Two modest documentaries delve into the compulsion to create and the fraught relationship between creator and creation.
Intimidated by Art
Directors
Indicator’s Hammer vol. 3: Imperialism, War & Race
Indicator’s third box set of Hammer movies highlights some interesting issues about the treatment of race in popular culture.
Abbas Kiarostami’s The Koker Trilogy (1987-94):
Criterion Blu-ray review
Abbas Kiarostami’s multi-layered triptych of films dubbed The Koker Trilogy begins with a neorealist depiction of childhood in a small Iranian village and continues with an increasingly complex blend of documentary and fiction in which the director interrogates the nature of cinema itself through the impact of a devastating earthquake on the lives of the people who appeared in the first film. Criterion’s Blu-ray set showcases this masterpiece with excellent transfers and a substantial array of supplements.
Ozu Yasujiro’s The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice (1952):
Criterion Blu-ray review
Ozu Yasujiro’s melancholy social comedy The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice (1952), which reflects major shifts in Japanese life in the post-war period, receives an excellent release from the Criterion Collection.
Another eclectic week
This week, I revisited several classic horror and sci-fi movies, plus a few more recent exploitation movies.
Guest Post: Considering Anthony Asquith
Guest contributor Howard Curle examines The Net (1953), a little-known film by Anthony Asquith which combines elements of science fiction and Cold War thriller with a drama about a troubled marriage. Howard finds stylistic links which hearken back to Asquith’s brilliant silent films from the late ’20s.
Twilight Time spies
Three Blu-rays from Twilight Time span the espionage genre from World War Two to the fall of Communism in the late 1980s, each mixing personal drama with larger political issues in their own distinct ways.
Marcel Pagnol’s The Baker’s Wife (1938):
Criterion Blu-ray review
Criterion once again showcases the prodigious talent of French writer and filmmaker Marcel Pagnol with their Blu-ray release of The Baker’s Wife (1938), considered to be his best film.
Alan Pakula’s Klute (1971): Criterion Blu-ray review
Criterion’s exemplary Blu-ray release of Alan Pakula’s second feature, Klute (1971), offers a superb 4K scan from the original negative and extensive extras which highlight the film’s importance in the evolution of American cinema at a particularly turbulent time in both politics and popular culture, with a particular emphasis on Jane Fonda’s development as both actor and activist.
Binging
Binge viewing can for some reason make movies you don’t really like individually seem entertaining when watched back-to-back … case in point: the Transformers series.
