What an opening-- Rosamund Pike’s voice-over with a great “predators and prey”, “lions and lambs” speech. This is her best vehicle since 2014’s Gone Girl-  she clearly excels at playing these icy, psychotic characters Slow-motion and montage heavy From her wide eyes and carefully arranged hair to her cycling and vaping. Blakeson and Pike are creating a character Indie god Macon Blair is in the cast, as is veteran Dianne Wiest (with her first archiveable film since 2010’s Rabbit Hole). Chris Messina (playing the lawyer) has an amazing scene with Pike. They are like two cowboys threatening each other.

Guru Dutt has a dogmatic, stylistic and formal approach to Pyaasa. Dutt’s camera is rarely sedentary—like Renoir or Ophuls—the default setting here seems to be movement. Yet unlike Renoir, who most often moved side to side, Dutt’s camera either starts or ends almost every shot with a close-up (and there is a very heavy dedication to close-ups here which leads to some great performances) tracking either forward or back. I wonder if Dutt had continued making films in the 1960’s or 1970’s (he died tragically young at age 39) if he would have substituted the crane or tracking shot

Dutt’s fifth film and it is undoubtedly the work of the creative mind behind 1954’s Aar-Paar It is another romantic comedy musical (in the Hindi tradition). This is a situation comedy that almost plays like a fable – Madhubala plays Anita-- the heiress to a fortune. Her Aunt oversees the women’s liberation movement pushing for legal divorce in India. Anita’s father leaves behind a will that says that in order to inherit his money she must marry… in comes Dutt as a man who needs a job and comedy (and romance…and music) ensues. Dutt’s camera placement is often so

Al Pacino is the main reason to watch and study Donnie Brasco. Pacino has been playing variations on the gangster (The Godfather trilogy, Scarface, Carlito’s Way) amassing a remarkable resume in this genre alone. Here he plays Lefty—in many ways the exact opposite of Michael Corleone (I would guess this is part of the intrigue for Pacino). Lefty is on the bottom, broke, in a tiny apartment, moody, saying “I just $hit my pants” when he’s scared and often drinking too many spritzers. In many ways he’s a loser, in many ways Lefty is Fredo. Pacino plays Lefty with

The fourth film (first in my study, first available) for director/actor Guru Dutt. Dutt directed a total of eight films – all in the 1950’s. Dutt died young- age 39 Here he plays Kalu- and there’s an undeniable charisma about him as an actor- sort of an endearing rogue with a smile. This is a love triangle romantic comedy (with a bit of crime thrown in-- this film has everything)– a Bollywood film with musical numbers where characters interrupt actions and break into songs- not different than Mamoulian’s Love Me Tonight in 1932. Dutt is an even better director

Nolan’s Tenet starts in medias res like a Bond film with the vast crowd in the opera house (Nolan has declared his love for the 1977 Roger Moore Bond The Spy Who Loved Me) Tenet starts in medias res like a Bond film with the vast crowd in the opera house Nolan delivers on his now trademark colossal set pieces, editing precision and MacGuffins- worthy of comparisons to Michael Mann and Hitchcock The story is complex to say the least—at one point the character played by Clémence Poésy says “don’t try to understand it—feel it”- a great

Proof that even minor-Gilliam is fascinating, and also that even in his most native genre (the retro future sci-fi dystopia, Orwellian nightmare) by 2013 Gilliam no longer has his fastball. James Verniere from the Boston Herald “To say that Gilliam has repeated himself is to say that John Ford made Westerns.” – I like that line  https://www.bostonherald.com/2014/10/10/terry-gilliams-zero-theorem-proves-to-be-fun/  An impressive tracking shot opening out of the cosmos on the screen pulling back to reveal the back of a naked, hairless, Christoph Waltz A trademark Gilliam low-angle shot just after that—Waltz’s character at his home with massive

Add Rose Glass to the very short list of gifted auteurs whose film I look forward to next. Saint Maud is Glass’s debut, and I’ve praised A24 many times here- and yes- they should get credit for endorsing these young talents- but that takes nothing away from the writer/director and vision here. Add Rose Glass to the very short list of gifted auteurs whose film I look forward to next Saint Maud’s house is built upon Schrader and Scorsese’s Taxi Driver. Schrader actually re-laid some claim to that in recent years with the brilliant First Reformed (2017)

The Rental is sort of half-way between The Cabin in the Woods and some of Polanski’s chamber dramas (Cul-de-sac, Death and the Maiden) Part drama, part horror and part thriller- the type of thriller where the vise continually tightens Directed by Dave Franco- brother of James- and it is perceptively scribed and lean – 88 minutes. It has modest aims and that running time suits- if this is another 20-minutes longer it may not be in the archives Dead Calm feels like another comparison. The four main cast members are fine- but I think Franco made a shrewd move

Rex Ingram is the Irish director best known for The Four Horseman of the Apocalypse (1921) with Rudolph Valentino. The Magician is shot and set (largely) in Paris—and certainly had an influence on James Whale’s Frankenstein (even if The Magician seemed to borrow pretty liberally from Mary Shelley’s 19th century gothic novel). A great set piece – the operating theater with forty onlookers The film is about an evil magician/alchemist (Paul Wegener as Oliver Haddo) obsessed with the powers of real surgeon (Ivan Petrovich as Dr. Burdon) and a woman (Alice Terry as Margaret Dauncey) The narrative is engaging-

Sure, it’s always somewhat disappointing when a film with a director behind it capable of Safe, Far From Heaven and Carol, doesn’t live up to those works. Dark Waters, as strong as it is, is not going to be listed as one of the better films of the year like those previously mentioned efforts from Todd Haynes. The artistic ambitions here aren’t that grand and the material not as suited to Haynes’ talents. However, it is certainly worthy of the archives and a very good film, nonetheless. It is a smart and well-acted class action lawsuit procedural drama. If

Woody Allen’s seventh (7th) feature (I don’t count What's Up, Tiger Lily?) and a major change in tone for him at this point in his career. It is his first film to have a very solemn tenor (going further than Annie Hall) and first not to feature him as an actor. Always look to the film after a giant masterpiece for an underrated work for a great auteur- this is a prime example (again directly after Annie Hall), Marie Antoinette from Sofia Coppola, One From the Heart is a good example as well after Apocalypse Now, certainly Ambersons, Juliet