1622 - Closer

I don't know why I'm just realizing this now, but this might be one of my all-time favorite films.  I know I've revisited it a lot more than other films in past years.  I'm currently doing notes on a new project idea and for someone reason I just knew that I had to rewatch this to get inspired. 
If you're not familiar, this is a film about four people who just can't stop getting in each others way romantically.  It's based on a play, and it's not hard to tell.  There are very few scenes (compared to most films), and they take their time, but I have to say I've never ever been bored watching this film.  The writing just crackles in conjunction with four tour-de-force performances.  This film was perfectly cast - each and everyone of them has a least a few showcase acting moments - although it never feels like that's what they were aiming for, or was the intention.  No matter how many times I see it I always get hypnotized by it. 
It's been out for years now, and it's up on netflix.  If you like any of these actors and you want to see them at the top of their game, this is it.  It's so good.  Finishing it and thinking about it makes me want to watch it all over again - and that's exactly what great story telling does. 

1070 - Carnal Knowledge

The fact that this film was deemed controversial when it was first released is just awesome. It shows how amazingly far we've come in what we deem over-the-top now. Sad maybe.

I saw this film a number of years ago and re-watched it after having recommended it to a producer as a potential reference for a film we're developing. Might be the wrong film to use as a reference, but I'll be damned if it still isn't a great one.

It's not surprising at all that this film was originally intended to be a play. There are so many fantastic lines and dialogues, but what's so great about this film and Mike Nichols as a filmmaker in general is that he really knows how to make dialogue cinematic. There are three separate shots/sequences where we sit on one character while the scene takes place around them, out of the frame and we just watch how they react/interact. It's fantastic and says so much about what's going on at that current point of their relationship with these people.

Jack Nicholson and Art Garfunkel are really great here as two friends that age together. The aging is actually quite impressive and they look like they've aged twenty+ years by the end of it all.

Candice Bergan s wonderful in a really calculated awkwardness. The stand-outs in this film are Nicholson and Ann-Margaret though. Anytime they are on screen together you're peeled, and not just because Ms. Ann shows her goods several times, but their relationship, it's tragic dynamic is just impossible to look away from.

I can see this film being a hard one to digest for some, but it's so layered in ideas and thoughts and sexual politics. I'm glad I revisited it.