Revoke my film nerd credentials if you want, but I think I hated this movie. Bresson’s style is ascetic to a fault—spare and punishing to no effect. Dialogue that doesn’t follow (did I have bad subtitles?) from one sentence to the next, elliptical editing that obscures key details, and acting techniques that border on zombie-like.… Read More Au Hasard Balthazar (1966)

What a spectacle. Utterly ridiculous, but there were moments of poetry in the silly dialogue. And while it was clearly exploiting the actresses involved, it’s also interesting to see this vision of women completely dominating every aspect of the film. I wouldn’t call this a feminist film (although I’d love to hear from non cis-men… Read More Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965)

Yiiiiikes, this movie was fucked up. Hitchcock was clearly fascinated with Freud, especially with the ideas of repression and the unconscious mind, but doesn’t do great at using those ideas in meaningful ways. (See Spellbound.) Using Marnie’s childhood trauma as a reason for her kleptomania would be silly, on its own, but hanging her recovery… Read More Marnie (1964)

Just didn’t connect with this one. Wonderful idea, but the main character felt vapid and uninteresting to me. What I did like was seeing (what I assume was) the inspiration for this sequence from a movie I admire much more.

Brilliant movie, my second Bergman. 4 person cast on (almost) one location over the course of one day, but never feels stage-y or claustrophobic. Really haunting portrayal of schizophrenia played by Harriet Andersson, but all the characters have desperate, painful arcs to follow and are played beautifully. Max von Sydow is a particular standout.

What an introduction to the ’60s. The famous jump cuts were honestly pretty thrilling, and created this propulsive movement that felt like a shock wave (especially within the context of my century of films project.) I loved both Belmondo and Seberg, although I do think I find New Wave movies to be more formally interesting… Read More Breathless (1960)

Showed this to Holly-an old childhood favorite. The premise is absolutely ridiculous and the plot is filled with varying degrees of silliness (Strathairn somehow outrunning the raft, the late-night peep show skinnydipping, etc.) But the movie is really quite good at creating individual moments of tension, and the stunt work is great. When I rafted… Read More The River Wild (1994)