Dear Cinephiles, “Is it the frank or the beans?” We see the set-up – something so outrageous — and it doesn’t stop. Everything up until this moment has been raunchy –– but you laugh. We all enjoy bathroom humor at some point in our lives – and this is taking it...
Dear Cinephiles, “I just didn’t know how to tell you how I felt. And I think I’m not used to needing anyone. But I need you.” As we head into Valentine’s weekend, I’ve been thinking about love stories on the screen and wanted to find something new. I’m glad I found...
Dear Cinephiles, “I want to be with you. And that what’s needed to be said.” I think one of the hardest things I’ve had to deal with is allowing myself to fall in love and be loved. I was a loner most of my life – and enjoyed being that way. I was always very private...
Dear Cinephiles, Damiel : “It’s great to live by the spirit, to testify day by day for eternity, only what’s spiritual in people’s minds. But sometimes I’m fed up with my spiritual existence. Instead of forever hovering above I’d like to...
Dear Cinephiles, “You always wanted to hold my hand when you were little.” I was meeting with the SBIFF staff via Zoom on Friday when we heard of Christopher Plummer’s death. There was a pause in our conversation, and a sinking feeling. Everybody loved Mr. Plummer –...
Dear Cinephiles, “Everybody has a mother.” One of Hollywood’s legendary actresses, Joan Crawford campaigned to get the role that would ultimately yield her Best Actress Oscar, for “Mildred Pierce” (1945). She hadn’t worked in two years. Her 18-year career at Metro...
Dear Cinephiles, “And when you say ‘No, no, no it’s not true, nothing is missing from the relationship,’ the person you’re involved with then accuses you of being secretly attracted to the person you’re just friends with, which you probably are. I...
Dear Cinephiles, Ramona: “Desperate, I love that word. It’s so romantic.” I think everyone has felt at some point or another like switching places with someone else or trying to understand how someone else lives. The grass is always greener, isn’t it? In the beguiling...
Dear Cinephiles, “I don’t care what I see outside. My vision is within. Here is where the birds sing. Here is where the sky is blue.” The above sentiment is what has gotten me through the worst moments of the past 11 months. Being confined to our homes – to staring at...
Dear Cinephiles, “I just want something for myself.” Those words are expressed by Turquoise Jones in Channing Godfrey Peoples’ phenomenal debut – “Miss Juneteenth” (2020). She is a black woman in Fort Worth, Texas who has had her dream deferred. Sixteen years ago,...
Billy Ray Valentine: “What if I can’t do this job, Coleman? What if I’m not what they expected?” Coleman: “Just be yourself, sir. Whatever happens, they can’t take that away from you.” My dear Cinephile reader, I never expected to be writing to you...
Dear Cinephiles, Jim Stark: “If I had one day when I didn’t have to be all confused and I didn’t have to feel that I was ashamed of everything. If I felt that I belonged someplace. You know?” One of the positive things that have come out of the past year...
Dear Cinephiles, “You call it luck. I call it destiny.” I can’t remember the last time I felt the sense of excitement and thrills I did while watching again John Huston’s “The Man Who Would Be King” (1975). It has a way of making you feel like a little kid all over...
Dear Cinephiles, Solange : “Sweetie, guys like that don’t hang out in Rochefort.” Delphine : “Not right now. He’s in Paris. He did my portrait.” Solange : “Who is it? You never mentioned him.” Delphine : “A painter. I don’t know him. He exists and he...
Dear Cinephiles, “You wanna believe there’s good guys and bad guys, and I’m one of the bad guys. But I give these men respect.” One of cinema’s greatest actors – Alfre Woodard – reaffirms her virtuosity in one of the last scenes in the powerful drama “Clemency”...
Dear Cinephiles, “Get your hands off them guns. I’m Orvis Goodnight! Record producer, you understand?! I live right across the street from here. Well, I don’t get this kind of service. No sir.! Two weeks ago a thief tried to break into my house. I called the police....
Dear Cinephiles, “Barry was one of those born clever enough at gaining a fortune, but incapable of keeping one, for the qualities and energies which lead a man to achieve the first are often the very cause of his ruin in the latter case.” My father proudly displayed...
Dear Cinephiles, “I don’t want realism. I want magic!” One of the greatest plays of all time was successfully adapted into film: “A Streetcar Named Desire” (1951) is exemplary and even if you’ve seen a production of Tennessee Williams’ drama, the movie version is...
Dear Cinephiles, “I like it here. It’s safe.” I like the full spectrum of cinema. I like the high-brow stuff – diving into profound subjects that startle me and keep me on my toes. I also like commercial fare. I like escapism – the idea of disconnecting and letting...
Dear Cinephiles, “It’s land Sandra, going to waste. Use it. Build a house for you and your girls.” If life as you know it is crumbling around you and you need to rebuild its foundation – not just for your own sake but for your children’s, why not go and literally...
Dear Cinephiles, Clyde Barrow: “You know what you done there? You told my story, you told my whole story right there, right there. One time, I told you I was gonna make you somebody. That’s what you done for me. You made me somebody they’re gonna...
Dear Cinephiles, “You’re aware of all your behavior yet you continue doing things that aren’t good for you. That sounds sort of foolish.” People who love each other and spend a lot of time together develop a banter between them that if witnessed by outsiders would...
Dear Cinephiles, “At times, life is hard, as hard as crucible steel. It has its bleak and painful moments. Like the ever-flowing water of a river, life has its moments of drought and its moments of flood. Like the ever-changing cycle of the seasons, life has the...
Dear Cinephiles, “You see the important thing is the rhythm. You must always have rhythm in your shaking. Now, a Manhattan, you shake to fox-trot time, a Bronx to two-step time. The dry martini you always shake to waltz time.” As someone who loves shaking cocktails as...
Dear Cinephiles, “You cannot capture a man’s entire life in two hours. All you can hope is to leave the impression of one.“ A few weeks back I wrote to you about Orson Welles’ “Citizen Kane” (1941) and its importance. I also mentioned that I would recommend you...
Dear Cinephiles, Mr. Green: “Have you come here to hurt me?” Cassie: “Do you want me to hurt you?” “Promising Young Woman” (2020) is going to entertain and keep you riveted as it makes unexpected turns, but it’s going to definitely make you feel uncomfortable at...
Dear Cinephiles, “You ain’t dealt me no cards in a long time. It’s beginning to look like you got things fixed so I can’t never win out. Inside, outside, all of them… rules and regulations and bosses. You made me like I am. Now just where am I...
Dear Cinephiles, “I’m a ballplayer.” I’ve talked to you about movies that I love and then watch again only to find my admiration grow. But recently I got to sit down to revisit “Love & Basketball” (2000), a film that I had seen and gave a passing grade when it...
Dear Cinephiles, Karen: “I know there are women, like my best friends, who would have gotten out of there the minute their boyfriend gave them a gun to hide. But I didn’t. I got to admit the truth. It turned me on.” It is exhilarating – and it’s a continuous...
Dear Cinephiles, “There’s a cure for everything – except death.” Vittorio DeSica’s “Bicycle Thieves” (1948) is another film that every serious cinephile needs to have checked out at least once. This film has not aged a bit. The opposite. Given the heightened poverty...
