Stuff I've Been Watching: August 2021

 

Son of the White Mare. Directed by Marcell Jankovics. 1981 Hungary. Via the Criterion Channel app. 2 August.

 

This movie is one in a series the Criterion Channel has been showing in their Art House Animation series. Here is their description of the series:

The endless possibilities of animation are on dazzling display in this round-the-world showcase of some of the medium’s most innovative, boundary-pushing, and mind-enhancing examples. Far from cuddly kid’s stuff, these optical wonders are frequently dark, transgressive, sexually charged, and psychologically complex, using the anything-goes potential of animation to evoke expressionistic inner worlds and transport viewers to realms of the fantastical and the bizarre. Czech stop-motion surrealism (THE FABULOUS BARON MUNCHAUSEN, ALICE), Hungarian psychedelia (SON OF THE WHITE MARE), visionary Japanese anime (MIND GAME, PAPRIKA), American underground experimentation (CONSUMING SPIRITS), hallucinatory Chilean horror (THE WOLF HOUSE), Palestinian political satire (THE WANTED 18), and many more fantasias leap off the screen in this epic animation celebration that will leave your imagination whirling and your retinas reeling.

Son of the White Mare is an early 80s animated movie from Hungary based on folk tales with some bold hand-drawn animation:

One of the great psychedelic masterpieces of world animation, Hungarian filmmaker Marcell Jankovics’s SON OF THE WHITE MARE is a swirling, color-mad maelstrom of mythic monsters and Scythian heroes, part “Nibelungenlied,” part YELLOW SUBMARINE, lit by jagged bolts of lightning and drenched in rivers of blue, red, gold, and green. A massive cosmic oak stands at the gates of the Underworld, holding seventy-seven dragons in its roots; to combat these monsters, a dazzling white mare goddess gives birth to three heroes—Treeshaker and his brothers—who embark on an epic journey to save the universe.

The Good Fight. Season 4. Via the Paramount + app. With Monika. 4 August.

The Good Fight, is, without a doubt, one of the best shows currently on television. Period.

Waltz with Bashir. Directed by Ari Folman. 2008. Israel. Via the Criterion Channel app. 8 August.

This movie is the story of one Israeli man trying to understand his dreams and nightmares. It turns out that these nightmares were triggered by his memory of the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, including his witnessing the holocaust/killing/call-it-what you will at Sabra and Shatila -- perhaps the lowest point of the many low points in the long Lebanese civil war.

I lived in Beirut for one academic year, 08/09, and recognized some of the places the movie showed such as the Holiday Inn which still has bullet holes in the walls.

By the way, the Bashir in the title, is former Lebanese militia leader and, sort of president, Bashir Gemayel. I say sort of because Gemayel was elected, but assassinated by people associated with the Syrian Social Nationalist Party -- an extremist group if ever there was one, at least in my opinion -- before he assumed office.

Watership Down. Directed by Martin Rosen. 1978. United kingdom. Via the Criterion Channel app. 10 August.

One of the happier movies in the Art House Animation series.

The Good Fight. Season 5. Via the Paramount + app. With Monika. 12 August.

Again, a great show. Will there be a sixth season?

A New Leaf. Directed by Elaine May. 1971. Purchased from iTunes and watched via the movies app. With Monika, Michal, and Marta. 13 August.

The great Elaine May. This movie is, perhaps, her funniest. By the way, May had a cameo in The Good Fight as the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Gomorrah. Directed by Mateo Garrone. 2008. Italy. Via the Criterion Channel app. 13 August.

A rather sad movie about the way that the Neapolitan crime families have thoroughly destroyed this region of Italy. The story is based on the work of Roberto Saviano, a journalist who still lives under constant security to deal with the very real death threats the Camorra has issued against him. One detail from the movies. Like American crime families, the Neapolitan crime participants are obsessed with American movies about crime families. At one point, early in the movie, two characters pretend they are in a shoot out and one of them has to be be Tony Montana from Brian De Palma's Scarface.

It’s Okay To Be Smart: Are some species more important than others? via the PBS app. With Monika and Michal. 14 August.

A fun short science movie.

Easter in Sicily. Directed by Vittorio De Sica. 1955. Italy. Via the Criterion Channel app. With Michal. 15 August.

This movie, and the next one, are about peasant life in Italy.

The Age of Swordfish. Directed by Vittorio De Sica. 1954. Italy. Via the Criterion Channel app. With Michal. 15 August.

Hopscotch. Directed by Ronald Neame. 1980. United States. Via the Criterion Channel app. With Monika. 15 August.

One of Walter Matthau's best later career movies.

Lisey’s Story. 2021. United States. Via the Apple TV+ app. 21 August.

 

This show disappointed me, so I did not find a picture or a link. I kept watching more episodes thinking it would get better. It did not.

Tiny World. Season 1. 2020. United States. Via the Apple TV+ app. With Monika. 27 August.

Fun. The focus on extremely small creatures must have been difficult to capture. I did not care for the music, though.

The Good Fight. Season 5. United States. 2021. Via the Paramount+ app. With Monika. 26 August.

Ted Lasso. Season 1. 2020. United States. Via the Apple TV+ app. With Monika. 26 August.

A comedy with no apparent irony.

The Plague Dogs. Directed by Martin Rosen. 1982. United Kingdom, United States. Via the Criterion Channel app. 27 August.

Another movie based on a Richard Adams' novel also directed by Martin Rosen, like Watership Down. This movie is much more dour.

Archer. Season 8. Dreamland. 2017. Via the Hulu app. 27 August.

I feel like either you appreciate Archer or you do not. I do not think there is any middle ground on this one.

Homicide. Directed by David Mamet. 1991. United States. Via the Criterion Channel app. 29 August.

Mamet is the master of the tight plot and short crisp dialogue. I liked this one quite a bit.