Ideally, films are large films composed of little films. Each with their own meaning and form. This is that ideal. And you will feel everything from terror to love and admiration to pain for and from each and every one of these characters. It’s about resistances, but it really is about the ordinary people put up to extraordinary tasks that make up resistances. Mathilde will likely stick with me for the rest of my life
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Knife in the Water 1962
This was beautifully shot. Aside from that, not much of note. It’s all very apparent, and kind of a chore to experience. Meh.
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Coffy 1973
This movie is brilliant. It is technically brilliant, especially in its composition, color selection, and practical lighting choices. It is ideologically brilliant and critical on the front of capitalism, black academia (which is why many of them don’t like it), and feminism. It is an action film about the power of action, both physical and political, in getting things done. And it is imbued with so much soul, so much sensuality, and so much of what makes up Black people…
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The Night of the Hunter 1955
This was equal parts breathtaking, ridiculous, funny, and ham-fisted. It was worth the great moments that it has and at points actually manages to evoke some of my childhood fears. The direction was interesting, and given the time period this was released in it seemed a bit progressive. All in all, I am positive that Tim Burton would not exist without this.
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There Will Be Blood 2007
GIVE. ME. THIS. FUCKING. SCREENPLAY.
Yup. That’s it. That’s a Goddamn movie.
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Where Is My Friend's House? 1987
This perfectly encapsulates how confusing it is to be a child. Adults don’t listen to you. They sometimes curve you away from the very moral behavior they taught you out of their own self interests for you. They tell you conflicting things and don’t follow their own rules. So on, so forth. There’s also some good commentary about the loss of community life, urbanization, wisdom, and friendship. Loved it.
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Cold War 2018
This film pulls no punches. Not in love and certainly not in cruelty. And as a choir kid who grew up on jazz, this is yet another perfect score in a Pawlikowski film (and he remains one of my favorite directors). It brings back fond memories I’ve never lived through. It takes you everywhere through time, and you feel the political constraints and societal shifts in every new setting. You see the way it affects their love, anger, and frustration. But never their passion. All of which breathes so much life into the very last line of the film. So yeah, I’m in love with this.
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Portrait of a Lady on Fire 2019
The definition of what James Baldwin referred to as “sensuality”. This movie held my feet to the fire and demanded that I feel it. There are great messages between the lines, and the film never speaks when it can communicate visually. It understands, with subtlety and cleverness, what words can’t say. This makes certain frames true works of high art. Catch it in theaters, please.
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Chris Rock: Tamborine 2018
Watched this a long time ago and randomly thought of it. The first half is run of the mill black comedian material. But the second half? *chefs kiss*