Straight Down the Line

 The pain and sadness of my end is mainly alleviated by being surrounded by extraordinary colleagues and some of my best friends. Chief among them is my amazing friend Erik. With our (hopefully temporary) declining numbers we don't even have to share an office anymore, but neither of us could imagine that happening. We simply get along too well. In explaining to my students on Monday where my office is I told them that I shared an office with Professor Esckilsen, mainly because we're the two biggest film whores on campus and we spend most of the day talking about French actresses that we love and commiserating over idiot student stories. My kids understood.

The classic film noir Double Indemnity was playing on the ceiling of our office when I came back after my first class, a gift from EE. 

26

 And so it begins, my last semester teaching. Truthfully, it's stressful, the ending of something that has dominated so much of my life over the last forty years and reimaging myself as having some purpose for the last decade or so, but I guess I'm coming to terms with it. My physical decline, oddly, helps with the process, because I know in my heart of hearts that I can't continue to do this. When I walk into Wick and pause before the seven steps up to the landing to marshal my dwindling resources for the climb it makes it easier to imagine a world where I don't have to suffer through that pain and humiliation. Happily, my classes were great on Monday, which may simply be that they know that it's my final semester. Anyway, at the end of the day, it was time to put up a new CFL player's picture on my door, recognizing now only 26 days until retirement.

And this is Garney Henley, an all-time Hamilton Tiger-Cats great. He was born in Elgin, North Dakota and attended Huron College (a college in Huron, SD, now, as with an increasing number of small private schools, closed). So far, this sounds like the classic CFL story. He was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in the 15th round (back in the day when the NFL draft was that extensive), but was released. Upon the suggestion of Packers coach Vince Lombardi he was signed by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. From these reasonably nondescript origins, Henley built an almost unrivalled  career, being named an All Star ten times, the first nine as a defensive back and the last as a receiver (in a year he also won the league's Outstanding Player Award - it boggles the mind). He played in seven Grey Cups, winning four, and the Tiger-Cats retired his number this year.

Movies in 2026 23

 

Youth of the Beast, (Seijun Suzuki, 1963)

After two soul-crushing Swedish films I decided to lighten the mood with some anarchic Seijun Suzuki/Joe Shishido madness. I would sometimes show Suzuki's Youth of the Beast in my Japanese film noir class, although in the last couple years I kept it in reserve to suggest to students for different films to analyze for their final exam. It's not as over the top as Branded to Kill or Gates of Flesh, but it's chock full of general Suzuki brilliance/lunacy, and Joe Shishido is, as always, great. Every time I watch it the film reminds me more of Kurosawa's Yojimbo, which came only two years earlier, only  passed through a Seijun Suzuki meatgrinder. 

Movies in 2026 22

 

Wild Strawberries, (Ingmar Bergman, 1957)

It shouldn't be too surprising that Liv Ullmann's Faithless, based on a script that Ingmar Bergman wrote at the end of his life, would lead me to Bergman's own Wild Strawberries. I don't know if Wild Strawberries is my favorite Bergman film, but it would be in the running. It included many of those wonderful actors that you would expect to find in a Bergman film - Bibi Andersson, Ingrid Thulin, Gunnar Bjornstrand, Max von Sydow, and Gunnel Lindblom - but the story is focused around Victor Sjostrom, in his last role, as Isak Borg, an aged professor who decides to drive, both literally and metaphorically, to receive an honor. It probably also makes perfect sense that I'd be drawn to this film once again as I begin my last semester and pass another birthday. Like Isac Borg, I wish that I had beautiful childhood memories to recall here at the end - or maybe it would be better to say that I wish I had beautiful childhood memoires that I would let myself recall here at the end. Highly recommended.

Sadly, I don't seem to be short of troubling nightmares. I don't Janet that Isak Borg and I had so much in common: 78 year old selfish retired professors. She had a much more positive view of her husband. 

Movies in 2026 21

Faithless, (Liv Ullmann, 2000)

It took me a couple viewing sessions to make my way through Liv Ullmann's Faithless, and not simply because it's a long movie. Mainly, it was simply a very raw and painful film, and it took a while to work through. It's easy to think of Liv Ullmann "merely" as an actress, but she's also a very talented director. The script was written by Ingmar Bergman himself, and he was clearly coming to grips with the damage that he had caused through his own well-documented infidelities. Lena Endre's performance as Marianne is staggeringly brilliant. The ending was not particularly satisfying, but the ending of affairs is never particularly satisfying either, so I guess there's some symmetry here. Highly recommended, although this would not qualify as a good date night selection.

Movies in 2026 20

 

The Killing, (Stanley Kubrick, 1956)

Re-watching The Asphalt Jungle clearly put me in a film noir - and especially a Sterling Hayden film noir - mood, as I watched Stanley Kubrick's The Killing again this afternoon. I'm not a huge Kubrick fan, although he would not fall into that list of artists that I admire more than I like that I discussed earlier. I would probably argue that The Killing is actually Kubrick's best film, although I don't know if I would die on that hill (but I don't think I'm merely being a contrarian either). Takumi Furukawa's excellent Cruel Gun Story, starring the immortal Joe Shishido, which I always show in my Japanese film noir class is essentially a remake. Highly recommended.

Movies in 2026 19

 

The Asphalt Jungle, (John Huston, 1950)

Recently I watched John Huston's final film, The Dead, at the end of the year, so I guess there's some sort of poetic logic that I watched a film from his earlier years at the turning of the season. The year 1950 is sometimes referred to as the year film noir reached its peak, or at least it's the year that produced the most films noir. In that year John Huston, who years earlier helped begin the genre with The Maltese Falcon, produced one of its shining lights, The Asphalt Jungle. While later posters would celebrate/promote Marilyn Monroe (it's one of her first roles), she actually plays a small role (although she's quite good). Sterling Hayden stars in what is probably his best performance. I'm sure that when I first saw The Godfather I had no idea who that police chief getting shot by Michael was (such was my ignorance). I often will show the first give minutes of the film in class, because they are just about perfect it setting the mood of the film beautifully. Highly recommended.