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Stand by Me (1986)
For some, it's the last real taste of innocence, and the first real taste of life.
Filmmaker(s): Rob Reiner

After learning that a boy their age has been accidentally killed near their rural homes, four Oregon boys decide to go see the body. On the way, Gordie, Vern, Chris and Teddy encounter a mean junk man and a marsh full of leeches, as they also learn more about one another and their very different home lives. Just a lark at first, the boys' adventure evolves into a defining event in their lives.

What Happened to Lardass? first duty of a filmmaker is to worry about how to transport the viewer into the special world they have in mind. The hard way to do this is by devising a very strong narrative. Expert filmmakers then worry about the...


Published January 27, 2025
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Darkest Hour (2017)
Never never never surrender
Filmmaker(s): Joe Wright

In May 1940, the fate of World War II hangs on Winston Churchill, who must decide whether to negotiate with Adolf Hitler or fight on knowing that it could mean the end of the British Empire.

Tunnels, Crossings a scene in this, where Churchill takes ‘the tube’ so that he can meet the citizens. It is the turning point in this story where he is emboldened to fight the Germans agains the odds. It is — if to be lived —...


Published January 29, 2025
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No Bears (2022)
Filmmaker(s): Jafar Panahi

Iranian director Jafar Panahi, who has been barred from leaving the country, arrives at a village on the Iran-Turkey border to supervise a film based on a real-life couple seeking passports to Europe being shot in Turkey, but both his stay and the production run into trouble.

Religions 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...


Published July 14, 2023
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Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (2021)
Everybody loves Marcel.
Filmmaker(s): Dean Fleischer Camp

Marcel is an adorable one-inch-tall shell who ekes out a colorful existence with his grandmother Connie and their pet lint, Alan. Once part of a sprawling community of shells, they now live alone as the sole survivors of a mysterious tragedy. When a documentarian discovers them amongst the clutter of his Airbnb, his resulting short film brings Marcel millions of passionate fans, as well as unprecedented dangers and a new hope at finding his long-lost family.

Self with Shoes On I understand it, this was conceived in the breakup of a marriage. The voice and most of the script is by the disappointed wife, and the surrounding framing by the presumably inadequate husband. The actual events had some videos posted to YouTube,...


Published July 14, 2023
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All the King’s Men (2006)
Time brings all things to light.
Filmmaker(s): Steven Zaillian

The story of an idealist's rise to power in the world of Louisiana politics and the corruption that leads to his ultimate downfall. Based on the 1946 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel written by Robert Penn Warren, loosely based on the story of real-life politician Huey Long.

Lucy in the Sky critics hated it. The public stayed home. But I liked this. A lot. It is cinematic. Powerful cinema. And I am telling you I liked this with a bit of surprise on my part. That's because it has two actors who often...


Published March 8, 2023
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A Complete Unknown (2024)
The ballad of a true original.
Filmmaker(s): James Mangold

New York, early 1960s. Against the backdrop of a vibrant music scene and tumultuous cultural upheaval, an enigmatic 19-year-old from Minnesota arrives in the West Village with his guitar and revolutionary talent, destined to change the course of American music.

Fragrant Mustard Carnaval was famous in his early years for not just serially adopting a persona, but pulling the whole environment including us into that construction. In the period of the movie he made up a Woody Guthrie past, with hobo and Carnaval, sometimes circus....


Published February 19, 2025
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Miss Julie (1999)
Worlds apart... bound by desire.
Filmmaker(s): Mike Figgis

A footman seduces a count's daughter. Adaptation of August Strindberg's famous play.

A Man and his Mistress what love does, when yearning crosses boundaries and makes someone see another as better than they really are. Here, it ends in suicide. I'm talking about Mike Figgis' view of girlfriend Saffron. A reliably trenchant play: a competent footman; a very...


Published February 26, 2025
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The Secret of House No. 5 (1912)
Filmmaker(s): Kai Hansen

Choose your own Revolution the basic info first. This is the first 15 minutes of a silent film without inter-titles that we are told is both a vampire story and a mystery. The people appear and act as any actors would representing the upper class...


Published March 2, 2025
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Taboo (1999)
How am I insane?
Filmmaker(s): Nagisa Ōshima

Set during Japan's Shogun era, this film looks at life in a samurai compound where young warriors are trained in swordfighting. A number of interpersonal conflicts are brewing in the training room, all centering around a handsome young samurai named Sozaburo Kano. The school's stern master can choose to intervene, or to let Kano decide his own path.

Beautiful Face of the Senses" was an insidiously effective film: it tricked us into an obsession over sex with its frank and open explicitness. Thus, we became part of the story about sexual obsession. This does something similar, in a masterpiece of sorts in audience manipulation....


Published March 8, 2025
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In the Realm of the Senses (1976)
Never before had a man and a woman loved each other so intensely.
Filmmaker(s): Nagisa Ōshima

A passionate telling of the story of Sada Abe, a woman whose affair with her master led to an obsessive and ultimately destructive sexual relationship.

Pudendal Space Japanese notion of space is highly developed: abstract but visceral, refined but applicable to a daily, graceful life. That notion, and the philosophy of beauty through balance ('katachi') is what makes the Japanese sense of architecture worth incorporating into one's life. Many good...


Published March 8, 2025
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