Movie/film suggestions.

Post election I'm leaning heavily into the Criterion Collection for relief, tranquility, and determination to escape the grotesquerie of the news cycle.  Criterion was fortunately rescued from AT&T's decimation of Time Warner/HBO properties after acquisition, and for $100/year deserves the subscription of any film lover.  Recent finds include Mark Cousins's impressionistic Orson Wells documentary "The Eyes of Orson Wells" and "Mr. Arkadin" (in two cuts), and Sean Baker's "The Prince of Broadway" and "Starlets"-- the latter a risqué but convincing vindication of the acting skills of a fourth generation of Hemingway women.  Also much enjoyed introducing my wife to Truffaut's "400 Blows."  

Today I find myself longing to again see Wings Of Desire. I remember it as being as beautiful a film as I've ever seen.

The original Andromeda Strain

If you want a movie that's visually stunning check out "Days of Heaven" directed by Terence Malick and shot by Nestor Almendros, who won the Oscar for cinematography. It stars Richard Gere in one of his earliest film roles, Brooke Adams, Sam Shepard, and a young actress named Linda Manz. The dialogue is very sparse and Manz does a great voiceover narration which was reportedly unscripted. The story takes mostly takes place on a farm in the Texas Panhandle and the farm scenes are gorgeously shot.

After a promising start Linda Manz pretty much dropped out of acting. Another one of hers to catch is Dennis Hopper’s "Out of the Blue"(1980). It’s full of improvised dialog, raw and ponderous, but not far off from Hopper’s Easy Rider in mood. Feels like Hopper was drawing a painfully sharp dividing line between between ’70s and ’80s culture and film making.