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The Thin Red Line (1998)
Every man fights his own war.
Filmmaker(s): Terrence Malick

The story of a group of men, an Army Rifle company called C-for-Charlie, who change, suffer, and ultimately make essential discoveries about themselves during the fierce World War II battle of Guadalcanal. It follows their journey, from the surprise of an unopposed landing, through the bloody and exhausting battles that follow, to the ultimate departure of those who survived.

Wittgenstein's Red Line of Abstraction met Malick in 68-69 at MIT where I was taking a degree in philosophy. MIT had the decade before gone through a soul-searching re-evaluation of the type of scientist it was producing, and concluded that they could do much better...


Published December 4, 2024
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Sweet and Lowdown (1999)
Filmmaker(s): Woody Allen

In the 1930s, jazz guitarist Emmet Ray idolizes Django Reinhardt, faces gangsters and falls in love with a mute woman.

Sweet is uneven to say the least. His most celebrated films strike me as failures by overreaching. But here the aspirations are slight and the result is rather winning. All of Woody's pictures are self-referential in the sense that they are about him, his foibles and...


Published December 4, 2024
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Marcel Proust’s Time Regained (1999)
Filmmaker(s): Raúl Ruiz

In early 1920s France, an author, lying on his deathbed, looks at various photographs and is flooded with memories of the people and events that have shaped his life.

Recognition, Invention, Counter-regret is one of the most ambitious film projects I have seen, risky and successful. It is not successful Proust in my opinion, something different but similar. Proust used the magic of words to weave a life out of remembered fragments. That magic depends...


Published December 4, 2024
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The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (2023)
Filmmaker(s): Wes Anderson

A rich man learns about a guru who can see without using his eyes. He sets out to master the skill in order to cheat at gambling.

Shifting of Equalities have all watched as Wes moved more and more toward where he finds his soul as a storyteller — a constant movement toward what we have here, powerful enough to earn a place on my list of ‘fours’. Depending on when you...


Published December 3, 2024
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In the Mood for Love (2000)
Feel the heat, keep the feeling burning, let the sensation explode.
Filmmaker(s): Wong Kar-wai

In Hong Kong of 1962, Mrs. Chan and Mr. Chow, a journalist, move into neighbouring apartments on the same day. Their encounters are formal and polite—until a discovery about their respective spouses creates an intimate bond between them.

Repetition, Secrets, Space with your typical Hong Kong Kung Fu movie. A normal director will simply film that. But not this guy. What drives kung fu movies is not the bozos doing the fighting, but the masters behind them who use them as surrogates. But then,...


Published December 2, 2024
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Talk to Her (2002)
Filmmaker(s): Pedro Almodóvar

Two men share an odd friendship while they care for two women who are both in deep comas.

The Manifold Fluidity of the Dance a film's reason for being is to build layers, the opening shot must be a promise, an anchor in the shifting seas of perspective and a springboard for the narrative. In twenty seconds, I knew that this time Almodovar...


Published December 2, 2024
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Heaven (2002)
When you take justice into your own hands, what are the consequences?
Filmmaker(s): Tom Tykwer

Cate Blanchett stars as Philippa, a British teacher living in Turin, Italy, who has seen many friends, including her husband, fall victim to drug overdoses. Philippa has repeatedly contacted the police with information about Turin's biggest drug dealer but, complicit in his dealings, they have completely ignored her. So Philippa decides to dole out her own form of justice with a homemade bomb -- setting her off on a journey from young widow to fugitive on the run.

UnderItalian movies are about other movies, never life. Kieslowski made a career out of making films that take a national filmmaking style and twisting them to new purposes, letting us know he is doing so in the process. ‘Three Colors' was as much about French filmmaking...


Published December 2, 2024
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The Saddest Music in the World (2003)
"If you're sad, and like beer, I'm your lady."
Filmmaker(s): Guy Maddin

In Depression-era Winnipeg, a legless beer baroness hosts a contest for the saddest music in the world, offering a grand prize of $25,000.

Bone Carpet a film takes time to penetrate. Sometimes the apparently hackneyed becomes profound after handling. It has happened to me, and once it happened to me in front of you. Some time back, I saw this movie. It deviates in several ways. I thought each...


Published December 2, 2024
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Tanner on Tanner (2004)
Off the record, on camera.
Filmmaker(s): Andrew Blake

Sixteen years ago, Jack Tanner's bid for the White House ended at the 1988 Democratic convention. Now the former congressman is the subject of a documentary film directed by his daughter Alex focusing on the toll paid by failed contenders.

Woven Folds, Flattened Levels keep my own list of films worth watching and from that I draw a smaller list of "number fours," films that everyone should see before they die. The rules of this short list provide for only two films from any year...


Published December 2, 2024
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2046 (2004)
Are you still in the mood for love?
Filmmaker(s): Wong Kar-wai

Women enter and exit a science fiction author's life over the course of a few years after the author loses the woman he considers his one true love.

Gloved Hand Welles, Tarkovsky and Kurosawa are the three past masters. Greenaway, Medem and Kar- Wai are the three greatest living filmmakers. All three weave incredibly deep and personal stories which bleed into the act of their creating the film. Each create striking images that...


Published December 2, 2024
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