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Three Colors: Red (1994)
Filmmaker(s): Krzysztof Kieślowski

Part-time model Valentine unexpectedly befriends a retired judge after she runs over his dog. At first, the grumpy man shows no concern about the dog, and Valentine decides to keep it. But the two form a bond when she returns to his house and catches him listening to his neighbors’ phone calls.

The Folded Present addition - or perhaps in spite of - what you have heard, this trilogy is organised around the three main choices one can take in narrative stance. ‘Blue’ was about the past, ‘White' about the ‘conditional' future(s) and this one about...


Published December 4, 2024
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The French Lieutenant’s Woman (1981)
She was lost from the moment she saw him.
Filmmaker(s): Karel Reisz

In this story-within-a-story, Anna is an actress starring opposite Mike in a period piece about the forbidden love between their respective characters, Sarah and Charles. Both actors are involved in serious relationships, but the passionate nature of the script leads to an off-camera love affair as well. While attempting to maintain their composure and professionalism, Anna and Mike struggle to come to terms with their infidelity.

Narrative Folding environments, two of the century's greatest film actors, one of the half-dozen or so best modern playwrights and Fowles' experiment in parallel narratives. Fowles' work was pale compared to Nabokov's "Pale Fire," for instance in building a convoluted, layered narrative, but is comparable...


Published December 9, 2024
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Last Year at Marienbad (1961)
Extraordinary! Hypnotic! Beautiful! Masterful!
Filmmaker(s): Alain Resnais

In a strange and isolated chateau, a man becomes acquainted with a woman and insists that they have met before.

Annotated Image -- Constructed Memory of the most influential films ever made, and must be seen on that basis. You create your own life by collecting Borgean memories and adding pieces from this film will greatly enrich your viewing of later, safer films along the...


Published December 9, 2024
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My Brilliant Career (1979)
Filmmaker(s): Gillian Armstrong

A young woman who is determined to maintain her independence finds herself at odds with her family who wants her to tame her wild side and get married.

Transucent Space, Layered Face a life in film brings an experience like this. Its oddly tense in some dimensions and relaxed in others and the balance between the two seems distinctly Australian. I hadn't seen this when it was new, and I'm glad. Seeing a...


Published December 9, 2024
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Annie Hall (1977)
A nervous romance.
Filmmaker(s): Woody Allen

New York comedian Alvy Singer falls in love with the ditsy Annie Hall.

The Story about the Story is an intelligent man who worries about the issues of film-making. The primary concern, the very first problem, is always to decide what the relationships are among the audience, the camera, the narrator if any, and the characters. Woody was on...


Published December 9, 2024
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City Lights (1931)
True Blind Love
Filmmaker(s): Charlie Chaplin

A tramp falls in love with a beautiful blind flower girl. His on-and-off friendship with a wealthy man allows him to be the girl's benefactor and suitor.

Seeing and Being Seen me, this film falls not into the category of favourite films (I'm a Marx brothers kind of guy) but earns instead a place on a very short list of most important movies. That's because it has two features that I truly appreciate. It...


Published December 11, 2024
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Vertigo (1958)
Alfred Hitchcock engulfs you in a whirlpool of terror and tension!
Filmmaker(s): Alfred Hitchcock

A retired San Francisco detective suffering from acrophobia investigates the strange activities of an old friend's wife, all the while becoming dangerously obsessed with her.

Two Dizzy really has to separate the idea of this film from its execution. I think the idea is terrific and the execution wobbly at least by today's standards. First, the story, which is clever and self-referentially about the making of itself. Initially, we are shown the...


Published December 11, 2024
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Sullivan’s Travels (1941)
Veronica Lake’s on the Take
Filmmaker(s): Preston Sturges

Successful movie director John L. Sullivan, convinced he won't be able to film his ambitious masterpiece until he has suffered, dons a hobo disguise and sets off on a journey, aiming to "know trouble" first-hand. When all he finds is a train ride back to Hollywood and a beautiful blonde companion, he redoubles his efforts, managing to land himself in more trouble than he bargained for when he loses his memory and ends up a prisoner on a chain gang.

A Turning Point about Turning are films that do a good job occupying your time and those that enrich your life. My comments here are part of an enterprise to build a fully enriched visual imagination. But there is a third category, it seems: films...


Published December 11, 2024
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The Red Shoes (1948)
Dance she did, and dance she must - between her two loves

In this classic drama, Vicky Page is an aspiring ballerina torn between her dedication to dance and her desire to love. While her imperious instructor, Boris Lermontov, urges to her to forget anything but ballet, Vicky begins to fall for the charming young composer Julian Craster. Eventually Vicky, under great emotional stress, must choose to pursue either her art or her romance, a decision that carries serious consequences.

No Constraints, Never Stops the past two years, I've been working to see and understand what I think important in film. My primary value is in the exploration of self-referential storytelling. That's where the story in the film is about the story of the film....


Published December 11, 2024
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Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
What a Glorious Feeling!
Filmmaker(s): Gene Kelly, Stanley Donen

In 1927 Hollywood, a silent film production company and cast make a difficult transition to sound.

Folded Eye Jazz is a nearly perfect film from my perspective: It feels naturally improvised. Its episodes are radically discontinuous, but feel like fluid transitions. It has some great numbers, including the incomparable Cyd Charisse. But what really puts this on my `must see' list is...


Published December 11, 2024
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