Movies in 2026 38

 

Battleship Potemkin, (Sergei Eisenstein, 1925)

I suppose I shouldn't include movies that I watch in class, although, well, they are movies that I watch. Plus, if I'm going to use them in class, the reality is that I'm watching them (re-watching them) three times in the course of a week, once as part of a final prep, and then once each in my two classes. I've used Sergei Eisenstein's seminal 1925 film Battleship Potemkin class so many times over the years. As I'm wont to explain to my students, "If you were more legitimate students taking a legitimate film class at a more legitimate college, you'd watch Battleship Potemkin." Lenin was the first world leader who understood the power of this new medium, and supported artists like Eisenstein. What's the point in printing millions of leaflets for an illiterate population? However, it's not simply that, it's also a recognition of the emotional power of film. We have readings related to propaganda for class on Monday, so this makes Battleship Potemkin a natural choice. Beyond its value as a propaganda text, the movie is also simply a great film, and it has been shamelessly copied an almost infinite amount of times. Required viewing.

And Again

 Groan. There are many things I will miss about Vermont, but the winter is not one of them. Seriously. The prediction for our latest winters storm has us getting buried under 10-17 inches of snow (although it will be a tad warmer, currently it's -12 here in Calais with a wind chill of -27). This has left me with substantial logistical planning for my classes on Monday. Initially the forecast had Burlington "only" getting seven inches of snow, which made a night at Casa Kevin's a logical option for Sunday night (and he, like a great friend, is always welcoming). However, the forecast has shifted, and now BTV is predicted for 8-13 inches, so there are no good options. By comparison, it will be sunny and in the mid-60s in Catania.

It looks like Zoom is going to get a workout on Monday.

Movies in 2026 37

 

A Special Day, (Ettore Scola, 1977)

There are films that are almost physically painful to watch, not because they're just dreadful (such as My Blueberry Nights, see above) but because they are so true. I remember watching a theater re-release of Casablanca (actually, twice) during the first Trump administration. Thinking about what America had been and what it was supposed to mean, as compared to what it was becoming, was agonizing. I cry while watching Casablanca every time anyway, but this time the tears simply felt different (watching it now might kill me). Last night I had a somewhat similar experience, re-watching Ettore Scola's wonderful A Special Day. I'm considering using it for the final film analysis in my Images of Fascism class, so I thought I should give it a second look. It's the story of two lonely people, Sophia Loren and Marcelo Mastroianni (both playing against type), meeting and spending the afternoon together on a special day, although the special day in question was the day that Hitler travelled to Rome to meet Mussolini for a huge public celebration. The celebration, and concomitant propaganda, is perpetually playing in the background on the radio, providing a powerful contextual commentary. Mastroianni play a gay, liberal radio commentator and reporter who is waiting for deportment (or worse), while Loren plays a conservative housewife who is a Mussolini fan, complete with her generated scrapbook and portrait made of buttons. No one living through our age ever has to ask how Italy and Germany fell so quickly and effortlessly into authoritarianism. Highly recommended, the film, not Fascism. 

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My Blueberry Nights, (Wong Kar-wai, 2007)

It's difficult for me to express how utterly disappointing Wong Kar-wai's My Blueberry Nights is. It's not lacking in talent, considering that it features Jude Law, David Strathairn, Rachel Weisz, Nathalie Portman, and, in her first role, Norah Jones - and it's directed by Wong Kar-wai - but it's just an uninspired and uninspiring mess. Norah Jones isn't terrible, but she's also fairly limited, as one expect in a singer tackling her first acting role. The problems are more profound than her limitations as an actress, however. It's like, everything that Wong Kar-wai got right in his sublime In the Mood for Love he gets wrong in this misfire. It feels like an extended Norah Jones music video filmed with a CSI episode aesthetic. There are too many other interesting Wong Kar-wai films to waste time with this soulless effort.

24

 And now we're down to only 24 mandatory campus days left. I suspect it will really begin to hit me when we get down to the single digits, although maybe earlier.

Winnipeg Blue Bombers great Ken Hailey helped me mark the day. Hailey, a defensive back, was born in Oceanside, California and played his college ball at San Francisco State. He played the first nine years of his eleven year career with the Blue Bombers, before finishing with a year playing for the Ottawa (at the time) Rough Riders and then a year with the BC Lions. Along the way he won three Grey Cups, all with the Blue Bombers.

For CFL Completists

 And there you go: I now have a jersey from every CFL team. Considering that I've never bought an NFL or MLB jersey (I own jerseys that I cherish, but I didn't buy them myself - although I have bought two Vermont Lake Monsters jerseys, which further makes my point). My final birthday gift arrived the other day, an utterly sweet Ottawa Redblacks jersey.

My cousin Nick thought this was a great jersey, which, well, it is. The Redblacks have been pretty dreadful the last couple years, but they just poached the Toronto  Argonauts head coach, so better days may be on the horizon. Almost certainly, there will be an Ottawa game this summer. My friend Craig is very interested in an Ottawa trip, and the Redblacks is the only CFL stadium that I've visited that my friend Kevin has not seen, so his attendance is necessary.

This is the jersey of CFL great Henry Burris, who played for the Redblacks late in his career and helped orchestrate a Grey Cup upset.

Movies in 2026 35

 

Oslo, 31 August, (Joachim Trier, 2011)

Yes, the Joachim Trier film fest continues. I re-watched his Oslo, 31 August, which is simply a wonderful and powerful film. It is the second film in his Oslo trilogy, sandwiched between 2006's Reprise and 2021's The Worst Person in the World, the latter of which, sadly, I haven't seen yet. Oslo, 31 August follows the day of recovering drug addict Anders, played brilliantly by Anders Danielsen Lie, on one day as he is released from his expensive rehabilitation center for a job interview. He runs into many of his old friends, and tragically but not surprisingly many of his past problems, as he comes to grips with the pain he has caused others. The film includes so many brutal emotional gut punches, and the ending is brilliant and painful, but also true to itself. Very highly recommended.