Category: Movies

I don’t know if my visit to the 1970s world of movies is unearthing any insights, this film era has been examined to death at this point, but I am certainly enjoying the vacation. I love the movies of this era, especially for the variety of storytelling that was permitted. The 1970s gave us big…

I was tempted today to write another really long piece about Warren Beatty and how his films of the 1970s exemplify the point I made yesterday about surrendering to escapism — as Beatty did with “Heaven Can Wait” in 1978, then trying bravely to recapture some political meaning in 1981 with “Reds,” although by then…

I liked the way yesterday’s story about 1970s movies turned out, so I think I’m going to swim in these waters for awhile and see if it leads to anything interesting. I’m going to start by briefly examining two movies at the beginning and end of that era — “Harold and Maude” from 1971 and…

After making my quick tour of 1970s movies — which I feel was far too abrupt, by the way, I have a list of about a dozen other movies of that era I’d like to watch/rewatch/write about — I was scanning though my way-too-many subscription streaming services and noticed that “Vertigo” is on Peacock. So…

I’ve noticed a theme running through many of the films of the 1970s. Characters talk a lot about authenticity and consistently take actions on the margins that feel right for them, but they ultimately lack the power to do anything significant. These characters use authenticity as an adornment, something to make bad situations more tolerable….

I have been watching a lot of movies made in the 1970s recently, which isn’t a chore, that decade might have been the artistic apex of American moviemaking. But what made for great movies also made for a very strange time to be alive, especially if you were a child. In this context “That 70s…

If you want to know what high functioning depression looks like in a middle aged man, just observe Kafuku throughout much of this film. It isn’t just that he’s in mourning, he’s staying afloat purely by sticking to routines and holding onto his obsessive need to better understand Oto. But that isn’t apparent from appearances….

Before getting back in the red Saab and moving the plot along farther, I want to spend some time on the character who will not return to the story, but remains a presence through her voice. Oto’s recording of “Uncle Vanya” for Kafuku was, on one level, an extremely thoughtful gift. Imagine how much time…

Refreshing my readers and myself, the thesis I’m developing is that there was something unique and odd about how Americans adjusted to the new world that they entered in the 1970s, and one way to examine the changes that altered family dynamics, sexual behavior and social violence, while spawning political apathy, is to look at…

I’m taking another day break from Montaigne, which might become a more frequent occurrence now as I transition from riffing off of his work to writing personal essays in his style, without his words. Today is a holiday and therefore a day for gatherings, and I know most people aren’t having them today. But the…

This long segment — nearly eight minutes total — introduces the audience to the most important relationship in “Drive My Car,” that between Kafuku and his driver, Misaki Watari. It begins with Kafuku’s discomfort, perhaps because it’s a woman who has been hired to chauffeur him. Bordering on rudeness, Kafuku’s first words to Watari are…

I wrote yesterday that Hamaguchi made scores of adaptation decisions in bringing “Drive My Car” to the screen and never seemed to make a wrong choice. Today I’m going to ponder one big decision he made and question if, while not exactly getting it wrong, he might have gone too far. As noted in the…