what i watched last week

Tell No One. French thriller based on an American novel is nothing like the kinds of movie France turned out in their New Wave, i.e. this ain't Breathless we're talking about. Well-done, interesting characters, takes its time and does things right. The complicated plot never gets too obscure, even if it may not all hold together in retrospect. All that's missing is the kind of inspiration that makes a movie like Breathless a classic. A good job all around, well worth seeing. 7/10.

Detour. What is left to say about a movie that cost about 1/5 of what we spent remodeling our house, and is now in the Library of Congress's National Film Registry? A marvel of ingenuity, and surely the best movie you could make, given $20,000 and six days. One of the least-perfect great films ... you can watch it in the spirit of Plan 9 from Outer Space and it will reward you ... but it is relentless, and Ann Savage is perhaps the #1 noir bitch in screen history. #390 on the They Shoot Pictures, Don't They list of the 1000 Greatest Films of All Time. 9/10.

Comments

[Jeff]

Steven - have you read the book "Tell No One," or any of Harlan Coben's other stuff? Not terribly deep, but very very entertaining stuff.

[Steven]

I haven't. To be honest ... and remember I'm an English teacher ... I haven't read much fiction at all since I got my degree. Right now I'm working on The Invention of Air by Steven Johnson, and Have You Seen by David Thomson. I'm pitiful, I know.