La Nouvelle Vague (The French New Wave)
Included are my favorite thirteen films. Four are directed by Godard, three by Truffaut, two by Renais, and one each by Chabrol, Demy, Malle, and Varda.
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Category: Criterion Collection
The Films of Joseph L. Mankiewicz
All twenty JLM films rated to coincide with a retrospective at the Criterion Collection. This includes his masterpiece “All About Eve”.
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Classic Film Noir At Twentieth Century Fox
Fox Noir: Welcome to the world of the femme fatale and multiple flashbacks. Otto Preminger’s “Laura” with Clifton Webb is the crown jewel. And Gene Tierney.
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Godland (2023) Hlynur Pálmason’s Masterpiece A+
Pálmason, his cinematographer (Maria von Hausswolff), and his composer (Alex Zhang Hungtai) evoke colonial memories reminiscent of films like “Black Robe”.
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I Vitelloni (1953) Queer Film A-
The film blends neorealist observation with a nostalgic tone, supported by a lush Nino Rota score. Like Fellini’s later autobiographical work, it captures a vivid sense of time and place.
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Les Diaboliques (1955) Queer Film A-
By late 1956, it had become the highest-grossing French film released in the United States. It is also one of the most successful queer films of all time since, although queer coded, something is clearly going on between Christina and Nicole!
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Purple Noon (1960) Queer Film B+
Although it lacks the emotional depth and the great supporting cast of Minghella’s film, this version has a unique style thanks to director Rene Clement.
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Portrait of Jason (1967) Queer Film. Captivating Look at Hustler Jason Holliday. (A)
A true breakthrough and a film that has improved with age. Documentary filmmaker Shirley Clarke interviews gay African American hustler and aspiring cabaret performer Jason Holliday in his apartment at the Hotel Chelsea.
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Fox and His Friends (1975) Queer Film B+
A fascinating look at gay life in the seventies, it’s one of a dozen great movies Fassbinder wrote and directed in the decade before his untimely death.
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Grey Gardens (1975) Queer TV. Documentary Feature A+
After its release, the film’s high campness – a tragic story set in the faded milieu of New York high society – developed a significant gay following.
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Jeanne Dielman (1975) Queer Film A+
In “Jeanne Dielman”, a feminist masterpiece, the everyday details of a caring mother contrast with her life as a prostitute.
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