Weekend Watchlist, 6/5: History
What to watch this weekend
Happy Friday, PV Guide readers! I hope you have a great weekend ahead of you.
Earlier this week, I published the May edition of my Back in Action: 1991 series. And if you haven’t voted yet on my poll for the subscriber-exclusive review in June, consider doing so!
Here are this week’s picks.
The French
Where to watch: For free with a library card on Kanopy and Hoopla, or to rent
It’s a great week for sports – the NBA Finals have started, the Monaco Grand Prix is this weekend, and the French Open is set to wrap up, with the men’s semifinals on Friday, the women’s final on Saturday, and the men’s final on Sunday.
Whenever I think about the French Open, I think about The French, William Klein’s excellent documentary about the tournament. The cinéma vérité filmmaker and photographer Klein was given incredible amounts of access to the 1981 tournament, shining a light on some of the incredible characters of 1980s tennis – Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe, Yannick Noah, and many others. It’s one of the best sports docs ever made, and brings you right into one of the best eras of the sport.
A good James Bond movie
Where to watch: For rent (some on Criterion Channel)
I’ve been having a great time playing First Light, the new James Bond game from the developers behind the Hitman games, which I adore. It’s also got me in the mood to watch some good Bond movies (the franchise has about as wide of a gulf between the good and bad entries as any). Some specific recs: On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (which I just revisited), From Russia With Love (just added to the Criterion Channel!), The Spy Who Loved Me, or pretty much any of the Daniel Craig ones (I also have a soft spot for the Timothy Dalton ones).
A Brief History of Lighting Motivation in Cinema
When I want to learn something about cinematography, I turn to Devan Scott, a cinematographer, essayist, and film critic who I interviewed at Polygon about his undying love for the 1994 Street Fighter movie. He recently completed this four-part series about lighting in cinema, taking a look at the silent era, Classic Hollywood, midcentury world cinema, and finally, why modern digital movies Look Like That.
