A man and woman — white, in their late-twenties — circle each other in the woman’s apartment. Her name is Cynthia; she and the man, John, are having an affair. “They’re just tapes he makes so he can sit around and get off,” she tells John. Cynthia is talking about Graham, John’s estranged friend from… Continue reading Horner and His Friends
Category: Film Essay
The Devil and Mr. Barrymore
On John Barrymore and Twentieth Century.
Judy Holliday, A Name for Herself
A centennial tribute.
On the Seesaw
On the history of Anne Bancroft’s definitive role in William Gibson’s Two for the Seesaw, the nuances of becoming a character, and the importance of being seen.
Being Billie Dawn
How Born Yesterday informs American myth-making and the genius of Judy Holliday.
Grief and Jack Lemmon
What does it mean to save the tiger? Scale your hurt and loss with things you can help, knowing that somewhere out there, you’ve done something that matters. Or is it the promise that you’ve done something that matters that supersedes the results? *** The first time Jack Lemmon won an Oscar was for his… Continue reading Grief and Jack Lemmon
We Should All Love Anne Bancroft: Revisiting “The Graduate”
Revisiting “The Graduate” on its 53rd anniversary.
Content warning: Sexual assault.
From the Vault: “The Graduate” at Seventeen
My second essay on my favorite film, from September 4, 2018.
From the Vault: “The Graduate” at Sixteen
My first essay on my favorite film, from January 27, 2018.
Film Noir for the Innocent: “They Live By Night”
A companion piece to my Noirvember 2020 post.
Garbo Talks 