Breathless (À Bout de Souffle)
Sabine Dana Plasse found her passion in filmmaking after watching Jean Luc Godard’s Breathless (À Bout de Souffle). She recounts after seeing the story of a Parisian grifter, “I immediately knew I was about to broaden my cinematic journey. I absorbed the feel and vibe of Paris through its fantastic use of setting. I was stripped of Hollywood’s starstruck perfection and presented with egocentric characters who roam around a city with style and haughtiness unaffected by the law-abiding citizens. They do what they please, when they want, and with incredible style. It was mesmerizing.”
The Producers
Alan Ng puts Mel Brook’s The Producers at number three of his all-time greatest films. Even the misguided musical couldn’t knock the original from its perch. The comedic classic made stars of Gene Wilder and Dick Shawn. It even made Zero Mostel a bigger star than he already was. It was irreverent and heartfelt. The Producers also set the standard for best practices for investing in Broadway plays. Sadly, even this classic film is finding itself in danger of #cancellation.
The Searchers
Bradley Gibson finds The Searchers to be incredibly dated for a 2020s audience. Underlying the film are themes of American exceptionalism, yet “the film is a great, rich treasure of revelation that is at the surface a simple story but reveals deeply complex roots in the concepts of our national identity.” Before you #Cancel Brad, read his entire review for a thoughtful discussion of cultural identity over the decades.
Strangers on a Train
In Dean Lamanna’s review of Alfred Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train, Lamanna lauds the innovation of Hitchcock employed in editing along with Hitchcock’s storytelling to elevate the suspense and thrills in this 1951 classic. Lamanna says, ” The movie’s metaphorical, choose-your-own-interpretive-adventure climax in an amusement park is a dizzying ripsnorter, at once scary, funny, and, even within this scenario’s surreal confines, wholly implausible. It’s also unforgettable.”
