The Friday 5
Your Weekly Film Update By Film Critic and Historian Jack Hanley
I. Film I Am Loving This Week
Don’t sleep on FREMONT (a 2023 SXSW Next standout directed by Babak Jalali and co-written by Carolina Cavalli)- a poignant and absurdist meditation on modern alienation with a Jarmuschesque flourish. First-time actor Anaita Wali Zada is a REVELATION…it felt like that nostalgic rush of charm and wonder of discovering a small-batch indie film in the 90's. Streaming now on MUBI!
II. Film I Am Revisiting This Week
Apple Original Films just announced the fifth collaboration between the legendary director/actor combo Spike Lee and Denzel Washington (ALWAYS great news!)- a remake of the Akira Kurosawa 1963 masterwork HIGH AND LOW.
While we wait to see if this ambitious project can live up to the mastery of the original, I urge you to revisit the brilliant original this week (as I have done).
The great Toshiro Mifune transcends as a wealthy industrialist whose family becomes the target of a kidnapper in this influential police procedural AND morality tale from the great auteur. "Kurosawa moves effortlessly from compelling race-against-time thriller to exacting social commentary, creating a diabolical treatise on contemporary Japanese society."- Criterion Collection
HIGH AND LOW is streaming now on MAX and the Criterion Channel, and available to rent/download on Amazon and Apple TV.
III. Essential Cinephile Site Of The Week
Simply a MUST USE for every cinephile in the streaming age! JustWatch: The Ultimate Streaming Guide for Movies and TV is a FREE SITE (and app!) that instantly lets you discover WHERE and HOW to find and watch ANY film that is currently streaming.
Simply type in the film you are looking for, and instantly find where to find and stream films from over 500 legal providers globally, including Netflix, Hulu, Disney Plus, Apple TV+, Amazon Prime Video, Tubi TV and many more. You will wonder how you ever got by without it.
IV. Film Lit I Am Enjoying This Week
I am so enjoying this FASCINATING critical re-evaluation of the life and influence of the great Buster Keaton by Slate film critic (and lovely person to banter with about film on Twitter) Dana Stevens. HUGE shout out to my co-host at FLICKER with JACK and SCOTT for recommending this one. GREAT READ or gift.
V. Film Thing I'm Excited About This Week
I'm thrilled to announce the launch of my new film project- FLICKER with Jack & Scott. FLICKER is a weekly video cinema channel that will feature reviews, film analysis, curated lists, our takes on movie news, and much, much more.
Hosts Jack Hanley and Scott Aigner (of Blindspotting: A Film Discovery Podcast) are longtime friends, film critics, festival programmers, and passionate cinephiles ready to offer their unsolicited rants, reviews, and ravings about ALL THINGS cinema.
Please watch, and if you enjoy please LIKE and SUBSCRIBE on YouTube to hang out with us every week!
Please watch something DIFFERENT and DARING this week...and LONG LIVE CINEMA!
Jack
