It's Pete's Blog
That last few years have seen a glut of movies and TV shows about class conflict and the vulgarity of wealth inequality. Just off the top of my head, there’s been “Knives Out,” “Squid Game,” “White Lotus,” “The Menu,” “Triangle of Sadness,” etc. Bong Joo-ho’s “Parasite” certainly wasn’t the first example of the trend —…
Tom Verlaine died a couple of weeks ago. He was the front man and lead guitarist for the legendary punk band Television. Their song “Marquee Moon” (from the album of the same name) is one of my all-time favorites: It’s a great song. Musically polyphonic, its guitars draw out jazzy, independent-and-interlocking riffs. Verlaine’s dreamlike lyrics…
This blog represents the longest stretch of time of far between watching a movie and writing my blog on it. I got sick a couple of weeks ago and lost my momentum, and, well, you know how it goes. So forgive me: My recollection may be a bit fuzzy. Anyway. Wong Kar-wai’s “Chungking Express” is…
How far would you go for success? How far is too far? In Kenji Mizoguchi’s “Ugestsu,” two families in feudal Japan are destroyed by the greed and ambition of man — with women paying the true price. With the countryside gripped by civil war, rural villagers Genjūrō and Miyagi manage to make a tidy sum…
Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity. What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun? One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever. … The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that…