I have many difficult things to do right now, but I couldn’t help myself – two stills from Wim Wenders’ “Kings of the Road” (Im Lauf der Zeit, 1976)
Tag: films
Wings of Desire (1987)
Directed by Wim Wenders
Cinematography by Henri Alekan“Must I give up now? If I do give up, then mankind will lose its storyteller. And if mankind once loses its storyteller, then it will lose its childhood.”
Totally agree. Moments of cuteness and pretentiousness, but wonderful film.
A p.s. for slash fans who also have aesthetic and historical/political interests: please, PLEASE find and watch Wenders’ masterpiece “Im Lauf der Zeit”. The original title (In the course of time) was made more “palatable” for English speakers as “Kings of the Road” (Roger Miller 1960s pop song, sung by the two (anti)heroes in a moment of connection).
Strangers on a Train. Wonderfully creepy film, one of the creepiest Hitchcock villains EVER.
Off to see “Vita and Virginia” this afternoon. Will report if required.
BlackkKlansman
Saw it today. Liked it very, very much. Need to see it again to get the full measure of discussion (and racist insults). I came out willing to fight against our own govt, the friend I was with came out deeply depressed, because it’s 50 years later, and the Organisation is still powerful and murderous.
Would love a discussion.
soft butch calamity jane
Yay “tomboy” Calam (even though her torch song “Secret Love” was pure schmaltz, and highly problematic for queer viewers because the love she shouts from the highest hills is for Wild Bill). Saw a wonderful remake of the musical in Melbourne a couple of weeks ago: the subtext was almost text! Reliable sources inform me that I shouldn’t have left after the end, because there was an informal encore in the foyer, with the actress/singer who played Calamity flirting with the one who played Katie.
Love, Simon
Saw it today. The reviewers mostly agree that it’s “funny, heartfelt, and truly touching”. Maybe I was on a parallel universe, because imo the film I saw was full of cliches, devoid of any real social context, and sugary enough to give me diabetes.
Opinions and disagreements most welcome, provided they are expressed politely.
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri / 2017
Dir: Martin McDonagh
Writers: Martin McDonagh
Great film. Complex, not one-sided. Women and men dealing with anger and grief in unstereotyped ways. It also has very funny moments. Recommended.
Three Billboards (outside Ebbing, Missouri)
Just saw this film. My still-unsorted thoughts are along these lines:
– Frances McDormand is a goddess who, in Dante’s words, has been “sent from heaven to earth to show what miracles are”.
– Woody Harrelson extremely good. The last scene he is in is wonderful.
– A humanist film: imperfect characters, some more imperfect than others, struggling (and occasionally succeeding) to connect.
– Two extremely moving scenes. Many cuttingly witty lines.
– Green landscapes, lakes, as-yet-unspoiled nature.
Film recommendation
Call Me By Your Name, directed by Luca Guadagnino, from a (good) novel by academic Andre Aciman. A moving, sensitively traced, love story between a 17-year-old boy and a PhD student in his, I guess, late 20s. NOT abusive, NOT power-based, occasionally funny, quite sexy (mostly smouldering looks and small touches). I have a few cultural reservations (the story is set in Italy, but the main characters are American or cosmopolitan, and there are hardly any Italians around apart from “the help”), but loved the central relationship unreservedly.
mici's campfire 