Kings Of The Road (1976)

I’d long wanted to see Wim Wenders’ Kings of the Road (1976; Im Lauf der Zeit, “in the course of time” is the translated title). All I knew about it was that it was three hours long, filmed in black and white, and shot in Germany (West Germany at the time), and involved cinemas. It […]

Contempt (1963)

Contempt (1963; Le Mepris) was a film that I admired or appreciated rather than loved. I’ve long read about it, seen it discussed by film critics and directors, and it did help to learn this was director Jean-Luc Godard’s only film financially backed by American film producers and that he didn’t like the filming experience. […]

The Long Goodbye (1973)

American cinema in the 1970s had an interest in reviving older genres, and film noir was a great way of expressing society’s disillusionment and paranoia. Casting the hangdog, bemused charm of Elliott Gould as the classic detective character of Philip Marlowe in The Long Goodbye (1973) must have seemed like a joke to fans of […]

Cleo From 5 To 7 (1962)

Only having seen One Sings, The Other Doesn’t, I was excited to explore further the career of director Agnes Varda. Taking advantage of the ‘Voila Varda’ section on the expanded Mubi library, I was finally able to watch her film, Cleo From 5 To 7 (1962; Cléo de 5 à 7), a classic of the […]

Murder By Contract (1958)

My favourite moment in Murder By Contract (1958) was when Claude (Vince Edwards), the cool out-of-town contract killer wearing a suit and a pair of shades, is picked up by two hoods (Philip Pine and Herschel Bernadi) who will oversee his assassination of a jury witness. Claude wants to tour the sights of LA. “I’d […]