Village Vidiot

“Parallel Mothers,” in Spanish, subtitled, May 2, 2022 (2021), DVD.  This Pedro Almodovar vehicle could have been a schmaltzy melodrama, but instead he turns it into a remarkably sensitive, thoughtful, and important film.  And motherhood is one of his favorite topics.  It truly makes the personal political and the political profoundly personal.  The magnificent Penelope…

“The Quarrel,” Canadian, April 21, 2022 (1991), DVD.  A friend suggested this one for me as it looks at arguments within traditional Jewish culture and those who choose more secular lives.  Its years after World War II.   Chiam  (R.H. Thompson) is a fully securlarized Russian/Ukrainian borYiddish writer living in New York City.  He comes to…

“Belfast,” April 14, 2022 (2021), DVD.  Kenneth Branagh wrote and directed this award-winning memoir.  His Buddy – an excellent child-actor, Jude Hill — is growing up Protestant in a mixed neighborhood in Belfast in 1969 and times are heating up as sectarian gangs riot and rage.  Dad’s (Jaime Dornan) off working in England, Mom’s (Caiatriona…

“The Name of the Rose,” April 11, 2022 (1986), DVD.  I saw this when it first came out, but hadn’t seen it since. Jean-Jacques (J.J.) Annaud’s reworking of Umberto Eco’s 1980 global bestselling—if not always read—novel is well worth re-watching.   William of Baskerville (Sean Connery as a Holmes-like Franciscan friar sleuth) arrives at a Benedictine…

“The Andy Warhol Diaries,” Week of April 1-7, 2022, Netflix, 6 parts, documentary. A brief cautionary note.  I’m a very big fan of Warhol’s work, so I’m aware of my biases on this one.  We both really appreciated and were really glad we watched this limited series.  Directed by Andrew Ross and based on his…

“West Side Story,” April 4, 2022 (2021), DVD.  Directed by Stephen Spielberg with a screenplay by Tony Kushner, Bronwen and I both liked and were quite moved by this remake of the Bernstein and Sondheim classic.  I grew up with the 1957 original Broadway cast recording on my parent’s faux stereo (three feet of separation…

“Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain,” March 28, 2022 (2021), DVD.  Anthony Bourdain’s suicide in 2018 at the age of 61 shocked so many people.  His authorial voice, his intense and candid takes on himself, food, restaurants, and culture more generally inspired and entertained millions of viewers tired of precious travel and food shows.  He…

“Free Guy,” March 20, 2022 (2021), DVD.  With so many meaningful films out there, why did I watch this one about a video game character who comes to consciousness?  Because 1) I could; 2) I like Ryan Reynold’s work; and 3) I like to share the best films with Bronwen.  But mostly because I could. …

“King Richard,” March 11, 2022 (2021), DVD.  Both Bronwen and I really liked this look at the role of Richard Williams (Will Smith in a stellar and underplayed turn) – and his remarkable wife Oracene (Aunjanue Ellis, also outstanding) – in the rise of daughters Venus and Serena to tennis super-stardom.  Six Oscar nominations including…

“The Hand of God,” (subtitles), March 8, 2022 (2021), Netflix.  Writer/director Paolo Sorrentino chronicles his late adolescence in this look at a transitional moment in his life with the coming of Diego Mardona to Naples soccer and family tragedies.  In many ways, this one emulates Fellini’s “Amacord,” one of my favorite films.  It’s the passage…

“Dune,” February 15, 2022 (2021), DVD.  I admit with embarrassment I never read the book this is based on.    I just didn’t care.  A very big opening segment of the trilogy that is sure to follow, this Dune did little to make me wish I’d read the book.  I know people liked it a lot,…

“No Time to Die,” February 8, 2022 (2021), DVD.  Another Bond has run his course, this being the last of Daniel Craig’s efforts.  He’s off doing theater now and will enjoy the fruits of his film stardom in a variety of roles.  Yet he’s going to be remembered as the second-best Bond after Sean Connery. …

“The French Dispatch,” February 4, 2022 (2021), DVD.  We mostly enjoyed this odd Wes Anderson confection that posits the New Yorker as an anachronistic, c.1960s, offshoot of a rural newspaper in Kansas.  It features fun work by Bill Murray, Benicio Del Toro, Tilda Swinton, Adrian Brody, Francis McDormand, Timothee Chalamet, Jeffrey Wright, and Owen Wilson…

“Being the Ricardos,” January 29, 2022 (2021), Amazon Prime.  Lucille Ball (Nicole Kidman) ruled over America’s televisions in the 1950s with her weekly comedy, “I Love Lucy,” filmed with her husband Desi Arnez (Javier Bardem) as Ricky Ricardo. With Fred (William Frawley-JK Simmons) and Ethel (Vivian Vance-Nina Ariande) Mertz, they brought a weird Americana into…

“The Tender Bar,” January 28, 2022 (2021), Amazon Prime.  J R Moehringer’s memoir forms the basis for this George Clooney-directed look at a young man, his family, and his efforts to figure out who and what he is.  J R (Kyle Sheridan older/Daniel Ranieri younger) is the son of a divorced single mom (Lily Rabe)…

“In the Name of the Father,”, January 21, 2022 (1993), DVD.  Reading Say Nothing (Patrick Radden Keefe) for our book group, I thought I’d watch this film as a cinematic pairing.  Jim Sheridan co-wrote and directed this story of The Troubles based on Gerry Conlon’s memoir.  We very much liked this painful look at the…

“Don’t Look Up!” December 28, 2021, Netflix.  “Dr. Strangelove” is one of my 10 Top Films of all time.  But hardcore topical satire is tough to work.  Adam McKay’s in-your-face look at our refusal to face the existential crisis of our time (climate) shows us how it has and may or, likely will, play out…

“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” December 25, 2021 (1975), DVD.  Oscars for director Milos Foreman, Best Movie, Best Actor (Jack Nicholson), Best Actress (Louise Fletcher), and best adapted screenplay.   My book group re-read this one and we all liked both Ken Kesey’s 1962 book and the film despite their stylistic datedness.  They are of…

“Ida,” Polish, subtitled.  December 22, 2021 (2013), DVD [Criterion Collection].  Polish director/writer Pawel Pawlikowski works in black-and-white for a reason.  The starkness and hard edges make for heightened intensity even when the subjects are human interiors.  Raised by nuns as an orphan after World War II, Anna (Agata Trzbuchowska) is a novice about to take…

“Ikiru,”/“To Live,”  Japanese, subtitled, December 21, 2021 (1952), DVD [Criterion Collection.]  Set in the slowly redeveloping wreckage of post-war Japan, this brilliant and profound black-and-white look at one man confronting meaning and moral dilemmas at the end of his life is one of the finest films I’ve ever seen.  Akira Kurasawa shows us Kanji Watanabe…

“Hamilton,” December 20, 2021 (2020), Disney Channel.  Regardless of where one stands in the Jefferson-Hamilton debates, and regardless of the simplifications of the issues, it’s impossible not to marvel at this Broadway show filmed over four performances.  Lin Manuel Miranda stars in this 2016 version along with a brilliant diverse cast (mostly People of Color)…

“Get Back,” (3 parts), December 10-15, 2021, Disney Channel, 9 hours, non-narrative documentary.  Composed by Peter Jackson from 60 hours of film and 120 hours of music, plus a variety of stills and earlier footage, this chronicles the month leading up to the Beatles’ rooftop performance, their last, that yielded some of the materials from…

“The Power of the Dog,” December 7, 2021, Netflix.  I’ve been a fan of Jane Campion’s filmmaking for many years.  This one is especially welcome.  Set in Montana (shot in New Zealand along the South Island plains and Alps), this is set in 1925 and drawn from a novel by Thomas Savage, himself a closeted…

“Pig,” November 29, 2021, Hulu.  I’ve not been a big fan for Nicholas Cage for a very long time.   His macho posturing and faux sensitivity have left me cold.  Or worse.  I’ve not liked the films he was in either, which certainly didn’t help.  And his tax problems left him doing whatever he had to…

“Passing,” November 10, 2021 (Netflix).  Written and directed by Rebecca Hall (first film) from a novel by Nella Larsen, this black-and-white film charts the arc of reconnection between Irene, “Reenie,” (Tessa Thompson), and Clare (Ruth Negga) in Harlem Renaissance Harlem.  These former childhood friends, mixed race and beautiful,  meet again by chance on the street…