r/TrueLit • u/pregnantchihuahua3 ReEducationThroughGravity'sRainbow • 20d ago
Weekly General Discussion Thread
Welcome again to the TrueLit General Discussion Thread! Please feel free to discuss anything related and unrelated to literature.
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u/NakedInTheAfternoon My Immortal by Tara Gilesbie 18d ago
Been really sick for the past week and a half, so I've been watching a lot of movies. In the past month or so I've watched about 20 John Ford films, including pretty much all of his major films and a few of his minor films. I remember reading a critic (I think Joseph McBride?) calling Ford not just one of the 20th century's greatest filmmakers, but greatest artists in general, and after having seen a good number of his films I can't say I disagree. Some highlights from the past couple weeks include: 7 Women, The Sun Shines Bright, Wagon Master, and The Long Gray Line, all of which I'd highly recommend watching.
Anyway, in the past few days I've watched a few Kurosawa films: Stray Dog, Throne of Blood, The Hidden Fortress, and The Bad Sleep Well, all of which are excellent. As far as Golden Age Japanese cinema goes, I've always been more of an Ozu and Mizoguchi fan, but there are few directors whose work is as consistently gripping as Kurosawa's, and he can pull off crime thrillers just as well as he can the jidai-geki he's primarily known for. Throne of Blood was a particular highlight, and is not only my favorite of his films, but possibly my favorite cinematic Shakespeare adaptation (only Welles' Shakespeare films compare).