Farran Smith Nehme
@selfstyledsiren.bsky.social
Film critic; NSFC, NYFCC. Bylines at Criterion, Sight & Sound, Noir City, my own Substack, and wherever fine film geeks are found.
https://selfstyledsiren.substack.com/
https://selfstyledsiren.substack.com/
Pinned
It was such a pleasure to write the essay for Criterion's 4K+Blu Ray of CAPTAIN BLOOD, a movie I dearly love. And for friends who love commentaries, note that this has one from Curtiz biographer (and fount of knowledge) Alan K. Rode @thetallcinephile.bsky.social www.criterion.com/films/29013-...
Reposted by Farran Smith Nehme
Well....it's finally snowing here in Minnesota. Perhaps today is a good day to get back into Noirvember by watching a Hawaiian-set noir. Also, if somebody had told me that Elsa Lanchester plays a cabbie in this one, I would have watched this sooner.
November 25, 2025 at 3:24 PM
Well....it's finally snowing here in Minnesota. Perhaps today is a good day to get back into Noirvember by watching a Hawaiian-set noir. Also, if somebody had told me that Elsa Lanchester plays a cabbie in this one, I would have watched this sooner.
Reposted by Farran Smith Nehme
Jessie Royce Landis, Actress, #BornOnThisDay in 1896, in Chicago
November 25, 2025 at 12:39 PM
Jessie Royce Landis, Actress, #BornOnThisDay in 1896, in Chicago
Reposted by Farran Smith Nehme
Friends! It's the big annual Etsy sale!
Select listings up to 25% off at Torch & Arrow!
Goth/Steampunk/Neo-Victorian jewelry, cuff-links, tie bars, hair things & more!
I'm awaiting payment on several book things but bills noted below have made things pretty dire.
Shop: torchandarrow.etsy.com
Select listings up to 25% off at Torch & Arrow!
Goth/Steampunk/Neo-Victorian jewelry, cuff-links, tie bars, hair things & more!
I'm awaiting payment on several book things but bills noted below have made things pretty dire.
Shop: torchandarrow.etsy.com
Adding to this thread: new listings! I know it's been a rough year for everyone, my family included (just hit w/ 2k medical + car bill, so we're scrambling). If Gothy / Neo-Victorian / Vintage / Steampunky things sound cool, check out torchandarrow.etsy.com, your support is so dearly appreciated 🖤
November 24, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Friends! It's the big annual Etsy sale!
Select listings up to 25% off at Torch & Arrow!
Goth/Steampunk/Neo-Victorian jewelry, cuff-links, tie bars, hair things & more!
I'm awaiting payment on several book things but bills noted below have made things pretty dire.
Shop: torchandarrow.etsy.com
Select listings up to 25% off at Torch & Arrow!
Goth/Steampunk/Neo-Victorian jewelry, cuff-links, tie bars, hair things & more!
I'm awaiting payment on several book things but bills noted below have made things pretty dire.
Shop: torchandarrow.etsy.com
Reposted by Farran Smith Nehme
So sad to lose this absolute legend and friend. No one ever was or ever will be like him. A great loss to cinema and to the world. But he will live on to me and to everyone who loved him -- and so many loved him -- and he still shines bright. Udo Forever.
November 25, 2025 at 3:47 AM
So sad to lose this absolute legend and friend. No one ever was or ever will be like him. A great loss to cinema and to the world. But he will live on to me and to everyone who loved him -- and so many loved him -- and he still shines bright. Udo Forever.
Reposted by Farran Smith Nehme
yo, this rocks so far
November 25, 2025 at 3:51 AM
yo, this rocks so far
Reposted by Farran Smith Nehme
My day and discussion with beloved Udo from 2014 when we drove around the desert and talked ... and went to thrift stores. And more: thesunsetgun.com/2025/11/25/t...
November 25, 2025 at 3:53 AM
My day and discussion with beloved Udo from 2014 when we drove around the desert and talked ... and went to thrift stores. And more: thesunsetgun.com/2025/11/25/t...
Reposted by Farran Smith Nehme
Geraldine Fitzgerald, Actress, #BornOnThisDay in 1913, in Greystones, Co. Wicklow, Ireland
November 24, 2025 at 6:38 PM
Geraldine Fitzgerald, Actress, #BornOnThisDay in 1913, in Greystones, Co. Wicklow, Ireland
Reposted by Farran Smith Nehme
2013 seems like another world now, that's when I met Udo Kier at some fancy Hollywood thing in Palm Springs, we chatted about Fassbinder & he said he was making a movie in Ireland & would look me up. It didn't happen but it was a privilege to meet him. Rest in peace, Udo, you maniac, you sweet man.
November 24, 2025 at 12:31 PM
2013 seems like another world now, that's when I met Udo Kier at some fancy Hollywood thing in Palm Springs, we chatted about Fassbinder & he said he was making a movie in Ireland & would look me up. It didn't happen but it was a privilege to meet him. Rest in peace, Udo, you maniac, you sweet man.
Reposted by Farran Smith Nehme
Remembering Lucky Luciano on his birthday 🎂
📷 Slim Aarons, December 31, 1948
Luciano was deported to Italy in 1946, though he managed to travel to Cuba for The Havana Conference (also to see Sinatra perform). The photo caption says the mobster is "in exile in Sicily."
📷 Slim Aarons, December 31, 1948
Luciano was deported to Italy in 1946, though he managed to travel to Cuba for The Havana Conference (also to see Sinatra perform). The photo caption says the mobster is "in exile in Sicily."
November 24, 2025 at 6:31 PM
Remembering Lucky Luciano on his birthday 🎂
📷 Slim Aarons, December 31, 1948
Luciano was deported to Italy in 1946, though he managed to travel to Cuba for The Havana Conference (also to see Sinatra perform). The photo caption says the mobster is "in exile in Sicily."
📷 Slim Aarons, December 31, 1948
Luciano was deported to Italy in 1946, though he managed to travel to Cuba for The Havana Conference (also to see Sinatra perform). The photo caption says the mobster is "in exile in Sicily."
Reposted by Farran Smith Nehme
Frances Hodgson Burnett (with scenes from the Agnieszka Holland film adaptation of the Burnett novel "The Secret Garden") - BOTD
November 24, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Frances Hodgson Burnett (with scenes from the Agnieszka Holland film adaptation of the Burnett novel "The Secret Garden") - BOTD
Reposted by Farran Smith Nehme
Happy Thanksgiving week...
November 24, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Happy Thanksgiving week...
Reposted by Farran Smith Nehme
Reposted by Farran Smith Nehme
R.I.P. Udo Kier (1944—2025)
November 24, 2025 at 12:55 AM
R.I.P. Udo Kier (1944—2025)
Reposted by Farran Smith Nehme
Reposted by Farran Smith Nehme
R.I.P. Jimmy Cliff
Jimmy Cliff - Vietnam [Live 2005]
YouTube video by HEY-U Mediagroup
youtu.be
November 24, 2025 at 1:06 PM
R.I.P. Jimmy Cliff
Reposted by Farran Smith Nehme
Some of you are being so hard on journalists today. Surely everyone deserves a seventeenth chance.
November 22, 2025 at 5:31 PM
Some of you are being so hard on journalists today. Surely everyone deserves a seventeenth chance.
Reposted by Farran Smith Nehme
If you're looking for an Udo Kier film to watch, may I recommend BACURAU (2019), starts off like a worthy slice of sociopolitical realism and ends up as demented Brazilian neo-western exploitation. Don't read anything else, just see it. Contains one of my favourite film moments of the 21st century.
Bacurau – Official U.S. Trailer
YouTube video by Kino Lorber
www.youtube.com
November 24, 2025 at 10:30 AM
If you're looking for an Udo Kier film to watch, may I recommend BACURAU (2019), starts off like a worthy slice of sociopolitical realism and ends up as demented Brazilian neo-western exploitation. Don't read anything else, just see it. Contains one of my favourite film moments of the 21st century.
Reposted by Farran Smith Nehme
Israeli attacks target Palestinians in their cars, shelters and homes in latest violation of the US-brokered truce.
Israeli forces kill 24 Palestinians in Gaza; Hamas urges US to intervene
Israeli attacks target Palestinians in their cars, shelters and homes in latest violation of the US-brokered truce.
bit.ly
November 23, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Israeli attacks target Palestinians in their cars, shelters and homes in latest violation of the US-brokered truce.
Reposted by Farran Smith Nehme
Reposted by Farran Smith Nehme
Okay. Y'all owe me. Here it is.
ALL RIGHT YOU FREAKS
Telos News Telos News Read in the Substack app Open app Part 2: She Did It Again Ryan Lizza Nov 21, 2025 ∙ Paid If you are new to this series, start here. She did it again. It was four years later....
docs.google.com
November 22, 2025 at 6:54 AM
Okay. Y'all owe me. Here it is.
Reposted by Farran Smith Nehme
👋
i promise i don’t mean to high horse this but if you’re thinking about giving lizza ten bucks there are a lot of good independent journalists whose work you could subscribe to for a month instead
November 22, 2025 at 1:05 PM
👋
By forcing everybody to use this shit!! If you let me require everyone who ever used Substack to subscribe to mine, lest I deliberately break the entire product, I could give you quite the convincing illusion of success too.
The launch of Gemini 3 has handed Google an elusive victory. The company, for the first time in years, has pulled well ahead in the AI race.
How Google Finally Leapfrogged Rivals With New Gemini Rollout
Gemini 3’s surge past ChatGPT and other competitors on benchmark tests has handed Google an elusive victory.
on.wsj.com
November 22, 2025 at 1:03 PM
By forcing everybody to use this shit!! If you let me require everyone who ever used Substack to subscribe to mine, lest I deliberately break the entire product, I could give you quite the convincing illusion of success too.
Reposted by Farran Smith Nehme
Château Raoul à #Châteauroux (#Indre) Construction XVe siècle. Façades et toitures (cad. AI 86) : inscription par arrêté du 26 jan...
Suite 👉 https://monumentum.fr/monument-historique/pa00097294/chateauroux-chateau-raoul
Suite 👉 https://monumentum.fr/monument-historique/pa00097294/chateauroux-chateau-raoul
November 22, 2025 at 12:28 PM
Château Raoul à #Châteauroux (#Indre) Construction XVe siècle. Façades et toitures (cad. AI 86) : inscription par arrêté du 26 jan...
Suite 👉 https://monumentum.fr/monument-historique/pa00097294/chateauroux-chateau-raoul
Suite 👉 https://monumentum.fr/monument-historique/pa00097294/chateauroux-chateau-raoul
