First-Time Watches of August ‘21
A busy month with some good ones; and Donda
This August I watched a lot of new pictures and was able to catch a ton more in theatres, including four at the Cinematheque’s noir program. My favourite five, new watches, from August are listed in order of watch.
Also, thoughts on Kanye West’s Donda and the listening party.
Rebecca (1940)
Finished the book this month, then caught Alfred Hitchcock’s 1940 classic, the only picture he directed to win Best Picture at the Oscars. I love the story, so obviously I enjoyed this, only concern is Joan Fontaine has gotta lower her eyebrows — lady, we get it you’re nervous/confused/surprised/etc.
The Ghost Writer (2010)
Everything you’d want in a sophisticated modern pulp thriller, too bad its Roman Polanski, but I cannot ignore how good it is. Although it was made in 2010, it is quintessential ’00s, just look at that orange Vitamin Water on Ewan’s desk.
Rope (1948)
Caught this at the Rio and it is pretty immaculate, a blast in theatres and no fat at all. Hitchcock is at it again. Cheeky, and the fact that the headmaster played by Jimmy Stewart is named Mr. Kiddell is weird ’cause I had a headmaster with the same name.
The Color of Money (1986)
One of the last Martin Scorsese’s I hadn’t seen and I really fucked with it. It isn’t a gamechanger, but a very enjoyable character drama, with an incredible cast of leads: the Salad Man Pauly Newman, Tom Cruise, and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio; Thelma Schoonmaker and Marty are at it.
Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
Caught this at the Cinematheque, but ran out last second to the bathroom — movie ends, exit bathroom to the concession guy seeing me and being like “noooo!” — but I watched the ending when I got home and it didn’t disappoint. A good one, those opening credits, and opening scene. Ralph Meeker is the perfect greasy private investigator.
Honourable Mentions: Old (2021), Criss Cross (1949), Only Yesterday (1991), The Way Back (2020), The Last Seduction (1994), Class Action Park (2020), La Notte (1961), Bad Day At Black Rock (1955).
Best live stream: Donda LP3
Despite the hoopla surrounding Kanye West’s third live stream for Donda, which finally dropped this week, I thought it was incredible, I queued that shit up on Friday August 27th, had some beverages and it started seemingly early, at 08:52PM Pacific, and it was a blast. I hadn’t heard the previous cuts, for the most part, and the set piece, the ambition of the performance, however minimalist, it was mutherfuckers stunting on Kanye’s childhood home in a fucking hometown football arena.
It is not great having Marilyn Manson there after he has been accused of some bad abuse against women — Kanye’s “Black Skinhead” owes a lot to “The Beautiful People” and the Nascar fire emblazoned hat that looks like you’d get at a midwestern gas station —
Side note with Kendrick Lamar going with “oklama” as his alter ego and saying big time “brother” with a twang on his latest collaboration track with Baby Keem, “family ties”, is white midwestern culture becoming a new subversive trend,
The Donda Listening party, deemed LP3 by the internet, was something that I really admired, however problematic, it had the ambition and scope of a one-off Broadway performance, a massive-scale, pop art installation, with Stanley Kubrick, Star Wars Prequels, and both Blade Runners —
It’s a lot and art is complex, I am stoked he still pushes it and puts his money and reputation on the line over and over to explore his weird fantasies, it’s an artist’s dream to have the resources Kanye has and he takes advantage of it and more; imagine the weirdness of nostalgia, longing, and the spiritual profundity of re-creating your childhood home, something shared so intimately with his caregiver, his mom, it’s pretty wild.
Here are some more pics:
