Man With A Movie List

Director: Sergei Eisenstein Year: 1944 I have great admiration for Eisenstein's early films, and their distinct non-Western communalist style. His later films, with their integration of distinct characters, don't work quite as well for me.  It's hard at the beginning of this film to recognize which characters are important - since the camera moves back and forth quickly, with frequent dialogue meant to establish communal opinions, it takes a while for me at least to recognize the main leads. Combined with the often glacial pacing, this was a difficult watch for me. Nevertheless, the always excellent cinematography leads to a fever-dream atmosphere that I appreciated (it's a dangerous film to watch in an anxious state) and the characteristic symbolism makes it possible to follow on a subconscious level, even if it's not clear what's going on in terms of events. I am looking forward to Part II to get a better analysis.

Director: Otto Preminger Year: 1944 - Laura  continues some of the noir trends of the era, especially with its brick-wall male lead who calls women "dames", but it's probably more worthwhile for being the first fun mystery film on the list. None of the suspects have an ounce of subtlety, but the acting is strong, and it's hard not to like Dana Andrews as the gruff detective who can't stop playing his little baseball marble game. Clare and I had a lot of fun watching this, and it did keep us guessing.

Director: Billy Wilder Year: 1944 - This is the film that cemented the American noir tradition. Unlike the French films that came before it, American noirs seem a little de-fanged. They have great atmosphere, excellent acting (although none of the American leads, even Bogart, are in the same lead as Jean Gabin in my opinion), and exquisite pacing, but so far they're a bit colder and with less pathos. Double Indemnity  is a fun film, and Barbara Stanwyck knows how to underplay her character in the right ways. It's comfort food, despite the sexism baked in to the genre.

Director: Carl Theodor Dreyer Year: 1943 Run-time: 1 hr 40 min There's too much to break down here. But while there are fascinating readings of this film that reflects a totalitarian society like the Nazi rule of Denmark at the time, I feel like that allegory is a little indirect. Ultimately, I see this as Dreyer's return to the themes and pacing of The Passion of Joan of Arc , and though the comparison is interesting, the film can't really escape the large shadow that the predecessor casts. Dreyer expressed much more with faces in the earlier silent film than he does with the simple and plaintive dialogue in this one. Though there are beautiful, haunting moments, it doesn't quite work for me. 

Directors: Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger Year: 1943 Run-time: 2 hr 43 min This is a pretty fascinating film that takes an unpredictable turn out the front gate - it takes an unflattering comic book caricature of a pompous English general and spends two hours humanizing him, in the meantime philosophizing about what it will take to win the war. As Patton Oswalt said while praising the film, it's as if someone were to adapt Family Circus into The Ice Storm . There are many unflattering aspects of being British on display here - not the least of which is the colonialism which is unfortunately only indirectly hinted at - but whatever your final verdict on the message of the film, it's a powerful one that deserves to be watched, especially in these uncertain times.

Director: Jacques Torneur Year: 1943 Run-time: 1 hr 9 min - If I were a snarky Youtube reviewer, I would subtitle this movie " Jane Eyre , with added sexism and racism". And there is some truth to that - the "wife in the attic" becomes the titular zombie, but her fate is largely due to her own desires to run away. Also, although Torneur takes a more honest look at the effects of colonialism and slavery than any contemporary film, the needs of the schlock-horror setup means that, yes, the powers of voodoo are actually real. Ultimately, this was a fascinating film, but a deeply flawed one. Torneur has a wide oeuvre, though, so I have rising hopes for the others of his films on the list.