I Hated Black And White Movies
Movie reviews from a film ignoramus turned fanatic.
An outlaw wanders through a desolate area and enters a town divided by a gang war. He walks slowly and gracefully, ignoring the world around him, even in the midst of a fight. You can almost see the tumbleweed and hear Morricone's music in the background. But what you see in front of you is... Continue Reading →
There isn't a movie that so much quoted and misquoted at the same time as this one. Being neglected during its initial run, Casablanca (1942) exceeded all expectations, won the Academy Award for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Director, and became one of the most memorable films of all time. Directed by Michael... Continue Reading →
Directed by Robert Mulligan, and based on Harper Lee's novel, To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) simply tells a story about justice, in a way similar to Lumet's masterpiece 12 Angry Men, but different in overall tone. However, this is not a courtroom drama. This is a snapshot of injustice, bias, racial segregation, and a strong... Continue Reading →
One of the best-known Italian neorealism films depicts utter impoverishment and despair that leads people into committing crime. Vittorio De Sica, also born into poverty in Sora (Lazio), wanted to illustrate the poverty of post-war Italy using a new degree of realism. He used only real locations for shooting, not sets, and decided to cast... Continue Reading →
Until Straight Story (1999), I never got David Lynch. I remember myself proclaiming: "Lynch CAN make a good movie, but he just doesn't want to." After watching that one, and I hope to write my thoughts on it soon, I watched The Elephant Man (1980), and I once again had the same thought. It took... Continue Reading →
Given an amateur student project, John Ford would have made it into an Academy-award winning feature. I was familiar with Ford's work, but to me he was always the western guy. When I first watched The Grapes of Wrath (1940), I realized what an incredible director he was. Anyone can realize they're watching a Ford... Continue Reading →
When a person mentions Fellini, it always invokes the familiar titles in one's mind: Amarcord, La Dolce Vita, and, of course, 8 1/2. But for me, Federico Fellini is Nights of Cabiria, which tells the story of a prostitute roaming the streets and finding nothing but misery along the road. Giulietta Masina's Cabiria is similar... Continue Reading →
The film starts with an X-ray of a man's stomach while the narrator announces that our protagonist is dying of stomach cancer. There is no traditional suspense. We don't get that in life either. This is not a question of whether our hero will live or die. This is the story about whether he'll be... Continue Reading →
The saddest story of all time comes from Tokyo. Yasujirō Ozu's Tokyo Story (1953) depicts a universal heartbreak by telling a story of an elderly couple — Tomi and Shūkichi — who travel to Tokyo to visit their children. The film does not exploit the moments in which children ignore their parents because they're busy... Continue Reading →
In my early twenties, the thought of watching a black and white film was already devastating, but watching a silent black and white film seemed like, well, it’ll be a cold day in hell before I do that. Turns out, with the apocalypse and everything around us, that might be the case. I watch my... Continue Reading →
I Hated Black And White Movies 