Mark Lager’s Films For Winter

December 1 ~ Pandora’s Box (1929)

Released on December 1, 1929, Louise Brooks embodies the “flapper” spirit of her Lost Generation in this sexually charged and erotic silent melodrama ahead of its time in its depiction of the divide between men and the feminine psyche. It tragically ends in the winter slums of Soho during Christmas time.

December 11 ~ The Great Silence (1968)
Directed by Sergio Corbucci (born December 6, 1926), released in December 1968, starring Jean-Louis Trintignant (born December 11, 1930) as a mute gunslinger seeking justice for his scarred past who gets mired in the corruption of an isolated mountain town in the dead of winter. My favorite Italian Western, deeply touching and echoing with a mysterious sense of existential dread, and my favorite Morricone score (his most celestial compositions.) Hauntingly beautiful.

December 16 ~ Andrei Rublev (1966)

Released on December 16, 1966, Tarkovsky digs deep into history itself and reveals hidden truths about religious experience and the mind of the artist in this epic struggle through the wintry wastelands of medieval Russia. A profound, mystical journey of enlightenment which remains perhaps the most spiritual film ever made.

December 17 ~ On Dangerous Ground (1951)
Released on December 17, 1951, this melancholy winter mood piece showcases Robert Ryan’s finest performance as a bitter, cynical cop, Ida Lupino’s touching portrayal of a lonely blind woman, and Bernard Herrmann’s passionate score (his own personal favorite of his career.) Nicholas Ray’s greatest film.

December 26 ~ Blast of Silence (1961)
Before, during, and after Christmas, a lonely hitman tracks his target on the gritty streets. One of the greatest independent films – set the stage for the new age of film noir and gangster films and heavily influenced Martin Scorsese.

December 27 ~ McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)
Featuring “Winter Lady” and others from Songs of Leonard Cohen (released December 27, 1967) on the soundtrack, Robert Altman’s masterpiece is one of the greatest Westerns ever made. The drunken dreamer McCabe is a pioneer thwarted by cruel corporate cold blood, and the detached hooker Mrs. Miller escapes from the harsh frontier life through her opium pipe. The most lyrical, poignant, and atmospheric tale of the American dream gone awry- it ends unforgettably in the winter wilderness of the Pacific Northwest.

December 28 ~ Letter Never Sent (1959)

Struggle for survival on the Siberian frontier, directed with searing intensity by Mikhail Kalatozov (born December 28, 1903) and featuring the dynamic, visceral cinematography of Sergei Urusevsky, gripping score, startling spatial sound effects, and another heartfelt, impassioned performance from Tatiana Samoilova.

December 29 ~ Kwaidan (1964)

Released on December 29, 1964, this is the greatest Japanese horror film of all time. Colorful cinematography, surreal paintings/sets, and Toru Takemitsu’s otherworldly, strange soundtrack create a meditative mood. The best of the four tales is “Woman of the Snow”- an atmospheric, spellbinding, wintry ghost story.

December 30 ~ Odd Man Out (1947)
Atmospheric, moody, wintry noir. Carol Reed’s complex, reflective masterpiece. James Mason’s most compelling performance as the doomed Johnny. Superior to Fallen Idol and Third Man. The best British film of the 1940s.

January 5 ~ Dersu Uzala (1975)

Released in Japan in 1975 and in Russia on January 5, 1976, this is Akira Kurosawa’s underrated masterpiece- the hidden gem of his career. A poetic and poignant true story of Dersu (Maxim Munzuk), who lives in harmony with mother nature, who forms a friendship with Vladimir Arseniev (Yuri Solomin), a Russian explorer, during his voyage into the breathtaking, vast Siberian wilderness. Sublime Isaac Schwartz soundtrack.

January 6 ~ The Ascent (1977)
Set in perhaps the bleakest wintry landscape in the history of cinema, this masterpiece directed by Larisa Shepitko (born January 6, 1938) is a harrowing, haunting, and heart-wrenching exploration of war, impending death, and the meaning of conscience. Stunningly powerful and overwhelmingly intense experience.

January 9 ~ Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1965)
This is a vividly visual and visceral film from the brilliantly unique and visionary director Sergei Parajanov (born January 9, 1924). It remains one-of-a-kind with its dazzling, colorful cinematography and its almost ethnographic depiction of ancient agrarian life and rituals in a community of the Carpathian mountains. It is a tragic love story and a story of the earth, which is like a forgotten folk song of intoxicating wonder.

February 6 ~ Shoot the Piano Player (1960)

The crown jewel of the French New Wave and Truffaut’s (born February 6, 1932) underrated masterpiece- this bittersweet, melancholy film is a comic gangster B-Movie, a tragic romance, an innocent drama of the human condition which the absurd hero Charlie can only make sense of through the music of his piano. The heartbreaking ending occurs at the family home in snowy southern France.

February 19 ~ Marketa Lazarova (1967)

Frantisek Vlacil’s (born February 19, 1924) savage, stark, strange, sublime masterpiece of a struggle between brutal Christianity and primitive pagan witchcraft set in a cold, frozen, medieval winter landscape featuring atmospheric black-and-white cinematography by Bedrich Batka; mysterious, numinous, ominous music score from Zdenek Liska; haunting performance of Magda Vasaryova. Bleaker, darker companion piece to Tarkovsky’s Andrei Rublev.

February 26 ~ Le Silence de la Mer (1949)

A much different style than any of Melville’s later films. His debut, an adaptation of Jean Bruller’s (born February 26, 1902) novel, is a subtle chamber piece that captures the complex dynamics between France and Germany in a series of monologues that reveal the causes of both World War I and World War II. The most philosophical Jean-Pierre Melville film. The finest French film of the 1940s.

A list by Mark Lager