More Marshall's Movie Mixtapes
(In lieu of my previously planned newsletter)
I swear I’ll make good on my threat promise to give subscribers the barnburner of a recommendation of those three French labor dramas … but in the spirit of keeping myself to a pledge of two newsletters a week, I’m sharing some recent movie mixtapes I made for subscribers. As a reminder, you too can receive one of these personalized ten-film playlists around truly any theme or set of ideas you can think of. Wanna see how wide the gamut can span?
Let’s start with this request from a subscriber who wished to remain anonymous, giving the direction of just WWII. Eliminating those that had already been seen, we settled on the following:
The Thin Red Line, a poetic evocation of how war brings men closer together and further from nature
Allied, a spy thriller set at the end of the war — and potentially the end of a marriage
Stalag 17, a raucous POW drama featuring an all-timer performance by William Holden
The Pianist, a deeply moving Holocaust survival tale imbued with artistry and authenticity by real-life survivor Roman Polanski
Went the Day Well?, a fascinating document of British resistance made during the war itself
To Be or Not to Be, a contemporaneous satire of Nazism that shows how Ernst Lubitsch was really one of the best to ever do it
Their Finest, a behind-the-scenes tale of producing a British propaganda film during the war
A Matter of Life and Death, a probing British moral fantasy following a fighter pilot that feels like a blueprint for It’s a Wonderful Life
The Best Years of Our Lives, a film that depicts the scars from the battlefield and homefront alike with startling emotionality
Five Came Back, a docuseries exploring a quintet of legendary filmmakers who went to war making propaganda films … and how it affected the work they made after
The next is from subscriber Michelle Zeltser, whose request was for “postmodern classics” in the vein of David Lynch and Donnie Darko.
I decided to break this out into films that predated Lynch and those that might be said to bear some of his influence.
Those before include:
Meshes of the Afternoon, Maya Deren’s seminal surrealist short that is probably the most direct forerunner of Lynch’s style
The Exterminating Angel, Luis Buñuel’s savage satire that keeps that surrealism primarily at the plot level
Persona, Ingmar Bergman’s piercing psychodrama that feels like a significant influence on Mulholland Drive
The Cremator, a dark comedy/horror from Czechoslovakia that queasily yet effectively blends disparate tones
Stalker, Andre Tarkovsky’s metaphysical journey into the heart of human darkness
Those after include:
Birth, a wild drama about a woman’s dead husband reappearing in the body of a young boy
Holy Motors, an episodic delight following an actor’s limo ride through the state of modern cinema
The Fits, a poetic evocation of puberty through a young girl’s foray into expressive dance
Personal Shopper, a ghost story for the smartphone era featuring a never-better Kristen Stewart
Neptune Frost, an Afrofuturist musical that is undoubtedly unlike anything you’ve ever seen
The final comes from subscriber Asia Phua, who issued a series of desires and the note “LOL THIS IS SO CHAOTIC SORRY YOU KNOW WHAT I LIKE.” Well, let’s hope so because here’s the mixtape combining the different prompts:
weird psychological shit like omg RMR Dogtooth??
Nanny, a haunting look at how an immigrant childcare provider slowly unravels amidst the competing pressures of work and motherhood
quintessential American films I’m supposed to have seen but haven’t
Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice and The Last Picture Show, two films that are not quite “canonical” but are a fascinating glimpse at the changing sexual politics at the vanguard of the New Hollywood era
coming of age bangers
Murina, a recent release following the growing pains of a Croatian teen who’s not a girl, not yet a woman
anything that’s A24-ish
Three Times, a Taiwanese triptych of love stories that provided the structural inspiration for A24’s Best Picture-winning triumph Moonlight
Black Mirror/twilight zone type sci-fi
Timecrimes, a time-travel thriller that’s heady in its concern for human agency
any non-nature documentaries (can’t deal w/ circle of life shit I’m bebby)
Hale County This Morning This Evening, a gently poetic look at everyday Southern life
Hail Satan?, a provocative look at the group challenging American ideals of religious freedom
Issa Rae-ish comedies
Appropriate Behavior, chaotic bisexual energy encapsulated
big gritty dramas like Mystic River
The Hunt, what a contemporary iteration of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible would look like if done with the rigor and intensity such a task would entail
If you want one of these, consider subscribing yourself! It’s just one of many perks you’ll receive from being a member. If you already subscribe, click the blue button in your email header. (At least it should be. My luck, it won’t be.)
Yours in service and cinema,
Marshall