united states, 1928, englishThey say chivalry is dead, but this man just beat up a bar full of people and committed breaking and entering, all in the name of love.
JOSEF VON STERNBERG
The Docks of New York
Another month, another movie. At this rate... well there’s no real point in contemplating what will happen at this rate. Anyway, if there’s one thing I’m certain of, it’s that I have no idea what the future holds. Not for things far more important than this little blog, and also not for this either. All I can do is continue to watch, think, and write.
This film closes out this box set. I apparently watched the first film in 2015, which seems both impossible and true. The second in 2022, which I’m fairly confident was about five minutes ago, right? It’s almost hard to believe it took an Einstein to realize that time is relative, given how varied it seems to pass depending on life circumstance and age.
All my feelings about this film hang on one scene. It’s early, and it’s a shot of the water, right before a woman jumps into it. It’s an absolutely beautiful shot and somehow perfectly captures the way everything can change in an instant. Life is just going along, all simple and quiet, and then splash, nothing is ever the same again.
Of course, this is a fairy tale, and it has a fairly tale ending. The much, much more likely outcome is that Bill has his cake and then absconds to parts unknown with it. Mae must know that. Like, on some level she must understand that this glimpse of “happiness” is just that. It’s a zirconium diamond. But, I suppose, a night of pretending is better sometimes than an entire life devoid of even that.