The Devil in the Details

You know, sometimes I watch a film and find myself with a surplus of things to say, especially when I’m fairly negative on something or find another something especially strong. However, there are lots of times when I watch a film, find myself enjoying it quite a bit, and yet have little to no idea of what exactly to say about it when it comes time to put the pencil to the paper. And then there are films like The Manchurian Candidate where I honestly have no earthly idea how I even feel about the movie, much less how to describe it to others or whether or not to recommend it. You see, this film is usually considered a taut, bleak thriller with a chip on its shoulder regarding the Joseph McCarthys of the world, but to my modern sensibilities, I can’t help but feel that it resembles a surrealist film more than anything. In one legendarily bizarre scene after another, the film manages to keep topping itself until the ultra-bleak ending sends you out with a bang: dazed, confused, and unsu

Originally published 5/5/22. Roman Polanski's brilliant 1976 film  The Tenant represents a rare form of horror film, similar to 1981's Possession, another great film that stars Isabelle Adjani, one which dares to mix horror and comedy in a way that screams 'European sophistication.' Viewers both at the time and presently generally see moments of clumsy, awkward comedy in this film as a failing of the horror, but I see it as very intentional extension of the work of many great authors like Franz Kafka or Shirley Jackson. It's surreal and strange; nightmarish in the truest sense of the word, invoking the obscure logic of nocturnal imaginings. Scenes of our lead descending into madness - alone in his apartment, a deathly silence hanging in the air - are unsettling, and the film story and characters are all perfectly ambiguous.  Where to even start with this one? Well, it is unique amongst Polanski's so-called 'apartment trilogy' of psychological horror cl

Alright, you guys know the drill: I’ve found another very specific thread of storytelling that I’ve become obsessed with: this time paranoid political thrillers, especially those from the seventies. I’ve been working hard to catalog as many as I can. This, of course, means I’m no stranger to the work of one Alan J. Pakula, director of the excellent paranoid character study Klute and the incredibly spooky The Parallax View, still most likely the best film inspired by the JFK assassination there’s ever been. Those two films happen to belong to something fans of Pakula have taken to calling his “paranoia trilogy,” the last film of which is what we’ll be taking a look at today. After dealing with surveillance and political assassinations in his previous two works of fiction,  All The President’s Men sees Pakula showing off a different side of the conspiracy narrative, primarily because this one happens to be completely true. Yes, this film is based on the book of the same name written b