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

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Thursday, March 28, 2024

The Holdovers (Alexander Payne, 2023)

Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Paul Giamatti, and Dominic Sessa in The Holdovers

Cast: Paul Giamatti, Dominic Sessa, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Carrie Preston, Brady Hepner, Ian Dolley, Jim Kaplan, Michael Provost, Andrew Garman, Naheem Garcia, Gillian Vigman, Tate Donovan. Screenplay: David Hemingson. Cinematography: Eigil Bryld. Production design: Ryan Warren Smith. Film editing: Kevin Tent. Music: Mark Orton. 

Wednesday, March 27, 2024

The Eagle Shooting Heroes (Jeffrey Lau, 1993)

 

Tony Leung Chiu-wai in The Eagle Shooting Heroes

Cast: Leslie Cheung, Tony Leung Ka-fai, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Jacky Cheung, Kenny Bee, Brigitte Lin, Joey Wang, Maggie Cheung, Carina Lau, Veronica Lip. Screenplay: Jeffrey Lau, based on a novel by Louis Cha. Cinematography: Peter Pau. Production design: Peter Chang. Film editing: Kai Kit-wai. Music: James Wong, Mark Lui. 

Tuesday, March 26, 2024

Undercurrent (Vincente Minnelli, 1946)

Robert Mitchum and Katharine Hepburn in Undercurrent

Cast: Katharine Hepburn, Robert Taylor, Robert Mitchum, Edmund Gwenn, Marjorie Main, Jayne Meadows, Clinton Sundberg, Dan Tobin, Kathryn Card, Leigh Whipper, Charles Trowbridge, James Westerfield, Billy McClain. Screenplay: Edward Chodorov, based on a story by Thelma Strabel. Cinematography: Karl Freund. Art direction: Randall Duell, Cedric Gibbons. Film editing: Ferris Webster. Music: Herbert Stothart. 

Monday, March 25, 2024

Birth (Jonathan Glazer, 2004)

Danny Huston and Nicole Kidman in Birth

Cast: Nicole Kidman, Cameron Bright, Danny Huston, Lauren Bacall, Alison Elliott, Arliss Howard, Michael Desautels, Anne Heche, Peter Stormare, Ted Levine, Cara Seymour, Zoe Caldwell. Screenplay: Jean-Claude Carrière, Milo Addica, Jonathan Glazer. Cinematography: Harris Savides. Production design: Kevin Thompson. Film editing: Sam Sneade, Claus Wehlisch. Music: Alexandre Desplat. 

Sunday, March 24, 2024

Anatomy of a Fall (Justine Triet, 2023)

Sandra Hüller and Swann Arlaud in Anatomy of a Fall

Cast: Sandra Hüller, Swann Arlaud, Milo Machado-Graner, Antoine Reinartz, Samuel Theis, Jehnny Beth, Saadia Benthaïb, Camille Rutherford, Anne Rotger, Sophie Fillières, Messi. Screenplay: Justine Triet, Arthur Harari. Cinematography: Simon Beaufils. Production design: Emmanuelle Duplay. Film editing: Laurent Sénéchal. 

Saturday, March 23, 2024

Cute Girl (Hou Hsiao-hsien, 1980)

Fong Fei-fei and Kenny Be in Cute Girl

Cast: Kenny Be, Fong Fei-fei, Anthony Chan, Chang Ping-yu, Chi Kai-ching, Chien Lu, Chou Wan-sheng, Chang Hui-fen. Screenplay: Hou Hsiao-hsien. Cinematography: Chen Kun-hou. Film editing: Liao Cheng-sung. Music: Huang Mou-shan. 

Friday, March 22, 2024

A Question of Silence (Marleen Gorris, 1982)

Nelly Frijda, Edda Barends, and Henriëtte Toll in A Question of Silence

Cast: Edda Barends, Nelly Frijda, Henriëtte Toll, Cox Habbema, Eddie Brugman, Hans Croiset, Erik Plooyer. Screenplay: Marleen Gorris. Cinematography: Frans Bromet. Art direction: Harry Ammerlaan. Film editing: Hans van Dongen. Music: Lodewijk de Boer, Martijn Hasebos.

Thursday, March 21, 2024

Love Letter (Kinuyo Tanaka, 1953)

Masayuki Mori in Love Letter

Cast: Masayuki Mori, Juzo Dosan, Yoshiko Kuga, Jukichi Uno, Kyoko Kagawa, Shizue Natsukawa, Kinuyo Tanaka, Chieko Seki, Ranko Hanai, Chieko Nakakita, Keisuke Kinoshita. Screenplay: Keisuke Kinoshita, based on a novel by Fumio Niwa. Cinematography: Hiroshi Suzuki. Art direction: Seigo Shindo. Film editing: Toshio Goto. Music: Ichiro Saito. 

Wednesday, March 20, 2024

I'm Not There (Todd Haynes, 2007)

Marcus Carl Franklin, Cate Blanchett, Christian Bale, Ben Whishaw, Heath Ledger, and Richard Gere in I'm Not There

Cast: Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Marcus Carl Franklin, Ben Whishaw, Heath Ledger, Richard Gere, Kris Kristofferson (voice), Charlotte Gainsbourg, Bruce Greenwood, Julianne Moore, Michelle Williams. Screenplay: Todd Haynes, Oren Moverman. Cinematography: Edward Lachman. Production design: Judy Becker. Film editing: Jay Rabinowitz. Music: Bob Dylan. 

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Poor Things (Yorgos Lanthimos, 2023)

Emma Stone in Poor Things

Cast: Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe, Ramy Youssef, Christopher Abbott, Suzy Bemba, Jerrod Carmichael, Kathryn Hunter, Vicki Pepperdine, Margaret Qualley, Hanna Schygulla. Screenplay: Tony McNamara, based on a novel by Alasdair Gray. Cinematography: Robbie Ryan. Production design: Shona Heath, James Price. Film editing: Yorgos Mavropsaridis. Music: Jerskin Fendrix.