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You Might Find You Get What You Need

What makes for a good movie? Well now, that depends on what you need. Sometimes plot is the thing, a story with twists and turns, say Chinatown or maybe The Piano. At other times the need for that level of dramatic intensity may be there, but the need for detailed plot exposition is not. For these times we have Mulholland Drive and Shoot the Piano Player. Sometimes a slow-rolling groove seems like the right thing, and waiting coolly in the wings are The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant and Down by Law.

All of these films have what you might call intellectual overtones. Sometimes the sleepy part of your brain just doesn't want to go there. So how about Pet Sematary, how about Blood and Black Lace?

And sometimes you want art for art's sake. There's probably a lot of fuss over how one qualifies for that label, but I suspect the earnest Persona and the flippant The Exterminating Angel make as good a claim as any.

Noir: Night and the City. Gothic: The Innocents. You need some laughs? Trouble in Paradise and Some Like It Hot are there for you.

Or maybe these aren't the titles for you. Trash them, substitute others. There are thousands out there, a hundred years worth, six continents worth. Feed your fetish.

Life is good, eh?

 

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