(fingers tenting) I want to invite you on a journey, a journey through cinema. We are going to start near the beginning. There is no terminus, but there are on-ramps and detours for the enterprising adventurer.
I am going to watch a selection of films from the Sight & Sound 2022 poll, one page at a time. Please join me. I will share my selection with you, as well as a list of what I already admire. You are welcome to go off-list and off-poll, but please stay within the release years.
So I have watched four movies now. Don’t worry, I started before I made the original post. I did not watch four movies yesterday, I promise. I feel very fortunate to have access to these artifacts.
Protéa reminded me of @Tulpa . It’s an early thriller, à la Feuillade or Filibus. It even stars Josette Andriot, who went on to play Irma Vep. It’s a pre-war film about diplomatic espionage. At one point, their cover gets blown and they have to hide out as circus performers. Pretty rich.
The Lady of the Dugout reminded me of @parker . It champions outlaw values. These guys aren’t heroes because they follow the law. Its story is supposedly true, the tale of outlaw memoirist Al Jennings. I love the writing on the cards, straightforward and personal.
Herr Arnes pengar reminded me of Cookbooks because she just so happens to have Swedish and Scottish ancestry. It’s an historical tragedy about Scottish mercenaries who do a real ugly job of robbing a Swedish noble. There’s a scene where they drown a horse that’s so brutal I think the crew might have actually done it. A massive production that only gets outdone by the next film I watched.
Foolish Wives reminds me of @bib . The first meetup I went to, I watched Greed on the plane. I must have mentioned something about it to him because he started raving about it later. von Stroheim is my favorite director from this early period. His movies are both crass and sophisticated. He is the best actor to play truly shameless bastards. Eric Rohmer, who borrowed von Stroheim’s name, was really good at writing the worst kinds of men. Well, clearly he learned something from the best to ever do it.
I am so glad you watched Foolish Wives, it is one of the finest titles of all times, I haven’t seen it but I hope to someday, I also hope to someday make my own work with that same title – that title being Foolish Wives
i am very excited for this thread, i have decided i will begin with our hospitality, the oyster prince, cabiria, and then just a bunch of clara bow movies i picked out black lightning and parisian love to start just by going down her filmography apparently she crossdresses in parisian love… if i don’t post here about those within a week please kick my ass. i am very very unbearably excited for the next decade or so in the list so much so that i think i’ll finally bring back musical night and also maybe do a clara bow night too if anyone wants to join me!! looking ahead in the list i’m proud of how many of the musicals there we’ve already watched i’m glad so many people like the pirate just read these reviews The Pirate (1948) directed by Vincente Minnelli • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd
