Love that film. Like Kurosawa in general actually.

https://i.postimg.cc/0rRv5c1t/tfc1.jpg
the french connection (1971, william friedkin)

Looks great. This and a host of great ones on The Criterion Channel are leaving on January 31st.

Gotta make sure to watch Landscape Suicide by then.

Looks heavy (judging from the synopsis). I just discovered that the director, James Benning, is something of a legend in the art and film worlds. New to me. Wish this interview accompanied the Criterion streamer for others not familiar with his work -

Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Part One - A documentary about a documentary of the making of a film. Obviously the most reflexive film ever made. Also pretty rare to find such a literally experimental film in that the director appears to be conducting a social experiment about his role in film here. There are a few points where I have contention with the camerawork and acting, but the form makes you question whether that's genuine or scripted or somewhere in between. Pretty ****ing groundbreaking all things considered (like the 1968 release date), but also not as enjoyable as I wanted. Maybe that's meant to put you the mindset of the crew, but my rating is centreing in on a 7.5/10.

Pretty stoked to finally get around to some Melvin Van Peebles releases this month. My eyes are on Watermelon Man and Sweet Sweetback's Badassssss Song but Imma try to catch all of the ones they've added.

Also after hearing that Godard might have a new movie out, I'm gonna start going through his filmography available on Criterion.

The Greaves film is legendary. Rating seems fair.

Yeah, gonna do a Van Peebles binge sometime this month.

Godard... is tough. Later Godard, anyway. The early 60s stuff is certainly digestible but by the time you get around to his History of Film I find you've got to be well versed in his visual methodology or it's simply a headache.

Bryce Bennett, Ryan Cochran-Siegle and Travis Ganong of the United States will compete for the Alpine Skiing competition's first medal of the Games in the men’s downhill event, live on NBC tonight starting at 10 p.m. In honor I'm rewatching the 1969 Robert Redford paean to the sport -

https://i.postimg.cc/bNPFCY2L/downhill1.jpg

Downhill Racer (Michael Ritchie) on CC

One of my favorites from Redford. Good performances and, of course, great coverage of Alpine crashing.

Treacherous winds postponed the Downhill racing time to Monday, Feb. 7th. at noon. So much for Prime Time.

https://i.postimg.cc/fLxQHd95/E89034...EB9750-EAF.jpg

The Story of Lovers Rock (2011, Menelik Shabazz)

https://vhx.imgix.net/criterionchann...360&q=70&w=640

chop shop (2007, Ramin Bahrani)
Willets Point, Queens, an industrial sliver of automotive-repair shops that remains perpetually at risk of being redeveloped off the map. It’s within this precarious ecosystem that twelve-year-old Ale (Alejandro Polanco) must grow up fast, hustling in the neighborhood chop shops to build a more stable life for himself and his sister (Isamar Gonzales), even as their tenuous circumstances force each to compete with other struggling people and make desperate decisions. - CC

I live right down the street from this Citi Field area and, surprisingly, shop owners have resisted complete redevelopment, though continued construction of high rise apts and commercial pillboxes threaten to squeeze them out.

A Brighter Summer Day - The breeziest four hours of my life. Total masterwork of worldbuilding and storytelling, highly recommended to everyone.

Close Up - Great pacing and ending. Criterion sure does love movies about movies, don't they?

Stoked to get down on some of the Pasolini they just dropped.