1940. Dance, Girl, Dance. Dorothy Arzner is the first female director on the list. Two dancers with wildly different ambitions work together, but not quite towards mutual benefit. I really liked Maureen O'Hara in this, and Lucille Ball practically runs riot. What a duo!

Andrei Filote@letominor.bsky.social · 4d ago

Before starting on the 40s, bonus movie! 1933, King Kong, special effects by Willis H. O'Brien. The man earned his money and then some. What a spectacle. Weak human drama, as usual. But the viciousness on display suffuses Kong's story with much more pathos than I believe was intended.

Before starting on the 40s, bonus movie! 1933, King Kong, special effects by Willis H. O'Brien. The man earned his money and then some. What a spectacle. Weak human drama, as usual. But the viciousness on display suffuses Kong's story with much more pathos than I believe was intended.

Andrei Filote@letominor.bsky.social · 6d ago

1939. Ninotchka. Ernst Lubitsch. I don't mind that these classic romcoms are set in the upper crust. But it's sad how Ninotchka embracing her emotions is displayed thru her wardrobe. Does she love materialism or a person? I liked Greta Garbo, but felt she had no chemistry with Melvyn Douglas.

1939. Ninotchka. Ernst Lubitsch. I don't mind that these classic romcoms are set in the upper crust. But it's sad how Ninotchka embracing her emotions is displayed thru her wardrobe. Does she love materialism or a person? I liked Greta Garbo, but felt she had no chemistry with Melvyn Douglas.

Andrei Filote@letominor.bsky.social · last wk.

1938. In Bringing Up Baby, Howard Hawks asks us to believe that Cary Grant is a socially awkward nerd who associates, against his will, with a pathological klutz who happens to be Katharine Hepburn. I soon upgraded Hepburn to walking calamity, and brother, I believed it. I believed it all.

1938. In Bringing Up Baby, Howard Hawks asks us to believe that Cary Grant is a socially awkward nerd who associates, against his will, with a pathological klutz who happens to be Katharine Hepburn. I soon upgraded Hepburn to walking calamity, and brother, I believed it. I believed it all.

Andrei Filote@letominor.bsky.social · last wk.

1937. La Grande Illusion, Jean Renoir. I waited a good long while to get Renoir in here, but it was worth it. Immediate comparison brings up The Great Escape, but no, superficial similarity. Illusion hopes we're all the same. Couldn't know better. I'm a Jean Gabin fan now.

1937. La Grande Illusion, Jean Renoir. I waited a good long while to get Renoir in here, but it was worth it. Immediate comparison brings up The Great Escape, but no, superficial similarity. Illusion hopes we're all the same. Couldn't know better. I'm a Jean Gabin fan now.

Andrei Filote@letominor.bsky.social · last wk.

1936. Blood on Wolf Mountain by Fei Mu. Also a propaganda film but a narrative one. Day after day, bloodthirsty wolves attack a village. Inside the community there rages a debate about how to deal with them. I wonder who the wolves could possibly represent. Neat.

DEEP HELL X STOP CARING CROSSOVER @deephelldotcom.bsky.social joins the site to reflect on the search-action genre and its connections to ecological collapse, life among ruins, and dreams of the (post-)apocalypse It would be so kind if you could read and share. www.stopcar.ing/court-of-ash/

Court of Ash

Visions of post-apocalypse, real and imagined.

stopcar.ing

1936. Blood on Wolf Mountain by Fei Mu. Also a propaganda film but a narrative one. Day after day, bloodthirsty wolves attack a village. Inside the community there rages a debate about how to deal with them. I wonder who the wolves could possibly represent. Neat.

Andrei Filote@letominor.bsky.social · 2w ago

1935. Triumph of the Will, Leni Riefenstahl. The only entry on the list that was 100% homework. I suppose if you were a nazi you'd quite enjoy seeing your iconography and dubious heroes so exalted. How many in the parade would be dead in ten years' time, and how many would they have killed?

1935. Triumph of the Will, Leni Riefenstahl. The only entry on the list that was 100% homework. I suppose if you were a nazi you'd quite enjoy seeing your iconography and dubious heroes so exalted. How many in the parade would be dead in ten years' time, and how many would they have killed?

Andrei Filote@letominor.bsky.social · 2w ago

1934. L'Atalante, Jean Vigo. Now this is kino. The first movie in the list that I would describe as whimsical. Although it's a bit aged in its social mores, I loved this air-light comedy and all the cats that came with it.

1934. L'Atalante, Jean Vigo. Now this is kino. The first movie in the list that I would describe as whimsical. Although it's a bit aged in its social mores, I loved this air-light comedy and all the cats that came with it.

Andrei Filote@letominor.bsky.social · 2w ago

1933. Duck Soup! Leo McCarey. I don't know what the title refers to, unless it's the four Marx Brothers. But this was really funny. Hail Fredonia, I guess?

1933. Duck Soup! Leo McCarey. I don't know what the title refers to, unless it's the four Marx Brothers. But this was really funny. Hail Fredonia, I guess?

Andrei Filote@letominor.bsky.social · 2w ago

1932. Broke my one movie per director rule to watch Tod Browning's Freaks. I like this a lot more than Dracula. It shows the eponymous "freaks" leading prosaic lives with a can do attitude, avoiding the temptation of a lame "poor me!" sentimentalism. Very similar to Euripides' The Bacchae.

1932. Broke my one movie per director rule to watch Tod Browning's Freaks. I like this a lot more than Dracula. It shows the eponymous "freaks" leading prosaic lives with a can do attitude, avoiding the temptation of a lame "poor me!" sentimentalism. Very similar to Euripides' The Bacchae.

Andrei Filote@letominor.bsky.social · 2w ago

1931. Dracula (blyah!) Tod Browning. I've known about Bela Lugosi's Dracula all my life but this was my first viewing. It looks great, but it had no scares for me, in fact it was downright charming with its toy bats and gothic sets. The Count is great, but Renfield really helps carry the film.

1931. Dracula (blyah!) Tod Browning. I've known about Bela Lugosi's Dracula all my life but this was my first viewing. It looks great, but it had no scares for me, in fact it was downright charming with its toy bats and gothic sets. The Count is great, but Renfield really helps carry the film.

Andrei Filote@letominor.bsky.social · 3w ago

1930. All Quiet on the Western Front, Lewis Milestone. Wowzers, what a picture. The first talkie on my list made me feel as if I had skipped forward a decade. It was so emotional, so well paced and edited, hitting all the expected beats, that it immediately felt exactly like classic Hollywood.

Mothership was the natural home for this piece and I love having it up there.

Mothership@mothership.blog · 2w ago

"The games have wildly different reputations, but they seem to have come up in the same schoolyard. Soon after its release, the internet celebrated the fact that 2B's derriere was drawn by more polygons than the entirety of Ocarina of Time. False, but one understands why the thought was compelling."

1930. All Quiet on the Western Front, Lewis Milestone. Wowzers, what a picture. The first talkie on my list made me feel as if I had skipped forward a decade. It was so emotional, so well paced and edited, hitting all the expected beats, that it immediately felt exactly like classic Hollywood.

Andrei Filote@letominor.bsky.social · 3w ago

1929. I had to go with Haiducii, or The Outlaws, (Horia Igirosanu). I confess it hadn't even crossed my mind that there might have been a film industry during the Romanian Interbellum. A young girl disguises herself as a man and joins a band of outlaws to rescue her sister from from the local boyar.

1929. I had to go with Haiducii, or The Outlaws, (Horia Igirosanu). I confess it hadn't even crossed my mind that there might have been a film industry during the Romanian Interbellum. A young girl disguises herself as a man and joins a band of outlaws to rescue her sister from from the local boyar.

Andrei Filote@letominor.bsky.social · 3w ago

1928. The Man Who Laughs, Paul Leni, from the Victor Hugo novel of the same name. I was moved by this melodrama in which smiles are the cleverest symbol. I was strongly reminded of The Elephant Man, but it also thematic crossover with The Phantom of the Opera.

1928. The Man Who Laughs, Paul Leni, from the Victor Hugo novel of the same name. I was moved by this melodrama in which smiles are the cleverest symbol. I was strongly reminded of The Elephant Man, but it also thematic crossover with The Phantom of the Opera.

Andrei Filote@letominor.bsky.social · 4w ago

1927. Napoleon, Abel Gance. It's one thing to be Bonaparte, but to have Abel Gance as your biographer, that's too much glory. In 2000 years Christ has not received propaganda this fine. At several junctures the movie compelled me to clap like a monkey. It is simply incredible.

1927. Napoleon, Abel Gance. It's one thing to be Bonaparte, but to have Abel Gance as your biographer, that's too much glory. In 2000 years Christ has not received propaganda this fine. At several junctures the movie compelled me to clap like a monkey. It is simply incredible.

Andrei Filote@letominor.bsky.social · last mo.

1926. A Page of Madness, Teinosuke Kinugasa, looks like a charcoal drawing brought to life, presents a narrative requiring some interpretation, uses no title cards, but a lot of camera movement, including the dramatic zoom in that I was taught was Hitchcock's handiwork. Very nice.

NEW STOP CARING ESSAY @lesbiankakyoin.bsky.social unpacks her attraction towards toxic yakuza siblings, and how they reflect her own experiences. It would be so kind of you to share and read. www.stopcar.ing/dear-brother...

Dear Brother, Have Some Sake With Me

What so consistently drives a girl-like organism to the toxic yakuza sibling experience?

stopcar.ing

1926. A Page of Madness, Teinosuke Kinugasa, looks like a charcoal drawing brought to life, presents a narrative requiring some interpretation, uses no title cards, but a lot of camera movement, including the dramatic zoom in that I was taught was Hitchcock's handiwork. Very nice.

Andrei Filote@letominor.bsky.social · last mo.

1925. The Phantom of the Opera. I confess that any time the Phantom wasn't on screen, ie most of the time, I was thoroughly bored. Lon Chaney in his grotesque make up, great, but his dramatic flourishes are better. This is the talkingest silent picture I've seen so far.

1925. The Phantom of the Opera. I confess that any time the Phantom wasn't on screen, ie most of the time, I was thoroughly bored. Lon Chaney in his grotesque make up, great, but his dramatic flourishes are better. This is the talkingest silent picture I've seen so far.

Andrei Filote@letominor.bsky.social · last mo.

1924. The Thief of Bagdad is a sparkling bit of orientalist filmmaking. The sets are so magnificent, the production so lavish that it falls into the modern fallacy of spectacle replacing emotion. It's delightful to observe such enduring dilemmas, though. Also, Douglas Fairbanks is awash in charisma.

The wind is rising. This month's issue of Unwinnable Monthly features @autumn-wright.com on The Wind Rises and terror plus our regulars on topics like Marathon, Alan Wake II and Silent Hill f. Buy: buff.ly/ci350lH Subscribe: buff.ly/2FiTW11

1924. The Thief of Bagdad is a sparkling bit of orientalist filmmaking. The sets are so magnificent, the production so lavish that it falls into the modern fallacy of spectacle replacing emotion. It's delightful to observe such enduring dilemmas, though. Also, Douglas Fairbanks is awash in charisma.

Andrei Filote@letominor.bsky.social · last mo.

1923. A clever person recommended Safety Last. I gave it a shot and was mightily rewarded. Beyond the iconic shot of Harold Lloyd hanging from the clock hand, I realized that its "fake it 'til you make it" plot formed the blueprint to about half the comedies made in my lifetime. Also, very funny.

1923. A clever person recommended Safety Last. I gave it a shot and was mightily rewarded. Beyond the iconic shot of Harold Lloyd hanging from the clock hand, I realized that its "fake it 'til you make it" plot formed the blueprint to about half the comedies made in my lifetime. Also, very funny.

1922: Häxan, Benjamin Christensen. A spectacular movie cheerfully depicting both the medieval imaginary of witches, devils and their confederacy, and the sad reality of the witch hunts. The film laments our attitudes toward women, mental illness and the supernatural. Still relevant, still great.

The Return (2024) covers the most emotional chapters of The Odyssey. Gorgeous photography, but the film left me cold.

For 1921, I chose The Phantom Carriage, director Victor Sjöström. Although the supernatural theme seems attractive, it's ironically not the main vehicle. The movie is a "scared straight" narrative not unlike A Christmas Carol in which a dying lowlife is forced to reflect on his horrible choices.

I've decided to watch a movie per year starting 1920. I'm hoping this will give me a more holistic, if still shallow, view of film history. First up: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. I don't think I could have made a better choice. Visibly made of canvas, this early horror joint filled me with delight.

Like many, I was taken aback at the conservative feeling behind High and Low, its very title seeming to suggest a level of empathy. In reality, Kurosawa's celebrated film absolutely has a preference and it saddened me to realize that. A beautiful movie but, in the end, a cruel one.

Somehow finished Pragmata, a game whose only original touch is that you have to do a minigame in order to fight. Depressingly generic in every aspect, it's not a story so much as a lego build with clichés instead of bricks. Is our narrative literacy really that low? How can this be enough?

My Claire Denis ranking. 1. Beau Travail 2. Chocolat 3. White Material 4. 35 Rhums 5. The Intruder 6. No Fear, No Die 7. Nenette et Boni 8. Both Side of the Blade 9. Bastards 10. High Life 11. The Stars at Noon 12. I Can't Sleep 13. Trouble Every Day 14. Let the Sunshine In 15. Friday Night