Luca Guadagnino, 2009.
On Wikipedia: I Am Love
(LMS, 10/2/2020)
Showing posts with label WCS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label WCS. Show all posts
Monday, April 13, 2020
Sunday, April 12, 2020
Friday, April 3, 2020
A note on Kurosawa
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| Director Akira Kurosawa on the set with actor Toshiro Mifune. |
To date on the Scarry Film Club, it looks like the single director named most often (and by the greatest number of contributors) is Akira Kurosawa.
So far we have . . .
JTS3: Ikiru (To Live)
WCS: Ran
JTS: Rashomon
I've also recently written posts on my Scarry Thoughts blog about two other Kurosawa films:
Film for the Age of COVID: "Red Beard" by Kurosawa
FILM ABOUT HIROSHIMA: Kurosawa's "I Live in Fear" (Nuclear Danger: Three Ways of Talking About the Unmentionable)
This year is the centenary of the birth of the great actor in so many of Kurosawa's films, Toshiro Mifune. The best place to watch many Kurosawa/Mifune collaborations in one place is on the Criterion Channel.
Friday, March 27, 2020
On the Waterfront
Elia Kazan, 1954.
On Wikipedia: On the Waterfront
(WCS, 3/26/2020)
The film is set in Hoboken, NJ, across the Hudson River from Manhattan.
The map below shows where JTS3 and VLJ lived c. 1982-1983 (A). On our daily walks to and from the train station, we would through the places where the film is set -- including "Father Barry's" church (Our Lady of Grace) and the park fronting it (B), which is the setting of Terry and Edie's conversation in the film. The park overlooking the Hudson River where Terry and Edie end their talk (C) is also a place we frequently walked.
By the way, it wasn't just people who lived in Hoboken that have a soft spot for the place. Everyone from NJ communities like Chatham passed through the Erie Lackawanna train station in Hoboken (see train yard at the bottom of the map), before transferring to the PATH trains to go under the river to Manhattan. Invariably we would glance wistfully at the big neon sign of the Clam Broth House (D), inwardly intoning, "Next time . . . . " (JTS3, 4/6/2020)
Thursday, March 26, 2020
Mary Poppins
Robert Stevenson (Disney), 1964.
On Wikipedia: Mary Poppins
(WCS, 3/26/2020)
See also ............. Saving Mr. Banks
Wednesday, March 25, 2020
The Castle of Cagliostro
Hayao Miyazaki, 1979.
In this masterpiece from Hayao Miyazaki, arch-criminal Lupin III (the ostensible grandson of Leblanc’s Arsène Lupin, and anti-hero of a manga and television franchise since 1967) arrives in Cagliostro, a bucolic European micro-nation with a shadowy past, just as the preparations for the marriage of Count Cagliostro to his distant cousin Clarice seem poised to reunite the rival branches of the Cagliostro family. Will this give the Count absolute control over the legendary treasure of the Cagliostro family? Why is Lupin interfering? Will Interpol’s Inspector Zenagata, hot on Lupin’s trail, finally be able to catch him? A thrilling and visually beautiful adventure story in the venerable tradition of Dumas and Stevenson. (For those interested in the world of anime, all of Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli films are excellent: My Neighbor Totoro, Howl’s Moving Castle, Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke are all classics in their own right, and have the added advantage of being fun for all ages.)
On Wikipedia: The Castle of Cagliostro
(JTS, 3/24/2020)
Apocalypse Now
Francis Ford Coppola, 1979.
On Wikipedia: Apocalypse Now
(JTS, 3/24/2020)
[I have a memory of watching this with JTS and WCS at the home of PSJ, together with a "The Making of . . . " documentary called "Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse" (JTS3, 3/26/2020)]
Tuesday, March 24, 2020
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Michel Gondry, 2004.
On Wikipedia: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
On Kanopy: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
(ASHS, 2/25/2020)
Friday, February 28, 2020
All That Jazz
Bob Fosse, 1979.
On Wikipedia: All That Jazz
Based on the career and lifestyle of Fosse, breakthrough choreographer of Cabaret, Pippin, Chicago, and many more.
I saw this when it first came out, at the end of my college years. It showed me one version of what "success" might look like for a man -- simultaneously seductive and terrifying.
One wry and unforgettable thread in the film is that among the protagonist's many projects, one is a documentary of a stand-up comic who uses Kübler-Ross' five stages of grief (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance) as material. (Guess where this is going.)
(JTS3, 2/28/2020)
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