I said to Jean-Luc [Godard],
"It's raining, you can't film paradise in the rain."
But he replied,
"Why can't it be raining in paradise?"
And I had to admit,
"Yes, why not?"
Fuck the Polis: Text-reading cinema has reached a point of supersaturation. Contextualization should be mandatory for those who rely on the diary/journal structure's embrace of incomplete musings and ellipsis to excuse a half-baked project.
Gavagai/Phantoms of July: I want to ridicule European filmmakers for lacking the self-awareness to see that their fraudulent attempts to address their own economies' reliance on immigrant labor are unworthy, but Köhler's astute satire is quite good. Radlmaier offers an art-turd.
Volvereis is tricky. For most of its runtime I kept getting peeved at its unrelenting reflexivity, producing a tone that's too knowing. But in retrospect every memory of its naturalistic scenes and steadily developing structure (well, until it isn't steady at all) makes me smile.
Nick Newman had replied to a tweet a few weeks back asking me what movies I would recommend. I told him to try The Unknown with Lon Chaney and go from there.
Dan @sallitt has lately tweeted with some frequency about Andrew Sarris's talent and perspicacity. It's duly noted, but Dan's own insightful, elegant work deserves just as much attention.
@themoderns_ Yes, and both were embattled, often getting into professionally damaging scrapes within the studio system because of their methods (which you've pointed out in other posts). It's sad that their professional (and personal) declines were so inextricably linked to their artistry.
@themoderns_ It’s long gotten to the point where classical methods are seen as passé, yet La Cava doesn’t seem to have retrospectively benefited too much. He is still more or less a director beloved by Classic Hollywood fans and certain groups of autuerists. Weird how that works…
K Grant (1933-2024) was an indelible starlet, best known as the victim's daughter in ANATOMY OF A MURDER. She was the female lead in MR CORY & appeared in 5 P Karlson films. Through her husband's production co., she may have gotten Karlson hired on BEN, to resurrect his career.