Dreams (1990) Nearing the end of his life, legendary director Akira Kurosawa reflects on his childhood and finds inspiration for several beautiful vignettes. After a child stumbles upon a fox wedding during a sunshower, his furious mother demands he apologize. Their surviving commander orders the ghosts of Japanese soldiers returning from the second World War… Continue reading Best of the 1990s
Month: November 2014
Best of the 1950s
Sunset Boulevard (1950) Faded silent screen star Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) steadfastly believes she will regain her former glory and hires writer Joe Gillis (William Holden) to help with her planned comeback, but as the project drags on their relationship becomes dangerously complicated. William Holden brings a weary everyman quality to Joe Gillis while Gloria… Continue reading Best of the 1950s
Best of the 1980s
The Shining (1980) Writer Jack Torrance takes a job as a winter caretaker at the Overlook Hotel which was built on a Native American burial ground. Haunted by the numerous evil spirits which populate the hotel, Jack slowly loses his mind and unsuccessfully attempts to kill his wife, Wendy and young son, Danny. Contrary to what… Continue reading Best of the 1980s
Best of the 1970s
Watermelon Man (1970) White salesman Jeff Gerber (Godfrey Cambridge) wakes up to discover he’s become a black man overnight. His transformation causes problems at work, with the police, and with his neighbors. His seemingly liberal wife (Estelle Parsons) who once chastised him for not caring about the problems faced by black people in America, leaves… Continue reading Best of the 1970s
Best of the 1960s
Testament of Orpheus (1960) In the final film installment of Jean Cocteau’s Orphic trilogy, he encounters characters from his previous films and appears before a tribunal to defend his life and art. Though not as well-known as later French filmmakers, Jean Luc Godard or Francois Truffaut, Cocteau’s films introduced avant-garde sensibilities and philosophical underpinnings into cinemas.… Continue reading Best of the 1960s