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Barry Lyndon (1975): The Distance Required
Stanley Kubrick’s “Barry Lyndon” explores the disconnect between desire for belonging and the inevitability of exclusion through its formal distance. The film’s composition, shot in natural light, reflects a melancholic narrative about Redmond Barry’s unfulfilled ambitions. A pivotal moment reveals the grief beneath the surface irony, highlighting Kubrick’s personal detachment.
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All About Eve (1950): The Woman Who Wanted
Joseph L. Mankiewicz made the wittiest film in Hollywood history about female ambition. He did not notice that his film’s wit was entirely in service of stopping one woman from having any. SHUBERT THEATRE Margo Channing in AGED IN WOOD A New Comedy by Lloyd Richards Management wishes to welcome you to this evening’s performance.…
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Sunset Boulevard (1950): The Narrator in the Pool
Billy Wilder made a film about Hollywood discarding women who outlive the camera’s desire. His narrator is the most precise small-scale version of exactly that discarding. The film never notices. The way I figured it, I had nothing to lose. A place to stay. A car in the garage. A woman who needed someone to…
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Mulholland Drive (2001): The Dream That Knew It Was Dying
David Lynch placed his audience inside a dying woman’s fantasy for two hours before showing them the body. He knew exactly what he was doing. He may not have known what it meant. There is a moment before the film begins. Not the jitterbug sequence, not the credits, not even the darkness of the cinema.…
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Vertigo (1958): The Camera That Was Also Scottie
Hitchcock made a film about a man who destroys a woman by remaking her in the image of his obsession. He did not notice that his camera was doing the same thing. I turn. She is standing in the light from the window, the green neon of the hotel sign bleeding through the curtain, and…