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Mildred Pierce (Todd Haynes, 2011) It all comes down to her squint. In James Cain’s 1941 novel, he describes it this way: Into her eyes, if she were provoked, or made fun of, or puzzled, there came a squint that was anything but alluring, that betrayed a rather appalling literal-mindedness, or matter-of-factness, or whatever itContinue reading

Frankenstein (Guillermo del Toro, 2025) One senses del Toro’s readings. Victor Frankenstein would prefer to remain in the Imaginary rather than the Symbolic order, a state of unified egocentrism over fragmenting social entanglement. This is perhaps true of all transgressive figures in the Promethean/Faust lineage who defy the codes and strictures of their societies, butContinue reading

Black Narcissus (Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, 1947) Powell and Pressburger make films of fanatical discipline, extreme dedication. Ballet dancers (The Red Shoes, 1948), serial killers (Peeping Tom, 1960), colonial nuns (Black Narcissus) — in each case we observe consciousness driven to the limits of commitment. The intensity of an obsessive human face is oneContinue reading

Weapons (Zach Cregger, 2025) As its title indicates, and its witchcraft plot enacts, the film concerns the transformation of human beings — especially children — into tools of destruction. One senses a commentary upon ideology in the internet age, though the precise ideology and its position on the political spectrum is amorphous. In its most overtContinue reading