Roderick Heath
@roderickheath.bsky.social
Pinned
"Privilege and Edvard Munch prove engaged with the same essential point of enquiry: the idea of the artist as a barometer of their moment in history..." - I look at two Peter Watkins classics at Film Freedonia:
filmfreedonia.com/2025/06/06/p...
filmfreedonia.com/2025/06/06/p...
Rewatch. A film that's incredibly cool because it doesn't give the slightest shit whether you think it's cool.
December 3, 2025 at 12:33 PM
Rewatch. A film that's incredibly cool because it doesn't give the slightest shit whether you think it's cool.
The internet started annoying me in record time today.
December 3, 2025 at 5:23 AM
The internet started annoying me in record time today.
That Mad Men puking shot reminds watching the bluray of Roy Colt & Winchester Jack a few months ago, where two guys who'd been holding the horses for a shot were visible. Don't know if this was missing masking, a joke, or Bava not giving a shit - probably, given the film overall, the latter.
December 2, 2025 at 3:12 PM
That Mad Men puking shot reminds watching the bluray of Roy Colt & Winchester Jack a few months ago, where two guys who'd been holding the horses for a shot were visible. Don't know if this was missing masking, a joke, or Bava not giving a shit - probably, given the film overall, the latter.
Rewatch: Phil Karlson's 99 River Street. One of my favourite Karlsons; gritty and thrilling with witty flashes of meta-theater throughout; absolute haymaker of an climax.
December 2, 2025 at 11:57 AM
Rewatch: Phil Karlson's 99 River Street. One of my favourite Karlsons; gritty and thrilling with witty flashes of meta-theater throughout; absolute haymaker of an climax.
The thought that the laboured, witless, imitative Americana of Train Dreams will get more attention than the authentic, droll, original Americana of Eephus truly irritates.
December 2, 2025 at 7:42 AM
The thought that the laboured, witless, imitative Americana of Train Dreams will get more attention than the authentic, droll, original Americana of Eephus truly irritates.
Viewing: Yorgos Lanthimos' Bugonia. The upshot of this actually reminded me a little of Peter Fonda's Idaho Transfer, except it sucks.
December 1, 2025 at 12:39 PM
Viewing: Yorgos Lanthimos' Bugonia. The upshot of this actually reminded me a little of Peter Fonda's Idaho Transfer, except it sucks.
Viewing: Richard Linklater's Blue Moon. Dammit, I was ready to send Linklater back to the minors after the tepid Nouvelle Vague but this was splendid.
November 30, 2025 at 12:04 PM
Viewing: Richard Linklater's Blue Moon. Dammit, I was ready to send Linklater back to the minors after the tepid Nouvelle Vague but this was splendid.
...Vale Tom Stoppard. First and always a playwright, of course, but also a tremendous screenwriter. In memoriam, my look at the Stoppard-penned, Joe Wright-directed Anna Karenina:
filmfreedonia.com/2012/12/15/a...
filmfreedonia.com/2012/12/15/a...
Anna Karenina (2012)
Director: Joe Wright By Roderick Heath Joe Wright’s fifth feature film, adapting Leo Tolstoy’s feted 1876 tome, seems on the face of it like a retreat to the safe ground of the period, prestige-lad…
filmfreedonia.com
November 29, 2025 at 7:09 PM
...Vale Tom Stoppard. First and always a playwright, of course, but also a tremendous screenwriter. In memoriam, my look at the Stoppard-penned, Joe Wright-directed Anna Karenina:
filmfreedonia.com/2012/12/15/a...
filmfreedonia.com/2012/12/15/a...
Viewing: Alexey Taranenko's The Dam. Ukrainians vs Soviet zombies in a creepy old psychic research base. It's not sophisticated, but it is as much fun as it sounds.
November 29, 2025 at 11:51 AM
Viewing: Alexey Taranenko's The Dam. Ukrainians vs Soviet zombies in a creepy old psychic research base. It's not sophisticated, but it is as much fun as it sounds.
Just reading an article about Thurston Moore's free jazz book and recalled one of the best concerts I ever saw was a free jazz outfit in Chicago. They had an absolutely maniacal tenor sax player.
November 28, 2025 at 7:08 PM
Just reading an article about Thurston Moore's free jazz book and recalled one of the best concerts I ever saw was a free jazz outfit in Chicago. They had an absolutely maniacal tenor sax player.
We need to go back to when random guys had their own orchestras and played disco covers of nerdy movie scores...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3YF...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3YF...
Geoff Love and His Orchestra - The Time Machine (1960): Main Theme
YouTube video by Francis
www.youtube.com
November 28, 2025 at 5:46 PM
We need to go back to when random guys had their own orchestras and played disco covers of nerdy movie scores...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3YF...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3YF...
Viewing: Clint Bentley's Train Dreams. Jeremiah Johnson remade as a public radio audio essay.
November 27, 2025 at 11:59 AM
Viewing: Clint Bentley's Train Dreams. Jeremiah Johnson remade as a public radio audio essay.
Viewing: Jafar Panahi's It Was Just An Accident. This was really good.
November 27, 2025 at 4:49 AM
Viewing: Jafar Panahi's It Was Just An Accident. This was really good.
Amidst encomiums to Udo Kier over the past few days I've missed any for his turn in Brawl In Cell Block 99, as arresting a character turn as any in recent cinema - like lifting up a rock and finding something utterly alien and evil staring back at you.
November 26, 2025 at 5:04 PM
Amidst encomiums to Udo Kier over the past few days I've missed any for his turn in Brawl In Cell Block 99, as arresting a character turn as any in recent cinema - like lifting up a rock and finding something utterly alien and evil staring back at you.
Rewatch: Irving Pichel and Ernest B Schoedsack's The Most Dangerous Game. "One passion builds upon another. Kill, then love!"
November 25, 2025 at 11:48 AM
Rewatch: Irving Pichel and Ernest B Schoedsack's The Most Dangerous Game. "One passion builds upon another. Kill, then love!"
Trump's attitude to Ukraine is so obviously the product of his view that the little dog resisting the big dog's attempts to fuck it is a violation of the natural order of things.
November 24, 2025 at 9:07 AM
Trump's attitude to Ukraine is so obviously the product of his view that the little dog resisting the big dog's attempts to fuck it is a violation of the natural order of things.
...Vale Udo Kier, the overlord of cult cinema. In memoriam, my look at Walerian Borowczyk's Doctor Jekyll And His Women:
filmfreedonia.com/2010/03/17/d...
filmfreedonia.com/2010/03/17/d...
Docteur Jekyll et les Femmes (1981)
. aka Dr. Jekyll and his Women ; The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Miss Osbourne ; The Blood of Dr. Jekyll ; Bloodlust Director / Screenwriter: Walerian Borowczyk By Roderick Heath Robert Louis St…
filmfreedonia.com
November 24, 2025 at 4:57 AM
...Vale Udo Kier, the overlord of cult cinema. In memoriam, my look at Walerian Borowczyk's Doctor Jekyll And His Women:
filmfreedonia.com/2010/03/17/d...
filmfreedonia.com/2010/03/17/d...
Viewing: Ari Aster's Eddington. Umm, sure, I guess. Superficially captures some of the craziness of that moment, but also reaches a point where it won't, or can't, get any deeper and closer to its characters and their worldviews. Absurdly overlong.
November 23, 2025 at 12:19 PM
Viewing: Ari Aster's Eddington. Umm, sure, I guess. Superficially captures some of the craziness of that moment, but also reaches a point where it won't, or can't, get any deeper and closer to its characters and their worldviews. Absurdly overlong.
Viewing: Francis Lawrence's The Long Walk. Not a barrel of laughs, but not much else either; verbose script for a bunch of guys out of breath. Managed to be both distant in style and corny with its CGI gore. Good perfs but Hamill wrong.
November 22, 2025 at 12:12 PM
Viewing: Francis Lawrence's The Long Walk. Not a barrel of laughs, but not much else either; verbose script for a bunch of guys out of breath. Managed to be both distant in style and corny with its CGI gore. Good perfs but Hamill wrong.
Viewing: Brian Kirk's Dead of Winter. Familiar kind of plot but very well-done, interesting character elements. More Emma Thompson suspense thrillers, thanks.
November 21, 2025 at 11:41 AM
Viewing: Brian Kirk's Dead of Winter. Familiar kind of plot but very well-done, interesting character elements. More Emma Thompson suspense thrillers, thanks.
Rewatch. Stone cold masterpiece.
November 20, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Rewatch. Stone cold masterpiece.
Admittedly I have this lament about 85% of modern cinema.
The '70s version would have had Sandy Dennis or someone in it and lots of zoom shots of dew-soaked leaves and had dialogue that sounded like things actual people would say.
November 19, 2025 at 1:07 PM
Admittedly I have this lament about 85% of modern cinema.
Viewing: Eva Victor's Sorry, Baby. Had strong moments, but overall felt very first year writing class - postures and strategies passed off as insight and human tragicomedy.
November 19, 2025 at 11:04 AM
Viewing: Eva Victor's Sorry, Baby. Had strong moments, but overall felt very first year writing class - postures and strategies passed off as insight and human tragicomedy.
Viewing: Nia DaCosta's Hedda. Cruella for art house crowds. Very well-made and Hoss is as great as usual, but turns a fine play into a lurid melodrama.
November 18, 2025 at 12:11 PM
Viewing: Nia DaCosta's Hedda. Cruella for art house crowds. Very well-made and Hoss is as great as usual, but turns a fine play into a lurid melodrama.