Fantomas Cinema

A film essayist I very much admire, Rod Heath, tweeted this recently after he had finished watching DEADWOOD. While satisfied and entertained, he felt the need to communicate a deeper frustration with the state of television:

It would take a long time to explain that reaction (might indeed be worth an essay), but some of it can be boiled down to: these shows mistake being busy for being complex, and mannerism for style.

— Roderick Heath (@Roderick_Heath) March 13, 2019

“These shows mistake being busy for complex, and mannerism for style.”

None of this was meant to cast a shadow over the critical and viewer success of DEADWOOD, merely that the laudits surrounding it and many other shows often mistake complicated for complex. It’s been a personal gripe of mine for years.

Continue reading “Treadmill Television: Running in Place” →

It’s been years since I watched GRAND HOTEL, the movie based on the play based on the book that was so successful its narrative structure came to bear its name. That structure, multiple stories and characters, some intertwining, others not, became known as the “Grand Hotel Theme.” It is also notable as the only movie to win Best Picture without receiving a single nomination in any other category, which is somewhat insane considering the talent involved. Granted, there weren’t a lot of competitive categories at the 5th Academy Awards but they had acting, directing, writing, cinematography, and art direction categories, all of which GRAND HOTEL had a shot at winning. Particular the art direction by Cedric Gibbons and the cinematography by William Daniels.

Continue reading “GRAND HOTEL: It Actually Is Kind of Grand” →