Shirley Jackson (Elisabeth Moss) is precisely the type of writer you’d expect to meet if you’d read one of her stories: Distant, acerbic, and drunk. Her husband, Stanley Hyman (Michael Stuhlbarg), also fits the mold. He’s a college professor with … Continue reading SHIRLEY
Writers themselves aren’t that dramatic or empathetic a subject,” screenwriter Sarah Gubbins says. “As a genus and species they are wont to be solitary, sedentary, and sullen. Social mores often elude them. As a breed they are prone to paranoia, … Continue reading Home Viewing: Writers on Screen
A lament of the cancellation of the 73rd Cannes Film Festival, and recommend past Palme d’Or recipients you can stream right now, including a personal favorite, The Tree of Life. Continue reading
Someday we’ll fall down and weep, and we’ll understand it all. All things. —Mr. O’Brien, The Tree of Life For two weeks every May, the world of cinema turns to the beaches of Southern France as the Cannes Film Festival … Continue reading THE TREE OF LIFE
Director Jacques Demy sought to make a movie that would make audiences cry. He succeeded in spades. It helps that Michelle Legrande provided one of the most indelible film scores of all time, and cinematographer Jean Rabier found the sourness … Continue reading THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG (LES PARAPLUIES DE CHERBOURG)
Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier is a sadist, and a proud one at that. He likes to put his characters (mostly women) through hell and back just to see if they’ll come out the other side. They do, and it’s … Continue reading DANCER IN THE DARK
The origins of France’s Cannes Film Festival lay not in La République, but neighboring Italy. Specifically, 1937’s Venice Film Festival, when Benito Mussolini stuck his big, fat fascist fingers in the mix and ensured that The Grand Illusion from French … Continue reading Home Viewing: Palme d’Or
On this week’s After Image, I chat with Veronica Straight-Lingo about Blow the Man Down (available on Amazon Prime), and recommend a couple of from Alfred Hitchcock, specifically Frenzy, The 39 Steps, and Shadow of a Doubt. Listen to After Image, Fridays at … Continue reading
The rocky, seaside village of Easter Cove, Maine, does not look like the kind of place you’d want to spend a winter. The snow piles up in great heaps, and the wind coming off the water will send an icicle … Continue reading BLOW THE MAN DOWN
Michael J. Cinema 
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