secretcinema3

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It's A Gift, 1934, Norman Z McLeod

Put-upon grocer Harold Bissonette (Biss-on-ay) buys an orange grove. A series of set pieces where Fields has to endure nagging, annoyance and small-scale mayhem. Simple stuff, trying to shave, silly names, but funny, a sotto voce deadpan delight.

#films watched 2023 #9

[secretcinema3]

Hotel du Nord, 1938, Marcel Carne

Various lives revolve around a Parisian hotel; a suicidal couple, prostitutes, gangsters, adulteress wives. An outsider world charged with proto-noir fatalism, sweet despondency of poetic realism, yearning for something better even if that's death.

#films watched 2023 #8

[secretcinema3]

Persona, 1966, Ingmar Bergman

Actress goes silent, retreats to a remote island with a young nurse. Silence as psychic defence, weapon of seduction. Sublime gauzy twilight cinematography. Acting as vampiric transference. A horror film really, hushed, horny and endlessly suggestive.

#films watched 2023 #7

[secretcinema3]

Mystery Train, 1989, Jim Jarmusch

Various characters converge on a Memphis hotel. Japanese pilgrims, women in transit, shooters on the lam. The romance of rundown vernacular Americana, Robby Muller neon, Elvis ghosts. Lives connected by a song on the radio in the dead of night.

#films watched 2023 #6

[secretcinema3]

The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant, 1972, Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Fashion designer Petra falls for younger woman Karin. Single set hothouse melodrama inspired by Sirk, compositionally stunning, a camera prowling fiesta of passionate love, casual cruelty and gin guzzling pathos.

#films watched 2023 #5

[secretcinema3]

Woman in the Dunes, 1964, Hiroshi Teshigahara

Man misses last bus ends up captive in a sand trap with a widow. Brilliant existential parable of belonging & identity. You can feel the sand in pores, physicality becoming carnal. Modernist composition, folkloric logic. No escape.

#films watched 2023 #4

[secretcinema3]

Billy Budd, 1962, Peter Ustinov

Pretty sailor Billy clashes with sadistic Master in Arms Claggart. Powerful version of Melville's novel about innocence being sacrificed for duty. Stamp seductively naive on his debut, Ustinov sombre, nuanced, Ryan superb as a repressed monster.

#films watched 2023 #3

[secretcinema3]

The Day He Arrives, 2011, Hong Sang-soo

Film director arrives in Seoul to meet a friend, gets involved with various people. Shifting identity, desire, coincidence. Scenes repeat with variations, creating a temporal slipperiness, a sociable trap. Lots of drinking. Quantum Rohmer.

#films watched 2023 #2

[secretcinema3]

The Brasher Daubloon, 1947, John Brahm

Under the weather default to comfort zone - noir. A lesser Raymond Chandler but pretty good. Gothic Pasadena mansions. Santa Ana winds. Skidrow Bunker Hill. Montgomery's no ideal Marlowe but liked him. Restorative.

#films watched 2023 #1

[secretcinema3]

Noirvember 2022 #19

52 Pick-Up, 1986, John Frankenheimer

Terse, sleazy neo-noir with a trio of archetypal Elmore Leonard crooks attempting to blackmail a cheating businessman. Porn theatres, dive bars, snuff movies, cheap motels. It's coldly efficient, defiantly nasty. Liked it.

[secretcinema3]

Noirvember 2022 #18

Somewhere in the Night, 1946, Joseph L. Mankiewicz

George Taylor returns from war an amnesiac, searching for the mysterious Larry Cravat. Terrific psychological noir, full of vivid characters, twisty plotting and fine location shooting. Crazy underrated.

[secretcinema3]

Noirvember 2022 #17

Johnny O'Clock, 1947, Robert Rossen

Razor-sharp casino boss manoeuvres between wiley cops, murdering gangsters and smitten women. An odd one, smartly done, strong support, snappy dialogue. Yet also mismash of tones. Turns unconvincing in final stretch.

[secretcinema3]

#Noirvember 2022 #16

The Black Dahlia, 2006, Brian De Palma

James Ellroy's version of the infamous murder is a convoluted film drenched in noir atmosphere but erratic and miscast (Eckhart sheesh). Not terrible though. De Palma gives it the goods. Weirdly both uninvolving and haunting.

[secretcinema3]

Noirvember 2022 #15

Shield for Murder, 1954, Edmond O'Brien

Cop kills a bookmaker, steals his money. There's a pretty girl, a dream home. But Barney's no good. Standout bar scene starts flirtations ends as pistol whipping. Carolyn Jones platinum class. Sour all the way through.

[secretcinema3]

Noirvember 2022 #14

Body and Soul, 1947, Robert Rossen

Kid sells his soul for success. The quintessential boxing film, cliches energised by powerful direction, Polansky's incisive script and James Wong Howe's vivid cinematography. Great support (Palmer, Lee) but Garfield rules.

[secretcinema3]

Noirvember 2022 #13

Pulp, 1972, Mike Hodges

Crime novelist is recruited to write biography of has-been Hollywood tough guy. Murder ensues. Tongue in cheek homage to noir detective stories. The script's a hoot, the film an offbeat delight, beautifully shot in Malta.

[secretcinema3]

Noirvember 2022 #12

Le Trou, 1960, Jacques Becker

Four men sharing a cell plan to escape. Then a fifth arrives. Can he be trusted? Meticulous, engrossing study, the focus on process, physical effort, simple ingenuity, dank tunnels. Solidarity is a freedom they can't take away.