A grasping search for tenderness and meaning in an exceptionally cruel and callous world, Kes is a kitchen-sink masterpiece of kid’s-eye perseverance and a beautifully-realized film across the board. Ken Loach, a director I’ve been reading about for decades now and who is synonymized with UK “social realist” and even “socialist” films, was clearly even more talented a director than I’d envisioned, and he hits just about every note perfectly in this one as he straddles the British New Wave…
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Scenes from a Marriage 1973
One of the things about getting older and putting 25 years of distance between a first and second viewing of a film is that while the perspective gained can often be invaluable and illuminating, unfortunately in my case it’s also frequently disappointing. Films that knocked me out in my teens and twenties have often fallen flat or rendered themselves as curios rather than the cinematic masterpieces I once took them for. Both Godard’s Breathless and Contempt fell heavily in my…
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Ballplayer: Pelotero 2011
Let me say right up front: this is not just for baseball fans. A near-perfect documentary about teenage would-be ballplayers in the Dominican Republic, and the Major League Baseball ecosystem of money and fame that corrupts and yet drives them. When you hear about Dominicans in the MLB who lie about their ages, take steroids and so on, watch this film. You may not approve, but you'll understand a bit more about the grinding poverty of the country and the…
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Wanda 1970
This 1970 stunner was mostly hidden from all but the most dedicated cinephile’s view for years, until Criterion re-released it in a deluxe edition this year. I watched it with jaw dropped on the very first day the new Criterion Channel streaming service debuted. What a way to validate the subscription fee! If I’d seen this film during my initial 1970s cinema education/immersion (i.e. in the 70s themselves, and in the 10-15 years following), I’d have absolutely had it perched…
