Great as always!!!!!!!! Gavras' "State Department Trilogy" (Z, State Of Siege, Missing) and (maybe to a lesser extent) Stars At Noon feel as though they are classified as political thrillers because we as Americans cannot comprehend these stories being told for any other purpose, especially when they all have such profoundly bleak endings. When similar true stories are told on the domestic front, a la Dark Waters, The Insider, Erin Brockovich, they're almost always considered dramas, which then go on to win big awards. Those American films all have happy endings-- the bad guys get exposed!! Gavras shows what these other films do not, which is that exposing the bad guys doesn't actually bring them to justice or enact meaningful change in the world.
There's something to be said about the fact that Missing and State Of Siege both received serious pushback from the state department-- State Of Siege was withdrawn from the AFI festival in 1971, and Missing was pulled from US distribution for 33 years as a result of a highly calculated, utterly fraudulent lawsuit by former ambassador to Chile and death-by-hanging-at-the-Hague deserver Nathaniel Davis. That these films were fought against tooth-and-nail by the US State Department, despite the United States' ostensible commitment to free speech, meanwhile the same State Department milieu goes on to praise films like Brockovich and Insider, speaks volumes towards the films' ideological and artistic commitments, even if tackling the same subject matter (I say this as a great lover of all three of the American films I mention).
American films that deal with the crimes of the deep state almost always have to be fiction (Blow Out, Three Days Of The Condor), or else so fantastical as to otherwise be fiction (JFK), or else so neutered and artless as to be meaningless (That Jeremy Renner suck-fest about Gary Webb, R.I.P.), it's a sad state of affairs, but I think it speaks a lot to the lessons the United States Government learned from the Nazis, as well as what the actual "War" part of the Cold War was.
I typed & lost a whole thing about the movie The Report, a film from a few years ago that everyone thought might get Annette Bening an Oscar for playing Dianne Feinstein (who died while I waited in line to see May December). the individualistic nature of most political movies now, e.g. One Good Judge, One Good Senator, is totally at odds with a lot of mass-perpetuated crimes et al. Oppenheimer sometimes functions like this, but it is made by a guy whose politics are frequently obscured and indifferent.
I think the sniveling diplomat you mention, or one of them anyway, is the one played by David Clennon, whose role in this movie tickles me greatly given his IRL leftist credentials. Check out his almost comically based IMDb bio.
I love (hate) the recurring flashbacks to the evil Texas guys barbecuing as they talk nonchalantly about their work moonlighting as coup consultants. The structure of this movie, the Lemmon of it all, is pretty conventional as you say, but that conventionality combined with the explicit and implied details make it so viscerally upsetting.
the evil Texas guy is so good - great frightening character talking about how much he loves Panama, and I love how we never get a good look at his companion's face when we see them at the restaurant. Safdie's spook in S@N is good in the way that all these guys now are totally devoid of charisma, total blank slates which is a new and boring type of scary. I agree that the conventionality winds up helping the film feel that much more weighted, as you say. We hate to see American legend Jack Lemmon feel pain!
Among the many special qualities of this movie, it makes me tolerate Jack Lemmon, my longstanding antipathy for whom qualifies as one of my “hottest takes”, perhaps second only to hating The Apartment
as the foremost internet scholar (delusionally self proclaimed) on both sissy spacek and jack lemmon i am constantly considering watching missing yet i haven’t. will rectify soon…
personally i feel vangelis’ most famous score is blade runner but go off…
i just resubscribed to new yorker digital only as well now that im flush🤠
I have only seen Blade Runner the one time... I know it looms large in Ridley / scifi canon but it really did not make a huge impact on me... forgive 🕯️
My fav Vangelis score is 1492: Conquest Of Paradise, a dogshit film that has the lushest and most exacting compositions he ever crafted outside of his albums.
Excellent issue as usual! I first saw Missing as part of my first semester freshman year college Spanish class. I tested into a higher level of Spanish (brag), and to work on our language skills we read Noam Chomsky and wrote essays in Spanish about the CIA sponsored crimes in South America. We also had to go to the film library and watch Missing (fine by me!) for a class discussion. I can still hear the professor's ceceo accent "Se llama Missing." Memories!
really great stuff, thank u fran. unrelated but do you think a Civil War tie-in video game would be good…first person pov war photographer mission game…i miss the ps2
Great as always!!!!!!!! Gavras' "State Department Trilogy" (Z, State Of Siege, Missing) and (maybe to a lesser extent) Stars At Noon feel as though they are classified as political thrillers because we as Americans cannot comprehend these stories being told for any other purpose, especially when they all have such profoundly bleak endings. When similar true stories are told on the domestic front, a la Dark Waters, The Insider, Erin Brockovich, they're almost always considered dramas, which then go on to win big awards. Those American films all have happy endings-- the bad guys get exposed!! Gavras shows what these other films do not, which is that exposing the bad guys doesn't actually bring them to justice or enact meaningful change in the world.
There's something to be said about the fact that Missing and State Of Siege both received serious pushback from the state department-- State Of Siege was withdrawn from the AFI festival in 1971, and Missing was pulled from US distribution for 33 years as a result of a highly calculated, utterly fraudulent lawsuit by former ambassador to Chile and death-by-hanging-at-the-Hague deserver Nathaniel Davis. That these films were fought against tooth-and-nail by the US State Department, despite the United States' ostensible commitment to free speech, meanwhile the same State Department milieu goes on to praise films like Brockovich and Insider, speaks volumes towards the films' ideological and artistic commitments, even if tackling the same subject matter (I say this as a great lover of all three of the American films I mention).
American films that deal with the crimes of the deep state almost always have to be fiction (Blow Out, Three Days Of The Condor), or else so fantastical as to otherwise be fiction (JFK), or else so neutered and artless as to be meaningless (That Jeremy Renner suck-fest about Gary Webb, R.I.P.), it's a sad state of affairs, but I think it speaks a lot to the lessons the United States Government learned from the Nazis, as well as what the actual "War" part of the Cold War was.
I'm gonna get to this one after I eat ice cream.
I typed & lost a whole thing about the movie The Report, a film from a few years ago that everyone thought might get Annette Bening an Oscar for playing Dianne Feinstein (who died while I waited in line to see May December). the individualistic nature of most political movies now, e.g. One Good Judge, One Good Senator, is totally at odds with a lot of mass-perpetuated crimes et al. Oppenheimer sometimes functions like this, but it is made by a guy whose politics are frequently obscured and indifferent.
I think the sniveling diplomat you mention, or one of them anyway, is the one played by David Clennon, whose role in this movie tickles me greatly given his IRL leftist credentials. Check out his almost comically based IMDb bio.
I love (hate) the recurring flashbacks to the evil Texas guys barbecuing as they talk nonchalantly about their work moonlighting as coup consultants. The structure of this movie, the Lemmon of it all, is pretty conventional as you say, but that conventionality combined with the explicit and implied details make it so viscerally upsetting.
the evil Texas guy is so good - great frightening character talking about how much he loves Panama, and I love how we never get a good look at his companion's face when we see them at the restaurant. Safdie's spook in S@N is good in the way that all these guys now are totally devoid of charisma, total blank slates which is a new and boring type of scary. I agree that the conventionality winds up helping the film feel that much more weighted, as you say. We hate to see American legend Jack Lemmon feel pain!
Among the many special qualities of this movie, it makes me tolerate Jack Lemmon, my longstanding antipathy for whom qualifies as one of my “hottest takes”, perhaps second only to hating The Apartment
crazy brendan lore dropped
as the foremost internet scholar (delusionally self proclaimed) on both sissy spacek and jack lemmon i am constantly considering watching missing yet i haven’t. will rectify soon…
personally i feel vangelis’ most famous score is blade runner but go off…
i just resubscribed to new yorker digital only as well now that im flush🤠
I have only seen Blade Runner the one time... I know it looms large in Ridley / scifi canon but it really did not make a huge impact on me... forgive 🕯️
My fav Vangelis score is 1492: Conquest Of Paradise, a dogshit film that has the lushest and most exacting compositions he ever crafted outside of his albums.
ok i'm sold on watching Missing tonight i guess
a lot of good outfits, not that that's the point...
Excellent issue as usual! I first saw Missing as part of my first semester freshman year college Spanish class. I tested into a higher level of Spanish (brag), and to work on our language skills we read Noam Chomsky and wrote essays in Spanish about the CIA sponsored crimes in South America. We also had to go to the film library and watch Missing (fine by me!) for a class discussion. I can still hear the professor's ceceo accent "Se llama Missing." Memories!
wow!! that is such a cool form for a Spanish class to take. I'm very jealous!
I loooove Z and had somehow never thought to look into Costa-Gavras's other movies… also you may have convinced me to read The Stars at Noon.
I think you might really like this one!!! Also I feel like Stars at Noon movie major Taylor text, in a way...
really great stuff, thank u fran. unrelated but do you think a Civil War tie-in video game would be good…first person pov war photographer mission game…i miss the ps2
Yes! When that movie is like Pokemon Snap for war crimes, it was kinda major
yah you get the vision
“Like eating ten garlic knots in a row.” God, that bit killed me.
i do let my nyers pile up but i like cutting up the covers for collage
You have more patience with scissors than I do
Don’t have much to add but saw Ben and Clare comment so now I want to as well….. I am also intrigued by Missing and need to catch up with Stars @ Noon
Ben liked Stars at Noon and it got a rare half-star from Clare... something to consider.
are Clare half stars rare? It’s either 5 or 0.5 with her
idk this isn't Math Magazine
Excellent, Fran. I have always loved Missing. As my college roommate would say, what did you think was going to happen?
thank you!!!