the story so far

I have been absolutely swept up by The Story of Film over the last two days. It is rich in history, beauty and admiration for its subject. Watching this series is like sitting down with a knowledgeable friend as he guides you through through the world of cinema, making sure to stop at all of the beautiful and important out-of-the-way places along the journey. The Story of Film takes it's time, too. I'm 5 hours in and have only made it to the 1940's. My respect for the medium and the great pioneers of film has increased exponentially. 

So, this is why I have not written about the latest three films that I have seen. Let me say something about them now.

The Skin I Live In induced perhaps the most surprising reaction in me of any 2011 film I have watched yet. What I expected to be a mediocre film turned out to be an exquisite and sublime viewing experience. Almodovar unravels the story at a slow but unpredictable pace, and when the audience connects early parts of the film to the "reveal" much later, it's strange and weird and wholly fucked up. But also awesome. The Skin I Live In makes us question first impressions. It unravels our superficiality, our perceptions and, most of all, our desires. And it does all this while still managing to be a decent revenge film, too. 

Le Havre is exactly as good as everyone else has said. I can't really elaborate on all the other talk about it.

Tinker Tailer Solider Spy is as immersive as Brandon would have us believe. The film turns on textured layers of story, expertly shot by Alfredson. Trying to discover the double agent is both fun and nerve-racking - even if we knew who it was all along, as the characters mention at the end of the film.

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John and Chris, I'm going to avoid talking book club other than to say that I don't think contemporary literature has a larger percentage of crap than it did 40, 50, 100, 150 years ago. Sometimes the good stuff is more difficult to find because the general size of the pile has grown, but I don't think that is necessarily a bad thing. This is no different than in film either. 

I like your discussion of growing "into" rather than "out of" authors. I always find it interesting to go back to something that meant a lot to me at a different stage in my life. For example, I recently re-read a book by Henry Miller, an author I spent an entire summer in college searching down and reading every word he had ever written. It was interesting to see the lines I marked up in the book 5 or 6 years ago compared to what I found edifying and important now. There was some overlap, but also a lot of new revelations that make sense to my older and (slightly) more experienced self. 

That said, I can think of plenty of authors that I found important in the past but think of as laughable now. For example, how did I ever take Alan Watts seriously?