The Big Picture Magazine
In one of the best films of last year, The Lost Daughter (2021), Maggie Gyllenhaal, in her directorial debut, explores the complexities of motherhood. The film is an adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s novel by the same name and has as center character a terrific Olivia Colman as Leda, a middle-aged university professor in Cambridge, Boston, […]
I’ve made a habit of watching Three Days of the Condor (1975) over the holidays. It’s a Christmas classic. But the word Christmas doesn’t even spark a line of dialogue. The jolly music heard over the radio or on the streets is the only indication of the time of year. Even the snow-barren streets, although […]
There is something sordid about the atmosphere of a small-time, small-town carnival. Comedians trapped in tragic roles. The performers may be under the limelight, but it is the dim light of a would-be only in hope, because they are always on the way towards something bigger but are often left bitter beyond any hope of […]
It was September when A Streetcar Named Desire, the film, premiered in New York City. The year was 1951. Almost exactly seventy years ago. Marlon Brando had reprised his role from the Tennessee Williams Broadway play of the same name that had propelled him to the attention and acclaim of theatre goers and critics alike. […]
LA at dawn. Silhouettes of high-rises, bungalows and lines of palm trees merge together into a glowing mist. The urban jungle created through light and shadow, and new dreams that are always rising up, and old dreams that have turned to concrete. That’s the opening image from Michael Doster’s book Doster 80s/90s. And, for some […]
I recently re-watched The Letter (1940) on what was one of the summer’s first hot nights. Actually I may make it a summer tradition, to watch on an unbearably warm night. Because noir is the genre that offers the perfect contrast to my favourite season, to the bright and euphoric summer days. Watching noir films during […]
A rectangular swimming pool framed by shaded stones and trees under the blinding sun, each element a character in itself. Marianne and Jean-Paul live freely, the lazy, good times in a magnificent villa in the South of France. Directed by Jacques Deray and starring Romy Schneider (Marianne), Alain Delon (Jean-Paul), Maurice Ronet and Jane Birkin, […]
A silhouette in white seen from behind. Wide-legged white trousers and a white shoulder-padded blazer. Low white kitten heels clattering on the tiles of an empty apartment overlooking a similar tall building of flats. From behind oversized sunglasses she sizes up the apartment and begins to list the electronic appliances that could fit in a […]
From the very beginning, Mickey Rourke was one of the four actors Alan Parker had on his list to play Harry Angel in the film Angel Heart (1987). “We arranged to meet in New York. I picked Mickey up from his hotel looking, as he always does off-screen, like an unemployed gas station attendant. We had […]