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Good Will Hunting (1997)
Some people can never believe in themselves, until someone believes in them.
Filmmaker(s): Gus Van Sant

When professors discover that an aimless janitor is also a math genius, a therapist helps the young man confront the demons that are holding him back.

Snark Hunting I admire films that shoot high and miss. But it really rankles me when a film pretends to shoot high, avoids doing so because of lack of talent, and lies to us in the process. There's great drama in the mere existence of an idiot...


Published May 13, 2022
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Crash (1996)
Shocking. Powerful. Scandalous. Provocative. Erotic. Brilliant.
Filmmaker(s): David Cronenberg

After getting into a serious car accident, a TV director discovers an underground sub-culture of scarred, omnisexual car-crash victims who use car accidents and the raw sexual energy they produce to try to rejuvenate his sex life with his wife.

Not Sufficiently Extreme ‘Fight Club’ meets ‘Zed and Two Noughts’ meets ‘Bladerunner’ meets ‘Fearless’ meets ‘Leaving Las Vegas.’ I celebrate the intelligent vision of this film. But ‘Fight Club’ wove a more engaging neurosis; ‘Zed’ had a stronger disturbing vision; ‘Bladerunner’ a more thorough sense of programmed...


Published May 13, 2022
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Lovers of the Arctic Circle (1998)
Destiny cannot be denied.
Filmmaker(s): Julio Medem

Otto and Ana are kids when they meet each other. Their names are palindromes. They meet by chance, people are related by chance. A story of circular lives, with circular names, and a circular place where the day never ends in the midnight sun. There are things that never end, and Love is one of them.

Geometric Cosmologies This is so beautiful, it hurts. Tender. It is a lacy filigree in what it is, essentially a story about longing, urges and space. But that filigree extends to the nature of the space that surrounds the story on screen. And the motion of weaving...


Published May 13, 2022
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To Sleep So As to Dream (1986)
Filmmaker(s): Kaizo Hayashi

An aging silent film actress hires a private eye and his wacky but helpful assistant to track down her missing daughter, Bellflower. The two follow a succession of bizarre, obscure clues, until they track down the location of the kidnappers and the daughter.

Mysterious Silences As my readers know, I study folding in film; when films have parallel positions for the viewer as supported by the construction of the thing. Usually, this is a fluid contract between filmmaker and viewer that requires deeper engagement. I like these in part because...


Published May 13, 2022
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Aunt Peg’s Fulfilment (1981)
Shocking...Daring...Erotic
Filmmaker(s): Anthony Spinelli

The continuing lustful sexual adventures of Hollywood producer Aunt Peg as she tries to continue with financing her latest movie project.

Unfulfilling Classic porn, the kind celebrated in “Boogie Nights”, cannot be avoided if you are serious about studying film. An amazing number of these, mostly from the 70s, have pretty cleverly engineered contexts. It is completely different than the porn of today, where there is no attempt...


Published May 13, 2022
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War Games (1983)
Is it a game, or is it real?
Filmmaker(s): John Badham

High School student David Lightman has a talent for hacking. But while trying to hack into a computer system to play unreleased video games, he unwittingly taps into the Defense Department's war computer and initiates a confrontation of global proportions. Together with his girlfriend and a wizardly computer genius, David must race against time to outwit his opponent and prevent a nuclear Armageddon.

Winken and Blinken There is less reason to see this now than when it was made, except for the lesson that is more clear here than in current filmdom: how do you cinematically convey concepts that don’t fit our fairly limited vocabulary? The lesson here is stark,...


Published May 13, 2022
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Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972)
A breathtaking journey into the heart of darkness.
Filmmaker(s): Werner Herzog

A few decades after the destruction of the Inca Empire, a Spanish expedition led by the infamous Aguirre leaves the mountains of Peru and goes down the Amazon River in search of the lost city of El Dorado. When great difficulties arise, Aguirre’s men start to wonder whether their quest will lead them to prosperity or certain death.

The Women This is an amazing experience, becoming more so the further we get from it. When I see “Apocalypse Now, or even “Mosquito Coast” I see this. In fact whenever I see both an actor and a director/writer risking all in a coordinated way, I...


Published May 13, 2022
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The Hottest Show in Town (1974)

A circus on the brink of bankruptcy comes up with a new show mixing traditional circus acts with sex.

Seurat meets Welles There are a few things everyone should do, and one of them is to visit the Musee d'Orsay in Paris. But first, I see I am the initial commenter on this little film. So let me describe it because you are unlikely to find...


Published May 13, 2022
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Heart of Glass (1979)
Filmmaker(s): Werner Herzog

A small Bavarian village is renowned for its "Ruby Glass" glass blowing works. When the foreman of the works dies suddenly without revealing the secret of the Ruby Glass, the town slides into a deep depression, and the owner of the glassworks becomes obssessed with the lost secret.

The Heart of the Film Soldier Some films come wrapped in their own skins — distinct beings, which can be taken as they are. But many films come with connections to their context, usually in the distraction of seeing a familiar actor. Cinephiles follow certain filmmakers and develop...


Published May 13, 2022
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The Sinister Monk (1965)
Filmmaker(s): Harald Reinl

A hooded serial killer finds a novel way to murder his victims--he lashes them to death with a whip. The police try to track him down before any more murders occur.

4 Conspiracies In the heyday of mystery writing, we had Sayers, Christie, Chesterton and a dozen others who were artists of narrative curves. The game was to create a world, but us in it and only later let us know how wrong we were. And then we...


Published May 13, 2022
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