A rather slight effort for Lubitsch, though it still maintains the signature charm which the filmmaker's oeuvre tends to be associated with. That Uncertain Feeling is a story about agency and the psychology of relationships when it comes to feelings of worth, exhibiting how slight discretions can be amplified and twisted into something larger due to misplaced emotions.  Honest and charming though relatively minor, the film exhibits how the repetitious nature of idiosyncrasies and notions of a static lifestyle are ultimately a part of any meaningful relationship.  They place strain and subversion if not recognized and accounted for and yet they are ultimately intrinsic to any meaningful relationship in which the give & take between two disparate souls is  ultimately calcified around the commonality of love.

Messy and ambitious, Red's narrative structure and formalist sensibilities juxtaposes the emotional complexity of its romance with that of radicalism. The symbiosis of affect and influence plays out in rapturous detail through the tumultuous yet passionate relationship which traverses decades, exhibiting the muddled construct which sits at the fulcrum of individual ambition and social transformation.  While the film's sprawling nature does become detrimental to its tonal consistency and general pacing, Reds' exudes an formalism and aesthetic which exemplifies the film's conceptual and thematic framework, one which transcends typical informative biopic or general character drama to delivery an effectual and honest examination of the revolutionary spirit.

​A cinema dedicated to discourse, free from the restrictions of narrative structure, La Chinoise is perhaps the turning point in Godard's oeuvre. More radical in both form and function, La Chinoise is a declaration of an explicit political nature, the characters themselves much like Godard sit at a crossroads - the dialectical opposition of reform and revolution explored through a loose, free formalism which Godard would further master in his later works in which his filmic grammar becomes increasingly more synonymous with poetry than narrative storytelling.  Not a Godard film which I love by any means, as it is too didactic and becomes tedious, yet there is no denying the film's importance as the filmmaker creates a work which personifies the abstract nature of radicalism, one in which the youth confronted with a broken world, reject the status quo and seek change

​Like most of the Troma catalogue, one of Norman Thaddeus Vane's Frightmare core virtues is the love it exhibits for the horror genre, with this film in particular being a rather pointed yet playful examination of the evolution of the horror genre.  In Frightmare, a Bela Lugosi/Vincent Price type surrogate terrorizes a group of rebellious teenagers whom have committed an unspeakable act of disrespect, and the film seems to be going through this narrative schematic for more than just thrills, exhibiting a larger commentary about the genre as a whole, one rooted in transition and respect for one's predecessors.   Frightmare provides gleeful bouts of macabre as it synthesizes the old icons of horror with the modern movement of the 1980s in which rebellious teens receive pittance for their perceived moral shortcomings.   Managing to be a fun, ingenious low-budget horror film while simultaneously touching on the shift of the genre that was rather prescient given its early 1980s release,  Frightmare narratively traverses the contemporary horror archetype in a way which feels just as much a tribute to the old as it does a commentary on the new,  in which horror icons such as Vincent Price & Bela Lugosi were supplanted by the proliferation of the slasher genre - 'immoral teenagers getting served a pittance'.

Through understated performances and a script that is largely void of didactic flourishes or unwanted exposition, Driveways invokes a genuine pathos centered around regret and the missed opportunities intrinsic to the human experience.  Efficient storytelling which relies largely on subtext, Driveways weaves a deeply humanistic portrait of life, its characters imbued with a sense of longing, the symbiosis of community being the tonic which helps to heal the emotional wounds of loss.

Given the conceptual framework and the underlying advocacy in its intentions, the film is remarkably understated, outside of a few clumsy lines of dialogue, being rather minimalist and relying heavily on its immersive atmosphere to evoke its theme related to the underlying servitude and toxic ambiance which is often afforded in an industry defined by a few individuals who wield seemingly insurmountable power.  White-washed aesthetics and a sense of claustrophobia create an atmosphere that perfectly evokes the film's underlying intentions, one in which our character is alone despite her being so central to the day-to-day operations of the office, trapped in a toxic game.  Crafted around this 'day in the life' motif of an assistant working for a powerful film executive, the ambiance carries a palatable sense of repression and strain, with our protagonist navigating these spaces but helpless due to the power dynamics which are tinged with a underlying but intrinsic misogyny.

​Utterly charming yet tinged with a sense of melancholy signaled largely by the changing times told through Fred Astaire's past-his-prime characterization, The Band Wagon is a celebration of the communal experience of creation, art, and entertainment, and an ode to the vast assortment of artists it takes to create a stage production. Moves at a slower pace than much of Astaire's work, yet Minnelli's direction is as expressive as ever - the staging and framing work in unison with some truly memorable numbers including "entertainment", "triplets", and the climatic "girl hunt ballet" which is an all-timer.