I'm amazed once again by the elegance and delicate empathy of Satyajit Ray's filmmaking. Take the sequence where Charulata finally summons up the courage to write. First, a dot of ink on an empty page, promising and terrifying. A close-up of Charulata, deep in thought (as played by Madhabi Mukherjee, so wonderful here and in The Big City, it's an electric moment free of any self-consciousness - she fully inhabits Charulata). She scratches out a few titles in Bengali, before…
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Journey to Italy 1954
Ingrid Bergman exploring the museum is me watching Journey to Italy, astonished by the lively immediacy of art from the past, not at all "ascetic images" but expressive of their time and reaching into my own.
I know some feel the ending is rushed and unearned, and everyone has a right to their own opinion and all that, but uhhh they're wrong. All the external bitterness, the private revelations and yearnings, the insecurity and discovery of being in a new…
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Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse 2023
The animation? STUNNING, easy 5 stars. The script? Hmmm. Definitely prefer the first as a story. Too much convoluted set-up in this one, and wonky pacing.
Nevertheless really funny and just beautiful! The watercolor backgrounds in Gwen Stacy's world are gorgeous!
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The Bling Ring 2013
As is the case with the rest of Sofia Coppola's post-Somewhere work, for me anyways, The Bling Ring is a totally solid, well-done version of itself but there's something missing. Could've been meaner, or funnier, or dreamier.
But that eerie shot of the Bling Ring burgling Audrina Patridge's glass box mansion is one of Coppola's finest moments. And it is hilarious to me that Emma Watson's very finest moment as an actor is as an airheaded Valley Girl.
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Three Wishes for Cinderella 1973
Something so earthy and charming about Eastern / Central European fairy tales.
The first thing this Cinderella says to the prince is "when hell freezes over, asshole!" Disney could never!
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The Servant 1963
Class rebellion and social upheavals of the 60s as bisexual seduction? I'm into it, and was very willingly seduced by the slinkiest camerawork and sneakiest Dirk Bogarde.
