Eleventh Hour, Year Zero: My 10 Favorite Italian Neorealist Movies
The question of how to define a neorealist film, much on my mind for the first five months of this year, received unexpected clarification just under two weeks ago. For […]
Tag Archives: drama
Announcing My 2023 Movie Retrospective: Italian Neorealism
The more I’ve read about the movement — or oeuvre — or feeling, labeled “Italian neorealism,” particularly in recent months, the less of a grasp I feel I have on […]
It Isn’t Funny If It Doesn’t Break: Crimes and Misdemeanors
As soothing as “separating the art from the artist” can be, sometimes the more useful course is to dive right into an artist’s output in the context of the allegations […]
Double Feature: Safe and Take Shelter
The unique power of storytelling is found in its telescopic ability to focus on small, specific things, and in so doing to make comments on larger topics. Part of the […]
Uh … 3 ½? — Madame Bovary
The Introduction I read Gustave Flaubert’s novel Madame Bovary in high school as an elective. As a matter of fact, I gave a report on it. The transcript is probably among […]
My 25 Favorite Movie Openings
“Beginnings are always difficult.” So says Herbert Marshall in the first scene of Trouble in Paradise (Lubitsch, 1932). Endings can be extremely difficult to do well, but they’re easier to envision […]
My Favorite Movies: The Social Network
Five years ago, the consensus on The Social Network was that it wasn’t so much about Facebook specifically as it was an update on the age-old concepts of genius, entrepreneurship, and […]
Both Versions: Anna Christie
During the halcyon days of the talkie revolution, Hollywood studios took to producing non-English remakes of their films to export to foreign markets. Subtitles and dubbing soon proved to be […]
Uh … 3 ½? — Gran Torino
The Introduction Bless me, Father, for I have sinned. It happened five and a half years ago — the one and only time I sneaked into a movie theater. I […]
Double Feature: Ivan’s Childhood and Empire of the Sun
Here are two films about World War II that approach the conflict from unusual vantage points. No Normandy, no Pearl Harbor, no Iwo Jima (neither movie is about America, after […]
Geppetto's Clocks 