Five Easy Pieces (1970)

directed by: bob rafelson
genres: drama
lists: ebert's great movies
traces: easy rider, ordinary people

my preconception of this film was entirely wrong. i had imagined it was a kind of companion to 'easy rider' based on the one clip i'd seen (the infamous 'hold it between your knees' scene, above) and the poster, which highlights jack nicholson as an oil rig worker. the surprise of the film is that it is only half what it seems - though he works at an oil rig and has a dingbat girlfriend (karen black) who listens to tammy wynette on repeat, robert is actually a rich kid concert pianist protege running away from his former identity, and is forced to confront both his past and present selves when he learns his father has become gravely ill. lois smith (probably most famous now as true blood's 'gran') is wonderful as robert's pianist sister, and on the other end of the spectrum is helena kallianiotes' brilliant performance as a random, rambling woman on her way to alaska to escape the filth of humanity. the film meanders through robert's life, constantly surprising us with both the truth of who he is, and the walls he builds up around him to prevent anyone from really knowing him. it's a character-based, existential portrait of the 70's equivalent of the self hatred found in 'mad men.'

Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970)

directed by: elio petri
genres: drama, satire
lists: foreign film oscar winners
traces: z, american psycho, salo

fascinating film that is a precursor to 'american psycho' in satirical tone and subject matter. opens on a man murdering a young woman, then gradually reveals that the man is the chief inspector of the police - and he has committed this crime as a test of his government's willingness to accuse their own, despite having risen to obscenely high levels of power. what he discovers by playing this game is far more disturbing than the actual murder committed. like 'american psycho,' the film is ultimately about the abuse of absolute power. what begins as a cat and mouse game twists into panicked situations where the inspector plants more and more evidence to incriminate himself, eventually realizing that not even a confession will compel the 'authorities' to take action against him. cut from the same cloth as 'Z' (1969).

The Kid (1921)

directed by: charles chaplin
genres: sentimental, silent, comedy
lists: imdb top 250
traces: mr. bean, mr. hulot's holiday, forbidden games, mon oncle,

charlie chaplin writes, directs, produces, composes the music, and stars in this film described in the opening title as 'a picture with a smile, and perhaps a tear' - which pretty succinctly describes the blatant emotional manipulation that chaplin loves to engage in. the story is of a chaplin's iconic 'tramp' stumbling upon an abandoned baby, his relationship with the child and the eventual reunification with the kid's mother.

what's clear in this film as well as chaplin's other works is how his skill as an orchestrator informs all aspects of his art. his mastery of timing (both comic and dramatic) is expressed in the precision of the onscreen action and the excellent musical score, which doesn't feel dated at all.

be sure to watch a new transfer - the picture quality is stunning, and played at the proper frame rate so the characters don't seem to jerk and dart around in classic silent movie style.



chaplin's influence in film history is most directly traced to any great performer of silent physical comedy: rowan atkinson (mr. bean), jacques tati (mr. hulot's holiday, mon oncle, playtime). the specific influence of 'the kid' can be seen in other films that use innocent orphaned cherubic faces to wring maximum emotional weight from a story, like oliver, monsters inc., and even forbidden games.

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)

directed by: robert wiene
genres: horror, surreal, mindfuck
lists: ebert's great movies, imbd top 250, total film most influential
traces: nosferatu, the testament of dr. mabuse, les diaboliques, orphee, peeping tom, shock corridor, repulsion, brazil, edward scissorhands, suckerpunch, shutter island



staggeringly inventive. this film was the beginning of a lot of things - beautiful, surrealistic tim burtonesque visuals, exploration of sanity/insanity in films, unreliable narration, genuine horror shock moments, and it's credited with having the first twist ending in the history of cinema. it's seriously creepy, and while watching it, you can see how this film rippled outward and inspired so many directors to break free of the verisimilitude of film and branch into purely visual expressionistic storytelling that we see now in directors like tim burton, terry gilliam, guy maddin, and even zack snyder.

it is also the visual inspiration for the red hot chili peppers music video 'otherside:'

Broken Bossoms (1919)

directed by: d.w. griffith
lists: ebert's great movies
genres: epic, history, silent, romance
traces to: la strada, brokeback mountain



the story is of a buddhist monk who travels to london and through coincidence, saves a poor waifish woman from the clutches of an abusive man. watch the opening credits in the clip above. the film is subtitled 'or: the yellow man and the girl' which is interesting for a few reasons: 1) this was griffith's next attempt to right the racially prejudiced wrongs committed in 'birth of a nation.' 2) that this was considered 'progressive' speaks volumes about the time in which it was screened. 3) the 'yellow man' is played by white actor richard barthelmess. this film is possibly the beginning of the desexualization of asian men - even the title suggests that both the lead characters are cut from the same cloth - poor, abused, suffering, sexless. like fixed kittens in a box on the side of the road.

when i watched 'broken blossoms,' i hadn't yet seen many silent films - really only 'birth of a nation' and 'metropolis.' 'broken blossoms' is incredibly difficult to appreciate, especially for viewers who aren't accustomed to the conventions of silent film, but also because of the shockingly outdated idea of what yes, it contains the first interracial 'romance' in film history, but it also couches it in a jarringly condescending treatment. for the time, this was groundbreaking - sort of like the way the gay character of 'melrose place' was groundbreaking; he got to exist, but never got close to kissing anyone.

ebert mentions the many parallels between this film and fellini's early masterpiece, 'la strada,' which is essentially a retelling of the plot, minus the asian aspect. 'la strada' spends more time focusing on the abusive relationship between the downtrodden eager-to-please woman and the overbearing, demanding alpha male.

i would compare this film to 'brokeback mountain,' which seems to have sent parallel shock waves of tolerance through the world of cinema, nearly 100 years apart. how will the audience of the year 3019 process these films?

Intolerance (1916)

directed by: d.w. griffith
list: leonard maltin top 100
genre: history, epic, silent
traces to: gone with the wind, the ten commandments, cleopatra

this film truly defines 'epic,' as well as 'audacious.' in his first attempt to atone for 'birth of a nation,' griffith decided to tell the epic story of man's intolerance throughout the ages. not quite the same thing as tackling racism, but he'll get to that later. the film intercuts 4 stories:

1) ancient babylon - this features a famous epic crane shot with a massive set and thousands of extras. this scene is probably now most recognizable because the hollywood and highland shopping complex was built as a re-creation of this set.

2) the crucifixion of jesus

3) events leading up to the st. bartholomew's day massacre in renaissance france

4) and a modern (modern being 1914) story of a lower class guy wrongly accused of murder and sentenced to hang.

the weaving of 4 story lines is impressive, edited together so that they climax at the same time, making for quite a riveting final act. each section of the film is tinted a different color, as well as each having their own style of inter-title card. while it has a Big Important Message, it is also filled with surprising humor, especially constance talmadge, an expressive character actress who appears in both the french and babylonian stories. she is like betty boop dropped into the set of 'stargate'

the entire film can be viewed on youtube:

The Birth of a Nation (1915)

directed by: d.w. griffith
genre: history, epic, silent
lists: ebert's great movies, maltin top 100, afi top 100, total film most influential
traces to: gone with the wind, avatar

self-righteous, ego-driven, racist spectacle. it's a shame that the first major exploit in cinematic storytelling had to be this utterly distasteful narrative of the country's history - it is however an amazing look into our country's racist past, and the attitudes that persisted among many people for generations beyond the close of the war. the entire film can be viewed on hulu:



griffith would spend the rest of his career atoning for the sins committed here. it's hard to conceive that he could not foresee the outrage that would come from adapting a novel entitled 'the clansmen,' which credits the formation of the ku klux klan with restoring peace to the union after the fall of the south. the klan promoted screenings of the film (which at $2 a ticket was the equivalent of $40) by riding their horses in front of the theaters in full costume. the film is credited with inspiring the 'second era' of the klan.

i was most riveted by the scene at the climax of the first half of the film - depicting the assassination of abraham lincoln.