Trailer for The World According to Allee Willis, "the most interesting woman you've never heard of," according to the Washington Post. Looks great!
In addition to being a prolific and grammy-winning songwriter, Willis ran the Museum of Kitsch, which is how I first heard of her in 2010 (though I'd been of a fan of her music without knowing she'd written it). Willis died in 2019, but her Youtube channel lives on.
Digression Alert
Watching this trailer, I was reminded of Montez, a milliner I met once in LA in summer, 2016. She owned and operated The Milliner's Guild at Crossroads of the World.
After walking into her shop, which was closed at the time, I immediately felt a connection to her and we began a talk that lasted a few hours where she told me about growing up in Venice and hanging out with Hendrix or Jim Morrison or both. The specifics are vague as it was my first trip after a stroke a few months prior. She'd made hats for Madonna and plenty of other celebrities from the 80s going forward. We stayed in touch digitally for a few years and the last I heard, she'd moved to New Mexico with her husband. I just sent her a message through a probably now-dead channel, but hopefully I'll hear back.
I wonder if she knew Willis. Montez, are you out there?
I prefer to experience Canadian winters from afar. Though I did that successfully for many years, it hasn't happened since Covid. Now, with an aging dog I don't want to be apart from, I'm looking at spending another winter here.
As I did last year, I will run weekly screenings for friends in my loft. The sudden drop in temperature has me thinking about what to project this year and I thought readers of A Tiny Bell may be interested in these works as well.
Here's some what I'm considering:
Self-Portrait As A Coffee Pot
d. William Kentridge Streaming on Mubi
This is a 9-part series about art and its creating. Kentridge is a South African artists and made these ~30 minute episodes during Covid. Here's the official description, the trailer, and an overview:
Inspired in part by Charlie Chaplin, Dziga Vertov and the innovative wit of early cinema, pioneering South African artist William Kentridge offers a cinematic experience of the creative process during the plague years of COVID. Interconnected yet distinct episodes introduce us to William and his collaborators in action, inviting us to step inside the intimacy of the studio as shared discoveries about culture, history and politics, and profound truths about the ways we live and think today are uncovered through the making of works of art.
Le Trou
d. Jacques Becker, based on the novel by José Giovanni Streaming on The Criterion Channel
Le Trou is my favorite prison film. I think it's astonishingly good and can't believe Hollywood has never remade it. So, so tense.
A Separation
d. w. Asghar Farhadi Streaming on Hoopla, but I own the blu-ray.
Farhadi has had some controversy the past few years and I don't side with him on it, but this is an all-time favorite of mine and an exceptional way to introduce people to Iranian cinema.
Network
d. Sidney Lumet, w. Paddy Chayefski Streaming on Apple TV+
I used to assume most everyone has seen these 70s classic films but last year I screened Dog Day Afternoon and no one who attended had even heard of it before. So, this year it'll be Network. All the acting is incredible — Beatrice Straight's ~5-minute performance earned her an Oscar — and the script is impeccable. There are few films as prophetic as Network. See if it you haven't. It has never been more relevant.
The Graduate
d. Mike Nichols, w. Buck Henry from a novel by Charles Webb Streaming on The Criterion Channel
Another film that I assume most people have seen. However, the people I asked last year seem to only vaguely recall watching it as kids. I think many people dismiss it as a bawdy comedy, but it's a meticulously constructed film. The performances are great, and the direction, camera work, and editing are top-notch. Howard Suber, a film prof at USC, did an audio commentary for the laserdisc years ago. I learned more about storytelling from listening to that then I did in four years of film school.
About Dry Grasses
d. Nuri Bilge Ceylan w. Akin Aksu, Ebru Ceylan, Nuri Bilge Ceylan
On the fence on this one for two reasons: I have not yet seen it, which means I'd have to watch it twice as I only screen films I've seen, and it's 3 hours and 17 minutes. Certainly looks interesting, however, and the reviews were excellent.
Capernaum
d. Nadine Labaki w. Nadine Labaki, Jihad Hojeily, Michelle Keserwany Stream it for free on Hoopla
A critic in the trailer says, "Prepare to be blown away." That is certainly my experience with this film. I've seen it twice and it's remarkable. The child playing the lead, who was not an actor, but an illiterate Syrian refugee, is mind-bogglingly great. He's now a teenager and thanks to the film was able to relocate to Norway where he attended school for the first time in his life.
Join or Die
d. Pete Davis and Rebecca Davis Stream on Netflix
Recent documentary on Robert Putnam, definer of Social Capital, and author of Bowling Alone, which I, along with everyone else, read in the 2000s.
The Boy and the Heron
d. Hayao Miyazaki Stream it on Netflix
I once had a promising relationship go sour after the woman noticed my utter boredom while watching her favorite film, My Neighbor Totoro. I've pretty much hated Miyazaki films ever since. However, I really like herons and art that explores grief, so gonna give this one a shot.
I'll make new posts in the future listing the screenings so that people can follow along if they wish.
Rarefilmm is an archive of 100s of hard-to-find, little-known, or mostly-forgotten films. I've bookmarked a few for future watch: the documentary Pasolini, un delitto italiano (Who Killed Pasolini); Peter Bogdanovich's At Long Last Love; Pedro Costa's O Sangue; Xích lô; Bashu; and, just for laughs, the english-dubbed version of one of my all-time favorite films, Le Samourai (directed by JP Melville): The Godson, pictured below.
Tarr's films are not to everyone's tastes, but I find them rather captivating. It is not hyperbole to say that absolutely no one makes or has made films like Tarr. I have not seen them all, but my favorite of those I have is The Turin Horse, which was his final film. It is about two and a half hours long and contains only 29 cuts. Long shots are his signature shot. Satantango, perhaps his most famous film, is seven and a half hours long.
If you'd rather not invest such time into one of Tarr's films blindly, here's a 40 minute essay that offers a decent introduction to his work. Below that I've linked two you can currently watch for free.
"Taking the Highest Average score from each year (with over 1k reviews) let's see how different the Academy Awards canon would look if Letterboxd chose the Oscars' winners for best film. This list excludes Documentaries, Shorts , Concert films and Limited Series."
I agree with much of this.
I disagree most with 2007. There's no question in my mind that No Country For Old Men is a better film than There Will Be Blood.
