Eva's 2016 Movies Most Worthy of Mention, in order of the copyright dates.
1. Jules and Jim ©1962 (Fr) Dir. Francois Truffaut. 105 min., black & white. The title characters are played by Oskar Werner and Henri Serre. They become fast friends in Paris in 1912. Soon they form a triangle with Catherine (Jeanne Moreau). The three frolic. Jules marries Catherine on the eve of WW I in his home country of Austria. Each worries about killing the other. After the war they reunite. Jules and Catherine have a 5-year old. Jim has an affair with Catherine with Jules’ permission. Jim, who lives with Gilberte back in Paris, returns to Paris. In the DVD extras, in a 1966 interview, Truffaut says the 1953 book by Henri-Pierre Roche (1879-1959), written at age 73 about true events (Roche was Jim) 50 years earlier, is better than the movie. The Key to Jules and Jim (1985), also in the DVD extras, directed by Thomas Honickel, interviews the two sons of Franz Hessel (1880-1941, the real Jules) and Helen (the real Catherine). Ulrich Hessel was b/ 1914. The only son of Roche, who was b/ in 1931, is also interviewed. Helen Hessel (1886-1982) also wrote about these significant relationships, in a journal. A friend (b/ 1908) was also interviewed in The Key. When the friend saw the movie Jules and Jim Helen asked her if it rang a bell. “It’s about you. It’s what you wrote in your journal.” According to Roche’s son, Roche lived with three women in his life. He does not deem his parents’ relationship happy. They married when their son was in his 20s. Roche was an absent parent. Sounds like Helen and Franz were warm parents. In 1938, Helen, living in Paris by that time, came and got Franz out of Germany. He was Jewish, but wouldn’t have had the sense to leave without her insisting.
2. The Great Escape ©1963 Dir. John Sturges, w/ Steve McQueen (on the motorcycle) and James Garner. Based on a true story with lots of composite characters and poetic license. In 1943 the Germans opened Stalag Luft III, a POW camp for the craftiest escape artists. They thus assembled a crack escape team which planned a tunneling escape meant to let 250 prisoners out. It largely worked, but most get rounded up after a few days. The movie is dedicated to the 50 who were summarily executed after being caught. I watched this with Herman’s brother Harold. A friend in h.s. liked Steve McQueen. I finally know who she liked. I was out of it then.
3. Patton ©1970. Franklin J. Schaffner won best director. Francis Ford Coppola won for best original screenplay. Patton was nominated for 10 Academy Awards, and won six, even though it was released in the heart of the anti-war movement. George C. Scott and Karl Malden play generals George Patton and Omar Bradley. If that George C. Scott were available today, I’d cast him as Dick Cheney, if there was a movie about Cheney. In one scene Patton was vicious to a shell shocked soldier in sick bay, ordering the wimp back to the front. Eisenhower made Patton publicly apologize. The DVD extras contained documentaries about Patton’s career.
4. https://vimeo.com/24751596 ©1997 Dir. Simon Singh in 49 min. covers Fermat’s Enigma (the 1997 book by Singh which made my 2002 book list). I knew there was a BBC documentary on this but until Mark Molloy sent me the link I had never seen it. Wonderful!
5. Mad Men (2007-2015) on library DVDs; The retro stuff: Smoking in the office. Morning and evening newspapers. The 60’s flavor sexism/racism/anti-semitism. Long distance phone calls cost a fortune. Betty’s friend becomes a travel agent (remember those?). Golden Globe winner 2009. According to Conor some of the Mad Men culture is still around in 21st century ad agencies.
6. Tokyo Sonata ©2008 (Japan) Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa (not to be confused with Akira Kurosawa). 119 min. At first I feared it would be a downer about a guy who gets laid off and pretends to go to work every day because he hasn’t told his wife. But then the movie got more eventful. The man met an old schoolfriend in the same situation. I was relieved he had a confidant! There are subplots about the younger son wanting to take piano lessons, and the teenaged son wanting to join the (American!) army.
7. Mother ©2009 (S. Korea). Dir. Bong Joon Ho. 129 min. “Fascinating”—Roger Ebert. A murder mystery with several surprises, yet still a quiet gentle movie about a single mother and her 27-yr-old retarded son Do-Joon. In retrospect, all the surprises were foreshadowed. Do-Joon is convicted of murder on little evidence. Sure of his innocence, his mother does some sleuthing, never stepping out of character. There are multiple suspects. In one scene it’s raining. The mother takes an umbrella out of a junk man’s cart. She goes out of her way to pay him. I thought that served to establish her honesty. In retrospect it did more.
8. My Dog Tulip ©2010, based on J.R. Ackerley’s acclaimed memoir of the same title which made my 2013 booklist. Directed and animated by Paul and Sandra Fierlinger, with the voices of Christopher Plummer, Lynne Redgrave, and Isabella Rossellini, The rest of the soundtrack was great too. Visually it charms. No paper was used in the creation of this film. The DVD extras were great too.
9. Borgen, all three seasons. (2010-2013) A Danish Madame Secretary/West Wing. Tom McCann (1945-2016) said Birgitte Nyborg (Sidse Babett Knudson) was his favorite TV character. Stephen King called this his favorite TV show of 2012. Katrina, the attractive reporter and face of the news, is played by Birgitte Hjort Sorenson. Spin doctor Kaspar Juul (Pilou Asbaek) has personal demons.
10. Jaffa ©2010 (Israel) Dir Keren Yedaya. 105 min. w/ Dana Ivgy. I have not been to Israel for 44 years, yet I recognized the look and feel of the place and the people. Reuven’s Garage is a family run business in the seaside town of Jaffa. The employees are Reuven’s beautiful 21 year old daughter Mali, his surly son Meir, a Palestinian mechanic Hassan, and his son Toufik. Unbeknownst to the others, Mali and Toufik have been in love for years. Now Mali is 8 weeks pregnant. The couple plan to elope. Complications develop.
11. Blue Bloods (2010- ) TV series with Tom Sellick who plays the NYC police Commissioner Reagan. His daughter Erin is a District Attorney, son Danny (Donny Wahlberg), a detective, and son Jamie, a patrolman. I visited my cousin Sr. Eve Gillcrist, 92, in July. She and her household of nuns especially enjoy two TV series: Blue Bloods and Call the Midwife. I listed the latter in 2013, but had never sampled Blue Bloods. Eve mentioned that the Reagan family dines together and says grace. My sister-in-law Anne stayed overnight the eve of our trip to Nova Scotia. She already knew and liked Blue Bloods so we watched an episode together.
12. Mildred Pierce ©2011 Dir. Todd Haynes. Miniseries in 5 parts starring Kate Winslet based on the 1941 novel by James M. Cain about a resourceful depression-era woman going through a divorce with two precocious daughters. There’s a 1945 film noir of the same title. Stephen King wrote “Winslet’s Mildred Pierce is a genuine star turn. How Joan Crawford would have loathed her.”
13. 56 Up ©2012. Documentary by Michael Apted following 14 English children born in 1956 every 7 years starting at age 7. Apted was 22 in 1963. Now the subjects are 56. I like the secondary school math teacher who looks like Brian Fair/Churchill.
14. The Reluctant Fundamentalist ©2012 Dir Mira Nair. w/ Riz Ahmed as Changez, Kate Hudson as his girlfriend Erica (She’s an artist. I liked the way they met), Liev Schreiber as a journalist, and Kiefer Sutherland as the head of the Wall Street firm that hires Changez out of Princeton. One of the things that turned Changez off from his American life was being arrested in a case of mistaken identity as a suspected terrorist. His breakup with Erica was not a pleasure to watch but it was interesting and realistic. Scenes on the subcontinent were colorful. I loved the male chorus tea shop sequence. I did not enjoy the film’s thriller/fog of war/chaos component.
15. The Americans (2013- ) I eagerly await the release of season 4 to Library DVD. Philip and Elizabeth Jennings (Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell) are as American as apple pie, but they are really KGB agents. They live in the D.C. area in the 1980’s, run a travel agency and have two children. Stan Beeman (Noah Emmerich), the FBI guy next door, does not realize his prey is under his nose, much like Hank in Breaking Bad. We root for the Jennings, trusting their ability to get out of any jam (like Walt in Breaking Bad).
16. A Place to Call Home (2013- ) Australian TV series set in the 1950’s, w/ Marta Dusseldorp as Sarah Adams, Brett Climo as George Bligh who courts her, and Noni Hazelhurst as matriarch Elizabeth Bligh. Deals with class, homosexuality, other family secrets, a provincial hospital staff… A few of the characters are one dimensional—the town busybody, sister-in-law Regina, Andrew…
17. Room ©2015. (Canada/Ireland) Dir. Lenny Abrahamson. Starring Brie Larson, who won the Best Actress Oscar. Opens with a mother and her 5 year old son Jack confined to a room in a shed. She’s been locked up there for 7 yrs since she was abducted by Old Nick.
18. Concussion ©2015 Dir. Peter Landesman, starring Will Smith as Bennet Omalu. 123 min. Based on an article in GQ by Jeanne Marie Laskas. A David and Goliath story: brilliant immigrant forensic neuropathologist vs the NFL. Alec Baldwin & Luke Wilson are in it.
19. Where To Invade Next ©2015. Documentary. Dir. Michael Moore visits mostly European countries taking a look at how they handle this or that differently than we do. A thriving factory in Italy has relaxing lunch hours, and more paid vacation than US counterparts. Germany has 50% worker representation on company boards. Finnish children spend only 20 hrs/week in school and have no homework and there are no private schools. Yet their schools are rated #1 in the world, USA’s #29. Norway’s prisons take away inmates’ freedom but are otherwise non-punitive. Portugal has arrested no drug users in 15 years. Drug rehab treatment is freely available. Iceland mandates 40%-60% women (equivalently, men) on boards. Big hole: Climate change went unmentioned.
20. The Big Short ©2015 Dir. Adam McKay, with Christian Bale, Steve Carell, and Ryan Gosling. Based on the book by Michael Lewis about the 2008 financial crisis. An indictment of Big Banks and Investment Firms, told, incredibly and effectively, with humor.
21. Older than Ireland ©2015 (Ireland) Dir. Alex Fegan. Documentary interviewing 30 Irish Citizens who are older than 100 (The Easter Rebellion was in 1916). The director was present at my screening at the Kendall Square Cinema around St. Patrick's Day.
22. Carol ©2015. Dir Todd Haynes w/ Cate Blanchett and Mara Rooney. A topnotch drama set in 1952 based on The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith. Carol Aird is a sophisticated, wealthy, beautiful woman in her 30’s with a 4-yr-old daughter, Rinney. Carol and her husband are going through a divorce. She declines to go to Florida to spend Christmas with his mother but allows him to take Rinney. They live near NYC. Meanwhile, Carol is ever so slowly seducing Therese Belivet, a young department store clerk. Carol helps Therese move towards her photography vocation. She goes on a road trip with Therese. Carol had one lesbian relationship in her past (ended before her marriage), and now her husband hires a detective to try to catch Carol red-handed with Therese. If he can’t have Carol, Carol can’t have their daughter. He does not return the daughter after Florida. Carol is distraught but she has a lawyer.
23. Race ©2016 Director Stephen Hopkins. The Jesse Owens Story. Jesse’s birth name is James Cleveland Owens. JC became Jesse. Race got mixed reviews but I loved it. I’m a sucker for sports movies esp. those set in my father’s era. Race opens in 1933 with Jesse bidding goodbye to his loved ones and boarding the bus for Ohio State. The all-white football team didn’t like sharing a locker room with the two blacks on the track team. Avery Brundage (Jeremy Irons) was an Olympic official. The US decided not to boycott the 1936 Olympics. We hear the 1936 Max Schmelling-Joe Louis fight (Schmelling wins). We see the the 4 golds. Owens died in 1980.
24. The Southside and You ©2016 Dir Richard Tanne. Imagines Barack and Michele’s first date in 1989. He picks her up at the Robinson bungalow on Euclid Ave., 1.1 miles from my Chicago childhood address. With Parker Sawyers and Tika Sumpter.
25. Sully ©2016 Dir Clint Eastwood, w/ Tom Hanks. Dramatizes the Jan. 15, 2009 emergency landing of a US Air flight on the Hudson River. All 155 people on board survived. The co-pilot is played by Aaron Eckhart, Sullenberger’s wife by Laura Linney.
26. Hunting Wilderpeople ©2016 (New Zealand) w/ Sam Neal. Quirky. Ricky Baker, a fat, smart, foster child, celebrates his 13th birthday at his new home with Bella and Hector. They give him a dog. Ricky’s social worker, Paula, is a piece of work. Bella dies. Ricky inspires Hector to learn to read, and Hector shows Ricky how to live off the land. I liked it, but so would Jr. High kids. What attracted me to this movie was a clever “turn off your cell phones” short featuring Hector and Ricky in character. Better than a trailer.
27. The Choice 2016 Frontline TV. 2 hr. Interleaved bios of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump
28. Indignation ©2016 Dir. James Schamus, based on a Philip Roth novel. A kosher butcher’s son Marcus Messner, 18, an only child, embarks from Newark to Winesburg College in Ohio on a scholarship. We have seen the funeral of a Newark acquaintance who had died in the Korean War. (This being a Philip Roth novel, the other boys wonder if he had died a virgin). Marcus is an atheist. He aspires to be a lawyer. He rejects fraternities. He is assigned to a room with two roommates but later succeeds in being transferred to a “rustic” room by himself. He becomes smitten with one Olivia Hatton who has a scar from having once slit her wrist. The ending was a surprise, but IMHO, artful. I was amused by the dialog. Dean Caldwell was perhaps over the top.
29. Anthropoid. ©2016 Dir. Sean Ellis. Dramatizes the assassination of Reinhold Heydrich, the Butcher of Prague, by two Czechs parachuted in from England and aided by the decimated Czech resistance. The Nazis murdered 5000 Czechs in retaliation. Set in Prague in 1939. Jamie Durnan as Jan Kubis, Cillian Murphy as Josef Gibcik. Charlotte Le Bon plays Marie who gets engaged to Jan.
30. Hockney ©2016 Dir. Randall Wright. Bioflick about David Hockney (1937- ) filled with full screens of the colorful paintings, an upbeat eclectic soundtrack, and videos of the people in Hockney’s life. Don Bachardy and Celia Birtwell, now old, are interviewed.
Last updated Dec. 26, 2016