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Staff Picks returns after I've been busy between travelling and using all of my spare time to play Persona 5. Also I'm moving this feature to Thursdays because for every single other movie I just watched it on the weekend anyway. This week's pick is: Parallax View (1974)  Directed by: Alan J. Pakula Written by: David Giler and Lorenzo Semple Jr. Edited by: John W. Wheeler Cinematography by: Gordon Willis Starring: Warren Beatty Based on a novel by Loren Singer Summary: "An ambitious reporter gets in way-over-his-head trouble while investigating a senator's assassination which leads to a vast conspiracy involving a multinational corporation behind every event in the world's headlines." There was a raft of conspiracy films produced by American filmmakers in the years following the Watergate scandal and the complete destruction of the American public's faith in the political order. There are a lot of cool movies produced in this period about surveillance, the incapability of structured order, sociopolitical control etc. In 1975 Foucalt wrote an entire book dedicated to systems of discipline and control. There is a lot of anxiousness that comes with the awareness of The System, and there are some killer movies made about these ideas (stuff like The Conversation, and All the President's Men, etc.) I haven't seen this movie but I've seen the first five minutes and read about it in relation to surveillance studies so it seems like it would be a good watch. I knew I wanted to watch the entire film when I saw this shot: http://pmd.cdn.turner.com/tcm/big/tcmweb/FILMCLIPS/2010/08/parallaxview_creditscommission_FC_235a_24f_mobile-baseline.mp4 It's available on YouTube, iTunes, Amazon, Vudu, Google play etc. Basically everywhere with digital rentals for a few bucks. --- From the Staff Picks Archives January 31st, 2017: Cure February 7th, 2017: Westfront 1918 February 14th, 2017: John Wick February 21st, 2017: Red Sorghum February 28th, 2017: God of Gamblers March 7th, 2017: The Autopsy of Jane Doe March 14th, 2017: Perfect Blue March 21st, 2017: Spring Breakers March 28th, 2017: Cemetery of Splendor
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Apr 20, 2017 16:14
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| # ? Apr 20, 2024 03:40 |
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Pakula/Willis in the 70s is required viewing. This is the greatest movie ever shot in the Pacific Northwest.
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Apr 20, 2017 17:10
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Watching this now. I love the hues of color that whatever exposure/development processes produced this weird muted palettes in American 70s blockbusters. Same way with the early 60s technicolor bonanzas. I bet there's writing out there about the specifics of those different developments, would be cool to read about.
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Apr 23, 2017 18:54
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Also the classic acting style of these American movies where people are kind half rambling and stumbling over their words and repeating phrases all the time. Watching this like 2 days after the conversation so I've got 70s thrillers on the mind
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Apr 23, 2017 19:00
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I was expecting a much more restrained narrative but halfway through this warren Beatty fakes his own death and enrolls in a secret society of highly trained international assassins that recruit members by mail. This movie is awesome
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Apr 23, 2017 19:49
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In Training posted:I was expecting a much more restrained narrative but halfway through this warren Beatty fakes his own death and enrolls in a secret society of highly trained international assassins that recruit members by mail. This movie is awesome Woah
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Apr 23, 2017 21:21
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 Screenies: http://imgur.com/a/pQ5VQ I loved the design of this huge weirdly empty warehouse where the last 15 minutes took place  https://my.mixtape.moe/eoictg.webm And the shot of him walking up the aisle of the airplane with the camera swinging back and forth, gif is in the album.
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Apr 23, 2017 23:09
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Big fan of this movie! Love the ending. I'm surprised Criterion has never scooped this up yet.
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Apr 23, 2017 23:39
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New thread: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3818615
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Apr 27, 2017 20:26
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| # ? Apr 20, 2024 03:40 |
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I've been on a New Hollywood kick and watched this flick about a month ago and it loving owns. Klute (1971) is worth watching--it lacks the political subtext of The Parallax View but it put Pakula on the map and has a strong undercurrent of erotic tension in the score and the cinematography. Donald Sutherland and Jane Fonda are fantastic as the leads.
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Apr 28, 2017 06:54
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