Since this five-week course by Jeanine Basinger of Wesleyan University officially ended this week, I guess I should write a few words on it as I usually do. I’m more reticent than usual about this because it turned out to be a rather bland course about a very narrow subject: how Hollywood depicts the institution of marriage in its films and whether this has changed over time and if so, how.
Persona (1966)
Considering how much I liked both Wild Strawberries and The Seventh Seal, I was really looking forward to watching Persona. It is apparently considered to be Ingmar Bergman’s masterpiece and one of the greatest films ever made. My wife says she has watched this many times already but was willing to watch it again with me. In the event, I can’t say that I like it very much. On an intellectual level, I have to admire how brilliant it is, but it’s just not a film that speaks to me.
The Imitation Game (2014)
With my interest in computer science in general and artificial intelligence in particular, I was always going to watch any biographical film about Alan Turing. As for my wife, she’d have wanted to add this to our list if only because it stars Benedict Cumberbatch. Since this is a biography of a well-known historical figure, there will be more spoilers than usual since I assume that readers are already familiar with Turing.
BioShock Infinite DLCs
So I finally got my GPU back. Actually, MSI said my GTX 770 couldn’t be fixed and instead offered an upgrade to a GTX 970 for a small fee which I quickly accepted. Since I’d been working my way through all of the BioShock Infinite DLCs even my GPU conked out, so I went back to that.
The Scent of Green Papaya (1993)
The Scent of Green Papaya is the very first Vietnamese film to be featured in this blog. It was the debut film for its director Trần Anh Hùng who since gone on to make other works that are also apparently considered to be quite notable. Like many of his films, it also stars the director’s wife Trần Nữ Yên Khê. What is most striking about this film however is that it perfectly immerses the audience in its setting of Vietnam in the 1950s, yet it is entirely filmed in a sound stage in France.
A Bridge Too Far (1977)
Hollywood made a lot of World War Two films, too many to make much of a dent in. Many of them are also very long epics, making them even of more of a chore to watch. Still, it feels like we should at least watch some of the more notable ones to be taken seriously as cinephiles, so I picked this one to start. As you can see from its extra-long poster, it has a massive cast that is practically a who’s who of the most prominent male actors.
The Longest Journey
With still no GPU fit for modern games, I’ve started knocking items off of my list of old games that I’d always wished I’d played. This starts with The Longest Journey, one of the most highly praised adventure games of all time and one that has gained renewed prominence recently due to its female protagonist and the KickStarter campaign to fund a sequel.