On a crisp September evening in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1999, I accompanied two fellow residents of my dorm-style apartment building, Le Foyer George Williams, to a local theater to see Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut. It was Kubrick’s first film in twelve years, an event in itself, and the official promotion for the film promised a lurid, boundary-pushing good time. The three of us ate American fast food prior to the movie—a memory of particular clarity because the two young women, one German and one French, had insisted—and then argued over whether to eat at McDonald’s or Burger King, each … [Read more...]
1999
Blade Runner, Je T’aime
I rewatched Blade Runner last night as a sort of prep session before seeing the new Blade Runner 2049. The original is my favorite film (still) and has been for the past 20 years, so I’ve got the thing pretty much memorized, but it seemed fitting that I see it again. From this point on, any popular discussion of Blade Runner is going to center on the new film, or at least include it in a big way, and I feel a strange sense of loss as a result. Silly, maybe, but there it is, so watching the original was also about visiting this universe for a last time while remains the dominant version out … [Read more...]
When a Movie Makes You Crazy
I saw a movie on Thursday, and it blew me away. Julia Ducournau’s Raw is about a young veterinary student who becomes a cannibal. It’s the best new film I’ve seen twenty years. I’m going to skip the traditional accolades here. Too many writers are better at describing why the film is great than I would be. And reviewing is not what I do on this blog. I will sometimes point you toward things I like, but mostly it’s a bizarre show and tell with a bit of futurism. So I will instead describe my reaction to Raw, and that will serve as my review. It will also demonstrate how crazy I … [Read more...]