There is nothing masculine about Midnight Cowbow main protagonist fragile or not. He is obviously gay. It is like written all over the movie (I did not read the book).
Speaking of fragile I was 12yrs old when I saw this movie in 1972, too much information at a young age, but watched it nevertheless, it was like a good book I couldn't put down, it's an amazing movie, filled with the ugly truths of life in NY ,where I grew up, and it's bad curves, I must of watched this film at least 10x throughout the yrs! Thx for your great incite on a incredible film and amazing actors!
I don't really give a crud about the addition of dialogue. If anything, it detracts from the visual and audio side of the original itself and makes for a somewhat boring, and annoying, style. I actually wish Silent films would be brought back for the Robert Eggers version. Or at least have it be partially shot like a silent film.
Fat Girl is an odd film. Watching the movie to near the end and thinking, "wow, that was different", and then the end comes and takes it to the extreme in quite another direction. I don't think you have a future in the hand modeling business. Very oft-putting.
Going in to this video, I didn't think I'd find myself agreeing with nearly every point, but here we are. The two films are like apples and (blood) oranges. For me, the respective strong points of each... Murnau's version: visually striking with that classic expressionist style, every other scene with Schreck in it is practically iconic in its imagery. Herzog's version: Popol Vuh, Charles Gounod, Roland Topor as Renfield(!), the mummies of Guanajuato. The OG for spectacle, the remake for substance. I like me a bit of both.
There are quite a few vampire movies that I’ve enjoyed and I do think that really great films/shows featuring vampires ARE still being made. But I can certainly see having problems with how oversaturated and heavily cliched a lot of them can be, especially with how popular they are for being used in making very lazy, terrible movies for just a quick buck these days.
This is one of my favorite films. I think very few people analyze it as a film about coping with trauma, especially gender related trauma. I think you are right on. I also think there's huge gay subtext in this film. It is an intimate look at people at their most desperate and vulnerable.
Kinski's portrayal is terrifying. The remake is my favorite Dracula of any Dracula movie. In contrast, the Klaus Kinski Nosferatu sequel is horrible. I think it's called Nosferatu in Venice. It's not good.
Kinski looked like he was having a lot of fun running around the town at night in that flowing cloak. My favourite image is Lucy sat on the bench looking out to sea in the graveyard/sand dune. I always got the feeling that Herzog was invoking Caspar David Fredrich for many of the shots, especially the sea and mountain scenes. The great thing about the original is the expressionist art direction. You can see the influence of those films all over Hitchcock and the Noirs.
I actually saw To Die For back in theaters . I remember before it was released the studio thought it was a bomb. The Others is definitely a classic horror cinema. Some nice pick ups.
Great video and a great month for sure! 1234 is not an iconic number in any way. The term iconic gets misused far too often and in this case is irrelevant because it has never had a history or been used before. Thanks for the video though!
I went into B&N to check the criterions out the other day and I also had an employee watching me like a hawk. He kept on pacing and asked me if I was finding everything okay several times. I’m thinking “did I forget to shower today or something? Did I wear my ‘I’m going to steal something’ badge?” It was so annoying. I walked up to him and said “I’m just checking out the criterion sale if you’re wondering.” I’ve never seen someone get so red in the face. Lol he was just all “oh yeah there’s a lot of good stuff” and sort of shuffled away back where B&N employees go when they’re not wanted. Lmao
Without a doubt, my favorite version that still gives me the willys is the original 1922 film. Max Shreck (his last name literally means 'shriek' in english) looked very hideous, kind of like a cross between a human and a rat: large roman nose, pointed ears, fangs were 2 pointy incisors, not the canines, long, thin fingers with long, claw-like fingernails, etc.. His thin, gaunt body moves in a jerky, ungulated manner, and it gives me the chills. Growing up in the 60's and 70's, I had movie monster books, Famous Monsters magazine, and I'd pour over the pictures and movie stills for hours on end, wishing to be able to see these movies! This was before VHS & DVD's. You had to hope that maybe it would be playing on Shock Theater on Friday or Saturday night's. It just so happened that our local PBS channel was going to show 'Nosferatu' on a Friday evening in the early to mid 70's, and I was thrilled! It was an old, unrestored copy they played. It was grainy, which, for whatever reason, grainy black & white silent movies gave me the creeps anyway. But Nosferatu scared the crap out of me. The scene where he's standing outside Hutter's door at night, and starts slowly walking towards the door still creeps me out. The elongated shadows climbing the stairs quickly and then opening the door to Hutter's wife's room also gets to me! I was 11 or 12 when I first saw it, and it gave me nightmares! The remake didn't have the same effect on me like the first one did. Probably because I was older when I saw it.
Even as an American it’s a shocking view when you see it in person. It’s like going into a video store that time forgot. A lot of B&N stores have big music sections too with CDs and vinyl.
Hey, bill, awesome video as always ! I just got the House criterion and wanted to ask you which one I should get next since you’re basically the criterion master (right now I have Barry Lyndon, Night of the Living Dead, Dazed and Confused, In the Mood for Love, and the Royal Tennenbaums.)
Great video! I’ve been meaning to check out Fat Girl but I need to be in the right mood to watch it. If you like Andrew Haigh’s other films then you should really check out Lean on Pete. It’s not in the criterion but it’s his best movie. And if you liked A Special Day, there are some great Scola hidden gems out there, The Family and We Loved Each Other So Much are really good. And To Die For is great! Way better than Nightcrawler. I think it’s Kidman’s best performance, Joaquin Phoenix is also great in it.
My haul this year: The Essential Fellini collection The Essential Jacques Demi collection The Complete Jacques Tati collection Three Films By Luis Buñel collection The Trilogy Of Life collection Salo, Or 120 Days Of Sodom Smooth Talk Blow-Up Belle de Jours Also got the OOP Truffaut's Antoine Doinel Collection and Withnail & I
