Friday, December 01, 2023

2024 Blind Spot Series Announcement

 

2023 is coming to an end as this year's Blind Spot Series will end with Lina Wertmuller's The Seduction of Mimi as this year has been really good in terms of diversity and other major surprises in the films that I picked as I'm glad there were available on DVD/Blu-Ray as well as on YouTube and various streaming services. For the 2024 edition, I decided once again watch films from the 20th Century in films that were released before I was born. The films I've chosen once again are diverse in terms of their time period as some of the choices were influenced by Sight & Sound in their list of the 100 Greatest Films ever back in 2022 as it included films by women that I didn't know about as I chose to do 2 films directed by women. Another factor for the list that I feel influenced by are films that my dad loved as I sort of wanted to pay tribute to films he grew up on. While I will admit there aren't any films from Africa or South Asia in this list. It is largely due to the fact they're currently unavailable for the time being in a physical presentation as well as on streaming services as I had hoped to do more films by the likes of Satyajit Ray and Ousmane Sembene but I might have to wait longer in what Criterion has to present. Instead, this list is more of a reflection of not just some of cinema's rich history but also in its many different genres from the 1920s to 1980. Here are the 12 films that I have chosen for the 2024 Blind Spot Series in chronological order:
Greed by Erich von Stroheim

The Informer by John Ford

The Roaring Twenties by Raoul Walsh

Rebecca by Alfred Hitchcock

Leave Her to Heaven by John M. Stahl

Senso by Luchino Visconti

East of Eden by Elia Kazan

Splendor in the Grass by Elia Kazan

Django by Sergio Corbucci

Wanda by Barbara Loden

Mikey and Nicky by Elaine May

Berlin Alexanderplatz by Rainer Werner Fassbinder


© thevoid99 2023

3 comments:

SJHoneywell said...

Some really solid choices in this. Leave Her to Heaven is one I'll be interested to see your thoughts on--it was an "out of left field" one for me.

ruth said...

The only one on your list I have seen is Rebecca. Oooh I'm most curious about East of Eden and Splendor in the Grass, both by Elia Kazan. I really should watch those. Anyways, best of luck in your 2024 Blind Spot series!

thevoid99 said...

@SJ Honeywell-That was a pick that had I had been lulling over for years as I decided to add it as I'm still entranced by a video on YouTube of the film with a song from Roxy Music used.

@ruth-I didn't realize that 2 of my Blind Spots were by Elia Kazan as I thought about dropping one of them but I ended up choosing both as those were films my dad loved.