So as many of you know – I usually do Birthday Month Extravaganza for my birthday each year. The rules are simple, do something fun/new/different or something I love each day of the month (that I don’t get to do that often) to celebrate me! In the past, this has included things as simple as taking a walk and treating myself to a special coffee, or trying a new pastry/bakery to traveling to Disneyland or to NYC (where I am currently). And that’s right! I try to get in 31 days of it! (Often it tapers down by like the 20th, lol)
This year with Quarantine, I decided to scale this back a little bit and do one film I haven’t seen each Day!
Here are the results:
May 1 – American Factory, dir. Julia Reichert & Steven Bognar (2019). One roommate made comment about it being Mayday and I figured what a good time to check out the Best Documentary Winner this year. I’ll be honest, I found the dichotomy interesting, but I wasn’t grabbed by it. I haven’t checked out any of the other nominees this year in the category (I was bummed that Apollo 11 wasn’t nominated) so I can’t say I prefer any of them (I do have plans to watch them though!)
May 2 – Europa Europa, dir. Agnieszka Holland (1990). This is a great story of survival and how to adapt to live. But also, everyone was trying to bang a 16-year-old the entire film it felt like. Which I know sounds like it undermines the story a little bit, but dang, just leave the kid alone! Sometimes it seemed like it wasn’t necessarily consentual. Either way, it was enjoyable.
May 3 – Pump Up the Volume, dir. Allan Moyle (1990). One my roomies suggested this, and since I hadn’t seen it, why not? Plus young Christian Slater and “Introducing” Samantha Mathis, who was probably my favorite actress as a kid (why? Not sure). This also seemed pretty timely, some of the topics they touch upon. So much Teen Angst!!
May 4 – Angels Over Broadway, dir. Ben Hecht (1940). If you’ve never looked at Ben Hecht’s IMDb credits, do so now (I’ll wait). You see that? And that’s just what we know about! I came across this on Criterion, and enjoy many of the actors in this. It seems very stagebound, but enjoyable for the most part.
May 5 – La ilusión viaja en tranvía (Illusion Travels by Streetcar), dir. Luis Buñuel (1954). This was great! I think some of the subtitles were off a bit, but I still got the gist. What a fun little film, and great thanks to Javier for the suggestion!
May 6 – The Goonies, dir. Richard Donner (1985). Yeah, that’s right, I’d never seen it! I know many people that have fond memories of watching this as a kid, but I was not one. Not sure why. There were a few holes, and not sure I would watch it again any time soon, but watching it with people for which it was nostalgic definitely helped the viewing.
May 7 – The Edge of Seventeen, dir. Kelly Fremon Craig (2016). This was much better than I had anticipated and it has James L. Brooks written all over it. It was truly heartwarming and tough, but so good! Excellent suggestion by one of my best buddies, Brendan.
May 8 – Orpheus, dir. Jean Cocteau (1950). Having seen his La Belle et La Bete and another Orpheus adaptation Black Orpheus very recently, I feel like this was a great combination of those two things. While I do like both of those other things better than this, I think this had some great camera trickery that Jean Cocteau is often known for. I recommend it for that alone. And, you know, if you are a Cinephile.
May 9 – Dolemite is My Name, dir. Craig Brewer (2019). Scrolling through Netflix, I realized that this was one Golden Globe nominee from this last year that was one I hadn’t watched. It was “utterly charming” as one friend put it, and I couldn’t agree more. There was so much heart here, I wish that Eddie Murphy could have been nominated for an Oscar, it was well-deserved.
May 10- Magnolia, dir. Paul Thomas Anderson (1999). I watched this in a quarantine watch party, and it was nice to watch with people to comment and talk. There was so much! And it was so good! Will I watch it again anytime soon? Probably not, but PTA is definitely a master at his craft – the way he builds tension in editing and sound through out is just *chef’s kiss*.
May 11 – Bubba Ho-Tep, dir. Don Coscarelli (2002). Okay, so I didn’t enjoy this as much as I wanted to, I think I was expecting more from it knowing some of Bruce Campbell’s other works. It was still enjoyable though.
May 12 – Waiting for Guffman, dir. Christopher Guest (1996). Tidying up a Christopher Guest blind spot – I enjoyed this very much! It was also fun since I also just watched all of Schitt’s Creek and seeing Catherine O’Hara and Eugene Levy about 25 years younger was a joy. Plus baby Parker Posey!
May 13 – Double Feature! The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, dir. Martin Ritt (1965). This was good if a little heady – I can definitely see what Le Carre’s style is since this is my second exposure to him after Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Though I will say I want to watch The Night Manager now. I think also reading that Liz Taylor and Burton (who had been married for 2 years during production) caused a ruckus on set when she would visit also made this film a bit more interesting. (Oh, and Oskar Werner!)
The Secret of Roan Inish, dir. John Sayles (1994). This was so good! I have been trying to find this for ages, and am so glad I finally did. I think it was the only trailer on my MST3k: The Movie VHS, which I know is an odd choice but I had always been curious about it. Plus I love little fantastical tales like this.
May 14 – Vice, dir. Adam McKay (2018). I love a film that plays with medium, and this was a fantastic balance of that.
May 15(!!) – A Scandal in Paris, dir. Douglas Sirk (1946). I saved this one special for my birthday because it was one I’ve been trying to find for a while, and it has my absolute favorite, George Sanders. He gives off some signature witty one-liners that accompany that fabulous smirk that he always has.
May 16 – Seberg, dir. Benedict Andrews (2019). While this was a fascinating watch, it felt very predictable. The casting was fantastic (Zazie Beetz, Margaret Qualley, Jack O’Connell, Anthony Mackie, Vince Vaughan) and it made me read up on Seberg a little more. Otherwise this will probably go under the radar for most.
May 17 – Orlando, dir. Sally Potter (1992). What a fantastic film! I enjoyed this very much, and it made me want to read the book (by Virginia Woolf). An excellent piece of queer cinema.
May 18 – Se7en, dir. David Fincher (1995). Yes, another biggie that I hadn’t seen–but I knew all the spoilers. It didn’t make it any less enjoyable. However, it is sad to see that Gwyneth Paltrow’s character’s only real use in the film was to die, and that’s always disappointing and reminded me of the Women in Refrigerators trope in comics.
May 19 – Return to Oz, dir. Walter Murch (1985). Um this was nightmare fuel– specifically the “wheelers”. No wonder Fairuza Balk wound up in the films she did as an adult.
May 20 – Close-Up, dir. Abbas Kiarostami, (1990). I liked the meta-quality of this, and how he intercut the courtroom scene with reenactments by the real people. Plus I checked this off so many lists! (Rolling Stone top 100 films of the ’90s,
May 21 – The Circus, dir. Charlie Chaplin (1928). This was light after the last few days of heavy films. Plus there was a lot in here that I had seen in clips of Chaplin and wasn’t sure what it was from. Mystery solved!
May 22 – Three Days of the Condor, dir. Sydney Pollack (1975). A blindspot for bossman Bobby Red. Plus we blame Sydney Pollack for saying “let’s have the festival in January so people can ski”.
May 23 – No Film. But I did binge We’re Here on HBO. What a delight!
May 24 – Blow, dir. Ted Demme (2001). This filled in a blindspot for my Ray Liotta viewings (yes, I’ve seen Narc). I enjoyed this, though for some reason the ending stuck out to me as being very en vogue for the time, the idea of having the “dream ending” for the character, and I’d love to read some film theory of this.
May 25 – The King of Masks, dir. Wu Tianming (1995, 1999- US). This was such a sweet movie! I think also pretty ahead of it’s time for pointing out how boys are more valued in Chinese society. Plus the costuming and production were also pretty stellar.
May 26 – The Lovebirds, dir. Michael Showalter (2020). This was a cute little film. Also who doesn’t love Kumail and Issa? I would recommend it if you want a fun little comedy.
May 27 – Star Trek: The Motion Picture, dir. Robert Wise (1979). Yes, the big Star Trek fan in me wasn’t sure if I had seen all of the first film. And I was correct, I hadn’t! I knew of the V’ger plotline, and honestly thought that was the 5th film, which I am also pretty sure I haven’t seen. (I have definitely seen most of 2, 4, 6 – Nemesis. First Contact is my favorite.)
May 28 – You’re Next, dir. Adam Wingard (2011). This was a rough day for me, so I asked my roommie, who is a big horror fan, for a recommendation. This did not disappoint. Watching slashers is always fascinating, because you get to see how they introduce all the red shirts. It’s kinda like how when you see a killer in Hayes Code era films actually murder on screen, you have to guess if they are going to die or get arrested by the end of the film (because Hayes Code rules, killers have to be brought to justice in some form.)
May 29 – Sons and Lovers, dir. Jack Cardiff (1960). This was the last Best Picture nominee from the 1960s I had to watch. Now keep in mind this is just the Best Picture category and not the others. I’m very close to finishing all the Best Picture Nominees for all time. I just have a total of 15 left for all 92 ceremonies that have taken place since 1929, and 3 of those I will probably never see because 2 are in UCLA’s vault as the only surviving copy (The White Parade, a film about young women learning to become nurses, and East Lynne, based on the novel by Ellen Wood) and 1 only has a partial surviving print (The Patriot, about Emperor Paul I of Russia)
May 30 – Bugsy Malone, dir. Alan Parker (1976). I had heard of this and completely forgotten about it until it was mentioned the other day. It was very cute and heartwarming. Also it was funny to see baby Jodie Foster and Scott Baio.
May 31 – Hedwig and the Angry Inch, dir. John Cameron Mitchell (2001). I really wish I had discovered this film in high school (and Velvet Goldmine) it totally would have fit my glam/punk aesthetic. I’m so glad this closed out my first watches for the month!
Overall I think that I had a pretty solid range of things. I got at least one doc in there, a couple musicals I hadn’t seen, a horror, some art house, new stuff, old stuff, things that satisfied the film nerd and scifi nerd in me. The most watched year was 1990, with the ’90s being the most watched decade.
Redheaded Rewrites 