Category Archives: Film

Criterion film a day, day 19: “Le Havre”– kitsch french culture and the invading immigrants

Posted on July 3, 2012 by Big Adam

I think on French netflix there should be a category called “charmante” for all those cute little French films featuring cafes, baguette’s and mysterious (and mysteriously easy) women with pixie haircut. Especially as these films, with “Amelie” as their cute … Continue reading →

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Criterion film a day, day 18: Revanche

Posted on June 30, 2012 by Big Adam

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 →

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Criterion film a day, day 17: My Crasy Life

Posted on June 28, 2012 by Big Adam

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 →

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Criterion film a day, day 17: Walkabout and voyeurism in the outback

Posted on June 27, 2012 by Big Adam

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 →

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Criterion film a day, day 16: League of Gentleman and England’s self-consciousness

Posted on June 26, 2012 by Big Adam

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 →

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Criterion film a day, day 15: Tokyo Story and the pain of generational conflict

Posted on June 25, 2012 by Big Adam

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 →

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Criterion film a day, day 14: Eisenstein’s Ivan the Terrible

Posted on June 23, 2012 by Big Adam

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 →

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Criterion Film a day, day 13: Getting ready to be offended with “The Emperor Jones”

Posted on June 22, 2012 by Big Adam

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 →

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Criterion film a day, day 12: 1921’s The Phantom Carriage

Posted on June 21, 2012 by Big Adam

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 →

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Criterion film a day, day 11: Weekend and the (non) politics of gay sex and love

Posted on June 19, 2012 by Big Adam

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 →

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