In German. 104 minute running time so around the right length. I loved this movie, it was fall-down funny, and it’s mainly because the star, Vitus Zeplichal, is so good. It’s hard to overestimate how much Fassbinder loathes German culture, he’s just scathing… but in a funny, loving way, if you know what I mean. I think I finally understand Fassbinder. Ali: Fear Eats the Soul was a lot less entertaining than this movie. I thank John Farr for this excellent recommendation and I second it. Green-go!
Movies Watched -- One Fine Morning (2022)
In French. 112 minute running time so at least 12 minutes too long. There was no story here, no arc. It’s just Lea Seydoux and her nice tits and her Twiggy haircut taking public transport in Paris and shuttling her father around to various old folks’ homes while seducing a married guy … I don’t care, I don’t know why John Farr recommended this. Red rating.
Movies Watched -- Don't Look Now (1973)
110 minute running time so at least ten minutes too long, but this was so terrible that there would be no saving it. What an awful recommendation from John Farr (“an arty, eerie entry for those seeking something different”). Wrong. Scrawny Julie Christy is beautiful and Venice is an interesting city, but this was just no good. Red rating.
Best Thriller / Mystery Movies of the 1970s
These are the best thriller / mystery movies of the 1970s according to John Farr. I’ve arranged them chronologically below:
English-language movies:
10 Rillington Place (1971)
Duel (1971)
Get Carter (1971)
Klute (1971)
Straw Dogs (1971)
The French Connection (1971)
Walkabout (1971)
Deliverance (1972)
Frenzy (1972)
Images (1972)
The Godfather (1972)
Badlands (1973)
Charley Varrick (1973)
Don’t Look Now (1973)
Mean Streets (1973)
Serpico (1973)
The Day of the Jackal (1973)
The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973)
The Offence (1973)
The Sting (1973)
Chinatown (1974)
Murder on the Orient Express (1974)
The Conversation (1974)
The Godfather: Part II (1974)
The Missiles of October (1974)
The Parallax View (1974)
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)
The Yakuza (1974)
Thieves Like Us (1974)
Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
Farewell, My Lovely (1975)
Night Moves (1975)
Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)
Three Days of the Condor (1975)
All The President's Men (1976)
Helter Skelter (1976)
I Only Want You To Love Me (1976)
Marathon Man (1976)
Mikey and Nicky (1976)
Taxi Driver (1976)
The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (1976)
The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)
The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1977)
The Duellists (1977)
Escape from Alcatraz (1979)
Mad Max (1979)
Scum (1979)
The China Syndrome (1979)
The Great Train Robbery (1979)
The Onion Field (1979)
Foreign-language movies:
La Rupture (1970) (French)
Le Cercle Rouge (1970) (French)
The Conformist (1970) (Italian)
Le Boucher (1971) (French)
Max and the Junkmen (1971) (French)
La Bonne Annee (1973) (French)
Going Places (1974) (French)
Rabid Dogs (1974) (Italian)
The Clockmaker of St. Paul (1974) (French)
Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975) (French)
The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum (1975) (German)
I Only Want You To Love Me (1976) (German)
Mr. Klein (1976) (German)
Violette (1978) (French)
Buffet Froid (1979) (French)
Vengeance Is Mine (1979) (Japanese)
Movies Watched -- Whale Rider (2003)
101 minute running time so a good length … this was cute, I enjoyed it, a little contrived of course, a little too sweet, a little too moving, so no green-go … the little girl is beautiful, not sure how much Maori blood she has, but probably more than the white woman who wrote and directed it, lol … a feel-good movie for the whole family to enjoy, but the politics of it are pretty complicated, if you bother to think about it.
And she came on the back of a whale... a woman to lead a new people.
Movies Watched -- Sweet Sixteen (2002)
In Scottish (needs subtitles) … 106 minute running time so about 10 minutes too long … more stories of delinquent Scottish youth … a Ken Loach movie, I should have known (he also made Kes (1969), which is one of the greatest movies of all time … I, Daniel Blake also wasn’t bad). This movie wasn’t bad, just predictable and depressing. When the kid seriously considered murder, the audience probably stopped rooting for him. This was a John Farr reco (“a sympathetic portrait of troubled adolescence”), but it only gets a yellow rating from me.
What a waste.
Movies Watched -- The Clay Bird (2002)
In Bengali. 98 minute running time so the perfect length. I know nothing about the history of Bangladesh (East Pakistan) and how it became independent (so the movie is set before 1971) and the conflict between Hindus and Muslims and about boys being sent off to a madrasa, etc. so I learned a few basic things by watching this movie. I think there was a lot of symbolic stuff within that I didn’t get because I’m too dense. This was a John Farr reco (“lyrical gem”), and I’ll give it a yellow rating at best.
The clay bird laments:"Why did you infuse my heart with longing if you didn't give my wings the strength to fly?"
Movies Watched -- 13 Tzameti (2005)
In French. 90 minute running time so the perfect length, but this was an absurd story and sick and twisted and bad for the soul (Russian roulette thing) … I had to buy a copy of this movie since I couldn’t find it anywhere and now I know why, it’s both dumb and disturbing. Very surprised John Farr recommended this, what a bad call on his part. Supposedly based on a true story, but I doubt it. Red rating.
Best Movies of 2007
This is a list of the Best Movies of 2007 according to John Farr. I find his site hard to navigate, so I create summary lists like this one.
English-language movies:
American Gangster
Boy A
Breach
Chop Shop
Control
Into the Wild
Juno
Knocked Up
Longford
Michael Clayton
My Winnipeg
No Country for Old Men
Paranormal Activity
Ratatouille
Superbad
The Kite Runner
The Namesake
The Savages
The Visitor
There Will Be Blood
Foreign-language movies:
4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days (Romanian)
5 Centimeters Per Second (Japanese)
A Secret (French)
Beaufort (Hebrew)
Bliss (Turkish)
Caramel (Arabic)
Cargo 200 (Russian)
Flight of the Red Balloon (French)
I Served the King of England (Czech)
Jellyfish (Hebrew)
Katyn (Polish)
La Vie En Rose (French)
Letters from Iwo Jima (Japanese)
Like Stars on Earth (Hindi)
Love and Honor (Japanese)
Lust, Caution (Mandarin)
Maldeamores (Spanish)
Mirush (Albanian)
Mongol (Mongolian)
My Father, My Lord (Hebrew)
Persepolis (French)
REC (Spanish)
Secret Sunshine (Korean)
Silent Light (Spanish)
The Band’s Visit (Hebrew)
The Counterfeiters (German)
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (French)
The Edge of Heaven (German)
The Orphanage (Spanish)
The Pool (Hindi)
Under the Bombs (Arabic)
Volver (Spanish)
Yella (German)
English-language documentaries:
Atlantic Records: The House That Ahmet Built
Bomb It
Chris & Don: A Love Story
Constantine's Sword
Dreams to Remember: The Legacy of Otis Redding
Encounters at the End of the World
For the Bible Tells Me So
Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
Martha Graham: Dance on Film
Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project
No End in Sight
Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience
Pete Seeger: The Power of Song
Sicko
Steep
Surfwise
Taxi to the Dark Side
The Devil Came on Horseback
The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters
The Rape of Europa
Trumbo
Uncounted: The New Math of American Elections
War Dance
Young @ Heart
Foreign-language documentary:
Her Name Is Sabine
Movies Watched -- The Gathering Storm (2002)
96 minute running time, so the perfect length. Another Churchill movie, Albert Finney starring. It’s well made, a John Farr reco, see it if you’re interested in history. Yellow rating.
I've lived too long, I'm in the ruck, I've drunk too deeply of the cup, I cannot spend, I cannot f***, I'm down and out! I'm buggered up!