Program notes by a S-H novice, I compiled here. A frustrated first viewing last year at MoMA gave way this time to vivid comprehension (it's dense, but subtitles help) and unexpected pleasure—i.e., Hard to Be a God's got nothing on the mud in that last scene. Pleasure bundled with mystery and also pain. A double bill with Scorsese's Silence would be borderline intolerable in practice, but also likely quite enriching: both wrestle with the gap between knowledge and media, and humanity's inability, unwillingness to close it.
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Hail, Caesar! 2016
"One of the more subtle and clever ironies in the film is the distinction between Hollywood and 'the real world,' with the former being a fantasy land run by crazies and the latter a nation of mellow, everyday citizens overhung by Cold War menace. Yet another commitment weighing on Eddie Mannix is whether to accept a lucrative 9-to-5 from Lockheed Corporation, the aerospace company. Sitting for a power lunch at a Chinese restaurant, Mannix is taken aback when a Lockheed…
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Hot Fuzz 2007
Like a live-action Simpsons, when the show was at its peak. So fast, so smart and yet so silly, and so committed to giving life to its world, so that we may laugh later when running jokes find their way into the mystery, the gunplay, even the architecture. Every time, I'm astonished by all the information Wright packs into this thing, all to justify the stupidest plot twist of all time. That stupidity stands out against such intelligent craft and…
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