Japanese cinema continues to be a struggle for me–there’s an acting style I don’t know enough to describe, but it leaves me feeling emotionless, which is a particularly difficult feat to achieve with a story this melodramatic. This movie tells the story of Kiku, the son of a famous actor, who has the privilege of… Read More The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums (1939)
Kept it rolling with Jean Gabin and the poetic realism–Gabin was fantastic in La Grande Illusion and he cuts an even more striking figure in this dark movie by Marcel Carné. Maybe it’s the general atmosphere of the film, but Gabin’s face here is craggier than it was a year ago–he exudes a sense of… Read More Port of Shadows (1938)
Big one for me: this is one of the perennial classic “canon” movies that I have shamefully never seen until now. Renoir can be a tough watch for me: there’s a sense of distance, even as he works to communicate timeless themes, because so much of his work is grounded in the politics of the… Read More La Grande Illusion (1937)
As far as screwball comedies of the 30s go, this one felt sub-par for me. It was hamstrung at times by poor direction and editing, most notably with several scenes that just felt like they dragged. A 90-minute screwball shouldn’t feel like it outstays its welcome, but this one did at times. William Powell continues… Read More My Man Godfrey (1936)
So interesting to watch a few 1930s comedies in a row, and it was especially interesting to watch this Marx Brothers film right after The Thin Man. Where The Thin Man felt distinguished, suave, and modern, the Marx Brothers feel like they would have been old-fashioned even at the time. The humor here is wall-to-wall:… Read More A Night at the Opera (1935)
This movie was an absolute delight. First time seeing both William Powell and Myrna Loy, and I instantly fell in love. William Powell, in particular, has this easy, modern sort of charm that is indescribable. There’s a particular moment in this movie where Powell and Loy are in the background as another character takes a… Read More The Thin Man (1934)
The plot description of this movie is wild: a young woman, desperate to escape the abusive trauma of her childhood, takes some advice from Nietzsche (?) and moves to the city, sexually exploiting men as she literally sleeps her way to the top of a major bank, causing a murder, a suicide, a broken engagement,… Read More Baby Face (1933)
Oooh, boy. This did not land for me, in a big way. Even if you leave aside the massively offensive premise, the filmmaking here just isn’t good. My understanding is it’s been cut all to hell and maybe I saw a version with scenes missing or with other material alterations, but I’m not sure there’s… Read More Freaks (1932)
One of the things that feels particularly notable to me in watching some of these early movies is how clearly the stars are delineated as stars. The chasm between Jimmy Cagney in a picture like this and…just about everybody else (Edward Woods does fine as the sidekick.) It’s clear Cagney is a star–and maybe it’s… Read More The Public Enemy (1931)
I mean, look, how do you review a surrealist film by Buñuel? It’s explicitly anti-art, and it’s bewildering to make sense of as a viewer. Beginning with a short documentary on scorpion anatomy, it goes on to feature the skeletal remains of bishops on a rocky coastline, the wanton shooting death of a small child,… Read More L’Age D’Or (1930)
Winkie's Diner 