Nobody Knows Hollywood

Director: Yasujirô Ozu Year: 1953 The setup is small, simple and heart-breakingly familiar: two aging parents plan to visit their somewhat estranged children. Though this film was released in 1953 and is very much affected by post WWII Japan, it is astounding how universal and relevant it feels 60 years later an ocean apart.  The children have varying levels of respect and tolerance for their parents when they arrive. They are all busy, reminding me of the second half of Cat Stevens' song "Cat's in the Cradle". As the story progresses, stark and almost shocking conversations are had between old friends, family and in laws - in one case by the widow of the parent's son who died in the war. Her lasting devotion to her widow, dead eight years at the time the parents visit her, is on the one hand comforting and on another painful for the parents. They plead with her to let him and his memory go and get married again. She must experience love in her life aga...

Director: Federico Fellini Year: 1963 I discussed with my students in a film class I teach much about the effect of watching certain films at certain times in life and how one's life experience changes what one sees or appreciates in the work. The film, itself, does not change. The viewer, however, is constantly changing. So it was with 8 1/2. The first time this film was introduced to me was when I was attempting to get into film school at San Diego State University during my undergraduate days. I say trying to, because, indeed, I did not get in. Film at that school at that time was presented as a very closed group and, it seemed to me, if you didn't get the intricate subtle details of the most avant-garde films the first time they were presented (and back then everything was 35 mm, in a theater and on the big screen) you simply weren't made for film. 8 1/2 was one of the films that intimidated and crushed my early hopes of being a filmmaker. As you all know that feelin...

Big Fan (2009) Director: Robert D. Siegel Big Fan is a tiny, blink and you'll miss it film that was a festival darling written and directed by the author of the Oscar-nominated film, The Wrestler. The premise is simple enough - Paul, a mid-30's Staten Island man who lives in his little world, symbolized by the parking box he sits in collecting tickets for travelers exiting the lot as well as his chaotic childhood room that he still lives in, with his mom in her room just one paper-thin wall away, lives for Sundays and the New York Giants. He broadcasts his fandom and smack talk on sports radio, battling, in particular, with a rabid Philadelphia Eagles fan. His favorite player is a quarterback crushing linebacker named Quantrell Bishop. Paul and his best friend, Sal (also obsessed with the Giants), see Bishop and his entourage out on the town one night and decide to follow. They end up at a strip club, Paul and Sal approach, things go awry and Bishop beats Paul within an inch o...

Oh man, where to start? I was blown away by this film. This was a pure cinematic experience. I can remember a few films that have felt this way: Life of Pi, Hugo, American Beauty, Castaway, Pulp Fiction, Purple Rain, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars. That list is not by any means exhaustive but rather exemplary of a few of the films that have left me feeling almost devastated when I walked out of the theater (to note: a great many of my favorite films I haven't seen on the big screen -- something I find quite sad, frankly). Why did Gravity make me feel this way? The scope of the environment versus the relative smallness of the story. It's about as wide as you can go: one woman's survival vs. space. Then comes the technical wizardry. Though I've seen this film twice now, once on the big screen and once at home (Thank you WB/SAG digital screener!), I can't wait to see it again. I want to pour over the shots, the beats, the emotions in much g...

Director: Woody Allen Released: 1989 Woody Allen is one of my favorite Directors. One of the first movies I really remember watching (and re-watching, and re-watching…) as a child was "Take the Money and Run", Allen's brilliant mockumentary of the life and times of a painfully common and bumbling thief (played hilariously by himself) made me howl with laughter, even if I only got the broadest strokes he laid down. Much of Allen's early work was noted for his comedy, both in what was written and in his screen persona. Crimes and Misdemeanors is pointed out by some as a sharp turn in Allen's career toward the dramatic ( Ebert Review ). While Allen's character is signature and provides helpful comic relief, he is far from the main player in the film. Martin Landau, who was nominated for an Academy Award for his portrayal of Judah (the lead), is a dark character in a most troubling way because of his power (financial success, community status, etc.) and...

Director: Alexander Payne Year of Release: 2013 Shot entirely in black and white and achingly slow, Nebraska is a film that insists on patience and pays off in rich familial subtext. The performances are quietly determined, headlined by Bruce Dern's character who insists against all logic and reason that he's won one million dollars in a mail-in giveaway (think Publisher's Clearinghouse minus the commercials). While on the road to redeem what he's never really going to win, Dern and his youngest son, played by Will Forte, painfully pull back the covers on a few details they didn't know about each others lives. For Forte, it's out of interest and growing concern. For Dern, it's the old ask and you shall receive - though sometimes you may wish you hadn't have asked once you receive.  The cinematography is excellent, though not in the traditional beautiful sense that many films' looks are judged by. The stark black and ...

Director: Martin Scorsese Year of Release: 1999 I remember when this film came out thinking: Nic Cage...Snake Eyes (the last film I saw him in - the DePalma flop fro 1998)...mmm, no thanks. Admittedly, I wasn't deep on the Scorsese bandwagon at that point in my career. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed many of his films, especially Good Fellas, Casino and Cape Fear (with deference to the original). But he wasn't a Director whose films I would see simply because he made them. Ever since Hugo and Shutter Island, I've started looking backward and considering what I've missed. The King of Comedy, Mean Streets, Taxi Driver and Raging Bull, to name a few are films, with a little more weight and understanding under my own belt, that I've gone back to and simply been devastated by. So here is Bringing Out the Dead - a long way from any of the classics mentioned above, but still on the list of this great auteur's work that I felt the need to explore. I was not...