I think people in the 70s were short sighted.

Yes, I’m continuing my William Friedkin cavalcade.

I guess it’s impossible that I haven’t seen this movie before, but I have no recollection of watching it. It seems pretty spiffy so far, though — for a movie from 1971, it feels very brash and in your face: Hand held cameras, grainy, gritty…

The Hackman/Scheider Tough Guy Cop Act seems pretty risible now, though. Probably looked cool back then.

Ah yeah! I have seen this before. I remember there being something about cars… and smuggling? Or something?

This is a universally beloved movie, I think?

Yup. But I’m not really feeling it? I mean, it seems very well done and everything, but I’m feeling very detached watching this. Just nitpicking stuff in my mind.

OK, now we’re talking.

I always love seeing pics of New York in the olden days. Is this all Brooklyn, though? There’s not many familiar landmarks…

Excellent location scouting work.

I wasn’t on board with this movie at the start. I’m not sure why. Perhaps the level of wince worthy copaganda? But after the car chases and stuff started, it started becoming engrossing.

The plot is really stupid, though. These brilliant French criminal masterminds are kinda eh.

Alors…

The French Connection. William Friedkin. 1971. ⚄

Wow, that’s an efficient introduction!

I have, of course, seen this movie several times before, but now it’s in a 2K restoration from Criterion!

Oh right! This movie ends with three couples marrying?

That’s very convenient for ebooks.

Heh, I remember this scene from when I saw this movie the first time around (as a child, probably). “My, she was yare”.

It turns out that all the problems in the world is because Katharine Hepburn is stubborn and stuff! Whodathought!

This movie isn’t perfect. They could have spent, like, fifteen minutes less on berating Katharine Hepburn, like? But most of the scenes work, and those scenes are just wonderful.

The Philadelphia Story. George Cukor. 1940. ⚅

It’s so Belgian.

Is that Akerman?

Yes, after a false start the other day, this is the first movie proper on the Akerman box set from BFI.

So, this seems to be a series of short tableaux where we see a couple people interact. They’re all lit like this — one or two bright lights placed pretty far off, so much of the screen is #000. Apparently no sound was recorded when filming, but there’s some hyper active foley artists working very hard — every step has a STEP STEP STEP sound, and every door has a creak and a BONK.

So far none of the characters have made a return… but perhaps that’s the movie — just a series of encounters in one night, and no plot?

In any case, this definitely seems like a scaled back production from Akerman’s 70s movies. Did she lose financing?

Does everybody in Belgium have their own code displayed on the houses?

29.M.57 ISO 368.HB.

I really like the way it looks, but unlike other Akerman films, I’m not really hypnotised by this one.

OK, there are storylines of a kind… characters reappear and we can (sort of) follow along some stories.

It’s morning!

I liked this movie. It did fall off a bit towards the end when we spend more time with a handful of the characters — the vagueness of the main part of the movie was quite appealing.

Toute une nuit. Chantal Akerman. 1982. ⚄