Rob Christopher's Blog, page 90

3 things about Steve McQueen’s SMALL AXE: ALEX WHEATLE

Alex Wheatle [2020]

1. Put in a straitjacket, dumped on the floor.
2. Listening to shit.
3. As he sleeps we hear the commencement of a raid.

3 things about Gary Fleder’s RUNAWAY JURY

Runaway Jury [2003]

1. Valuable data cache stored on an MP3 player.
2. Powdered sugar on his tie. Mustard on his tie.
3. Lonely Sazerac at the Napoleon House.

3 things about Alan J. Pakula’s PRESUMED INNOCENT

Presumed Innocent [1990]

1. “It’s going to be so good.”
2. Is that a backdrop of Chicago outside his office window?
3. Brain matter on a claw hammer.

3 things about Frank Oz’s DEREK DELGAUDIO’S IN & OF ITSELF

Derek DelGaudio’s in & of Itself [2020]

1. Eight years to learn how to hold a deck of cards.
2. Crumbling sand pedestal.
3. The frames collapse onto the floor and the audience gasps.

3 things about Steven Soderbergh’s LET THEM ALL TALK

Let Them All Talk [2020]

1. Checking out the ship’s library to see which of her books they have.
2. “I was wondering if I could kiss you … sometime … in the near future.”
3. Thrombosis montage.

3 things about Josef von Sternberg’s SHANGHAI EXPRESS

Shanghai Express [1932]

1. Alone in the darkness of her train compartment, only her hands visible. Clenching and unclenching.
2. She waves her hand and says, “I’m weary of you now.”
3. Anna May Wong’s exquisite eye makeup.

3 things about Joseph Losey’s ACCIDENT

Accident [1967]

1. “I never thanked you for introducing us.”
“I didn’t.”
2. Black cat playing with the tennis net.
3. A wordless rendezvous. With words.

3 things about James Lebrecht and Nicole Newnham’s CRIP CAMP

Crip Camp [2020]

1. “The fact is, you can’t aspire to something better if you don’t know it exists.”
2. Sign: THE LADY AND THE RAMP.
3. Daily food deliveries from the Black Panthers.

3 things about Frank Perry’s DIARY OF A MAD HOUSEWIFE

Diary of a Mad Housewife [1970]

1.  A clock on top of the fridge in George’s apartment.
2. He wears gray slacks and brown socks at their first rendezvous. (Only in the 1970s!)
3. His apartment is on the fifth floor and he lives on 50th Street.

3 other things.

3 things about Nina Paley’s SITA SINGS THE BLUES

Sita Sings the Blues [2008]

1. Squadron of flying eyeballs.
2. Heart flashes.
3. Subject line of his email: DUMPSVILLE.