Ivan's Childhood (1962)

IMDb plot summary: During WWII, Soviet orphan Ivan Bondarev strikes up a friendship with three sympathetic Soviet officers while working as a scout behind the German lines.

Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky. Starring Nikolay Burlyaev, Valentine Zubkov, and Evgeniy Zharikov.

Ivan's Childhood is a very early Andrei Tarkovsky movie about a young boy who works as an informant during a war. We follow him and various other people around him as they navigate the conflict. Tarkovsky and I are usually not a very good fit, as I get impatient with his meandering philosophical dialogue and his multi-minute long shots. This film of his is early enough that he hadn't fully grown into his style yet, and as such it doesn't have a lot of the things that turn me off of the other works in his filmography. It's a pretty straightforward story, edited together pretty concisely, and the characters speak about what's actually relevant in the moment instead of ruminating on abstract concepts. I found the first half of it pretty engaging, especially watching the relationship between young Ivan and the soldiers he works with. It does flag a bit for me in the second half, but for anyone who's had a tough time getting into Tarkovsky like I have, this might be a good bridge to get into his other work.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Ivan's Childhood < The Keep

Ivan's Childhood > Rikki-Tikki-Tavi

Ivan's Childhood < Dirty Dancing

Ivan's Childhood < Labor Day

Ivan's Childhood > A Month by the Lake

Ivan's Childhood < So I Married an Axe Murderer

Ivan's Childhood > Wild Hogs

Ivan's Childhood > The Doorway to Hell

Ivan's Childhood < Tombstone

Ivan's Childhood > The Amazing Spider-Man

Ivan's Childhood > Red Cliff

Ivan's Childhood > The Fifth Element

Final spot: #2516 out of 3568, or 29%.

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (2007)

IMDb plot summary: A historic chronicle based on the book by Dee Brown explains how Native Americans were displaced as the United States expanded west.

Directed by Yves Simoneau. Starring Adam Beach, August Schellenberg, and Aidan Quinn.

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee is an HBO TV movie about the Wounded Knee massacre it follows several of the involved Native Americans as well as the government entities continually go back on their promises.  I'll be honest, this is the part of history that I know very little about. I have over the years picked up more information about all the horrible things that the United States did to those who lived here.  This movie , based on the book of the same name, did a great job of setting the scene and showing all the different moving parts that led to this horrible mass murder.  I definitely appreciated that most of the story was told from the Native perspective, rather than primarily centering the white people who were responsible for the atrocities. the film doesn't always nicely balanced the smaller personal stories with the bigger political ones. they just feel like they're part of different films, the romance and the personal advancement of the young Native boy sent to White schools , versus the constant negotiations of treaties. of course, they do connect , but they have very different emotional tones and I found difficult to switch between them.  Overall though, I would say that this is an extremely solid and well told adaptation of a story that is important to continue telling.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee > Gas, Food, Lodging

Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee < Till Death

Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee > Hereditary

Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee < The Power of the Dog

Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee > The Circus

Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee > Moonwalker

Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee > Everybody's Talking About Jamie

Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee > Full Metal Jacket

Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee < Dogma

Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee > Up in the Air

Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee < What's Eating Gilbert Grape

Final spot: #1120 out of 3556, or 69%.

My Reputation (1946)

IMDb plot summary: A recent widow meets an army major while skiing and despite pressures from friends and family becomes romantically involved with him.

Directed by Curtis Bernhardt. Starring Barbara Stanwyck, George Brent, and Warner Anderson.

My Reputation stars Barbara Stanwyck as Jessica Drummond, a widow who finds that the life she wants to live after her husband's death clashes with the rigid social mores expected of her. The romance being told in this movie is... kind of an odd one, with the male lead being framed in such a way that I couldn't tell if I was actually supposed to root for them to get together or not. I think ultimately it doesn't matter as much whether I like *him* as it does whether I like *her* and want her to be able to pursue the life she wants. Stanwyck does a good job of showing us both the serious devoted mother and the unexpectedly single woman who wants to be able to pursue love again. That definitely gives us some good scenes, and I think the movie tackles some interesting questions being raised about how useful social traditions are in the face of individual lives, but despite those good moments, overall, it feels kind of long and plodding and isn't one I'd watch again.

How it entered my Flickchart:

My Reputation < Fahrenheit 451

My Reputation > My Friend Irma

My Reputation < Dirty Dancing

My Reputation > Labor Day

My Reputation > Footloose (2011)

My Reputation > The Hurt Locker

My Reputation > Wes Craven's New Nightmare

My Reputation > Frankie Go Boom

My Reputation > They Made Me a Fugitive

My Reputation > Flypaper

My Reputation < The Hills Have Eyes (1977)

Final spot: #2237 out of 3574, or 37%.

The Vagabond King (1930)

IMDb plot summary: The story takes place in medieval France. Poet-rogue Francois Villon, sentenced to hang by King Louis XI for writing derogatory verses about him, is offered a temporary reprieve. His hanging will be postponed for 24 hours, and in that time he must defeat the invading Burgundians and win the love of the beautiful Katherine.

Directed by Ludwig Berger. Starring Dennis King, Jeanette MacDonald, and O.P. Heggie.

The Vagabond King is a 1930 movie based on an operetta of the same name. The story focuses on a young, poor revolutionary who is arrested by the king and given the chance to live as a king himself for seven days before he dies. This, more than most of the other movies I've watched from 1930, *feels* old and stagey. Everything from the way the musical numbers are staged to the diction habits of our lead actor feels like I'm watching a 1920s stage performance. (I did enjoy how one of the musical numbers was suddenly in color -- it added a bit of oomph to an otherwise uninteresting song!) The staginess isn't necessarily a bad thing for me. It definitely takes a little getting used to, but it gives it an interesting flavor that I hadn't been seeing as much of in my other 1930 films so far. The main character's arc is pretty thin, but the female lead has a much more interesting journey, so if you watch it, have fun rooting for her.

How it entered my Flickchart:

The Vagabond King < The Keep

The Vagabond King > Big Fat Liar

The Vagabond King > Sullivan's Travels

The Vagabond King > Get Shorty

The Vagabond King < A Hard Day's Night

The Vagabond King > Once Upon a Time in the West

The Vagabond King > A Bridge Too Far

The Vagabond King > Stillwater

The Vagabond King < De-Lovely

The Vagabond King < Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008)

The Vagabond King < Vanya on 42nd Street

The Vagabond King > Melinda and Melinda

Final spot: #1908 out of 3567, or 47%.

Weekend (1967)

IMDb plot summary: A surreal tale of a married couple going on a road trip to visit the wife's parents with the intention of killing them for the inheritance.

Directed by Jean-Luc Godard. Starring Mireille Darc, Jean Yanne, and Jean-Pierre Kalfon.

Weekend is a Jean-Luc Godard film about a couple who goes on a weekend vacation that gets... violent and surreal and French new wave. I should probably put in the preface that Godard is one of those filmmakers that I find actively irritating, so I did not have high hopes for this. I have had long conversations about him with friends who adore his work and I just never come any closer to liking it. This mostly stays in that vein -- long sprawling shots that seem to be doing nothing, rambling philosophical conversations that seem to have nothing to do with the plot, camerawork that feels so pretentious in a way I find myself constantly resisting. There is, however, one sequence that I found remarkably effective. Early on, there is almost an eight-minute scene that is one long tracking shot following a traffic jam over probably three-quarters of a mile, and as we follow one car trying to get past the blockage and see the reactions of all the other drivers stuck in place, it remains surprisingly compelling throughout, only to end in a scene of violence that I found even more startling given the sense of slow mundanity the film had lulled me into. I thought that was fascinating, and I thought to myself, "Maybe this will be the Godard film that changes my mind." But sadly, that was the only piece of the film I liked.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Weekend < Gas Food Lodging

Weekend < Rikki-Tikki-Tavi

Weekend > The House With Closed Shutters

Weekend < There's No Business Like Show Business

Weekend > Courage Under Fire

Weekend > Pretty Poison

Weekend < Palo Alto

Weekend > Captive State

Weekend > Premonition

Weekend < Eddie the Eagle

Weekend > The Formula

Final spot: #2928 out of 3564, or 18%.

Tell it to the Bees (2018)

IMDb plot summary: In 1950s small town Britain, a doctor develops a relationship with her young patient's mother.

Directed by Annabel Jankel. Starring Gregor Selkirk, Anna Paquin, and Holliday Grainger.

Tell It to the Bees is set in 1950s Scotland, told through the eyes of a young boy whose father has run off. He befriends the new female doctor in town, as does his mother, and soon there are rumors flying that the relationship between the mother and the doctor is something beyond friendship. While this kind of forbidden love story is sometimes told in an almost lurid fashion, I liked how here it is centered initially on their friendship and companionship, only later blossoming into something more. There's a sweetness to the movie which is very charming, and when things get particularly difficult for this little family it feels just sadly *off*, like these people shouldn't have to have such a tough go of it. The sweetness grounds it, however, rather than making it cheesy or sentimental, and it keeps it from feeling overly melodramatic or exploitative of these characters' misery. It's not a spectacular film, but it is one that I enjoyed.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Tell It to the Bees > The Keep

Tell It to the Bees > Munich

Tell It to the Bees < The Maltese Falcon

Tell It to the Bees < Synecdoche, New York

Tell It to the Bees > Is It College Yet?

Tell It to the Bees < Au Revoirs les Enfants

Tell It to the Bees > The Great Gatsby

Tell It to the Bees < Sanjuro

Tell It to the Bees < Roxanne

Tell It to the Bees < Il Postino: The Postman

Tell It to the Bees < Do the Right Thing

Tell It to the Bees > Flee

Final spot: #749 out of 3559, or 79%.

Jeopardy (1953)

IMDb plot summary: A family vacationing on the coast of Mexico have to cope with multiple threats to their safety.

Directed by John Sturges. Starring Barbara Stanwyck, Barry Sullivan, and Ralph Meeker.

Jeopardy tells the story of a family vacationing in rural Mexico when a freak accident leaves the husband trapped under a log by the beach as the tide is coming in. His wife must go off on her own to try to find someone to help them before he is fully submerged, but the only person she finds is going to be more danger to them than anything else. This is a really engaging little self-contained story. The tension of the rising tide and her husband's impending doom is easily felt, and frequently showing us how he's doing as she's off trying to find someone who speaks English enough to help her helps keep that tension high. The movie is short, at just over an hour, and that's the perfect length for something with this simple a narrative throughline, so there's definitely not enough time to get bored or feel like they're padding the length. I'd never heard of this before watching it but it's a pretty great little gem to have found!

How it entered my Flickchart:

Jeopardy > The Keep

Jeopardy > A Room With a View

Jeopardy < Broadway Danny Rose

Jeopardy < Colossal

Jeopardy > Is It College Yet?

Jeopardy > Red Carpet

Jeopardy > Great Expectations (1946)

Jeopardy > Bride of Frankenstein

Jeopardy > Raya and the Last Dragon

Jeopardy < The Pawnbroker

Jeopardy > Spencer

Final spot: #672 out of 3566, or 81%.