Perhaps more than any other classic American genre, the western may have the most obvious symbolic binary: black hats signify the outlaws, white ones are worn by the lawmen. Delmer Daves’ big screen adaptation of Elmore Leonard’s pulp story “Three-Ten to Yuma,” (screenplay by Halsted Welles) subverts this. It pulls certain lines of dialog verbatim, … Continue reading Delmer Daves’ Respect for the Hard Working West…
The Age of Balconies and Binoculars…
Much like Stanley Kubrick’s visionary ambition to make 18th century paintings come to life, with the stunning visuals of his drama, Barry Lyndon; Martin Scorsese uses two distinct kinds of period canvases to draw you into his setting of forbidden desires, shared by Archer and Ellen, in Jay Cocks' adaptation of Edith Wharton's The Age of … Continue reading The Age of Balconies and Binoculars…
“Unsane” Less Can Make For More… [Must-Watch]
The opening scene of Unsane, recalls two distinct things with no dialog: in a long, handheld POV shot (the movie was shot on an iPhone); it homages the opening credits' style of sleazy, early Hollywood suspense pictures (such as Detour or Decoy), and director Steven Soderbergh's distinct, organic use of color temperature in his mise en scène is … Continue reading “Unsane” Less Can Make For More… [Must-Watch]
John Huston and the American Asshole…
"Hey, mister, would you stake a fellow American to a meal?" The first thing we learn about a bearded and battered Humphrey Bogart, in John Huston’s cinematic masterpiece, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, is that he’s a liar, a beggar and a con artist – a guy down on his luck just trying to scrape by … Continue reading John Huston and the American Asshole…
Gods of Direction and Meaning in Jules Dassin’s “Night and the City…”
After running through the streets and back alleys of London, the figure at the center of Jules Dassin’s Night and the City, Harry Fabian, slips into an apartment that isn’t his. He checks the window, before moving to the table, nibbling on some food that’s been left out. Mid-bite he spots something off camera, dropping … Continue reading Gods of Direction and Meaning in Jules Dassin’s “Night and the City…”
Projector of Feelings 