‘Eliso’ (1928), ‘Cruising’ (1980), and an update on RGFC 100 project

Films:
Eliso (ელისო) 1928, dir. Nikoloz Shengelaia
-Viewed Mon 9/26 at Harvard Film Archive, 35mm, live musical accompaniment by Robert Humphreville
Cruising 1980, dir. William Friedkin
-Viewed Tue 9/27 at Somerville Theatre, 35mm

With over a year since the last post, I think it’s time to correct this blog’s identity crisis.

Continue reading “‘Eliso’ (1928), ‘Cruising’ (1980), and an update on RGFC 100 project”

Russian Guild of Film Critics 100 | 1950-1959: The Thaw

The Cranes are Flying

My entry into professional writing was reviewing the American Film Institute’s “100 Years…100 Movies” list for DigBoston. Now I’m doing the same with the Russian Guild of Film Critics’ equivalent list found here. Rather than review each film, I’ll be recapping each decade.

I’ll also include the burrito I ate while collecting my thoughts. Welcome to BurritoAndAMovie.com.

Films:
The Forty-First (Сорок первый) 1956, dir. Grigori Chukhrai
Spring on Zarechnaya Street (Весна на Заречной улице) 1956, dir. Felix Mironer, Marlen Khutsiev
Carnival Night (Карнавальная Ночь) 1956, dir. Eldar Ryazanov
The Cranes Are Flying (Летят журавли) 1957, dir. Mikhail Kalatozov
Fate of a Man (Судьба человека) 1959, dir. Sergei Bondarchuk
Ballad of a Soldier (Баллада о солдате) 1959, dir. Grigori Chukhrai

Burrito:

Duck burrito with tater tots from Five Horses in Davis Square, Somerville, MA. They’re back open, though this doesn’t seem to be on the menu right now.

Pic taken December 2020. Hey, sometimes these decade retrospectives take a while from start to finish.


Continue reading “Russian Guild of Film Critics 100 | 1950-1959: The Thaw”

2020 Griefbinging

For the first time in a decade of film journalism, I don’t have a year-end best of list. The short explanation is that I didn’t watch enough movies for an informed slate. The longer one is that in September of 2019, my mother- and father-in-law welcomed me into their family. Less than a year later, in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, we were saying goodbye.

Continue reading “2020 Griefbinging”

Russian Guild of Film Critics 100 | 1940-1949 (and honorable mentions)

My entry into professional writing was reviewing the American Film Institute’s “100 Years…100 Movies” list for DigBoston. Now I’m doing the same with the Russian Guild of Film Critics’ equivalent list found here. Rather than review each film, I’ll be recapping each decade.

I’ll also include the burrito I ate while collecting my thoughts. Welcome to BurritoAndAMovie.com.

RGFC films:
Mashenka (Машенька) 1942, dir. Yuli Raizman (YouTube)
Dream (Мечта) 1943, dir. Mikhail Romm (YouTube)
Ivan the Terrible (Иван Грозный) 1944 (Part I) & 1958 (Part II), dir. Sergei Eisenstein (Criterion Channel [subscription required])
Cinderella (Золушка) 1947, dir. Nadezhda Kosheverova, Mikhail Shapiro (YouTube)

Non-RGFC films:
The Extraordinary Adventures of Mr. West in the Land of the Bolsheviks (Необычайные приключения мистера Веста в стране Большевиков) 1924, dir. Lev Kuleshov (Kanopy)
Man with a Movie Camera (Человек с кино-аппаратом) 1935, dir. Dziga Vertov (Kanopy)
By the Bluest of Seas (У самого синего моря) 1936, dir. Boris Barnet (Kanopy)

Burrito:

First burrito of lockdown: steak burrito grande from Tenoch. I started this draft in March but some stuff’s been happening since then, y’know?


Continue reading “Russian Guild of Film Critics 100 | 1940-1949 (and honorable mentions)”

Russian Guild of Film Critics 100 | 1930-1939

My entry into professional writing was reviewing the American Film Institute’s “100 Years…100 Movies” list for DigBoston. Now I’m doing the same with the Russian Guild of Film Critics’ equivalent list found here. Rather than review each film, I’ll be recapping each decade.

I’ll also include the burrito I ate while collecting my thoughts. Welcome to BurritoAndAMovie.com.

Films:
Road to Life (Путёвка в жизнь) 1931, dir. Nikolai Ekk (YouTube)
Outskirts (Окраина) 1933, dir. Boris Barnet (Kanopy)
Chapaev (Чапаев) 1934, dir. Sergei Vasliev, Georgi Vasiliev (YouTube)
A Severe Young Man (Строгий юноша) 1934, dir. Abram Room (Wikimedia)
Jolly Fellows (Весёлые ребята) 1934, dir. Grigori Aleksandrov (YouTube)
The Youth of Maxim (Юность Максима) 1935, dir. Grigori Kozintsev, Leonid Trauberg (YouTube)
Happiness (Счастье) 1935, dir. Aleksandr Medvedkin (Kanopy)
Alexander Nevsky (Александр Невский) 1938, dir. Sergei Eisenstein (YouTube)

Burrito (last one pre-isolation):
Steak Burrito Grande, Herrera’s, Boston, MA


Continue reading “Russian Guild of Film Critics 100 | 1930-1939”

Kristofer Jenson’s 2019 BOFCA Ballot

There’s a lot to love about the way we in the Boston Online Film Critics Association choose our annual BOFCA Award winners. Ranked voting (which, ahem, would be one positive step toward fixing democracy), a Top 10 list where beloved non-winners still get represented, and the satisfaction of boosting what we all know should win (e.g. You Were Never Really Here) instead of what we all know will win (that other movie).

To see this year’s winners, click here. Here’s my 2019 Boston Online Film Critics Awards ballot.

Burrito: Steak burrito grande, Felipe’s, Cambridge, MA (2019, dir. J.J. Abrams)

BEST PICTURE

1 – THE NIGHTINGALE*
2 – PARASITE
3 – LITTLE WOMEN
4 – ONCE UPON A TIME… IN HOLLYWOOD
5 – UNCUT GEMS
6 – US
7 – THE FAREWELL
8 – THE IRISHMAN
9 – MIDSOMMAR
10 – IN FABRIC

Continue reading “Kristofer Jenson’s 2019 BOFCA Ballot”

Russian Guild of Film Critics 100 | 1917-1929

My entry into professional writing was reviewing the American Film Institute’s “100 Years…100 Movies” list for DigBoston. Now I’m doing the same with the Russian Guild of Film Critics’ equivalent list found here. Rather than review each film, I’ll be recapping each decade.

I’ll also include the burrito I ate while collecting my thoughts. Welcome to BurritoAndAMovie.com.

Films:
Father Sergius (Отец Сергий) 1917-1918, dir. Alexandre Volkoff, Yakov Protazanov (YouTube)
Strike (Стачка) 1925, dir. Sergei Eisenstein (Kanopy)
Battleship Potemkin (Броненосец Потёмкин) 1925, dir. Sergei Eisenstein (Kanopy)
By the Law (По закону) 1926, dir. Lev Kuleshov (Kanopy)
The Overcoat (Шинель) 1926, dir. Leonid Trauberg, Grigori Kozintsev (YouTube)
Bed and Sofa (Третья мещанская) 1927, dir. Abram Room (Kanopy)
The House on Trubnaya (Дом на Трубной) 1928, dir. Boris Barnet (Kanopy)
Storm Over Asia (Потомок Чингисхана) 1928, dir. Vsevolod Pudovkin (Kanopy)
Fragment of an Empire (Обломок империи) 1929, dir. Fridrikh Ermler (YouTube)

Burrito:
Carne Asada, Tenoch, Somerville, MA


Continue reading “Russian Guild of Film Critics 100 | 1917-1929”

The Burrito Theory of Film

Some of my favorite Boston movie memories are intrinsically tied to the warm comfort of a great burrito. To wash down the weirdness of the Boston Underground Film Festival at Brattle Theatre, pop over to Felipe’s. For endurance food during Independent Film Festival Boston at Somerville Theatre, stop by Tenoch. To revive yourself after the Coolidge Corner Theatre Halloween marathon, there’s no better choice than Anna’s – either of them!

Which is the more remarkable thing: that there are so many great theaters in town, that our burrito spots are consistently top-notch, or that the two always seem to be right next to each other?

Editors aren’t usually interested in what you ate after you watch a movie, but dammit I really want to share that experience too. So here’s the basic idea of the site:

  • I watch a movie
  • I eat a burrito during or after
  • I write about the movie
  • I show and describe the burrito

Movies Are Burritos

There is nothing in a burrito that you can’t find in dozens of other dishes. But wrapping them all up in a single tortilla, forcing them to coexist and work as one unit transforms it into more than the some of its parts. So it is with film: there are wholly distinct modes of art that work exclusively with visual, sound, and story, but creating a film means harnessing all three in a coherent way that makes sense to the viewer. The projector is the tortilla and the screen is the mouth. The audience’s eyes are the mouths, the screen is the tortilla, the projector is the tin foil, the film is the ingredients. Yeah, we’ll go with that.

Anyway, enjoy.