May Flowers

Two new reviews linked, for Summer Hours and Night and Day, and a Dorothea Lange photograph to make it worth your while: file under “A Woman Alone.”

I’ve been watching a bunch of Phil Karlson films this past week for a short Guardian essay, and I’m convinced he deserves deeper study — for the signal, Cold War-era paranoia of his films, as well as their complex graphings of violence & masculinity (Clint Eastwood’s work is under the Karlson sign). It’s miserable that films like 99 River Street, The Phenix City Story, Tight Spot, and Gunman’s Walk aren’t available on DVD. To close, The Brothers Rico (based on a Simenon story!) has provided me this new favorite distillation of the noir species: “So I’m gonna die, but Eddie, you’ve got even bigger troubles: you’re going to live.” Typical of Karlson’s films, this line passes between brothers.

~ by maxgoldb on May 22, 2009.