Were you one of those people who went out of their way to see the eclipse? I got a fairly decent picture of it myself, even though I had to filter my eyes via sunglasses and then the sun itself through my phone so that I could make it a bit tolerable. I’ll say though, that might have informed what I decided to watch this week because I felt you have to set a perfect mood if you’re going to look directly at a natural phenomenon that you might not ever live to see again in your life.
So what better way to do that than with a movie set around an eclipse of the opposite kind? Anyways, these are Friday’s Five Films. If you like what you see here, remember to subscribe for more.
#1: Every Man for Himself (1980, Jean-Luc Godard)
Jean-Luc Godard has long been one of my favourite filmmakers. So of course the opportunity to see one of his own movies on 35mm was something I couldn’t simply pass up, especially when it’s one of those he’s made past the days of the French New Wave, and he’d slowly gotten more radical. But even in that, I’ve never seen him get nearly as self-deprecatory as he gets in here. It’s a film all about breaking apart what he sees as becoming popular among artists who are shaping popular cinema, and even putting himself within that position too - trying to reckon with what he sees as immeasurable harm that’s followed in his path. I think that only someone who’s every bit as committed to making sure that cinema as a form completely evolves like Jean-Luc Godard could have successfully pulled off something like this, too.
#2: The House of the Devil (2009, Ti West)
Programming courtesy of the Revue Cinema in Toronto for the eclipse, and on a beautiful 35mm print that’s apparently been rarely screened at that. It’s one thing to note that Toronto has some of the best rep theater communities around, and I think the unity at screenings much like this really makes for a fun time when going out to see movies with friends. And I think it’s also Ti West’s best film at that. It’s his best film because it feels like it’s the one movie where his knack for pastiche, owing a lot to horror films of the 1970’s and 1980’s all fits perfectly into place. So it all just makes watching something like this, shot on 16mm film, on a 35mm print, all the more satisfying.
#3: India Song (1975, Marguerite Duras)
This is a movie that I’ve noticed, from people who’ve been seeing it in theaters, has tested the patience of many viewers. It’s tested their patience in the sense that what we’re seeing in India Song is very deliberately slow and characters exist on the screen without their mouths moving, so we’re only left to interpret their voices as just their own thoughts coming into fruition - and I think that it only makes a film like this all the more haunting. It’s a movie all about people who are haunted by the damages that their mere presence and privilege has ultimately left behind on a larger scale, and I think that knowing how Marguerite Duras chooses to reckon with that, especially given France’s history of colonialism, only results in one of the most radical films ever made. Not just in mere content, but in form.
#4: Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975, Peter Weir)
May very well be among the greatest coming-of-age movies ever made, but also one of the most haunting mystery films ever made. I’d lost count of how many times I’d seen Picnic at Hanging Rock during my high school years, but I think that Peter Weir has also made something that’s near-impossible to top in something as beautiful and entrancing as this. Because the whole movie surrounds the mysterious disappearances of a group of girls and a teacher at a boarding school, but also the motivating factors behind why they’ve disappeared too. Something like this only deserves its time in the spotlight, to be broken apart, and I think it’s Peter Weir’s best film at that.
#5: Splatter: Naked Blood (1996, Hisayasu Sato)
I should note that this here is not an especially easy one to stomach. If you’re someone who can’t handle watching gory movies, then skip this one. If you think you have the stomach for it, then I can’t recommend something like this enough. I’ve already been told by some cinephiles that Sato is not the easiest filmmaker to recommend, but I think I might find a way to make a case for something like this: because it’s a body horror movie that breaks apart the societal beauty standards that women are expected to live by, supposedly through a drug that turns their pain into happiness and ultimately, their own self-destruction. It was hard enough finding an image from this movie that could fit within the guidelines for Substack, because if you’d expect any less from the title, Splatter: Naked Blood is an incredibly gory movie. But it’s also a whole lot more than you’d expect for a film of this ilk.
The Complete Day-by-Day Log
First time watched are denoted with bold text. Scores are on an out of five star basis.
Friday
Delta Space Mission (1984, Victor Antonescu, Mircea Toia, Călin Cazan) - ✯✯✯
Monkey Man (2024, Dev Patel) - ✯✯✯✯
India Song (1975, Marguerite Duras) - ✯✯✯✯✯
The House of the Devil (2009, Ti West) - ✯✯✯✯, watched on 35mm
Saturday
Son nom de Venise dans Calcutta désert (1976, Marguerite Duras) - ✯✯✯✯½
The Lorry (1977, Marguerite Duras) - ✯✯✯✯✯, watched on 35mm
Will Your Heart Beat Faster? (1980, Mike de Leon) - ✯✯✯✯✯
Sunday
The Princess Bride (1987, Rob Reiner) - ✯✯✯✯✯
Every Man for Himself (1980, Jean-Luc Godard) - ✯✯✯✯½, watched on 35mm
Woman of the Ganges (1974, Marguerite Duras) - ✯✯✯✯
Eega (2012, S. S. Rajamouli) - ✯✯✯✯✯
Monday
Effects (1979, Dusty Nelson) - ✯✯✯
Paradise: Love (2012, Ulrich Seidl) - ✯✯✯✯½
The Masseurs and a Woman (1938, Hiroshi Shimizu) - ✯✯✯½
Immaculate (2024, Michael Mohan) - ✯✯½
Civil War (2024, Alex Garland) - ✯✯✯
Tuesday
Carmen (2022, Benjamin Miliepied) - ✯✯½
Cry Macho (2021, Clint Eastwood) - ✯✯✯½
Code 46 (2003, Michael Winterbottom) - ✯✯✯
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024, Adam Wingard) - ✯✯
Splatter: Naked Blood (1996, Hisayasu Sato) - ✯✯✯✯½
Wednesday
Running Scared (2006, Wayne Kramer) - ✯✯✯✯
Man in Black (2023, Wang Bing) - ✯✯✯✯
Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975, Peter Weir) - ✯✯✯✯✯
Thursday
The Whale (2022, Darren Aronofsky) - ✯✯
A Song Sung Blue (2023, Zihan Geng) - ✯✯✯½
9 Songs (2004, Michael Winterbottom) - ✯
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