This one tonight because Nicky, the stripper who helps George C. Scott find his daughter in Hardcore, clarified her name to him upon meeting in the peep booth with "Nicky... as in Mickey & Nicky? Did you see that movie? I wasn't in it." One of Cassavetes' (and Falk's) best performances.
Really enjoyed this: The Italian Job Directed by Peter Collinson • 1969 • United Kingdom Starring Michael Caine, Noël Coward, Benny Hill Michel Caine and Mini Coopers make a dynamite pairing in this turbocharged heist romp. Caine radiates debonair charm as the suave ex-con who—along with Noël Coward’s imprisoned crime boss—orchestrates a spectacular robbery of $4 million in gold bullion from the city of Turin. Boasting a rip-roaring climactic car chase, a killer soundtrack by Quincy Jones, and swinging sixties style to burn, THE ITALIAN JOB is one of the most irresistibly entertaining caper films ever made.
The director of Mikey & Nicky, Elaine May had an interesting conversation with director, Mike Nichols in 2006, talking about what we're doing now: discovering good movies and looking at them in unusual/ untraditional ways.
Oh. Well, there are other streamers (didn't hear it from me!). Danny Kaye (born on this date in 1911) retrospective today. I may get on it at some point this weekend. Gotta be in the mood that level of shenanigans.
Being laid up with a tooth ailment (which has stymied my vacation a bit) is partially to blame for this Criterion Channel marathon (in case anyone wondered). Moving on to my top three Criterion faves (wish I had access to that infamous closet!). I have them on DVD and/or Blu-Ray but curious to see what they look like on the channel. #3 (And these are based purely on repeated viewings) Utamaro and his Five Women (1946, Kenji Mizoguchi) After the Second World War, the American administration that ran things in Japan took control of the movie industry and, at first, banned historical stories. The first to pass muster was Kenji Mizoguchi’s 1946 bio-pic “Utamaro and His Five Women". Set around 1800, the film tells the story of an artist—one of the greatest of all Japanese artists—who repudiated high-art traditions in favor of popular genres, which gave him leeway to depict characters, such as courtesans, who were disdained in the classical forms. There’s an element of autobiography in the film; there’s also a strong critique of the Japanese imperial values that were exalted in wartime propaganda. But there’s also another element of criticism that marked Mizoguchi’s entire career, and it’s signalled in the title: the utterly subordinate and strictly governed condition of women in Japanese society. Fusing the movie’s personal element with its analytical one, Mizoguchi attempts to resolve the apparent conflict of filming according to his own stringent artistic sensibility while documenting an essentially political question that he found deeply troubling. The movie, one of Mizoguchi’s best, has the power of a manifesto and the urgency of a self-justification. - Richard Brody, The New Yorker
Utamaro On to #2 (of my faves)) Rififi (1955, Jules Dassin) Dassin on what his life was like just before he made the film and the project itself:
My #1 CC title is also a favorite that hasn't been dislodged since I first rented a VHS version a seeming lifetime ago: Andrei Rublev (1966, Andrei Tarkovsky) It's a meditation of sorts on the world surrounding the 15th century Russian icon painter, Andrei Rublev, including the conditions under which he had to work, the ideas he and his contemporaries were grappling with and the legacy of Christian faith which informed that period and resulted from it. The latest CC edition (2018) and the channel have the original nearly 3 1/2 hour and the restored 183 minute versions of the film available. My preferred cut is the 205 minute version that made the first 1999 DVD transfer.
Bad film? Sometimes I'd rather see one than a Tarkovsky flick. Dude had little humor, if any, in any of his film (imo). I do like giggling with Borishka, the bell caster, in Andrei Rublev when he considers the what would happen if after all the work they put into casting the massive thing that it didn't ring. But, save moments in Andrei Rublev, levity, which is crucial in comedy, is not a strong feature of his films. A weakness perhaps to some, perhaps not to others. But I am ready for a good comedy after the last three rather serious dramas. The channel doesn't initially seem to have a copious amount of them. The weak search feature doesn't help. Any recommendations? I'm going with Anna Magnani as her background in Italian Comedy really served her well in The Rose Tattoo, although it is another drama. She got an Oscar for it. Burt Lancaster isn't bad in it, either. One of myfavorites.
I'm ready for a good comedy myself, but I think for tonight it'll have to be this, or one of the two Dassin films they have (no Rififi here): Nights of Cabiria Directed by Federico Fellini • 1957 • Italy Starring Giulietta Masina, François Périer Giulietta Masina won Best Actress at Cannes as the title character of one of Fellini’s most haunting films. Oscar winner for best foreign-language film, NIGHTS OF CABIRIA (LE NOTTI DI CABIRIA) is the tragic story of a naive prostitute searching for true love in the seediest sections of Rome.
Love Masina in La Strada. Glad to see that it's a favorite of John Sayles, too! Sayles probably went on for some time after. His commentary is always enriching. But I tell ya, if they ever let me in that closet I'd go straight for the Kurosawa box set (if they had a copy!).
Watched The Swimmer last night and it really threw me for a loop... but I find it lingering with me today, which is a quality I admire in a film. A really unusual, interesting (and eventually bleak) experience.
Thanks for the post. I kept thinking throughout the movie, "Is this dude nuts?" Turns out he was. Or, at least he had certainly gone nuts. I didn't have much sympathy for him after a key scene which displayed his deep arrogance and presumption in an attempted... social trangression. He seemed stuck the Twilight Zone. Still he had to continue on his spiritual quest despite the obvious physical threat to his health. Psychologically, he was already gone. The filmmaker's attempt to elicit compassion failed on me; on a number of occasions, specifically at orchestral music swells alongside the bucolic countryside or the beauty of youth in close up I simply had to laugh out loud. A reviewer on YouTube said she wish she could play this film in her living room on a continual loop. I'd say that's exactly what Lancaster's character was doing all his life! At a certain point you gotta turn on lights.
Followed one Fellini with another. I bought the soundtrack CD years ago but have never seen the film until now Toby Dammit Directed by Federico Fellini • 1968 • Italy Federico Fellini's loose adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe's 'Never Bet the Devil Your Head' stars Terence Stamp as an alcoholic actor who suffers from disturbing visions.
Still wishing they'll do an American Hitch retrospective soon. Wonder if The Ring is streaming. It's my favorite of the Hitchcock silents. And I still haven't watched The 39 Steps!
Started watching a film from Martin Scorsese's World Cinema Project: Mysterious Object at Noon Will report back.
Anyone else having problems with the channel tonight? I'm getting a player error on both of my computers.