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The Old Dark House 1932
Lost in deepest, darkest Wales, a bickering couple navigate their 1931 Voisin convertible along treacherous roads in a biblical deluge with their jolly, fatalist chum kibitzing inanely from the back seat. After a mudslide halts their progress, good fortune materializes in the form of a house with a light on. Kibitzer bangs on the door until it is answered--by Boris Fucking Karloff looking like he never managed to get the makeup off from his Frankenstein's Monster duties the previous year.…
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Drive My Car 2021
I tend to get a bit distracted, even a little obssessive when a car plays a central part in a film. The 1968 Mustang GT in Bullitt, and the 1970 Dodge Challenger in Vanishing Point were early movie car obsessions. As recently as last year, while watching James Whale's 1932 horror/comedy classic, The Old Dark House for the first time, I became bewitched by the car carrying the trio of protagonists on their treacherous first-reel journey to Karloff's house. After…
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Loving Highsmith 2022
For all the Highsmith devotees and completists, for those who have read Highsmith's novels, diaries, letters, seen the film adaptations, the parade of Tom Ripleys, and think that they now--finally!--have the rigorous, and artful assessment that her life and work deserve, I feel your pain.
Clumsy and meandering, with random shots of rodeo antics and children with bicycles, and underscored with arch hillbilly jazz takes on tunes like My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean, Loving Highsmith doesn't just frustrate as…Translated from by -
Indecent Desires 1968
Indecent Desires is even more blank than Bad Girls Go to Hell--which is one of the things I like about it. The five characters seem to be the only people on earth, just going through the motions of what they think people like themselves should be doing. Getting dressed, getting undressed, walking down the street, opening doors--lots of opening doors. The boss isn't away. There was never a boss. Just Barbie™ dolls playacting at the office. "I'm doing my ballet…
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H Is for House 1976
I wish Wes Anderson were more influenced by Peter Greenaway than he is.
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Death Day 1934
"But the children laugh, for Death is very funny."
(little nihilist bastards saw the punchline coming)I had no idea that an Eisenstein jazz age Día de Muertos would be this gorgeous and compelling. I guess I should have.
The composition of every frame and sequence is masterful. The dancing is sublime. It doesn't get any better than the final image: a skeleton riding Mothra.Translated from by
