Supernatural, Season 13, episode 12 “Various & Sundry Villains” (2018; d. Amanda Tapping)
I was happy to see that the series showed at least passing interest in the inner life of one of its lead characters.
Six Feet Under, season 3 (2003), season 4 (2004), season 5 (2005)
Jesus Mary and Joseph this show could be bleak. Not HIP bleak, not cool bleak, but so dark you might not even want to deal with it. This is the human condition. It is what separates us from the animals (as far as we know): our awareness of death, our awareness of mortality, and the constant struggle with how to live with that reality. The finale – shoddy old-age makeup notwithstanding – is one of the most intense hours of television I can remember.
Schoolboy Father (1980; d. Arthur Allan Seidelman)
Allison and I watched this. It’s an Afterschool Special from 1980 – you’d have to be a certain age to remember these – and it stars Rob Lowe, Dana Plato and Nancy McKeon. Blasts from the past. I think it’s the first thing Rob Lowe did. He’s heart-achingly young. He plays a kid who gets a girl pregnant over summer vacation. She wants to put the child up for adoption. He is horrified and decides to raise the child himself. Pretty radical, in its way. These were all cautionary tales, and I would imagine that condom sales skyrocketed in the teenage boy demographic after this one aired.
Lady Bird (2017; d. Greta Gerwig)
Allison hadn’t seen it so we had a blast watching it together. I reviewed for Film Comment.
Permission (2018; d. Brian Crano)
This one was a pleasant surprise. Refreshingly complex. I reviewed for Ebert.
Fifty Shades Freed (2018; d. James Foley)
My review for Ebert. I was promised hot sex and all I got was this? I would like a refund.
24 Frames (2017; d. Abbas Kiarostami)
The final film from the Iranian master. The film is such an extraordinary experience I must defer to all of the others who have found beautiful ways to discuss it. I loved it so much. I needed it. Tremendous.
Supernatural, Season 13, episode 13, “Devil’s Bargain” (2018; d. Eduardo Sánchez)
Even though, in general, the series now lacks the in-depth emotional/psychological exploration that got me watching in the first place … the actors sure know how to fill in the blanks.
Not as a Stranger (1955; d. Stanley Kramer)
An extremely bizarre film starring Robert Mitchum and Olivia de Havilland, Not as a Stranger is a medical drama about a guy driven to be a doctor, a guy who has some personality flaws (coldness, perfectionism, a certain kind of ruthlessness), who eventually has to learn to accept that he is not perfect, that doctors make mistakes, etc. This was right around the time that “hospital shows” started hitting their stride (Medic had premiered the year before), and Not as a Stranger was part of that wave. It features a scene of open-heart surgery, with a view of the heart beating in the cracked-open chest. Revolutionary at the time. All of the actors in the cast witnessed autopsies being performed, as research, and Mitchum trailed around after a doctor, learning how to use all the tools of the trade. This work pays off. The surgery scenes are the best scenes. Other people in the film? Frank Sinatra. Gloria Grahame. Broderick Crawford. And then in smaller roles, a roll call of stars (past and future): Lon Chaney Jr., Mae Clarke, Lee Marvin, Harry Morgan. It’s a very weird movie.
Irreplaceable You (2018; d. Stephanie Laing)
Nope. Nope. My review for Rogerebert.com.
Brokeback Mountain (2006; d. Ang Lee)
I haven’t seen this in years. I wasn’t sure if my memory of Ledger’s performance would be accurate. It made such a strong impression on me when I first saw it. I thought it was iconic – my word for it at the time – and that sensation intensified following his death. It’s a kind of masculinity out of style now – and maybe that’s a good thing, because this poor character was so trapped in it. This man is TRAGIC. Jake Gyllenhaal was the extrovert, and he’s wonderful too. But Heath Ledger taps into THE PAST – as well as a KIND of man – inarticulate, deeply feeling, competent, bound-up, with wells of tenderness within – that comes from another kind of America (Annie Proulx’s America.) Anyway, suffice it to say, the performance seems even greater now than it did when it first came out, if that’s possible. And the loss I feel at the untimely death of this enormously talented man is even stronger. The only actor I can think of right now taking up this particular mantle is Garrett Hedlund. What Ledger does in Brokeback is similar to what Hedlund does in Mudbound. Neither actor seems contemporary. You never get the sense that they keep their cell phone right off camera. They are literally from the past. (Hedger, too, could be beautifully modern. He could do it all.)
Broadchurch, Season 1
What an amazing series. David Tennant. Olivia Coleman. Every actor is just superb.
The X-Files, Season 11, episode 4 “The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat” (2018; d. Darin Morgan)
I turned to Keith after we watched this one and said, “I think that episode was brilliant.” Hilarious, first of all, but also a commentary – a razor-sharp commentary – on life right now. If you’re going to “comment” on current culture, maybe humor is the best way to go? Aliens who are finally like, “Y’all are so fucked up we want nothing to do with you.” I loved it so much. AND. AND. In the “close encounter” at the end of the episode, the alien coming out of the spacecraft is wearing Elvis’ American Eagle cape, the one Elvis wore during the Aloha from Hawaii concert. Such a beautiful dovetail of obsessions. Adored this episode.
The X-Files, Season 11, episode 5 “Ghouli” (2018; d. James Wong)
Devastating. Beautifully conceived and cathartic. I was a wreck watching Scully break down, especially since normally she is so buttoned up.
The X-Files, Season 11, episode 6 “Kitten” (2018; d. Carol Banker)
Holy mackerel, Haley Joel!
Millennium, Season 3, episode 15 “Forcing the End” (1999; d. Thomas J. Wright)
Keith and I picked up where we left off in our Millennium watch. This is a very disturbing episode having to do with a creepy Jewish cult where women give birth in large indoor swimming pools, overseen by women wearing white veils. No thank you!
Millennium, Season 3, episode 16 “Saturn Dreaming of Mercury” (1999; d. Paul Shapiro)
Part of the ever-popular “creepy child” sub-genre. Here, Frank’s daughter Jordan has a sense that a neighbor kid is bad, that the neighbor kid’s dad is bad. Her supernatural sense of this causes her to act out, and Frank is torn between wanting to trust her, wanting to punish her, wanting to protect her. Very moving.
The Greatest Showman (2017; d. Michael Gracey)
Sue me. I loved it. I went to see it again because I wanted to see it in the theatre again. I’ll eventually own this thing, but it’s meant to be seen large. I wondered if my initial impression would hold up. (I reviewed for Ebert.) The issue with being a critic is you have to go with your gut first response. You still need to interrogate said response, and I did with Greatest Showman. But then there’s also the fact that if something sweeps you away, if you think it works (on the level it is supposed to work – you can’t spend your whole time wishing a movie was doing something other than what it wants to be doing. Whether or not you LIKE what it is doing is another matter) … then you need to trust that. I can see the film’s issues. But on the level it wants to work, it works like gangbusters.
Neighbors (2014; d. Nicholas Stoller)
Talk about working on the level it wants to work … I wrote about Zac Efron’s performance here. Mitchell and I discussed Efron ad nauseum here. I love this movie.
The Armstrong Lie (2013; d. Alex Gibney)
I am so fascinated (and repelled) by Lance Armstrong. He’s such a liar. This doc is fascinating because Gibney started it as a documentation of Armstrong’s comeback to the Tour de France. The one he was going to race “clean.” Halfway through, the shit hits the fan. Gibney has to then change his tack, and deal with the fact that the doc isn’t going to be what he had planned AND that Armstrong had repeatedly lied to his face.
Intervention (random episodes)
Why I binge-watch this series – even though I have to turn away every five seconds to avoid the footage of needles going into arms – is probably not all that attractive or admirable. There’s a “Oh my GOD THANK GOD THAT’S NOT ME” thing happening. However, I also really like the structure of the series – and they haven’t messed with it in the entire time the damn thing has been on. I also really like that it’s not just about the redemption narrative, since any addict knows about relapses and how common they are. It may end with the person saying “I’ve been clean for 80 days and I found a way to love myself and cope with issues” but then comes the title cards at the end, telling us what happened after. Sometimes it’s good news. More often than not, it’s bad. I appreciate the series’ willingness to not truck in easy answers. It’s all rather brutal.
Elevator to the Gallows (1958; d. Louis Malle)
This definitely needs to be on the list of best directorial debuts of all time. And Jeanne Moreau … what can I say. Nobody like her. She leaves her competitors in the dust.
The Pickpocket (1963; d. Robert Bresson)
Roger Ebert is right when he says the film calls to mind Crime and Punishment, although the “crime” of pickpocketing isn’t on quite the level as murder. But the feeling of isolation and anti-socialization is the same. Beautiful sequences showing the pickpocket ring doing their thing.
Lady Macbeth (2016; d. William Oldroyd)
My God, this movie is intense. I had avoided commentary on it deliberately until I got a chance to see it. It’s something else. Florence Pugh’s performance is phenomenal, but everyone is good here.
Dawson City: Frozen Time (2016; d. Bill Morrison)
The less you know about this documentary the better. I wish I had seen it in time for Best Of lists. It would have made it onto mine in the documentary category. It’s a long film. It needs to be that long. I got sucked in from moment one. I don’t even want to describe it. I went into it cold. It was awesome.
Schindler’s List (1993; d. Steven Spielberg)
It was streaming on Netflix. It’s one of those movies where you’re not like, “Oh, let me just pop this in and kill some time.” It makes demands. I haven’t seen it in years. It’s so effective – so harrowing – that the parts where I feel Spielberg trying to drive something home (mainly Schindler’s breaking down at the end) – don’t bug me as much as they might. I still think it would be more powerful to have Schindler get into the car at the end, filled with emotion, but emotion unexpressed, and drive away. Mystery intact. Why did he do what he did? It started out one way, ended up another way. There are complexities in human beings that cannot be understood, contradictions that cannot be reconciled. He was a mixed bag. I think it’s a great performance.
Nightmare Alley (1947; d. Edmund Goulding)
Certainly one of Tyrone Powers’ best performances. And it’s always good to see Joan Blondell.
Leave Her to Heaven (1945; d. John M. Stahl)
I am obsessed with this movie. It’s got a lot of noir trappings, but it’s in the most vivid Technicolor you could even imagine. The shadows and palettes and colors are so exquisitely planned and controlled you ache in response. It’s Sirk-ian in its luscious gorgeousness, in stark contrast to the pure brutality of this story. If you haven’t seen it, all I can say is don’t waste a minute more. It’s on Youtube in its entirety, just FYI. Gene Tierney has never been better. She is clicked into this woman – this woman who is just a little bit “off” – everyone feels it – her mother, her sister (Jeanne Crain) – but nobody can quite put their finger on what is wrong. (Shades of Cathy in East of Eden). So for all its melodrama and its thriller aspects … what this really is is a “character study” of a woman it is almost impossible to know. So good.
Saint (1997; d. Bavo Defurne)
A 1997 short film by Belgian director Bavo Defurne. Religious martyrdom as erotic sadomasochism.
Souvenir (2016; d. Bavo Defurne)
Defurne’s second feature-length film (he’s been making shorts for years). This one features Madame Isabelle Huppert as a woman who once upon a time won the “European Song Contest” and now lives in obscurity, working in a pate factory. Review coming out on Ebert this week.
Back to Burgundy (2016; d. Cédric Klapisch)
Another film I’m reviewing this month, about a French wine-making family.
Broadchurch, Season 2, episodes 1 and 2
This series is excruciatingly uncomfortable and upsetting. I love the character work. And Season 2 has the great Charlotte Rampling!!
The Double Lover (2017; d. François Ozon)
What a supremely silly movie! Charley and I went to go see it and had a blast. If only it had been played as a black comedy and not a thuper therious commentary on … women’s gynecological issues? Frigidity? What? Plus … so many twins they would fill a school bus. It’s all about twins. Good twins, evil twins, weak twins, strong twins. I’m sorry but David Cronenberg did this better in Dead Ringers, yet another film about Gynecology + Twins. I did enjoy the prominent inclusion of an Elvis song played not once, not twice, but THREE times during the film. Elvis, after all, had a twin brother who died in the womb, a fact which haunted Elvis all his life. Had he somehow taken the strength of his twin? Is that why he was so strong? He missed Jessie, and prayed to Jessie, all of his life. At any rate, The Double Lover was really dumb!
Sucker Punch (2011; d. Zach Snyder)
Working on something about this. FINALLY.
Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933; d. Mervyn LeRoy)
One of my favorite movies of all time.
All That Jazz (1979; d. Bob Fosse)
I saw this movie when I was 12 or 13. It had a huge influence on me. This is NOT a movie for kids!! I remember being so shocked and confused by the “I wish you weren’t so generous with your cock” line. And the strippers rubbing their boobs over the young kid’s face. Shocking! My “way in” was through Erzebet Foldi, who played the daughter. I wrote about that here. This is such a good movie. The Criterion Collection release has so many good extras. One, a talk between Ann Reinking and Erzebet Foldi! Heaven! Plus, a selected scenes commentary by Roy Scheider – fantastic.
Certain Women (2016; d. Kelly Reichardt)
What a movie.
Zero Dark Thirty (2012; d. Kathryn Bigelow)
Controversial. I love it anyway, as a bravado piece of gloomy obsessive filmmaking.
Claire’s Camera (2018; d. Hong Sangsoo)
This one comes out this week, I think. Hong Sangsoo is such an interesting filmmaker. This one appears to have been made “on the fly” in Cannes (it takes place during the Cannes film festival), and stars Isabelle Huppert, strolling in and out of a series of South Korean artists’ lives, taking pictures of all of them. It’s fascinating, made up of long takes, single shots, the camera not moving. Thought-provoking.
Best of Enemies (2015; d. Morgan Neville, Robert Gordon)
Fascinating documentary about the famous and contentious (that’s putting it mildly) 1968 televised debates between Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley, Jr. Great context given by various media people. Debate as blood sport.
Waco, episodes 1 – 5 (2018)
I started watching it because Annika Marks – who played “Neve” in my short film – is in it. She plays Kathy Schroeder, the Branch Davidian whose husband was shot in the yard outside the compound, who eventually sent her children out, and then eventually decided to leave herself. The series is extremely disturbing (especially if you “went through it” as a media event at the time). It’s a total clusterfuck, haunted by the specter of Ruby Ridge (in the same way the O.J. verdict was haunted by the specter of the Rodney King verdict). Impossible to untangle. But what a shameful event. And listen, I’m no fan of cults, and the guy was clearly unhinged. But there were children and women inside that compound. The way it went down should NEVER have happened. Great performance by Taylor Kitsch as Koresh, but also wonderful performances from Michael Shannon as the FBI negotiator and a small tour de force by John Leguizamo as an ATF agent who makes contact with the group, and even might be “compromised” a little bit. Episode 2 is Leguizamo’s arc and it’s really something to see. I Tweeted about it yesterday. Annika is heartbreaking in her role. Here, she peeks out the window at the helicopters overhead.
RE: The Greatest Showman….I don’t know what all this means but….
I go to the local college to see movies (cheap for alumni). And, like the ones at the mall, they run endless trailers. And college kids tend to be even less interested in these trailers than the public at large.
And the last one I went to in the big theater was Panique (for which I’m thinking the audience is maybe not automatically the one for The Greatest Showman?)…and they showed a trailer for The Greatest Showman….
And a HUGE round of applause went up, complete with whistles and shouts.
FWIW: I liked the movie when I saw it at the mall (though not as much as you did)….But I’m thinking I may need to see it again with this audience!
Oh, and I also thought…it’s too bad Sheila’s not going to be in Tallahassee next month.
Which might mean you’re in my head, though I ‘m sure it’s in a good way!
The whole Greatest Showman story has been interesting. Critics (except for like 3 of us) savaged it. It wasn’t an instant hit – but it’s been building and building – I mean, it’s still in theatres. As of last week (here at least). That means it’s been in theatres for two straight months. !!!!
Ready for reappraisal as soon as today’s college kids become working critics!
Not to worry: today’s college kids turned future critics will get things wrong too. Will dismiss something the public loves.
Although agreement between public and critic is not really relevant, come to think of it. The public loves a lot of shitty things. The job of the critic is not to align themselves with public opinion – or to tell people what to like – but to be honest about their own response to things.
First, I will admit that I don’t get a chance to read you as often as I should. My husband and I just retired and relocated seven months ago and life is insane. But enough about me. When I do get a chance to really read your comments, particularly your comments about what you’ve seen and read, I marvel at your abilities (which is such a weak word) for what you do. There are only 24 hours in the day so when do you sleep? I always, always find something new or interesting or provocative in your writings. For example, Leave Her To Heaven is one of my favorite movies for reasons that I can’t really explain but I love it. When she throws down the stairs to lose the baby because she doesn’t want to share the attention. Amazing. Gene Tierney is gorgeous in so many ways in that role. Everyone talks about Laura. That’s not her movie. That movie belongs to Clifton Webb and Dana Andrews. This is her movie. She is a women possessed by an evil spirit or a demon as it were.
Which might be a good segue to Supernatural. I’m don’t enjoy SPN as much as I once did and I console myself by binging on the early seasons. But I think I don’t feel as bumped as some of us about the SPN lite that we are getting now.
1. Television is a business and the minute that Supernatural doesn’t sustain its reason for being, it’s gone.
2. J2 have been doing this show on a sustained high level for 12 years and as much as they love it and I think they really do, they should be ready to do something else. I don’t think that it has do with typecasting. I think that these two strong intelligent actors should get the opportunity to find it if they can do something else despite how much our hearts will be broken when that happens.
3. Writing is a key element of any TV show and the stories have been inconsistent over the last several years. When they get a good script/story, they act the hell out of it but they can only do so much.
Lovely talking to you. Gotta go to see a man about new appliances.
Carolyn – always good to hear from you.
// My husband and I just retired and relocated seven months ago and life is insane. //
Congratulations! Yes, that is a lot!! Good luck to you in this new phase of life!
I cannot tell you how thrilled I am to hear your words on Leave Her to Heaven! So many people have never even heard of it – or, yes, like you say, think of Laura as Tierney’s signature role – when for me it is CLEARLY this dame. She so clicks into this woman’s other-ness – the feeling people get when they’re near her that yes she is beautiful but something might be a little … off.
// She is a women possessed by an evil spirit or a demon as it were. //
Yes. She cannot deal with anything but undivided attention. Naturally her family is totally OVER it – but her new husband is dazzled by her, doesn’t see the red flags. Or, he sees them (how she doesn’t let the kids win in the swimming race – she taunts them, “I won!” as she climbs out of the pool – huge red flag) – but brushes them off, justifies them.
I think it’s really a brilliant psychological study. So glad to hear you think so too!
I take your words on SPN to heart, totally. I miss the show and so I am hard on it – but I completely agree with all you say here too. Whatever happens, both JA and JP have a fan for life in me – I’ll follow them wherever – and it’s actually exciting (and slightly stressful?) to think of them playing different roles. They have such an interesting perspective on the business – a perspective not too many people have – playing the same role for 13 years? However much longer they’re going to go? And getting so much mileage out of these same characters? Their careers look very very different than those actors – talented as well – who jump from show to show.
It’s lovely talking to you too!
I was in love with the soundtrack to Elevator to the Gallows for years before I finally saw the movie, and then I loved it in its totality. Amazing stuff
Yes! I totally should have mentioned the Miles Davis score. Just stunning.
Sheila, since you brought up the actress – will there be a way for us to see your short film?
Ian – that’s a really good question. Let me ask the director. I have a link to it but it’s locked. Maybe we can get it unlocked.
I just want to second Ian’s comment/question. I’m still hoping to see July and Half of August some day…..
Let me ask if the link can be unlocked! And I appreciate people wanting to see it!
Leave Her to Heaven, one of my very favorite movies. I recommend it to everyone who is even slightly interested in film. Sheila, that is so true that is not very well known-even at the TCM Film Festival, I run into a lot of people who had never seen it.
I love what Carolyn said about how everyone talks about Tierney and Laura (which I also love) but she is amazing in this movie. Incandescently beautiful and so very evil. From the very beginning when they meet on the train, where she seems fairly normal-to the reveal of her true character, so chilling. The addition of Vincent Price as the spurned fiancé, and then the prosecuting lawyer, is like icing on an already lavish cake!
I have such a love for Gene Tierney, she is one of those actresses where I simply can’t take my eyes off her when she is on screen. She is at her most beautiful in LHTH.
How in the world have I missed Not As A Stranger? With two of my very favorite actors? Where did you see it?
I always look forward to your Viewing Diary for the month-I know it will be fun.
Forgot to mention, Back of the Moon is my dream home, so gorgeous.
Oh my gosh I know. So gorgeous. That deck overlooking the lake? I would never leave the property.
Maureen – // that is so true that is not very well known-even at the TCM Film Festival, I run into a lot of people who had never seen it. //
Wow, this is really shocking. I wonder if Criterion has made an attempt to release it. (You never know about rights issues.) It seems like it would be a great way to introduce it to a wider public. People have really passionate feelings about this movie.
and yes, it is so great to see Vincent Price!
To me, one of the most disturbing things about the film is its willingness (in a way) to see things from her side. It’s definitely a detached and sociopathic side – but if you’re an introvert, which I believe she is, having to be around other people is just not “your thing” – and unfortunately her chosen husband is gregarious, generous, humanist – a people person. She would be better off just living as a hermit – and seriously, there’s no shame in that. In its own weird subversive way – and I may be reading into this – the film is a critique of the “normal” and mainstream assumption that there’s only one way to be married, or in a couple, or even a member of society.
This woman should not be in regular contact with other people. it doesn’t SUIT her. and that should be okay. But it’s not.
And so what comes out is pure malignant narcissism.
The scene in the rowboat with the disabled brother …
My God, how brutal is that scene? It upsets me every time I see it. And of course it ‘solves’ nothing for this selfish demonic woman. The more she tries to hold onto her husband – the more she pushes him away.
My sister and I actually talked about how the film in a way seems to sympathize with her character. I wouldn’t say I’m an introvert-but I don’t like surprise guests-and if my mother and sister showed up when I thought I was going to be spending some romantic times with my new husband-I wouldn’t have been overjoyed. I do wonder if she would have married someone much more like herself (maybe Vincent’s character) they could have been a happily married power couple-no children, just focused on themselves. I don’t think you are reading too much into this-all she wants to be is alone with her husband, and if she were a more sympathetic character, I think we would be on her side in that. Even the great Chill Wills, as the caretaker is too much for her-she wants to be the center of his life.
It was also creepy how the point was made that the husband reminded her of her father-that was part of her attraction to him.
The scene in the rowboat? I’ve probably seen this movie at least 20 times, and each time I absolutely cringe. The brother’s voice when he is crying for help? Just heartbreaking.
I keep thinking of more stuff…but I found it fascinating at the way the film presents her as so very beautiful, breathtakingly so-but you saw how off putting she was to all the people around her. If Wilde’s character has known her longer, he would have probably run before he married her.
Right – her beauty was a smokescreen for the deficiencies in her character. A deliberate choice on her part?
It’s interesting – in my latest re-watch: when she arrives at the New Mexico (I think) lodge – in the first couple of scenes, you can see how her mother keeps her at a distance. She barely greets her daughter. All of the clues are there. Both mother and sister are slightly afraid of her – and the moment where she triumphs over the kids for winning the swimming race (and the comment “Ellen always wins”) is a Red Flag like crazy.
and yes: her relationship with her father! So disturbing. It’s almost like she “stole” her father away from her mother. Many uneasy implications with this.
God, it’s such a good movie.
Just coming back years later Sheila and Carolyn and Maureen to thank you for this discussion (and for mentioning it was on youtube!!) — I watched it a couple of weeks ago and haven’t been able to get it out of my head — the way she says “And you came, didn’t you.” — Tierney has so much control. She gives away NOTHING and suggests so much both about the internal life of the character and her function in the story. And this thorny issue of sympathy with and understanding her – uninvited guests, yes!! Not wanting to be a mother — that image of her standing rigidly in the angular lines of her daycoat in the nursery, face obscured, thinking on how much she hates, is haunting. Cheers!
Jessie – I’m so excited you checked out Leave her to Heaven!
I love that aspect too – how Tierney doesn’t give away anything. She doesn’t plead for our sympathy. She doesn’t “explain” – although obviously her attachment to her father is maybe a little bit too close?
The not wanting to be a mother thing is really radical. It’s inconceivable – to her husband, the doctor, the whole thing. But she means business. She is so completely stifled by the expected roles laid out for her – and yet – at the same time she ACCEPTS those roles. Like, if the society were different – she wouldn’t feel the need to get married at all, she’d know there would be other options for her.
I am not sure that that is IN the movie – it feels like my projection – although who knows, I think it’s a pretty pointed critique of the status quo.
It’s not that she’s not demonic. She clearly is.
I’m not sure anything could be done to fix her. Nothing would ever be enough for her. She would always be annoyed by guests. She could never capture her husband’s attention as totally as she would like.
It’s so disturbing.
and that screen grab!
The color scheme in this movie is just to die for.
Not as a Stranger is so weird, Maureen – I’d be really interested to hear your reaction. I think Kino just released it on Blu-Ray – with audio commentary by a film historian. You should seek it out.
A couple of weird things:
— Mitchum plays a cold heartless man. Which is a weird realm for him. He has one moment near the end which is some of his best work – and you can’t even see his whole face since he’s wearing a surgical mask. You only see his eyes – devastated eyes.
— There is a seduction scene so over the top it made me laugh out loud. You’ll know it when you see it.
— This was Stanley Kramer’s first directorial gig.
— The medical sequences – the entire team around an operating table – are really good.
— Olivia de Havilland speaks with a Swedish accent.
— Everyone is about 15, 20 years too old for their roles.
— Lon Chaney has one heartbreaking scene as Mitchum’s alcoholic dad.
There is so much going on.
I have GOT to see this movie!
You really do. It is bizarre. Report back once you’ve seen it!!
It rarely gets played on TCM or otherwise – it’s a bit of a drag at times – but the surgery scenes are really prophetic of today’s glut of Hospital Shows. Doctors making decisions, life or death, the responsibility of it, the capability of surgery nurses … it’s pretty interesting.
Sinatra is really good too – although he’s about 20 years too old to be a feisty ambitious intern. Everyone’s too old.
Would be interested to hear your take.
Ahhh, you’re watching Broadchurch!!! Isn’t it amazing? I was absolutely riveted by each season – the show did not let me up for air until I was finished. And completely devastated.
I have not started The X-Files yet. I need to get on the ball!
Natalie – Broadchurch is so good. I’m in the middle of Season 2 right now – I didn’t realize James D’Arcy was in it!! He is so sexy in his scariness I don’t know what to do with myself. The trial is up and running – and David Tennant is getting more and more sucked into re-investigating what happened with the case he lost prior to the series starting.
Olivia Coleman is so so good – I’ve always loved her, but she usually plays small roles in film. It’s great to see so much of her. I feel so bad for that character – although I have to admit that from the jump I wondered about her marriage. I didn’t guess at what was really going on – but they didn’t seem to “fit” as a couple and I wondered if it would be addressed. Hmmmm.
So many great characters. It’s extremely upsetting – the whole thing – and I’m so glad my friend Allison sang its praises to me to such a degree I decided to watch myself.
The X-Files is so satisfying. I love how Chris Carter is like “arc shmarc” – even though there aren’t that many episodes, he’s still doing episodic case-of-the-week episodes – which still loop into the overall conspiratorial arc, but it seems like he doesn’t feel pressured to connect all the dots. Which is a lot of fun.
My friend Keith is doing re-caps again for MUBI – I am holding off on reading them until I am completely caught up – but I love his writing and his analytical capabilities – I so relied on his Twin Peaks re-caps too!