Movies in 2026 140

 

El (Luis Bunuel, 1953)

Over the years it seems like I've seen a lot of Luis Bunuel films, but I think it's been over so many years and in so many different circumstances - essentially, I've watched them haphazardly - that I don't have a true sense of him as a filmmaker. I'm going to do my best to address that. This morning I watched his 1953 film El, which is currently playing on the Criterion Channel. El was filmed during Bunuel's years of exile in Mexico. If you think you have an unhappy marriage, you should watch El and focus in on the marriage of Francisco (Arturo de Cordova) and Gloria (Delia Garces), because you'll feel a lot better about your situation. Both de Cordova and Garces are very good in roles that could have slipped into simple melodrama in the hands of weaker actors and a less talented director. By this point Bunuel had moved beyond his surrealist roots, although several of the scenes hint at his earlier films. Francisco is jealous bordering on pure paranoia, and Bunuel does a great job including critique of a society, including the church and Gloria's own mother who are naturally going to believe the man's side of the story. Highly recommended. Expected to see many more Bunuel films discussed in the near future.

Movies in 2026 139

 

Cat People (Jacques Tourneur, 1942)

The other day I made the point, when talking about how incredible it seems to me that Jacques Tourneur directed Out of the Past (he's not a bad director, but, come on, Out of the Past is an all-time classic), I proposed that Cat People might be his second best film (again, I don't know how passionately I'd make that argument, but I having trouble coming up with a clear #2 on his list). Anyway, this is by way to saying that I watched (for the bazillionith - or at least some number larger than ten) his 1942 film Cat People. Simone Simon (who won the role in a big talent search - mainly they were looking for an actress with an "exotic" look) plays Irena Dubrovna, a Serbian refugee who has dark memories and dreams of her haunted village back home, and who may turn into a black panther if she is sexually aroused. Apparently Simone Simon was dating a double agent at the time of the filming (and the guy later swiped most of her money), and was under investigation. It's not a great film, but there's a reason why I watched it a bazillion (or at least some number larger than ten) times, and you should check it out. Alan Napier, who later played Alfred on the 1960s Batman TV show, is one of Oliver's (Irena's husband, played by Kent Smith) co-workers. Tom Conway, who normally played characters who were a bit too clever or a bit too slimy, played Dr. Louis Judd, Irena's psychiatrist, a character who was both too clever and too slimy, and pays for it with his life. Jane Randolph plays Oliver's non-supernatural love interest, and survives Irena's jealousy, including the iconic swimming pool scene. If nothing else, it's worlds better than the ridiculous 1980s remake (this month the Criterion Channel is featuring 1980s remakes, double-billed with their earlier inspirations - not to give it all away, but with the exception of John Carpenter's The Thing remake of Christian Nyby's - although it might be better to say Howard Hawks's - The Thing from Another World - both are great - the 1980s remakes are crap). 

At Least One Student

 I think there was a time when I was widely and wildly popular with students (and I don't think I'm romanticizing my teaching career), with a few students who actively disliked me and the majority who liked me a lot - and then a few years ago it switched and now most students dislike me and a few like me a lot; which I guess is more proof that it was time to retire. One of the few students who really liked me over the last few years is the excellent Leah Baker, who took me three or four times. She even dragged her boyfriend (not fiancé) out to Adamant for one of my Vermont Philosophy Week Talks a few years ago. I had been presenting on Proust, and I tend to mention Proust so often in class that she had eventually borrowed a copy of Swann's Way (which in the end I just gave to her - I mean, come on, who drags their boyfriend out to Adamant to listen to a talk on Proust? That's pretty epic.). Anyway, Leah is one of my all-time favorite students. Today, completely out of the blue, she emailed me to let me know that they had just moved to Nashville, and she wanted to send me a picture of a section of her bookcase which features books that I either gave to her or suggested to her. She told me that she's having trouble tracking down copies of all the volumes of Remembrance of Things Past, which is not surprising, since most bookstores only stock Swann's Way (to their shame). I think I've found a new home for my old complete copy of Proust.

So, the moral of the story is that at least one student liked my classes.

Movies in 2026 138

 

Sunnyside (Charlie Chaplin, 1919)

I'm continuing my effort to acquaint myself with short films, and that includes working my way through the Charlie Chaplin silent film collection on the Criterion Channel. With that in mind, last night I watched Chaplin's 1919 film Sunnyside. Chaplin's character Charlie (not quite the Little Tramp) works at a shabby hotel is a French village, and he's just about as bad at his work as you could imagine. The scene of him getting in and out of bed at 3:30 is classic. Edna Purviance, per usual, plays his love interest. Recommended.

Movies in 2026 137

 

Lacombe, Lucien (Louis Malle, 1974)

Here's another film that David Chase suggested in his Adventures in Moviegoing section on the Criterion Channel: Louis Malle's 1974 film Lacombe, Lucien. I go back and forth on Malle film, I think it relates to his pacing, and all directors have their own internal clock, and his is always just a tad off with me. However, I also almost universally really like his films (Elevator to the Gallows, Au revoir les enfants, Atlantic City). Lacombe, Lucien was a controversial film when it came out because it addressed the complexity of the French response to German occupation during World War II, that is, while it is easy for the French to romanticize that all Frenchmen fought in the Resistance, there were other French citizens who, for innumerable reasons, supported, even quietly, the Nazis. Pierre Blaise plays Lucien, who initially wanted to join the Resistance, but then, almost immediately, began to side with the Germans. We're never told exactly why Lucien makes this decision, several reasons are hinted out, and I think that's what Malle meant to tell us - it's not that simple. Blaise was a complete amateur, who Malle chose after a lengthy search, and I think this was part of Malle's goal of keeping Lucien's (and many Frenchmen) motives obscure. Blaise was only in three more films, all short within a year, before dying in a drunken car crash at the age of twenty. The actress who played Lucien Jewish lover France Horn, Aurore Clement, looked awfully familiar, and I figured out that I had seen her in Wem Wenders's Paris, Texas - and also in the colonial French scene in the expanded director's cut of Apocalypse Now (Coppola had left it on the cutting room floor in the initial theatrical release, which is a pity because it may be the best scene). Definitely recommended.

Movies in 2026 136

 

Il Sorpasso (Dino Risi, 1962)

One of the many cool things that the Criterion Channel does is include mini-interviews with folks about films they love, in a series they call Adventures in Moviegoing. As a pretty unrepentant film nut I tend to watch all of them, not only because I love to listen to people talk about movies, but also because it introduces me to even more movies that I've never heard of. I was listening to David Chase (of The Sopranos fame) talk about some of his favorite films and was introduced to Dino Risi's 1962 film Il Sorpasso. It is a beloved Italian film which, somehow, I had missed. It tells the story of two men who meet under odd circumstances, form an unlikely friendship, and embark on a two day road trip. The adventure is marked by humor, friendship, desire, and tragedy. Vittorio Gassman (who I remembered from Bitter Rice) plays the irresistible and irresponsible Bruno Cortona, who dragoons the introverted Roberto Mariani, played by Jean-Louis Trintignant (who had a decades-long career, although I suppose I remember him best from his late career role in Krzysztof Kieslowski's Three Colours: Red) into the joyous and tragic road trip (at the very end of the film Robert admits to Bruno that he feels like he's lived his entire life in those two days). In a notable supporting role, 1960s "It Girl" Catherine Spaak plays Bruno's daughter Lilli. I laughed out loud when Lilli calls Robert "Young Werther"; there simply aren't enough cinematic jokes based on Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther). There are moments when one realizes how big of a nerd they are, and it's hard to imagine a more obvious example than recognizing and laughing at a The Sorrow of Young Werther reference in a 1962 Italian film. Highly recommended: Il Sorpasso, not hanging around with me. Thanks to David Chase for the film recommendation.

Movies in 2026 135

 

The Hedonists (Jia Zhangke, 2016)

I've talked about making a more concerted effort to acquaint myself with short films, and obviously I've already watched several. What's easy to forget is that short films are not simply early efforts as a director is learning her or his craft and trying to get noticed, but also options that they'll pursue later when it seems like the best approach for a particular idea. With that in mind, the other night I watched Jia Zhangke's 2016 film The Hedonists, a short film that he directed years after he was already the best director in the world (you know me, I'm never guilty of hyperbole, although I do think he's the best director currently making films). It was very much a Jia Zhengke project, cleverly commenting and critiquing the strange transitional world that China finds itself in. The Hedonists felt like an embryonic cross between his Still Life (2006) and The World (2004). Recommended (keeping in mind that he's my favorite current director).