Jaws (1975)

Still perfect, obviously. The opening ten minutes are probably the greatest exposition in film history. I love how delightfully fake it is. Not just the special effects (of course hiding the shark most of the time benefitted this film immensely), but the liberties it takes with zoology and even basic physics. The shark ramming the boat while they’re drunk feels more like a little kid ramming his shark toy into his boat toy than the actual physics needed for a 35 foot shark having to gain momentum and turn itself around to batter the boat multiple times.

Was also struck by how much Spielberg’s camera stays still. Certainly part of this is the logistics of shooting on the water (which must have been a nightmare) but like so many of the limitations put on Spielberg, it ends up really working in it’s favor. As does casting clear non-actors in most of the child roles. A+

Anatomy of a Murder (1959)

There is a visceral dissonance in watching the trial that almost reminds me of Michael Haneke, where it is simultaneously so repugnant (and must have been much moreso in 1959) and so wildly entertaining and funny. But if that’s the movie they set out to make, I don’t know why it ends like that. It’s clearly a provocation, but to what end?

The part of me that thinks of Preminger, director of Laura, thinks that he’s playing with genre in a post-modern way, and that the happy ending and respect for the institution of law is all tongue in cheek, as an indictment of the way Hollywood sells the bullshit story of The American Way. 

The part of me that thinks of Preminger, director of Advise & Consent, makes me think he just actually has deep respect for American Governments, however flawed, and earnestly thinks of Jimmy Stewart of an anti-hero of sorts, and wants the audience to root for him.

I have drastically different feelings about each reading, and neither really works for me 100%. The portrait Preminger paints of the justice system is too horrifying and gross for me to ever respect in any way, but the film has way too much affection for it’s characters for me to read that ending as completely sarcastic.

Also, watching this movie in 2014, with it’s completely different ideas of rape culture and “good taste” (there’s nothing in this movie that wouldn’t be broadcast prime-time on Law & Order now), creates an additional block for me. With such ambiguity as to the actual events of the crime, it’s hard to tell what certain moments are supposed to suggest, particularly when it comes to Laura’s flirtatiousness. Part of me suspects this is a deeply sexist movie, while the other part remembers Preminger as a director who time and time again used his Hollywood clout to push his liberal agendas in shockingly modern films.

Incredible fascinating movie, either way, but I can’t pretend that it doesn’t matter to me which side of the fence I land on. A+