On Christmas, it’s a bittersweet movie about Christmas.
On Halloween, it’s a surprisingly sadistic movie about Halloween.
And on Father’s Day, it’s a movie about fathers who get to be heroes after narrowly averting a crisis of their own making. Which makes it the perfect Father’s Day movie.
At any other time of year, it’s a movie about making the perfect batch of ketchup.
20 years ago, I walked out of American Beauty in a daze. After the movie, I went to the grocery store and I felt genuinely assaulted by all the life around me. I'll never forget it. I remember standing paralyzed at the end of an aisle, flooded with emotion as people wheeled past me with their shopping carts. The memory exists in my mind like Ricky Fitt's video of the dancing bag: a reminder of the vividness of life that's…
What a yarn! Deliciously over-heated Nazis-among-us thriller that exists at the perfect meeting point between radio drama and cinema. Made with such skill and acted so well that the preposterous plot becomes not a bug but a feature. Wild close-ups, dizzying angles, ambitious for the hell of it crane and tracking shots, my heart was racing, folks. What a treat.
Loved the performances, loved the look of the thing, the editing, the compositions. Found the ending a little deflating. I’m not the biggest Bergman fan, but I found myself wishing the film had leaned more into the psycho-generational familial dynamics. I don’t mean louder or more histrionic, I didn’t need anyone to suffer more than they were already suffering, just more intimate, more claustrophobic. And maybe would have been ok, in fact may have preferred, if the resolution had been messier.
I've taken all of your criticisms into account and have determined that you're all wrong.
The first shot of Celine in the bookshop. The car ride when they nearly touch each other. The look on Celine's face as they walk up the stairs. Nina Simone.
The whole f'ing thing.
Sam Van Hallgren added Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice to his watchlist
Sam Van Hallgren liked Matt Singer’s review of Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man
Sam Van Hallgren followed Keyser95
Sam Van Hallgren liked Dave Van Hallgren’s review of Butterfly
Sam Van Hallgren liked Dave Van Hallgren’s review of Aftersun
