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Quiet Thrillers & Neo Noir
The Ghost Writer (2010 film)
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This is one of my favorite types of movies -- slow burn thrillers that you've never heard of...for whatever reason this one stayed under the radar, but I really love this film. Here Roman Polanski adapts The Ghost by Robert Harris -- full of Chinatown echoes, with an otherworldly setting of an island off Germany standing in for Martha's Vineyard. Perfect for a rainy day.
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Werner Herzog
Fitzcarraldo (Werner Herzog)
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The first of many Werner recs -- Fitzcarraldo is a source of endless inspiration for me. I've got this photo framed by my desk. Essentially Werner Herzog had a vision that, in his words, seized him "like the demented fury of a hound that has sunk its teeth into the leg of a deer carcass and is shaking and tugging." He wanted to make a film about an impossible endeavor, portaging a steamship over the Andes mountains. But he didn't want to just make a film about it...he wanted to actually do the impossible thing himself. The film, as one person said, captures the triumph of madness. This rec is a three-fer, you've got 1. Fitzacarraldo 2. the Les Blank doc, Burden of Dreams, shot while making the film, and 3. Conquest of the Useless, Herzog's journals while filming, all hazy with jungle chaos.
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Movies
Rome (HBO)
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More early aughts gold. If you like good TV and history, watch Rome. Ciarán Hinds is the ultimate Gaius Julius Caesar. Pair it with some In Our Times episodes for extra color: Julius Caesar The Roman Republic The Augustan Age
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Movies
Where Eagles Dare
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Based on the novel by Allister MacLean -- this move is soo good. World War II, check; espionage, check; castle, check; special op teams on skis, check; fights on an aerial tram, Richard Burton, Clint Eastwood, check check check. The list could go on.
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Movies
The Return
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The Return 2003 Bозвращение Directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev Watch this film -- my friend Michael recommended this to me, it's and incredible interweaving of realism and painterly symbolism surrounded by melancholic Russian landscapes.
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