Last year I finished working my way through all the Best Picture winners.
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The Mattei Affair (1972)
Learning about Italian history is an emerging theme of this project. We're into the gritty 70s now, and this movie pairs nicely with The Conversation, which would win the Palme d'Or two years later. Quite enjoyable, though it does suffer some from the inherent problem of biopics -- how do you turn a life into a well-formed narrative, and not just a sequence of events?
The Hireling (1973)
It didn't help that I was watching this on a random youtube of dubious pedigree and worse encoding quality, but I found this to be an oppressive, claustrophobic movie. Which was at least in part the intention, I think, but being outside of British class anxieties, it didn't really speak to me. Like how the failure mode of clever is asshole, the failure mode of 70s grit is mildly repulsed boredom.
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The Hireling (1973)
It didn't help that I was watching this on a random youtube of dubious pedigree and worse encoding quality, but I found this to be an oppressive, claustrophobic movie. Which was at least in part the intention, I think, but being outside of British class anxieties, it didn't really speak to me. Like how the failure mode of clever is asshole, the failure mode of 70s grit is mildly repulsed boredom.
Scarecrow (1973)
Pure 70s grit with Gene Hackman and Al Pacino in a movie that I ended up liking a lot more than I expected to. I sometimes have trouble getting into rambling, episodic plots, but the nuances of their performances and the development of the relationship between them was really captivating. The abrupt ending hit particularly hard.
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Scarecrow (1973)
Pure 70s grit with Gene Hackman and Al Pacino in a movie that I ended up liking a lot more than I expected to. I sometimes have trouble getting into rambling, episodic plots, but the nuances of their performances and the development of the relationship between them was really captivating. The abrupt ending hit particularly hard.
The Long Absence (1961)
Jumping back in time a bit here as physical media for the unstreamable ones final arrive. Slow, subtle and heartbreaking. The unresolved ending felt fully justified as a way to put us in the mindspace of the protagonist, and not just a gimmick. Definitely underrated.
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The Long Absence (1961)
Jumping back in time a bit here as physical media for the unstreamable ones final arrive. Slow, subtle and heartbreaking. The unresolved ending felt fully justified as a way to put us in the mindspace of the protagonist, and not just a gimmick. Definitely underrated.
Padre Padrone (1977)
Brutal child abuse in Sardinia. Also a surprising amount of bestiality. All within a framing device that Wes Anderson might have filmed. Fascinating, but not exactly enjoyable.
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Padre Padrone (1977)
Brutal child abuse in Sardinia. Also a surprising amount of bestiality. All within a framing device that Wes Anderson might have filmed. Fascinating, but not exactly enjoyable.
The Birds, the Bees and the Italians (1966)
Another one I had to wait for physical media to arrive in order to watch. And now I own a copy of a vile movie about vile people doing vile things that I will definitely never watch again. Blech.
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The Birds, the Bees and the Italians (1966)
Another one I had to wait for physical media to arrive in order to watch. And now I own a copy of a vile movie about vile people doing vile things that I will definitely never watch again. Blech.
Chronicle of the Years of Fire (1975)
An understated epic on the lead up to the Algerian war for independence, seen through the eyes of a peasant who gets increasingly more involved as tensions escalate. Sadly I was watching a low quality scan with fairly bad captions, but it was still enthralling.
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Chronicle of the Years of Fire (1975)
An understated epic on the lead up to the Algerian war for independence, seen through the eyes of a peasant who gets increasingly more involved as tensions escalate. Sadly I was watching a low quality scan with fairly bad captions, but it was still enthralling.
A Man and a Woman (1966)
Charming and vibe-y. One of those minor works that have an oversized emotional impact, by just doing the basic stuff super well. I kept trying to figure out what the significance of the sections filmed in color vs BW was, but like If...., I now see it was arbitrarily driven by the budget.
I'm now over 50% done with the Palme d'Or list! (Having started at about 30&.) It's going much faster than I expected, but having a list of movies to pull from has proven to be very convenient when combined with the new and exciting forms of insomnia I've been exploring.
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A Man and a Woman (1966)
Charming and vibe-y. One of those minor works that have an oversized emotional impact, by just doing the basic stuff super well. I kept trying to figure out what the significance of the sections filmed in color vs BW was, but like If...., I now see it was arbitrarily driven by the budget.
I'm now over 50% done with the Palme d'Or list! (Having started at about 30&.) It's going much faster than I expected, but having a list of movies to pull from has proven to be very convenient when combined with the new and exciting forms of insomnia I've been exploring.
The Working Class Goes to Heaven (1971)
A messy but interesting film. Bonus: it featured lots of machining, though much of that was more of a cautionary tale when it comes to shop safety.
This one proved elusive, as it's not available for streaming, but luckily Scarecrow, the one big (really big!) rental store left in town, had a copy. Except the first time I carelessly grabbed the Blu-Ray instead of the DVD, and my region-free player is DVD only. Whoops. I'm enjoying going to the rental store after brunch as part of my normal Saturday routine, though. I think I'll keep doing that, even when everything on the docket is available streaming. Gods know that Google and Amazon don't need any more of my money.
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The Working Class Goes to Heaven (1971)
A messy but interesting film. Bonus: it featured lots of machining, though much of that was more of a cautionary tale when it comes to shop safety.
This one proved elusive, as it's not available for streaming, but luckily Scarecrow, the one big (really big!) rental store left in town, had a copy. Except the first time I carelessly grabbed the Blu-Ray instead of the DVD, and my region-free player is DVD only. Whoops. I'm enjoying going to the rental store after brunch as part of my normal Saturday routine, though. I think I'll keep doing that, even when everything on the docket is available streaming. Gods know that Google and Amazon don't need any more of my money.
Man of Iron (1981)
An powerful, riveting portrayal of a spineless journalist sent to dig up dirt on the leader of a strike in communist Poland. It manages a delicate combination of being simultaneously optimistic and pessimistic. Pretty amazing that it got made at all, it just squeaked through during a short window of lax censorship following the events being portrayed in the movie. It's a sequel to Man of Marble, focusing on the father of the strike leader, and I think I'll have to watch that one too.
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Man of Iron (1981)
An powerful, riveting portrayal of a spineless journalist sent to dig up dirt on the leader of a strike in communist Poland. It manages a delicate combination of being simultaneously optimistic and pessimistic. Pretty amazing that it got made at all, it just squeaked through during a short window of lax censorship following the events being portrayed in the movie. It's a sequel to Man of Marble, focusing on the father of the strike leader, and I think I'll have to watch that one too.
The Tree of Wooden Clogs (1978)
A meditative, almost languid slice of life of late 19th century Lombard peasants. I found it surprisingly gripping -- I think because the cinematography was an amazing balancing act of being entirely understated and naturalistic while still somehow making every frame look like the work of an old master.
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The Tree of Wooden Clogs (1978)
A meditative, almost languid slice of life of late 19th century Lombard peasants. I found it surprisingly gripping -- I think because the cinematography was an amazing balancing act of being entirely understated and naturalistic while still somehow making every frame look like the work of an old master.
The Tin Drum (1979)
A very strange movie, with some incredibly uncomfortable scenes. There was a surrealism to it I liked, but it never quite leaned into that. There were some sweeping historical epic elements that I also liked, but it couldn't really commit to those either. There was a holy fool, and I love holy fools, but he isn't used very well. I dunno. Maybe don't put 11 year old actors in explicit sex scenes, even if they are playing a 16 year old?
Anyway, I'm now done with the 1970s.
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The Tin Drum (1979)
A very strange movie, with some incredibly uncomfortable scenes. There was a surrealism to it I liked, but it never quite leaned into that. There were some sweeping historical epic elements that I also liked, but it couldn't really commit to those either. There was a holy fool, and I love holy fools, but he isn't used very well. I dunno. Maybe don't put 11 year old actors in explicit sex scenes, even if they are playing a 16 year old?
Anyway, I'm now done with the 1970s.
Missing (1982)
Jack Lemmon tries to uncover what happened to his son who was disappeared in the Chilean coup, slowly realizing the extent of the US involvement and how naive his trust in his own government was. Intense and searingly painful at times. Lemmon really didn't get enough credit as a dramatic actor, because he was absolutely brilliant in this.
Oh, and since there was some surprise expressed that we still have a real video store in Seattle, here is it (minus a few rooms behind the camera) in all its glory. I'm so glad we've managed to keep it open this long -- and hopefully the tide is turning on physical media enough that maybe it can survive someday without fundraisers.
Gli ultimi otto messaggi ricevuti dalla Federazione
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@krisfreedain @fosdem aww I hope you'll still be there in 2026!
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#Mozilla promotes the head of #Firefox to become the #CEO of Mozilla, and everyone loses their shit.
1. He said some people like #AI and some don't.
2. All #browser #OEMs are all in on AI.
3. Isn't this just Mozilla copying #Google, that turned out well.
4. Contrary to popular belief, Firefox has done some really good things in the past year.
5. People will always find a way to moan about Mozilla and by extension Firefox.
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Scampia, GRIDAS rischia lo Sgombero
@giornalismo
articolo21.org/2025/12/scampia…
L’associazione culturale Gridas – Gruppo risveglio dal sonno, di Scampia lancia un appello per evitare lo sgombero dallo storico centro sociale di Scampia di Via Monterosa. A seguito di una sentenza della Corte d’Appello per occupazione senza titolo, in favore
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Headline: ooooo, the MAGAS in office are in trouble!!!!
Story: the MAGAS in office are about to fuck everything up and all of us are in trouble
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Germania. Primi passi verso la leva obbligatoria
@anarchia
Il Bundestag ha approvato, con 323 voti a favore, 272 contrari e una astensione, la riforma della leva. La nuova legge, tra le altre cose, mantiene il servizio militare volontario, ma tutti i giovani di sesso maschile saranno obbligati a...https://www.rivoluzioneanarchica.it/germania-primi-passi-verso-la-leva-obbligatoria/
