La Terra Trema is a major achievement for Visconti, Neo-realism, character blocking mise-en-scene and 1940’s cinema It is Visconti’s second film (a long delay) after 1943’s Ossessione (what a 1-2 punch to start a career). One a major film in noir, another a major film in neo-realism There’s a preface—titles explaining these are non-professional actors and that although this one is specific to this one family in Sicily, that “…every year in every country – men oppress other men”. This is a damning indictment of capitalism, a meditation on greed, but also to tie to many of Bunuel’s works

If 2015’s Kaili Blues (Gan Bi’s debut) was a strong sketch of a burgeoning auteur, 2018’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night is the arrival of a confident, (and more accomplished) talented new voice in cinema.  No connection (except for a somewhat literal take on the title) to the Eugene O’Neill play Starts with the camera in bed on our protagonist in a long shot—dreaming, the strobe light, talking about memories while looking at the ceiling and then the camera reframes (in the same shot, something he does skillfully and often) on the window in the mirror (in a really

Mira Nair skillfully handles the ensemble drama with swift pacing and strong characters. There’s the central family, the event planner and maid romance, the story of the niece who was a victim of abuse who is now older and trying to protect it from againAn excellent narrative-- family and generational conflict – authentic, painful one minute and humorous the next—the term “universal” used by almost every criticA few quick musical interludesUnfortunately the camera and some of the visuals are about as adventurous as a sitcomAlternating languages (often within the same sentence) feels essential and genuine to these characters Recommend

An exciting debut from 26-year old (in 2015) Chinese auteur Gan Bi—it is very rough drafty compared his follow-up 2018’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night but there is a clear vision here- a uniqueness that is confirmed (and made richer) with his more polished sophomore effort reoccurring images, dead characters dogs that come in and out of scenes (there's a Tarkovsky trait there) Shot in long takes (including one very long take which seems to be a trademark now) The tone is dream-like- surreal, closer to Apichatpong Weerasethakul than David Lynch a stunning sequence in a tunnel A strong

Saw it twice in theater in early 2014 and then a third time in March 2018 and a fourth in January 2020I don’t want to overreact to a recent viewing but I think it does go down as the Coen brothers’ best workI was wrong in 2014 to think this was a narratively-led film. I mean the narrative is absolutely brilliant but this is a tremendous visual triumph, hyper-atmospheric in its detail (bleak,  freezing)—absolutely beautiful. The period detail is impeccable—the lighting—the Coen Brothers showing they don’t have to work with Deakins to create a film that looks like this

Toni is a prime example Renoir’s trademark poetic realism—and it foreshadows both Italian neo-realism (the subjects being Italian doesn’t hurt when thinking about this comparison) movement and the Hollywood noir antihero’s that would pervade so many quality films from the 1940’s-1970’sIt starts with a prologue about Babel and the immigration story and how it is a true story (the prologue is clearly marked and set apart from the rest of the film)Renoir’s elegant fluid camera. Walking with the immigrants as they get off the train and listen to diegetic guitar music to open the film (which will make for