First Impressions: Thinking Aloud About Film

01/09/2025

In the podcast below we talk about Willi Forst's MASKERADE (19340 in relation to the Wiener Genre, Authorship, Anton Walbrook’s career (he is here billed as Adolf Walbrook), the difficulties of dealing with works from authoritarian regimes, how it was the most popular film of its year in the German-speaking world. More specifically we discuss the rhythms of the opening scene, Anton Walbrook’s introduction, the narrative invention of the narration of the publication of the m**f drawing, the mise-en-scéne, the influence of vaudeville and the film’s intent on pleasing. We relate the film to Lubitsch’s work and comment on how a particular shot of a camera seeming to float through a window might have influenced Minnelli (in Meet Me in St. Louis) and, according to Mark Fuller, Powell & Pressburger (The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp). All this and much more may be listened to in the podcast below:
https://notesonfilm1.com/2025/08/26/thinking-aloud-about-film-maskerade-willi-forst-1934/

07/08/2025

A discovery at Cinema Rediscovered. Julien Temple’s marvellous ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS.

When the film was first released we both thought it extraordinary but a mess; we still feel the same except the focus is now on the extraordinary. In the accompanying podcast we discuss the film’s relationship to the classic Hollywood musical and to the cinema of Powell and Pressburger. Richard compares it to Colin MacInnes’ novel.

We discuss the film’s critical reception and speculate on where all the bile came from. We talk about the opening number in some detail as well as Ray Davies' marvellous ‘Quiet Life’, David Bowie’s ‘That’s Motivation’, Sade’s ‘Killer Blow’ and much else.

The film now seems to us audacious, endlessly inventive, dazzling to look at. It’s no surprise both Janet and Michael Jackson were fans. We also speak of the experience of watching it at Cinema Rediscovered and how Temple himself and producer Stephen Woolley enhanced our experience and understanding of the film. It was an emotion-filled screening; it’s a film that continues to be appreciated and enjoyed forty years after its first release; it’s a film that will last long after much of the cinema of that period. It’s a film that deserves to be rediscovered.

https://notesonfilm1.com/2025/08/06/thinking-aloud-about-cinema-absolute-beginners-julien-temple-1986/

30/07/2025

If a week ago we podcast on what we were looking forward to at the Cinema Rediscovered festival, this is the bookend reflecting on what we actually saw. We are once again full of praise for the organisers, the friendliness of the staff at the Watershed, the originality and diversity of the programme, the community aspect, the educational component and the way that it trains young people up to programme and curate and then gives them an opportunity to exercise those skills.

Emotional highlights included a reunion of Stephen Frears, Hanif Kureishi and Gordon Warnecke at the MY BEAUTIFUL LAUNDRETTE screening and Stephen Woolley and Julian Temple getting back together to reminisce about Palace Pictures and ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS, which we liked so much we plan a separate podcast on it.

We appreciated the mini programs scheduled on single days (Carlos Saura, Maria Luisa Bemberg, Anna Mae Wong) and the longer ones (the AGAINST THE GRAIN: 1980s BRITISH CINEMA, MASUMURA x WAKAO). It was fantastic to be able to see some films at the BRISTOL MEGASCREEN (THE FALL OF OTRAR, DIVA, THE BEAST TO DIE, MANJI). We talk at some length on individual films as well (ROSA LA ROSE, FILLE PUBLIQUE; THEMROC, DESERT HEARTS, ONE POTATO TWO POTATO and others. In such a full program, there are also films we both missed, such as the great HANDSWORTH SONGS.

We praise the way Sheldon Hall designed his talk on films on Channel 4 for this particular audience, including broadcast dates on every film at the festival and under which strand; for Stephen Horne’s fantastic, multi-instrument accompaniment to the Anna Mae Wong programme; and the care in curating the introductions to the films, with most speakers understanding that the intro is not about them or their interests but about enhancing the audience’s experience and appreciation.

The festival left us wishing for a fuller programme the last evening but being left wishing for more is not a bad thing.

https://notesonfilm1.com/2025/07/30/thinking-aloud-about-cinema-cinema-rediscovered-2025-wrap-up/

28/07/2025

You probably won’t know Sam Shaid by name but you’ll have seen his work. He was Creative Director of in-house advertising for Calvin Klein in the 1980s, did work for Abercrombie and Fitch in the 90s that still inspires today (some of the catalogues have become much sought-after collectors’ items). In the aughts he worked as Creative Director of INTERVIEW magazine and he’s since edited dozens of books of photographs by the likes of Bruce Weber and Herb Ritts. He’s now turned his attention to directing a film on George Platt Lynes, arguably the foremost photographer of the male n**e in the 20th century. In the podcast below José Arroyo talks to Sam about the film itself and the various obstacles, internalised homophobia amongst them, that almost prevented its making: The podcast may be listened to below: https://notesonfilm1.com/2025/07/23/jose-arroyo-in-conversation-with-sam-shahid-director-of-hidden-masters-the-legacy-of-george-platt-lynes/

21/07/2025

José Arroyo's choice for must-see film of this year’s Cinema Rediscovered is Ardak Amirkulov’s THE FALL OF OTRAR (USSR, 1991), which will have its UK Premiere in Bristol’s old IMAX cinema, now called the Bristol Megascreen, on Sat 26th of July; and Daniel Bird is the best person to talk to about the film because he has written, programmed and curated so much of this area of cinema, because he speaks so articulately and with such an expansive frame of reference, and because he’s the one who proposed the restoration to Cecilia Cenciarelli, one of the four artistic directors of Bologna’s Il Cinema Ritrovato and part of The World Cinema Project, whose goal is to restore great film from around the world. Such as this one. As Daniel says in the podcast, ‘it’s a once in a lifetime occasion’. The podcast may be listened to here:

My choice for must-see film of this year’s Cinema Rediscovered is Ardak Amirkulov’s THE FALL OF OTRAR (USSR, 1991), which will have its UK Premiere in Bristol’s old IMAX cinema, now called the Bris…

18/07/2025

Richard and I are once more excited about the prospect of Cinema Rediscovered, which begins next week on the 23rd and runs right to the 27th at the Watershed in Bristol. This year’s is a beautifully balanced programme with directors (Carlos Saura, Maria Luisa Bemberg, Stephanie Rothman, Yasuzō Masumura) and stars (Anna Me Wong) ripe for rediscovery; but also featuring key exemplars of q***r cinema (MY BEAUTIFUL LAUNDERETTE, DESERT HEARTS, THE ANGELIC CONVERSATION; ostensibly the first film to feature q***r representation in India, BADNAM BASTI (NEIGHBOURHOOD OF ILL REPUTE); black cinema (HANDSWORTH SONGS, THE KILLER OF SHEEP), feminist exploitation cinema (THE WORKING GIRLS, THE VELVET VAMPIRE); key work’s from classic directors (Sam Fuller’s THE HOUSE OF BAMBOO, John Ford’s YOUNG MR. LINCOLN; a whole strand of 1980s British Cinema (from ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS to A ZED AND TWO NOUGHTS), newly restored masterpieces (THE FALL OF OTRAR, YEELEN); and a smattering of films from practically every hemisphere. A great program, which includes not only films but workshops, talks, introductions; for Cinema Rediscovered is not only about seeing films in the best possible conditions but also about learning on cinema from filmmakers, curators, programmers, critics, academics and other practitioners.

https://notesonfilm1.com/2025/07/18/thinking-aloud-about-film-cinema-rediscovered-2025-preview/ Richard and I are once more excited about the prospect of Cinema Rediscovered, which begins next week on

16/07/2025

DELITTO D’AMORE (Luigi Comencini, 1974), also known as CRIME OF LOVE or SOMEWHERE BEYOND LOVE in English, is along with VOLTATI EUGENIO (1980), my favourite of the Comencini films shown at this year’s Ritrovato in Bologna. Two factory workers fall in love. He’s from a family of Anarchists from the North. She’s an immigrant from South. They both live with their families but she’s a woman so all her movements are monitored. They split up because she needs to be married in a Church whilst he can only consider City Hall. Factories spewing smoke is a constant background to the development of their romance. In the accompanying podcast Richard and I discuss: how it is a MARXIST romance in which two factory workers fall in love even as the factory spews poison all over them (one of the titles considered for the film was LOVE AND POISON); how rare it is for a political film to deploy such a delicate tone, a mixture of humour/romance/enchantment; the relative rarity of having working class workers depicted so lovingly and glamorously (by Guliano Gemma and Stefania Sandrelli). The film’s been compared to LOVE STORY (Arthur Hiller, 1970) and also ALI, FEAR EATS THE SOUL (Fassbinder, 1974). We bring up Visconti’s ROCCO E I SUOI FRATELLI (1960). None of the comparisons convey the humour, the romance, the enchantment that this very political film evokes. We hope we do in the podcast that follows:

https://notesonfilm1.com/2025/07/16/thinking-aloud-about-film-delitto-damore-luigi-comencini-1974/ DELITTO D’AMORE (Luigi Comencini, 1974), also known as CRIME OF LOVE or SOMEWHERE BEYOND LOVE in Engl

02/07/2025

For this year’s Ritrovato Round-Up we are joined by the witty, incisive and all-around fabulous Pamela Hutchinson, editor of the Silent London website, author of two marvellous BFI Classic monographs (The Red Shoes, Pandora’s Box), producer of the Weekly Film Bulletin for Sight and Sound and one of the jurors for Ritrovato’s DVD Awards since 2018.

https://notesonfilm1.com/2025/07/02/thinking-aloud-about-film-ritrovato-round-up-2025-with-pamela-hutchinson/ For this year’s Ritrovato Round-Up we are joined by the witty, incisive and all-around fab

12/06/2025

Iván Zulueta’s only feature as sole director. A cult film; a q***r film; a vampire film; a film maudit; a film about film; a film about drugs; a film about film as a drug; a film that deserves to be better known. Audiences will recognise many of Almodóvar’s collaborators from his earliest works (Cecilia Roth, Eusebio Poncela, Luis Ciges, Will More; Ángel Luis Fernádez is the dop) and the voice of Almódovar himself. A genre film that transforms into an auteur film. A film of the Movida and a film of the transition. A film that embodies and evokes one era but that gained traction in another. A cinephile’s film about addiction where one delights in being bitten by drugs and cinema even as that bite becomes transformative and potentially deadly. An avant-garde experiment encased in a genre film. A trawl through the underground that aimed at the mainstream. Aside from this film, Zulueta is probably best known today for his fantastic designs for the posters of Almodóvar’s early films. A film to see and discuss.. The podcast may be listened to here: https://notesonfilm1.com/2025/06/12/thinking-aloud-about-film-arrebato-ivan-zulueta-1979/

30/05/2025

We begin this podcast by congratulating the beautiful The Garden Cinema on their superb programming. Le Jour se lève is the first in a series of great films exploring International Film Noir.
In the podcast itself we discuss the film as an example of ‘Poetic Realism’; as one of the first films to be described as a ‘film noir’; as an expression of the Popular Front sentiment and how the film’s reception aligned with reviewers’ political views. In relation to the film, we discuss the significance of its structure, the precision of the decor and mise-se-en-scène where it seems every object in François room subsequently comes into play to describe loss, longing, love, innocence since tarnished. I have made a compilation of all the times Gabin looks out the bullet-riddled window and outside. As the day rises and the night ends so does François’ life. We discuss Gabin, Arletty, Jules Berry…all at their best. Gabin is the representative everyman with nothing to live for but more sand in his lungs. It’s not only that as Georges Altman writes, ‘the whole of the working class is etched in Gabin’s face’ it’s that Gabin’s IS the face of the whole of the French working classes. He is François,. She is Françoise. Together they represent the oppression of the French working class. They are everyman and everywoman, orphaned by capitalism. This is a film not only about doomed love but a protest against class-as-destiny, one of the film’s most worked-through themes. The podcast may be listened to below:

We begin this podcast by congratulation the beautiful Garden Cinema on their superb programming. Le Jour se lève is the first in a series of great films exploring International Film Noir. In the po…

25/05/2025

Richard and I discuss Zhang Yimou's One Second (2020):

https://notesonfilm1.com/2025/05/25/one-second-zhang-yimou-2020/ Zhang Yimou’s very beautiful film has things to say about the cultural revolution and Chinese History and other things we’re not best p

29/03/2025

We discuss Visconti’s final film, currently available to see through the BFI streaming service, in conjunction with the Visconti season recently held at the Southbank, and in a lush and lovely print. Richard had to convince me to podcast on this and I’m glad we did. We both think it a great film, without being anywhere near Visconti’s greatest, a measure of the director’s extraordinary achievements. Here we discuss it in relation to D’Annunzzio’s original novel (The Intruder is the literal translation of the novel’s Italian title); the lushness of décor and costuming, which sometimes seem a John Singer Sargent painting come to life; how the mise-en-scène vividly and complexly conveys character feeling, often without dialogue, and with such skill it can make a viewer swoony with admiration; we talk of how Alain Delon and Romy Schneider were originally cast and admire the performances of Giancarlo Giannini, Jennifer O’Neill, Laura Antonelli and Rina Morelli. It was also lovely to (barely) recognise Massimo Girotti, so beautiful in OSSESSIONE, as one of Giannini’s rivals for Jennifer O’Neill’s favours. We discuss the auction scene,and the fencing scene between husband lover in some detail; how the film reminds us of the 19th century novel in its narrative sweep, melodramatic accents and its dramatization of complex ideas (faith vs science, moral actions in a world without God, marriage vs free love, equality between the sexes, etc.). A world of feeling and desire, fuelled by melodrama; a beautiful film slightly marred by its ending. We discuss all of this and more here:

https://notesonfilm1.com/2025/03/29/thinking-aloud-about-film-linnocente-the-innocent-luchino-visconti-1976/