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The Flower of My Secret (1995)
Every woman has a secret...
Filmmaker(s): Pedro Almodóvar

Leo is a middle-aged writer of popular romantic novels who writes under a pseudonym, but despises her own work. At home, her husband, who works overseas, is distant both physically and emotionally. As she reevaluates her life and writing, Leo is led to an unexpected relationship with Angel, a sensitive newspaper editor.

Pedro’s Layered Neuroses I’d travel half a day to see one of his films properly projected. Even though some of his fantasies are hard to connect to, he would never fail to deliver on the cinematic front. Most viewers think the story here too melodramatic...
Published February 23, 2024
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The Girl on the Bridge (1999)
Filmmaker(s): Patrice Leconte

It's night on a Paris bridge. A girl leans over Seine River with tears in her eyes and a violent yearning to drown her sorrows. Out of nowhere someone takes an interest in her. He is Gabor, a knife thrower who needs a human target for his show. The girl, Adele, has never been lucky and nowhere else to go. So she follows him. They travel along the northern bank of the Mediterranean to perform.

On and Off The main character here is played by a young woman who we discover in an extraordinary opening sequence, an interview placed outside of the film proper, where we learn her character and her way of carrying it. This scene is memorable, because...
Published February 22, 2024
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How Do You Know (2010)
How do you know it's love?
Filmmaker(s): James L. Brooks

After being cut from the USA softball team and feeling a bit past her prime, Lisa finds herself evaluating her life and in the middle of a love triangle, as a corporate guy in crisis competes with her current, baseball-playing beau.

Structure, Team Play Some filmmakers you just fall into. The ones I hold most dear are those that are both expert cinematic storytellers and attempt to reshape me. These are rare, but there is a second tier of cinematic storytellers; although they do not work...
Published February 22, 2024
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The Next Three Days (2010)
What if you had 72 hours to save everything you live for?
Filmmaker(s): Paul Haggis

A married couple's life is turned upside down when the wife is accused of murdering her boss. Her husband John would spend the next few years trying to get her released, but there's no evidence that negates the evidence against her. When the strain of being separated from her husband and son gets to her, John decides to find a way to break her out.

Pregnant I don’t like Paul Haggis as a man. His work does nothing for me; I am not altered or improved by experiencing his shapes. But I have to admit that the man knows how to tell a story. He engages, and those working with...
Published February 22, 2024
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Cosi (1996)
When chasing your dreams... it helps to be a little crazy!
Filmmaker(s): Mark Joffe

Lewis, a young amateur theater director, is offered a job with a governmental program for the rehabilitation of mentally ill patients in a Sydney institution. His project is overrun by one of the patients who wants to stage the opera Cosi Fan Tutte by Mozart despite the fact that none of the patients are able to sing and none of them speak Italian. A comedy of errors ensues, but one which unifies the patients and their director in unexpected ways.

Madmen ‘The Ninth Configuration‘ was an interesting film. It was structured around comic madness determined to put on a Shakespearean tragedy. It took risks and was sloppy but it worked because the film itself was mad. The idea surrounded the thing and provided a real...
Published February 19, 2024
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Eat Pray Love (2010)
Let Yourself GO
Filmmaker(s): Ryan Murphy

Liz Gilbert had everything a modern woman is supposed to dream of having – a husband, a house and a successful career – yet like so many others, she found herself lost, confused and searching for what she really wanted in life. Newly divorced and at a crossroads, Gilbert steps out of her comfort zone, risking everything to change her life, embarking on a journey around the world that becomes a quest for self-discovery. In her travels, she discovers the true pleasure of nourishment by eating in Italy, the power of prayer in India and, finally and unexpectedly, the inner peace and balance of true love in Bali.

Selfishness Writing about how bad this movie would be about as boring as the movie. What is so interesting is why. I don’t know the book; I assume it has some engaging qualities for its target audience. But the quality of the book on which...
Published February 19, 2024
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The Woman in Red (1984)
He's head over heels and headed straight for trouble!
Filmmaker(s): Gene Wilder

When a happily married family man, who would never consider an affair, meets a beautiful woman in red, he is totally infatuated and desperate to make her acquaintance. However, as he tries out various schemes to sneak out to meet her, he realizes that adultery is not quite as easy as it looks.

Different Favorite Color Some movies are good, most not. Of the ones that are not, they still can be fun. This project made money when it was new, but is now not only unengaging but repulsive. Why is actually engaging, because it just cannot be...
Published February 16, 2024
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Silk (2007)
Come Back, or I Shall Die...
Filmmaker(s): François Girard

Based on the best-selling novel by Alessandro Baricco, this visually stunning film tells the story of a French trader who finds unexpected love far away from home.

The Folded Letter Gosh, yet another movie with a delicious idea, but mediocre execution. The thing is boring in a pretty way and vaguely calls up romantic notions of singular love. You may not make it until the end, but I urge you to, because...
Published February 16, 2024
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The Brothers Bloom (2008)
They'd never let the truth come between them.
Filmmaker(s): Rian Johnson

The Brothers Bloom are the best con men in the world, swindling millionaires with complex scenarios of lust and intrigue. Now they've decided to take on one last job – showing a beautiful and eccentric heiress the time of her life with a romantic adventure that takes them around the world.

Yes I say, Yes Yes (No) The structure here selects one of the few models we have for dramatizing inner complexities. The grand problem is that people are fascinating, but we need a narrative skeleton to ‘see‘ into them. One choice is to take a...
Published February 16, 2024
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The Secret Life of Words (2005)
Filmmaker(s): Isabel Coixet

A touching story of a deaf girl who is sent to an oil rig to take care of a man who has been blinded in a terrible accident. The girl has a special ability to communicate with the men on board and especially with her patient as they share intimate moments together that will change their lives forever.

Blind Spots, Clarity This is what Cassavedes thinks of as simple and direct theatre, a pipeline to emotions. The idea is to simplify, presumably to purify. We have a remote oil rig with two full characters and a handful of surrounding beings. Our man (played...
Published February 16, 2024
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