As we enter the dog days of summer, it’s a pleasure to look back on the cool movies and even cooler reviews
provided this year by my guest contributors. I’ve been thrilled and honored to have been given the space and freedom to write about the classic and often under-appreciated films that I love, but the goal of the movie review column here at Connotation Press has always been to include as many voices and points of view as possible, and this year it’s truly been coming together. In addition to my own offerings--all of which you should of course check out--my guest reviewers have all come up with terrific selections and distinctive, beautifully written approaches to letting you know what’s so affecting and essential about their chosen films. While this blog is meant to pick out the highlights, I find that I have to give props to all my reviewers, because each of them has provided something special and insightful:
In revisiting perennial favorite Back To The Future, screenwriter and stand-up comedian Ryan Peckinpaugh gave us an expert’s breakdown on how masterfully this blast into the past is put together: how every set-up pays off, and how it continues to entertain by infusing the themes of nostalgia and wish fulfillment into a perennially up-to-date, hilarious thrill-ride. And Ryan knows funny, he’s a regular in the comedy clubs around SoCal--including the Hollywood Improv--so keep an eye out for him if you’re in town.
In contrast, novelist/short story writer Adam Gallari wrote to us from England (or was it Paris?), providing his deeply personal meditation on the Venice-set The Wings Of The Dove, both in relationship to its literary source and to the mesmerizing on-screen power of its star, Helena Bonham Carter. If you like Adam’s piece, you’ll love his recent collection of short stories, We Are Never As Beautiful As We Are Now, published by Ampersand.
Almost as a matched selection, Brenda Varda--playwright, actress, professor, musician, and performance artist (yes, all of that, and more)--provided a brilliant analysis of how the visual strategies and manipulation of pace create a sense of timeless, poetic elegy in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Brenda, by the way, hosts the LA writer’s workshop/performance project WORDSPACE, and is a frequent and familiar face in theatrical and musical productions around SoCal.
And what new could be said about the 1950 Oscar-winning classic, All About Eve? Memoirist, environmentalist and Master Falconer (seriously) Rebecca O’Connor dug deep and revealed a surprising paradox: not only the familiar cautionary tale about the price of envy and ambition, but also a profound and empowering feminism that resonates with her own current exploration of her grandmother’s life, which ended tragically in either suicide or murder. In addition to checking out her astonishing memoir, Lift (in print or audiobook, from Red Hen Press), which happens to be a Neil Gaiman-recommended favorite, you can also turn to Rebecca to learn how to care for and train any number of birds via her instructional books, and get weepy reading her romance novel The Falcon’s Return (Avalon).
Most recently, MFA student, fictionista, media consultant, graphic designer, videogame writer and all-around polymath Brett Boham reminded us that an idiosyncratic and largely unknown (yet Oscar winning) Czech film from the 60s, Closely Watched Trains, can still speak potently--and with a offbeat sense of humor--to the universal human conditions of isolation, apathy and disappointment. Also, if you’re that way inclined, keep an eye out for Brett’s new online fantasy role-playing game, d6 Fantasy War.
With this kind of line-up, you can see why I couldn’t leave anyone out. And if you go to their reviews (and mine), I promise you not only a good read, but a cornucopia of chill entertainment to take the edge off the summer heat. Note that I am always on the look-out for new guest reviewers, so if you’ve got a movie you know we’ve just gotta see, and you’re just the person to tell us why, please contact me via the submission link on the homepage.
Here’s to another year of great films and great reviews--and mostly to being part of the fantastic crew at Connotation Press. Thanks to Ken, Kaite, and all the others here at the hardest-working journal in cyberspace--and beyond!