Movies in 2026 63

 

Jules and Jim, (Francois Truffaut, 1962)

Yes, I've clearly been trapped in the Criterion Channel's French New Wave collection lately. The other night I watched Truffaut's 1962 film Jules and Jim, a film that I somehow don't think I had ever seen (which seems unbelievable). Jules (Oskar Werner) and Jim (Henri Serre) spend years being drawn into the snare of Catherine (played, brilliantly and sulkily, by Jeanne Moreau). Seriously, has anyone paired with Jeanne Moreau in a film ended up happy or even undamaged? I have this theory that you had to live through the French New Wave to truly get the French New Wave, in that often a work of art or a series of works of art ca so change the world that it almost makes it impossible to appreciate how significant they are.

16

 We're getting desperately close to reaching the halfway point of my last semester. It's been a pleasant semester so far, and my students have been (generally) on their best behavior. I even received an initial inquiry from a university press, which, no matter how it plays itself out, was great news.

Thanks to Matt Dunigan for loaning me his number sixteen as part of my countdown to retirement. Dunigan was born in Lakewood, Ohio, which I supposed I've driven by dozens of times on my drives from Vermont to Indiana over the years. He attended Louisiana Tech, for heading north (mainly) to play for a number of CFL teams: Edmonton Eskimos, BC Lions, Toronto Argonauts, Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Birmingham Barracudas (during that ill-fated CFL expansion into the states), and Hamilton Tiger-Cats. He is a two time Grey Cup Champion, winning once with Edmonton and once with Toronto, and was elected into the CFL Hall of Fame (I'll have to check out his plaque on this summer's trip to Hamilton) in 2006. He's also served as a studio analyst on CFL broadcasts.

Piety

 Surah 2 is the longest surah in the Quran, making up something like 12% of the entire material. As you know, there are 114 surahs, so for one to take up over ten percent of the entire mass of the text that's definitely saying something. Of course, so many of the later surahs are only a few lines long. There aren't too many important subjects related to the faith that don't show up in one form or another in al-Baqarah ("the Cow"). Here is one of my favorite passage, relating to the concept of piety.

"It is not piety to turn your faces toward the east and the west. Rather, piety is he who believes in God, the Last Day, the angels, the Book, and the prophets; and who gives wealth, despite loving it, to kinsfolk, orphans, the indigent, the traveler, beggars, and for [the ransom] of slaves; and performs the prayer and gives the alms; and those who fulfill their oaths, when they pledge them, and those who are patient in misfortunate, hardships, and moments of peril. It is they who are the sincere, and it is they who are the reverent." 2:177

As Seyyed Hossein Nasr adds in his commentary, "Piety is understood as the obedience to God that is well established in the heart or as the sum of acts of obedience and devotion that led us closer to God." I'm always drawn more to the esoteric than the exoteric, and also to what someone does as compared to how they are performing for others, so there is so much about this passage that speaks to me.

Movies in 2026 62

 

Bay of Angels, (Jacques Demy, 1963)

And while I was roaming around the Criterion Channel's French New Wave collection, I decided to watch Jacques Demy's Bay of Angels, his second film and the one before his wildly popular The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. I liked Bay of Angels, but didn't love it. It featured some fine performances, with Jeanne Moreau and Claude Mann playing two gamblers, Jackie and Jean, whose lives are being destroyed by their growing addiction. Jackie (Moreau) is a long-time gambler, with lots of stories about the times when she was broke and how she reverted to stealing and conniving to get another stake. Jean is a young man who has just started gambling, and his (eroding) common sense is all that keeps them going. There is an absurd happy ending. I want to think that Demy was just being ironic, but it doesn't play that way. I'd recommend it. It pales in comparison to The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, although that's hardly a stinging critique.

Movies in 2026 61

 

Breathless, (Jean-Luc Godard, 1960)

After yesterday's rant about Pierrot Le Fou I thought I owed it to Godard to watch one of his films that I liked, and celebrate its excellence. So, last night I re-watched Breathless (for who knows how many times). It's funny, the other day I went down a Godard rabbit hole and read several pieces that ranked Godard films, and not only did every one of them rank Breathless as his best films, but then they universally apologize for naming Godard's first film as his best film. It's an old chestnut that an author or a filmmaker or a songwriter spends their entire life writing their first work, but then are unpleasantly informed that they need to produce something better in a year. I would rank A Band Apart higher, but that's purely subjective - that is, I simply like it better. It's hard to argue with Breathless's position based on its cinematic/historical significance; as the Criterion Channel pointed out, there was film before Breathless and film after Breathless. Every time I watch Breathless I'm reminded that Jean Seberg was essentially driven to suicide by the FBI. 

No Fear Shall Come Upon Them

 And another Ramadan has started, and thus it is time for my favorite part of the month: intensive study and self-reflection. Obviously, it's not as if we shouldn't be studying the Quran throughout the year, but the beauty of Ramadan is it is structured to help us get back to that place where we are that focused. If you're a long-time reader of this blog (and, seriously, don't you have something better to do with your time?), you know that one of my critiques about how we approach the time is that Muslims will routinely ask each other Muslims how the fasting is going, but no one ever asks how the Quranic study is going. Again, is it simply because that's easier to quantify, as compared to "what breakthroughs have you made, brother, in your study?." The fascination with fasting shouldn't be an easy path to shaming, but, sadly, it often is. Anyway, I was up early, happily reading and studying, looking at my notes in my well-worn copy of Nasr's The Study Quran, and adding even more notes. I came across one of my favorite passages:

"Truly those who believe, and those who are Jews, and the Christians, and the Sabeans - whosoever believes in God and the Last Day and works righteousness shall have their reward with their Lord. No fear shall come up them, not shall they grieve." 2:62

This passage is very similar to the later verse, 5:69, so I suspect that will pop up later as well. There are, not surprisingly, many, many passages in the Quran that I love, but this was is very dear to me because I think it speaks to a more universal concept of faith - that is, a more beautiful and less tribal sense of what this is all about. Granted, Nasr is more ecumenical than most Muslim thinkers, and maybe this is why I'm so drawn to his work, but his commentary really stresses the transcendent nature of what religion and faith can be, as an avenue for personal improvement and an opportunity for building bridges, and not as yet another excuse for people to hate each other. Nasr quotes the commentator al-Qushayri, "The differences in paths, with the oneness of of the origin, does not hinder the beauty of acceptance. Whosoever affirms [God] the Real in His signs, and believes in the truth and His Qualities of which He informs them - namely, the Truth and His Qualities - then the differences in religious paths and the differences in the appellation of names do not impinge on the realization of the good pleasure [of God]." 

Movies in 2026 60

 

Maggie's Plan, (Rebecca Miller, 2015)

This morning I watched Rebecca Miller's 2015 film Maggie's Plan. I definitely love it, but I did like it, so I'd suggest you check it out (right now it's available on the Criterion Channel in their Julianne Moore collection). It's described as a screwball comedy, and there are certainly aspects of that genre in it, but it also felt very much like one of those lesser Woody Allen movies where a series of educated white folks have enough income and time on their hands to fixate on their personal problems without actually dealing with anything particularly important (I think that sounds harsher than I intended). Greta Gerwig is charming in a very Greta Gerwig role (funny and clumsy and earnest and endearing), and you can't help thinking that it's a pity that she's so good at that role that she never is given the opportunity to play a role that displays how obviously bright she is. Ethan Hawke plays a very Ethan Hawke role, in that he's likeable and smart but obviously mildly fractured and incapable of finding a happy relationship or bringing happiness to a relationship. Julianne Moore is typically good. She's intelligent and emotionally distant and more than a bit fractured (which sounds like a typical Julianne Moore role), but she's also quite funny in the film. It's difficult to make the claim that such an accomplished actress isn't given great roles, but she's also often typecast in darker more emotionally complicated roles (which is hardly something to complain about, obviously). This reads like a negative reflection on the film, which I don't think I meant it to be, because I did like it. There are some great moments. When the Gerwig character says to Hawke that their relationship should have stopped at the level of an affair (he was married to the Moore character) and not led to them getting married she's definitely speaking some serious truth.