The Ballad of Jack and Rose

Aside from an enchanting and lyrical performance by Camilla Belle, what makes this film great is its suggestion that narcissists can evolve into better people even as they age.

On the brink of ruining his daughter's life by attempting to shelter her from capitalism and sexuality, he actually makes some progress towards a fuller humanity himself. One is reminded of the excessive lengths parents of tennis players go to in advancing the success of their children. Being raised seems like a recipe for disaster, and this film's forced tragic ending is no exception.

The Ballad of Jack and Rose

Gentleman's Agreement

This film is melodramatic and the romance in it is completely unconvincing. Doesn't it make you thrilled you didn't live through the '50s? And if you were alive at that time, then doesn't this film make you cringe?

The film is about a righteous journalist who fakes being Jewish to go under cover and "blow the lid off antisemitism". Pathbreaking, brave, topical, helpful--this film was many things in its own day. But today it's a little embarrassing, not just because its portrayal of the protestant establishment is boring but also because the whole ploy seems unlikely.

Also, the way this couple falls in and out of love is hilariously lame. If the '50s were really like this, then thank God they're over. And if only the '50s films were like this, then why?

Two redeeming notes: Mr. Green's prose is actually quite persuasive--an interesting assessment of bigotry which probably comes from the novel the film is based on. And the scenes where Mr. Green (Peck) plays father to his young son. These are charming.

Gentleman's Agreement

Persona

Bergman's Persona has to be among the richest films in history, if not for its insane beauty then surely for its provocative illustration of human frailty. The film is about an actress whose mental illness prevents her from talking. She bears a striking resemblance to her nurse, who takes her out of the hospital and proceeds to care for her in charming seaside home.

The uni-vocal but maddening relationship that ensues will give rise to a panic that even thousands of hours of yoga won't be able to soothe.

Persona

Damage

I wish more people saw this film so I could talk about it with someone. Part family drama, part romance, and utterly twisted, there's little chance this film won't scare you into contemplating whether your deep-seated contempt for western values is misguided.

I'm not saying that Jeremy Irons' character Dr Fleming is totally unsympathetic. When drunk on power, we all have difficulty being reasonable, this is in human nature. What's gorgeous about Damage is that Dr Fleming suffers a path dependence that can only end in mass casualty, and yet somehow he continues to believe he's not going to be responsible for it. This could be you one day. Melville: "The act of paying is perhaps the most uncomfortable infliction that the two orchard thieves"

Damage

Secrecy

Oh my god this film is extraordinary. It's a documentary about the tension between state secrecy (in the interest of national security) and governmental accountability. There's an ugly paradox at work in the US government's invocation of state secrecy privilege, and the journalist, attorneys, and former CIA officers that star in this film unintentionally make it hard for any thoughtful patriot to be completely "pro-transparency". What if terrorist attacks can be prevented by covert operations? How can these operations be monitored without jeopardizing their efficacy?

In the end, no one wants to compromise our free society by endorsing the government's reckless abuse of "secrecy", but what good is the government if it doesn't have the freedom to do its job?

Before this film I was complacently anti-secrecy and very hostile to the Bush administration's expansion of presidential powers. Now I'm terrified that the Rubicon is so far behind us that we need much more than utopian political theory to salvage the American experiment.

Secrecy

Shortbus

Even without knowing that John Cameron Mitchell's project began with a public search for first time actors interested in changing the way that sex is portrayed in American cinema, it's possible to have enormous respect for this film. On the outermost level, this film is about a post-9/11 NYC salon for sexual libertines, but it's also about how the fight for authenticity and self-acceptance inevitably involves sexuality. I've heard people refer to Shortbus as Queer Film, but this is a mistake. It depicts the misery that various individuals--gay and straight--endure as they strive to be honest with themselves. Their fight is universal.

Shortbus (Unrated Edition)

The French Connection

The pace of this famous film is slow by contemporary standards, but there's undeniably something charming about it. Many of the plot turns (incredulous police chief v. investigator with a sixth sense, federal agent with an axe to grind, etc.) have become so standard in crime films that they seem terribly familiar. And the thick fake blood they used looks just plain silly.

But Popeye's obsession with "Frog 1" is classic, and so are the scenes of 1970's New York City. The city is authentic in ways that are considered shameful today. Popeye's fervor in tailing the Frenchmen is muted but fierce. My favorite scene is when he stands in plain view outside the opulent restaurant where the Frenchmen dine. His partner brings him a lousy cup of coffee which he can't finish. He pours it out on the street while a waiter pours a fine brew for the well-heeled dealers. Milton: "Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven"

The French Connection

A Letter from An Uninteresting Unknown Woman

God this film's score got under my nerves, but its idiosyncratic staginess is actually quite hilarious...for the first few minutes. Then you're forced into imagining how annoying your life would be if you hung all your hopes and ambitions on an adolescent obsession. This is an important lesson for all dreamers of all ages, except it's one that cold, hard disappointment teaches much more effectively than cinema.

Lisa is occasionally an attractive character, but she's the architect of her own misery and (albeit unwittingly) of her own death by Typhus. She's also one-dimensional: the sum total of her adult wishes, beliefs, desires, and thoughts are variations on her teenage crush. But this latter aspect of her actually makes her interesting. But in the end, she's effectively little more than a didactic metaphor for the emotional repercussions of meaningless sex. "If only you could have recognized what was always yours, could have found what was never lost." There's a universal truth in there, but it's not exactly a compelling one, and honestly I'd exchange it any day for a bite from an Austrian caramel apple.

Letter From an Unknown Woman (1948)