1941, US, directed by Howard Hawks
Wonderful big-screen outing, and despite my love for both Hawks and Stanwyck this was a first-time viewing for me. There's such a strong association these days between Hawks and the more manly genres that it often comes as a surprise to be reminded that he directed several of the great screwball comedies, although there's certainly some overlap in terms of the director's interests in the world of work and the various professional codes and behaviours that he contrasts to amusing effect when juxtaposing the academics and the gangsters. Occupying a role in between both groups, Barbara Stanwyck owns the film even when surrounded by a galaxy of fine character actors.
2012, France, directed by Philippe Lefebvre (aka Paris By Night)
A solid French thriller set over the course of a single night, with a possibly corrupt cop doing the rounds of the nightclub circuit. The rhythm is intriguing, with moments of adrenaline interrupted by deliberate longueurs as the characters spend time in the car on the way from one place to the next; there's a real Melvillian echo to the central character, a single-minded individual with his own morality.
1941, US, directed by Robert Florey
Terrific crime melodrama, with Lorre in top form as a new arrival in the US dealt a terrible hand by fate after he is disfigured in a fire. While there narrative gets a touch overheated by the end, I was struck most forcefully by the depiction of the US as an immigrant's nightmare, very much in opposition to the usual narrative of opportunity and success.
2015, UK/France, directed by Ben Palmer
2013, US, directed by John Carney
2014, US, directed by Damien Chazelle
Impressive on every level: performances, construction, visuals, and with a final payoff that's intense and emotionally fraught (the almost unspoken depiction of a kind of masochistic self-abnegation, both in pursuit of success and in terms of the willingness to submit to the Svengali-type, is quite exceptional). Chazelle also orchestrates an enjoyably percussive editing style, with brisk conveying of information.
Index
List of all moviesMost of the images here are either studio publicity stills or screen captures I've made myself; if I've taken your image without giving you credit, please let me know.
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