The elliptical cinema of Mia Hansen-Løve

by Cláudio Alves

Cinema is many things. An audiovisual art form, a dream, memories crystalized, ghosts of light. It's also a language, an idiom with rules and grammar of its own. Some cineastes film straightforward prose. Others prefer a lyrical approach and write poems with their cameras. There are those who make manifestos, compose diaries, some even do journalistic documentations. Whatever their uses of the language of cinema, the punctuation is usually the same, with norms judiciously followed to keep the clarity of intention, of information and tone. Still, sometimes the most interesting artist is the one that bends those rules to their will, reshaping, transforming, making them into something personal.

Mia Hansen-Løve is such a filmmaker. Instead of employing commas and periods, writing and cutting traditionally, she prefers to film in ellipsis. Constant, evocative, oft-mysterious and emotionally poignant, ellipsis…

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What's streaming from 1938 and which films should we write about?

We'll be celebrating 1938 in between regular programming for the next few weeks as we approach the next Supporting Actress Smackdown (September 14th). But before you do your own '38 movie explorations, hit the Smackdown titles first so you can vote on the big event! They are: 

• The Great Waltz - just $1.99 to rent 
This nutso musical bio received 3 Oscar noms, winning for cinematography
• Jezebel - just $1.99 to rent 
This problematic Southern Belle drama is the one that lifted Bette Davis from exciting new talent to superstar (and won her her second Oscar). 5 Oscar noms, winning both Actress categories
• Merrily We Live - free (with ads) on Tubi 
Screwball comedy about a wealthy family taking in hobos. 5 Oscar noms
• Of Human Hearts - $2.99 to rent 
Drama about a preacher's family. Supporting Actress was the only nomination
• You Can't Take It With You - $3.99 to rent 
Frank Capra comedy. 7 Oscar nominations, winning Picture / Director

And you know what to do after you've screened them VOTE before the morning of Sunday, September 13th.

As you undoubtedly know if you're reading TFE, streaming services aren't particularly kind to films that are more than 20 years old. What's available is utterly random and it disappears suddenly and without warning -- for instance Hulu just decimated their once pretty ok "classics" section (which included our very favourite 1938 film, Bringing Up Baby) between when we began drafting this post a month or so ago and now. Now that section includes only 19 films, half of which are now from the 1980s or later. (They did this just when we had gotten used to telling people that they are way better than Netflix for anything pre 2000s and turned us into liars. AAARRRRRGH.)  Anyway, we've done the legwork for you and prepared a list of titles that are currently streaming for free (provided you have certain subscriptions of course) from this particular cinematic year. Let us know in the comments which you're most interested in discussing. This will come as a shocker but we're actually way ahead of the curve this month and have already finished screening all 5 Smackdown titles and most of the 10 Best Picture nominees, too... WUT?

TEN 1938 MOVIES THAT ARE FREE TO STREAM

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First images from the surely misbegotten remake of "Rebecca"

by Nathaniel R

Armie Hammer and Lily James as Mr and Mrs de Winter

Netflix has released the first four images from their remake of Hitchcock's Rebecca which begins streaming on October 21st ---  Excuse us, Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca. People will be quick to note that it's less sacrilegious to adapt the novel than the 1940 best Picture winner. Now, we understand that remakes are not automatically "bad," but there are numerous reasons why remaking Hitchcock films, of all things, is a spectacularly dumb thing to do. For one, auteurs that get adjectives named ever them are inimitable and so you lose the distinct personality. For another, Hitchcock movies have (mostly) aged terrifically well; there's a reason people still watch a wide swath of them and so many are still easily available to the public, referenced in so many modern movies, and an intrinsic part of culture...

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Mulan for $29.99

by Nathaniel R

The Mouse House is tired of waiting for movie theaters to open. They've announced that Mulan will be going direct to Disney+ for Labor Day Weekend. It will also be in movie theaters that weekend in some regions. The catch is that it won't be free on the streaming service that you already pay for. It will cost $29.99 to watch (for an undisclosed length of time). This is bad news for those of us who love to go to movies and watch epic things on big screens in dark cavernous rooms with strangers and hate the motion smoothing on modern televisions. It's good news for parents (at least at this shut-in moment in history) who would likely spend more than $30 to take their kids out to this movie in a normal year. 

Given that Mulan cost hundreds of millions to make and Disney's "event" movies normally make $1 billion plus at the theatrical box office globally they'll need a lot of $29.99 purchases to reach that number. What do you make of this news? End times (as some exhibitors think) or just a minor shifting of the sands?

Revisiting "Spotlight" on Netflix

Please welcome new contributor Juan Carlos Ojano

As the 88th Oscars neared its conclusion, the anticipation for the Best Picture winner was high: The Revenant had previously won the DGA and three Oscars including Directing, The Big Short had momentum, the PGA win, and an Oscar for Adapted Screenplay, and Spotlight had previously won SAG and on the big night Original Screenplay. Meanwhile, the critics had rallied behind Mad Max: Fury Road and it just kept winning Oscars that night. But ultimately, it was Spotlight that prevailed, winning the top prize. With the film now streaming on Netflix, it's worth a revisit...

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