SCREENING LOG - HIGHLIGHTS FROM JUNE, 2005

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my viewings have declined by 50% from my monthly average... which I think is a good thing.

YES
Alice in the Cities (1974, Wim Wenders)- Jim Jarmusch, who's your daddy? What I especially love is the sharp (Ozu-esque?) attention to the peculiarities of place -- America never looked quite like this -- that gives the potentially sentimental lost-child narrative its bite.
Europa '51 (1951, Roberto Rossellini) Devastating.
Films By Charlie Bowers - Anyone who claims to be a fan of animation is obliged to see a Charlie Bowers film. I can't believe this guy has languished in obscurity for so long -- he's as much of as a comic experimentalist as Keaton and his blending of live-action with claymation is years ahead of KING KONG. Particularly recommended are EGGED ON (Bowers seems to have a fetish for birds and eggs), HE DONE HIS BEST, and A WILD ROOMER. Let the conspiracy theories run rampant that Chaplin ripped off HE DONE HIS BEST for the best parts of MODERN TIMES.
The Goddess (1935, Sun Yu) - It's all about Ruan Lingyu.
Gun Crazy (1949, Joseph H. Lewis) - Exemplar of the kiss-kiss-bang-bang formula, with a dozen highly charged moments of erotic violence. A slight whiff of Cronenberg can be detected.
Million Dollar Baby (2004, Clint Eastwood)
The Second Spring of Mr. Mo (1984, Li Youning) - Much more Ozu-esque than Hou Hsiao Hsien, and as balanced and sensitive as any of either's domestic dramas.

yes
The Asphalt Jungle (1950, John Huston)
La Cienaga (2001, Lucretia Martel)
Clash By Night (1952, Fritz Lang) Would be a YES if I could be more convinced that Stanwyck would seriously consider co-habiting with such a prick like Robert Ryan's character.
The Double Life of Vernoique (1990, Krzystof Kieslowski)
The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On (1987, Kazuo Hara)
Howl's Moving Castle (2004, Hayao Miyazaki)
Moonfleet (1955, Fritz Lang)
On Dangerous Ground (1950, Nicholas Ray)
Stavisky... (1974, Alain Resnais)
You Only Live Once (1937, Fritz Lang)

mixed
Tom Tom the Piper's Son (1969, Ken Jacobs) - YES for the first 20 minutes, and from there it's 100 minutes of diminishing returns.

no
The Terminal (2004, Steven Spielberg)

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