forgive, at least in deciding to watch. The general problem is mixing film and dance. Rarely, oh so rarely is it done well. The stock choices are two: either film a dance more or less as… Continue reading Tango (1998)
Begotten (1989)
Anal Ears This film is about its voyage into our minds, and it gets more competent as the steps get closer to us. The least artful element is the actual acting and shooting. The selection and processing of images is very nice. In fact, I used this (extremely slowed down) as the background of my… Continue reading Begotten (1989)
Beginner’s Luck (1935)
Inverted Show This is my favourite Our Gang short. It has everything that I recall fondly: rowdy fellowship and kids conspiring against adults resulting in innocent mischief. Although the series had already been around a dozen years, for me the master cast was the Spanky, Buckwheat, Alfalfa period. This was the first with them together.… Continue reading Beginner’s Luck (1935)
Bee Season (2005)
Letters to God I am coming to believe that no effective movie can be deeply spiritual. We know the problem with cinematic love: how do you show it? Sex? Placed in the midst of larger flows like war? Mystical forces are similar, internal. A bond, a sway that cannot be seen by definition, cannot be… Continue reading Bee Season (2005)
Prometheus (2012)
Snowcrash It seems all the writing about this film is about the story, how it doesn’t hold your hand and what religious metaphors are exploited. Well, that matters a bit because it elevates the thing out of the ordinary package. But a much more interesting way to think of this film is in terms of… Continue reading Prometheus (2012)