Stuff I've Been Watching March 2022 (Women's History Month)

The State of the Union Address. 2022. United States. Via the PBS app. 1 March. With Michal and Monika. 1 March.

President Biden addressed the house of representatives and others.

Le Bonheur. (Happiness). Directed by Agnes Varda. 1965. France. Via the Criterion Channel app. 5 March.

Varda was a giant of twentieth century cinema and I decided to take a dive into several of her movies in attempt to watch more movies directed by women. Happiness, to use the American title, is a beautiful movie about a man who seems happily married with two children who finds himself drawn to another woman and having an affair. I think this movie would be done very differently if it were written and directed by a man.

Bull Durham. Directed by Ron Shelton. 1988. United States. Via the Criterion Channel app. 6 March.

I saw many American movies in the 1980s, but I somehow never saw this fun movie about a minor league baseball team. Tim Robbins played a better version of this character in the Hudsucker Proxy and Kevin Costner was in a better baseball movie the next year in Field of Dreams, but this is an enjoyable movie and I am glad I watched it.

Turning Red. Directed by Domee Shi. 2002. United States. Via the Disney+ app. 11 March.

The movie and television industry in the United States has plenty of content for teen and tween boys -- Star Wars, Spider Man, to name two -- but what about teen and tween girls. It sometimes feels like the entertainment industry expects girls to movie from Doc McStuffins straight to Euphoria. Yes, there are some good shows and movies like Just Add Magic (on amazon) or the new Babysitter's Club (on netflix), but not enough. In addition, both of these shows were cancelled. This movie fills that gap in teen/tween girl content by providing a funny and touching look at the life of one Asian American tween girl.

The Righteous Gemstones. Season 1. Created by Danny McBride. 2019. Via the HBO MAX app. 12 March.

You had me at John Goodman. I laughed a lot watching this show about a mega church in the deep south. imdb summarizes the show: "Follows a world-famous televangelist family with a long tradition of deviance, greed, and charitable work."

Les Creatures. Directed by Agnes Varda. 1966. France. Via the Criterion Channel app. 13 March.

"A young mute woman, living in a small village, is expecting a baby. Her husband is at the same time writing a novel and using the villagers as his characters. In the creative process, reality and imagination are constantly intertwined." A truly remarkable and truly weird movie from Agnes Varda.

Lions Love (...and Lies). Directed by Agnes Varda. 1969. United States. Via the Criterion Channel app. 16 March.

"Three actors in Hollywood live and love together. A director comes from New York to make a movie about actors and Hollywood." Objectively speaking, this is not a great movie. But Varda does capture a moment in American culture at the height of the free love movement when people on stage and movie screens were doing experimental work.

Robert Frost: A lover's quarrel with the world. Directed by Shirley Clarke. 1963. United States. Via the Criterion Channel app. 19 March.

After having seen Shirley Clarke, playing herself as a stand in for Agnes Varda in Lions and Love, I was curious to see if there was anything I had not seen beforefrom Clarke. This movie is a traditional documentary with interviews and lectures from Robert Frost near the end of his life. I have seen The Connection  Portrait of Jason, and Ornette: Made in America which are much more experimental. Clarke had trouble making movies in the 1970s and 1980s, but did teach film at UCLA from 1975 to 1983.

Always for Pleasure. Directed by Les Blank. 1978. United States. Via the Criterion Channel. with Marta. 23 March.

My daughter Marta went on a school trip to this city shortly after we watched this documentary about the music and food of New Orleans.

One Sings the Other Doesn't. Directed by Agnes Varda. 1977. France. Via the Criterion Channel. 25 March.

Roger Ebert said of Varda and this movie, "despite its grim beginnings, goes on to become one of the most appealing films by a French director whose best work has always found a balance between the heart and the mind. Varda works close to the human grain; she insists whenever possible on making documentaries between each of her feature films, so she can stay in touch with reality and not fall for the stylistic excesses of the big fiction films." I think this movie is one of Varda's best feature movies.

Mur Murs. Directed by Agnes Varda. 1981. France. Via the Criterion Channel. 27 March.

A documentary about murals in Los Angeles and the people who painted them. The movie shows the images, the painters, and the stories behind the images.