Review of Criterion's Blu-ray release of "Tootsie"

My review of The Criterion Collection's new Blu-ray release of Sydney Pollack's "TOOTSIE" is up at Cinema Retro. Scroll down until you find it, or alternatively click "Criterion Corner" under Categories in the right hand column.

Film History Paper #3... Godfrey Reggio by David Sarrett

Every semester I pick three outstanding final papers from my Film History class at the College of DuPage.  I will be posting these throughout the week.

Third one up... David Sarrett's take on GODFREY REGGIO.
--Raymond

******

Godfrey Reggio

By David Sarrett

            There are things around all of us that are hidden in plain sight. Things that are so present, normal, and ordinary that we do not see them for the intensity that they are.   Reggio takes these things and stares at them at length until they become strange.  This is the thread that sews Reggio’s work together in a cohesive approach to what has been branded as experimental documentaries.

            Born March 29, 1939 in New Orleans, Louisiana, Reggio was brought up in a traditional catholic family, in a catholic city, and attended Mater Dolorosa School (Spanish for Mother of Sorrows) through 8^th grade.  At age fourteen, on his own volition, against his parents’ wishes but with their approval, Reggio left home and joined the Christian Brothers, a Roman Catholic pontifical order and a self-sufficient community of 140 monks that make their own food and clothes, care for their sick, and bury their dead. Reggio spent fourteen years living with the Christian Brothers in what he considered a middle ages culture.  This way of living was intense, rigorous and purposeful, and it had a demanding routine.  Although Reggio openly admits that this was not a monastery of total silence, he spent much of his time in silence, fasting, and prayer.  An intended lifer, Reggio took his final vows at age 25.  Akin to a male nun, Reggio, with a humble point of view, became a teacher while also servicing the poor.  He taught grade school, secondary school, and college. (IMDB)

Reggio was introduced to “Los Olvidados”, a film by Luis Bunuel about poor children in Mexico.  This film was a spiritual experience for Reggio. Its ambience and ethos produced a story beyond entertainment that touched Reggio’s soul. He watched it with his students over one hundred times, and this film became their bible.  It inspired Reggio to think about cinema as a poetic medium to inflict people with feeling about the world we live in. (CivilNet TV)

The Pope at the time was Pope John XXIII, who once said, “Question everything, accept nothing, including the structure of the church.”  This became Reggio’s marching orders, which would subsequently get him into trouble. While there were not many poor children at his school, they did lurk just outside the community in gangs. In 1963 he co-founded Young Citizens for Action, a community organization project that aided juveniles among the street gangs in Santa Fe, New Mexico. This work was not in the interest of the Christian Brothers, and Reggio was asked to leave at the age of 28. (Singularityweblog)

Reggio now saw the world with a new perspective, as an outsider looking in, stepping in, and being surrounded by it all.  Reggio has said that being in the church is like being in an exoteric form of religion.  Being in the religious order is like being in an esoteric form of religion in that it is more concentrated and more about the pursuit of perfection as opposed to the attainment.  Reggio goes on to say that, as a young monk the focus of intellectual attention was the love of the word.  The word is currently in a vast state of humiliation.  The word no longer describes the world in which we live.  This is a conundrum for Reggio because we see the world through language.  There is beauty in that we have different languages to describe our world.  It is tragic that we are losing our languages.  At the beginning of the twentieth century we had arguably 1.7 billion people on the planet speaking 35,000 different languages and principal dialects.  Today there are seven billion people speaking in the vicinity of four thousand languages.  This is an inverse relationship.  Inverse relationships are a concept Reggio likes to examine.  The study of ethnology at a University involves people of developed cultures putting subjective categories on indigenous people.  Reggio reverses this by taking indigenous people and putting their subjective categories on a progressive culture.  He demonstrates this perspective through the lens. Take the Napoleonic statement “A picture is worth a thousand words”, and turn it on its head.  Take a thousand pictures and summarize it in one word.  That’s how Reggio conceived the title of his first film, Koyaanisqatsi. (Singularityweblog)

Koyaanisqatsi is the first of a trilogy of “qatsi” speechless narrations. The name is a compound word that comes from the Hopi Indian language.  Qatsi means “life”.  Any word that predicates it furthers it’s meaning.  Koyaanis means “out of balance”.  The trilogy consists of Koyaanisqatsi, Powaqqatsi, and Naqoyqatsi. Defined as “Life out of Balance”, “Life in Transformation”, and “Life as War” respectively.  Reggio considers it a  Meta language, a poetic language. Not of word.  It is pictorial and non-mental in that it is aimed at the solar plexus to give the viewer a feeling.  This experience is visceral.  All of Reggio’s films can be considered impossible to categorize in the measure that they do not have something that precedes it as a point of view.  This is why they aren’t traditional documentary films because Reggio is not trying to explicate his point of view. He is not a propagandist. (CivilNet TV) His films were done as a collaborative form with Ron Fricke as the cinematographer and Philip Glass doing the unique score full of arpeggios, pipe organs and synths. Ron Fricke was heavily influenced by this project as witnessed in his own release of Baraka in 1992. 

Reggio explains that the qatsi trilogy was conceived as incomplete with the audience completing the subject.  “It isn’t a story to be told, it’s a story to behold.”  He wanted to get away from the linear landscape of cinema avoiding screenplay, narration, actors, story and plot.  What is left is motor speed, lenses, movement or stillness of camera, color, lack of color, and veracity of image.  Image is ubiquitous. (CivilNet TV) What Reggio saw hidden in plain sight all around was technology.  “The purpose of Koyaanisqatsi is to enter the vascular structure of the beast.  The beast is global communication, that which fulfills all of our technological desires.  This beast is the price we pay for the pursuit of those desires.” (Singularityweblog) This idea is portrayed first in Koyaanisqatsi with the camera focused on the Northern Hemisphere bouncing between untouched nature and human beings’ increasing dependence on technology.  Simply put, Koyaanisqatsi shows a way of life that calls for another way of living.  His second film, Powaqqatsi, created five years later, focuses on third world nations in the Southern Hemisphere.  Forgoing the sped-up aesthetic of the first film, a meditative slow motion technique is used to portray the beauty in those areas of the planet and how cultures are being eroded as their environments are taken over by industry.  The third film in the trilogy, Naqoyqatsi, tells of a world that has completed the transition from the natural to the artificial, from Old World to New World.  (IRE)

Three decades after his debut, Reggio completed his latest feature, Visitors. Whereas Koyaanisqatsi has 384 cuts, Powaqqatsi has exactly one hundred more at 484 cuts, and Naqoyqatsi has 565 cuts; Visitors has only seventy-four cuts.  Despite the differences in the number of cuts, each of these films is around 90 minutes in length.  With vastly fewer cuts than the previous films, Visitors pushes the viewer into a deprogramming, a forced slowing of our senses.  Reggio equates his filmmaking to churning butter, which he did as a child in the 1940s.  It’s a lengthy rigorous repetitive process, which consistently improves the product.  He continues to use the same subject, and keeping the film as his medium, he increasingly becomes more focused.  Visitors is shot digitally in 4K resolution in Black and White and infrared only.  4K allows more organic material to be on the screen.  All subjects are against an all black background, otherwise referred to as “black-ground”.  This black-ground gives an illusion of dimensionality.  Visitors is meant to put a mirror on the entire planet earth. Without giving away any possible interpretations of the film, aesthetics are paramount.  “Color contemporizes”, Reggio says.  Black and White elicits more emotion, giving birth to sensation, emotion and perception.  When asked about the hypocrisy of using 4K technologies to portray how technology has corrupted our civilization, Reggio admits he has a strong negative view in that he is a prisoner like the rest of us in the global madness we live in called progress and development. (Singularityweblog)

I think Reggio has bookended his career wonderfully.  As a man in his seventies, he tours the world still preaching to a younger audience as he quotes Goethe. “Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, DO IT.” Boldness has genius, magic and power in it.  Trust yourself and live a non self-conscious life.  He continues that the word “beauty” is derived from the Greek work “kallos”, which translates “to provoke”.  Reggio wants to provoke his audience plain and simple. Reggio describes a fork in the road that lies before us all; the New and the Old world.  The mantra of New World is “United We Stand”. The mantra of the Old World is “Divided We Stand.”  The beauty of life is its diversity.  Boring is one weather pattern, one season.  One Language is boring. Whereas the Old World has seasons, the New World has software.  Old and New respectively contrast mystery vs. certainty, stories vs. storage, the Sun vs. energy companies, The Word vs. digital zeros and ones, interaction vs. mediation.  The Old World has breath while the New World is breathless. (Singularityweblog) Reggio, however, is grateful to be alive and breathing and considers himself a fortunate refugee who has resurfaced in the twentieth century.  All this interviewing, speaking, and text splashed on the Internet was not a part of Reggio’s plan.  His conclusion has persistently been that the highest value of art has no predetermined meaning but meaning gleaned from the experience of the encounter.  Ultimately, it is whatever you make of it.

Works Cited

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gsCTkd3A5M

“Filmmaker Godfrey Reggio’s Unique View of the World.” CivilNet TV, July 9, 2013. Web. Dec. 8, 2014

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0716585/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm

 “Godfrey Reggio Biography.” IMDB, 2014. Web. Dec. 08, 2014

http://www.koyaanisqatsi.com/films/film_collection.php

 “Criterion Collection Liner Notes.” IRE, 2013. Web. Dec. 08, 2014.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6UhRp2CLwA 

“Godfrey Reggio on Singularity 1 on 1: We are in the Cyborg State!” Singularityweblog, Nov. 11, 2013. Web. Dec. 08, 2014

Film History Paper #2... Stanley Kubrick by Trevor Scholtens

Every semester I pick three outstanding final papers from my Film History class at the College of DuPage.  I will be posting these throughout the week.

Second one up... Trevor Scholtens' take on STANLEY KUBRICK.
--Raymond

******

Stanley Kubrick: Auteur

by Trevor Scholtens

            Stanley Kubrick is one of the most influential, skilled, and arguably the all-around filmmakers to ever live. He has left a huge legacy behind him, but he started in New York City on July 26^th, 1928 when he was born. Kubrick grew up in the Bronx with his father, Jacques, a doctor, his mother, Sadie, a stay at home mom, and his younger sister, Barbara. When he was in school, Stanley wasn’t a traditionally good student at all. He would often skip class, was a social recluse, and was viewed as an underachiever. He was considered by many to be intelligent, but his grades ranked at the bottom of his class. He never valued school, or even a formal education that much, once saying “I have never learned anything at school, and I never read a book for pleasure until I was 19.” He applied to many colleges by the end of high school, but none accepted him. As a kid, Kubrick wanted to become a professional novelist or a Major League baseball player. Since he never seemed to value academics, he played the drums for his high school’s jazz band, and took many pictures with a camera that his father gave him. He was a very skilled photographer and eventually sold some of his shots to Look magazine at the age of sixteen. About one year later, he was hired as a freelance photographer for the magazine (Stanley Kubrick Bio).

            In 1950, Kubrick created a photo essay about boxing and used his savings to make his first documentary short, Day of The Fight. He made two other documentaries, Flying Padre and The Seafarers, and then had family members invest in his first narrative film, Fear and Desire. The movie was shown in a few art-house theaters in New York. The movie is considered to be one of the first independent films due to him making it without a studio behind it. He then made two low-budget crime thrillers, Killer’s Kiss in 1955 and The Killing in 1956, and they were well received critically and financially. By 1957 Kubrick was able to make a film for a major studio, so he made Paths of Glory, a remarkable antiwar film that starred Kirk Douglas (About Kubrick).

Kubrick became better known when he directed the historical epic, Spartacus, in 1960 also starring Kirk Douglas. Spartacus was nominated for six Academy Awards and won four. Kubrick moved to the United Kingdom in order to make his provocative 1962 film, Lolita, based on the controversial novel by Vladimir Nabokov of the same name. He remained in the United Kingdom for the rest of his life and career as a filmmaker. Stanley then received his first Academy Award nomination for best director, best writing, and best picture in 1964 for his hilarious political satire, Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. The film that really brought him into the public’s eyes was the utterly incredible and cosmic epic 2001: A Space Odyssey in 1968. The film was extremely critically acclaimed and earned four Academy Award nominations and won Kubrick the award for best special effects, the only Oscar he will have ever won (Stanley Kubrick Bio).

His success continued throughout the 1970’s with films like the shocking yet dazzling A Clockwork Orange in 1971, the historical fictional drama Barry Lyndon in 1975. Stanley then made the terrifying horror film The Shining in 1980, and the chilling Vietnam War film, Full Metal Jacket in 1987. His final film came twelve years later and was the surreal Eyes Wide Shut. He finished his final cut of the film and died of a heart attack in his sleep on March 7, 1999. He was 70 years old (Stanley Kubrick Bio).

            One reason why Stanley Kubrick is considered an auteur is because he has a very distinct and skillful visual style. His most distinct visual trait is his use of nearly perfect symmetry in almost all of his films. The way Kubrick sets up and films many of his shots makes them look close to perfectly symmetrical. Many of his films use this impressive technique to draw the audience in to whatever is going on because it is very interesting, and perhaps beautiful, to look at (The “One-Point Perspective” in Stanley Kubrick’s Works).

            Another visual trademark of Kubrick is his long tracking shots. Every single film of his has at least one uncut tracking shot that usually lasts for a while. These long tracking shots are impressive in their execution and usually show the atmosphere of the current scene very well. The shot is usually the camera pulling back while a character is walking forward facing the camera (Stanley Kubrick’s Legendary Film Techniques).  

            Kubrick also was very well known for his meticulous way of filming and directing his actors. Kubrick was famous for being a perfectionist when it came to his movies. He wanted every detail to reflect how he envisioned the film. His symmetrical shots are carefully and impressively made already, but he would often take charge of every small detail, even props in the background, so that it coincided with what he wanted. He was also very controlling of his actors. He would make his actors only say what was written in the script and very rarely let them improvise. His blocking was exact and would shoot multiple takes of every shot so that he could use the perfect one. He was famous for being very hard to work with as a director, but very effective. All of his actors gave extremely well done performances, even earning Peter Sellers an Oscar nomination for best actor in Dr Strangelove and Peter Ustinov a win for his supporting role in Spartacus.

            One theme that Kubrick often explored was the dark side of mankind. His films all have a form of crime or moral ambiguity committed by at least one main character. He would often include deaths and breaches of trust amongst the characters in his stories. His focus on humanity’s more sinister subjects made his films compelling, yet challenging for his viewers to watch.

            One film that shows his traits as an auteur extremely well is 2001: A Space Odyssey. The film has many shots that are symmetrical and beautiful to look at. The “stargate” sequence has a lot of shots of colors of light that are reflective and gorgeous. He uses long tracking shots for many scenes involving the astronauts on spaceships. One example is when an astronaut is running laps around the interior of the circular spacecraft and it lasts for a long time. The camera stays on him the entire time and the whole scene is uncut. Kubrick’s perfectionism is shown through his realistic ape suits and spaceships for the movie. He consulted NASA to help him create realistic looking designs for his spaceships which he spent a long time designing. His effects for the sequences in space were amazingly realistic today even with the limitations of 1960’s effects. The film explores humanity’s dark side by showing a scene that shows the first tool ever made by man to be used as a weapon to murder an enemy.

            Another film that expresses Stanley Kubrick’s qualities as an auteur is A Clockwork Orange. The film, again, uses a lot of symmetrical and well put together shots in it. An example of this would be in the opening shot when you see the Korova Milk Bar. Everything in the shot is symmetrical and impressively put together. He uses many tracking shots, including the scene where Alex browses a record shop. The scene is a continuous take through an elaborate record shop of Alex walking to the camera. He also took control of many things in the movie to make it more real. He actually instructed actors to harm the main actor in one scene and they broke some of the main actor’s ribs. His exploration of human darkness is shown by having the main character, Alex, being a rapist and murderer. He is a despicable human being, but he is still presented in a sympathetic light when bad things happen to him.

            One more film that illustrates his traits as an auteur is The Shining. His shots are extremely symmetrical, again, especially in the scene where Danny meets the Grady twins for the first time. He uses many long tracking shots in many scenes in the hedge maze, but more notably in the scene where Danny rides his bike through the hotel and the camera follows him for a long time without cutting. He was very controlling of his actors with this movie. He made Shelly Duvall walk up stairs 127 times and verbally abused her to get the paranoid, scared performance he wanted from her. The film explores the dark side of the human race by having the story basically about one man’s descent into murderous madness.

            Stanley Kubrick made only thirteen films in his lifetime and his influence and legacy even live on today. In my opinion, all of his films are astonishing and continue to this day to be inspiring and legendary. There are not many directors that this can be said about. He is an auteur because a Stanley Kubrick film is unmatched in its greatness and is easily recognizable as his own. He made films to the best of his abilities because he loved to make his movies and his passion showed on the screen with his masterpieces of modern cinema. He made his mark on the film world and it will never go away. Kubrick once said, “One man writes a novel. One man writes a symphony. It is essential that one man make a film” (About Kubrick), and that is exactly what this one man did.

Works Cited

Stanley Kubrick Bio: http://www.biography.com/people/stanley-kubrick-9369672#final-years

About Kubrick: http://kubrickfilms.warnerbros.com

The “One-Point Perspective” in Stanley Kubrick’s Works: http://filmmakermagazine.com/85083-the-one-point-perspective-in-stanley-kubricks-work/#.VIUyrGcytEM

Stanley Kubrick’s Legendary Film Techniques: http://www.lavideofilmmaker.com/filmmaking/stanley-kubrick-film-techniques.html

Film History Paper #1... Frank Capra by Michelle Imbordino

Every semester I pick three outstanding final papers from my Film History class at the College of DuPage.  I will be posting these throughout the week.

First up... Michelle Imbordino's take on FRANK CAPRA.
--Raymond

******

FRANK CAPRA

by Michelle Imbordino

            Throughout the history of film, there have been many wonderful directors whose work have, and will continue to transcend time. One of these directors is Frank Capra. Frank Capra had an exciting life and a directing career that was so magnificent and stylistically his own that he can be called an auteur director.

             Much like characters in Frank Capra movies, Capra lived an interesting life that was full of ups and downs. Frank Capra was born as Francesco Rosario Capra on May 18th, 1897 in Bisacquino, Sicily. He was the youngest of seven, and his family was Roman Catholic. When Capra was five, his family decided to chase the American Dream and come to the US. They settled in an Italian ghetto in Los Angeles. Later on, Frank Capra graduated high school, and then went to college and graduated in chemical engineering. After graduating, and during World War I, Capra decided to enlist in the army (Wikipedia). While in the army he taught math to artillerymen at Fort Scott, San Francisco. A year later, his father died, and then Capra caught the Spanish flu and was medically discharged. In 1920, he became a US citizen and took the name Frank Russell Capra.

After finally recovering, Frank Capra decided to travel around the western US for a couple of years and worked odd jobs along the way. Then, one day Capra read a newspaper article about a new movie studio opening, called them, and then was able to land a job with them. Capra didn't really have any experience, but none the less the studio founder was still impressed and offered him money to direct a one-reel silent film (Wikipedia). Afterward, Capra began to look for more similar jobs in the film industry. He took a position with a minor studio, and then was offered, and received and job to work at Harry Cohn's new studio at the time. Later on, Capra became a gag writer for Hal Roach's Our Gang series, and then wrote for slapstick comedy director, Mack Sennett, where he wrote scripts for the comedian Harry Langdon. Harry Langdon and Frank Capra formed a bond, and so when Langdon left, and moved to First National Studios, he took Capra along too as his personal writer and director. Between 1926 and 1927, they made 3 feature films together, which were all successes with the critics and the public (Wikipedia). But then, Capra and Langdon had a falling out and Capra was fired. In 1928, Capra went back to Harry Cohn's studio, which was now named Columbia Pictures. During this time, sound was making its way into film. Because of Capra's engineering background, it wasn't difficult for him to adapt to the change.

In 1934, Frank Capra's movie It Happened One Night was released. This was the movie that put not only Capra on the map, but also Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert, and Columbia Pictures. It was also the first film to win all five top Oscars (Wikipedia).

His next film was Broadway Bill. Broadway Bill was a turning point in his career. It was with this movie that his style and themes came about. Capra continued on to make more successful movies through the 30's. In 1936, he made Mr. Deeds Goes to Town and won his second best director Oscar for it. In 1938, You Can’t Take It with You was released, which Capra received his third director Oscar for. Then, in 1939, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington was released, and the following year Meet John Doe came out ("Biography").

In December 1941, the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred, which led Frank Capra to enlist as a major in the United States Army. During that time, he was asked to direct and produce documentaries that explained to the public the reasons for the US entry into World War II (Wikipedia). His series of documentaries was called Why We Fight. They were a mix of documentary footage, animation from Walt Disney, and staged sequences shot in Hollywood (Dixon). After the war ended, Frank Capra got together with William Wyle and George Steven and founded their own studio called Liberty Films. Liberty Films one and only film was It's a Wonderful Life. It's a Wonderful Life was released in 1946, and failed at the box office. Regardless, it was still nominated for five academy awards. In 1948, Capra chose to work with MGM Pictures to make the movie State of the Union. This was the only time he worked with MGM Pictures (Wikipedia).

As the 40's started coming to a close, it was evident that Capra's themes and ideas were out of synch with the rest of nation, which had been socially transformed by the war. Not only that, but the film industry was also changing (Dixon). During the Korean War, in 1950, Capra tried to re-enlist in the Army, but was turned down. He was dejected. By 1952, Capra had mostly retired from Hollywood, and went on to produce educational films on science topics for Caltech. Capra's last film was Rendezvous in Space, and it was released in 1964 (Wikipedia). By 1967, Capra was officially retired from Hollywood.

In Capra's personal life, he had two wives. He was married to his first wife, Helen Howell, between 1923 and 1928. Then, in 1928, he married his second wife Lucille Warner. They ended up having 3 children together, and then their children then went on to have children of their own (Wikipedia). Between 1939 and 1941, Frank Capra was the President of the Screen Directors Guild. He was also the president of the Directors Guild of America (or DGA) between 1960 and 1961. In 1982, Frank Capra received a Life Achievement Award from the American Film Institute ("1982...”). Three years later, and at the age of 88, Frank Capra died. The following year he was awarded the Nation Medal of Arts (Wikipedia). While Frank Capra may have died, he also lived, and boy, did he live greatly.

            As one of the most beloved directors, Frank Capra's impact on the history of film is undeniable. For starters, Frank Capra put Columbia Studios, which was once one of the studios on poverty row, on the map. He also helped the careers of Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert, James Stewart, Cary Grant, Gary Cooper, and Jean Arthur (Wikipedia). Another major impact Frank Capra had on the history of film, was being one of the first creators of the film movement screwball comedy. Screwball comedies are characterized as movies where there's farcical situations, a unpredictable plot, battle of the sexes, escapist themes, plot lines involving courtship and marriage, witty dialogue, and they typically follow a couple that doesn't like each other at first but then grows to love each other by the end. Capra's first screwball comedy was It Happened One Night. Some of his other screwball comedies include Broadway Bill, You Can’t Take It with You, and Mr. Deeds Goes to Town ("Screwball..."). Screwball comedies blew up during the Great Depression because they were escapist films; and if there was anything Frank Capra was excellent at, it was creating escapist films. His next greatest impact on film history was just that; providing movie goers throughout time, and especially during the Great Depression, with the hope and joy they needed to continue on, because with the absence of hope, there is no life.

            Stylistically and thematically Frank Capra's films were his own. Because of this, he is considered an auteur. One major characteristic of Frank Capra films is that each one is able to strike the perfect balance between light and dark. There is pain and loss, but never any deep sense of tragedy. Also, in some Capra films, the story revolves around a simple man who tries to fight corruption in a society, and then in the end he triumphs. The best example of this is probably Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington tells the story of a naive, idealistic man who goes to Washington to fill a vacancy in the US Senate. Things don't go as planned, and he is faced with political corruption, which he stubbornly opposes until he wins in the last minutes. Another characteristic in Frank Capra films is his use of vertical swipe transitions. One example is the movie It's a Wonderful Life, where there's many. Another aspect of many Frank Capra films is wise-cracking and sharp dialogue. This can probably be best seen in his screwball comedies. For example, the movie It Happened One Night. In said movie, there is a lot of witty banter between the two main characters. Banter that has mostly resulted because the characters had issues surrendering their feelings to each other. Another characteristic of Capra movies is his choice of actors and actress. In more than one film the following stars, star: Jean Arthur, James Stewart, and Gary Cooper. Furthermore, I don't think anyone can describe Frank Capra movies better than he did when he received the Life Achievement Award from the American Film Institute in 1982. He said "The art of Frank Capra is very, very simple: It's the love of people. Add two simple ideals to this love of people: the freedom of each individual and the equal importance of each individual, and you have the principle upon which I based all my films" (Frank Capra Accepts).

            Frank Capra was a remarkable, auteur director, who's work will live on in infamy, or at least so long as movies exist. He was a man who restored human spirits, with just a little bit of magic. A man who's genuine, feel-good films that in a kaleidoscope whirlwind and yin and yang fashion, mix the pain of life with the joy in perfect harmony, will always be cherished.

Works Cited

"1982 FRANK CAPRA TRIBUTE." American Film Institute. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Dec. 2014.             <http://www.afi.com/laa/laa82.aspx>.

"Biography." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 09 Dec. 2014.   <http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001008/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm>.

Dixon, Wheeler W., and Gwendolyn Audrey. Foster. A Short History of Film. Vol. 2. New          Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers UP, 2013. Print.

Frank Capra Accepts the 10th AFI Life Achievement Award in 1982. Perf. Frank             Capra. YouTube. AFI, n.d. Web. 09 Dec. 2014.         <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t746ZVw09P4>.

"Frank Capra". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia

            Britannica Inc., 2014. Web. 07 Dec. 2014     <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/94149/Frank-Capra>.

"Frank Capra." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 12 May 2014. Web. 09 Dec. 2014.             <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Capra>.

"Screwball Comedy Film." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 30 Nov. 2014. Web. 09 Dec.         2014. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screwball_comedy_film>.

Review: Blu-ray release of Robert Altman's "Thieves Like Us"

My review of Kino Lorber's new Blu-ray release of Robert Altman's 1974 crime and love story, "Thieves Like Us," is up a Cinema Retro.  Scroll down until you see it; otherwise click on my name under "Categories" in the right-hand column.