Tuesday, February 05, 2013

The Green Screen

On the Waterfront: Marlon Brando stands up to organised-crime thugs who have taken over the longshoremans' union. Layered narrative, in which the way the organised criminals used Brando during his boxing days mirrors the way they exploit him as a union enforcer, and a running metaphor involving racing pigeons and hawks also runs through events.

 Don't Look Now: On a trip to Venice, Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie work through their feelings of guilt and anger about their daughter's accidental drowning. It's the second viewing for me, and the ending's just as horrifying when you're expecting it.

The Big Sleep: Fascinating Chandler adaption, with a complicated plot heavily reliant on euphemism and unstated implication. Marlowe is here portrayed as a genial type who, somewhat improbably, pulls almost everything female that crosses his path.

Dad's Army: A collection of gags from the sitcom, strung together into a loose narrative and shot on film.

The Black Hole: A rewatch. Anthony Perkins is fascinated by Maximilian Schell's black hole; thanks to his black hole, Maximilian Schell is trapped in an abusive relationship with a shiny violent bastard; Robert Forster and Joseph Bottoms are disturbed by the black hole; Yvette Mimieux thinks the black hole is interesting but she doesn't want to study it too closely. Meanwhile, Roddy McDowall goes to a bar, shows off, and pulls Slim Pickens. What all of this means, I'm not sure.

Movie count for 2013: 9