Elliot's Watching - July 2024

Elliot’s Watching 2024 index

Slow Horses, Season 3, 2023, based on Mick Herron novels, Will Smith show runner, star Gary Oldman as Jackson Lamb

Barbie (2023). DNF

The Crown, Season 6 starring Olivia Colman as Eliz and Peter Morgan writing all or part of all episodes. 

Good Grief (2023), Dan Levy. DNF

Past Lives (2023), Celine Song dir., Korean 

Boys State (2020), Jesse Moss and Amanada McBaine

Top Boy Series 1 (2011), created by Ronan Bennett 

Rose (2022), dir abd writer Niels Arden Oplev, star Sofie Grabol)

True Detective Season 4 DNF (2024)

Tore (2023). Swedish DNF

Panic in the Streets (1950) directed by Elia Kazan (writers Richard Murphy and Daniel Fuchs, story by Edna and Edward Anholt

The Zen Diaries of Gary Shandling, documentary by Judd Apatow (2018)

Verified Stand-Up, Netflix, 2023

Mississippi, documentary, 1983. Bertrand Tavernier and Robert Parrish

The Judge and the Assassin, 1967, dir. Bertrand Tavernier, with co-authors Jean Aurenche and Pierre Bost.

American Nightmare (Netflix, 2024) documentary from Bernadette Higgins and Felicity Morris

Return to Seoul (2022) Davy Chou dir

February 2024

A Sunday in the Country (1984), Dir. Bertrand Tavernier, based on novel by Pierre Bost. co-author Solo Tavernier

The Greatest Night in Pop (2024)

 Chris Weitz’s Operation Finale (2018), written by Matthew Orton.

Bertrand Tavernier’s Spoiled Children (1977), which BT wrote w/ Charlotte Dubreuill and Christine Pascal

Bertrand Tavernier’s Death Watch. (1980) DNF

Elliot’s  Watching - February 2024 

Ben Lewin’s Falling for Figaro (2021, co-writer Ben Lewin)

Alfred Hitchcock’s Cold War drama Torn Curtain (1966, co-written with 

Willis Hall, Keith Waterhouse, and Brian Moore)

Alfred Hitchcock’s 1948 film Rope (based on Patrick Hamilton’s play adapted by Hume Cronyn and w/ screenplay by Arthur Laurents)

Carolina Cavalli’s debut production, Amanda (2022)

Kitty Flanagan’s 2021 Australian TV comedy, Fisk (Netflix) created with Vincent Sheehan and co-scripted with Penny Flanagan

The British 2024 series One Day (Netflix) - starring Ambika Mod and Leo Woodall

Lulu Wang’s  Expats, based on Janice Y.K. Lee’s novel The Expatriates. on Amazon Prime (2024).

Alfred Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt (1943), based on a story by Gordon McDonell w/ screenplay by Thornton Wilder, Sally Benson, and Alma Revile

 Elliot’s  Watching - March 2024 

Mr. & Mrs. Smith by Francesca Sloan and co-star Donald Glover.(2024), inspired by Simon Kinberg’s same-titled work 

Ear for  Eye, written and directed by debbie tucker green used on her play, 2021, Criterion. 

Criminal Record (2024), an 8-episode series created by Paul Rutma, available on Apple. 

God Save Texas (2024, HBO) is a three-part series of documentaries about the state - each could reviewed separately, in any order, or on its ownA Week’s Vacation (1980), dir. by Bertrand Tavernier who co-wrote with Bertrand Tavernier and Marie-Francoise Hans, starring Nathalie Baye

Shoot the Piano Player, Dir. Francois Truffaut, co-aothor with Marcel Moussy, based on book (Down There) by David Goodis

American Conspiracy: The Octopus Murders (2024), a Netflix documentary by Zachary Teitz and Christian Hansen

The Truth About Jim (2024) - Father accused of murdering daughter. DNF

Roald Dahl’s The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (1977), dir. Wes Anderson (2023), Oscar short live feature

The Undeclared War (1992), Bertrand Taverniere dir. and writes, with Patrick Roman, co-writer

Rain Dogs ,screenplay by Cash Calloway (2023, HBO

The Bed Sitting Room (1969), created by Richard Lester. DNF

L.627 (1992), dir. Bertrandf Tavernier, w/ Michel Alexandre (co-writer)

Daddy Nostalgie (1990), dir. Bertrand Tavernier. co-writer Colo Tavernier O’Hagan

The Gentlemen (2024), by Guy Ritchie with co-writing by Matthew Read

Elliot’s Watching - April 2024

 Let Joy Reign Supreme (1975), dir. Bernard Tavernier, co-written with Jean Aurenche

Comrades: Almost a Love Story (1996), directed by Peter Chan, written by Ivy Ho

The Tourist Season 2 (2024), written by Harry and Jack Williams and dir. Chris Sweeney - and providing another venue for the new indie star Danielle Macdonald

Curb Your Enthusiasm, Season 12 (2024), created by and starring Lary David. 

Captain Conan (1996), Dir. Bertrand Tavernier, co-wrote with Jean Cosmos, based on novel by Roger Vercel

Steve! (Martin): A Documentary in 2 Pieces (2024), dir. Ben Akers

The Zone of Interest (2023), dir and written by Jonathan Glazer, based on a novel by Martin Amis

Farewell, China (1990, dir. Clara Law

An Autumn’s Tale (1987), dir. Mabel Cheung, written by Alex Law

Ripley (2024), written and dir. Steven Zaillian, based on Patricia Highsmith’s novel (The Talented Mr. Ripley), on Netflix

Manhunt (2024, on Netflix), created by Monica Beletsky, based on the book by James L. Swanson 

DNF: Ministry of Fear, 1943.

DNF: Mr Bates vs The Post Office (2024). 

 Raging Bull (1980).  See Elliot’s Watching (elliotswatching.blogspot.com)  July/August 2022 for comments on Raging Bull.

DNF Nolly, on PBS, despite have Helena Bonham Carter in the lead, is an unwatchable send-up of daytime soaps and their work environment and personal lives. Dreadful.

DNF Norma, Santiago Girault’s 2023 film from Argentina. Not much going for this straßined story of a wealthy woman in despair. 

Baby Reindear, created by Richard Gadd (2024) 

May 2024

Full Moon in New York (1989), dir. and writer Stanley Kwan, writers 

Kang-Chien Chiu and Achen Zhang

It All Starts Today (1999), dir. and writer, writen w/ Tiffany Tavernier, co-authors Dominique Simper & Tiffany Tavernier.  

Unfrosted (2024), Jerry Seinfeld dir. and writer along w/ Spike Ferestan, Andy Robin, and Barry Marder

Canadian film in English, So Much Tenderness (2022), w & d by Lina Rodriguez

French film Safe Conduct (2002), dir and co-written(w/ Jean Cosmos) by Bertrand Tavernier

The Asunta Case (2024, TV mini-series from Spain, on Netflix), by Ramon Campos, Jon de la Cuesta, and Gema R. Naira

Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs (1992)

DNF: Masters of the Air (Apple)

DNF. Bodkin (Netflix)

DNF Boiling Point (Netflix) 

DNF Ivy Metropol’s documentary After the Bite (2023)

DNF Three of Us (from India, 2023 - dir and written by Avinash Arun, with co-writers Omkar Achyut and Aprila Chatterjee)

Musica (2024), written, directed, starring in Rudy Mancuso (co-written with Dan Lagana)

The Jinx: The Life and /death of Robert Durst, Part Two (2024), by Andrew Jarecki, Marc Smerling, and Zac Stuart-Pontier, with additional writing Sam Neave 

Stax: Soulsville U.S.A., by James Wignot (2024) 

The Sympathizer (HBO 2024) miniseries by Park Chan-wook and Don McKellar, based on the novel by Viet Thanh Nguyen

About Dry Grasses (2023), by Nuri Bilge Ceylan, with co-authors Ebru Ceylan and Akin Aksu, Turkish

June 2024

700 Sundays, staring Billy Crystal and based on his book and on his Broadway show, written by Crystal with Alan Zweibel and directed by Des McAnuff (2014, HBO)

DNF Abi Morgan’s Netflix series Eric (2024), with Benedict Cumberbatch in the lead and the main reason to watch this tired series - amazing how well he does an American accent - does a good job re-creating the look and despair in NYC in the early ‘60s but the story feels manipulative and predictable and at least for me not worth the investment of time. 

Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me, by Drew Denicola (2012). The rise and fall of the eponymous band. 

Julio Torres’s comedy Fantasmas (2024), wow!, gets 87 percent positive reviews on Meteoritic, usually my barometer and 8 is abuts high as it gets, but this spacey,, stoner film about a guy in search of a piece of jewelry somewhere in Manhattan has many trips encounters en route notably, for ex., the letters of the alphabet come alive with Queen disturbed by her obscurity and demanding a better placement and, oh, well, I’m far too old and out of touch on this and cannot possibly sit through a 2nd episode, but that’s maybe just me (and M.). DNF

13 Bombs in Jakarta (2023), from Anggua Dwimas Sasongko

Maryland (2023, PBS) . by Susanne Jones and Anne-Marie O’Conner (dir. Susan Tully) is an all unhappy families are alike (melo) drama that’s particularly strong in its portrayal of two close but rival sisters. 

Hit Man (2023,Netflix) w&d byRichard Linklater with writing from Glen Powell, based on the magazine article by Skip Hollandsworth

Crisis, a Swedish film (1946) that was Ingmar Bergman’s first directed film (he also wrote the screenplay based on a book/play by Leck Fischer); the film is atypical of IB’s work but shows some imaginative cinematography and a sympathy for the suffering of ordinary people in a tranquil, conventional Swedish village. 

Ingmar Bergman ’s A Ship Bound for India (1947 - Bergman W&D, based on a play by Martin Soderhjelm) shows us in his 2nd film his interest in staging scenes of high emotional drama and obsession. Stands up well after nearly 80 years. 

Ingmar Bergman’s Thirst (1949), screenplay by Herbeert Gravenius, based on stories by Birgit Tengrof), is a disjointed account of the willowing and suffering of two marriages as the 4 central characters travel by train (to nowhere) in post-war Europe. 

The first season of Your Honor (2020 premier, now on Netflix) , based on the Israeli series by Ron Ninio and Schlomo Mashlachand developed by Peter Moffat) is a first-rate legal crime feature win which there are numerous crises at which various characters face wrenching moral decisions the outcome from which will determine their families, profession, actual life - very well crafted, brings many of the cultures of its setting. New Orleans, to life - impossible to fully like or fully hate any of the main characters. Looking forward to watching Season 2, also on Netflix ( very good series to binge as it’s complex plot will be hard to retain over the course of 10} weeks of streaming).

Ingmar  Bergman’s Port of Call (1948, w & d) based on the novel by Olle Lansberg

Ingmar Bergman’s (w & d) 1948 film To Joy depicts a young man who aspires to be a great violinist - we see some highly informative sequences of the rather Napoleonic conductor putting through his orchestra to some criticism and rants esp as they rehears Beethoven’s 9th (hence the title). The aspirant is a self-destructive man unable to face his deficiencies (he’s a mediocre talent) and who takes much of his anger and hostility on his wife (also a musician, maybe not great but a groundbreaker as the first female in this orchestra ) - and through we see many scenes of cruelty and domestic violence. The Strindbergian foundation of IB’s screenwriting at this point in his career is painfully dark and melancholy- enough so as to review earlier film (see above) Thirst, in which the final segment as the you and unhappy couple continue on a pointless, seemingly endless rr journey during which they torment each other as war and poverty simmer on the periphery - a much smarter Strindbergian film than I’d though at first do through. 

Adding to comments on Your Honor (Season 2), see above- the plot thickens as we follow the fate of the young Black man charged with murder and as the lead actor, Bryon Cranston continue to play the role of a judge (disbarred) forced to testify in another case that puts him in hazard and tests his morality - played out in the background much political and gang-related violence and betrayal regarding mob efforts to control the N.Orleans waterfront- a really gripping, complex, multidimentional TV series that comes to a satisfying conclusion yet leaves a wink of an eye open to subset a possible Season 3 to come. (A nod here to the music by Volker Bertelmann and David Buckley.=.)

Ingmar Bergman’s Summer Interlude (1951), d&W by Bergman with co-author Herbert Grevenius, is a sad story of a young couple fall in love and spend the summer of youth enjoying solitude and sex until a tragic accident ends their romance and the young woman, played beautifully by Birger Malmsten, struggles through the rest of her life to establish a career in ballet but suffers lifelong depression and grief that in effect block her artistic skills and aspirations and ruins her chances for love and friendship. A dark and beautiful short film. 

Josh Allott’s 2024 documentary on Netflix, The Man with 1000 Kids tells the story of a young man from the Netherlands who is what’s become known as a serial inseminator, obsessively visiting many sperm banks in many countries but primarily in the Netherlands (his home) where he violates all rules and warning, which restrict the legal # of sperm donations - his perverse insemination makes various families and single women at first thrilled at successful pregnancy but as they learn through news reports and through this project that their kids have literally thousands of half-siblings - that’s really troublesome an dangerous, in the face of the likelihood that some of these half-sibs will perhaps someday marry and which could or would lead to lifelong health issues for both in the couple. Allott’s work has led to a court case that made the seminarian (ha!), Johnathan Meijer a criminal - though he seems unreconstructed (he refused to participate in this project) defined and established repeat inseminators as an international outrage and concern (note: one such repeater was was/is a white man working out of Kenya with hopes of diluting the Black race!; also note that Meijer does not seem to motivated by seduction of the women, ie insemination by the “natural” manner, though he does do so on occasion.)

Ingmar Bergman’s Secrets of Women aka Waiting Women (1952) depicts a group of women, about 35 years old or so, all related through their marriages, who over the course of an evening, as their husbands are off together fishing or something by agreeing each to tell a short story about some episode in their life p the highlight being a hilarious comic riff about as stuffed-shirt egocentric 50ish man who gets stuck in a small elevator with his beautiful and energetic somewhat younger wife; as they wait through their night-long ordeal, each confesses about  his or her infidelities, but are either of them telling the truth, and how will their relationship endure after this playful all of the revelations and reconciliations that they endure - ending with them in sexual embrace as the janitor and various tenants awake in the morning to open the cage - and open their eyes, too. Not Bergman’s deepest work, but a lot of fun and a lot of fights, verbal and other, reminiscent in particular of Miss Julie. 

Costa-Gavras’s 1982 American docu-drama (ie based on real events), missing (sic), co-written with Donald E. Stewart and based on the novel by Thomas Hauser, is a terrifying and sorrowful/shameful recounting the disappearance of a 20-something American political activist who’d been living in Chili as all around him (and his wife, played by Sissy Spacek) the left-wing government is taken over by the violent and cruel Pinochet military forces (the names are not uttered in the film). Against a backdrop of  gunshots, roundups, break-ins, shutdowns, and all forms of terror and  intimidation, we begin to focus on one person: a conservative and devout middle-aged dad who comes to Chile (the country is not named) to try to find his missing son and bring him (and his wife, with whom he does not respect or care for, at first) home to safety - but he’s rebuffed at every turn by US Govt  officials, the consulate, and other forces - and we know, as he (played terrifically by Jack Lemmon) gradually realizes that his efforts to save or at least find the body of his son are own vain: He comes to see what we already know : US forces (spurred by Nixon and Kissinger) have financed on furnished the the right-wing rebels - in secret - in a stupid effort to stop Communism in South America and at great cost in lives and with no accountability. Couldn’t happen today, right? The film is exasperating - watching Lemmon keep up his hope when we know he’s doomed - and frightful and could bring you to tears.

Chris Chibnall’s Gracepoint (2014), based on his UK series Broadchurch, one of the better - actually, much better than most - crime drama in small-town setting in which everyone knows everyone’s business and therefore everyone’s suspect in the case of the murder (or was out an accident?) a 10-year-old (ca) boy. Series as 10 hour-long episodes, enough to generate the nuances and complex turns of events in a crime novel. At times puzzling, the story line works through to the end, as we - along with two young, ambitious cops - played by David Tennant, newly arrived on the insular police corps, and Anna Gunn, long-time Gracepoint resident, whose personal life entwines with the net of the investigations. Unlike  most, the ending answers all of the major questions but leave es a wink open for a possible sequel, which probably wouldn’t measure up. This series is too long for successful binging - let the sometime bewildering plot pull you along; plenty to guess or think about: Sure she of the coincidences are not quite credible or likely, but there’s enough here to make it one of the best of its type. 

Ingmar Bergman’s (w & d) drama Sawdust and Tinsel (1953) is in a sense a post-dude to one of this most famous films, The Seventh Seal, which takes on this topic - the travails of an impoverished traveling circus - from a medieval setting to a contemporary (1950 rural Sweden) setting. There’s also a debt here to Pagliacci, the sorrows of a clown etc. Mostly, though, it’s a really powerful evocation of a milieu unfamiliar to most movie-goers and a great though dark story of infidelity, abuse, alcoholism, poverty, and the assign of a way of life: all the discomforts and personal conflicts of a hatreds and villainy that develop in an atmosphere of such poverty and ill humor, with the obvious irony that their livelihood entails entertainment, laughs. You won’t laugh much, but you’ll marveled IB’s versatility and creative editing and development of play e/setting - a little-known IB film and surely not for everyone but a surprisingly good early work among his first serious examination of poverty and infidelity. 

Werner Herzog’s English-language Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009, written by William M. Finkelstein, is nor crime drama about a completely corrupt detective played by a venomous Nicolas Cage and loaded with violence, violent language, mistreatment of women, and endless rx abuse, and ultimately a bunch of hateful characters - there’s no hero in this gang - that most viewers will probably stay with it til the end, as did I, even as you question what it is in human nature, and in moviegoing/viewing, that makes us want to watch a saga of pain and hatred, but soots. Cage is certainly great in this role and one suspects that doesn’t come out of nowhere and you have wonder how writer Finkelstein could know smooch about the deepest of the underworld, but the whole thing feels credible and inevitable- credit Herzog for that, along for some really weird, surreal sequences that seem to be the paranoid delusions of a mind sated by powerful rx. Over all an inventive and exciting movie that will leave you glad that your world is nothing like thisonen, or is it?