The Lincoln Lawyer (2011)
This case is a dangerous game of life and death.
Filmmaker(s): Brad Furman
A lawyer conducts business from the back of his Lincoln town car while representing a high-profile client in Beverly Hills.
127 Hours (2010)
There is no force more powerful than the will to live.
Filmmaker(s): Danny Boyle
The true story of mountain climber Aron Ralston's remarkable adventure to save himself after a fallen boulder crashes on his arm and traps him in an isolated canyon in Utah.
16 Feb 127 Hours (2010)
The Hand Left in the Thing There are so many filmmakers out there that I am still approaching many films the way they were intended to be approached: as self-contained works of art (or craft). But there are some filmmakers I know well enough to...
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.
16 Feb The Brothers Bloom (2008)
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...
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.
16 Feb The Secret Life of Words (2005)
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...
The Passenger (1975)
I used to be somebody else...but I traded him in.
Filmmaker(s): Michelangelo Antonioni
David Locke is a world-weary American journalist who has been sent to cover a conflict in northern Africa, but he makes little progress with the story. When he discovers the body of a stranger who looks similar to him, Locke assumes the dead man's identity. However, he soon finds out that the man was an arms dealer, leading Locke into dangerous situations. Aided by a beautiful woman, Locke attempts to avoid both the police and criminals out to get him.
16 Feb The Passenger (1975)
Dying Authentically, Inside Out I watched this again because of the recent loss of Maria Schneider. She was at times important to some influential film experiences by actively supporting passivity, and thus was a sort of transition archetype. And it reminded me once again of...
Me and Orson Welles (2008)
All's Fair in love and Theater.
Filmmaker(s): Richard Linklater
New York, 1937. A teenager hired to star in Orson Welles' production of Julius Caesar becomes attracted to a career-driven production assistant.
16 Feb Me and Orson Welles (2008)
F is for Fake Okay, start with one of the most interesting and influential characters in film. Make a film that has him in it. Take one of the most interesting and theatrical productions in theatre, present it is as film and make the same...
Mother (2009)
She'll stop at nothing.
Filmmaker(s): Bong Joon-ho
A mother lives quietly with her son. One day, a girl is brutally killed, and the boy is charged with the murder. Now, it's his mother's mission to prove him innocent.
15 Feb Mother (2009)
Torque Sheer Most storytellers want to take you somewhere into the soul, but all they have to work with is the externalities, the actions of humans. You don’t have many strategies to work with. A common one is to place the examined soul in the...
Cha no aji (2004)
We were all watching the sunset, at the edge of the universe.
Filmmaker(s): Katsuhito Ishii
A spell of time in the life of a family in rural Tochigi prefecture. Yoshiko is not an ordinary housewife, instead working on an animated film project. Uncle Ayano, a successful music producer, is looking to get his head together after living in Tokyo. Meanwhile, Sachiko is concerned with why she seems to be followed by a giant version of herself. As the lazy days pass by, each member of the family is followed in a series of episodic vignettes.
15 Feb Cha no aji (2004)
Running Toward Touch It must be me. It seems that only Japanese filmmakers are able to find that light world where everything seems incidental, but every motion has cosmic force. So very many of these succeed. And again, we have a simple family who we...
The Judge (1949)
Strangest Story in the Annals of Modern Crime! They killed in different ways!
Filmmaker(s): Elmer Clifton
A study of an amoral and sleazy defense lawyer who suddenly tries to "go straight" when he finds out that his tart wife is cheating on him; as well as the similarities he has in life with one of his clients.
14 Feb The Judge (1949)
See Evil, Do Ambitious Evil I usually seek out detective movies from the early 30s because this is before the film narrative found short cuts and experimentation was the norm. After ‘Kane,‘ the narrative stance changed, and while novel forms got more radical, they are...
The Girlfriend Experience (2009)
See it with someone you ****
Filmmaker(s): Steven Soderbergh
Chelsea is an in-demand call girl whose $2,000 an hour price tag allows her to live in New York's lap of luxury. Besides her beauty and sexual skill, Chelsea offers her clients companionship and conversation, or, as she dubs it, "the girlfriend experience." With her successful business and a devoted, live-in boyfriend, Chelsea thinks she has it made... until a new client rocks her world.
