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La Jetée (1962)
A man's obsession with an image of his past.
Filmmaker(s): Chris Marker

A man is sent back and forth and in and out of time in an experiment that attempts to unravel the fate and the solution to the problems of a post-apocalyptic world during the aftermath of WW3. The experiment results in him getting caught up in a perpetual reminiscence of past events that are recreated on an airport’s viewing pier.

Thirteen Monkeys wish I had seen this before "Twelve Monkeys." Except for "Fear and Loathing," Gilliam is artless (but reflexive). This is much more clever in how its manner (single images) reflects its story (how registration of images in the memory can fold time). Its a...


Published September 14, 2025
| Categorised as Fours, IMDB Comments |
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Songs from the Second Floor (2000)
Filmmaker(s): Roy Andersson

A monumental traffic jam serves as the backdrop for the lives of the inhabitants of a Swedish city.

Cartoonish this is not cartoonish as the term is commonly used to mean simplified or childish. Instead, I mean it as stained glass artists did to imply the evocation of something by merely providing the outline. Such cartoons were considered magical, giving meaning to something not...


Published June 17, 2025
| Categorised as IMDB Comments, Twos |
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Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
Something wicked this way comes.
Filmmaker(s): Alfonso Cuarón

Year three at Hogwarts means new fun and challenges as Harry learns the delicate art of approaching a Hippogriff, transforming shape-shifting Boggarts into hilarity and even turning back time. But the term also brings danger: soul-sucking Dementors hover over the school, an ally of the accursed He-Who-Cannot-Be-Named lurks within the castle walls, and fearsome wizard Sirius Black escapes Azkaban. And Harry will confront them all.

Spaniard in the Works franchise is being managed extremely well, better than any other. The `Lord of the Rings' films were all of a single whole, while these Harry Potter movies are each cognisant of what went before, changing and maturing just as would an...


Published March 7, 2025
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The Old Man of the Mountain (1933)
Filmmaker(s): Dave Fleischer

Betty Boop goes to see the fearsome Old Man of the Mountain for herself; he sings the title song and a duet with Betty.

Spooky Black Magic music videos derive from this little masterpiece. It had an earlier incarnation in 'Minnie the Moocher' where Betty goes to a subterranean hell, enticed by the devil's music. While there, she encounters demons with whom she 'dances.' In both of these, the music...


Published December 11, 2024
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The Bishop Murder Case (1929)
ALL-TALKING!...ALL-THRILLS!
Filmmaker(s): Nick Grindé, David Burton

The murders start with the body of Robin. He is found with a arrow through the heart, but Vance deduces that the body was placed and not found where he was killed. The note found dealing with the murder was part of a nursery rhyme and signed by 'Bishop'. The only witness may have been Mrs. Drukker and Adolph, but they are not talking. As the murders progress, each one is accompanied by a nursery rhyme. It is up to Philo Vance to unravel the clues and unmask the identity of the murderer 'Bishop'.

Struggles With Science today are a large part of how we define ourselves. But many of the structural elements of today's films are a result of punctuated evolution, times where decisions were made. These were fast and permanent. I recommend this film not for its...


Published December 11, 2024
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Danse serpentine (1897)
Filmmaker(s): Louis Lumière

Angelic and demonic serpentine dance from dawn of cinema. Hand-colored frame by frame. Lumière no. 765 or 765.1 (colorized, different dancer?).

Fireworks comment was made on a collection before IMDB broke out each film as a separate record.) This collection has provided some of the deepest cinematic journeys I have had. And to think: these are over a century old, are less than a minute each and...


Published December 10, 2024
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Three Colors: White (1994)
Filmmaker(s): Krzysztof Kieślowski

Polish immigrant Karol Karol finds himself out of a marriage, a job and a country when his French wife, Dominique, divorces him after six months due to his impotence. Forced to leave France after losing the business they jointly owned, Karol enlists fellow Polish expatriate Mikołaj to smuggle him back to their homeland.

Parallel Conditionals trilogy is usually explained, even by him, in trivial terms, this being the "equality" segment. But this is an intelligent filmmaker, one of the type who actually thinks about the narrative stance of his projects. In this case, we have "Blue" which follows...


Published December 4, 2024
| Categorised as IMDB Comments, Threes |
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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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Tanner on Tanner (2004)
Off the record, on camera.
Filmmaker(s): Andrew Blake

Sixteen years ago, Jack Tanner's bid for the White House ended at the 1988 Democratic convention. Now the former congressman is the subject of a documentary film directed by his daughter Alex focusing on the toll paid by failed contenders.

Woven Folds, Flattened Levels keep my own list of films worth watching and from that I draw a smaller list of "number fours," films that everyone should see before they die. The rules of this short list provide for only two films from any year...


Published December 2, 2024
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Body of Evidence (1993)
An act of love, or an act of murder?
Filmmaker(s): Uli Edel

When an elderly millionaire is found dead with cocaine in his system, his will leaves $8 million to Rebecca Carlson, who was having an affair with him. District attorney Robert Garrett decides to prosecute Rebecca, arguing that she deliberately engaged in wild sex with the old man to overexcite him and lead to his premature death. Defense attorney Frank Dulaney defends Rebecca in court while getting sucked into a dangerous affair with her.

Whipped often run across movies where the idea of the thing is much richer than the thing itself. In this case, the idea starts with that narrative battleground, the trial. Trial movies are cool, the best solution to the untrusted narrator problem. In this case,...


Published November 23, 2024
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