In a lengthy pice, I describe my (cinephilic) life-long love affair with 8 1/2 ... foreign films, Pauline Kael, and quitting MMA.
What I loved about 8 1/2 seems obvious to me today — the character of Guido, a director and an obvious Fellini stand-in I could tell even then, as a confused man trying to maintain an appearance to the world; the look of the film and how the black-and-white images of what looked to be actually just black…
BIG (Penny Marshall, USA, 1988) 8 V
"Still, Marshall’s direction of the last scene was lump-inducing in part because of technology. In the 2024 remake (that’s not an exhortation, Mr. Hollywood) we’d see Hanks walking away from the car and his body morphing a frame at a time back into that of David Moscow. Instead, because it was 1988, we get a cut to Perkins and then a cut back to a very ill-fitting pair of pants, another cut back to her, and then Moscow wearing a suit that David Byrne would’ve thought too big."
More at: vjmorton.wordpress.com/2023/12/24/1980s-project-big/
DICK JOHNSON IS DEAD (Kirsten Johnson, USA, 2020) 9
At the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, I saw Kirsten Johnson’s CAMERAPERSON while coincidentally sitting right next to her. As the closing credits rolled, I whispered to her “that was the best film of the festival.” She said “why, thank you” and pressed her cheek against mine. I then immediately left the theater without another word, as I knew going into the film that I’d have to rush to a sports bar…
LEAVE NO TRACE (Granik, USA, 2018, 10, was 9)
This is gonna sound more back-handed than I mean it but a significant part of this film’s greatness is in what it DOESN’T do. There is no war flashback; Foster’s reaction to diegetic helicopter sounds is enough. There is no real father-daughter “confrontation” talk before the last scene, because that isn’t these people. There is no VA-related politicking because people don’t live like issues. There is no elaborate long-term plan. And…
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