Favorite films

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2024

★★★★ Watched 09 May 2025

I saw an advance screening at the Angelika with the Jane Austen Society of North America (yes, I'm a nerd), featuring a talkback with French writer/director Laura Piani and actress Camille Rutherford. Perfect crowd for experiencing this rom-com confection.

We certainly have a surplus of Austen retellings and homages of late. For me, the ones that stand out—and stand on their own two feet—honor the spirit of the source without being too reverent or precious. Piani's does just that, sending…

1943

Watched 29 Apr 2025

Gangster noir boxer dramedy with fascist underpinnings and Cinecittà standing in for NYC. Talk about a fascinating social document. My teacher smartly noted the paradox of using Hollywood film style/techniques to deliver an anti-American message.

I'm eager to rewatch Rocco and His Brothers. And I should probably see Raging Bull while I'm at it...

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2024

★★★ Watched 04 Feb 2024

Having recently been to my first Jane Austen Society of North America conference, I got a kick out of this! Yes, the third act hurdles into your typically schmaltzy Hallmark territory, but along the way, it actually had some clever and charming things to say about the scholar vs. fangirl binary. Austen can be read and enjoyed on many levels, intellectual and emotional. Ain't no shame in that.

2024

★★½ Watched 25 Dec 2024

This was a fitting Jewish Christmas movie: safe and cozy and nostalgic and, ultimately, anodyne. The performances (musical and dramatic) are all fine, but it has that unmistakable biopic sheen. We hear clips of the breaking news—war (civil and global), and protests, and JFK's assassination—yet none of it feels all that urgent or unsettling.

I did like how Bob and Sylvie (Suze) watched "Now, Voyager" on their first date.

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