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malsperanzaAnother weekend wasted.
There aren't any very recent movies on this list--not because I don't like new movies, but because we seem to be in a period that avoids political and social critiques (aside from Michael Moore and D.A. Pennebacker, bless their hearts). The Usual Suspects was the closest I could come, and though I like it (many dishy actors), it didn't really fit.
Obviously, the weekend begins with The Manchurian Candidate. Not just a great movie: a movie for our time, a movie for the election season.
And I'd forgotten how bloody funny it is, too. The Garden Ladies! Angela Lansbury! Lawrence Harvey jumping in the lake in Central Park! The DVD has good commentary by John Frankenheimer and the screenwriter (though they don't explain why the word "No" is written on that door in chalk--one of my favorite meta moments in film). Deeply though I loath Frank Sinatra as a man and a musician, I am grateful to him for getting this movie made.
Now, a good weekend film festival has to define its terms with care. Otherwise, one has no justification for spending countless hours in passive, unproductive gaping. (Though I actually did a lot of work in the studio while watching some of these; and no, I did not watch them all. I also did the laundry, hah.)
So, no general wacky-scary-Stephen King-don't go-through-that-door stuff (Carrie). No mere someone-in-this-movie-is-schizophrenic-and-I-think-it's-the-cameraman gimmicks (Angel Heart). And no dumbo spy thrillers (Three Days of the Condo). Also, no warmed-over Roswell-X-Files crap. Because, folks, life's too short.
Z
Blow-Up
The Conversation
Dr. Strangelove
The Third Man
State of Siege
The Sacrifice (Tarkovsky)
The Vanishing (but see the original Dutch version, not the dorky remake)
The List of Adrian Messenger
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (the original, of course)
The 39 Steps
Rosemary's Baby (yes, I do think this movie is a Great Big Metaphor for the Downfall of Society)
Gaslight
Suspicion
JFK (on the list reluctantly. This movie irritates the hell out of me. Read Don de Lillo's excellent novel Libra instead)
Obivously I could have added a dozen more Hitchcocks, but I don't like most of his movies that much (they have Clever Technique screaming from every gimmicky shot), so I limited myself to two.
Also, I left out Memento, Mulholland Drive, and Fight Club, three films that go nicely together, because they belong in the related Paranoid Schizophrenia Film Festival, along with Angel Heart, Persona, M, and Dr Caligari.
But, mes amis, why is it still so cold out? It is April. It is spring. Someone has bungled. I shall write a firm letter to the Times.
There aren't any very recent movies on this list--not because I don't like new movies, but because we seem to be in a period that avoids political and social critiques (aside from Michael Moore and D.A. Pennebacker, bless their hearts). The Usual Suspects was the closest I could come, and though I like it (many dishy actors), it didn't really fit.
Obviously, the weekend begins with The Manchurian Candidate. Not just a great movie: a movie for our time, a movie for the election season.
And I'd forgotten how bloody funny it is, too. The Garden Ladies! Angela Lansbury! Lawrence Harvey jumping in the lake in Central Park! The DVD has good commentary by John Frankenheimer and the screenwriter (though they don't explain why the word "No" is written on that door in chalk--one of my favorite meta moments in film). Deeply though I loath Frank Sinatra as a man and a musician, I am grateful to him for getting this movie made.
Now, a good weekend film festival has to define its terms with care. Otherwise, one has no justification for spending countless hours in passive, unproductive gaping. (Though I actually did a lot of work in the studio while watching some of these; and no, I did not watch them all. I also did the laundry, hah.)
So, no general wacky-scary-Stephen King-don't go-through-that-door stuff (Carrie). No mere someone-in-this-movie-is-schizophrenic-and-I-think-it's-the-cameraman gimmicks (Angel Heart). And no dumbo spy thrillers (Three Days of the Condo). Also, no warmed-over Roswell-X-Files crap. Because, folks, life's too short.
Z
Blow-Up
The Conversation
Dr. Strangelove
The Third Man
State of Siege
The Sacrifice (Tarkovsky)
The Vanishing (but see the original Dutch version, not the dorky remake)
The List of Adrian Messenger
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (the original, of course)
The 39 Steps
Rosemary's Baby (yes, I do think this movie is a Great Big Metaphor for the Downfall of Society)
Gaslight
Suspicion
JFK (on the list reluctantly. This movie irritates the hell out of me. Read Don de Lillo's excellent novel Libra instead)
Obivously I could have added a dozen more Hitchcocks, but I don't like most of his movies that much (they have Clever Technique screaming from every gimmicky shot), so I limited myself to two.
Also, I left out Memento, Mulholland Drive, and Fight Club, three films that go nicely together, because they belong in the related Paranoid Schizophrenia Film Festival, along with Angel Heart, Persona, M, and Dr Caligari.
But, mes amis, why is it still so cold out? It is April. It is spring. Someone has bungled. I shall write a firm letter to the Times.
