The Friday (2/12/2021)

Yeri Han, Steven Yeun: Minari (Josh Ethan Johnson/A24)

My piece for the Scarecrow blog this week, and etc.

Minari. “Its approach seems literary more than cinematic, which may be why I’m resisting its charms a little bit.”

We’re starting up another semester of Scarecrow Academy, this time devoted to “The Art in Noir: Film Noir and the Director.” The online Zoom sessions begin Saturday, February 13th, and continue on Saturday afternoons at 2 p.m. Pacific Time for 10 weeks. On 2/13 we begin with a discussion of Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity. See more information and register here. Below, I talk a little about this week’s movie.

We’ve got more 1980s reviews at my other website, What a Feeling! Consider these vintage reviews of Wayne Wang’s Slam Dance, an arty neo-noir with Tom Hulce and a very intriguing cast; Michael Moore’s groundbreaking documentary Roger & Me; Jovan Acin’s Hey Babu Riba, a fondly-recalled Yugoslavian memory film; Gregory Nava’s A Time of Destiny, a supremely weird melodrama with William Hurt and Timothy Hutton; Mel Brooks’s To Be or Not to Be, an ill-advised Lubitsch remake starring Brooks and Anne Bancroft.