14th Five Films, 2007

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Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder) at BAM with Charles and Kevin. Not my favorite Barbara Stanwyck role (that wig!), although I love how Fred MacMurray plays against her. Edward G. Robinson's powerhouse scene in the president's office really stood out this time around. I'm not sure at this point how I feel about Wilder as a director, other than that he probably knows best how to showcase his unbelievable dialogue.
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Year of the Dog (Mike White) at Angelika Film Center for a Stylus review.
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The Billion Dollar Brain (Ken Russell) as the first part of a double feature at Film Forum, which has tasty, if expensive, popcorn. Not outstanding in any way, although I did like Oskar Homolka's character quite a bit. I failed to recognize him while watching from Ball of Fire, which I'd seen less than two weeks prior, although he did seem somehow familiar. This was really just the B-feature backing up...
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The Ipcress File (Sidney J. Furie), potentially an all-time favorite. I was reminded of Michael Caine's droll appeal particularly from Get Carter, although I've enjoyed him in several lesser roles as well. Hoping basically for something slightly livelier than Billion Dollar Brain, I was not at all prepared for Furie's extreme upward angles, excellent use of natural light, very capable staging, and integration of food into the plot and mise-en-scene, always a soft spot of mine for some reason. (Incidentally, Election also featured food/eating to good effect.) Hilarious, beautiful, riveting, and delightfully British.
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