Misfortunes of Imaginary Beings

A blog formerly known as Bookishness / By Charles Matthews

"Dazzled by so many and such marvelous inventions, the people of Macondo ... became indignant over the living images that the prosperous merchant Bruno Crespi projected in the theater with the lion-head ticket windows, for a character who had died and was buried in one film and for whose misfortune tears had been shed would reappear alive and transformed into an Arab in the next one. The audience, who had paid two cents apiece to share the difficulties of the actors, would not tolerate that outlandish fraud and they broke up the seats. The mayor, at the urging of Bruno Crespi, explained in a proclamation that the cinema was a machine of illusions that did not merit the emotional outbursts of the audience. With that discouraging explanation many ... decided not to return to the movies, considering that they already had too many troubles of their own to weep over the acted-out misfortunes of imaginary beings."
--Gabriel García Márquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude

Sunday, April 7, 2019

A Single Man (Tom Ford, 2009)

A Single Man (Tom Ford, 2009)

Cast: Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, Nicholas Hoult, Matthew Goode, Jon Kortajarena. Screenplay: Tom Ford, David Scearce, based on a novel by Christopher Isherwood. Cinematography: Edward Grau. Production design: Dan Bishop. Film editing: Joan Sobel. Music: Abel Korzeniowski.

Saturday, April 6, 2019

That Uncertain Feeling (Ernst Lubitsch, 1941)

That Uncertain Feeling (Ernst Lubitsch, 1941)

Cast: Merle Oberon, Melvyn Douglas, Burgess Meredith, Harry Davenport, Eve Arden, Olive Blakeney, Alan Mowbray, Sig Ruman. Screenplay: Donald Ogden Stewart, Walter Reisch, based on a play by Victorien Sardou and Emile DeNajac. Cinematography: George Barnes. Film editing: William Shea. Music: Werner R. Heymann.

Friday, April 5, 2019

Game Night (John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, 2018)

Game Night (John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, 2018)

Cast: Jason Bateman, Rachel McAdams, Kyle Chandler, Sharon Horgan, Billy Magnussen, Lamorne Morris, Kylie Bunbury, Jesse Plemons. Screenplay: Mark Perez. Cinematography: Barry Peterson. Production design: Michael Corenblith. Film editing: David Egan, Jamie Gross, Gregory Plotkin. Music: Cliff Martinez.

Thursday, April 4, 2019

Leave Her to Heaven (John M. Stahl, 1945)

Leave Her to Heaven (John M. Stahl, 1945)

Cast: Gene Tierney, Cornel Wilde, Jeanne Crain, Vincent Price, Darryl Hickman, Mary Philips, Ray Collins, Chill Wills. Screenplay: Jo Swerling, based on a novel by Ben Ames Williams. Cinematography: Leon Shamroy. Art direction: Maurice Ransford, Lyle R. Wheeler. Film editing: James B. Clark. Music: Alfred Newman.

Wednesday, April 3, 2019

Intolerable Cruelty (Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, 2003)

Intolerable Cruelty (Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, 2003)

Cast: George Clooney, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Geoffrey Rush, Cedric the Entertainer, Edward Herrmann, Paul Adelstein, Richard Jenkins, Billy Bob Thornton, Julia Duffy. Screenplay: Robert Ramsey, Matthew Stone, John Romano, Joel Coen, Ethan Coen. Cinematography: Roger Deakins. Production design: Leslie McDonald. Film editing: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen. Music: Carter Burwell.

Tuesday, April 2, 2019

Torch Song Trilogy (Paul Bogart, 1988)

Torch Song Trilogy (Paul Bogart, 1988)

Cast: Harvey Fierstein, Matthew Broderick, Anne Bancroft, Brian Kerwin, Karen Young, Eddie Castrodad, Ken Page, Charles Pierce. Screenplay: Harvey Fierstein, based on his play. Cinematography: Mikael Salomon. Production design: Richard Hoover. Film editing: Nicholas C. Smith.

Monday, April 1, 2019

Peg o' My Heart (Robert Z. Leonard, 1933)

Peg o' My Heart (Robert Z. Leonard, 1933)

Cast: Marion Davies, Onslow Stevens, J. Farrell MacDonald, Juliette Compton, Irene Browne, Tyrell Davis, Alan Mowbray, Robert Greig. Screenplay: Frank R. Adams, Frances Marion, based on a play by J. Hartley Manners. Cinematography: George Barnes. Art direction: Cedric Gibbons. Film editing: Margaret Booth. Costume design: Adrian. Music: Herbert Stothart.