Favorite First-Time Watches of August (2023)
A write-up I enjoyed doing from a couple of years ago was writing about my favorite first-time watches of the year. However, with the number of films I watch in a year, the last three years I’ve averaged around 700, the write-up became daunting.
With this year, nearly ¾ the way over, I realized that I should do this as a monthly write-up. This will be less daunting, and give me the freedom to do what I intended when I started this site, write about movies I want to talk about.
So, with no better time than the present. Here are my favorite first-time watches in August 2023:
Benedetta (2021) – Paul Verhoeven
This year I got on a Paul Verhoeven kick. Finishing his filmography of the few Hollywood films of his, I had not seen. My wife went out of town the first weekend of August. When she leaves town, I bust out my trustee list of to-be-watched foreign films, usually erotic or horrifying.
Well, Verhoeven films can fall into both categories, so my first watch in my empty house was Paul’s 2021 erotic religious film Benedetta. It tells the story of the real-life Benedetta Carlini, a 17th-century Italian nun who was accused of lesbianism & falsifying visions and stigmata.
She is one of the only females from this period we have a record of living because she was put on trial and there are court records. This film felt like the culmination of Paul Verhoeven’s entire career.
Constantly wrestling with the themes of religion and sex, they come together harmoniously.
Going deeper than just Paul trying to piss off Catholics. Asking questions of why we believe in what we do. The hypocrisy of religion can be a stand-in for anything in our society from politics or religion.
Films like this are reduced to “Nun sex movie” but it’s far more complex than that and anyone interested in religion should watch this film.
The Dirty Dozen (1967) – Robert Aldrich
Though this has the spirit of a POW movie it falls into its own category of war film. It feels closer to a heist film than a war film. If the heist team was forced into the job rather than choosing the team.
Major Reisman is given a special assignment. He must train military inmates who are sentenced to life in prison or death to parachute behind enemy lines and assassinate a high-ranking German official.
It is a star-studded film that includes; Lee Marvin, Ernest Brognine, Charles Bronson, Jim Brown (in his second film appearance), John Cassavetes, George Kennedy, Telly Savalas, and a young Donald Sutherland. It is an embarrassment of riches.
I would bet that Quentin Tarantino loves this film because this feels like a Tarantino film. A lot of Dirty Dozen DNA is in Inglorious Basterds. In fact, Enzo Castellari’s 1977 Italian film The Inglorious Bastards is a loose remake, from which Tarantino derives the title of his 2009 film. If you are a QT fan I would highly recommend this film.
Mask (1985) – Peter Bogdanovich
Rocky Dennis is a smart teenager suffering from a facial deformity called “lionitis”. He has outlived his life expectancy and is attending High School. His mother struggles with drugs, seemingly to deal with the fact that her son doesn’t have long to live.
I’ve never watched this movie, obviously, but I knew about this movie. I was skeptical given when it came out as to how sensitive the subject matter would be handled. It’s the curse of watching older movies in a 2023 lens.
I was amazed at the sensitivity the Bogdanovich brought to the film. Cher is excellent as Rocky’s mother and Eric Stoltz’s performance is astounding.
A film that is nearly 40 years old could age like milk with these subject matters, but Peter’s direction and its two stars Cher and Stoltz keep it grounded and empathetic.
Stoker (2013) – Park Chan-Wook
Thanks to the wonderful podcast Blank Check I’ve now seen every Park film. Blank Check is a podcast that covers a director’s entire filmography, 1 film per episode.
The theme is directors who have massive success early on and receive a series of blank checks from studios to make whatever passion projects they want.
Stoker is, to date, Park’s only English language film. Though I would probably place it somewhere in the middle of his filmography it is no less exquisite and terrifying. Something Park is the best at is making a disturbing film look like a painting come to life. His films are gorgeous.
It stars a rising Mia Wasikowska as India Stoker. Who’s father dies in a presumed car accident and her uncle Charlie (Matthew Goode) comes to stay with the family. Nicole Kidman plays India’s mother Evelyn.
As with any Park film nothing is as it seems and character motivations slowly begin to reveal themselves, It’s Park’s take on Southern Gothic horror and I would love him to make another English language film.
The Misfits (1961) – John Huston
The Criterion Channel is the best streaming service, especially for cinephiles. It curates films every month for specific themes or stars. They had a Marilyn Monroe series with 10 movies starring the icon.
Another great thing about Criterion is at the beginning of the month as they add and tell you what is added, they tell you specifically what is leaving at the end of the month so you have that month to make anything on your watch list a priority.
Her films are leaving at the end of the month so I crammed them in this month, I had not seen eight of the films that were streamable, one of which was The Misfits, John Huston neo-western starring Marilyn Monroe and Clark Gable in their final screen roles.
Roslyn (Marilyn) is getting a divorce and meets gambler Gay (Clark Gable) Gay is immediately infatuated with Roslyn as well as his friend Guido. They decide to go to Guido's cabin and try to ranch together.
Along the way, they pick up an ex-rodeo rider and WWII Vet Perce (Montgomery Clift), who also becomes infatuated with Roslyn.
It’s a bleak story, directed with gusto by Huston. Marilyn delivers her finest performance, at least that I have ever seen. It’s full of empathy and agency, far different from many of the comedies that she would do. It’s just a shame that we didn’t get to see what else she could’ve done.
