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I found this on a massive list of Sword and Sorcery movies on Letterboxd, which is where I find obscure films that other, sharper connoisseurs already know about. Well! I was looking for something like Berserk, Excalibur, and Joan La Pucelle, and boy was this it: Bresson’s 1974 reimagining of the grand finale of the Grail Quest is as earthbound as it is transcendent, smashing the depths of legend and poetry against humanism to produce a stark vision of the end of the Age of Myth. Most of the criticisms in the Letterboxd reviews are aimed at its seeming dryness, or lack of emotion. Hooey! It’s all here. If you want to see knights cry, go watch The Witcher or something.
Nov 24, 2020
Related Recs
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Scrolling through some of my recently watched…Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972)16th century conquistadores driven to madness in the Andes. You can tell that these dudes were in the shit while filming. Always thought of this film as the original Apocalypse Now. Werner Herzog and Klaus Kinski. Good stuff.Badlands (1973)Seen It many times. Timeless visual beauty and performance chemistry between Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek. Terrence Malick’s directorial debut. Love it.Network (1976)This screened the other night in LA while I was out of town so I rented it for the twentieth time. As relevant now as it was then. A stone-cold masterpiece. Paddy Chayefsky won an Oscar for screenplay, but it lost best picture to Rocky. Taxi Driver was also nominated. What a year!Tess (1979)Just saw this for the first time. One of Polanski’s best. Feel like he was inspired by Barry Lyndon.Year of the Jellyfish (1984)A French friend recommended this one. I think it’s kind of cherished by some as a trashy cult classic. But if you’re looking for a film full of gorgeous, topless French women on vacation in San Tropez in the 1980s, this is for you!The West (miniseries) (1996)I rewatch Ken Burns documentaries all the time. Jazz, Country Music, Baseball, Lewis & Clark, all of them. I’ve seen each one multiple times. The West is remarkable. A comprehensive deep dive into 19th century American history. 20-hours replete with unmistakable, soothing Burns-esque narration and somber songs of the old American frontier. Fascinating, harsh and profoundly sad.
May 30, 2023
Here I am, again, begging PI.FYI to watch Sorcerer. This movie is severely overlooked because a little movie called STAR WARS released right on top of it.
Sep 25, 2024
My partner and I were looking for raunchy old scifi movies vaguely like Barbarella this weekend and stumbled on this one. I hesitate to describe it at all because watching with no concept of what it was about was the best possible experience. Plus now I can now fully appreciate the reference in a notable PI user's pfp and will laugh every time I see it.
P.S. Check TW's online potentially, but most of the dark parts also look pretty silly all things considered.
Feb 4, 2025
Top Recs from @emerson-ray-rosenthal
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Anybody remember a clip show about banned music videos that, incidentally, ended up on one of the networks that banned them? It was either VH1 or MTV2, and they ran stuff like Nine Inch Nails’s “Closer,” Pearl Jam’s “Jeremy,” and Prodigy’s “Smack My Bitch Up.” Anyway, I was glued to the TV whenever it came on and I think a lot of my aesthetic sensibilities came from that 90s-00s golden age, making me into (regrettably) a bit of a music video snob. No offense, but the VFX-driven spectacles of today just don’t hit when you cut your teeth on stuff from CANADA and the Directors Bureau (whose website sadly doesn’t even have their best stuff anymore). The unique exception is director Cody Critcheloe, who goes by SSION (pronounced like the latter half of *passion*), and his new video for Yves Tumor is nothing less than what I’ve come to expect from the multihyphenate: a hyperreal vision of Los Angeles replete with larger-than-life characters who are characteristically drawn up from real life, and handmade props that belong in a museum, but I’ll settle for a gallery. (In this case, it’s a smashed-up hand-painted sunburst convertible and a leather jacket with a The Cochran Firm logo.) It’s the stuff dreams are made of, cementing Critcheloe as one of the most exciting and visionary directors of our time (other notable mentions include Eugene Kotlyarenko, Anne Alexander, and Minister Akins).
Nov 24, 2020
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Ummmmmm ten years or so these creeps from the midwest changed music, more or less...And ten years later they have a new album that fucks harder than ever? And then there’s this mixtape, which also really fucks. I’ve probably listened to it 20 times now (and counting). I don’t know, listen to it. It’s hard to describe. (If I wanted to write about music, I probably would have kept writing about music lol)
Nov 24, 2020
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My writing partner and I spent the last two weeks or so working on a pitch for a sports comedy about a gawky journalist who decides to pick up basketball. As part of our research, I came across George Plimpton, who older and more literary people will think of you a goose for just hearing about. Well, HONK! This here’s a documentary about that time he, a blue-blood with an unbeatable attitude, trained to play in a pre-season exhibition game against the Detroit Lions. It’s sort of like if you put JFK in Jackass.
Nov 24, 2020