Filmruary
My February 2025 in Films
George Lucas
The Star Wars trilogy is one of my favorite things ever. When my first child was born I decided that twelve was about the right age to appreciate it. Well, it's been twelve years so we watched Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope together. It was a really special event, not least because of the popcorn and ice cream. Because he's a good son he was emotive when something sad, surprising, or funny happened—and I was well pleased. The circle is complete.
We followed up the next night with The Empire Strikes Back and there was one moment when he knew what was about to happen. He lamented that he knew too much about the movie. Ugh. Well, nothing's perfect, even with twelve years of planning.
I decided to follow the machete order except that I knew my son would want to see Episode I. So after watching episodes IV and V we moved on to I and II. He seemed to enjoy them, being amused by Jar Jar's antics and Yoda's swordplay. We're now set up to conclude with Revenge and Return. I can't wait!
THX 1138 has been on my list of curiosities for, like, ever. I finally gave this early work of Lucas' a shot and found it to be a great example of the sci-fi dystopia genre. It feels intentionally opaque in some ways, and I'd like to better understand its philosophy. It was a little uncanny how Lucas-y it was without being Star Wars.
Brian De Palma
Last August I saw Obsession, a Brian De Palma thriller which was clearly inspired by Vertigo. As I watched Body Double, another De Palma thriller, I started to think it was merely Vertigo and Rear Window blended together, and "does this guy do anything other than Hitchcock?" And yet I can't deny how well he did it. It's well-made and I was transfixed. By the way, this movie is ridiculous and horny. But that's part of its appeal. De Palma took everything to 11.
Similarly, Dressed to Kill was also obviously inspired by Psycho, and I had it all figured out early on, but it was still impossible to look away. De Palma outright copies Hitchcock's structure, themes, and shots, and yet he puts his own twist on it. I think this was my favorite De Palma I watched this month.
Blow Out is also a thriller but it's not overtly copying Hitch. John Travolta's protagonist is a sound effect engineer plying his trade in "bad movies". Fittingly De Palma makes audio central to the plot and does some cool stuff with it technically. I think the filmmaker means to show us a harsh and unjust world, but that doesn't mean it has to be drab; it's a visual and aural spectacle, sometimes funny, and often exciting. A delight to watch. And paradoxically, that's what clarifies the cynical viewpoint. We're going to gobble up the screams of others whether they're "bad movie" fake or real.
Sisters was the final De Palma film I watched this month. Another entertaining thriller with clear Hitchcock inspiration. An earliar film, I found it less interesting that the others.
60s Japanese Cinema
High and Low is by Akira Kurosawa. It's a treat to go in blind on a movie and find out what it is. It was especially enjoyable with this film because it evolves over time. It's a drama and then a mystery. It's a police procedural and then it's an action. It's philosophical, offering moral dilemmas and social examination. And as with his other films, I just loved the craft with which Kurosawa makes his images, composing shots with carefully blocked figures.
One of the categories in Criterion Challenge 2025 entails using a random number generator, and Gate of Flesh was the movie I rolled. Set in US-occupied post-WWII Japan, this film is visually stylish with striking use of color, light, and double-exposure. It gets existential—literally depicting what survivors will do to eke out a life—and philosophically with questions of what life is for and what a life is worth. It's a carnal melodrama depicting hunger and lust, eating and sex, as its characters show what they want, or barely contain themselves from doing so, rather than merely explaining themselves. It's a wonderful example of "show, don't tell".
Misc
The Player is the thing that it is itself critiquing, and that's what makes the joke so good. It has quite a bit in common with Adaptation., and like Body Double, this movie is Hollywood doing Hollywood.
The Asphalt Jungle is a caper movie. I'm not sure where those began, but watching this made me feel that flicks like Ocean's Eleven are a part of a long development of the genre. I recognized James Whitmore immediately, even though this film was released 44 years before the only other thing I've seen him in, The Shawshank Redemption. "Brooks was here" indeed. Marilyn has like two scenes in this movie. It's one of her earliest film appearances and she's not very good yet, which is not to say that she was given much to work with with her character. There's a moment near the end of the film that sticks out; it felt very much like it was there to satisfy the Hays Code. Overall an entertaining watch.
I had heard of The Vast of Night somehow, who knows. Maybe a recommendation from Sean Fennessey, host of The Big Picture podcast. I might not have ever got around to it but for some reason on the 10th it felt like the right night. When I hit play the production company logo appeared. It's funny how minds work. I was mid-thought—my brain recognizing shapes similar to a design I once did—when I realized it actually was a design I once did. That was my logo for GED Media. I'd done it maybe 15 years ago. I grabbed my laptop and hit Wikipedia. Sure enough The Vast of Night was directed by a former business associate, Andrew Patterson. I hadn't kept up with him. I had no idea he was making indie features.
I tried not to let my connection to the film/filmmaker sway how I felt about it but it did. At first I told myself, "this has my logo on it, so it's not a real movie". But eventually my body overrode my mind; I had shivers. I felt spooked in a way I haven't felt since being told ghost stories as a child. In some way, I think what I'm looking for when I watch movies is to feel alive and connected. This movie did that to me in a way that few have. This wasn't some kind of non-movie, as the presence of my logo design would suggest; this was a really good, really real movie.
One more thing! For a double feature try another indie sci-fi: Coherance.
Suspicion is the latest unseen Hitchcock movie that I've rationed out for myself. I found it to be effective at sowing the doubt promised in the title. That aspect was compelling. I'm not sure I believed how it all shakes out in the end though, and my understanding is that's because it was changed to suit Cary Grant's image.