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Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg) is a practicing Jew who seeks answers from his faith when his life starts to unravel - but every answer he receives is unsatisfactory to him. The best thing about this film is the myriad ways it could be interpreted. As I watched it, I thought it was mostly about the failure of religion to provide an answer to ( Read more... )

Finally saw this today. Maybe if I see it again, I'll like it better. That's what happened to me with Todd Haynes' other film about music and fame and past eras, Velvet Goldmine. I'm Not There though, misses having Velvet Goldmine's Arthur Stuart character - the fan who lives through the music from afar, but in a more passionate way than even ( Read more... )

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I've been reading some British stuff written during, and about, the Between the Wars era. I love this period in novels - things are trivial and silly but with an edge of doom and underlying seriousness attached to everything.

First I checked out The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford. I hadn't read them sooner because ( Read more... )

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LACMA is having a five week Jean Renoir film series where they're showing nearly all of his films.  I went twice this weekend, first to see the double bill of Grand Illusion and The Elusive Corporal and then to see La Marseillaise last night.

Of course, Grand Illusion is a wonderful film and there's not much I'm able to say about it.  This was my ( Read more... )

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