Here is what I watched and read last week…
MOVIES
Pale Flower (1964), directed by Masahiro Shinoda. I am continuing to watch Criterion’s curation of Japanese noir. Pale Flower places more emphasis on atmosphere rather than plot, with some excellent black and white cinematography. But the standout moment is the haunting imagery of Muraki’s dream. Very cool movie.
The 400 Blows (1959), directed by François Truffaut. One of Truffaut’s best and most personal films. I teach this for the French New Wave and art cinema in my Introduction to Film course. The film beautifully captures the theme of freedom and entrapment, using many of the characteristics associated with the French New Wave, such as handheld camerawork, on-location shooting, and a loose ordering of narrative events. This is a must-see if you are interested in learning about cinema.
No Down Payment (1957), directed by Martin Ritt, is a very good and dark film about four suburban families. The film begins by emphasizing the surface, which is then slowly deconstructed. What we may think is a typical all-American family is underpinned by a dark underside that involves racism, alcoholism, trauma, and money, to name but a few.
Phil Lynott: The Long Goodbye (2022), directed by Remarni Ramchaitar-Jackman, is a good documentary on the legendary singer and bass player for Thin Lizzy. I did learn some new things about Lynott, but I kind of wished the documentary went a little more in-depth into his life. But it is definitely worth checking out if you want to learn about him.
Cover-Up (2025), directed by Laura Poitras and Mark Obenhaus, is an excellent documentary on journalist, Seymour Hersh, exploring the major stories he reported on, such as Vietnam, Watergate, and Abu Ghraib. If you are interested in journalism, this is a must-see. It is currently streaming on Netflix.
The Wizard of the Kremlin (2025), directed by Olivier Assayas. I did not connect with this. It was very hard to believe Jude Law as Putin. I also thought Paul Dano was miscast in the film.
Jaws (1975), directed by Steven Spielberg, is a movie I watch every Fourth of July. It is one of Spielberg’s finest and scariest films. I am working on a book on Hitchcock and horror, and discuss The Birds as a precursor to Jaws. Both films feature creatures that defy the laws of nature—what I call supernatural creatures. I also highly recommend The Jaws Log, which explores the making of the film.
TV
We finished The Boroughs and thought it was a good and entertaining series with a lot of nostalgia. The finale was very good, with some touching moments. I also enjoyed how the series addressed the themes of death and grief.
BOOKS
I finished reading Jacques Lacan’s Seminar II and thought it was a lot harder than Seminar I. The standout section is Lacan’s reading of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Purloined Letter.” For Lacan, the letter hiding in plain sight stands for the unconscious. This leads him to claim that the unconscious is on the outside. Or, as he puts it, the unconscious is the discourse of the Other.
I very much enjoyed Ray Bradbury’s Green Shadows, White Whale. At first, I thought he was going to write about his process of adapting Moby Dick for John Huston. Instead, it is mostly about the people he met in Ireland, their stories, and their culture. Although he does not delve deeply into his relationship with Huston (he even discusses why at the end of the book), you do get the sense that Huston was difficult to work with. I think this book is more for Bradbury fans than for film buffs.
