Movies That Love The Written Word

In this post, I talk about movies that have a loving relationship to books and to reading.

Pulp Fiction's title is certainly a love letter to a certain kind of book — the dime novel.

Movies That Praise the Power of the Written Word     A teacher friend posted on Facebook that she was looking for movies that praise literature and the power of the written word. Movies based on books that extoll literature — what a nice pairing, and a possible name of a course.

People Suggested a Few Titles 
     People suggested Beauty and the Beast, The Neverending Story, The Hours, Henry Fool, and the Book Thief. A good start. But the post got me thinking. 

Movies based on books are many. 

     I cannot stomach another cinematic example of Great Expectations. Oh, maybe just one more. I love a good Miss Havisham. There is a decent sampling of biopics about writers. Kill Your Darlings is a recent example about the student days of Allen Ginsburg and William Burroughs (and murder to boot). 

Dead Poets' Society

     The casebook example for the movies I am looking for is Dead Poets Society. It's not based on a novel, nor is it fantasy or sci-fi — it is a veritable love song to the merits of reading and the power of poetry. However, I do find beef with its ending (no spoilers). Its original screenplay was written by Tom Schulman and was directed by Peter Weir. 

      Are there any others out there? I am too lazy to compile a list.

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Forty-Three Year Anniversary of The Rocky Horror Picture Show

"Don't Dream it. Be it."

Dr. Frankenfurter, The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Patricia Quinn, Tim Curry, and Nell Campbell in The Rocky Horror Picture Show © 1975

Image Credits: Twentieth Century Fox

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Adult/Teenager Banter in Manchester by the Sea

Nephew Patrick and Uncle Eddie squabble in Manchester by the Sea © 2016 Amazon Studios

I must admit one film that slipped by me was Manchester by the Sea - produced by Amazon Studios and a contender in the 2016 awards season. 

The movie is good and it has lots of witty examples of adult/teenager banter. I can see why it won an award at the Oscars for its writing.

Underneath the banter between Casey Affleck's character and his on-screen nephew, lies a serious and moving story. However, it's a hilarious movie even though it is about a man who is wracked with guilt over the accidental death of his three children and who is now faced with the prospect of raising his teenage nephew. For example, the conversations between Patrick, the nephew, who just lost his father, and his Uncle Eddie (Casey Affleck) are well-written and funny. A recurring string of dialogue is the nephew's hilarious pointed questions that undermine his Uncle's crotchety humanism - and poke fun at his complete lack of social aplomb. 

At one point a stranger overhears the two arguing. He says something critical - like, "Good parenting," and Uncle Eddie - as he does throughout this movie when he perceives a slight to his character - goes ballistic and Patrick tries to defuse the situation and then, hilariously, whips around and says "Uncle Eddie, are you fundamentally unsound?" and, later, "Are you brain damaged?"

Here is another funny exchange - but this time it is Uncle Eddie. He tells Patrick that "if you're going to freak out every time that you see a frozen chicken I think we should go to the hospital."
#funny

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Advice on Priorities from François Truffaut's 1973 Classic Film "Day for Night"

François Truffaut's film Day for Night

Transcript of the Scene (for context)

Julie: Liliane ran off with the stuntman. 

Joëlle: Does Alphonse know?  

Julie: I had to tell him. 

Joëlle: With the stuntman? I'd drop a guy for a film. I'd never drop a film for a guy!

While the quote is not an advertisement for self-imposed celibacy, it is a funny take on priorities. I interpret this quote as choosing art over carnal pleasure. Also, Joëlle's comment, "I'd drop a guy for a film. I'd never drop a film for a guy!" is an accurate barometer of Truffaut's feelings - and passion for - filmmaking. 

Have I ever ditched a guy to go to a movie instead? In New York, where there are dozens of select film screenings of the world's best cinema - yes - I have chosen movies over men. 

Have you ever ditched a guy (or a girl) so you could pursue your love of movies (or anything resembling art and artmaking)? Let me know in the comments.
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Image Source: François Truffaut's La nuit américaine (Day for Night) © 1973

Movie Review: Dolan's Mommy Opens Screens

Antoine-Olivier Pilon (as Steve) opens the frame in Mommy (2014) - A review of Xavier Dolan's 2014 film Mommy, a movie that explores the relationship between a troubled adolescent boy with his mother and a neighbor who becomes an unexpected ally.

There is a moment in Xavier Dolan's film, Mommy (2014), where Steve (Antoine-Olivier Pilon), a troubled teenager who has been dispatched to several group homes and is now living with his mother after he caught fire to the cafeteria and seriously injured another boy, breaks open the screen. It's an interesting moment.

Greig's Best Movies of 2013

To add to the glut of "best of" 2013 lists compiled this time of year, here's my authoritative round-up (not!) of the best movies. In my humble opinion.

1.) Blue Jasmine
Cate Blanchett is tragically diaphanous in Woody Allen's newest cinematic addition.

2.) The Bling Ring
Sofia Copola shows us the beauty of the Los Angeles hills and a vicarious glimpse into the celebrity rich through the lens of the children who rob them.

3.) Mud
You may remember Tye Sheridan in The Tree of Life. He gets his chance to shine in this coming of age tale set in Louisiana.

4.) Lore
A Nazi family try to escape capture at the end of World War II in this drama directed by Cate Shortland.

5.) West of Memphis
Damien Echols, one of the falsely accused "West Memphis Three," gets his chance to tell his story in this revealing documentary directed by Amy Berg.

6.) Gravity
I spent more time looking at the spiraling Earth than the actors, but this movie is cosmic and terrifying.

7.) Her
Spike Jonze is one of my favorite directors. Her adds to my admiration. I've been waiting for a movie about computer love for a long time. It's finally here.

8.) The Spectacular Now
This understated movie ends differently than the novel it's based on, but I thought the two young actors were superb in their vulnerability.

9.) Stand Clear of the Closing Doors
Sam Fleischner allows us to follow a young autistic boy who runs away from his home in Far Rockaway to travel the New York City subway alone right before Hurricane Sandy crashes on shore.

10.) Prisoners

Two girls go missing and the result is an irrational rupture of both desperation to find the truth (Jake Gyllenhaal's performance of a local detective) and insane vigilante justice (Hugh Jackman, who plays the father of one of the missing girls).

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List of 100 Favorite Movies

I make no claim to a cinematic canon. These are my favorite movies. Subjective. No claim to objective standards of taste. Drum roll please:

1. Les Quatre Cents Coups (The Four Hundred Blows), Dir. François Truffaut (1959)

2. The Wizard of Oz, Dir. Victor Fleming (1939)

3. Billy Elliot, Dir. Stephen Daldry (2000)

4. Psycho, Dir. Alfred Hitchcock (1960)

5. Au Revoir Les Enfants, Dir. Louis Malle (1987)

6. Kes, Dir. Ken Loach (1969)

7. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Dir. Michel Gondry (2004)

8. Los Olvidados, Dir. Luis Buñuel (1950)

9. Vertigo, Dir. Alfred Hitchcock (1958)

10. Where the Wild Things Are, Dir. Spike Jonze (2009)

11. Nuovo Cinema Paradiso (Cinema Paradiso), Dir. Giussepe Tornatore (1988)

12. Dekalog (The Decalogue), Dir. Krzysztof Kieslowski (1988)

13. Det Sejunde Inseglet (The Seventh Seal), Dir. Ingmar Bergman (1957)

14. Rear Window, Dir. Alfred Hitchcock (1954)

15. Some Like it Hot, Dir. Billy Wilder (1959)

16. The Kid With a Bike, Dir. Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne (2011)

17. Welcome to the Dollhouse, Dir. Todd Soldonz (1995)

18. Citizen Kane, Dir. Orson Welles (1941)

19. The Tree of Life, Dir. Terrence Malick (2011)

20. Un Chien Andalou (The Andalusian Dog), Dir. Luis Buñuel (1929)

21. Fahrenheit 451, Dir. François Truffaut (1966)

22. The Mirror, Dir. Andrey Tarkovsky (1975)

23. The Graduate, Dir. Mike Nichols (1967)

24. Le Souffle au Coeur (Murmur of the Heart), Dir. Louis Malle (1971)

25. Jeux Interdits (Forbidden Games), Dir. René Clement (1952)

26. Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom, Dir. Pier Paolo Pasolini (1975)

27. Orpheus, Dir. Jean Cocteau  (1950)

28. The Phantom of Liberty, Dir. Luis Buñuel (1974)

29. The Firemen’s Ball, Dir. Milos Forman (1967)

30. Midnight Cowboy, Dir. John Schlesinger (1969)

31. La Strada (The Road), Dir. Federico Fellini  (1954)

32. Mulholland Drive, Dir. David Lynch (2001)

33. Habla con Ella (Talk to Her), Dir. Pedro Almodovar (2002)

34. Stella Dallas, Dir. King Vidor (1937)

35. Olivier, Olivier, Dir. Agnieska Holland (1992)

36.  Battleship Potemkin, Dir. Sergei M. Eisenstein (1925)

37. 晩春 Banshun (Late Spring), Yasujirō Ozu (1953)

38. 2001: A Space Odyssey, Dir. Stanley Kubrick (1968)

39. My Night at Maud’s, Dir. Eric Rohmer (1969)

40. The Royal Tenenbaums, Dir. Wes Anderson (2001)

41. A Trip to the Moon, Dir. Georges Méliès (1902)

42. Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Dir. Steven Spielberg (1977)

43. Au Hasard Balthazar (Balthazar, At Random), Robert Bresson (1966)

44. Angst essen Seele auf (Ali: Fear Eats the Soul), Dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder (1974)

45. Harold and Maude, Dir. Hal Ashby (1971)

46. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Dir. Steven Spielberg (1982)

47. La Belle et la Bête (Beauty and the Beast), Dir. Jean Cocteau (1946)

48. The Squid and the Whale, Dir. Noah Baumbach (2005)

49. Spoorlos (The Vanishing), Dir. George Sluizer (1988)

50. La Cite des Enfants Perdus (The City of Lost Children), Dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet (1995)

51. Mighty Aphrodite, Dir. Woody Allen (1995)

52. La Stanza del Figlio (The Son’s Room), Dir. Nanni Moretti (2001)

53. Y Tu Mamá También (And Your Mother Too), Dir. Alfonso Cuarón (2001)

54. 雨月物語 Ugetsu, Dir. Kenji Mizoguchi (1954)

55. 羅生門 Rashomon, Dir. Akira Kurosawa (1950)

56. The Night of the Hunter, Dir. Charles Laughton (1955)

57. Le Plaisir, Dir. Max Ophüls (1952)

58. Being John Malkovich, Dir. Spike Jonze (1999)

59. Synecdoche, NY, Dir. Charlie Kaufman (2008)

60. High Noon, Dir. Fred Zinnemann (1952)

61. Hiroshima, Mon Amour, Dir. Alain Resnais (1959)

62. The Lady Eve, Dir. Preston Sturges (1941)

63. Lost in Translation, Dir. Sofia Coppola (2003)

64. The Up Series, Dir. Michael Apted (1964 - Present)

65. Weekend, Dir. Andrew Haigh (2011)

66. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Dir. Mike Nichols  (1966)

67. La Mala Educación (Bad Education), Dir. Pedro Almodovar (2004)

68. Lord of the Flies, Dir. Peter Brook (1963)

69. The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys, Dir. Peter Care (2002)

70. Andrei Rublev, Dir. Andrey Tarkovsky (1966)

71. Amour, Dir. Michael Haneke (2012)

72. Inglorious Basterds, Dir. Quentin Tarantino (2009)

73. Empire of the Sun, Dir. Steven Spielberg (1987)

74. A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Dir. Steven Spielberg (2001)

75. The White Ribbon, Dir. Michael Haneke (2009)

76. Margaret, Dir. Kenneth Lonergan  (2011)

77. Wild Tigers I Have Known, Dir. Cam Archer (2006)

78. Alice, Dir. Jan Švankmajer(1988)

79. Through a Glass Darkly, Dir. Ingmar Bergman (1961)

80. Passion of Joan of Arc, Dir. Carl Theodor Dreyer (1928)

81. Arabian Nights, Dir. Pier Paolo Pasolini (1974)

82. 千と千尋の神隠 (Spirited Away), Hayao Miyazaki (2001)

83. La Pianiste (The Piano Teacher), Dir. Michael Haneke (2001)

84. George Washington, Dir. David Gordon Green (2000)

85. Niki Ardelean, colonel în rezerva (Niki and Flo), Dir. Lucian Pintille (2003)

86. Der Himmel über Berlin (Wings of Desire), Dir. Wim Wenders (1987)

87. Der Blaue Engel (The Blue Angel), Dir. Josef von Sternberg (1930)

88. Equus, Dir. Sidney Lumet (1977)

89. The Best Years of Our Lives, Dir. William Wyler (1946)

90. 4 luni, 3 săptămâni şi 2 zile (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days), Dir. Cristian Mungiu (2007)

91. Mon Oncle, Jacques Tati (1958)

92. Copie Conforme (Certified Copy), Dir. Abbas Kiarostami (2010)

93. Hedwig and the Angry Inch, John Cameron Mitchell (2001)

94. Louisiana Story, Dir. Robert J. Flaherty (1948)

95. Black Orpheus, Dir. Marcel Camus (1959)

96. The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Dir. Jim Sharman (1975)

97. Dancer in the Dark, Dir. Lars von Trier (2000)

98. Silver Linings Playbook, Dir. David O. Russell (2012)

99. Ordinary People, Dir. Robert Redford (1980)

100. The Silence of the Lambs, Dir. Jonathan Demme (1991)

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Movie Review: The Time That Remains

The Time That Remains is Elia Suleiman's autobiographical account of his Palestinian family in Nazareth who lived under the post-1948 sovereignty of Israel.

A movie review
The Time That Remains (Al Zaman Al Baqi) (2009)
Director: Elia Suleiman
Starring: Elia Suleiman, Saleh Bakri, Zuhair Abu Hanna, Samar Tanus, Ayman Espanioli, Shafika Bajjali

The Time That Remains is Elia Suleiman's autobiographical account of his Palestinian family in Nazareth who lived under the post-1948 sovereignty of Israel. The film opens with the events that led Nazareth to surrender to Israeli forces in 1948. An Iraqi soldier runs through the streets of Nazareth after the Arabs surrender. White sheets of paper rain down from the sky announcing the details of the Israeli/Arab armistice. Fuad (played by a handsome Saleh Bakri), who we later learn is Elia Suleiman's father, is suspected of distributing arms to Arab fighters during the war and is tortured.

Cinema Paradiso: The Best Ending in a Film

One of the best endings in cinematic history is Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore's Cinema Paradiso (1988).

First, There is the Film's Score
     The score by Ennio Morricone is the most moving cinematic piece ever produced for the silver screen. The music is deliberately made to induce emotions, and I think it adds to this movie's overall sympathetic tone.
Second, There is the Film's Meta-ending 
     To fully appreciate the ending, one has to watch the entire movie. The last scene is a kind-of-love-letter to cinema itself. As a boy, the protagonist, Totò, befriends his hometown's cinema projectionist, Alfredo. In this small skirt of a town in rural Italy, the Catholic Church has considerable sway over what her parishioners can watch at the local cinema. The parish priest personally censors the films on view and directs Alfredo to edit out any scenes that depict kissing. At the end of the movie, Alfredo, who has since died, and Totò, who has become a famous movie director, there is a discovery. Can you guess what it is? The discovery becomes the movie's final scene. And it brought me to tears. If there is such a thing as poignancy without sentimentality, it's this film.  

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Billy Elliot, Anatomy of a Scene: "You Can't Take That Out on a Junior Ticket"

In this blog post, I take apart one scene from the Stephen Daldry film Billy Elliot.

Stones of Erasmus
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     Stephen Daldry directed Billy Elliot (2000), written by Lee Hall, now a Broadway Musical, about a young boy's persistent desire to be a dancer despite the disapproval of his overbearing, but in-the-end loving father (Gary Lewis). Sped on by his indomitable, but cranky teacher, Mrs. Wilkinson (Julie Walters) Billy deals with the death of his mother and the stark reality of living in an oppressed coal mining town in England circa 1984.
     The film is set during the coal miner's strike when Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher sought to cripple the colliery unions that were seen as a roadblock to a conservative economic strategy. The film is filled with stark images of life with police barricades and protest riots. However, the film chooses not to depict Billy's life as completely bleak. The scenes are shot in bright tones which seems to protest against the otherwise somber historical background of the coal miner riots.