Young Man With A Horn

50s Drama
3.5 stars

This film touched me as a jazz lover, a non-musician and a film fan. I'm not saying this is the greatest film, but the scenes where the young boy hears the music and is able to feel it, thereby cementing his destiny, reminds me of what I felt like during the time I filmed the organists for First Gravy and heard Bob Birch with the New Mastersounds, or Nick Rossi plugging away at Club Deluxe in San Francisco. This film is about 80% great and the rest not so much.

Hiroshima Mon Amour

50s Drama
Existential
4.5 stars
My Uncle Stu's Favorite Film!

A poetic, interesting piece on the nature of loss. My Uncle Stu's favorite film, and his is one opinion I trust. For my money, this is about as powerful as film making gets. It's hard from 2008 to understand just how pervasive and horrifying WWII must have been on every level of consciousness, but the existence of this film and Night and Fog reveal some of how coping was approached by Resnais.

Tokyo Story

50s Drama
4.5 stars

The camera never moves! A lyrical story about realizations at the end of one's life. Growing old doesn't seem like fun. Slow and steady wins the race, or does it?

The Seventh Seal

50s Drama
Existential
5 stars

This is great highbrow cinema. Existential cinema. I could imagine Woody Allen watching this and coming up with humorous situations based on it. Set in the 14th century, but pertinent to eternal questions. Wonderful filmmaking.

Bad Day at Black Rock

50s Drama
3.5 stars

This film gets a lot of hype. The use of widescreen/cinemascope and color are very impressive, and of course Lee Marvin is great, but I thought the social messaging was disappointing.

The Big Knife

50s Drama
3.5 Stars

A dark, interesting film that views just as much like a play as a movie due to the serious restrictions in locations. Palance is excellent, almost Pacino-esque, and Rod Steiger is the closest I've seen to another Brando. A Hollywood horror story. Good stuff.

Wild Strawberries

50s Drama
Existentialist
4.5 Stars

This would have been a 5 but it carried just a tad too long towards the two-thirds mark for me. Definitely the basis for Woody's Deconstructing Harry. I think I found a new favorite filmmaker in Bergman. Some of growing old sure doesn't look fun.