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Day of Rage: How Trump Supporters Took the U.S. Capitol 2021
Insurrection Panopticon
There may not be what one considers a definitive documentary on the January 6th U.S. Capitol attack, at least not yet--just as there isn't a joint Congressional investigation into it, what with one of the nation's two political parties being significantly complicit (aside from six Senate and 35 House Republicans or so who voted for the commission). This is opposed to, for comparison, two fine documentaries on the 9/11 terrorists attacks on the World Trade Center, "9/11" (2002)…
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For All Mankind 1989
Cinematographic Cosmos
This is a sublime documentary not only because it depicts the great human achievement of landing men on the Moon, but also because it embodies the vital function of motion pictures in that achievement. This is what brought the Moon into people's homes via their TVs on 20 June 1969, and it's what continues to allow us to this day to be fellow spectators to those on the scene--the astronauts--of what they witnessed. As merely men touring another…
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Bus Stop 1956
The Tamer Tamed
Perhaps a contrary take, apparently, but "Bus Stop" is even better than I remember it. Marilyn Monroe nails the Ozark accent. It seems clear to me now that Monroe's Chérie is the basis for Julia Garner's Ruth in the "Ozark" Netflix series, down to the hair and violent lessons for men to respect her.
In its time, it was a meta-commentary on Monroe's "dumb blonde" sexpot persona, as finally designed with a great deal of control, with…
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River of No Return 1954
Bicycle Thieves
What a disaster of a production and film. Director Otto Preminger and star Marilyn Monroe feuded over her acting coach Natasha Lytess being on set and giving Monroe direction, with laid-back drunkard co-star Robert Mitchum reportedly serving as something of a peacemaker between the two, which nonetheless didn't prevent either from proceeding after the celluloid was in the can to abandon their respective contracts with Fox, both ending up forming their own production companies. Mostly, "River of No…
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Niagara 1953
Sexpot and Waterfalls
If not especially well executed, "Niagara" isn't a bad concept, giving Marilyn Monroe and Niagara Falls undoubtedly the sexiest co-star respectively either ever had. Indeed, they're conflated, double each other here. Her the platinum blonde sex symbol as promiscuous femme fatale, parading around in form-fitting outfits cut so low "you can see her kneecaps," in Technicolor and when not lying in bed or showering. The would-be cultural icon, including a publicity still from this production becoming the…
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Memoria 2021
Thus Spoke the Pulse of Slow Cinema
Sometimes or in some ways I fear cinema is dead. We've signed its death certificate, and all that remains is like a jumbled memory of a lost sister. There's only this double with the same name but clearly different, a spiritual traveler, a reception and interpretation of a source, but not the thing itself. It's alien. The despair of the aborted never-ending theatrical-only release of "Memoria" only seems to confirm those fears. Cinema…
