Tag Archives: film
Peeping Tom & The Male Gaze
Peeping Tom (1960) dir. Michael Powell Peeping Tom is about Mark Lewis, a focus puller for a movie production crew. He constantly carries a camera with him, and uses a hidden dagger in the tripod’s leg to stab women’s throats … Continue reading
Modern and Postmodern Jesus Films
The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964) dir. Pier Paolo Pasolini “Could these also be reasons why God has given us two creation stories and four versions of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus?” - Merold Westphal Pasolini, a dedicated Marxist, … Continue reading
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972) dir. Luis Buñuel The device of The Discreet Charm is the mirror of the one Buñuel used in The Exterminating Angel. In Angel, the group of aristocrats gather to dine, but they cannot leave. … Continue reading
Godard’s Musical Comedy
Une femme est une femme (A Woman Is a Woman) (1961) – Jean-Luc Godard A Woman Is a Woman was Godard’s second released film, from 1961. This is back with young, playful, happy Godard; decades before the grumpy, mean, ole crotchety Godard … Continue reading
The Fly
The Fly (1986) dir. David Cronenberg Like many of the best horror films, The Fly builds slowly. Not much happens during the first half hour. Boy meets girl, they awkwardly flirt, and we check the back of the DVD case … Continue reading
Death in Venice
Death in Venice (1971) dir. Luchino Visconti Luchino Visconti was an Italian communist who started his career as a pioneer of neorealism. La terra trema follows the story of a working class fishing village on the Sicilian coast. It is … Continue reading
Film Canon’s Boomer Bias
A Hard Day’s Night (1964) dir. Richard Lester A Hard Day’s Night made me like the Beatles less. They come across as asshole who don’t like their fans, don’t like their jobs and act like 14-year-olds at age 24. The … Continue reading
Heaven Can Wait (1943)
Heaven Can Wait (1943) dir. Ernst Lubitsch Don Ameche goes to Hell. Or, at least he thinks he does. Ameche plays Henry van Cleve, who assures the devil that he has lived a life of sin, and can’t imagine being … Continue reading
Cul-de-sac (1966)
Cul-de-sac (1966) dir. Roman Polanski I feel a bit out of my depth trying to evaluate Cul-de-sac, because a) I’ve never seen a production of absurdist theater and b) I didn’t enjoy Cul-de-sac very much at all, aside from Donald … Continue reading
