Monthly Archives: May 2026

May 24 2026

1959 – Ben Hur

1959 – Ben Hur

It’s one of those definitions of an Epic – a sprawling story, about the life of the hero and all the trials he has to go through to fulfill his mission. It was directed by William Wyler (hi again, after Roman Holiday), produced by Sam Zimbalist (15 million dollar gamble paying off wonderfully) and starring Charlton Heston in the main role as Judah Ben Hur. It won 11 Academy Awards, the most before Titanic and Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King matched it. I rented it on Apple TV for 3.99 Eur.

One of the big reasons I love movies is the love my parents had for them. We were one of the first families to get a VCR and would drive to the only Video Store in Town. As a small child, it was an easy Sunday activity to go to the theaters and once we got cable, we would often watch movies with my dad from breakfast to 3pm, when we would be hungry for lunch. Yeah, so many movies discovered with my dad. As you know, there was no Video on Demand and they became lazy going to the Video Store, since movie channels showed them 24/7. However, you had to be lucky to sort of stumble into one movie beginning and there was no curations, so there was a lot of crap, often.

Yet, I look fondly at those Sundays, me watching stuff, I probably shouldn’t have. Just recently I was having a debate about The Color of Money being a good movie, actually! Who did I watch it with? My billiard playing dad. Obscure stuff, which I still love, like Moon Over Parador making fun of dictatorships in Latin America, but also cinephile stuff like Cinema Paradiso, which he would endlessly comment over. One Sunday that I still remember fondly is when we watched Spartacus, I immediately rolled my eyes at him, complaining that we shouldn’t watch these old, long movies and asking why we couldn’t watch a comedy. He just said calmly that this is supposed to be good and this is what we were going to watch today, and man, did I love it. I always loved movies I didn’t fully understand as a kid; they gave me room to grow and keep asking questions.

That movie and many Epics like it, are often what we watch them for – taking us to faraway places, times and cultures. And since I loved Spartacus that much, I figured I fill that gap in my filmography and watch another Epic of that time – one that is mostly known for the chariot scene, its long runtime, the many Academy Awards it won and the many extras the movie employed (8000). I did not know it also involved Jesus in a big way, so was a bit surprised my mom told me it’s more of an Easter movie when I told her I was watching it (now I get it).

Man, it did not disappoint. The chariot scene was awesome, of course, but more than that, the way he navigates the circumstances, Also impressive the scenery from Jerusalem, to the ships, to Nazareth, to grand Rome. The way the friendship between Messala and Judah deteriorates to hatred – the major gay energy in their first scene together, apparently wanted by the screenwriter Gore Vidal unbeknownst to Charlton Heston. The way leprosy was depicted. And of course, the major theme of how you find peace in yourself after your life has been filled with revenge.

I was afraid of the runtime, of course, and I did have to stop a few times along the way. But that was, because we have guests this weekend and not because the movie was boring. The music was a bit corny (especially that 50s choir style at the end of the movie), well, compared to the similar Gladiator, but when I see how far we have come in comparison to The Adventures of Robin Hood, this is miles above. Some of the costumes look cheap, but that doesn’t distract from the movie (I’m looking at you The Odyssey criticism by just looking at costumes). Charlton Heston was not a savory character, especially with his politics later in life, but here he plays the role he is supposed to superbly. Somebody recently said to me that she can’t really watch movies like Indiana Jones or similar anymore, what with the male hero prancing around and letting everybody know he is the “male hero of the movie.” I disagree; the escapism is exactly the point.

All in all, well deserved of its many Academy Awards and even though it’s not a perfect movie, it’s super entertaining and its mission to transport us away from our modern worries for a few hours is accomplished well!

May 10 2026

1958 – Elevator to the Gallows (Ascenseur pour l’échafaud)

1958 – Elevator to the Gallows

It’s a French crime thriller directed by Louis Malle. Technically, it’s not Nouvelle Vague (French New Wave), which is more rooted in the early 60s, but it lies in this transition, borrowing elements from American movies, like the film noir aspects, but adding in the meandering elements of French cinema, like the amazing soundtrack from Miles Davis (who spent a few years in Paris, and always saw the city as a creative hub for his career). It stars Jeanne Moreau as Florence Carala, the wife of a prominent arms dealer, and Maurice Ronet as Julien Tavernier, her lover and husband’s murderer, whose whole plot unravels when he becomes trapped in an elevator. I rented it on Amazon Video for 3.99 Eur.

There’s an old saying attributed to Bill Gates that says “We overestimate how much things change in 2 years and underestimate how much the change in 10”. When you are living through a decade, you hardly notice the changes, yet when you look back at pictures from yourself in the 90s, it is distinct from pictures in the 2000s or 2010s. Add in to that the music, or even different smells to enhance your memory and suddenly that decade feels so distinct and so separated from your life today, even though it is so familiar and was important in shaping you to what you are today.

The same thing happens to me even in decades where I wasn’t even alive, perhaps even more so, since the elements of style are really the only things that you have to anchor yourself to that time. And so it happens in this movie that through the style elements—the fashion, the smoking, the functional furniture, the changing style of the cars, but most importantly the jazz music score—you feel transported to late 50s, early 60s Paris. I swear, I could smell the stench of those cigarillos they smoke at the motel, or the wood of the pencils being sharpened, even Louis’s leather jacket.

I have been too afraid of tackling French New Wave cinema, apprehensive that I won’t understand its allusions to art, its sensuality, etc. So I thought that I would first watch something that still had enough American influence and a crime mystery to overcome that. Little did I know that the straightforward series of misunderstandings that make up the story is somewhat its weakest part, and the sensual, feeling, artsy stuff was the best (so cool, really so cool).

I also liked how understatedly funny and cynical the movie was at the same time. The jolly German tourist making fun of the adventures the French have gone on since WWII—Algeria, Indochina—acts as a biting commentary against those getting rich off these wars. Or the woman searching for her lover on the streets of Paris; it looks so sensual, so sexy when the rain is falling and you don’t know whether it’s tears or rain running down her face. But then you realize the irony that she is going from a sandwich shop, to a normal bar, to a gambling parlor, and lastly landing in an underground bar—every station a further step down in Parisian society. When she finally arrives arrested at the police station, nobody can quite fathom she is the rich wife of a man of tremendous standing in society.

But of course, the score is what is best about the movie and places it into the pantheon of groundbreaking cinema. I am by no means jazz’s biggest fan, but for this movie it was perfect, making it simply smooth and cool. Funny how that is; sometimes the biggest factors in squarely placing our memories into a specific time and place are not images, but smells and sounds. This movie did that perfectly.