4

 Another week gone, and only two more weeks of the regular semester to go. I've officially lost the battle of the No Going Away Parties campaign, as two parties are now on the agenda. It's strange to think that by the end of this month I will be done with teaching - and my book will be finished (being published, obviously, will remain an ongoing mission, but having the great mass of it complete is going to feel wonderful/strange) - and then the summer and a very different life opens up. My main two goals, once May rolls around, are to devote hours a day to Italian - and to get back to the gym and the pool and long walks - as I begin to refashion myself into a new entity.

Thanks to Keon Hatcher for loaning me his #4 for the Countdown. In many ways his story is also a classic CFL story. Hatcher was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and played at Arkansas, but went undrafted by any NFL team. As an undrafted free agent, he spent a few years bouncing back and forth between the Oakland Raiders (twice), Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers (twice), and New York Jets. His career NFL statistics: 1 catch for 8 yards. In 2021 he headed north, and has been with the BC Lions ever since, including being a CFL All-Star in 2023 and 2025. Now, he's playing all the time, catching passes from the CFL's best QB (Nathan Roarke), and enjoying a lot of success. You have to love his story.

Oh, and I love the metaphor of this picture - 4 days left, but zero closing in fast.

Movies in 2026 111

 

RoboCop (Paul Verhoeven, 1987)

One of the many wonderful things about the Criterion Channel is when they go rogue - or bonkers - and have unexpected (inexplicable) collections (1970s drive-in horror, snow westerns, etc.). Currently they are featuring a collection of films that they, back in the early days, that is, when they were only the Criterion Collection and before the advent of the Criterion Channel, had permission to print DVDs with cool extra features and commentaries (they created the commentary track on DVDs). One of them is, again unexpectedly and inexplicably, Paul Verhoeven's RoboCop. I always forget how subversive RoboCop is, as are many of Verhoeven's movies. I didn't realize that Peter Weller, who plays the titular character, later earned his PhD in Renaissance art. I had forgotten that Ray Wise, who would shortly after this achieve lasting cultural fame as Laura Palmer's father Leland in Twin Peaks. I also had this memory that my son, when he was a wee lad, had a RoboCop video game (maybe just a handheld? - where maybe he was fighting Aliens?), although he has no memory of it. 

Movies in 2026 110

 

Pictures of Ghosts, (Kleber Mendonca Filho, 2023)

Recently I watched Kleber Mendonca Filho's Bacurau (2019) and Neighboring Sounds (2012) - thank you to the Criterion Channel for both. What I had not realized is that I had previous watched another of his films, Aquarius (2016), but it was several years ago and I hadn't put the pieces together yet. So far I've really liked every one of his films, including the one I just watched the other night: the documentary Pictures of Ghosts (2023). The documentary focuses on his hometown of Recife, so I guess this fits in well with one of this week's other films, My Winnipeg (although it was not part of a grand design). I think it was called Pictures of Ghosts for a couple reasons, the first being a spectral image that he inadvertently captured on film. The film opens with a reflection on the history of his mother's apartment, which I recognized from Neighboring Sounds (and he slides in scenes from that film, and others, into more personal shots - including the ghost. The rest of the film is dedicated to a heartfelt and poignant reflection on three movie houses from Recife and their eventual passing. Highly recommended. Hopefully his latest film, 2025's The Secret Agent, eventually makes its way to Criterion, although I suppose I could track it down on Prime.

Movies in 2026 109

 

Resurrection, (Bi Gan, 2025)

Guy Maddin's Only Dream Things oddly works very well as a precursor for the next film, although clearly that was not my plan. I just finished Bi Gan's 2025 film Resurrection. The Criterion Channel has started featuring films fresh out of the theaters (not Vermont theaters, sadly, but theaters in larger and more intellectually vibrant markets in New York and LA). They always start off with a specific date and time when you can begin to stream it, almost giving it a feeling of being in the theater with thousands of other film nerds across the world. However, after that you can watch it at any time. I've done both, although I have to admit that I really like syncing up that first viewing when I can. I discovered Bi Gan late last year, on the Criterion Channel, not surprisingly, and absolutely loved his first two films: Kaili Blues (2015) and Long Day's Journey Into Night (2018). He's known for including an extended - literally somewhere between forty-five minutes and an hour - single, uninterrupted take, which dominates the second half of his movies. It's extraordinary, and speaks to his incredible imagination and cinematic chops. Having said all that, I definitely did not like Resurrection as much as his earlier two full-length films. It's staggeringly brilliant filmmaking, and features another long sequence at the end which beggars the imagination. However, the central theme is so opaquely delivered - or Bi Gan didn't feel that it needed one (which is fine, obviously) - that the film ends up depending entirely upon the cinematography. You end up not caring about the characters at all because you simply don't know anything about the characters. It's extremist instrumentalist filmmaking, which tends to work well in short art installations like Maddin's piece, but which borders on tedium in a two and a half hour movie. I'll definitely watch anything from Bi Gan, and I need to track down his earlier work, but in the end, while I was impressed by the technical wizardry of Resurrection, it simply left me cold. I absolutely felt a connection to the characters in his first two films, but every actor in Resurrection simply felt like prop to anchor a camera shot.

Movies in 2026 108

 

Only Dream Things, (Guy Maddin, 2012)

After watching My Winnipeg, I'll doubtless, and predictably, going through all the Guy Maddin films on the Criterion Channel. I started off with a very short film, Only Dream Things, which Maddin filmed as a museum installation piece. It's all based on his own home movies from his childhood, which were heavily manipulated to give it a very eerie, Lynchian, feel. I can clearly see myself plopped down on a bench in a museum, watching it all the way through three times.

My Life

 The news is so routinely horrible - and my students are so overpoweringly disinterested - that even writing seems like fun by comparison. Actually, one of the things that is making the transition to retirement easier is how much I'm enjoying writing.

As my project is coming to an end, no matter what form, if any, that it takes, sometimes I sit back and think about all the work that I've done - and, more importantly, all that I've learned - and it's kind of staggering. And, really, that ziggurat of books is only a small part of the process, simply the primary texts that drove everything else. 

Movies in 2026 107

 

My Winnipeg, (Guy Maddin, 2007)

By way of preparation for July's CFL Trip of Excellence to Winnipeg/Saskatchewan, it's not surprising that I felt moved to watch Guy Maddin's beautiful/disturbing/funny/sad film, My Winnipeg. I'd heard about Guy Maddin for years, but for some reason I had never managed to watch any of his work. I'm definitely going to make up for that cultural/cinematic shortcoming. I saw My Winnipeg described as a "docu-fantasia," which, even though I've never seen the term before, seems to fit beautifully. It's a very personal reflection on growing up/getting away from/going back to Winnipeg. It's almost indescribable, but in a wonderful way. It also features Ann Savage (who we all remember from the definitive film noir Detour) as Maddin's mother. Essential viewing, and not simply for those attending a Blue Bombers game in July.