A number of our bloggingfriends have picked up the Alphabetical Favorites meme. The idea is that you list 26 favorite movies, one for each letter of the alphabet. Some people are adding comments, but I think it’s more interesting to just toss the titles out there, to see how they fit together within a single list and how they match up to other lists. Also, it’s been a hell of a week and I’m exhausted. I will say this: after not being able to think of a single movie beginning with the letter “J” that I enjoy more than Joe Versus the Volcano, I noticed that several commenters at the House Next Door had slotted the same film in the same face. So much for Todd McCarthy’s contention in his Doubt review that John Patrick Shanley’s first directorial effort was “misguided.”
Because we can’t *possibly* allow the designated day for the monetization of affection to pass by without comment, let’s spend it living vicariously through romantic triumphs and tragedies of Marlene Dietrich!
Above: watch Marlene reduce a respected professor into a giddy, giggling schoolgirl in The Blue Angel! Below the jump, watch Marlene herself succumb to the madness of obsession, literally throwing caution to the wind, rejecting her life as a kept woman to join the gypsies who trail behind Gary Cooper. Unfortunately, the unadulterated clip doesn’t seem to be online, but that scene is tacked on the end of this crazy fan-created Morocco montage set to Marliyn Manson doing “The KKK Took My Baby Away.” Enjoy! …Read more
So it turns out that Alfonso Cuaron, director of Children of Men, is kind of resenting the sudden attention and praise being lavished on Mexican films (his as well as Guillermo Del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritus’ Babel). In a post Cuaron wrote this week, he said this:
…What I resent, however, is the notion that the Oscars are somehow bestowing legitimacy on Mexican cinema. We don’t need this legitimacy.
I can get my head around that kind of resentment. I can also understand why Cuaron doesn’t want to define or represent “Mexican cinema.” As he points out in his post, the three films getting all the attention are set in a variety of places other than Mexico–from London to Spain to California and Morocco. I think he just wants to be known as a great filmmaker–one who isn’t put in a box.
But at the same time, attention and praise are still attention and praise, even if they’re long overdue or not in the most appealing package. The amount of interest being stirred up around Mexican directors and films right now is to be expected, considering the box office numbers and Oscar nominations (16 between the three titles) these three films have generated. According to indieWIRE’s BOT, Pan’s Labyrinth surpassed Like Water for Chocolate as the highest grossing Spanish language film in the US ($21.7 million as of yesterday). All kinds of people watching a subtitled movie in multiplex theaters. I love it (even if it is a ridiculous thing to love).
It’s true. American audiences blinded by Hollywood blockbusters can be a bit clueless. They might even need to be hit over the head before they sit up and take notice. But personally, I’m just glad they’re taking notice. I’m glad more films from more places are being seen by more people.
We’ve had a bit of trouble getting this episode to go through the iTunes feed, so we hope this re-post will fix the problem. The original post, with episode description and embedded player, is here.
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A number of our 
