A Sharper Focus Essays on Film by Norman Holland ☰
Essays on Film by Norman Holland

WELCOME TO A SHARPER FOCUS:
A site devoted to increasing your intellectual enjoyment of movies.

I think of films as works of art, and I believe that we best enjoy works of art by appreciating how all the different elements come together to form an artistic whole. The notes of a symphony, the riffs of jazz, brush strokes, the metaphors of a poem, the key moments in a novel, or the shots and plots and scenes and camera angles of a movie—we can understand them as fitting together around a focus. After we’ve seen a movie, if we ask, What was the point?, that was the point, the focus around which we can understand all the different elements of a film forming a work of art that makes sense to us as humans.

FILMS COVERED:

2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick, 1968)

21 Grams (Iñárritu, 2003)

35 Shots of Rum (Denis, 2008)

8½ (Fellini, 1963)

Adaptation (Jonze, 2002)

Akira Kurosawa's Dreams (Kurosawa, 1990)

Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (Fassbinder, 1974)

All About My Mother (Almodóvar, 1999)

Amarcord (Fellini, 1973)

Amores Perros (Iñárritu, 2000)

Amour l’après-midi, L’ (Rohmer, 1972)

Ángel exterminador, El (Buñuel, 1962)

Angst Essen Seele (Fassbinder, 1974)

Annie Hall (Allen, 1977)

Ansiktet (Bergman, 1958)

Année dernière à Marienbad, L’ (Resnais, 1961)

Aparajito (Ray, 1956)

À propos de Nice (Vigo, 1930)

Atalante, L' (Vigo, 1934)

Apur Sansar (Ray, 1959)

Au-delá les grilles (Clément, 1949)

Autumn Sonata (Bergman, 1978)

Away From Her (Polley, 2006)

Babel (Iñárritu, 2006)

Bad ma ra khahad bord (Kiarostami, 1999)

Bakushû (Ozu, 1951)

Banshun (Ozu, 1949)

Barton Fink (Coen, 1991)

Beau Travail (Denis, 1999)

Being John Malkovich (Jonze, 1999)

Beyond the Gates (Clément, 1949)

Bicycle Thieves (De Sica, 1948)

Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, The (Fassbinder, 1972)

Biutiful (Iñárritu, 2010)

Blob, The (Yeaworth, 1958)

Blue (Kieślowski,1993)

Blue Velvet (Lynch, 1986)

Boudu Saved from Drowning (Renoir, 1932)

Breathless (Godard, 1960)

Brief Encounter (Lean, 1946)

Brokeback Mountain (Lee, 2005)

Broken Blossoms (Griffith, 1919)

Charme discret de la bourgeoisie, Le (Buñuel, 1972)

Children of Paradise (Carné, 1945)

Chimes at Midnight (Welles, 1965)

Chinatown (Polanski, 1974)

Chloe in the Afternoon (Rohmer, 1972)

Christmas Carol, A (Desmond-Hurst, 1951)

Citizen Kane (Welles, 1941)

Claire’s Knee (Rohmer, 1970)

Close-up (Kiarostami, 1990)

Contempt (Godard, 1963)

Cries and Whispers (Bergman, 1972)

Crossfire (Dmytryk,1947)

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Lee, 2000)

Crying Game, The (Jordan, 1992)

Dans la Maison (Ozon, 2012)

Devi (Ray, 1960)

Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, The (Buñuel, 1972)

Dolce Vita, La (Fellini 1960)

Dopamine (Decena,2003)

Double Indemnity (Wilder, 1944)

Dreams (Kurosawa, 1990)

Dwaj ludzie z szafa (Polanski, 1958)

Early Summer (Ozu, 1951)

Earrings of Madame de . . ., The (Ophüls, 1953)

East of Eden (Kazan,1955)

Eat Drink Man Woman (Lee, 1994)

Ehe Das Maria Braun, Die (Fassbinder, 1979)

Eight and a Half (Fellini, 1963)

Elephant Man, The (Lynch, 1980)

Enfants du Paradis,Les (Carné, 1945)

English Patient, The (Minghella, 1996)

Exterminating Angel, The (Buñuel, 1962)

Eyes Without a Face (Franju, 1959)

Face (Bergman, 1958)

Femme Mariée, Une (Godard, 1964)

Fallen Idol, The (Reed, 1948)

Falstaff (Welles, 1965)

Fargo (Coen, 1996)

Forbidden Games (Clément, 1952)

Freud (Huston, 1962)

Genou de Claire, Le (Rohmer, 1970)

Goddess, The (Ray, 1960)

Godfather, The (Coppola, 1972)

Godfather, Part II, The (Coppola, 1974)

Godfather, Part III, The (Coppola, 1990)

Good Night, and Good Luck (Clooney, 2006)

Good Work (Denis, 1999)

Grande Illusion, La (Renoir, 1937)

Great Expectations (Lean, 1946)

Hable con ella (Almodóvar, 2002)

Hauru no Ugoku Shiro (Miyazaki, 2004)

Hiroshima, Mon Amour (Resnais, 1952)

Hobson’s Choice (Lean, 1954)

Homme et une femme, Un (Lelouche, 1966)

Homme et une femme, Un: Vingt ans déjà (Lelouche, 1986)

Höstsonaten (Bergman, 1978)

Howl’s Moving Castle (Miyazaki, 2004)

Ikiru (Kurosawa, 1952)

Illusionist, The (Burger, 2006)

In the House (Ozon, 2012)

Inside Job (Ferguson, 2010)

Jean Taris (Vigo, 1931)

Jeux interdits (Clément, 1952)

Kid, The (Chaplin, 1921)

Knife in the Water (Polanski, 1962)

Ladri di biciclette (De Sica, 1948)

La Dolce Vita (Fellini 1960)

La Strada (Fellini, 1954)

Last Year at Marienbad (Resnais, 1961)

L’Atalante (Vigo, 1934)

Late Spring (Ozu, 1949)

Laura (Preminger, 1944)

Loin d’elle (Polley, 2006)

Lola Montès (Ophüls, 1955)

Lost Weekend, The (Wilder, 1945)

M (Lang, 1931)

M. Hulot's Holiday (Tati, 1953)

Ma nuit chez Maud (Rohmer, 1969)

Madame de . . . (Ophüls, 1953)

Magician, The (Bergman, 1958)

Maltese Falcon, The (Huston, 1941)

Manhattan (Allen, 1979)

Man and a Woman, A (Lelouche, 1966)

Man and a Woman, A: Twenty Years Later (Lelouche, 1986)

Marriage of Maria Braun, The (Fassbinder, 1979)

Married Woman, A (Godard, 1964)

Mépris, Le (Godard, 1964)

Midnight in Paris (Allen, 2011)

Mon Oncle (Tati, 1958)

Montès, Lola (Ophüls, 1955)

Mulholland Dr. (Lynch, 2001)

Mura di Malapaga, Le (Clément, 1949)

My Man Godfrey (La Cava, 1936)

My Night at Maud's (Rohmer, 1969)

Natation, La, par Jean Taris (Vigo, 1931)

Nema-ye Nazdik (Kiarostami, 1990)

Night of the Hunter, The (Laughton, 1955)

Nights of Cabiria (Fellini, 1957)

Ninotchka (Lubitsch, 1939)

Notte di Cabiria, Le (Fellini, 1957)

Nóz w wodzie (Polanski, 1962)

Odd Man Out (Reed, 1947)

On the Waterfront (Kazan, 1954)

Otto e mezzo (Fellini, 1963)

Our Man in Havana (Reed, 1959)

Pather Panchali (Ray, 1955)

Play Time (Tati, 1967)

Pleasure of Being Robbed, The (Safdie, 2006)

Plein Soleil (Clément, 1960)

Princess Mononoke (Miyazaki, 1997)

Purple Noon (Clément, 1960)

Purple Rose of Cairo, The (Allen, 1984)

Rashomon (Kurosawa, 1950)

Red (Kieślowski, 1994)

Red Road (Arnold, 2006)

Road, The (Fellini, 1954)

Règle du jeu, La (Renoir, 1939)

Repulsion (Polanski, 1965)

Ronde, La (Ophüls, 1950)

Rules of the Game (Renoir, 1939)

Saraband (Bergman, 2003)

Sceicco Bianco, Lo (Fellini, 1952)

Sciusciá (De Sica, 1946)

Scrooge (Desmond-Hurst, 1951)

Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi (Miyazaki, 2001)

Serious Man, A (Coen, 2009)

Set-Up, The (Wise, 1949)

Seventh Seal, The (Bergman, 1957)

Shoeshine (De Sica, 1946)

Shop Around the Corner, The (Lubitsch, 1940)

Sjunde inseglet, Det (Bergman, 1957)

Song of the Open Road (Ray, 1955)

Sous le sable (Ozon, 2000)

Spirited Away (Miyazaki, 2001)

Stories We Tell (Polley, 2012)

Strada, La (Fellini, 1954)

Streetcar Named Desire, A (Kazan, 1951)

Stunt Man, The (Rush, 1980)

Sunset Boulevard (Wilder, 1950)

Take This Waltz (Polley, 2011)

Talented Mr. Ripley, The (Minghella, 1999)

Talk to Her (Almodóvar, 2002)

Taris, roi de l’eau (Vigo, 1931)

Taste of Cherry (Kiarostami, 1997)

Third Man, The (Reed, 1949)

Three Colors: Blue (Kieślowski1993)

Three Colors: Red (Kieślowski,1994)

Three Colors: White (Kieślowski,1994)

Todo Sobre Mi Madre (Almodóvar, 1999)

Tôkyô monogatari (Ozu, 1953)

Tokyo Story (Ozu, 1953)

Trois Couleurs: Blanc (Kieślowski,1994)

Trois Couleurs: Bleu (Kieślowski, 1993)

Trois Couleurs: Rouge (Kieślowski, 1994)

Trouble in Paradise (Lubitsch, 1932)

21 Grams (Iñárritu, 2003)

Two Men and a Wardrobe (Polanski, 1958)

2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick, 1968)

Umberto D. (De Sica, 1952)

Under the Sand (Ozon, 2000)

Unvanquished, The (Ray, 1956)

Vacances de M. Hulot, Les (Tati, 1953)

Vertigo (Hitchcock, 1958)

Visningar och rop / (Bergman, 1972)

Volver (Almodóvar, 2006)

Walkabout (Roeg, 1971)

Walls of Malapaga, The (Clément, 1949)

Where the Wild Things Are (Jonze, 2009)

White (Kieślowski, 1994)

White Material (Denis, 2009)

White Sheik, The (Fellini, 1952)

Wind Will Carry Us, The (Kiarostami, 1999)

World of Apu, The (Ray, 1959)

Yeux sans visage, Les (Franju, 1959)

Yume (Kurosawa, 1990)

Zéro de conduite (Vigo,1933)