Jean-Pierre Melville’s immaculate game of chess.

A powerful historical film, as well as an allegory for any nation that grappled with a totalitarian past. Or flirts with one at present.

Luis Bunuel was obsessed with ritual and fetish, but he managed to harness them for his art; perhaps selecting embrace rather than denial is what saved him from self-destruction. Social conventions are part of the learned behaviors that members of a society use to relate to one another, but they can also become a languid…

Jean Gabin made a career out of playing damaged characters with good intentions, making him a natural for noir.

Sayid.

Now, with Playtime, I have settled on a murderous rage so complete that it’s bound to be as emotional as I’ll get over someone who’s long dead