- To what degree your writing on film is intelligent, thoughtful, referential, scholarly, creative and/or original is up to you but your grade will be largely determined by these considerations (as well as by your entries punctual posting on Fridays). Certainly, using the ideas we cover in class will be helpful. Criticism in these terms does not suggest a mere statement of preference, or a thumbs-up-or-down judgment, but a thorough and insightful dissection of the film in question, taking as many factors into consideration as possible. Read the film what are its intentions, its metaphoric meanings, its vibe, its texture, its impact, its role as a cultural statement made when and where it was made? Your main concerns are: clarity, articulation of your point of view, and keeping your prose interesting, so at least you, as a reader, would not be bored with it and might want to keep reading to the end. Please keep in mind that your readers may not know your personally, and dont care how you feel, or how tired you were, or what kind of movies you prefer. Do not write about yourself, and DO NOT use personal pronouns: I, me, my. You should make your position understandable and persuasive and interesting to perfect strangers, all of whom we will presume have graduated high school.
- My advice generally in writing criticism is to skip the obvious statement; think about what the films thrust is (whether or not it seems to be intentional); and keep thinking about films as objects with aesthetic values that is, texts not simply as stories and certainly not simply as momentary experiences youve had. Of course, reading thoughtful film criticism helps; I would encourage everyone to hunt down work online by J. Hoberman, Chuck Stephens, A.O. Scott, Scott Tobias, Andrew OHehir, Andrew Sarris, Geoffrey OBrien, David Thomson, Violet Lucca, Dennis Lim, Mark Asch, J.R. Jones, Nick Pinkerton, Howard Hampton, Melissa Anderson, Jonathan Rosenbaum (try to overlook his first-person narcissism), and Godfrey Cheshire.
- The critiques require no sources, quotes or references they ARE NOT research papers, but critiques. You are the critic, so critique. I dont want to read about the films production history or what Roger Ebert thought of it.
- For your first four critiques, please only write about movies on the list from 1975 and earlier. In the second half, any item on the whole menu is permissible.
- I will loan films of mine to responsible-seeming students any loss or damage is your responsibility, and you must replace the video in question. Or fail.
Bibliography
Confessions of a Cultist, Andrew Sarris, Simon & Schuster, 1970.
The Conversations: Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film, Michael Ondaatje, Knopf, 2002.
Dictionary of Films, Georges Sadoul, Univ. of California Press, 1972
I Was Interrupted: Nicholas Ray on Making Movies, ed. Susan Ray, Univ. of California Press, 1993.
In Broad Daylight, Gabrielle Pedulla, Verso Books, 2012.
On the History of Film Style, David Bordwell, Harvard Univ. Press, 1997.
1975
Dog Day Afternoon
The Passenger
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Picnic at Hanging Rock
Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles
Cria Cuervos
The Battle of Chile, Part 1: The Insurrection of the
Bourgeosie
Nashville
The Story of Adele H.
Shampoo
1976
1900
Network
Heart of Glass
Taxi Driver
The Battle of Chile, Part 2: The Coup d=Etat
Harlan County U.S.A.
The Confessions of Winifred Wagner
Kings of the Road
All the President’s Men
Twenty Days without War
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie
Small Change
1977
That Obscure Object of Desire
Sorcerer
Stroszek
The American Friend
Eraserhead
The Ascent
Killer of Sheep
Man of Marble
Our Hitler: A Film from Germany
1978
The Deer Hunter
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Days of Heaven
Bread and Chocolate
Gates of Heaven
In a Year of 13 Moons
Get Out Your Handkerchiefs
Woyzeck
The Tree of Wooden Clogs
1979
Wise Blood
Stalker
Apocalypse Now
The Black Stallion
The Tin Drum
Nosferatu the Vampyre
Real Life
Messidor
Vengeance Is Mine
1980
The Elephant Man
Every Man for Himself
Berlin Alexanderplatz
1981
Reds
Das Boot
Gallipoli
Cutter’s Way
The Woman Next Door
Modern Romance
Blow Out
Pennies from Heaven
1982
Fanny & Alexander
The Night of the Shooting Stars
Diner
Blade Runner
Fitzcarraldo
Interrogation
Burden of Dreams
Sophie’s Choice
White Dog
The Atomic Caf
Veronika Voss
1983
Nostalghia
Local Hero
The Right Stuff
Videodrome
The Ballad of Narayama
Sans Soleil
Zelig
A Nos Amour
The King of Comedy
El Sur
L=Argent
1984
Paris, Texas
Broadway Danny Rose
The Killing Fields
Once Upon a Time in America
My Friend Ivan Lapshin
Stranger than Paradise
1984
Comfort and Joy
The Draughtsman=s Contract
Yellow Earth
1985
Come and See
Ran
Shoah
Vagabond
Brazil
Lost in America
1986
The Sacrifice
A Room with a View
Sid & Nancy
Horse Thief
Hannah and Her Sisters
Sherman’s March
Platoon
The Mission
Peking Opera Blues
Salvador
Mona Lisa
1987
Where Is the Friend=s House?
Wings of Desire
Radio Days
Empire of the Sun
Yeelen
Raising Arizona
My Life as a Dog
The Dead
Hope & Glory
Walker
Repentance
Cobra Verde
Au Revoir Les Enfants
1988
Landscape in the Mist
The Last Temptation of Christ
The Decalogue
Dead Ringers
Distant Voices, Still Lives
Bull Durham
Medea
The Thin Blue Line
Ashik Kerib
High Hopes
Alice (Svankmajer)
Story of Women
Freeze-Die-Come to Life
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
1989
Drugstore Cowboy
The Match Factory Girl
Sweetie
Enemies, a Love Story
Crimes and Misdemeanors
Time of the Gypsies
Mystery Train
The Seventh Continent
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover
Under the Sun of Satan
Black Rain (Imamura)
1990
Close-Up
Miller’s Crossing
Archangel
Boiling Point
The Second Circle
Strangers in Good Company
Echoes from a Somber Empire
Bullet in the Head
Nouvelle Vague
The Grifters
Europa, Europa
American Dream
1991
Life on a String
Naked Lunch
Slacker
The Rapture
Les Amants du Pont Neuf
The Double Life of Veronique
Barton Fink
Jacquot des Nantes
Tribulation 99: Alien Anomalies Under America
JFK
A Brighter Summer Day
Days of Being Wild
The Suspended Step of the Stork
La Belle Noiseuse
1992
Unforgiven
Actress
And Life Goes On…
Careful
Il Ladro di Bambini
La Vie de Boheme
The Long Day Closes
The Quince-Tree Light
Olivier, Olivier
Hyenas
Lessons of Darkness
The Oak
Once Upon a Time, Cinema
1993
Fearless
Sonatine
Naked
The Last Bolshevik
The Wonderful, Terrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl
Time Indefinite
Calendar
Latcho Drom
Raining Stones
Dazed and Confused
Whispering Pages
1994
Satantango
Through the Olive Trees
Lamerica
The Kingdom
To Live
Heavenly Creatures
Clean, Shaven
Crumb
Chungking Express
71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance
Ashes of Time (Redux)
1995
Ulysses= Gaze
Good Men, Good Women
Safe
Underground
A Single Girl
Before Sunrise
Fallen Angels
The Gate of Heavenly Peace
Institute Benjamenta
Welcome to the Dollhouse
Land and Freedom
1996
A Moment of Innocence
Goodbye South, Goodbye
Crash
Irma Vep
Flirting with Disaster
My Sex Life (Or How I Got into an Argument)
Breaking the Waves
Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills
Fargo
1997
The Mirror
The Sweet Hereafter
Welcome to Sarajevo
Mother and Son
Hana-Bi
Leila
Lost Highway
The Ice Storm
The River
1998
The Thin Red Line
Flowers of Shanghai
Out of Sight
Buffalo >66
Rushmore
After-Life
The Power of Kangwon Province
The Truman Show
Khrustalyov, My Car!
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