May 2021 Viewing Diary

The Waterman (2021; d. David Oyelowo)
I really loved this. Reviewed for Ebert.

Des (2020; d. Lewis Arnold)
Here’s what I jotted down on Instagram: David Tennant is eerily good in DES. He never does anything wrong, never makes an incorrect choice, never shows too much/too little. The performance is totally in proportion – so many performances suffer from things being out of proportion – mainly because the actor doesn’t have the skill to pick and choose what to use/not use. It takes steely control to do work like this. But it’s weird to say “work” here because you legit cannot see DT’s work. Like, at ALL. You see just the character. The whole thing is very unnerving.

La Cabina (1972; d. Antonio Mercero)
Michael Koresky (whom I just interviewed about his new book Films of Endearment) mentioned this movie in passing on Twitter – we were talking about movies that terrified us as children – he said that this is still one of the scariest movies he’s ever seen, and it’s not even half an hour long. I had never heard of it, was so curious, and thank you YouTube gods, the whole thing is up on YouTube. Koresky was not exaggerating. This is INCREDIBLE. Don’t worry that there are no English subtitles – the majority of it happens without language, and it’s easy to figure out what people are saying when they do speak.


Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020; d. Aaron Sorkin)
I liked this. I liked the script, which surprised me, since I’m not a Sorkin fan, in general. But the movie laid out the complicated situation very clearly, and I also really liked Eddie Redmayne as Tom Hayden (not a Redmayne fan so again … nice surprise) and Sacha Baron Cohen as Abbie Hoffman … the clashes between the two – I think the script did a good job presenting the collage of attitudes going on at the time.

Heavy (1995; d. James Mangold)
Mangold’s first film, which doesn’t really get a lot of chatter for some reason – he’s gone on to such huge things, it feels like there’d be more interest in it. I saw it in the theatre, my first year in New York, when I was in grad school and going to the movies 3, 4 times a week. I was so captivated by this film, particularly Shelley Winters – whom I had just taken an acting workshop with, a long-time idol of mine. But the whole cast … Pruitt Taylor Vince, Liv Tyler, Evan Dando (!!!) and Debbie Harry (!!!). It’s a “slight” film, really, and maybe some people would find it dreary or not interesting or … whatever. I think it’s lovely.

The Story of Temple Drake (1933; d. Stephen Roberts)
What an amazing film. Based on Sanctuary, by William Faulkner. Starring Miriam Hopkins. And Florence Eldredge who is just fantastic. So upsetting, hard-hitting and truthful. The posters all demonize Temple but the movie itself doesn’t. It understands her, it shows her PTSD and Stockholm syndrome. It understands sexual trauma. It shows her wild silly flirtatiousness before – and is honest about the dangerous games she’s playing with wild men – risking not only her reputation but her safety – but it doesn’t present her assault as “she had it coming.” If anything, the movie says “It is abhorrent to blame her for what happened to her.” Her behavior post-assault makes perfect sense. You’d have to be unfeeling and willfully blind to not understand why she can’t just run home to Daddy. It’s all there. Criterion released this last year. Highly recommended.

Beginning (2020; d. Dea Kulumbegashvili)
What an extraordinary film and – even more extraordinary – it’s Kulumbegashvili’s directorial debut. WHAT. Dea Kulumbegashvili hails from Georgia, and Beginning is about a Jehovah’s Witness couple, living in a remote area, under siege from hostile neighbors. It is about the wife’s unraveling, her complete disintegration in the face of these forces looming against her. AMAZING film.

Those Who Wish Me Dead (2021; d. Taylor Sheridan)
Angelina Jolie as fire-jumper. I’m here for it. Wish the movie was better. More Angelina Jolie, please. Reviewed for Ebert.

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005; d. Alex Gibney)
I’ve seen this one before. Popped up on the front page of Amazon, I think, so I watched it again. It’s such a crazy story. If you lived through it, even as a bystander, you know it was nuts. I have a soft spot for stories about massive fraud/Ponzi schemes/white collar sociopaths.

The Death of Stalin (2017; d. Armando Iannucci)
It works so well. You can’t even believe how well it works. It’s very very funny but it’s also … pretty damn accurate as to how it all went down. Just finished a book on Stalin this month, and am still processing State Funeral (which I reviewed), so figured I’d go back and watch this.

But I’m a Cheerleader (1999; d. Jamie Babbit)
This film has just grown in stature over the years. I love it so. Put up some screengrabs of this eye-catching movie.

Grizzly Man (2005; d. Werner Herzog)
I’ve probably seen this 10 times, and 7 of those times was with Alex. We watched it three times in two days during one of my California visits. I wrote about it here somewhere. We couldn’t get enough. “Mr. Chocolate did a Number Two.” Timothy, stop it. These are wild animals, not Care Bears.

The Dry (2021; d. Robert Connolly)
I liked this. Out now. Reviewed for Ebert.

The Great Gilly Hopkins (2015; d. Stephen Herek)
Watched this with Lucy and I fell in love with it. I loved the book. (Katherine Paterson, in general, is awesome.) The acting is wonderful and the whole thing was very emotional. Gilly Hopkins is my kind of heroine.

The Heartbreak Kid (1973; d. Elaine May)
Watched this the day after Charles Grodin died. Was looking for a fix. The movie is so extraordinary (the whole thing’s on YouTube. This thing needs to restored and released, dammit.) It’s one of those movies that could only happen in the 1970s. It’s so honest about this man’s failings, and he’s a horrifying person – but also hilarious – Grodin’s stock-in-trade. Also, kudos to Jeannie Berlin, for really leaning in to how obnoxious the wife is. The movie wouldn’t have its bite if the wife was some perfect person. No. The movie puts you in the uncomfortable position of being on his side. Well, sort of.

Unbelievable (2019; d. Lisa Cholodenko, Michael Dinner, Susannah Grant)
I think this is my third time watching the series. I wrote about it for Sight & Sound. It hasn’t lessened its impact, and I love so much about it, particularly the portrayal of two very different women working together to solve the case. It’s not cuddly-nursery-school stuff – there’s no scene where they get drunk, let loose and dance, thereby becoming BFFs. No. It’s strictly a working relationship, and therefore realistic – also realistic about competition, and feeling like you need to make your mark in a male-dominated career. Both have their “wins”. It’s an extremely upsetting story and makes you want to scream. Very good.

Mindhunter (2017-2019; d. David Fincher, Carl Franklin, Andrew Douglas, Asif Kapadia, Tobias Lindholm, Andrew Dominik)
My third time through. Please God let there be a Season Three.

The Devil Wears Prada (2006; d. David Frankel)
I waver on what is Meryl Streep’s finest performance. I gravitate towards her more comedic parts – Postcards, Death Becomes Her, She-Devil … I think her real gifts lie in comedy. If you’ve seen her in interviews you know how funny she is. This performance here is perfection. SO controlled.

Marie Antoinette (2006; d. Sofia Coppola)
A fave.

Home (2015; d. Tim Johnson)
Watched this with the kids, and found it very moving. Also very funny!

The Mitchells vs. the Machines (2021; d. Michael Rianda, Jeff Rowe)
Watched this a couple of times with the kids. Loved it, especially when the giant Furbie appears.

Oslo (2021; d. Bartlett Sher)
Just … not good. Sorry. Reviewed for Ebert.

Nail Bomber: Manhunt (2021; d. Daniel Vernon)
Popped up on the main page of Netflix, so thought I’d check it out. It’s fantastic.

Bill Burr: You People Are All the Same (2012; d. Jay Karas)
I’ve seen this a bunch of times. Have gravitated towards him during the pandemic and all the craziness last year. I find his crankiness strangely comforting, as well as his willingness to say whatever the fuck is on his mind, no matter how fucked up it might seem. I agree with a lot of what he has to say and it’s a relief to hear someone just come out and say it. This is the one with the legendary “some people need lotion” bit.

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21 Responses to May 2021 Viewing Diary

  1. Todd Restler says:

    Re: Meryl Streep

    “..her real gifts lie in comedy.”

    I totally agree. Postcards is amazing and she’s perfect in it. The sequence with Oliver Platt and the other producers slays me. In a movie filled with loud, over the top, scenery chewing performances (all in the best way possible!) she’s smart enough to play it relatively understated and withdrawn. She owns the movie in an amazing way.

    I also love her in Defending Your Life, which I’ve always loved and I think holds up really well. She’s basically being as “normal” a character as I have ever seen in a movie yet she is utterly charming and sexy and goofy, in a way that wasn’t in the script (watch her chow down the spaghetti).

    I think we can do away with the best actress ever accolades and just call her the best human being ever to act. Is that too much? I would kill to see her opposite Cary Grant in something.

    • sheila says:

      // She owns the movie in an amazing way. //

      It’s so deadpan. And the character is so insanely witty – but she doesn’t make it sound like punchlines. She’s always just talking out loud to herself.

      “I don’t have a generation.”
      “Then I think you should get one.”

      “Instant gratification takes too long.”

      I love Defending Your Life and she is so refreshing and perfect in it. A perfect leading lady, a dream girl – but so real!

    • sheila says:

      and I love Meryl – but my favorite actresses are more the wild women of cinema – Gena Rowlands, Bibi Andersson – and they do things Meryl can’t or won’t or feels no need to do.

      I have a whole theory about this – and in many cases I think it’s comparing apples to oranges – it’s just a different kind of acting. Meryl is in the continuum of Bette Davis and Joan Crawford – she changed the game by bringing us OUT of the Actors Studio thing – challenging everyone around her to be bigger and braver with transformation.

      Gena isn’t even Actors Studio really – it’s something else – it’s on the jagged far edge of reality – and yet she herself is a very stable person. It’s not like she’s releasing her demons or anything – Gena lived a quiet life as a wife and mother and then did all this crazy shit onscreen – wildly talented – and she definitely had diversity in what she can do. She’s not always “the same”. But her work feels dangerous in a way Meryl’s never does.

      again: apples to oranges. You don’t HAVE to be “dangerous” to be an actor – I’m just saying what I personally gravitate towards.

      • Todd Restler says:

        And this is why I love your blog so much, your analysis of acting is always spot on and fascinating. Acting is such an enigma to me but you break it down so well.

        All these actors bring such different “energies” to the screen for lack of a better word, but I always feel like there must be SOME part of them in the performance. But then you watch Rowlands and that just goes out the window.

        I certainly have a recency bias with actors, but when I do watch older movies I get a sense people like Cagney and Bogart and Bette Davis were almost playing a different sport.

        • sheila says:

          I have the opposite of recency bias. Nobody is good as those who did it “back then”. To me, one of the greatest actors who ever lived was Bette Davis, and everyone is just chasing her shadow, including Streep – who is one of the only ones still doing that kind of work – intricate mimicry, really – any different kind of character at her fingertips – Davis did all that first.

          AND – movies back then were geared towards the stars in a way that most movies aren’t now. They were *Bette Davis movies* or *Joan Crawford movies* – and who they WERE in character WAS the movie. That just isn’t a thing now – where actors need to have super strong personalities and are capable of HOLDING the screen. I can think of very few actors now who can do that. And the ones who CAN – like Leo diCaprio – Kristen Stewart – Brad Pitt – are our biggest stars – this is not a surprise!

          so I don’t see it as a different sport. It’s all the same craft – and in many ways the actors “back then” were far better technicians and magicians than the stars now. Of course the industry has changed so much!! – and they jsut don’t make stories about PEOPLE anymore, the way they used to.

          • Todd Restler says:

            When I say “different sport” it’s a compliment that I reserve for the very best, like Jimi Hendrix playing guitar or Michael Phelps swimming. Yes they are doing the same thing as everyone else, but they’re so much better at it that it looks like something different.

            That’s how I feel about Bogart, Bette Davis, Cary Grant. In that sense I agree with you, most actors today just aren’t as good as these legends.

            That’s not a knock, “not being Babe Ruth” can mean you’re still pretty amazing. And sometimes, like Carrie Coon in The Leftovers, Ethan Hawke in First Reformed, or anyone in Phantom Thread or Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, I feel like I see hints of these kinds of performances. Maybe it is the pictures that have gotten small.

          • sheila says:

            Todd – I definitely see what you’re saying!

            // it looks like something different. //

            Yes. The movies back then were completely geared towards the projection of unique personalities. You would never mistake Bette Davis for Barbara Stanwyck or Marlene Dietrich – and they are not interchangeable. Now … as much as I love these actresses – Emma Stone, Rachel McAdams, Reese Witherspoon, et al … what makes them distinct, as talented as they are? What is their personality/essence? It’s a total blank.

            Whereas Joan Crawford …

            Brad Pitt in Once Upon a Time is doing that old-school kind of work. Projecting his personality as filtered through that character. Leo was doing a more modern Method type of work – and he was also brilliant – and it was great to see these two styles – and their unique effectiveness – side by side!

  2. Julian Garner says:

    La Cabina – eerie. Like an episode of Dark Mirror discovered in a 50 year old time vault…

  3. regina Bartkoff says:

    Sheila

    I had not heard of Those Who Wish Me Dead. Too bad the movie doesn’t do what you recommend! It sounds like it had a lot of potential and perfect for Jolie. I love how you compare Jolie to Elizabeth Taylor and Monica Vitti (a favorite actress of mine), yes! And I know you are almost alone in your reviews of By The Sea, a masterpiece according to me too! Also Marie Antoinette is also a fave! Coppola’s use of music is a knock out, (as all her movies) love Kirsten Dunst of course, too.
    We were watching Angels in America and were in this mood watching Meryl Streep as the mother saying, oh she’s always good and all but I don’t know how great, blah, blah, blah. We watched a really great actor play a Rabbi and he was so good we made a note to check out at the end his name. Come the credits, you got it, Meryl Streep. We did not not only guess it was Streep but guess it was a woman playing a man. We just got hysterical laughing, Ok, she’s that great and we are idiots, haha!
    Also thanks for the tip The Heartbreak Kid is on YouTube! I’ve been wanting to see that and they usually only play the remake.

    • sheila says:

      Regina – I love Monica Vitti so much, she’s so glamorous and blase. I LOVED Jolie indulging that glamour and blase-sadness in By the Sea – it was a very sweet pocket for her.

    • sheila says:

      // We watched a really great actor play a Rabbi //

      HA!! That was CRAZY.

  4. James says:

    Wow, thanks for the tip on La Cabina! I’m only glad I saw it first as an adult and not as a child, like so many of the YouTube commenters seem to have.

    Any idea on the theory that it’s about Franco’s Spain, or is that a coincidence?

    • sheila says:

      James – so glad you dug it. It’s so terrifying!

      Yeah, I saw some comments about Franco – I’m not sure I know enough to comment on that, but I think the situation depicted is a fantastic and powerful metaphor for all kinds of things – powerlessness, inability to communicate – or be heard – and also that there’s this vast faceless state behind the scenes – no accountability.

      It’s fascinating.

  5. I love Sanctuary. It’s hard to think of another novel by an American writer of that generation that is so different from the majority of his work- it’s a potboiler, really- that nevertheless fits so neatly into the writer’s universe. (Pynchon can do genre, sort of, but when we start getting into the writers that define the 60’s and 70’s and beyond a lot of that genre shifting amounts to a form of experimentation – John Barth, to take an example of someone who just popped into my head for the first time in forever, does that sort of thing all the time, but to a very different end, I think.) Anyway, I’ll be checking out The Trial of Temple Drake.

    • sheila says:

      I haven’t read Sanctuary – it would be very interesting to see. It’s a hothouse environment – all sex and violence intermixed – but with a sense of empathy towards the real problems, how women are entrapped by men, just in terms of the hierarchy and the fear of public shame. It’s a very good movie!

  6. Yes! It’s been decades since I read it, and it was just astonishing. One of my favorite lines to this day is “Buy yourself a hoop.”

  7. Regina Bartkoff says:

    Sheila

    Just wanted to say I loved what you wrote to Todd about Bette Davis! Also for me (and Charlie) THE greatest. We are always saying imagine Bette Davis in Gone with the Wind, or some other movie, Streetcar, etc and thinking, oh yes! Not to take anything away from Vivian Leigh, who was amazing, but Bette Davis probably would have gotten the humor more with both characters, especially Blanche.
    Anyway, like you said, you can’t compare the different styles of acting, or Bergman to a Hollywood film but the wild actresses are also for me, the ones that go there, they hit deep, no matter what style. (Isabelle Huppert also comes to mind)

  8. Jessie says:

    WHAT is La Cabina! So glad it was brought to your attention and thank you for mentioning it here. It did not at all go where I expected and my god, talk about acting an arc — I loved Gonzalez’s little moments of embarrassed self-effacement at the beginning all the way through terror/despair at the end. Loved the music too. Great stuff.

    • sheila says:

      Isn’t it crazy??

      // little moments of embarrassed self-effacement //

      I KNOW. So good! So human. Like, it is so not your fault that you’re trapped in there … but somehow you feel singled out, like you must have done something.

      I was really blown away.

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