I embarked on a backwards-Supernatural watch in February, and it is continuing still, and is pretty much what I am doing right now, outside of viewing for work. We will soon be back to our regular scheduled program. But I’m burnt out right now because of the big project I’ve been working on for a year. I can’t take in much that is new. I’ll recover.
Being Maria (2025; d. Jessica Palud)
A movie about Maria Schneider’s experience making Last Tango in Paris, her horrifying treatment, and the tragic aftermath. I admire what this film is doing and also HOW it does it. I reviewed for Ebert.
Adolescence (2025; d. Philip Barantini)
The one-take-ness of it all is amazing, particularly in episode 2, which reminded me of the extraordinary 2002 film Russian Ark, shot in one take – with literally thousands of people in it. 3,000 people are in this thing. I knew I wrote about it. 20 years ago. Oh my God. It was filmed entirely in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg and the action flows from room to room, showing the entire timeline of Russia’s history, all the major figures, vignettes, snapshots. So you have a small scene with four little girls in white running up and down the hallways – the tragic children of Tsar Nicholas II and then the action moves into a ballroom, with 300 people waltzing around in full-on formal wear with a live orchestry. So … 300 people were literally just sitting around for 35 minutes, silent, waiting, as the rest of the movie is filmed elsewhere, and then – via command over a walkie talkie – they start dancing and then “their” scene begins, just before the camera comes through the door. The coordination aspect! Everyone’s talking about episode 3 of Adolescence, and yes, it’s good, but we’ve seen similar stuff before. Two characters talking in one unbroken take. Hunger, the Bobby Sands movie, with Michael Fassbender, comes to mind. But episode 2 takes place at an elementary school, where the child population is basically FERAL – and there are so many people in it, crowds of kids everywhere – to coordinate all of that had to have been a monumental task. And then, to top it off, the episode ends in a drone shot, which culminates in a tight close-up on Stephen Graham’s face. Like, what? I’ve always admired Stephen Graham. I think of his great scene in The Irishman (“You people”): let’s face it: it’s not easy to hold the screen with Al Pacino. Al Pacino is very competitive and he won’t LET you dominate. But in that scene? Graham dominates. I will let others chatter about the sociological implications of Adolescence and whether or not it “works” or has a “good” message or and if it’s anti-male or whatever. I’m not really interested in those “debates”. I’m more into the making-of this thing, as well as what it must have been like to be in it. The collaboration! The cameramen! Passing off cameras to each other throughout the shots. Just amazing.
