I continue to watch recent critical darlings at an alarming rate, though I did for some reason also get Gambit (a delightful 1960s caper starring Michael Caine & Shirley MacLaine) out of the library. I think Buffistas would really enjoy that one.

Apple had a 99c rental deal for Titane so I decided to brave that one, even though Ducournau's previous film, Raw, literally made me sick and I couldn't finish it. This was also body horror (and even more bizarre plot-wise) but I made it through. Definitely a unique vision to be sure.

Two Indie Spirit films, one fiction, the other a documentary, did some interesting weaving of narratives. Parallel Mothers is sort of hard to describe. It seems rather straight-forward on its surface but goes all sorts of places I didn't expect. It is definitely a film where being forced to use subtitles (Note: I generally put captioning on anyways, even in English) is a benefit because it makes the double meaning of a lot of the text more obvious. I liked it, but I'm not sure Cruz's performance is so "amazing" that she deserves an Oscar nomination. It looks gorgeous. Sometimes I think Almodóvar is the Nancy Meyers of Europe when it comes to kitchens I covet. It will be interesting to see how this one stacks up against the other foreign-language films once we've seen more of them.

I didn't really want to watch Procession, which is about pedophile priests, but the Math Greek is generally more interested in documentaries these days so I told him to go ahead and that I would work with it in the background. I ended up more fascinated by it than he was. I thought it was a really interesting process, part-documentary, part-trauma therapy, telling the story of the men involved by having them come together to develop and film dramatic scenes depicting their abuse and/or representing the power dynamics of the church as they saw them. Powerful stuff.

I also saw Soderbergh's latest, Kimi, on HBO and loved it. Of course, I also love The Net, which is essentially what it is, updated for our post-pandemic world. Definite recommend, if only for Zoë Kravitz's hair.

Ooh, I kind of forgot about Soderbergh's existence and I have access to HBO...

Ooh, I kind of forgot about Soderbergh's existence and I have access to HBO...

While you're on HBO, we also liked last year's No Sudden Move, also by Soderbergh. It's a heist/crime/mystery with an incredible cast. Very Elmore Leonard.

Sweet!

It was only ten months or so in the making, but seeing Scola and Hec this past weekend inspired me to finally wrap up my look at the 1930s: [link]

Now, on to the 1940s!

inspired me to finally wrap up my look at the 1930s

I'm just reading it now! Your "Bringing Up Baby" hate is beyond the pale! But I respect your taste, and depth of research and diligence.

I will note that "Hellbound Train" is part of a long tradition of sermons in the Black church along that theme.

I know it best from Chuck Berry's great song "Downbound Train" but it's all clearly derived from the same almost folk process that informed sermons which were taken, changed, adapted just as folk songs and folk stories were done.

Here's Chuck: [link]

I know it best from Chuck Berry's great song "Downbound Train" but it's all clearly derived from the same almost folk process that informed sermons which were taken, changed, adapted just as folk songs and folk stories were done.

Very cool. Sounds like something that could be in one of your Halloween mixes.

Sounds like something that could be in one of your Halloween mixes.

I've definitely put it on a Halloween mix.

I have a liking for Katherine Hepburn, but Bringing Up Baby annoys me; however, I appreciate your love for Holiday - it's one of my favorites.

And Shanghai Express ... I'm always reminded of the line, "it took more than one man to change my name to Shanghai Lily".