This week: an insightful, wry showcase for two of France’s most iconic actresses and a tribute to movie composer Ennio Morricone.
From earlier this week, here’s my remembrance of Ennio Morricone.
ON VIDEO
The Truth: Writer-director Hirozaki Koreeda’s latest wry and authentic exploration of human behavior is a showcase for Catherine Deneuve and Juliette Binoche.
John Lewis: Good Trouble: A revealing documentary on the Civil Rights icon.
The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE:
- Disclosure: This insightful (and even revelatory) documentary gives voice to transgender creatives.
- Driveways: I can’t think of a more authentic movie about intergenerational relationships than this charming, character-driven indie.
- The Lovebirds: A rom com with a playful plot and a truthful relationship.
- The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming!: The great Carl Reiner in a still-hilarious Cold War satire.
- The Traitor and Shooting the Mafia: a Sicilian Mafia double feature.
- Da 5 Bloods: reflections on the Vietnam War and on the Black experience in America and a great Delroy Lindo (but it’s too long).
- Ella Fitzgerald: Just One of Those Things: A Must See for jazz fans.
- Yourself and Yours: The absurdism of Luis Buñuel meets the social awkwardness of Seinfeld.
- Electrick Children: magical Mormon runaways in Vegas.
- King in the Wilderness: an icon, floundering.
- The Bandit: A Hollywood buddy documentary that features some amazing movie stunts.
- Wind River: “This isn’t the land of backup, Jane. This is the land of you’re on your own.”
- Unfriended: Teenagers find horror on their own webcams.
- Touching the Void: the gripping true life story of a mountaineer who had to cut his climbing partner’s rope.
- Searching: A ticking clock thriller that captures the Silicon Valley vibe.
- The T.A.M.I. Show: The first concert film, featuring eight future Rock and Roll Hall of Famers.
- Cold Case Hammarskjöld: An investigatory documentary that sends-up the genre.
- Spaceship Earth: A visionary scientific experiment, unraveled from human foibles.
- Very Semi-Serious: glorious The New Yorker cartoons.
- The Whistlers: a shady cop and a mysterious woman walk a tightrope of treachery.
- The Wild Goose Lake: vivid nights in the Chinese underworld.
- Radio Dreams: stranger in a strange and funny land.
ON TV
On July 14, TCM brings us something COMPLETELY different, the 1955 Pete Kelly’s Blues, directed by and starring Jack Webb, who we all know from TV’s Dragnet. Made at the downturn of the Big Band Era, Pete Kelly’s Blues is set at during Prohibition in the infancy of Big Bands.
It’s a fairly routine drama about a small time bandleader on the outs with a dangerous crime boss, but Jack Webb loved jazz and worked hard to get the music in the movie right, resulting in quite the period document. Peggy Lee received a Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for portraying an alcoholic vocalist. There’s an unforgettable cameo performance by Ella Fitzgerald at the top of her game. The house band includes many real-life musicians who played with Benny Goodman, Bing Crosby and the like, including Matty Matlock, Eddie Miller and Jud De Naut.
Webb never had much range as an actor, but the rest of the cast is excellent: Janet Leigh, Edmond O’Brien, Lee Marvin, Andy Devine, Jayne Mansfield and Harry Morgan. Not a great flick, but worth a look for the music.