Film

TRULY MADLY DEEPLY (1990)

June 12, 2024

On paper, Anthony Minghella’s TRULY MADLY DEEPLY reads like a perfunctory ‘ghost romance’ not unlike, err, GHOST: Nina (the ever sparkling and industrious Juliet Stevenson) is recently bereaved after her lover and celebrated cellist Jaime (Alan Rickman, as soulful as ever even though he has a rather distracting mustache) dies far too young.

Inconsolable, partially due to perhaps the most ineffectual psychologist to be portrayed on film, Nina spends far too much time reminiscing on the good times, ruminating on how she’ll never be able to create new memories with him, and just wishing he was still a part of her life.

She gets her wish. One night, Jaime appears in her apartment, inexplicably visiting from heaven. The two quickly intertwine in ways that doesn’t quite make ghostly sense, but the film is sincere enough that you won’t overthink it.

Again, on paper? Reads like a maudlin romantic weepy and, while it could have been that, about a second chance at happiness with your dearest, Mingella imparts how we glorify past time with partners and how when you get what you want, it’s not always what you need, but one can always try to course-correct.

It’s worth noting that part of that course-correction may take the shape of a manic pixie dream dude who has had way too many whimsical and emotionally precious jobs in his life.

TRULY MADLY DEEPLY was originally shot as a TV film for the BBC, but it managed to make the leap overseas to American arthouses and garnered enough praise that Mingella was quickly being courted by studios to deliver something just as substantial but with an even more lavish sheen.

An aside! If the name Anthony Minghella doesn’t ring a bell, well, his biggest claim to fame is following TRULY MADLY DEEPLY with his film adaptation of THE ENGLISH PATIENT. Also? COLD MOUNTAIN and the 1999 adaptation of THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY (which is finally getting the respect it deserves). So yes, Minghella enjoyed melancholy romances.

While it was shot for TV, it was visually composed for the silver screen. The recurring visual framing, of trees, of parks, of the sky, of camera angles and windowpanes bolster the emotional intensity; it recreates the sense of a heightened emotional state when everything you see and hear and smell is extraordinarily intense, and the repetition used here showcases how the impact of those experiences ebb and flow for Nina as she navigates life without a living Jaime.

None of TRULY MADLY DEEPLY would work if the chemistry and performances between Stevenson & Rickman lacked resonance and depth. Yes, Minghella did write the part with Stevenson in mind, to show off her energetic quirkiness, and Rickman gets to have his cake and eat it too by being charming and winsome and you can easily see why Stevenson misses him so much, at least until you start to see Jaime’s priggish side. As Rickman becomes more comfortable with his non-heavenly grounding, their relationship shifts in an all too relatable manner, all tension and strife over matters large and small.

While yes, this is a romantic ghostly tale, the relationship dynamics are anything but fantastical.

If there’s any fault to the film, it’s that it often feels slightly padded by the side stories of the supporting characters, especially Nina’s Polish landlord, Titus, who is infatuated with her (until he isn’t). Titus’ storyline dovetails with Nina’s pregnant friend through forced and contrived means that feels rather unnecessary, but perhaps I’m feeling rather cynical at the moment.

I won’t spoil what happens with Nina and Jaime, but I believe there’s more than one way to read the end of this film, neither being necessarily right or wrong. It depends on how altruistic you perceive the characters.

No matter how you interpret the end of the film, it’s a very human movie about coping and coming to terms with some of the most difficult facets of living a life, especially when one is so entangled with another.

Postscript

As noted above, Jaime is a cellist and his cello is the weight that Nina clings to after he’s gone. Nina’s insensitive sister asks Nina if her school-age son can have Jaime’s extremely valuable cello.

Naturally, Nina takes umbrage at this request, noting that it’s all she has left of Jaime and her sister drops the request.

I spent the bulk of my youth as a young cellist and, as someone who started playing in 4th grade — around the same age as the sister’s son — her sister’s request is not just thoughtless, but also completely impractical. A full-size cello would be useless for someone so young, as when you’re that young? You start out with a far smaller cello than a full-size cello, anywhere from 1/8th scale cello to 3/4th scale.

It is a small matter, and perhaps it’s included to showcase how little her sister knows about stringed instruments and youth, but it still irked me.

A24 Zines (2016-)

May 29, 2024

Author’s Note

This is not a sponsored post! I just really like A24’s more edifying, non-moving picture works.

If you aren’t familiar with the studio name A24, you almost certainly recognize some of the films they’ve shepherded into the world: MIDSOMMAR! UNCUT GEMS! HEREDITY! EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE! THE LIGHTHOUSE! So many more!

They’re referred to by some as producing ‘elevated genre’ work, which is a terrible descriptor because genre work over the decades has often have been substantial, inquisitive, and thought provoking, but sadly it has stuck so now we all have to live with it.

What’s lesser known about A24 is that they also sell all sorts of merchandise. Yes, they have the requisite graphic t-shirts and enamel pins and vinyl, but look past those and you’ll see some inspired physical endeavors. Here’s a small selection: iron-cast, scale statue of Marcel from MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON (he’s surprisingly heavy!); wearable hot dog fingers and a pet rock from EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE; HEREDITARY gingerbread house kit; a grooming kit inspired by THE LIGHTHOUSE! That’s just a handful of their offerings!

They also offer a roughly quarterly zine, which are always immaculately designed and engrossing. Sometimes they’re overseen by the director of an upcoming A24 film, such as an entire zine about Claire Denis musing about seeds for the overlooked HIGH LIFE, or SAINT MAUD’s Rose Glass scrutinizing the theme of salvation.

Sometimes their zines simply indulge the cinephile, either by unearthing obscure film history, or are laser-focused on a specific niche.

The latter is my favorite. There’s an entire zine about films that were advertised, but never made it to the silver or home screen. The latest zine reminisces on the neon-soaked design of pre-naughts multiplexes. There’s another that is mostly comprised of photos of Brendan Fraser. The Daniels modeled a zine entirely about taxes.

While you can buy the zines individually, they’re automatically included as part of AAA24, A24’s membership subscription. The subscription is well-worth the $5+tax/month or $55+tax/year as it nets you a bunch of free goodies, a birthday gift, early access to merch as well as exclusive merch, free screenings, discounts, and more.

Again! Not a sponsored post! I definitely do not claim to be an A24 fanboy — one of the free gifts I received as part of my AAA24 membership was a bog standard A24 shirt that I refuse to wear outside the house because nothing says ‘I’m an insufferable film nerd’ like an A24 shirt.

Among the other free merch I’ve received: The aforementioned THE LIGHTHOUSE grooming kit! It is cute but pungent enough that I had to seal up the soap in a sandwich bag; an A24 dog collar and I do not have a dog but I occasionally make use of it; a number of Marcel stickers, so you can litter your house with Marcels in the least expected places.

While the merch and discounts are nice, I get far more mileage out of the zines and perhaps you will too. Maybe you’ll even indulge in a subscription as well, ensuring reading delight for a full year!

D.E.B.S. (2004)

April 12, 2024

I have repeatedly said that every film is a fetish.

There is no better example of that than D.E.B.S.

That’s a good thing! Lean into what you’re into! Taste and wants are what make folks unique and often lend themselves to wild storytelling that will resonate for years! Films are incredibly difficult to will into the world and your fetish? That can be the strongest driving force and make the difference as to whether you can realize your vision.

(Unless your tastes or wants are hateful or hurtful and, in which case? Shut your mouth, head home and lock your door because the world does not need that.)

I’d been meaning to watch D.E.B.S. for years, but never got around to it until recently. To summarize? It’s four college schoolmates who are preliminary spies and Amy — the captain of said spies, played by Sara Foster (ex-fashion model and TV host) — falls in love with Lucy (the very striking Jordana Brewster), one of the most sought-after villains on their list.

I knew this film was queer before going into it, but given that it’s a film from the early naughts I assumed the queerness was couched in subtext instead of being explicit.

No. It is very explicit, practically out of the gate. Even though it’s primarily an action/espionage film that on its surface looks like it was willed into the world by a terrible cishet dude, it is really, really queer. This is all about queer awakening from the get-go, and about moving forward into queer safe spaces.

Writer/director Angela Robinson (who also adapted the life of William Moulton Marston via PROFESSOR MARSTON & THE WONDER WOMAN as well as the severely underrated HERBIE: FULLY LOADED) goes for fucking broke here, while still having so much fun with it.

I know I intentionally buried the lede here but all of the D.E.B.S. — which stands for Discipline, Energy, Beauty, Strength — are young women, helmed by the great character actor Holland Taylor, with some assistance from the much-missed Michael Clarke Duncan, clearly riffing on CHARLIE’S ANGELS.

Also? Their uniforms? Catholic schoolgirl outfits. All ties, white dress shirts, and very, very, very short plaid skirts. Robinson definitely knows what she likes — with a bit of satirical (and sartorial, sorry not sorry) and is not afraid to show it off.

Yeah. Really fucking queer. I can’t imagine how many youths were lit up and awakened by this film in the early naughts.

If there’s such a thing as passing the quasi-opposite of the Bechdel test? This film absolutely does so. This is all about women and there is no moment where two men visibly talk together in the same scene. Do you know how fucking rare that is? Especially in an action/comedy film?! And I am absolutely here for it.

D.E.B.S. is spryly paced and full of kinetic action and so well-cast and so, so much fun and again! Really fucking queer in a way that doesn’t think it’s odd that it’s about two women falling in love.

It also helps that the chemistry between Amy and Lucy is off the fucking charts.

While the film absolutely flopped, it has become a queer cult favorite — rightly so, as it’s one of the few queer films that isn’t sad or fridge their queers — and just celebrated its 20th anniversary, which seems wild to me because it’d feel progressive even today.

Addendum

Don’t believe me? I’ve included a number of links extolling its virtues below!

VULTURE – ‘The Surprising Queer Joy of D.E.B.S.’

POLYGON – ‘Happy birthday to DEBS, the gay Charlie’s Angels movie that’s still too obscure’

PASTE MAGAZINE – ’20 Years On, D.E.B.S.‘ Campy Lesbian Romance Is Still a Delight to Behold’

Also VULTURE – ‘How D.E.B.S. Became a Queer Cult Classic’

Top 96 Rom-Coms

March 11, 2024

I am a huge fan of Alana Bennett. Been following her work for a while, even before she was writing for the ROSWELL reboot.

She has an intermittently updated Substack and over a year ago she compiled a list of the best 96 rom-coms according to her students.

I love rom-coms but, as noted in prior posts, I have penned a few romantic works, however they are more romantic dramas or romantic thrillers. I have given up on trying to write a rom-com of my own because every time I start with the best of intentions, it ends up going sideways.

Here’s the piece!

I will be blunt: I had to look up a number of the titles to recall if I had seen them before, and more often than not I realized that oh, not only didn’t I see it, I saw them opening weekend in a theater.

I have seen over two-thirds of these. 69, in fact. (Har har, but fitfully true, and the inverse of the numerical list!)

Most of the rest I am familiar with and almost all on my watchlist. (My watchlist is a very long list, y’all!)

If I had to pick just one of these to show to someone who had never seen anything on this list? Cripes that’s Sophie’s Choice tough, but probably DOWN WITH LOVE. It’s a very accessible and winsome take on the Rock Hudson/Doris Day classic PILLOW TALK.

If I was sat down and told: “Watch one of these you’ve missed, right now” I would pick AUSTENLAND. I didn’t read Jane Austin’s works until later in my life and, while I’m more of a Bronte person, that sounds very much in my wheelhouse.

I have watched AUSTENLAND since penning a draft of this post, so maybe HOW TO BE SINGLE is next? I dunno. Not on the list, but I am literally writing a novel that dovetails with wedding dresses so perhaps 27 DRESSES.

(Update: I’ve since watched 27 DRESSES which is far better than you would think! Also re-watched MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING with my Greek wife, as well as the underrated MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING 2!)

If I had to add one rom-com to this specifically young list, it’d be DEFINITELY, MAYBE. That film is severely unsung and so, so, so very 90s.

Anyway! Watch rom-coms, y’all! Even if you don’t think they’re for ya! I guarantee you that at least a few will resonate and make you a better person. Rom-coms are all about someone’s wants-and-needs and hopeful expectations and lust for life and awareness of disappointments and every emotion all at once.

THE DEVIL FINDS WORK (1976) [REDUX]

March 8, 2024

When I first started this blog roughly three years ago, it was solely to briefly mention films and TV shows that I found remarkable. To boost works that fell through the cracks. It grew from that, to more long-form essays, more personal examinations, more experimental takes on how one — and others — examine media.

Apart from fellow classmates, I’ve never known anyone who is familiar with any of the works I’ve extolled over the past two weeks. All of these works were imparted to me in a collegiate atmosphere, but all helped to form my idea of, not only what film criticism and analysis could be, but also what film could be.

I have no idea whether these works will do the same for you but, like the other entries in this blog, I hope they’ll prod you to seek them out, even if some of them sound too dry or academic.

The sole work I’m including here that I wasn’t introduced to in school is James Baldwin’s THE DEVIL FINDS WORK, the last post in this series. I previously wrote about THE DEVIL FINDS WORK here. I’d suggest reading that before going further, but hopefully it’s not a necessity.

Not mentioned in that post is that I was only aware of Baldwin because of his fictional works and activism. If you haven’t read GIOVANNI’S ROOM? That is an essential read, especially if you are queer.

My prior post regarding THE DEVIL FINDS WORK touches on many of the words I’ve posted about in this series, and like in that post, I will express my frustration that THE DEVIL FINDS WORK was not part of any of my curriculum. Baldwin was an expert cultural and media critic and his essays are absolutely essential in examining cinema.

To bluntly underscore matters: I am still pissed off that I discovered it so late in life, not just at the teachers I had (many of whom I love dearly) but at myself for not finding a way to have that text in my hands earlier.

THE DEVIL FINDS WORK is that good. It is that important. It is relevant. Like FROM CALIGARI TO HITLER it examines the cultural impact of populist media regarding race, class, and sexuality. Also? It’s so well-penned and, while it will make you angry — at culture, at people, at the world in general — it is so very readable.

I plan to follow this series up with an array of modern film criticism and analysis that has influenced me since. I’d love to say that, due to the Internet, there’s never been a better, more egalitarian time to write about film and have your words read and seen, but I’d be lying.

There was a brief period of time where astute film criticism and analysis was boosted by the Internet and everyone could have their own platform via their own website and others could be inspired by others.

Thanks to the bubbles created by social media, YouTube clickbait, Rotten Tomatoes, et al.? Those times are over, at least for now.

That doesn’t stop folks like myself from finding ways to write about film or media in general, and there are so many folks from so many walks of life who are doing the same, and it can often feel like screaming into the void, but they are there if you seek them out.

If you don’t make that attempt? Well, you are just as guilty as I was for not seeking out THE DEVIL FINDS WORK earlier.

You can get a copy of THE DEVIL FINDS WORK via Matt Zoller Seitz’s store!

HOLLYWOOD BABYLON (1959)

March 7, 2024

Okay. Kenneth Anger.

Brilliant experimental, extremely queer filmmaker. (You haven’t lived until you’ve seen LUCIFER RISING, or SCORPIO RISING, or a double-feature of both.)

Yes, he had a problematic history with Hollywood.

HOLLYWOOD BABYLON, while supremely entertaining to read and so, so fucking lurid — as you can tell by Jayne Mansfield’s tits all on display on the cover and is fodder for Anger, peppering her death in the work — is full of so many half-truths and fabrications. Oh, and a lot of sex. Also? A lot of queer misattributions? (I think that’s mostly well-wishing on his behalf.)

However! There’s nothing more Hollywood than false narratives!

Oh, did I mention that Anger first used a pen name for the initial edition of the book? It was initially published in Paris? Also, it was fucking banned!

I still don’t exactly know what possessed him to write this, apart from a cultural infatuation with the material. He also wrote two more in the series! (Good luck finding the third!) It feels like a career killer, hence the pen name and Paris publishing, but I do not care! It’s a fun lark that is emblematic of how fucking ruthless and hedonistic Hollywood and the film industry is, and even if half of HOLLYWOOD BABYLON are lies? Well, history is penned by the winners.

There’s a lot of sadness conveyed here. Suicides. Drugs. Bad sex. Trauma. The whole gamut of success biting you in the ass.

These stories are close enough to the truth. It’s insider tabloid journalism, plain and simple.

This is a work that should be read, but honestly? I can’t justify recommending it to everyone apart from gazing at the treasure-trove of archival images of Hollywood stars and sets and history. If you haven’t read it and none of the above sounds appealing? Just stop right here. It is cruel navel-gazing. No one here deserves this brutal treatment, because that’s what it is.

I know that we culturally love to cut down those who have managed to make it to the top, those who are exemplary at entertaining and giving the world some fucking joy because they’re magnanimous, attractive, smart, savvy, witty, smirky, stylish.

One thing we forget about film, solely because the people involved are simply visages on a screen, is that they are fucking human and deserve the rights and consideration any of us want.

Does HOLLYWOOD BABYLON — especially the latter two works? — provide that? No. Not at all.

Is it a remarkable work? Yes, yes it is. It made a significant cultural impact. It is worth reading simply to experience how fucking dirty and tawdry the film industry is. You can simply read the words above instead of enduring how dirty reading the full work will make you feel.

PROSPERO’S BOOKS/BEING NAKED PLAYING DEAD (1991/1996)

March 6, 2024

Peter Greenaway’s PROSPERO’S BOOKS was one of the first films I watched that made me exclaim: “Wait, you can do this with film? This is fucking incredible and mesmerizing and so rich!”

Then I found myself flabbergasted, without words as how astounding this adaptation of THE TEMPEST was.

(I will note: I was lucky enough to see Greenaway lecture after a screening of THE PILLOW BOOK. It was just as elucidating and British and pretentious as you might think!)

So, what you might not know is that there’s an entire book that details not just the script of PROSPERO’S BOOKS, but also drafts and illustrations and more detailing the work behind the production.

I happened upon it while garagesaling and was shocked to have stumbled upon it because? Yes, I fucking love this film, and to have such a gloriously detailed work that features so many film captures and details so much of process and also contains the full script is a marvel.

I’ll also note? PROSPERO’S BOOKS has never received a quality digital transfer. I do have a Blu-Ray of it, but it’s a shitty transfer of the really shitty DVD transfer. Maybe one of these days it’ll get the visual justice it deserves.

Either way, if you can find a copy of this text? (It is very hard to find now, sadly, since folks like me hold their copies tight.) I can’t recommend it highly enough. It’s a rare look into a rather secretive creator, and the fact that it’s one of his greatest works is just icing on the cake.

Prior to procuring a copy of PROSPERO’S BOOKS, I somehow finagled a copy of BEING NAKED PLAYING DEAD by Alan Woods.

I’d like to say it was at a screening of THE PILLOW BOOK in Chicago, at the prior lakefront version of Chicago’s THE FILM CENTER, but that’s impossible as THE PILLOW BOOK is heavily detailed in said text, and Greenaway was there to discuss his oeuvre as part of the film’s launch.

What drew me to Greenaway initially was his overlapping and juxtapositions of images. I found them so deep, so painterly, so mannered in their overlays.

His works used all of the trappings of modern music videos — this was at a time where most music videos weren’t even considered low art — and imbued life and nuance and meaning into them.

Upon visiting his older works, I realized he had been doing the exact same thing — albeit without the elaborate digital and VFX — with text and landscapes for quite some time.

It was BEING NAKED PLAYING DEAD that brought most of that to my eyes.

This is an immaculately designed text, one that is so visually sumptuous. If you’ve seen the frame from the film Jones utilizes for a point? You can’t help but think: “That is the perfect frame. That encapsulates everything!”

Enough cannot be said for the graphic designer. While over-intricate designs were the style of the 90s — holy fuck do I miss that, as opposed to the cookie cutter templates that passes for design today — Jones’s paragraph and quotational structure almost mirrors Greenaway’s. It is succinct.

Not only is it perfectly designed, but it’s a brilliant collection of visual and textural artifacts, interview excerpts, all to accompany an in-depth analysis of his work. Woods set out to create a definitive look at Greenaway’s career and succeeded wildly.

Unlike PROSPERO’S BOOKS, you can procure a copy of BEING NAKED PLAYING DEAD relatively easily, both in hardcover and softcover.

Additionally, there is a scanned copy available via archive.org if you must, but this is a work that can only be fully appreciated in your hands.

BREAKING THE GLASS ARMOR (1988)

March 5, 2024

Author’s Note

I wrote this before David Bordwell passed. While his wife was the one who penned this work, the two of them were an unstoppable team of film academics who instilled and imbued so much knowledge into the world. I’m devastated that David is no longer with us, but his legacy will live on, and he was writing up until the very end.

If you are a film criticism/theory nerd, Kristin Thompson and David Bordwell are perhaps the goddamn greatest film couple in history. If you’ve taken a film class, you have almost inevitably been assigned one of their texts, probably FILM ART: AN INTRODUCTION or FILM HISTORY: AN INTRODUCTION.

Bordwell and Thompson are so astute and knowledgable while also being clear and never talk down via their work. They want to impart their love of film, as well as what they’ve gleaned over the years.

Kristin Thompson’s BREAKING THE GLASS ARMOR was a fucking revelation for me. Thompson breaks down her dissection of film criticism and analysis, which mostly consists of: fucking take different approaches to discuss works as deemed necessary.

Neoformalism is derived from Russian Formalism and — more or less — can be boiled down to discussing films based on form, context, authorial intent, and how every aesthetic facet of a creative piece works towards a central thesis, and scrutinizing that requires separate analytical approaches.

Thompson puts it this way:

“The aim of the formalist method, or at least one of its aims, is not to explain the work, but to call attention to it, to restore that ‘orientation towards form’ which is characteristic of a work of art.”

[…]

“But most important, neoformalism treats audience response as a matter of education about and awareness of norms, not as a matter of passive acceptance of norms imposed by the makers of popular films.”

BREAKING THE GLASS ARMOR, pg. 32

Does neoformalist analysis always work? No, no it does not, but canny viewers can still suss out a work’s contextual manifesto, and are able to point at how almost every facet of a work bolsters the collective voice.

(I’ll note that the film teacher that assigned this text also imbued in me the idea that no one sets out to make a bad film. The next time you want to rip a film a new one? Please keep that in mind. Be gracious with your criticism!)

BREAKING THE GLASS ARMOR dissects a number of classic films, all films that I absolutely love, and some that so few have seen: Godard’s vastly underseen TOUT VA BIEN, which is a fucking marvel of the complexities of communications and so, so very Brechtian; Tati’s PLAYTIME, which is perhaps the most astoundingly amusing and well-blocked non-silent-but-silent film ever; the nebulous nature and unreliable narrative of the film adaptation of LAURA from Otto Preminger; Ozu’s steadfast camerawork for LATE SPRING.

As noted above, this is a very accessible and thoughtful and insightful work, one that doesn’t rely of the impenetrable nature of academia. It made me see film and artistic works in a completely way, and I can’t thank Thompson enough for penning this work.

You can buy it via Princeton University Press!

MEN, WOMEN, AND CHAIN SAWS (1992) [REDUX]

March 4, 2024

While I’ve already extolled the feminist triumph of Carol L. Clover’s MEN, WOMEN, AND CHAIN SAWS, I couldn’t let it go without mentioning it this week.

I know horror is often written off as cultural garbage, as schlock, instead of the cultural barometer it actually is. I would dare say it’s the most relevant genre.

The subtext of horror works speaks to our insecurities, our fears, our dangers, our own worries about what we’re capable of and what terrors and malice others are capable of.

Clover scrutinizes all of that and clearly and succinctly details how imbalanced gender is in the world we live in and how these works — and horror in general — are more often than not treatises on living a life cautiously.

To say this is an groundbreaking work doesn’t even begin to do it justice. At a time when folks simply shrugged at genre work, she took it seriously and thoughtfully penned about horror in a way that resonates today.

Also, I just want to note that I love how she refers to chainsaws in the broken text of THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE. *chef kiss*

THE HAUNTED SCREEN (1947)

March 1, 2024

Lotte H. Eisner is probably a name not known to you. If you are aware of her, give yourself a pat on the back.

She was a film fanatic, and instrumental to the New German Cinema movement which was an extremely productive, prolific and revolutionary time for filmmaking in Germany in the 1970s.

Born in 1896, she was a mentor to so many filmmakers. She had a brilliant eye for visual communication, so it’s no surprise that she was so taken with German Expressionism.

However! She is best know for penning and collecting THE HAUNTED SCREEN, which is her brazenly extolling the striking visual technicals of German Expressionism.

While her deep dive into films that are mostly either lost or forgotten, what makes this work really shine are the film captures.

Like any good goth, as a college youth I photocopied each and every page with a screenshot and cut and plastered it to my walls, because there is nothing more goth than German Expressionism. I even made tape cover montages through the images, as was the style of the times.

If you are not familiar with German Expressionistic films, here’s your introduction. If you are, but haven’t read it? You will find comfort in it. It’s a great read, one that should be on every cineaste’s book list.

It is available via the University of California Press!