Films etc.

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Last  week, from Sunday to Wednesday, I saw four movies at Film Forum in their ongoing program, “The City: Real and Imagined.” This series has over 60 films set in New York City and runs from May 12 to June 8. It was a deep pleasure to see four great films on four consecutive days. Here are my thoughts on those films.

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Easy Living (Mitchell Leisen, director. Preston Sturges, writer. 1937)  Of the four films, this is the only one I hadn’t seen before. I can blather on incessantly about film noir or classic horror movies, but I’m not as conversant when it comes to screwball comedies. I’ve seen It Happened One Night (1934), Bringing Up Baby (1938), The Lady Eve (1941), and Sullivan’s Travels (1941) among others, but I seldom seek them out. Interestingly, the last two were written and directed by Preston Sturges, who wrote Easy Living. Sturges throws a long shadow.

I hadn’t intended on seeing Easy Living. I was geared to see some of the more obvious titles, such as The French Connection and Serpico (and still will). But my wife was doing something with her sister that day, so I had a window, and this is what fit. As it turned out, I’m really glad I did. Easy Living is great! I loved it. Wall Street millionaire Edward Arnold throws his wife’s new sable fur coat out the window from their penthouse where it falls onto office clerk Jean Arthur, riding by in an open-air bus below. The writing is great, the plotting complex and head-spinning, the pace seldom lets up. As Samuel Wigley on the BFI website puts it, “…misunderstanding is piled on misunderstanding like an ever-more precarious house of cards.”

Here is a scene between Edward Arnold and a clueless Jean Arthur after he’s discovered that she has the sable coat.

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Ray Milland, as Edward Arnold’s son, is trying to make it on his own. He’s working at an Automat, where a very hungry Jean Arthur shows up, hoping to have enough coins to buy some food. The sequence that ensues is, for me, a high point of the film as it turns into a hilarious food riot. Here’s the scene. It runs just over eight minutes and takes a little while for things to go crazy, but stay with it. Believe me, it’s worth it.

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I hadn’t realized until after seeing Easy Living that Jean Arthur is in one of my all-time favorite films, George Stevens’ Shane (1953), a truly great movie.

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The only source I can find for streaming Easy Living is on YouTube. This is the complete feature. The image quality is excellent, which surprised me a bit. Check it out when you’ve got the time. It runs just under 90 minutes.

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The Naked City (Jules Dassin, director, 1948)  Another great film by a great director. What stands out is that it was shot entirely on location in New York City, exteriors and interiors, all of it. This lends a documentary aspect, especially for the street scenes, which provides a look back at the city at that time. The significance of the location shooting in this film can’t be overestimated. As with the location work in Sweet Smell of Success, it lends a sense of reality that is felt as well as seen.

I’ve seen The Naked City numerous times, but this time it seemed even better to me than it had before. It all fits together, every element. This film is as nearly perfect as you’re likely to get. But I remember the first time I saw it, I didn’t like the voice-over narration by producer Mark Hellinger that opens the film and punctuates it throughout. His narration has a folksy, conversational style that seemed out of place for this film. Then I got used to it, and now it’s one more thing that sets this film apart. Here’s the opening, which will give you a sense of it.

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The Naked City is a police procedural that takes us step by step through the investigation of the murder that opens the film. Barry Fitzgerald plays Lt. Dan Muldoon, a homicide detective with something of a leprechaun in his manner, though he’s all business when he has to be, which is most of the time. His partner is Jimmy Halloran, a cop with far less experience, well played by Don Taylor. They make a good team. There’s humor in the film, along with a lot of pain.

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The shot below shows Don Taylor, with pistol, tie blowing, and Barry Fitzgerald in the passenger seat of the cop car. They’re in hot pursuit of the killer. The end is near.

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Below is a clip of the climax, a final foot chase and shootout on the Williamsburg Bridge. Mark Hellinger can be heard making very excited comments on the narration track.    **SPOILER ALERT** for anyone who hasn’t seen the film and doesn’t want to see the ending. It’s a knockout, but I understand.

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The Naked City is available for streaming on Amazon Prime and Max (previously HBO Max).

Click here for an interview with Film Forum repertory programmer Bruce Goldstein on Jules Dassin and The Naked City. This is a deep dive, especially as concerns the location shooting.

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Rosemary’s Baby (Roman Polanski, director & writer, 1968)  I didn’t enjoy seeing Rosemary’s Baby last week in the same way I did the other three films in this post. I felt angry and irritated at how Mia Farrow’s character was being manipulated by those around her, that there was no way out for this woman as the film closed in around her. The only action left to her at the end is to rock the cradle holding Satan’s son. I’d seen it before, so I knew what was coming. I think my visceral response was a sign of the film’s effectiveness.

Film rights to Ira Levin’s novel were acquired by Robert Evans at Paramount even before the book was published in April 1967. Evans had read galley proofs and saw the commercial potential of a film version. Roman Polanski was hired to write as well as direct the film. They would work together again six years later with Chinatown, Polanski directing and Evans producing.

Exteriors for Rosemary’s Baby were shot in New York City, notably the iconic Dakota apartment on 72nd Street and Central Park West, which became the Bramford in the film. The bulk of principal photography was on sets in Los Angeles.

Rosemary’s Baby is a significant film. It’s part of our popular culture. For better or worse, it launched a wave of religion-based supernatural films such as The Exorcist (1973) and The Omen (1976). I doubt I’m the only one who remembers that great line of dialogue from The Exorcist: “Fuck me, I’m the Devil!” This is a bit of a digression, but the thing about all these films, including vampire movies (thanks to Bram Stoker), is that it’s a given that Christianity is the one true reality. This seems rather presumptuous to me. Just saying. But I’m always amused by the Jewish vampire in Polanski’s The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967) who’s unfazed by a cross.

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The cast is excellent. Prior to Rosemary’s Baby, Mia Farrow had only appeared in two feature films, though she had done a fair amount of television work, most significantly appearing in 263 episodes of the series, Peyton Place, so she wasn’t exactly unknown. She’s really the heart of Rosemary’s Baby. John Cassavetes, who plays Rosemary’s husband, Guy, always has a sinister look to me, which makes for effective casting in this case. This was Charles Grodin’s first feature, in a small part as Rosemary’s first doctor. Ruth Gordon received an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress as Minnie Castevet, Rosemary’s Satan-worshipping next-door neighbor. She’s a trip. Here’s a clip of her entrance in the film.

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I hadn’t seen this poster before. It’s an interesting, though not very subtle, variation on the more well-known poster design (seen at the top of this post).

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Main title sequence.

Rosemary’s Baby is available for streaming on Amazon Prime.

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Sweet Smell of Success (Alexander Mackendrick, director/co-writer; Ernest Lehman & Clifford Odets, co-writers, 1957)  Despite making Time magazine’s and the New York Harald Tribune’s 10-best list for 1957, Sweet Smell of Success was a commercial flop on its initial release. Per Sam Kashner in a piece on the film in the April 2000 Vanity Fair, the movie was just too cynical for the times. A film executive said it seemed to have been made “almost in defiance of the box-office.” We all know better now.  This is one of those films, like Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon (1975), that has only grown over time.

It is indeed cynical. There’s no one to like, really, excepting the Susan Harrison, Barbara Nichols, and Jeff Donnell characters, and even then it’s more like you just feel sorry for them. The two main characters are not very nice, to put it mildly. Burt Lancaster plays J. J. Hunsecker, a powerful newspaper columnist who inspires fear in most everyone around him. It’s a tightly controlled performance that radiates malevolence. Elmer Bernstein, the film’s composer, said this about Lancaster: “Burt was really scary. He was a dangerous guy. He had a short fuse. He was very physical. You thought you might get punched out.” Accurate or not, this quality certainly informs his performance.

Tony Curtis plays Sidney Falco, a press agent and weaselly suck-up who won’t do anything without first calculating what’s in it for him. His charm and charisma somewhat mitigate the fact that he’s a real louse. Sidney’s livelihood depends on having items about his clients appear in the city’s newspaper columns. The most important of these is J. J. Hunsecker’s. Sidney is a constant supplicant at the table in “21” from which J. J. dispenses insults and sometimes favors. No humiliation seems too great for Sidney to endure. Curtis is really great in this film. His performance here proved he could act beyond his looks.

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Sweet Smell of Success was shot by James Wong Howe, a terrific cinematographer whose many credits, which go back to silent films, include The Thin Man (1934), Hud (1963), and Hombre (1967). Sweet Smell takes place almost entirely at night. His crisp black & white photography shows a noirish view of New York City, streets wet with rain, reflections and shadows. Sam Kashner in Vanity Fair writes that it would have been impossible to get the sort of shots Howe wanted filming inside the “21” club, so interiors were filmed in Hollywood — they spent $25,000 just recreating “21,” with movable “wild walls” to make way for Howe’s camera. He smeared the walls with oil so they would gleam. (I love this detail.)

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One of the greatest things about this film for me is the music by  Elmer Bernstein. Though his iconic score for The Magnificent Seven (1960) is probably the one most people know, just a few of his previous scores include The Ten Commandments (1956), The Man with the Golden Arm (1955), To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), and The Great Escape (1963). His work here is the epitome of big city noir. Check it out in this clip.

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The dialogue is blistering. I think a lot of this had to do with Clifford Odets’ contribution. He came on after Ernest Lehman had left the picture. When director Alexander Mackendrick expressed concern about the dialogue, Odets says he told him, “You’re probably worried that the dialogue is exaggerated and may sound implausible. Don’t be. Play it real fast — and play the scenes not for the words but for the situation. Play them ‘on the run’ and they’ll work just fine.” That they did.

Sweet Smell of Success didn’t have a final script when they started shooting. Odets was working under great pressure, grinding out scenes at the last minute so they could be shot. Odets was put with his typewriter in a prop truck on the set to work. At about three or four one morning (lots of night shoots), Tony Curtis joined him in the truck. Odets suddenly looked up and said, “Come here, kid, I want to show you something. Look at what I’m writing.” Per Curtis: “I see he’s just typed out, ‘The cat’s in the bag, and the bag’s in the river.’ It took my breath away.” This is my favorite line in the film.

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Sweet Smell of Success is available for streaming on Amazon Prime.

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That’s all for now. See you next time. Stay safe. — Ted Hicks

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I was 8 years old when I first saw Invaders from Mars (1953), about the same age as the protagonist, David Maclean (Jimmy Hunt), a young boy who sees a flying saucer land in a sand pit behind his house and burrow into the ground. Martians begin taking over the local human population via implants in the back of the neck. David’s parents (Lief Erickson & Hillary Brooke) are among the victims. He’s the only one who has a sense of what’s going on, but who’s going to believe him? He’s just a kid. Eventually two scientists (Arthur Franz & Helena Carter), rather improbably do believe him and somehow, equally improbably, manage to mobilize the army to thwart the Martians. I’ve seen Invaders from Mars a number of times over the years. I have a great deal of nostalgic affection for the film, though it’s pretty weak in a lot of areas. But what still works is what worked then — having David’s parents, previously loving and supportive, become something “other.” The film exploits a fear that your parents, the police, and adults in general, are not who you thought they were. This had a lot of impact on kids of that age.  Invasion of the Body Snatchers would explore the theme of being taken over much more powerfully in 1956. But until then, this one did the job.

Invaders from Mars isn’t in the same league as ‘50s films such as The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), The Thing from Another World (1951), The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957), Them (1954), and The War of the Worlds (1953). But at the time it probably engaged me more directly in a personal way because of my identification with David. I’m not alone in that. In a piece on the film in the Den of Geek website, Don Kaye reports that Steven Spielberg has said of Invaders from Mars that “It really turned my world around…It certainly touched a nerve in all the kids like myself who saw the film at a very young age.” He went back to the theater four more times to see it.

Per Joe Dante, director of The Howling (1981) and Gremlins (1984), “Invaders from Mars is a very Lewis Carroll, child’s eye view of a science fiction story.” John Landis, director of An American Werewolf in London (1981), says “My great affection for Invaders from Mars is partially because I saw it at the right age and was very frightened by it.” It’s an important film for the Famous Monsters of Filmland generation.

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While it frequently has the look of a low-budget film, particularly in its extensive use of military stock footage to pad the running time, the filmmakers involved have a long list of impressive credits.

Invaders from Mars was directed by William Cameron Menzies (1896-1957). He began working on feature films in 1917. His work covered five decades. While he directed a number of films later in his career, he is best known as a production designer, a job title either invented by him or created for him, depending on your source. In 1936, he designed and directed Things to Come, notable for its futuristic sets. In 1939, he was production designer for Gone with the Wind, as well as directing the burning of Atlanta sequence. He received a special Academy Award for his work on that film. The last film he worked on was Around the World in 80 Days (1956). He died the following year at age 60.

Per Don Kaye, Menzies’ work on Invaders from Mars included “…designing the sets so that they looked overly large and somewhat distorted—the way a child might view them from a much lower vantage point. The best example of this is the police station, which consists of an unusually tall desk situated at the end of a long, white hallway. The walls are stark, unadorned, and higher than normal, adding to the sense of dislocation that little David feels as he approaches the desk (Menzies also used a lot of low camera angles, again to replicate the POV of a child). Other sets fashioned in this way were the inside of the alien spacecraft and the observatory where David meets with Dr. Blake and Dr. Kelston (the scientists who believe him). Of course some of the minimalism of the sets (along with the obvious stock footage of army units on the move) was due to the tight budget, but they added to the surreal nature of the film.

Here is a shot set in the police station.

Below is a shot of the hill behind David’s home, a surreal set with its twisting fence, tortured trees, and winding pathway like something out of Grimm’s fairy tales or Fantasia.

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Invaders from Mars was shot by John F. Seitz (1892-1979), a cinematographer I was unaware of by name, but I certainly knew his work. He began as a lab technician in 1909. By 1916 he’d become a lead cameraman, a few years later shooting the Rudolph Valentino film, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921). Some of his many credits include Sullivan’s Travels (1941), Double Indemnity (1944), The Lost Weekend (1945), Sunset Boulevard (1950), and A Place in the Sun (1951). He was nominated for seven Academy Awards, which includes four nominations for films he shot for Billy Wilder. He died in 1979 at age 86.

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Lief Erickson, as David’s father George Maclean, is a scientist working on a hush hush project to develop an atomic rocket. The Martians are here to destroy it. He’s introduced as a loving father who shares his son’s interest in astronomy. The most disturbing scene is when, after being taken over by the Martians, he gets angry at something David says and  backhands him across the face, knocking David to the floor. It’s frightening because it’s a very real moment in an otherwise fantastic narrative. A short clip of this scene can be seen in the two trailers further down.

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As far as I know, this was one of the first films to have a theme of people being taken over, or replaced. The name for believing this is happening is Capgras Syndrome, a.k.a. Imposter Syndrome, described as an irrational belief that someone you know has been replaced by an imposter. Though in case of Invaders from Mars and other films that utilized this theme, the belief is not irrational at all.

In It Came from Outer Space, also released in 1953, aliens have not come to invade. They’ve crashed on earth by mistake and mean no harm to humans. Because they know their real appearance would be too horrible for us to accept, they take the shape of people they encounter so they can walk among us while working to repair their ship. They just want to get the hell out of here. It’s not as paranoid as the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers, a truly great film, would be in 1956, but it’s unusually thoughtful for the genre at that time.

More recently, an Austrian film, Goodnight Mommy (2014), went deeper into the notion of replacement. Per a description from IMDb: “In a lonesome house in the countryside between woods and cornfields live nine-year-old twin brothers who are waiting for their mother in the heat of summer. When she comes home, her head completely wrapped in bandages after cosmetic surgery, nothing is like before. The children start to doubt that this woman is actually their mother.” This is an extremely creepy film.

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I most recently saw Invaders from Mars at Film Forum last month as part of their weekly Film Forum Jr. program. This is a Sunday morning series showing films that are not kids films per se. The intention is to make classic films of all types available to audiences of all ages. This was a 4K restoration done by Ignite Films. The original release trailer is below, followed by the restoration trailer. The difference in image quality is quite stunning. I think the second trailer gives a better sense of the film.

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At the end of Invaders from Mars, David wakes up in his bed at home, relieved to realize  it’s all apparently been a bad dream. But maybe not, because then through the window he sees a space ship coming down behind their house as before, and it all begins again. Someone at IMBd calls this “…that wonderful ending when it seems that the nightmare will never end.”

At the Film Forum screening, I was sitting in front of a father and his son, who looked about the same age as I was when I first saw Invaders from Mars. When it was over, the father asked the boy how he’d liked it, who replied, “It was great! I loved it.” I got a kick out of that. Seventy years later, and it still works.

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Supplemental

Some interesting connections in the cast.

Jimmy Hunt, who plays David, was 12 or 13 when Invaders from Mars was made, though he appears younger in the film. Born in 1939, he’d been appearing in features since 1947. He was in two more films after Invaders from Mars, then took a break from 1954 until 1986, when he played the sheriff in Tobe Hooper’s inferior remake of the film.

Leif Erickson, who plays David’s father George, was the patriarch of a ranching family on the Bonanza clone, High Chaparral, appearing in 97 episodes from 1967 to 1971. He also appeared in the Marlon Brando film, On the Waterfront (1954).

Arthur Franz, who plays Dr. Kelston, the scientist who believes David’s UFO story, was in the John Wayne movie, Sands of Iwo Jima (1949), The Caine Mutiny (1954), and Jack Arnold’s Monster on the Campus (1958).

Morris Ankrum, who plays Col. Fielding, was a judge in 22 episodes of Perry Mason from 1957 to 1964. He played another military character in Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956).

Milburn Stone, who plays Capt.Roth, appeared as Doc Adams in an astonishing 605 episodes of Gunsmoke from 1955 to 1975.

Barbara Billingsley (uncredited) as Dr, Kelston’s secretary, played the awesome June Cleaver on 235 episodes of Leave It to Beaver from 1957 to 1963.

Robert Shayne (uncredited) as a scientist working on the rocket project the Martians want to derail. He appeared as Inspector Henderson in 90 episodes of The Adventures of Superman from 1952 to 1958.

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Here are deep dives into Invaders from Mars and its production.

Invaders from Mars: The Sci-Fi Classic that Inspired the Spielberg Generation by Don Kaye  

Invaders from Mars – article by Jann Wass

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That about wraps it up. See you next time. Until then, “Keep watching the skies.” — Ted Hicks

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All That Breathes

New York Film Festival Q&A with Shauak Sen (21:22)

Doc NYC interview with Shaunak Sen (13:57)

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All the Beauty and the Bloodshed

New York Film Festival Q&A with Laura Poitras & Nan Goldin (38:27)

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The Automat

Lisa Hurwitz interviewed at 2021 Hamptons Film Festival (17:15)

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Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song

California Film Institute interview with Dayna Goldfine & Dan Geller (27:11)

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Los Angeles Plays Itself

Variety review by Scott Foundas, 2013 may be accessed here.

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Moonage Daydream

Brett Morgan interview (18:52)

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Personality Crisis: One Night Only

New York Film Festival Q&A with David Johansen, Martin Scorsese & others (25:10)

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“Sr.”

New York Film Festival Q&A with Chris Smith, Robert Dowey Jr. & others (18:22)

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Tales of the Purple House

Film Comment print interview with Abbas Fahdel may be accessed here.

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Turn Evry Page: The Adventures of Robert Caro and Robert Gottlieb

NYPL interview with Robert Caro, Robert Gottlieb & Lizzie Gottlieb (52:19)

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¡Viva Maestro!

Landmark Theaters interview with Gustavo Dudamel & Ted Braun (26:43)

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Okay, that’s it for these 2022 wrap-ups. Next up may or may not be my much delayed, much procrastinated, post on Bela Lugosi. Until then, stay safe. — Ted Hicks

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Here are interviews, clips, etc. for some of the films listed in Part 2 of this Best Films series.

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After Yang

AFI interview with director Kogonada (5:50)

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Decision to Leave

New York Film Festival interview with director Park Chan-wook  (20:52)

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Hold Me Tight

New York Film Festival interview with director Mathieu Almaric & Vicky Krieps (43:46)

Angelika Film Center interview with Mathieu Almaric & Vicky Krieps (35:41)  Note: I was at this screening and following interview. I asked the second-to-last audience question at apparoximately 29:00, if you’re interested.

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The Northman

New Yorker profile of director/writer Robert Eggers can be accessed here.

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White Noise

New York Film Festival intrviews with cast & filmmakers (37:29)

Closing credits sequence (7:16)  This is pretty amazing.

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RRR

Tiger fight scene (2:20)  SPOILER ALERT: I can’t resist including this, even though it’s probably something better discovered in the context of the film.

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That’s it for this one. Next up: Best Documentaries 2022.  — Ted Hicks

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Here are the best of the rest of what I saw last year, 20 films in alphabetical order, with the exception of the first one listed. I don’t claim that all of these are great films (though some of them are), but they all got my attention and engaged me in one way or another. Sometimes it’s just a performance, a feeling, more often it’s the whole package. You’ll also notice that most of these films were written or co-written by their directors. I think this makes a difference in the result.

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RRR (S.S. Rajamouli, director/co-writer)  This film opened in the U.S. on March 25 of last year and until a week ago had been playing at various theaters in the city ever since. I somehow hadn’t cranked up enough interest to check it out until I received the following text from a friend of mine in Minneapolis last month: “We watched RRR last night. Have you seen it? Holy shit!” I saw it was showing at Cinema Village, but the day I’d planned to go, it had moved to a later showtime that I couldn’t make. A week later it had returned to the IFC Center, which is where I finally saw it last Wednesday. It’s currently streaming on Netflix, but this is a film that definitely benefits from being seen on a theater screen, the bigger the better.  That said, I’m sure the film’s energy will come through regardless of format, though it might shatter your TV screen in the process.

If I had seen it before posting Part 1, RRR would have shared the top spot with EO. Set in the 1920s in India, it tells a fictional story of the population revolting against the governing British authorities. The title stands for “Rise Roar Revolt.” I’ve read that no less than James Cameron is a fan. The two main characters are based on actual people, seen here as freedom fighters who are basically superheroes. It’s also the story of an enduring friendship. Everything is way over the top, and quite wonderful. I loved every minute of its 3 hour 7 minute running time. There’s one scene in particular that had my jaw on the floor. You’ll know it when you see it.

Note: The many animals — tigers, leopards, wolves, etc. — in the film are entirely CGI.

Available for streaming on Netflix. Strap yourselves in.

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After Yang  (Kogonada, director/co-writer)

Per Wikipedia: “Jake and Kyra live with their adoptive daughter Mika and Yang, a previously owned robotic child they purchased from certified reseller Second Siblings, rather than from his original maker, Brothers & Sisters Incorporated. When Yang becomes unresponsive, Jake goes on a mission to repair him. Brothers & Sisters recommend replacing Yang, which means his body will decompose. Not wanting to upset Mika, Jake becomes determined to save his robotic child. In a flashback, Yang reassures a curious Mika that she is still part of the family despite being adopted.”

Another excellent film that basically nobody saw. I was interested as soon as I learned it was made by the South Korean director Kogonada. I’d loved his earlier film, Columbus (2017). After Yang has a strong cast that includes the always excellent Colin Farrell and Hayley Lu Richards. The film addresses the question of what it means to be human, an issue that usually comes up when humanoid robots are involved, presented here in a way that is deeply touching and sad.

I’d forgotten this, but just read that at one point in the film, Yang says “The ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu once said that what the caterpillar calls the end the rest of the world calls a butterfly.” An interesting way to look at death.

Available for streaming on Amazon Prime.

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Amsterdam (David O. Russell, director/writer)  Shaggy dog story with many moving parts, shiny objects, frequent flashbacks, and a great cast.

Available for streaming on Amazon Prime.

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Armageddon Time (James Gray, director/writer)  Excellent coming-of-age story. Feels like a good novel. Anthony Hopkins is awesome as usual.

Available for streaming on Amazon Prime.

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Bones and All (Luca Guadagnino, director)  Cannibals on the road. Was initially very wary of this film, not sure I’d want to see what I might see. But not to worry. It’s about a scattered society of cannibals, working class and lower, just getting through one day after the next. Definitely a love story. Excellent cast, which includes the amazing Mark Rylance, who I’m always in awe of. Could just as easily have been a vampire film. I liked it.

Available for streaming on Amazon Prime.

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Decision to Leave (Park Chan-wook, director/co-writer)  Slow-burn thriller from a great director.

Available for streaming on Amazon Prime.

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Emily the Criminal (John Patton Ford, director/writer)  Aubrey Plaza and the charismatic Theo Rossi are excellent in this story of a young woman in financial difficulty who gets recruited to do some low-risk scamming crime that gets more and more high-risk.

Available for streaming on Netflix.

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Everything Everywhere All at Once (Dan Kwan, Daniel Scheinert, directors/writers)  I first took a run at this film shortly after it opened last April. Prior to that, I’d been seeing its trailer for weeks and thought it looked very quirky and right up my alley. So I was surprised to find that I hated it and actually left after an hour, something I almost never do. Even if I’m not liking a film, I feel obligated to see it through in order to have a fully informed opinion. Otherwise it feels like I’ve let both myself and the film down somehow. But this time, I’d had enough and bailed. Was confused because I thought the actor playing Michelle Yeoh’s husband had to be Jackie Chan in an unbilled role. Also hadn’t recognized Jamie Lee Curtis as the IRS official. When I saw the rave reviews the film was getting and how much people seemed to love it, I figured either everyone else was wrong or that I’d just had an off day. I kept putting off giving the film another shot, but when it received eleven Academy Award nominations, I thought I’d better see it if I wanted to be part of the conversation. So late last month I did. This time I was on board for the craziness and liked it. Still not sure it deserves that many nominations, but definitely worth seeing.

Available for purchase to stream @ $19.95 from Amazon Prime. This price will surely come down at some point.

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God’s Country (Julian Higgins director/co-writer)  Slow-burn thriller, very tense.

Available for streaming on AMC+

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The Good Boss (Fernando Léon de Aranoa, director/writer)  A different kind of role for Javier Bardem. Terrific performance as things just get worse and worse.

Available for streaming on Amazon Prime.

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The Good Nurse (Tobias Lindholm, director)  Based on a true story, this film is low-key and very disturbing. Excellent performances from Jessica Chastain and Eddie Redmayne. I’ve liked the Danish director’s previous films, which include Another Round (2020) and A Hijacking (2012). Noah Emmerich is especially good as one of the police detectives investigating the hospital deaths.

Available for streaming on Netflix.

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Hold Me Tight (Mathieu Almeric, director/writer)  Vicky Krieps, also in Corsage, scores again in this tricky film in which you’re not always (or ever) sure of what is actually going on. Rewards a second viewing.

Available for streaming on MUBI.

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Marcel the Shell wifh Shoes On (Dean Fleischer, director/co-writer)  The cuteness factor is off the charts in this wonderful film.

Available for streaming on Amazon Prime.

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Montana Story (Scott McGehee & David Siegel, directors/writers)  Deeply human story of coming home and reconciliation. Excellent performances. I always like Haley Lu Richardson.

Available for streaming on Showtime.

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No Bears (Jafar Panahi, director/writer)  Jafar Panahi, a truly great director, was arrested in March 2010 and charged with propaganda against the Iranian government. In December 2010 he was sentenced to six years in prison and a twenty-year ban on directing films, writing screenplays, giving interviews or leaving the country. While waiting on an  appeal, he made This Is Not a Film in 2011, which was smuggled out of the country on a flash drive hidden inside a cake and shown at that year’s Cannes Film Festival. He continued making films in spite of the ban. His films are inventive acts of resistance.  No Bears is the latest. Panahi was arrested last July and is currently in prison in Iran.

Not yet available for streaming.

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Nope (Jordan Peele, director/writer)  Science fiction film with a high WTF? factor. Since his feature debut with Get Out (2017), Jordan Peele has been expected to deliver something new with each new film, and so far has not disappointed. Keke Palmer is a standout in Nope, as is the murderous chimp that runs amok.

Available for streaming on Peacock.

The following trailers are different enough that I think both are worth including.

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The Northman (Robert Eggers, director/writer)  Meticulously researched by Robert Eggers, this is purportedly the most authentic Viking movie ever. Set in 914 AD, it’s also very violent. Vikings, you know. A son seeks to avenge the murder of his father and kidnapping of his mother, regardless of what it takes or how long. This is only Egger’s third feature. His first, The Witch (2015), put him on the map. The Northman is his biggest production yet, and quite an achievement. You’ll know you’ve seen something.

Available for streaming on Amazon Prime.

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The Outfit (Joe Wright, director)  Mark Rylance gives another masterful performance as Leonard, a Saville Row tailor (or “cutter”) relocated in Chicago, who provides services to an Irish mobster. The film takes place during the course of one night in December 1956, almost entirely within the confines of Leonard’s shop, which becomes a pressure cooker of tension. This noirish thriller takes many twists and turns before the night is over. Good cast, but Rylance owns the film.

Available for streaming on Amazon Prime.

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White Noise (Noah Baumbach, director/writer)  Based on the novel by Don DeLillo, this is, it seems to me, an unexpected film from Noah Baumbach. It’s his first time writing and directing a book-to-screen adaptation. It has a larger scope and focus than his previous films, which include The Squid and the Whale (2005), Frances Ha (2012), The Meyerowitz Stories (2017), and the blistering Marriage Story (2019).

White Noise is fascinating in the way you think you’re in one story and then it shifts gears before you even know it, and you realize it’s become something else. Interesting how Baumbach pulls this off.

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The Wonder (Sebastián Lelio, director/co-writer)

Film description from IMDb: “Set in The Irish Midlands in 1862, the story follows a young girl who stops eating but remains miraculously alive and well. English nurse Lib Wright is brought to a tiny village to observe eleven-year old Anna O’Donnell. Tourists and pilgrims mass to witness the girl who is said to have survived without food for months. Is the village harboring a saint ‘surviving on manna from heaven’ or are there more ominous motives at work?”

Florence Pugh plays the English nurse. I always like seeing her. She’s a very interesting actress. This fascinating, disturbing film is another strong addition to her filmography.

Available for streaming on Netflix.

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I was going to add some interviews and clips at this point, but I suspect this may be too much already. I’ll post that supplementary material separately. After that, stay tuned for my picks for best documentaries of 2022. Stay safe. — Ted Hicks

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I saw a total of 322 films in 2022 – 214 in theaters and 108 streaming or on discs, both new and old. I’ve come up with 30 films that are the best of what I saw, or at least my favorites. My “Top Ten” films will be covered in this post, with the remaining titles in Part 2. Of all of these, my picks for the top three films of the year are EO, She Said, and Women Talking.

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EO (Jerzy Skolimowski, director/co-writer)  If I had to pick only one film as best of the year, it would be this one. To think that an 84-year-old Polish director who’s been making films since 1960 could come up with something this fresh and free, unbound by conventions. EO is a road movie like no other, the picaresque journey of a donkey as he travels in and out of other people’s lives, fragments that suggest larger narratives. Not surprisingly, EO is the most human presence in the film.  Six donkeys were enlisted to portray EO, but you’d never know that. The film is mysterious, deeply moving and at times, heartbreaking. I can’t recall seeing anything like it before. I loved it.

Not yet available for streaming.

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She Said (Maria Schrader, director)  Terrific film concerning the New York Times reporters who broke the Harvey Weinstein story and effectively kicked off the Me Too movement. It would make a good double-feature with Tom McCarthy’s Spotlight (2015). An important, serious film that has unfortunately done very little business, which is a shame.

Not yet available for streaming.

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Women Talking (Sarah Polley, director/writer)  Great movie. Feels like a thriller, though it’s mostly just what the title says. I feel a sense of wonder that it even exists.

The following trailers are different enough that I think it’s worth including both.

Available for streaming on Amazon Prime for purchase price of $19.95. This will surely come down eventually.

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The remaining seven titles are in alphabetical order.

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The Banshees of Inisherin (Martin McDonagh, director/writer)  Reuniting Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleason from the same director’s In Bruges (2008), this film feels like a story told in an Irish bar. I always like seeing Colin Farrell. There’s a very likeable quality about him. Both he and Gleason are excellent in this rather unlikely narrative. Kerry Condon as Farrell’s sister is a standout.

Available for streaming on HBO Max.

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Corsage (Marie Kreutzer, director/writer)  Vicky Krieps is excellent as Empress Elizabeth of Austria in this stylized historical drama. What I especially loved were the anachronistic touches scattered throughout the film, such as Kris Kristofferson’s “Help Me Make It Through the Night” and the Stones’ “As Tears Go By” performed on period instruments, and modern tractors on the road, to cite a few. I’m not sure what the purpose of these anachronisms were, but I liked them.

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Crimes of the Future (David Cronenberg, director/writer)  Hard to take seriously and I don’t think it’s meant to be. More of a straight-faced comedy with really weird stuff happening. In an unspecified future, something called accelerated evolutionary syndrome is causing people to develop “brand new organs, never before seen.” Performance art is involved. Viggo Mortensen and Léa Seydoux are two such performance artists. Kristen Stewart plays a character who works in an agency that registers new organs. She always brings something different to her roles. Her character here has a weird affect, odd line readings, seems to be on the spectrum, but the spectrum of what, exactly? This film is a kind of return to form for Cronenberg, expanding on his earlier science fiction and horror films. Not for everyone — which is probably a good thing — but he’s a visionary filmmaker I really like.

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Dead for a Dollar (Walter Hill, director/writer)  It’s nice to see Walter Hill back in the saddle, so to speak. Westerns have always been one of his strengths as a director and writer. Hill’s The Long Riders (1980), about the James and Younger gangs, is one of my favorite films. Dead for a Dollar isn’t on that level, but it’s very good, with a committed cast that makes it more or less believable. I always like a well-done Western that takes itself seriously.

Available for streaming on Amazon Prime.

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Holy Spider (Ali Abassi, director/co-writer)  This incredibly tense film is based on the true story of a serial killer in Mashhad, Iran who targeted sex workers and  killed 16 women from 2000 to 2001. He saw himself as being on a holy mission. Members of the public applauded his actions. A fictional female journalist investigating the killings takes us into the story. We learn the identity of the killer early on and the film alternates between his lethal activities and the journalist’s efforts. The tone of this film is very harsh. I hesitate to call it a thriller, because there’s nothing “thrilling” about it. Hard to watch at times, but I think it’s really great. Zar Amir-Ebrahami, who plays the determined journalist, won Best Actress at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, for which she received death threats at home and the condemnation of the Iranian government. Sure.

Not yet available for streaming.

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Prey (Dan Trachtenberg, director/co-writer)  Talk about high concept. This is the fifth film in the Predator series and the first prequel. Set 300 years ago in 1719 in the Northern Great Plains of this country, we’re a long way from Arnold Schwarzenegger in the original Predator (1987). Naru, a young female Comanche warrior, encounters one of the alien hunters who apparently have visited Earth over the centuries to hunt humans and take trophies. This is an inventive mashup of genres that’s very well done and deadly serious. I was attracted by the novelty of the premise, but then got really caught up in what was at stake.

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Tár (Todd Field, director/writer)  Cate Blanchett plays a world-famous orchestra conductor who slowly unravels. It’s an amazing performance. She’s in virtually every scene and seems fierce and unstoppable until things start to fall apart. It’s definitely her movie, and a fascinating study. Oddly enough, I don’t remember the music that much. I don’t think that was the point.

Available for streaming on Amazon Prime.

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Supplemental materials for some of the films in this post appear below.

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EO 

Interview with director Jerzy Skolimowski and co-screenwriter Ewa Piaskowska at the New York Film Festival (26:47)

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She Said 

Academy Conversations interview with Carey Mulligan and filmmakers (11:43)

New York Film Festival interview with cast and filmmakers (21:33)

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Women Talking

Academy Conversations interview with cast and filmmakers (12:12)

New York Film Festival interview with cast and filmmakers (36:40)

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Corsage

New York Film Festival interview with Vicky Krieps and Marie Kreutzer (30:02)

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Crimes of the Future

Viggo Mortensen and Léa Seydoux interview (9:33)

David Cronenberg interview (37:38)

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Dead for a Dollar

Director Walter Hill interview (31:16)

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Holy Spider

Academy Conversations interview with director Ali Abassi & actress Zar Amir Ebrahami  (13:13)

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Tár

New York Film Festival interview with cast and filmmakers (22:18)

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That’s a wrap for now. Stay tuned for Part 2, which will appear shortly. Meanwhile, stay safe. — Ted Hicks

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Here I am slamming this out on the last day of the year. Rather than trying to come up with something clever and pithy about the year just ending, let’s get right into the usual grab bag of random images I’ve collected over time that interest or amuse me in one way or another.

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This is pretty interesting. Appeared in 1934. Newspaper on a screen. Sure, why not?

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My Forbidden Past – 1951                                                                     Seven Year Itch – 1955

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Stephen Miller, senior advisor for policy and White House speechwriter for the Trump presidency, drops his mask.

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I think that about does it. Stay tuned for my picks for best feature films, documentaries, and television for 2022, as well as my much delayed post on Bela Lugosi. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Stay safe. — Ted Hicks

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I started seeing Virgil Finlay‘s amazing artwork in the science fiction and fantasy magazines I was reading in the 1950s. I was aware of his name from the start because he signed his work with a distinctive signature, which usually appeared in one of the corners of the image.Like his signature, his work was very distinctive. You knew immediately that a cover or illustration was his, you wouldn’t mistake it for anyone else’s. Per Wikipedia, Finlay “specialized in, and became famous for, detailed pen-and-ink drawings accomplished with abundant stippling, cross-hatching, and scratchboard techniques. Despite the very labor-intensive and time-consuming nature of his specialty, Finlay created more than 2600 works of graphic art in his 35-year career.”

I didn’t know the definition of the terms stippling, cross-hatching, and scratchboard before starting this post, but I’d certainly recognized the results as being his style. I begain downloading and saving Finlay’s illustrations months ago.

Virgil Finlay was born in 1914 in Rochester, New York. He was an aspiring artist heavily influenced by science fiction, fantasy, and horror pulp magazines in the 1920s and ’30s. In 1935, at age 21, he submitted six unsolicited artworks to the editor of Weird Tales magazine. His illustrations for three stories were published in the December issue. His work subsequently appeared in 62 issues of Weird Tales, including 19 color covers. Finlay illustrated stories by writers such as H.P. Lovecraft, Ray Bradbury, Robert Bloch, Theodore Sturgeon, and many others. Lovecraft told stories of ancient gods from other dimensions wreaking havoc in our world — hideous, monstrous beings. Lovecraft’s influence can be seen in Finlay’s vivid depictions of these stories. He also appeared in many other publications and received numerous awards.

Without knowing the content of stories depicted in his covers and illustrations, these images, often extreme and disturbing, take on the aspect of a Rorschach test as we attempt to give them meaning. Most of these are so strange, abnormal even, that it’s easy to imagine they come from a dark place in Finlay’s mind. I mean, most of this is very weird stuff.

Here is a sampling. This is just the tip of the iceberg.

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Here are two drawings of H.P. Lovecraft by Finlay.

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Okay, I think you get the idea. Finlay’s work may not be as much fun as Ed Emshwiller’s, but I find it pretty compelling nonetheless. There’s lots more where this came from, just a Google search away.

He died in 1971 at age 56. Too young.

That’s all for now. Until next time, be safe. — Ted Hicks

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Virgil Finlay

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