Step Up Revolution (Scott Speer, 2012). Sometimes the gulf between the profound and the ridiculous is not just dramatic but dispiriting. Anyway, this movie is bad. I think the credit “Cinematography by Crash” (evidently a nom de l’oeil for director of photography Karsten Gopinath) tells us a lot about where the movies are today. (full review 7/27)
Farewell, My Queen (Benoit Jacquot, 2011). True to Jacquot’s mode of operations, this is a French Revolution movie with a discreet, non-melodramatic approach. Anchored by a strong set of actresses. (full review 7/27)
Time Without Pity (Joseph Losey, 1957). Time for another look at blacklistee Losey’s Brit-noir outing, which gives Michael Redgrave such a great workout. In the movie’s portrait of systems working against the desperate protagonist, a sharp glint of the exile’s experience shines through. And that final sequence is a classic.
Eva (Joseph Losey, 1962). The first time I saw this movie, I thought it was key to understanding Losey’s style, as it contains all the things that sometimes look mannered in his work; this time it looked like it had moved firmly into the mannered part of the spectrum. So it’s very busy, but interesting.
At What a Feeling!, an Eighties review of Martin Ritt’s Murphy’s Romance, a movie the author admits to liking quite a bit.
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