Most directors probably owe some debt of gratitude to Alfred Hitchcock. The lineage goes at least to Truffaut and the French New Wave and they influenced most of what would follow after them. But there was no Hitchcock devotee as steadfast as Brian De Palma- and there was no De Palma film as indebted to Hitchcock as Obsession. Obsession has a crew to die for. It was written by Paul Schrader (coming out the same year as Taxi Driver) scored by Bernard Herrmann (ditto- scored Taxi Driver in 1976 and composed Vertigo and Psycho amongst others of course) and

Juno is sweet bliss indie cinema gold from the pen of Diablo Cody (Oscar winner in 2007 for Best Original Screenplay). It helped announce not only the talents of the young Cody (her first screenplay- and she was not yet 30 in 2007) but also the star Elliot Page (then Ellen Page) and Jason Reitman behind the camera. It wears its indie badge proudly with the quirky details (drinking Sunny D in the opening, Tic-tac’s) folk music and hand drawn opening title sequence. Juno chronicles four seasons (these feel rooted in Wes Anderson’s Rushmore) in the life

Although Torn Curtain is a step or two (at least) off the master’s best work (without doubt it does not touch Marnie- his previous effort)- it still far exceeds the vast majority of efforts from 1966 or any other year. Torn Curtain makes Hitchcock’s fiftieth (50th) film. Hitchcock is shooting largely in Denmark (as a stand in for Berlin). Bernard Herrmann wrote the original score but when Universal wanted something more upbeat, he and Hitchcock got into a fight and Herrmann left the project. John Addison replaced Herrmann and the drop off is tangible. This is Hitchcock in the

Brian De Palma’s film is adapted from the much ballyhooed novel by Tom Wolfe (taking that marvelous name from Wolfe’s book of course). It tracks the contrasting trajectories of Wall Street moneyman Sherman McCoy (Tom Hanks) and newspaper writer Peter Fallow (Bruce Willis). The film is famous (or infamous) for being remembered as one of the great turkeys of all-time—but well that may be true with the box office (or even some of the expectations when you combine the talent in the cast with the greatness of the Wolfe novel)- it is surely a work of cinema worthy of

Woody Allen returns to Fellini and returns to black and white photography with 1998’s Celebrity. Instead of 8 ½ (Stardust Memories) or Amarcord (Radio Days) this is Woody’s La Dolce Vita. Much is made of Woody’s love for Ingmar Bergman (Celebrity was shot by Sven Nykvist- one of their three feature collaborations) and rightly so- but there is as much Fellini in Woody’s work as there is the great Swedish master. The cast assembled is incredible- the lead is Kenneth Branagh. Branagh plays Lee Simon- a Woody surrogate and it is a fine job by Branagh. Simon is going

All About My Mother is Pedro Almodóvar’s thirteenth (13th) film and certainly one of his best to this point in his career- the creative juices are undoubtedly still flowing. The title and large chunks of the narrative are from 1950’s All About Eve. At the 8-minute mark, Manuela (Cecilia Roth) is in red standing in front of a poster mural draped in red with the face of Huma Rojo (Marisa Paredes). This is a magnificent frame- if a little reminiscent of Kieslowski’s shot of Irene Jacob in Three Colours: Red (1994). If this is All About Eve-

First off, this Robert Wise film written by Abraham Polonsky (using the front name of John O. Kilens because of the HUAC blacklist) has a fabulously fatalistic noir title. Harry Belafonte (also producer here helping drive the film to be made)’s Ingram is a gambler as well to give the set up and title an added layer as well. Robert Ryan is marvelous as the brooding, scowling Slater. Slater is racist and Ryan’s commanding physical presence aids the performance. Ryan has done this often before with great impact (On Dangerous Ground amongst others). He is angry at the world.

Orlando is the second feature of Sally Potter and is the first great artistic success of a young Tilda Swinton (aged 32 years) in the lead. Swinton was coming off her phase and period of work with avant-garde artist and director Derek Jarman – certainly avant-garde is how you can describe not only Orlando but much of career of Swinton (aside from some big blockbusters here and there). Swinton plays Orlando- addressing the camera directly. The film is broken up with a series of formal chapter titles marking different times and forms of Orlando– “1600 Death” and “1610 Love”

Mighty Aphrodite is certainly a minor work in Woody Allen’s vast and extraordinary oeuvre It opens on a Greek Chorus in costume led by F. Murray Abraham. This section of the film was shot in Sicily and it is set apart from and interwoven with the main narrative shot and set in New York City featuring Lenny (Woody Allen) his wife Amanda (Helena Bonham Carter). Through a bizarre set of circumstances, Lenny will end up seeking out the biological mother of his adopted son. The mother Linda is played Mira Sorvino in an Oscar winning performance for supporting actress.

Chilean auteur Pablo Larraín doubles down on his passion- making films about the wives of royalty (2016’s Jackie- about Jacqueline Kennedy Onassi) with 2021’s Spencer -taken from Princess Diana’s maiden name. Spencer tracks Diana through a few days during the Christmas holidays before her sort of emancipation from the British royal family. Spencer is also another feather in the cap for Kristen Stewart. Stewart, just over the age of thirty now, has put together a very decent resume that includes 2014’s Clouds of Sils Maria and Certain Women in 2016. Like Kelly Reichardt’s Certain Women, Larraín shoots this in

Julie Taymor had previously worked on stage (notably “The Lion King”) and in television but 1999’s Titus was her debut feature film. Titus is certainly laudable for its full mise-en-scene: use of color, production design (Dante Ferretti- Salo, Casino, The Age of Innocence) and costume work (Milena Canonero- Barry Lyndon, Dick Tracy, A Clockwork Orange, most of Wes Anderson’s work). Titus is also notable for pairing Anthony Hopkins (not quite on the run he was in the early 1990s but still doing great work) with Shakespeare--- belting out the Bard “I shall grind your bones to dust!”