I’ll smash through this hell or there’s no future for me. A mob boss and his prized lieutenant “Tetsu the Phoenix” try to give up their life of crime, but their comrades and competitors conspire to drag them back in. A vibrantly surreal gangster movie bursting with color, song, brawls, and humor.
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When the newest teacher at the schoolhouse falls for his pupil’s older sister, and the neighborhood’s bullying butcher tries to win her for himself, she proves more independent than either of them bargained for. Through peering eyes and whispers, Beyzaie draws a withering critique of a community where neighbors lie in wait, looking for a reason to pounce when anyone steps out of line. But his touch is also playful, romantic, and utterly unique, and I’m really grateful that one print made it through the Revolution so we can enjoy this beautiful restoration.
Do you know what I want to do when I grow up? I want to tell people things they don’t know. Show them stuff they haven’t seen. It’s a wonderful, rare feeling to watch a movie for the first time and realize that you’re going to return to it again and again over the years. I don’t really know how to talk about it except that it’s about life in the way that Chekhov is, with storytelling as incremental and as epic. Edward Yang shows such compassion for the discontented, young and old, who wonder what might have been as they look for meaning in their day-to-day lives. Two friends consumed by jealousy each take up a monastic life to atone for one terrible night. Bustillo Oro keeps us off-balance with two contradictory narrators, and lets gothic horror elements bubble to the surface, culminating in a fevered vision of a horde of masked monstrosities that are still haunting nearly a century later
A feud within a clan of the Camorra erupts into outright war, making a Neopolitan suburb the front lines. Garrone covers the clan’s vast criminal reach, from running guns and drugs, to counterfeiting haute couture, even to dumping toxic waste for corporations. But he avoids the glamor or romance found in so many American mob movies, focusing instead on the poison that indiscriminately seeps into the lives of everyone in this town, young or old, gangster or bystander.
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The Bri-terion CollectionI’m loving the Criterion Channel streaming service, so every week I’m going to share my favorite new find. Archive
September 2022
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