At the perfect intersection between film noir and melodrama exists a film that has somehow come to be definitive of both of them, and perhaps even more, of an entire era of filmmaking in general. Leave Her to Heaven is a strange case of a film – directed by John M. Stahl, one of the…
Author: The Postmodern Pelican
Touch of Evil (1958)
By the time Orson Welles made Touch of Evil, the film noir genre was in its final stages – the peak wasn’t quite over yet, but it was gradually becoming clear that the genre that had ruled over much of Hollywood for roughly two decades was slowly going out of fashion, especially with the spectre…
I Married a Strange Person! (1997)
When it comes to the work of Bill Plympton, there is often a lot to unpack. In some instances, it’s sometimes better to just dispose of all the luggage in general, since dissecting every frame of his striking animated films is a fascinating, but incredibly challenging task – but for anyone with as twisted a…
Nomadland (2020)
Nomadland is the kind of film that really only comes around once or twice in a decade, one that manages to be so profound and understanding in its exploration of the human condition, the very act of just witnessing it seems close to a privilege. Chloé Zhao has been steadily building herself to becoming one…
The Burnt Orange Heresy (2020)
Somewhere in the picturesque region of Lake Como stands an impressive mansion, to which art critic and writer James Figueras (Claes Bang) has been summoned to meet with the rambunctious Joseph Cassidy (Sir Mick Jagger), a world-renowned art dealer and collector who has a reputation for wanting only the finest works in his expansive collection….
Wuthering Heights (1939)
The cultural cache of Emily Brontë’s iconic novel Wuthering Heights should not be underestimated by any means – one of the most beloved novels of the romanticism era, and one that spurred numerous adaptations, imitations and even a classic song that has once again become wildly popular with the younger generation this past summer. One…
Bonjour Tristesse (1958)
Situated on a tranquil beach somewhere in the French Riviera is a beautiful mansion, which serves as the summer home to Raymond (David Niven), a well-known Parisian aristocrat and man about town, who has a tendency to romance any woman who catches his attention. Accompanying Raymond on this summer sojourn is his daughter, Cécile (Jean…
Moulin Rouge (1952)
It’s a fascinating situation where a film is such an enormous sensation, everything related to it, whether narratively or thematically, is indelibly associated with that particular work. This is most notable when it comes to historical dramas, whereby true events serve as the foundation for some compelling tales. In the case of Moulin Rouge, it’s…
Some Came Running (1958)
While he was a highly prolific director, one can separate Vincente Minnelli’s work into some major groups, classifying nearly all of his efforts under one of the few categories in which he mostly thrived. Some of his most cherished work falls under the grouping of his melodramas, with many of the films that made him…
Heroes Don’t Die (2020)
Through her capacity as one of the film industry’s preeminent artistic revolutionaries, Agnès Varda introduced many distinct ideas into the global film culture, among them was the concept of cinécriture (“film writing”), perhaps her most important idea, since it is the one factor that not only bound her films together under a single artistic theory,…
The Postmodern Pelican 