Recent viewing

Fists in the Pocket: It’s got it all! Overstuffed mise-en-scene, very bold inter-scene editing choices, epileptic brothers, incest, murder, rat-hunting for pleasure, Lou Castel channeling (and challenging) Brando, one of the scariest kid actor scenes ever. The liner notes tell me that Pasolini said Bellocchio was the prose to Bertolucci’s poetry, but I’m not so sure. Made 3 years after La Commare Secca, Fists is just as self-assured a debut as Bertolluci’s film.

Superbad: best romantic comedy of 2007? These kids are seriously scared of being gay.

Southland Tales: the good people over at the village voice seem to think this sophomore effort by Richard Kelly (of Donnie Darko fame) is trenchant (and will find its audience on DVD and the late night cult circuit). They would know better than me, but, not for lack of trying, I can’t see it. Contra Kelly: If this is the way the world ends, then it is a whimper, not a bang. I think Conduct for Zero nails it.

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford: more pulp, less art, please.

Killer of Sheep: Kids doing their best to prepare for life by throwing rocks at each other and our man Stan pulling 40 hours a week for what you will, which just happens to be in his case impotence, insomnia, and a used car engine. The anti-Sweetback, Burnett’s masterpiece is one of the most patient films of all time. If film is editing, then Burnett’s refusal to cut the carrying the engine down the stairs scene tells you all you need to know about his cinematic sympathies. But if that didn’t do it, then the wrenching and unforgettable portrait of desperation and alienation in the “this bitter earth” dance scene, would. Bazin would be proud.