Watched for the Queer Film Challenge 2018

36. A queer film with a happy ending

My feelings about this movie are kind of all over the map. I love young queer representation in a film, although I'm not sure how positive this representation actually is, or at least if it's representation beyond affluent white people who are pretty ultra-liberal. Even the bullies come across as "mostly harmless", although the casual use of the term fag hearkens back to '80s teen…

Watched for the Classic Film Challenge 2018

B1 - A war film made during WWII

Part of the annual Hitchcock Festival in the Twin Cities, screened at the Riverview. Good film, but it felt padded to reach 120 minutes. It also felt like there were two stories here that didn't cohabitate well: the spy thriller and the budding romance. Those stories can inhabit the same film well, but the romance felt a little too screwball for the spy thriller. A…

Watched for the Film School Drop Outs Weekly Challenge 2018

Week 1 - Lillian Gish

I had to change my first film for availability, so instead of my original selection of True Heart Susie, I'm instead watching The Musketeers of Pig Alley, but I think I'm starting the year out right with this one.

Astounding film for its time. Lillian Gish's acting is subtle and understated, yet I feel it conveys her emotional state well. The gangsters are over-the-top, almost…

I first saw Playtime about twenty years ago at the Oak Street. It was possibly the same print. I had forgotten much about the audio of the film and that while it has little discernible dialog, it is anything but quiet. My friends who came along quite enjoyed it, but the sound was a little overwhelming for them. Everything makes a noise in the film, from footsteps to sitting in a chair. 

What appears to be absolutely chaos is so…