“Love is a stream, it’s continuous, it doesn’t stop” John Cassavetes is unquestionably one of the most important filmmakers to ever work in the medium – and through the course of working through his career, I’ve grown particularly fond of him for a variety of reasons, all of which can easily be found converging in…
Diary of a Mad Housewife (1970)
Tina (Carrie Snodgress) is a mild-mannered New York housewife who dotes over her husband, Jonathan (Richard Benjamin), who returns her nothing but abusive “tough love” for her minor foibles, and constantly pushes her to be the ideal woman, rather than taking into account her own individual feelings, which he clearly sees as secondary to his…
How to Build a Girl (2020)
“I do not think my adventure starts with a boy, I think it starts with me” These words appear at the beginning of How to Build a Girl, the ambitious new film by Coky Giedroyc, and her first feature in over twenty years. An audacious comedy in the vein of many similarly-themed coming-of-age stories that…
The 317th Platoon (1965)
When commenting on the process of making The 317th Platoon (French: La 317ème section), writer and director Pierre Schoendoerffer mentioned how he intentionally set out to create a brutal atmosphere, as “a war film should not be made in comfort”. At first, it appears to be somewhat egomaniacal for a director to impose such a…
Operation Y and Shurik’s Other Adventures (1965)
There’s something quite wonderful about Operation Y and Shurik’s Other Adventures (Russian: Операция „Ы“ и другие приключения Шурика), a quality that appeals to my interests a lot more than I thought it would. I’ve been gradually exploring the depths of Soviet comedy over the past few years, finding a balance between the many defining masterpieces…
Lord Jim (1965)
Lord Jim is a strange specimen of a film, as it was composed of a wide range of very promising aspects – it featured Peter O’Toole’s first epic after his star-making turn in Lawrence of Arabia and a clear attempt to capitalize on the cultural zeitgeist his revolutionary performance inspired in both the industry and…
The Knack…and How to Get It (1965)
Not too many people speak about Richard Lester, which is surprising considering he is one of cinema’s most interesting directors, but unfortunately fell victim to the fact that, despite making numerous terrific films, never quite had an authorial voice in the same way many of his contemporaries tended to throughout their own careers. The result…
Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1965)
There’s something so ethereal about the films of Sergei Parajanov, a filmmaker whose work defined a particular era of Soviet storytelling, one that was both celebratory of the history of the culture, but critical of the socio-political zeitgeist, even if it wasn’t very clear in the films themselves. His most celebrated work is The Color…
Driveways (2020)
Kathy (Hong Chau) is a young woman from Michigan who has recently lost her older sister to a heart attack and has to make the journey to a small town in suburban New York to pack up her house, with her son, Cody (Lucas Jaye) accompanying on the trip. She had grown apart from his…
When Were You Born (1938)
Phillip Corey (James Stephenson) is a wealthy tradesman who conducts his business between his home in San Francisco and China, amassing an immense fortune and acquiring many enemies along the way. This manifests in his murder, which the police initially attribute to suicide until it becomes clear that there was some foul play involved. In…
The Postmodern Pelican 