Tag Archives: Barbet Schroeder

December 2019 Viewing Diary

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019; d. Marielle Heller) This is a really good film. Thoughtful and deep. I love Marielle Heller’s work so much and so psyched to see whatever it is she chooses to do next. The … Continue reading

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December 2018 Viewing Diary

Swimming with Men (2018; d. Oliver Parker) A rather slight little comedy about men forming a synchronized swimming team. I reviewed for Ebert. Zama (2018; d. Lucrecia Martel) One of the best films of the year (I saw it after … Continue reading

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Best Films (Released and Undistributed) of 2017: Film Comment

I voted in Film Comment’s critics’ poll for best of the year: released and undistributed (I love that they have that second category, for smaller films that may not have gotten distribution yet. I haven’t seen the majority of them, … Continue reading

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Under-Rated Movies #18: Murder by Numbers (2002); Dir. Barbet Schroeder

So under-rated as to be almost completely invisible, and never mentioned in this past Oscar season, when Sandra Bullock was so much discussed – Murder by Numbers has some truly stupid elements, a boring title, and a terrible ending (badly … Continue reading

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Barfly (1987): Gestures Make the Man

In Barfly, Mickey Rourke, as Henry, gives one of his best performances. It stands alone. It is a symphony of movement and gesture, of humor and pathos … and I remember at the time his performance being criticized as “over-the-top”. … Continue reading

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“I can’t stand people. I hate them. Do you hate them?” “No. But I seem to feel better when they’re not around.”

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The Idi Amin theme continues

Idi Amin was involved in the making of Barbet Schroeder’s documentary and it was his own naivete and innocence (can a mass murderer be innocent? I would submit that they are the most dangerous kind) that let him believe that … Continue reading

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Idi Amin, Continued

The Idi Amin theme continues. AC took it up here. And here. And I went back to look through my main man Ryszard’s book The Shadow of the Sun for his chapter on Uganda. Here’s a bit of it:

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