This week on The Movie Gourmet – a new review of Don’t Worry, Darling and a note on the Gaslight (below) that you probably have NOT seen. Plus, a remembrance and my top picks at the Nashville Film Festival.
REMEMBRANCE
Actress Louise Fletcher was unforgettable in her Oscar-winning performance as Nurse Rached in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. With her cold assured eyes embodying impervious authority, she could maintain a soft voice and still deflate the charisma of Jack Nicholson’s McMurphy. Nurse Rached has been voted the second best female villain in all cinema (after The Wicked Witch in The Wizard of Oz).
CURRENT MOVIES
- Don’t Worry, Darling: a misfire (but with Huell Howser’s cool house). In theaters.
- Spin Me Round: an unpretentious and delightful comedy. AppleTV.
- My Donkey, My Lover and I: it had me at the title. AppleTV.
- The Automat: nickels in, memories out. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, KinoNow.
- Bitterbrush: two women at work. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, redbox.
- Montana Story: a family secret simmers, then explodes. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
- Compartment No. 6: a surprising journey to connection. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
- Cha Cha Real Smooth: decent people and their foibles, navigating life. AppleTV.
- Everything Everywhere All at Once: often indecipherable and mostly dazzling. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
- Like a Rolling Stone: The Life and Times of Ben Fong-Torres: tell me more. Netflix.
- The Tale of King Crab: storytelling at its best. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
WATCH AT HOME
The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE:
- Project Nim: a chimp learns the foibles of humans. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube.
- The Outfit: no one is just what they seem to be. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
- Colma: The Musical: a refreshing hoot. Amazon, Vudu, YouTube.
- The Worst Person in the World: funny, poignant, original and profoundly authentic. Amazon, Apple, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
- Heartworn Highways: like desperados waitin’ for a train. AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, Showtime.
- Dreaming Walls: Inside the Chelsea Hotel: the artsy and the quirky. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
- Everything Everywhere All at Once: often indecipherable and mostly dazzling. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
- Jockey: he finally grapples with himself. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- The East: how do we punish corporate crime? HBO, Amazon, AppleTV, redbox.
- The Bra: Just your average silent Azerbaijani comedy. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- The Visitor: self-isolation no longer. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- Bombshell: The Hedy Lamar Story: the world’s most beautiful woman and her secrets. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, KINO Now.
- The Gatekeepers: winning tactics make for a losing strategy. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- Auggie: Who do you see when you put on the glasses? Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
ON TV
On October 6, Turner Classic Movies will play the less well-known 1940 version of Gaslight. In GASLIGHT, GASLIGHT and gaslighting in domestic violence, I wrote about this film, the more familiar 1944 version and gaslighting itself. This original 1940 version is also especially well-acted. Anton Walbrook is suave and evil as the hubbie and Dyana Wyngard is unforgettably haunting as the wife. Only 19 minutes in, we see his duplicity, manipulation and control. Frank Pettingell is very good as the detective, and the cast includes Robert Newton (Long John Silver in the 1950 Treasure Island). Cathleen Cordell plays the oversexed maid Nancy in a less nuanced performance than Angela Lansbury’s in 1944. This 1940 film version is reportedly the most faithful to the stage play source material.