#war and peace 1966

[nitrateglow]

Favorite films discovered in 2023

2023 kind of sucked, but it was a fruitful year for me as a movie geek. I finally got around to seeing films that have been on my TBW pile for years now. I also gave myself a challenge that I actually completed: watch at least one film from every year between 1900 and 2023.

Anyway, I'll stop beating around the bush. Here are my top 20 favorite film discoveries in 2023. (The order is very, very loose from 5 on down. I genuinely had a hard time narrowing the list down to 20, let alone ranking everything.)

When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (dir. Mikio Naruse, 1960)

This well-regarded drama follows Keiko, a bar hostess who's just turned 30 years old. She has limited options as an unmarried woman in postwar Japan. Considered "old," she has to marry soon or scrape enough money to buy her own bar. With its jazzy score and first-person narration, When a Woman Ascends the Stairs has a noirish vibe but it certainly isn't noir at all. Though the film is tragic, what moved me so much was Keiko's character. She has a tough lot and her story is ultimately tragic, yet she is determined to keep going, even if life won't give her a break.

The Boy and the Heron (dir. Hayao Miyazaki, 2023)

Miyazaki's current "last film" is certainly his most abstract and puzzling. I imagine it'll be one of his more divisive titles in the years to come, but count me among its fans. While being "in the know" regarding the current state of Studio Ghibli and Miyazaki's 60+ year-long career in animation allows one to better appreciate the many allusions and themes within the film, it stands just fine on its own as a surrealistic adventure about grief and the power of art. Also, damn, I LOVE hand-drawn animation so much.

Black Cat (dir. Kaneto Shindo, 1968)

Kaneto Shindo's Black Cat is yet another confirmation of my feeling that horror pairs best with humor or heartbreak. While there are some morbidly funny moments, Black Cat is largely a devastating supernatural horror story about a young samurai who encounters two mysterious women in the woods, not realizing they are the ghosts of his murdered wife and mother. Even worse, they've sworn to kill any and all samurai they encounter, since their deaths were the result of raping, pillaging samurai-- but they remain human enough to desire an exception. I was creeped out thoroughly by the chilly atmosphere and imagery of this film. I liked it even better than Shindo's Onibaba and that was one of my favorites from 2022!

Malcolm X (dir. Spike Lee, 1992)

I usually dislike big movie biopics for being stuffy and formulaic. Malcolm X avoids both of these issues. Directed to the hilt by Spike Lee, this film is passionate and compelling, about as far from a stuffy Oscarbait biopic as you could imagine. Also, Denzel Washington is AMAZING in the titular role. Like, we're talking one of the best performances I have ever seen because not only is Washington convincing as Malcolm X, he also perfectly portrays his arc from zoot-suited young criminal to uncompromising activist leader. I was absolutely mesmerized the entire time-- it's a long movie that never feels its length and I'll definitely be revisiting it in the future.

The Kiss Before the Mirror (dir. James Whale, 1933)

James Whale’s horror movies are listed among the finest 1930s cinema had to offer, but his other works remain woefully overlooked. The Kiss Before the Mirror is a strange marital drama set in a dreamlike interwar Vienna. A lawyer defending a murderer who shot down his cheating wife comes to discover his own wife in the midst of a casual affair. Will this discovery lead to another killing? Despite the lurid plot elements, Kiss is closer to Kubrick’s introspective Eyes Wide Shut than a typical 1930s melodrama. Both husband and wife are complex characters struggling with destroyed illusions, making the story a hell of a lot more complex than you'd expect.

Five Miles to Midnight (dir. Anatole Litvak, 1962)

I am so glad I ignored the meh reviews on this one because I would have missed out on one of the best thrillers I've seen in years. Sophia Loren is a woman desperate to shake off her narcissistic, abusive husband played by Tony Perkins. When Perkins is wrongly believed dead in a plane crash, he hides out in Loren's apartment so they can collect the life insurance money, split the funds, then part amicably. This being a Hitchcock-style thriller, it doesn't work out that way. What sells the film is the psychological cat-and-mouse game between Loren and Perkins's miserable, mismatched married couple, and a noirish sense of doom lends a great deal of atmosphere.

Shoes (dir. Lois Weber, 1916)

Shoes is the best Lois Weber film I have yet seen and it still packs a wallop a century-plus since its initial release. Mary MacLaren plays a young woman single-handedly supporting her family on a five dollar a week salary. She wears shoes that are falling apart but can never seem to save enough for a new pair-- that is, until an unsavory way of getting the cash presents itself, much to her horror and temptation. This is a heartbreaking little film that showcases a lot of what I love about 1910s American cinema. There's less glamor in the settings and nothing at all genteel or cleaned up about the poverty on display. MacLaren is wonderful in the lead too, her performance a quietly compelling portrait of quiet desperation.

Jeopardy (dir. John Sturges, 1953)

Barbara Stanwyck was in such a wealth of films that I can forgive myself for not realizing this one even existed. After seeing it, it's easily in my top five favorite films of hers. On the surface, the plot sounds like fodder for sleazy sex fantasy: a housewife on vacation is kidnapped by a hot escaped convict. She's racing against time to save her husband from drowning after the tide comes in at the beach where he's trapped; the convict has a very specific price for any aid he's willing to offer. Stanwyck's characterization complicates the situation and the direction amps the tension to a breaking point. Great, great stuff!

Girlfriends (dir. Claudia Weill, 1978)

This film came across my path in a weirdly personal way. One of my sisters got engaged this year. We've been close all of our lives and shared an apartment for years, so this is going to be a big change for both of us. Girlfriends is about a young woman whose best friend is getting married, meaning she'll be on her own for the first time. In addition to making this adjustment, she's a photographer currently hired for weddings and bar mitzvahs, but dreaming of entering the larger world of art galleries. I guess you could say it's a 70s version of a quarter-life crisis film (Noah Baumbach's Frances Ha takes A LOT from it). The performances and direction are exceptional, having that unglamorous, lived-in vibe I love about the films of this period. It also just happened to come into my life at the most resonant time, so there's that.

Ivan the Terrible, Parts One and Two (dir. Sergei Eisenstein, 1945 and 1958)

As a person who hates the idea that realism is the only valid form for cinematic drama, Eisenstein's hyper-stylized Ivan the Terrible movies are a joy. The compositions are like something out of a painting, the acting is operatic, the writing mythic and sweeping. The dance number in Part II is one of my favorite scenes in any movie ever. Best of all, the films rise above their propagandist origins, becoming a fascinating study of institutional power set against individual charisma.

The Red Queen Kills Seven Times (dir. Emilio Miraglia, 1972)

I've been getting more into giallo lately and The Red Queen Kills Seven Times is among the more memorable titles. You have the fashion world setting, a disguised murderer running around in a red cloak, over the top kills, a villainous junkie who looks like Bucky Barnes, a spooky castle with death traps, the works. It's a movie where I don't really care too much about the plot. It's the off-kilter, sinister atmosphere that draws me in, as with most giallo movies.

Little Miss Sunshine (dir. Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, 2006)

It took Alan Arkin dying for me to finally get around to seeing this much beloved 2000s gem. I expected to only be interested in Arkin as the drug-addled, foul-mouthed grandpa, but the entire movie is so warm-hearted and hilarious that I fell in love with it whole hog. The characters are all quirky without being Quriky (tm), if you know what I mean. And I love the final message about just living your life and not worrying about whether or not you're "successful" in the eyes of society. An old theme to be sure, but done so, so well here. (Also, the mercilessly satirical jab at child beauty pageants is pure gold.)

Pom Poko (dir. Isao Takahata, 1994)

I feel like a lot of western anime fans only see Pom Poko as "lol that movie where the tanuki have comically oversized testicles." And yeah, that is indeed something in this movie but there's so much more. It's one of the boldest films I've ever seen, an "animated documentary" (to use Takahata's words) about a village of tanuki waging war against humankind's encroachment upon the natural world. It's such a genre grab-bag, critic Daniel Thomas' description fits it best: "The story weaves through slapstick comedy, social commentary, satire, surrealism, and tragedy. It changes moods much the way the tanuki change form, bending and molding into a new shape, and relentlessly moving forward." I still think Only Yesterday is Takahata's best film, but Pom Poko is strong competition and yet another film I can see myself rewatching many times to come.

Bullet Train (dir. David Leitch, 2022)

I still kick myself for not seeing this in the theater when it came out. Bullet Train is a wonderful lark of an action film. On first watch, I recall thinking it was like a live-action anime shot in a very Tarantino-esque style. I've seen it a few times now and I enjoy the hell out of it every time. And if you don't like it, well, you just might be a Diesel.

That Cold Day in the Park (dir. Robert Altman, 1969)

Another film with a so-so reputation that I really enjoyed. Sandy Dennis (who's gradually becoming one of my favorites with every performance I see from her) plays a virginal rich woman who takes in a handsome young guy one cold day. Her initial kindness quickly curdles into erotic obsession and her house guest has his own secrets. It's an early Robert Altman film and not his most polished work, but that makes it all the more fascinating to me. It's a creepy psychological thriller with a haunting ending, as well as an interesting time capsule of the late 1960s.

Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (dir. Russ Meyer, 1965)

Where has this movie been all my life?? It's a bizarre campfest about three criminally minded go-go dancers who romp across the California desert, strewing all kinds of havoc in their wake. It's such a strange movie that I don't know how to describe it properly: it's got a New Wave sensibility to it all the while indulging in exploitation B-movie nonsense. Definitely a fun film to watch with a group.

Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (dir. Chantal Akermann, 1975)

I finally bit the bullet to watch this one after it topped the 2022 Sight & Sound list. Do I think it's the greatest film of all time? No, but I don't like singling out any work of art for such a designation. Putting aside all the drama that ensued when this was granted GOAT status, Jeanne Dielman is a striking film. It's definitely not something you just throw on casually-- you need to set aside the time to watch it and be in the right headspace. My initial mild interest morphed into a sense of anxious dread as the film ground along its three hour runtime, its protagonist struggling to retain her total sense of self-possession and control as she's thrown off her groove by unexpected events.

The Wicked Lady (dir. Leslie Arliss, 1945)

This is not high art by any means. It's melodrama with a capital M, laying the cheese on thick. Margaret Lockwood plays a devious, scheming femme fatale in 18th century England who's a gold-digging noblewoman by day and a highwaywoman cavorting with bad boy James Mason by night. This is easily the most entertaining of the Gainsborough melodramas I've yet seen, dripping with soap opera antics, sumptuous costumes, and camp-a-plenty.

War and Peace (dir. Sergei Bondarchuk, 1966-1967)

There is no substitute for reading Tolstoy's massive novel, but this 1966 Soviet version is definitely a fine work in its own right. Filmed in three parts, it's about nine hours long and it does a good job capturing the interior lives of the characters in the source material. Everything about it is just breathtaking: the costumes, the sets, the massive numbers of extras during those battle scenes. It's the kind of intellectually and emotionally stirring epic that makes all those hours fly by.

The Sweet Smell of Success (dir. Alexander Mackendrick, 1957)

I often chafe when people act as though all 1950s American cinema were Leave it to Beaver wholesomeness and buttoned up repression. Some of the nastiest Hollywood movies I've ever seen came out of the 1950s and The Sweet Smell of Success is prime among them. Among the best of the late classic noir period, it follows Burt Lancaster as a popular but monstrous newspaper columnist who uses his power to control the lives of everyone around him, particularly his sister, to whom he has a borderline perverse attachment. The dialogue is as sharp ("You're dead, son. Get yourself buried." "I'd hate to take a bite out of you. You're a cookie full of arsenic.") and the cynicism as thick as the best of Billy Wilder. If you love noir, you can't miss out on this one.

What were your favorite film discoveries of 2023?

#thoughts #the sweet smell of success #little miss sunshine #that cold day in the park #bullet train #jeopardy 1953 #the kiss before the mirror #malcolm x 1992 #war and peace 1966 #girlfriends 1978 #the wicked lady #jeanne dielman #five miles to midnight #pom poko #the boy and the heron #faster pussycat! kill! kill! #black cat 1968 #kuroneko #when a woman ascends the stairs #ivan the terrible #the red queen kills seven times

[hilema]

War and Peace Part II: Natasha Rostova (1966) dir. Sergei Bondarchuk

#war and peace #war and peace 1966 #sergei bondarchuk #natasha rostova #movies #hilewa #lol i just had to

[lesgatsby]

andrei bolkonsky: austerlitz

| this was made a while ago, but i decided to post on tumblr as well |

#andrei bolkonsky #guys i love him so bad #war and peace #war and peace 1966 #pierre bezukhov #soviet war and peace #war and peace edit #andrei bolkonsky edit #andrey bolkonsky

[russianperioddrama]

ROUND 1: GROUP C

#round 1 #war and peace #war and peace 1966 #Voyna i mir #Voyna i mir 1966 #The Queen of Spades #the queen of spades 1982 #Pikovaya dama #pikovaya dama 1982 #russian period dramas bracket #period dramas #tumblr bracket #polls #tumblr polls #russian period dramas

[pixies992]

vasily lanovoyyy as anatolleee kurgainnns 😔🤨🥺😭 repost because I did it wrong the first timereee

#war and peace #anatole kuragin #war and peace 1966 #wow I’m so great at tumblr you would not believe #vasily lanovoy #my art

[helenekuragina]

After Hélène, the little princess also came over from the tea table. 

“Attendez-moi, je vais prendre mon ouvrage,” she said. “Voyons, à quoi pensez-vous?” she turned to Prince Ippolit. “Apportez-moi mon reticule.”

The princess, smiling and talking with everyone, suddenly effected the transposition, and, taking a seat, cheerily settled herself.

“Now I feel good,” she said several times, and, asking them to begin, started to work. Prince Ippolit fetched her reticule, came after her, and, moving his chair towards her, sat down close by.

war and peace,  leo tolstoy.

#their bestieship <3 #lise meinen #ippolit kuragin #war and peace #* #lm #war and peace 1966

[tollundmen]

told myself i was going to stop reading so many long old dusty books all the time & immediately came across an $11 color-illustrated copy of war and peace at the local used book store... this was the devil tempting me and i failed spectacularly

#kropotkin translation so it's abridged #but still how cool.... has a birthday inscription from 1966! #war and peace #will probably end up with a pevear and volokhonsky translation eventually #but the little gilded cover designs called to me... #what can i say... #i am a tollund man of many vices....

[rwpohl]

#war and peace #part ii #natasha rostova #sergei bondarchuk #1966 #andrei tarkovsky #stalker #werner schroeter #salome #oscar wilde #paris #about photography #u8 #wittenau #gesobau #leipzig #the shooting party

[natasharostova]

#this song and the very end of the 1966 war and peace.... perfection #♥ – » musings. trsl. размышления.

[thatwritererinoriordan]

#arthur miller #read-in for peace #vietnam war #1966 #Spotify

[nitrateglow]

Disorganized thoughts I have ten minutes after finishing the 1966 War and Peace movie

Just finished the Soviet War and Peace. I stretched out the viewing to a few days, so it really feels like I’ve taken a journey with these characters.

Having read the book, I can say this is about 70% close to the book. It’s amazing how even though this movie is over 7 hours long, it still isn’t a complete adaptation-- Marya and Sonya are shoved to the side, and Pierre’s time as a Freemason is pretty much condensed into a single, throwaway line of dialogue. Also, the lengthy essay sections where Tolstoy steps back from the narrative to discuss history aren’t there... but then again, those sections are pretty much impossible to adapt.

The only other version of W&P I’ve ever seen is the 1956 one directed by King Vidor, and this version blows that one out the water. No contest. It just feels grander and far less soap-y in presentation. Part of my issue with the 1956 version is that of the three principals only the casting of Audrey Hepburn as Natasha really worked, since she has the right blend of girlishness and inner steel-- otherwise, Henry Fonda was too old as Pierre and Mel Ferrer as Andrei is... not so impressive acting-wise.

Here, everyone was cast mostly perfectly-- though Sergey Bonderchuk was still too old as Pierre, but at least he fit the role better than Fonda. Vyacheslav Tikhonov was a great Andrei: pensive, grave, and tragic. But the standout is Ludmilla Saveleva as Natasha. She NAILED it. I have rarely seen an actor convincingly play a character from adolescence into adulthood, undergoing such a vivid and realistic spiritual transformation onscreen, but she is just so, so perfect *chef’s kiss*.

In addition to playing Pierre, Bonderchuk directed the film and his approach to the material is fascinating. This feels similar to a lot of the old-school epics of the mid-20th century in terms of its spectacle and scope, but it also has surrealistic and expressionistic flourishes which are more akin to experimental cinema. Some of the big epics from the 50s and 60s can feel a bit stodgy due to their style, but not this one. It constantly feels fresh, like a blend of the best of the old and the new.

So this was just a bunch of rambling, but man-- what a fantastic movie!

And now I’m itching to reread the book...

#war and peace #war and peace 1966 #thoughts

[hilema]

War and Peace Part II: Natasha Rostova (1966) dir. Sergei Bondarchuk

#war and peace #war and peace 1966 #sergei bondarchuk #movies #hilewa #ahaha this part was so good

[russianperioddrama]

ROUND 3: GROUP C

#round 3 #gogol 2017 #gogol #war and peace #war and peace 1966 #voyna i mir #russian period dramas bracket #period dramas #tumblr bracket #polls #tumblr polls #russian period dramas

[hotvintagepoll]

Propaganda

Jeremy Brett (My Fair Lady)—"...he was beautiful. A strange adjective to use in describing a man. I use it not to suggest effeminacy or a kind of male prettiness, but in the same way I would use it to describe a throughbred stallion, Michelangelo's David or Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. There was with Jeremy Huggins [Brett's non- stage name] a perfection and sublime symmetry in his features that was beautiful." [quote from "Bending the Willow" by David Stuart Davies]

Toshiro Mifune (Rashumon, Seven Samurai, Grand Prix, Stray Dog)—i love and respect my boi tab hunter (rest in peace you beautiful, beautiful man ❤️), but after i watched like 12 of his movies in a row on tcm last year, i ALSO love and respect toshiro mifune, son of a literal actual hatamoto’s (a high-ranking samurai) daughter, also very possibly related to the best judokan EVER, AND, he’s the guy who SHOULD have been obi-wan kenobi. the fact that he’s ALSO hot as hell just adds to his appeal.

This is one of four polls in the tournament quarterfinals. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. Please reblog with further support of your beloved hot sexy vintage man.

THIS POLL LASTS FOR 24 HOURS.

[additional propaganda submitted under the cut.]

Jeremy Brett propaganda:

"according to critic Kenneth Tynan a 'too beautiful' Hamlet."

"he’s such a himbo sunshine boy in my fair lady"

“not technically propaganda because it won’t let me save the images but just found out my bi king jeremy brett played patroclus https://www.jeremy-brett.fr/crbst_183.html and also apparently dorian gray in the 60s and basil hallward in the 70s?? range.”

"...as a dashing D'Artagnan in The Three Musketeers (1966/67) (Duelling is no problem! XD)”

“dropping to sleep - Jeremy is far too handsome to play d'art and also too tall, lol”

Toshiro Mifune propaganda:

"In addition, he spoke fluent mandarin and every time he was casted in foreign films, he said his lines in the language of the movie (although they ended up dubbing him. He wasn’t happy about it though).”

Submitted: this gifset

Also submitted: this video (yes, that one)

"Crucial Toshiro Mifune propaganda: THOSE LEGS."

"That is hella muscle. Go watch The Hidden Fortress, aka Star Wars A New Hope. His thighs deserve an award."

#toshiro mifune #jeremy brett #hotvintagepoll #round 5 #fuck that old man

[helenekuragina]

When he suddenly realized all the joyful meaning of that cry, tears choked him and, leaning both elbows on the windowsill, he wept, sobbing, as children weep. The door opened. The doctor, his shirtsleeves rolled up, without his frock coat, pale, his jaw trembling, came out of the room. Prince Andrei turned to him, but the doctor gave him a bewildered look and passed by without saying a word. A woman ran out, and, seeing Prince Andrei, hesitated in the doorway. He went into his wife's room. She lay dead in the same position in which he had seen her five minutes before, and, despite her still eyes and pale cheeks, there was the same expression on that lovely, timid, childish face, with its lip covered with fine black hair. 

“I loved you all and did nothing bad to anybody, and what have you done to me? Ah, what have you done to me?” said her lovely, pitiful, dead face. In the corner, something small and red snorted and squealed m Marya Bogdanovna's white, trembling hands.

war and peace, leo tolstoy.

#i'm sad so u all have to be sad w/ me #lise meinen #andrei bolkonsky #war and peace #* #lm #war and peace 1966 #og fridged woman

[anarchywoofwoof]

on Martin Luther King Jr. day, here's a reminder of his words penned from the interior of a Birmingham, Alabama jail in 1963:

“I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizens Councilor or the Ku Klux Klanner but the White moderate who is more devoted to ‘order’ than to justice.”

while liberals and self-proclaimed moderates will flock to social media today to post their MLK quotes and laud the achievements of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., it's important to keep in mind that Dr. King wasn't always popular with the average american. in the 1960s, public opinion was mixed until around 1966 when his popularity fell off a cliff.

and despite his starkly positive posthumous approval rating, one could argue that Dr. King would not be nearly as popular today if he was still among the living.

King was a strong critic of the Vietnam War and a fierce advocate for labor rights. he spent time in jail, was being followed by the FBI, was charged with having communist sympathies despite his outspoken criticism of the communist party, and was adamantly opposed to poverty and wealth disparity - he actually believed in a guaranteed income. in the modern world, he would not be praised for holding these views.

we do a disservice to Dr. King's legacy and all that he worked for when we choose to celebrate a sanitized version of him that is full of quotes taken out of context and nebulous ideals about peace and harmony; yes, he supported nonviolence when possible. however, as with everyone, his views and convictions changed and evolved with time. his notions about what constituted "resistance" were complex, disruptive, and often culminated in violence by those on opposing sides. furthermore, Dr. King was a staunch opponent of capitalism and the type of society that it creates.

when we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr Day, we celebrate the ideals that he championed. that includes the views that many people find scary and "radical" in today's world.

#martin luther king jr #mlk jr #mlk day #united states #us history