Forrest Cardamenis
@fcardamenis.bsky.social
Film critic who has written for MUBI, Reverse Shot, Filmmaker, Indiewire, and others. More movie thoughts on my Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/fcardamenis
On Yuen Woo-Ping’s comeback film Blades of the Guardians and current action cinema
When Bodies Still Fly
On Blade of the Guardians, The Furious, and current Eastern Asian action cinema
anotacoescinefilo.substack.com
Extremely funny to me to see people who clearly don’t understand how WAR works say that it overrated center fielders simply because PCA is ahead of Ohtani. Does it overrate Mike Trout, Willie Mays, and Ken Griffey Jr? How about Andy Pages?
For the night crowd, if any of you haven’t gotten enough Odyssey discourse, I have some thoughts on it as well as the discourse started by two of Homer’s translators. fcardamenis.substack.com/p/the-odysse...
The Odyssey (Christopher Nolan, 2026)
Plus: Emily Wilson, Daniel Mendelsohn, and Franco Piavoli's Nostos: Il Ritorno.
fcardamenis.substack.com
I wrote about The Odyssey, what I think translators Emily Wilson and Daniel Mendelsohn got right and wrong, and Christopher Nolan’s growth as a filmmaker. open.substack.com/pub/fcardame...
The Odyssey (Christopher Nolan, 2026)
Plus: Emily Wilson, Daniel Mendelsohn, and Franco Piavoli's Nostos: Il Ritorno.
open.substack.com
I wrote about The Odyssey, what I think translators Emily Wilson and Daniel Mendelsohn got right and wrong, and Christopher Nolan’s growth as a filmmaker. open.substack.com/pub/fcardame...
The Odyssey (Christopher Nolan, 2026)
Plus: Emily Wilson, Daniel Mendelsohn, and Franco Piavoli's Nostos: Il Ritorno.
open.substack.com
Wrote about the 1926 blockbuster Last Days of Pompeii and a handful of shorts by Enrico Guazzoni, plus his Quo Vadim (1913), possibly the first blockbuster in cinema history. Link in reply. open.substack.com/pub/fcardame...
Il Cinema Rirovato #2
On The Last Days of Pompeii, Quo Vadis and short films of Enrico Guazzoni
open.substack.com
Wrote about the 1926 blockbuster Last Days of Pompeii and a handful of shorts by Enrico Guazzoni, plus his Quo Vadim (1913), possibly the first blockbuster in cinema history. Link in reply. open.substack.com/pub/fcardame...
Il Cinema Rirovato #2
On The Last Days of Pompeii, Quo Vadis and short films of Enrico Guazzoni
open.substack.com
The siren song should’ve been the first new Joanna Newsom song in more than a decade. That’s what it would’ve been for me at least.
Everybody loves to bitch about the time change but the reality is we have it correct. You don’t want that hazardous winter commute and kids going to school in the dark and you don’t want the sun rising at 4:30AM just so it can get dark as you’re finishing dinner.
It’s gonna be crazy when Kyle Schwarber retires with 600 home runs and a career WAR of 30.
I wrote a little about the early French cinema I watched at Il Cinema Ritrovato, specifically on Albert Capellani and Leonce Perret's L'Enfant de Paris (my favorite film of the festival and now one of my favorite films). Check it out: substack.com/home/post/p-...
Il Cinema Ritrovato #1
On Albert Capellani and Léonce Perret's L'Enfant de Paris (1913)
substack.com
I wrote a little about the early French cinema I watched at Il Cinema Ritrovato, specifically on Albert Capellani and Leonce Perret's L'Enfant de Paris (my favorite film of the festival and now one of my favorite films). Check it out: substack.com/home/post/p-...
Il Cinema Ritrovato #1
On Albert Capellani and Léonce Perret's L'Enfant de Paris (1913)
substack.com
Now that film culture is so globalized, the concept of trolling is understood, and digital aesthetics are no longer strange and novel, it is time that we recognize Lars Von Trier’s The Idiots as a really good film.
I tried to watch Shanghai Blues last night but the restoration with decades-after-the-fact dubbing took me out of it so hard that I gave up after 5 minutes. Looked beautiful though. Hope to see a vintage print of it one day.
Watching my first Cottafavi at Il Cinema Ritrovato
Baby has gotten good at identifying “dada” but still struggling with surrealism, cubism, even baroque.
I wrote a bit about an early Dreyer film, a Harry Piel action film, and a Gloria Swanson deep-cut. fcardamenis.substack.com/p/san-franci...
San Francisco Silent Film Festival #2
35mm, Dreyer's Love One Another, Gloria Swanson in The Humming Bird, and the German sensationsfilm.
fcardamenis.substack.com
I wrote a bit about an early Dreyer film, a Harry Piel action film, and a Gloria Swanson deep-cut. fcardamenis.substack.com/p/san-franci...
San Francisco Silent Film Festival #2
35mm, Dreyer's Love One Another, Gloria Swanson in The Humming Bird, and the German sensationsfilm.
fcardamenis.substack.com
ICYMI: I wrote about a few of the surprises at this year’s San Francisco Silent Film Festival.
Forrest Cardamenis@fcardamenis.bsky.social · 4mo agoIt's my birthday! Your gift to me would be reading my first report on the San Francisco Silent Film Festival (and the next couple that I'll be sharing soon). fcardamenis.substack.com/p/san-franci...
It's my birthday! Your gift to me would be reading my first report on the San Francisco Silent Film Festival (and the next couple that I'll be sharing soon). fcardamenis.substack.com/p/san-franci...
San Francisco Silent Film Festival #1
On humility, a pair of Polish surprises, and Lewis Milestone.
fcardamenis.substack.com
San Francisco is the coldest place on earth idk how people live here
Did some research on the very good and overlooked Surrealist short film La Perle. fcardamenis.substack.com/p/la-perle-h...
La Perle (Henri d'Ursel, 1929)
Surrealism and Cinéma Pur via Feuillade, Buñuel, and industrial education films.
fcardamenis.substack.com
Did some research on the very good and overlooked Surrealist short film La Perle. fcardamenis.substack.com/p/la-perle-h...
La Perle (Henri d'Ursel, 1929)
Surrealism and Cinéma Pur via Feuillade, Buñuel, and industrial education films.
fcardamenis.substack.com
Do I know anyone who will be attending San Francisco Silent Film Festival? Sound off in comments/DMs!
Just finished reading a paper by a Spanish film prof that takes for granted that Henri d'Ursel's underseen Surrealist short La Perle (premiere date: June 6, 1929) was influenced by Un Chien Andalou (premiere date: June 6, 1929) and L'Age d'Or (premiere date: November 29, 1930).
I think a lot of people are approaching The Drama incorrectly (both the ones who like it and the ones who don't) so I tried to straighten things out a bit. fcardamenis.substack.com/p/the-drama-...
The Drama (Kristoffer Borgli, 2026)
A rare trip to the movie theater warrants a rare review of a contemporary film.
fcardamenis.substack.com