The Last 10 Films I've Seen

I will be the first person to admit this is a very strange list!

"The Cardinal" is the nightmare opus I feared it would be. Unless you are Catholic or an Otto Preminger fan, you will probably not be interested in seeing the film though John Huston is solid in a supporting role.

Huston directed "Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison," with Robert Mitchum and Debroah Kerr. The film, which was quite good, marked the second time Kerr played a nun. "Black Narcicuss" was the first.

"Stoked-The Rise and Fall of Gator" is a tragic documentary about skateboarder Mark Rogowski SPOILER ALERT: He was imprisoned in California for murdering a female acquitance. A short time after his 31-year sentence, he was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder. According to Wikipedia, he is eligible for parole this year.

"Fish Tank" is an excellent, but highly depressing English film which has won well-deserved critical praise.

"Mahkum/Confinement" is an over-the-top '70s Turkish action yarn with the familiar father-and-son soap opera plot which stars former matinee idol Cuneyt Arkin (pictured here) who is now 72 years old!

"8 Million Ways to Die" with Jeff Bridges and Andy Garcia was the last film from the great Hal Ashby. Sadly, it does not stand up to his great films like "Harold and Maude" by any stretch, but it makes for a great '80s nostalgia trip. I saw the film, which is not available on dvd, on IFC.

"Jud Seuss" is the highly infamous anti-Semitic German film made when Hitler ruled Germany in 1940. I found it on Youtube. Even though it is a historic film studied by scholars, it is also popular among skinheads because of its themes. The film's director Veit Harlan (1899-1964) is the subject of a new documentary. He was interestingly enough the late Stanley Kubrick's father-in-law.

"Umut/Hope" is a highly-regarded Turkish film from Yilmaz Guney, a man who Turkish conservatives still despise even though he died more than 20 years ago because of his politics. Though I am hardly a Turkish nationalist, I also differ with many of his far-left views, including his desire to see a free Kurdistan within Turkey (Guney was of Kurdish heritage). But, Guney, who was also a matinee idol in the sixties, is also highly recognized for his artistic accomplishments as a film director. His earlier film "Seyit Han/Bride of the Earth" (1969) was recently screened at the on-going Boston Turkish Film Festival.

Here are the last ten films I've seen. I must profess this idea came from the on-going series in "Film Comment" in which the magazine asks various film directors what are the last ten films they have seen.

This reminds me of a tweet I saw last week from Pee Wee Herman (Paul Rubens) in which the character/character actor said he was watching "Pee Wee's Big Adventure," a film which is NOT on this list!:

1. The Cardinal (Otto Preminger, 1963)
2. Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (John Huston, 1957)
3. Stoked- The Rise and Fall of Gator (doc. Helen Stickler, 2002)
4. Venus (Roger Michell, 2006)
5. The French Connection (1971, William Friedkin)*
6. Fish Tank (2009, Andrea Arnold)
7. Mahkum/Confinement (1972, Turkey-Osman Seden/Cuneyt Arkin)
8. 8 Million Ways to Die (1986, Hal Ashby)
9. Jud Seuss (1940. Germany-Veit Harlan)
10. Umut/Hope (1970. Turkey-Yilmaz Guney/Serif Goren)