When Ernst Lubitsch was shown C.T. Dreyer’s landmark film, The Passion of Joan of Arc, he lambasted it for its cold, calculated treatment of history. I’d argue that Saint Joan, directed by Otto Preminger, close friend of Lubitsch while he was alive, is a response to that very criticism. The film is in the appearance of a costume drama — it abstracts history through adaptation and places the burden of spectacle on the body — while also representing a historical…
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In Harm's Way 1965
In Harm’s Way is Otto Preminger’s attempt at the wartime historical epic, despite the fact that the history of Pearl Harbor is abstracted through the novel-adaptation and the entirely fictional characters that inhabit the story; through this lens, the film can be considered a 20th-century costume drama, where most of the “history” is told within cramped, interior spaces while omitting battle scenes as precursors for spectacle, save for a stellar opening and final climax.
This certainly situates the film among…
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The Holdovers 2023
The Holdovers may be Alexander Payne’s greatest film. It features the same cynical comedy that has defined the filmmaker for decades, but it also has a dramatic weight that I seldom see from him. The film feels like a marriage between Election and About Schmidt, where school setting meets the broken, aged, protagonist. It goes without saying that the entire cast gives wonderful performances, but Paul Giamatti stands out by giving the greatest performance of his career. I wouldn’t be…
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McCabe & Mrs. Miller 1971
Robert Altman proved his mastery of cinema with the revisionist western, McCabe & Mrs. Miller. It’s a slow film, but one that is methodically rich in subtext and never boring. The film is about a lone man opposing the greed of big business, and the violence that can result from it. The film moves like a visual poem, contrasting clear luscious images of a snowy landscape with a murky grime that seems to tint the early scenes. The music by Leonard…
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