I WISH YOU WOULD (Ryland Walker Knight, 2021)
Ryland's latest film reminds me of an unexpected combination of two independent artists with very different approaches to the outside world. O...
2021-03-16 23:53:34 +0000 UTC View Post
msicism posts
True Mothers (Naomi Kawase, 2020)
I know the conventional wisdom on True Mothers is that it's another Kawase dud. But I beg to differ. It's obviously not perfect. It's the most p...
2021-03-16 03:11:06 +0000 UTC View PostNightjohn (Charles Burnett, 1996)
Nightjohn is based on a 1993 book by Gary Paulsen, a popular author of children's fiction. The film adaptation was co-produced by Hallmark and t...
2021-03-14 22:01:24 +0000 UTC View PostFour Films by Malcolm Le Grice
For a good long while, the films of the British structuralists were seldom seen, in part because of their bad reputation. There are various reasons for t...
2021-03-14 03:55:23 +0000 UTC View PostTo Sleep With Anger (Charles Burnett, 1990)
Early this mornin'
when you knocked upon my door
Early this mornin', ooh
when you knocked upon my door
And I said, "Hello, Satan,"
I b...
Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn (Radu Jude, 2021)
With his 2018 film, "I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians," Radu Jude introduced a style of self-reflexivity and Godard...
2021-03-11 19:01:57 +0000 UTC View PostQuo Vadis, Aida? (Jasmila Žbanić, 2020)
Quo Vadis, Aida? is fine work by any standard, but leave it to me to find some niggling problems with it. Žbanić's film is well acted, expertl...
2021-03-08 22:15:12 +0000 UTC View PostThe Quoddy Fold (Paulette Phillips, 2019)
A "quoddy," I just learned, is a type of sailboat traditionally used for fishing. It is very specific to the area where Maine meets New Brunsw...
2021-03-08 03:13:45 +0000 UTC View PostLINE STARTS HERE!
I'm sure you've seen this by now, if you're the type of person who would watch things like this. I find this to be a multi-layered narrative worth unpacking. Bath and Body Works is a particular kind of store: a mid-priced mall shop that sells its ...
2021-03-08 00:33:34 +0000 UTC View PostFilms by Sara Kathryn Arledge
First, I want to thank James Hansen for alerting me to the fact that these films are streamable through the Pacific Film Archive. I'd have missed them otherwise. I recall first encountering Sara Kathryn Arledge's name in Wheeler Winston Dixon's 19...
2021-03-07 20:14:26 +0000 UTC View PostI've Been Afraid (Cecelia Condit, 2020)
The Internet is stupid, and for the most part, memes are the stupidest part of the stupid Internet. But occasionally, people inexplicably latch onto some...
2021-03-07 19:40:44 +0000 UTC View PostSocial Hygiene (Denis Côté, 2021)
The title is a sly joke. While it's true that in the course of Côté's film, an unseen character is described as badly needing a shower, "social hygiene...
2021-03-07 06:06:13 +0000 UTC View PostWheel of Fortune and Fantasy (Ryusuke Hamaguchi, 2021)
THIS REVIEW IS TOTALLY SPOILERIFIC. SORRY.
A triptych of stories that are mostly unrelated, Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy, as the title imp...
2021-03-07 04:36:07 +0000 UTC View PostCome Here (Anocha Suwichakornpong, 2021)
For awhile now, I've needed to go back and rewatch Anocha's 2016 film By the Time It Gets Dark, a film I did not much care for at the time. It's...
2021-03-05 19:13:14 +0000 UTC View PostThe Girl and the Spider (Ramon Zürcher and Silvan Zürcher, 2021)
[NOTE: Despite the watermarks on these stills, nothing will happen if you press 8.]
I think I can safely say that most readers of this Patre-blog w...
2021-03-04 22:11:09 +0000 UTC View PostThe Annihilation of Fish (Charles Burnett, 1999)
In getting started on the films of Charles Burnett, I decided to go with his film maudit, something I would probably never have gotten around to...
2021-03-04 01:49:29 +0000 UTC View PostScattered Clouds / Two in the Shadow (Mikio Naruse, 1967)
As I mentioned at the end of my notes on Wife! Be Like a Rose!, Naruse certainly paid attention to the groundbreaking work that Douglas Sirk was...
2021-03-03 22:36:54 +0000 UTC View PostFrance Against the Robots (Jean-Marie Straub, 2020)
In just under ten minutes, Straub's newest film disrupts an...
2021-03-02 04:27:57 +0000 UTC View PostWife! Be Like a Rose! (Mikio Naruse, 1935)
If one wanted to embark on a post-structuralist analysis of Naruse, I'd submit that Wife! Be Like a Rose! would be a fantastic place to start. T...
2021-03-01 22:12:11 +0000 UTC View PostMarch Auteur Tiebreak: COCK/BURN
There were two clear leaders, so now let's see how this shakes out.
2021-02-26 06:37:31 +0000 UTC View PostHey gang, THE MURDER OF FRED HAMPTON...
is available to watch online, totally free.
Check it out.
2021-02-25 00:34:19 +0000 UTC View PostGaping Holes: Getting to Know You Pt.3
Hey, I still have a few days (and a few Naruses) to go, but I wanted to get the March poll going. As you may notice, I have swapped out a couple of nonstarters with new options. And I've dropped in a major figure I'm woefully behind on, even thoug...
2021-02-24 22:17:58 +0000 UTC View PostShort Takes, or, Catching Up From the Hard Freeze
Because of my exciting Bear Grylls adventure in Texas living, I've fallen a bit behind in writing up films. As it happens, I feel no particular need to go long on these.
2021-02-24 06:42:08 +0000 UTC
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Yearning (Mikio Naruse, 1964)
I'm all lost in the supermarket
I can no longer shop happily
I came in here for that special offer
A guaranteed personality
"Unev...
2021-02-24 04:34:29 +0000 UTC View PostOnce Again, I Want to Die
I just learned that there is a new zoomer trend / meme asserting, quite sincerely, that Helen Keller never existed. Because, dude, there's just no way...
Older Brother, Younger Sister (Mikio Naruse, 1953)
First of all, my apologies for not being deeper into Naruse at this point. Last week was pretty rough. Now I am dealing with the aftermath of the winter ...
2021-02-22 22:39:14 +0000 UTC View PostTwo Days in the Hamptons
Judas and the Black Messiah (Shaka King, 2021)
This is a film with a great deal of ostensibly political content, but it's not at a...
2021-02-20 20:15:43 +0000 UTC View PostWhat Did the Lady Forget? (Yasujiro Ozu, 1937)
An Ozu comedy, although neither as broad or as melancholy as I Was Born, But... This strikes me as a very strange film, although I suspect it fa...
2021-02-19 07:33:40 +0000 UTC View PostA Little History
By some odd quirk of the YouTube algorithm, this excerpt from The Dick Cavett Show popped up on my watch list. It's just under 24 minutes, and I humbly suggest you watch it. It's a panel discussion assembled on June 7, 1968 -- the day after Robert...
2021-02-19 03:29:00 +0000 UTC View Post3x3D (various directors, 2013)
I watched this because I happened to have it on my fully-charged laptop when the power went out, and I needed a distraction from the biting cold. I certainly don't have insights to offer that can compare with 2021-02-18 05:22:12 +0000 UTC View Post