- Hiroshima, Mon Amour (Alain Resnais)
- Caged (John Cromwell)
- The Room (Tommy Wiseau)
- The Disaster Artist (James Franco)
- White Nights (Luchino Visconti)
- Blackkklansman (Spike Lee)
- The Wife (Björn L Runge)
- Anna Lucasta (Arnold Laven)
- Thieves Like Us (Robert Altman)
- The Man Who Would Be King (John Huston)
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1- I always remembered Hiroshima, Mon Amour as being a difficult film. Seeing Last Year at Marienbad reinforced that memory. However, seeing it recently, I was surprised how accessible it is. I was wondering if the ‘difficulties’ I first encountered were innovations at the time, but now are part of mainstream filmmaking. Not sure, but the film hit me on a visceral level, which I don’t remember it doing before. Maybe it is time to try Muriel again?
2- The only really good excuse for watching The Room is to watch and enjoy The Disaster Artist, a very entertaining film about the making of that legendarily awful film. The Room is mind-bogglingly bad. It is boring. It is baffling. It is incoherent. There is nothing about it that is endearing in the way the films of Ed Wood could be considered endearing. This is just an unholy mess made by someone whose aspirations (whatever the hell they are) far exceeded his capabilities and intellect. But The Disaster Artist is lots of fun. Was it worth it watching The Room in order to enjoy it? I doubt it.
3- Anna Lucasta was a kind of revelation. A movie all about African-Americans made in the 50s that never brings up the topic of race once. In many ways, this makes it more radical than more pointedly political films of the time, like The Defiant Ones. These are just people living out their lives, dealing with family and love issues. It is really a ‘post-racial’ film. Eartha Kitt is terrific. This must be before she became a caricature of herself. She was a fine actress. I wish she had done more in this vein.
4- Everyone who ever mentioned The Man Who Would Be King spoke of it as a great pleasure. I finally caught up with it and I must say that in this age of #metoo and heightened racial awareness, the film borders on offensive. The male hi-jinks of Sean Connery and Michael Caine now are grating where maybe 40 years ago I would have felt it was a romp