The Author Pans Wes Anderson's Latest and Then Discusses How Directors Fade Away

The Phoenician Scheme

Wes Anderson has lost the plot. And so did his latest film. I recently saw The Phoenician Scheme. It was unmistakably an Anderson film, he has a style like no one else. But as his been the trend with him, that style got in the way of telling a story. Enough already with the quirky characters and the deadpan expressions and the lovely colors, the famous actors popping up in minuscule roles and the silliness. It’s gone from refreshing and exciting to…this again? Anderson is a director getting in his own way. 

It was hard to tell what the Phoenician Scheme was supposed to be about. In terms of a storyline it resembled something a couple of stoned fifteen-year-old boys would concoct. It was all over the place with a lot of characters introduced seemingly for the sake of it. A great artist would either try to do something different from time to time or hit it out of the ball park every time. This was the same old schtick and it was a weak grounder to third.

My three favorite of Anderson’s films are Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums and Moonrise Kingdom. They had beginnings, ends and middles. They were told with style and verve and a uniqueness that was extraordinary. But I don’t know what the hell he’s on about with his latest. I liked his previous picture, Asteroid City. That’s liked not loved. The French Dispatch and the Grand Budapest Hotel were also nice. But the downward trend had by then begun that for me culminated with hot mess that is the Phoenician Scheme.

It got me thinking about a somewhat related topic: do directors do their best work early and in the middle of their career and fade at the end? The simple way to answer that is to look at the last three films by great directors and see how they measure up to his/her earlier work.

Martin Scorsese’s last three feature films are Silence, The Irishman and Killers of the Flower Moon. All decent films but bloated and excessive and not at all comparable to the likes of Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and Goodfellas which are all masterpieces of modern cinema.

Francis Ford Coppola made the Godfather The Godfather Part 2, The Conversation and Apocalypse Now in the Seventies. Since then nothing to write home about.

John Ford ended his career with Cheyenne Autumn, Young Cassidy and Chesty: A Tribute to a Legend. Not exactly Stagecoach, Grapes of Wrath or The Searchers.

Howard Hawks, he of His Girl Friday, The Big Sleep and Red River, brought his career to a close with pictures called Red Line 7000, Rio Lobo and El Dorado.

Ingmar Bergman, my favorite director of all time, finished his oeuvre off with Saraband and a slew of TV movies that were little seen or heard of.

Federico Fellini, who like Bergman made a string of classics in the fifties and sixties, closed out his career with Ginger and Fred, Intervista and The Voice of the Moon.

Alfred Hitchcock’s long brilliant career petered out with Topaz, Frenzy and Family Plot. The latter of those three was a nice movie but nothing that one would compare with Psycho, Notorious, The Lodger or any of a dozen other classics he directed.

I checked out other directors -- Akira Kurosawa, Charlie Chaplin, Jean-Luc Goddard, Michaelangelo Antonioni, Hal Ashby, Robert Altman, Billy Wilder, Vittorio De Sica -- and it was the same story. 

The only exceptions I came across were Luis Buñuel — his last three were the Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoise, That Obscure Object of Desire and Phantom of Liberty, all among his best — and Aki Kaurismäki who’s latest film, Fallen Leaves, is my favorite of his. It was preceded by two other excellent films, Le Havre and The Other Side of Hope. Of course Kaurismäki could conceivably come out of retirement and muck it all up. Hope not and doubt it.

It is rare indeed for a director’s best work to be at the end  of his career. The creative flame must simply burn out. I suppose it can be likened to athletes who, absent an early retirement, are often shadows of their former selves as their careers wind down.

Based on his latest work, this already seems to be the case with Wes Anderson.

You Can't Choose Your Family But You Can Choose a Great Film That Centers Around One -- Eight Examples

The Royal Tenenbaums

Families are often complex units that can be highly functional and supportive, nurturing happy and successful individuals. They can also be highly destructive to the mental health of its members and do irreparable damage. They can also be anywhere in the vast land between those two extremes. Families are the home base from which we start life. Later we can form our own. Many of us model our own parenting style and philosophy based on how we were raised. Many of us try to do the opposite.

Families come in various sizes. They can be as small as mom, dad and one child. There can be multiple children, there can be grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins included. There can be children who are adopted. Some families are close and loving. Some families spend a modicum of time together. Many close, loving families are also restrictive and repressive. Some families that are not tightly-knit nonetheless adequately fulfill the needs of its members. 

Some families fight constantly. Some with real rancor and others harmlessly with no ill will. Some families hold in their feelings towards one another. Much goes unsaid. Resentments brew.

Movies that focus on a family too often deal in stereotypes. Maybe the mom is a typical nag or perhaps she is totally self-sacrificing, tolerant and a buffer to a temperamental father. The Dad can be a tyrant or he can be a milquetoast whose every other utterance to his wife is, “yes dear.” Rarely do motion pictures give every family member their own unique identity and rarer still do they seem more than cardboard cut-outs.

But I found eight films that created interesting families that are either totally believable and relatable or thoroughly entertaining. All those selected are excellent movies most by one of filmdom's great directors. They are offered in no particular order.

Amarcord (1973) Fellini. The Biondi family is one of the great delights of cinema in one of the greatest of all films. To say they are eccentric is a massive understatement. The Father (Armando Brancia) is a construction foreman, and an anti-fascist who's demanding of his children. He also quarrels constantly with his wife (Pupella Maggio) a strong-willed woman, protective of her brood. When father's frustration grows too much he tries to "kill himself" by pulling his mouth apart with his hands pulling simultaneously up and down as if he can tear his head apart this way. There’s also a horny grandfather, an Uncle in a mental hospital who forgets to unzip before relieving himself, a lazy brother-in-law who wears a hair net, and of course the children, one of whom is the movie’s central character in a wild menagerie of them. Taken together they are a seemingly a hot mess but under the deft touch of director Federico Fellini they're grand fun.

Fanny and Alexander (1982) Bergman. The Ekdahl family. The story centers on the titular characters, especially the boy Alexander. It is partially through his young eyes that we meet this wonderful family led by the grandmother and matriarch Helena (Gunn Wallgren). She’s what one would call a “cool grandma.” She’s a vital, wise, handsome woman and likes to kick up her heels. Fanny and Alexander’s loving father dies early in our story and their lovely mother (Ewa Froling) makes the mistake of marrying a stern, cold-hearted bishop. The children go from a loving extended family of uncles, aunts and cousins in their virtual playground of a house to a austere, cold home with the bishop’s dour, dull-as-dust spinster sisters. It would be a shock to anyone. Unsurprisingly it all works out and they ultimately return to the Ekdahl wonderland. 

The Godfather (1972) F. Coppola. The Corleones. Mom, Dad and five kids, four boys (one adopted) and a girl. They’re a prosperous. The parents are immigrants from Sicily who realized the American dream  starting with nothing before building a business empire. Capitalism at its finest. True, their business is organized crime and ultimately two of the boys will be murdered and Dad will be badly wounded in a shooting. Oh, and and the daughter’s husband will be killed -- by order of one of her brothers. Family stuff. The children are all unique. The oldest son, Sonny (James Caan) will blend easily into the family business though his temper will prove a fatal flaw. The middle son, Fredo (John Cazale) will also go into the biz, but the poor sap is bumbling idiot, ill-suited for such serious work. Youngest son Michael (Al Pacino) initially wants nothing to do with the business side of his family. He’s a college boy who joins the marines when the U.S. enters World War II. Ahh but here is where our tale gets interesting. Fascinating  Celluloid history. Michael changes. Boy does he ever. Circumstances force this transformation, but there’s something within the boy too. Ultimately he takes over the family business when Pop dies of natural causes. The Godfather is indeed a movie about the Mafia, but it is also about family. At that it excels. The sequel, Godfather Part 2, continues the story.

Radio Days (1987) Allen. There is mother (Julie Kavner), father (Michael Tucker), their son Joe (Seth Green) whose latter day narration guides us through this story set in the early 1940s. They live with an aunt, uncle and cousin. Radio Days is the story of how the radio was often the center of the household but in seeing the media’s effect we learn about this not always charming but always interesting family and its disparate members. They bicker, they support each other. They are quirky and eccentric and eminently relatable. Each are unique and fully realized in one of Woody Allen’s very best films. Radio Days, like the family it depicts, is touching, funny and relatable. Each family member is unique and memorable on their own merits, but would suffer mightily without the support of the family as a whole.

The Grapes of Wrath (1940) Ford. The Joad family. The displaced family. Torn from their home and sent across the country by the combined horrors of The Great Depression and the Dust Bowl, in search of the Nirvana that California supposedly was. The Joads are one of literature’s  most famous families. Through the brilliant direction of John Ford they became one of cinema’s most indelible families too. Henry Fonda stars as Tom Joad, whose story is the focal point of the family. He has an everyman quality which lends his family the same feeling. They are any of us who are unfortunate, who’ve become victims despite our hard work and best efforts. They were what happens when luck is all bad. They prove that when one door closes another one does not necessarily open. Jane Darwell as Ma Joad is perhaps film’s greatest representation of the power of motherhood. The family center holds despite misfortunate, even as some members leave or die.

The Ice Storm (1997) A. Lee. The four-member Hood Family. All families are of a particular time and place. This one is suburbia in 1973. Watergate is dominating the news. Hairstyles have uniformly changed. Many of the freedoms fought for in the Sixties are in place. Key parties are a thing. Bell bottoms and plaid are worn. Tobey Maguire as the son Paul is the center of the story. He’s in prep school developing a love of literature but a far greater love of the fairer sex which he pursues assiduously in the form of the delicious young Katie Holmes. His younger sister Wendy (Christina Ricci) is disaffected, moody, sexually curious and perhaps quite angry at her parents. She’s certainly got, as they say, “issues” — many of them. Then again everyone in this story does and that's rather the point. Ben and Elena (Kevin Kline and Joan Allen) are the parents. Ben is having an affair with a neighbor and isn’t fooling the missus. Emotions are stifled, appearances are kept. Life is awkward, something to be soldiered through. This is a dysfunctional, if fascinating and revealing family in one of the most honest portrayals of suburbia ever filmed.

Shadow of a Doubt (1943) Hitchcock. The Newton family and its Uncle Charlie (Joseph Cotton). They’re a pretty ordinary group and that’s the trouble for the eldest, who like her uncle is also a Charlie. There’s no excitement in their lives. Mom and Dad (Patricia Collinge and Henry Travers) are agreeable, amiable folks who love their brood. (They’re a bit old to have an eight-year-old. This was an oddity of casting in the first forty or so years of films, parents in their fifties or sixties with young children.) Charlie (Teresa Wright) who appears to be nearing twenty, is clearly the driving force of the family and when her namesake Uncle (mom’s brother) comes for a visit she feels that the sun has come out after too many dreary days. Idyllic! The beloved uncle comes bearing gifts. But Uncle Charlie brings menace too. He’s not the hail-fellow-well-met he seems. Indeed he's a serial killer of rich widows, hence his wealth. Only young Charlie can see this. Families are often all about facades. The false front that fools everyone. The Newton family doesn’t even know — except for young Charlie — that their happy face is an illusion. It’s a fascinating story and one of Hitchcock's best.

The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) W. Anderson. I defy you to find a more interesting film family that the Tenenbaums. I further challenge you to identify a weirder patriarch than Royal Tenenbaum (Gene Hackman). He’s a rascal, a scoundrel, a liar, a cheat and a loving father. Here are a few quotes of his: “Anybody interested in grabbing a couple of burgers and hittin' the cemetery?” 

“I'm very sorry for your loss. Your mother was a terribly attractive woman.” 

“I've always been considered an asshole for about as long as I can remember.”

“Hell of a damn grave. Wish it were mine.”

The three children (Ben Stiller, Luke Wilson and Gwyneth Paltrow) are all madly eccentric in one way or the other — indeed in many ways. Only mom (Angelica Huston) has a touch of normalcy to her. It’s a mad crew that scrap and yell but ultimately get along…um, just fine? At the start of the movie they’ve all gone their separate ways but circumstances bring them all together and Royal makes himself the center of the ensuing insanity (he is the nexus wherever he goes). It makes for great hilarity but if you watch closely enough it’s also an insightful film. About families.

Some of the Films I've Watched Lately a Few of Which I Enjoyed Greatly

The Royal Tenenbaums

The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) Anderson. I unreservedly love this movie. And I loved it all the more with this latest viewing. Dysfunctionality has never been funnier. Gene Hackman as Royal Tenenbaum steals the show with lines like these:

“Anybody interested in grabbing a couple of burgers and hittin' the cemetery?” 

“I'm very sorry for your loss. Your mother was a terribly attractive woman.” 

“I've always been considered an asshole for about as long as I can remember. That's just my style. But I'd really feel blue if I didn't think you were going to forgive me.”

“Chas has those boys cooped up like a pair of jackrabbits, Ethel.”

“Hell of a damn grave. Wish it were mine.”

“You wanna talk some jive? I'll talk some jive. I'll talk some jive like you never heard!”

“Hey, lay it on me, man.” This said when meeting a distinguished African American man. 

Royal, as should be obvious from the above, has a propensity for being totally inappropriate. But it’s not as though he’s surrounded by sanity. His family is a wacky crew. His sons (Ben Stiller and Luke Wilson) are, to put it charitably, eccentric (albeit successful) and his daughter (Gwyneth Paltrow) — who he introduces as his “adopted daughter” — is so far out there you couldn’t find her with a telescope. Attached to the family is more madness such as Raleigh St. Clair (Bill Murray) and Eli Cash (Owen Wilson). Only his ex-wife (Angelica Huston) seems at all normal and only just. This and Rushmore are peak Wes Anderson, for my money only Moonrise Kingdom has matched these two.

The File on Thelma Jordan (1949) Siodmak. Barbara Stanwyck stars opposite Wendell Corey. Wait, what? Wendell Corey the leading man? That can’t be right. He was always the protagonist’s buddy -- notably in Rear Window -- never the main man. Actually Corey  was fine in this picture though it would have been better served with someone else in the lead. Like a leading man. William Holden? Melvyn Douglass? Dana Andrews? Maybe they and others all turned it down. TFTJ is being shown on Criterion Channel as part of their "1950 the Peak Year of Noir" series. There’s always one basic problem with noir: you know the “bad guys” aren’t going to get away with it. The mystery, such as it is, is what is going to trip them up. The plot here is not worth detailing but suffice to say Stanwyck is the villainess though not half as interesting as she is in Double Indemnity. Of course this one wasn’t written and directed by Billy Wilder. TFTJ is a solidly mediocre picture, certainly no waste of time but nothing you’re going to much remember after watching it — unless you blog about it.

The Immigrant (2013) Gray. Simply a terrible movie. The first really bad one I’ve sat through in a long time. Marion Cotillard stars, or rather she goes through the motions. The brilliant Joaquin Phoenix similarly reads his lines and hits his marks. Jeremy Renner plays a thoroughly uninteresting character with little evident enthusiasm. The film starts off dark in confined spaces and one imagines we’re being set up for wide open vistas and large spaces with brilliant light much as John Ford would do. Nope. It stays that way through the entire running time. There is nothing interesting about the film except to imagine why some critics liked it. Cotillard plays an immigrant from Poland in 1921 coming to New York with her ailing sister. It’s a great set up but the rest of the film is a complete disappointment.

The Passenger (1975) Antonioni. Sometimes I amaze myself. Prior to my latest viewing I’d watched The Passenger once before many years ago and didn’t like it. In the intervening years I’ve read and heard so many good things about it that I decided it deserved a second chance. After all, I’d disliked another Antonioni film the first time I saw it (L’Aventurra) and thought it masterpiece after a second viewing. Guess what? Same thing happened with The Passenger. Who was that person who didn’t like it? What a great film! Jack Nicholson stars as a disaffected journalist in North Africa who assumes a dead man's identity. Turns out the recently deceased was running guns for rebels and had some serious enemies. As was his custom, Antonioni took his sweet time in telling the story with long lingering shots that allow the viewer to breathe and think and take in any of the various locales that the protagonist travels through. Maria Schneider co-stars. The Passenger ranks up there with Antonioni's best. The closing scene has got to rank with one of the best endings in cinema.

The Lady Eve (1941) Sturges. One of the ten greatest screwball comedies of all time for me and countless others. Hell, it's one of the great films of all time, period. In Barbara Stanwyck’s great career she was never better. Certainly never funnier nor sexier. Henry Fonda proved here that a great actor can play in any genre as this was a rare foray into comedy for him. A supporting crew of Eugene Palette, Charles Coburn, William Demarest and Eric Blore round out a picture worth seeing again and again. And again.

Prizii’s Honor. (1985) Huston. Such was the state of American cinema in the eighties that this was not only a very popular film but a highly acclaimed one. Honestly it’s not bad but sure ain’t great either. Jack Nicholson shines as always, Kathleen Turner is sultry, as always. Angelica Huston (directed by her Dad) turns in a nice performance (it won an Oscar?) the supporting players are just fine. But Huston who directed some of Hollywood’s great films (Maltese Falcon, Treasure of the Sierra Madre, the African Queen, The Man Who Would Be King, Key Largo) was not in great form in this his penultimate directoral effort and more importantly the script was not up to the actors. The line “do I ice her or do I kill her” is memorable but not much else is in this in one ear and out the other film.

Mirror (1975) Tarkovsky. Critic Antti Alanen called the film a "space odyssey into the interior of the psyche.” That’s as good a description as any. This was my fifth or sixth viewing and I found it just as mysterious, enigmatic and enthralling. It’s like free form jazz on film, hopping from one scene to the next, cutting in actual footage of the Spanish Civil War or a bullfight. A woman floats in mid air. A woman we haven’t seen before upbraids a main character. A barn burns. It’s a puzzle why we’re watching certain things but they are compelling and it makes sense just as it doesn’t. I love this film.

I Go to the Theater, I Give a Book Talk, I Rant About Classic Films, I Celebrate a Cure

Oscar Isaac in The Card Counter

Went to a movie theater for the first time in twenty months on Monday. Unlike all previous visits to the cinema, I had to show proof of vaccination and an ID. Also, I had to wear a mask. I didn’t mind.

I was one of only two people viewing the 4:05 showing of The Card Counter. As much as I love watching films in the comfort of my home, it was delightful to be in theater again, indeed it was like I’d never been away.

First, of course, there was an assault of commercials, the first cleverly disguised to initially appear to be a trailer. I tuned out the ads, I’ll never accept or get used to seeing them before a film. Then came the previews. I like previews, except for when there are several dozen of them before the feature. My favorite on Monday was for Wes Anderson’s latest, The French Dispatch, which opens later this month. Can’t wait.

I was really looking forward to The Card Counter. I loved Paul Schrader’s previous directorial effort, First Reformed (2017), an absolutely brilliant film. I admired the Card Counter, which features Oscar Isaac as William Tell, a professional card player who’d done a stint in prison for his role in torturing prisoners in Abu Ghraib. He is now repentant and takes under his wing a young man whose father was also guilty of abusing prisoners in the same prison and took his own life in response to being thrown under the bus. The young man wants revenge against the unprosecuted civilian who was the real mastermind and leader of the torture practices. Meanwhile William has an affair with La Linda (Tiffany Haddish) who is William’s link to his rich sponsors on the pro poker circuit. 

Card Counter is unrelentingly dark but compelling. It is film that explores a number of themes and is a great character study. As one would expect from Schrader (he was also the screenwriter of Taxi Driver) it avoids cliches or easy answers to the complex issues it presents. It is an exploration of, among other things, the empty sadness of the casino going experience and professional poker. I wasn’t totally satisfied with its climax but I don’t think the ending went against the film’s flow.

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Tuesday evening I had my first book chat for my second novel, Threat of Night. It was via Zoom, a format I’m not totally comfortable but it went swimmingly nonetheless. I read an excerpt from the book and then fielded questions. Here I was in my element as it was very much like being a teacher. My wife, sister-in-law, a niece and a nephew all watched and all said I did an excellent job, which pleased me greatly. One reason for my “success” was that I know the subject matter so well (hell, I wrote the damn thing) and love talking about it. When a book absorbs so much of your time, you end up having a lot to say about it. I know all the characters intimately, including their backstories, how they met one another and in many cases, their exact addresses. They come alive for me when I talk about them and their stories. Have you checked out my book yet? You really should. 

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I saw the following tweet this morning: “What old classic movies like #TopGun can I watch now? I’m in the mood!” Excuse my language but, oh my God, seriously? Top Gun is considered a “classic?” One wonders whether it would be preferable to laugh or cry. And the responses blew what little remained of my mind. Here are some tweeters suggestions: Hot Shots, An Officer and a Gentlemen, Cocktail, The Game, Goonies, The Hunt for Red October, Big Trouble in Little China, Weird Science, Dumb and Dumber, Ghost, The Firm and Turner and Hooch. 

Turner and Hooch? A Classic? The mind boggles, it reels, it sways, it rumbas, it goes into full spin cycle. 

I’m singling out Turner and Hooch, but literally anyone of the above-mentioned films is a good example of not a classic film.

Call me old-fashioned, or just old (the latter certainly applies) but aren’t classic films supposed to be from the twenties, thirties, forties, fifties, sixties and maybe the seventies? And isn’t a classic film supposed to be good? I mean really, really good and widely acknowledged to be. Shouldn't it be revered by cinephiles and casual film watchers alike? Actually, beyond really good, shouldn't it, dare I say it, be a recognized classic? Here are a few examples of classic film: Gold Rush, The Seventh Seal, Citizen Kane, The Big Sleep, On the Waterfront, Seven Samurai, Grand Illusion, Bonnie and Clyde, 2001, Chinatown, The Godfather. 

Turner and Hooch? Just wow.

What world are we living in where people call films like Top Gun and The Firm as classics?  Need we start having mandatory film appreciation classes taught in public schools, yearly, perhaps starting in middle school?

Come on, now, Turner and Hooch? Was someone having a laugh? Jesus.

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Tomorrow will be my 36th and last day of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) treatment. I’m elated to report that I’ve not suffered any depression in several weeks and my overall mood is much improved. A tremendous weight has been lifted from me for depression feels like a tremendous weight. I may yet suffer some depression in the future and may indeed have to go back for further treatment, but we know that TMS works for me. I’m beyond grateful to the good people at Bay Psychiatric Associates. If you’re suffering from depression talk to your health care provider and find out if TMS might work for you too. This is not an ad it is a sincere thank you.

Nerds, Jocks, Stoners, Outcasts and Mean Girls: A Guide to 25 Excellent Films That Focus on American Teenagers

Mean Girls

Teenagers are a great subject for films. First of all they look good on screen. Some are beautiful, some are cute, all are young. Audiences would generally prefer looking at seventeen-year-olds rather than seventy-year olds. (I should here add that many who portray teens in films are actually in their twenties.) Teens make for good subjects because they are at turning points in their lives, often making decisions that will effect them forever. Coming of age stories are a staple of films as teenagers wrestle with the transition from childhood to their adult years. Sexual awakening is also a feature of teen films which in itself provides titillation for audiences, but also, if done sincerely, gets at some of the basic realities of navigating romantic relationships, sex and when the twain meet. 

Adults often like teen movies because they can evoke either halcyon days or remind us of struggles we've happily moved past. Teens, of course, love teen movies because they can be anything from a how-to guide, to a mirror on their own experiences, to a look at what many of their counterparts are going through.

Of course many films featuring teen characters are comedies, often of the raunchy variety. This is only natural. Teenagers frequently get into humorous situations, whether intentionally or not. Screenwriters, directors and actors like to exaggerate the zaniness of being a teenager and sometimes do so for good effect.

Of course many people have scars from their teen years. There are heartbreaks, struggles with authority, first exposures to life's harsher realities such as death, addiction, war and violence. Watching a film that explores these experiences can be cathartic.

Speaking of struggling with authority....Teen movies often capture the spirit of rebellion that comes naturally to many as they become self-aware and question society's rules. Usually teens are portrayed as the forward-thinkers, standing up to outmoded practices and ideas.

Never, Sometimes, Rarely, Always

Teenagers face a lot of pressure. Trying to be your own person. Trying to fit in. Trying to be liked. Trying to be loved. Not caring what others think of you. Looking ahead to college or work. Trying to understand love. Having first experiences with romance. Learning to drive. Going to war. Going off to college. Getting pregnant or causing a pregnancy. Earning a scholarship. Failing to get into a dream school. Becoming a star athlete. Getting high for the first time. 

They're tough years and we're not really ready for them until we reach our forties.

Teen movies also capture the different types of people we meet in high school (often creating and perpetuating stereotypes in the process). Meet the nerds, Meet the jocks. Meet the sexually active. Meet the especially mature. Meet the especially immature. Meet the cool, popular kids. Meet the outcasts. Meet the bullies. Meet the stoners. Meet the rebels. Most of all meet the totally normal everyteens, stuck in the middle of all the cliques and archetypes.

Teen films often stereotype teachers, principal and parents, although the better ones don't.

Suffice to say that there are many, many films that explore the teen years and some of them are damn good. What follows is 25 of those damn good ones. Please note this is a subjective list and includes my personal favorites. I could easily have made a list twice as long. Surely anyone else making such a list would have excluded some of mine and included many they prefer.

In compiling the list and noting the ten "runners-up" below, I noted that the vast majority of these films (twenty-five of thirty-five) were made from the 1990s on. This is curious in large part because far less of the overall movies I admire were made within this time span. Obviously the "serious" teen film and the truly funny ones are a recent phenomenon and it is well worth exploring why. I'd imagine one reason is that teens are the target audience and they've become a much more important share of the film-going public. Also I think it's following a trend as the teen film was popularized -- principally by John Hughes -- in the Eighties.

(My goodness I didn't have room for: Footloose (1984) Ross, The Breakfast Club (1985) Hughes, Booksmart (2019) Wilde, Lady Bird (2017) Gerwig, Juno (2007) Reitman, Thirteen (2003) Hardwicke, Heathers (1989) Lehman, Precious (2009) Daniels, Easy A (2010) Gluck,  and Clueless (1995) Heckerling).

Rushmore

1. The Last Picture Show(1971) Bogdanovich. Teens in a small, sad Texas town in the 1950s. Not a cheery topic but a compelling story featuring Jeff Bridges, Timothy Bottoms and Cybill Shepard. All three struggle with early sexual experiences, romantic entanglements, and the shifting nature of friendships.

2. Rushmore (1998) Anderson. The rebel with many causes, none of them terribly important, but they combine to provide an eccentric, funny, touching story that is  perhaps  the quintessential Wes Anderson film. Our hero, Max (Jason Schwartzman) is a wonderfully iconoclastic teen and Rushmore is certainly a variation on the theme of teen films.

3. Mean Girls (2004) Waters. The classic high school story. Some drama, a lot of laughs in a cultural touchstone, as vibrant today as when it premiered over 16 years ago. It manages to be both insightful and honest and still hilarious. A brilliant script.

4. Moonrise Kingdom (2012) Anderson. Barely teens falling in love on an island and escaping together. Another Wes Anderson classic and a very different sort of teen love story. Puppy love and scout troops, social services (in the form of a single character) and an all-star cast including Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Edward Norton and Tilda Swinton.

5. My Own Private Idaho (1991) Van Sant. Shakespeare-inspired, this is about older teens who leave home for life on the streets, hustling, bonding, living dangerously but on their own terms. River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves star. It's something of a teen road picture with positive LGBTQ themes, narcolepsy and a dash of Falstaff.

The Suicide Virgins

6. The Virgin Suicides (1999) S. Coppola. Sisters living under the repression of uber religious parents. Sofia Coppola’s debut films is a unique look at what it means to be a teenage girl and what it means to love from afar and certainly what it means to live in an oppressive home.

7. Wild Boys of the Road (1933) Wellman. Teens during the great depression. A hard as nails tail of teens taking to the road — via the rails — to ease burdens on families or get away from families while desperately hoping for a better life.

8. Rebel Without a Cause (1955) Ray. They might not have had a cause but they rebelled for a reason. They were fed up with stifling home lives, parents who were absent, or unloving or inept. James Dean, Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo were transcendent as the teens. Still resonant 65 years later.

9. Boyz n the Hood (1991) Singleton.  African American teens coming of age in a racist society. A powerful drama that is rich with themes and great performances. Teens struggling with an unjust society.

10. Never Rarely Sometimes Always (2020) Hittman. The anti-Juno film about a pregnant teenager girl who decides to have an abortion. At times there is a documentary feel to this story of a girl and her cousin venturing from small town Pennsylvania to New York City for the procedure and the tribulations they face. The newest film on this list and one that deserves to be widely seen.

11. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986) Hughes. Pure fun. Matthew Broderick starred in my favorite John Hughes film about teens who just want to have fun — and “stick it the man” in the process. Some hard truths are learned by one character but the film's theme, as expressed by the title character is:  "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

Superbad

12. Superbad (2007) Mottola. A super good movie about teen boys looking for sex, love, sex, booze, sex, parties and sex. It's a wild ride and a fun one. McLovin is classic.

13. Waves (2019) Shults. The story of African American siblings in present day Miami and the divergent paths their lives take. To say it’s a powerful drama would be an understatement but also a trivialization of a beautiful film about choices and fate.

14. Little Women (2019) Gerwig. Nineteenth century teen siblings who love — and sometimes hate or envy — each other as they each seek different paths to their dreams. We miss the high school experience here, but Little Women captures the struggles of girls turning into women and making that journey with their sisters.

15. Election (1999) Payne. Reese Witherspoon's Tracy Flick captures a high school archetype: the driven, ambitious student who has to be a student leader while maintaining her 4.0. Tracy Flicks are at every high school and they can variously be a delight or a royal pain to teachers and fellow students. Usually they're both. Election is an irreverent but realistic comedy about the high school experience, most especially student elections.

16. Pleasantville (1998) Ross. A present-day teen, David (Tobey Maguire and his sister (Reese Witherspoon, again) aremagically transported into a Fifties sit-com and the teen world it portrays. They literally brings the color of his contemporary times to a stodgy, sexless, banal world.

17. The World of Henry Orient (1964) Hill. Teen girls with a crush on an older man. In this case a concert pianist played by Peter Sellars. It's what one would call a charming romp and is well worth a look as a peak into a bygone era. 

18. Elephant (2003) Van Sant. In some ways a look at a typical suburban high school but with the principle difference being that a mass shooting takes place. It is clearly based on the Columbine High School Massacre and helps shine a light on that tragedy and how high school cultures can be dangerously damaging to young, vulnerable psyches.

Yes, God, Yes

19. Yes, God, Yes (2020) Maine. Sexual awakenings are often the stuff of teen movies and this is one of the newest and best examples. Our protagonist, Alice (Natalie Dyer) has an extra challenge as she, like so many others, faces the strictures of being in a strict Catholic school. Alice experiences lust while also witnessing rank hypocrisy. Lessons are learned.

20. Dazed and Confused (1993) Linklater. The classic coming-of-age film featuring an ensemble cast and thus a variety of teen experiences. It takes place on the last night of school with all the madness that can entail.

21. Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) Heckerling. Yet another coming-of-age classic with a wide-ranging cast. Fast Times is a school year in the life of a group of disparate characters that comprise some of the various types one meets in a high school. Notable in the cast is a young Sean Penn as a stoner.

22. My Friend Dahmer (2017) Meyers. This is about a future serial killer and cannibal so no, it's not your typical teen movie. It's based on the actual high school experiences of the notorious serial killer and flesh eater, Jeffrey Dahmer. It sounds like heavy fare, but in his school days Dahmer was more of a goofball making the transition into murderer. It's an oddly compelling film and as good a look at high school as you'll see.

23. Napoleon Dynamite (2004) Hess. The title character (John Heder) is the total oddball teen from a weird family (every school has them). He is lovably eccentric, especially when he dances and helps his friend's Pedro's seemingly quixotic campaign for student body president.

24. Eight Grade (2018) Burnham. At last a middle school setting. The middle school years can be particularly brutal as teens deal with physical and social awkwardness that can lead to anything from depression to self-loathing to harming oneself. Elsie Fisher is Kayla in the last days of 8th grade looking forward to and dreading the coming of high school. It is, as one reviewer put it, "sweet, sad and beautifully observed." It is also criminally underrated.

25. Dope (2015) Famuyiwa. Another terrific film that flew under the radar. Here we have three misfits (outcasts are best served by traveling together) who find adventure in a tough neighborhood. It has been described as a coming of age film for the post hip hop generation. An underground party is attended, choices are made and challenges ensue. 

I've Seen a Lot of Films Recently, My Thoughts on Some of Them Follow -- Also My Annual Top Ten will be Delayed One Week

Tis the season to go to movies and with time off from work to watch some in the comfort of one's home. These things I have done. What follows is thoughts (mine only, I have no access to anyone else's thinking) regarding some of these motion pictures. I also must plead for your patience as my annual top ten list of films -- which normally appears on our near the first of the year -- will be appearing one week later. I know this grieves you enormously, but I trust you to be strong.

Just today I joined trillions of other people in the galaxy and went to see the latest installment of the Star Wars saga, Star Wars: The Force Awakens. This may come as something of a surprise to regular readers of this blog (both of us) as I generally eschew movies in the action/adventure/scifi category. However I've always liked the original three films of the franchise and partially to test that fondness the missus and I watched them all (in order of course) on Thanksgiving last. They held up. As I was given to understand that this latest offering is in the spirit of the originals and was being hailed by critics I had no second thoughts about seeing this iteration of the storied saga.

I was pleased. Charming and witty and full of fun and rife with interesting characters. Good vs. evil with the latter being represented by The First Order, a group that only Dick Cheney could love (he probably does, you know). I was particularly taken by Daisy Ridley, a relative newcomer, who I'm sure literally millions if not tens of millions of men are currently in love with. She's not just a beauty but a damn good actress and perfect as the female heroine. Oscar Isaac further established that he is a big time movie star with his appearance and yes it was nice to see some of the originals in the cast as well, namely Carrie Fischer, Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill and the two robots and the wookiee. I shouldn't forget another newcomer, John Boyega who looks to be destined for stardom. Count me in for the sequel but don't expect me to show up to any of the other garbage that was featured in the previews which was a lot of the action/adventure/scifi  rot that I abhor. Star Wars is the exception that makes the rule for me.

A few days ago I saw Carol, directed by Todd Haynes, and it was sumptuous to behold. A visual feast highlighted by co-stars Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara (another young actress who is easy on the eyes). I'd like to see it again in a theater. While I'm sure I'd enjoy Carol on DVD, its was made for the big screen. The colors, the close ups, the set design the costumes and the magnificent set pieces are breathtaking. Ms. Blanchett is the titular character, a married woman with a small daughter who falls for a shopgirl during the Christmas season. (The story is set in the early Fifties when people didn't even speak of same sex love.)  Love and trouble ensue.

I watched The Furies (1950) for the first time via DVD. Anthony Mann directed and my favorite leading lady Barbara Stanwyck starred and here she was as beautiful a 43 year old as one will ever see. Walter Huston, in his final film, plays her father and Wendell Corey is her on again off again love interest. It's amazing that as much as I know about cinema, the film only recently came to my attention. It is a powerful story of love, family, money and greed set in the New Mexico of the 1870s.
It has to rank among the top 20 or so Westerns I've ever seen. While Carol caused me to put some Douglas Sirk films (he was an obvious inspiration for Haynes) on my Netflix queue, The Furies had me adding Anthony Mann's work.

It's hard to say much about Tarantino's The Hateful Eight without including spoilers. It is the manner in which the film plays out that is to me the main talking point. As I mentioned in an earlier post I was fortunate enough to see it in the 70mm format and it was gorgeous though later gory to look at. I don't mind violence in films assuming that it's there as party of the story but it wasn't death, blood or gunplay that bothered me. I did feel that after a promising start it seemed that Tarantino ran out of ideas and took the easy way out. It's a shame too because he had a wonderful cast and had created a fascinating world in which a potentially compelling story was taking place.

Love & Mercy and Dope were too films that I'd missed in theaters earlier in the year and just caught up with on DVD. I enjoyed both immensely. The former tells parts of the Brian Wilson story, he having been the driving force behind the Beach Boys and their unique sound. Wilson's story is made for the screen given his mental and emotional struggles and the battle for his soul waged by a greedy man and a loving woman. Paul Dano played the younger Wilson and John Cusack was the older Wilson.

Dope is about three geeky high school seniors -- though one in particular is featured -- two are black one is Indian and one of the trio is a lesbian. They go to an inner city school where a nerd's life is never easy. They have a series of adventures in which they find, drugs, romance, criminals, money, strength and maturity and most of all courage. Rick Famuyiwa directed and Shameik Moore stars. One hopes for even more from them in the future. Zoe Kravitz and Chanel Iman also feature.

Among my Christmas bounty was the Criterion release of Moonrise Kingdom (2012) -- my second favorite Wes Anderson film (Rushmore (1998) is first). Anderson is a storyteller par excellence with a unique visual style. He creates unforgettable characters who take themselves and the mundane quite seriously. Situations are fraught with irony, pathos, wit and subtlety. You never see characters laugh, they just do and do and do and do. No one is terribly competent but everyone is sincere and earnest. It is the consistency of the characters and their methodical approaches to life that let the humor and -- not at all incidentally -- the truth to shine through. My god I love this movie.

Speaking of movies I love, Woody Allen's Radio Days (1987). Here's a film that never gets old. It has become something of a New Year's Eve staple of mine, largely because it ends on a New Year's Eve as 1944 is ushered in. Radio Days is one of the best nostalgia films ever made -- if not the best -- although it is so much more than that. Few films have ever evoked a time as well as this one brings us the early 1940s in America. It is especially good at revealing an era in which radio -- not the TV or internet -- was the technology that ruled the home. Like many timeless films it is rich with great songs that are especially effective in the context in which we see them. Of course Radio Days also boasts a slew of wonderful characters who blend in with the sounds and sights like breathing, talking, laughing parts of the scenery. Sublime.

One other film I wanted to discuss before I let you go (you're still with me aren't you?) is...well I can't decide. Maybe Hitchcock/Truffaut, the wonderful new documentary that ostensibly is about the latter's interviews with the former but is really about the greatness of Hitch but even more so is about film itself. Or I could write about Holiday (1938) the wonderful George Cukor film starring Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn. It's such a strong poke at the pompous upper class and such a great love story. Or I could write about Robert Altman's 3 Women (1977) his Persona (1966) like story of...I believe there are three women highlighted. It might be the best movie in Altman's storied career. I could also say a few words about The Big Short which shows how a very few financial wheeler dealers saw the burst of the housing bubble in 2008 coming and bet against the banks and won big. Or I could write about Polanksi's Chinatown (1974) or I could stop right here and make a cup of tea. Yeah, I think that's what I'll do.