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- Criterion film a day, day 19: “Le Havre”– kitsch french culture and the invading immigrants
- Criterion film a day, day 18: Revanche
- Criterion film a day, day 17: My Crasy Life
- Criterion film a day, day 17: Walkabout and voyeurism in the outback
- Criterion film a day, day 16: League of Gentleman and England’s self-consciousness
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Monthly Archives: June 2012
Criterion film a day, day 18: Revanche
Criterion collection curates based on what films are “significant”, not necessarily which films are great. This makes their job significantly harder the more contemporary the films get: How do you judge what film is significant when its impact is yet … Continue reading
Posted in Film, film reviews
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Criterion film a day, day 17: My Crasy Life
My Crasy Life is a film that reeks wonderfully of 1992. West coast gang culture was a new and fascinating thing, and the film–directed by a Frenchman–reads like a foreign tourist who is suddenly really into Easy E and Ice … Continue reading
Posted in Film, film reviews
Tagged criterion, criterion collection, gangs, My Crasy life, samoan gang culture
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Criterion film a day, day 17: Walkabout and voyeurism in the outback
Nicolas Roeg’s Walkabout marks the first time I’ve traveled to the down under in the Criterion Collection. There are other films: Peter Weir seems to be a favorite and both Picnic at Hanging Rock and the Last Wave are featured. … Continue reading
Posted in Film, film reviews
Tagged aborigine, criterion, criterion collection, peter weird, roeg, walkabout
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Criterion film a day, day 16: League of Gentleman and England’s self-consciousness
I don’t think that there is one nation more wholly self-conscious than Britain. This is not a criticism, but the whole country–or at least its literature and film in the last fifty years seems wholly wrapped up in its myths, … Continue reading
Posted in Film, film reviews
Tagged criterion, criterion film, empire, english film, league of gentleman, orwell, soldiers
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Criterion film a day, day 15: Tokyo Story and the pain of generational conflict
There is no relationship so happily connected to loss as the relationship to parent and child. The good parent always dreams that the child will grow with a strong moral compass, independent mind and, usually, talents greater than the parents. … Continue reading
Posted in Film, film reviews
Tagged criterion film, film, Japan, japanese film, Oju, parent-child relationships, Tokyo story
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Criterion film a day, day 14: Eisenstein’s Ivan the Terrible
With a basic cultural understanding, it’s easy to figure out what films have been made under the rule of dictatorships: There is a suck-up attitude underlying the film, an uneasy eagerness to please, and of course, plenty of overtures to … Continue reading
Posted in Film
Tagged absolute power, criterion collection, criterion film, dictatorships, film, Ivan the Terrible, Russia, Sergei Eisenstein, Stalin
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Criterion Film a day, day 13: Getting ready to be offended with “The Emperor Jones”
People–especially liberals–love nothing more than to be offended. It gives us a chance to flex our big, liberal muscles. Sadly, however, the film The Emperor Jones did not piss me off like I so wanted it to do, even though … Continue reading
Posted in Film, Film List
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Criterion film a day, day 12: 1921’s The Phantom Carriage
Like many of the other silent films I’ve watched, this film takes a long and somewhat struggling time to reach its slut, but when it does, the slut is very, very satisfying. Of course, this being a swedish film, “slut” … Continue reading
Posted in Film
Tagged alcohol, ax scene the shining, christianity, death, Kubrick, phantom carriage, silent film, swedish cinema, swedish film, temperance
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Criterion film a day, day 11: Weekend and the (non) politics of gay sex and love
Let’s be clear, when we talk about “gay” sex or “gay” marriage, very rarely are talking about the union (physical, spiritual) of two men: Yes, abstractly that’s what it is, but in reality those words to transform the sex or … Continue reading
Posted in Film, Uncategorized
Tagged bigortry, criterion, gay, gay marriage, heteronormative, homophobia, homosexuality, Weekend film
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Criterion film a day, Day 10: George Washington
We equate a loss of youth with a loss of innocence, but the truth is, we’re never really quite sure what we’re losing. We lose innocence, sure, or as we get older (for life is, one long loss of youth) … Continue reading
Posted in Film
Tagged cinematography, criterion, criterion collection, david gordon green, film, george washington, innocence, loss of youth, terry orr
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