Brian Donlevy stan account.
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Fourth favorite is a recent watch that I particularly dug.
Favorite films
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Jaws 1975
Jaws is many things, among them: a spectacular economic success, a western on the ocean, and a fraught, triangular romance. I'm far from the first person to say any of these things, but the film's craftsmanship, perfect pacing, and status as the summer flick that started it all nevertheless tend to overshadow its genre qualities, qualities which are just as flawlessly constructed as the more eye-catching aspects of the film.
There are countless westerns about small groups, trapped together and…
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Double Indemnity 1944
I love this movie beyond measure. I love its chokingly lyrical (and so very Raymond Chandler), inch perfect screenplay. I love its dark humor, and the absurdity of glamorous Phyllis and anxious Walter skulking around a grocery store so aggressively sterile it seems to come from inside the monolith in 2001. I love the long takes, and the way the austerity of Billy Wilder's shooting style contrasts so perfectly with the labyrinthine language and tale it's recording. But, most of…
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Stark Fear 1962
Discussion of sexual and emotional abuse ahead.
The first act of Stark Fear is nearly flawless, bearing a striking resemblance to Sam Fuller's The Naked Kiss — which would not come out for two years — with its brilliant use of high contrast black and white, and its stark depiction of the physical and emotional victimization of women. It also bears an uncomfortable connection to Russ Meyer's most brutal explorations of the seedy deep south — released in the next…
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Gaslight 1944
Gaslight is excruciating to watch, an exercise in willful, meticulous cruelty that makes even witnessing it feel like complicity. Ingrid Bergman's performance of suffering is so acute, and Charles Boyer's matching of it with fiercely pointed manipulation so skillful that one itches to turn the movie off, simply in order to have some room to breathe. The only things that make watching the intellectual and emotional brutality survivable are, first, knowing that, eventually, the movie will end, and the Production…
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Pather Panchali 1955
Women are alone.
Sarbajaya is alone. She has time only to prepare food and care for her family. Sometimes, she can eat, but we never see her sleep — not once. There is no Sarbajaya, apart from her responsibilities.
Her husband gives their children money because he loves to see them joyful; Sarbajaya is miserly so that she can give their children the food they need to stay alive, if only just. She is the source of discipline in their…
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Cat People 1942
Spoilers ahead.
Cat People is a quietly devastating look at one woman's life, and the impact social pressures and expectations have on her ability to live freely, told through the vehicle of horror. Irena Dubrovna (Simone Simon) is deeply alone, telling Oliver Reed (Kent Smith) on the very day they meet that he's her "first real friend." (Her word choice is terribly touching, suggesting a hopeful optimism that "only friend" would not have conveyed.) It's hard to tell if Irena…
