Dave Kehr's elite interests

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Whatever DVDs might be coming out on a given Tuesday, you can almost always count on N.Y. Times columnist Dave Kehr writing about the discs most likely to be bought, rented or at least respected by elite cineastes ...the most esoteric, the most artistically correct, the most venerated in the Dan Talbot or Jonas Mekas sense of the term.

Kehr rarely steps into the rancid swamp of popular taste, not even to put it down. He always writes about the art film DVD from Criterion or Anchor Bay that needs the press. Good fellow, heart in the right place, a little predictable.

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on August 22, 2007 at 4:44 PM

comment #1

pm123 says ...

Discussing Luis Bunuel films is only for esoteric cineastes?! That's putting the bar rather low, isn't it? Kehr is maybe the best writer and thinker about film around - it's a shame he's relegated to the DVD column!

Posted by pm123 at August 22, 2007 5:15 PM

comment #2

T. Holly says ...

THE LIVES OF OTHERS too. What took that so long to come out?

Posted by T. Holly at August 22, 2007 5:43 PM

comment #3

jeffmcm says ...

Its successful theatrical run. Remember how it used to take six months for a DVD to be released?

Posted by jeffmcm at August 22, 2007 5:44 PM

comment #4

gruver1 says ...

Wells to pm123: Yes, a discussion of DVDs of older black and white Luis Bunuel films is, in this degraded and debauched culture of ours, is the sort of thing that only esoteric cineastes would be truly into. C'mon. You're telling me that mainstream GenXers -- the real-life Seth Rogen types out there with Cabo San Lucas T-Shirts and beer guts and scraggly man beards -- even know about Bunuel?

Posted by gruver1 at August 22, 2007 5:48 PM

comment #5

jeffmcm says ...

Wait a minute - how can it be degraded if there was _never_ a time when guys with man beards (as opposed to the other kind) would sit around talking about Bunuel?

Posted by jeffmcm at August 22, 2007 6:03 PM

comment #6

corey3rd says ...

back when we were a scruffy bunch, we'd argue Bunuel. We'd also argue Lost in Space, Pro wrestling and what is the point of reading Finnegan's Wake sober?

Seth is not GenX. He was only 9 when the book came out.

Posted by corey3rd at August 22, 2007 6:27 PM

comment #7

bmcintire says ...

I'm curious to know what Jeff's reaction would be to meeting Seth Rogen on a sidewalk. As much as the actor has become Wells' shorthand for types he can't endure, I'd fully expect Rogen to punch him in the face. Repeatedly.

Posted by bmcintire at August 22, 2007 6:27 PM

comment #8

JD says ...

What's your point, Jeff? I really can't tell. Young people should be bigger Bunuel fans? Dave Kehr should write about Wild Hogs? Honestly, I have no clue where you're going with this.

Posted by JD at August 22, 2007 6:36 PM

comment #9

swhitty says ...

It's true that you can always count on Dave K to write about Ozu or Truffaut rather than the latest Hollywood hit (in fact, I believe he's said that one of the reasons he gave up reviewing contemporary films for the Times was that he was weary of trudging to the latest Lindsay Lohan movie). But he's written smartly about John Woo in the past, too, and is an enormous John Ford fan. I'm sure he'd appreciate Jeff's praise, but he's not a cine-snob. He just likes good movies. And isn't a DVD column precisely the place to champion things worth a second look, instead of recent blockbuster releases?

Posted by swhitty at August 22, 2007 6:45 PM

comment #10

swhitty says ...

Posted by swhitty at August 22, 2007 6:45 PM

comment #11

le corbeau says ...

Same here. It seems to me that Kehr has almost certainly been hired NOT to write about the same damn movies the new release reviewers reviewed three months earlier, but to bring the perspective of someone like Dave Kehr to the job and write about Bunuel or Jacques Tourneur or whatever. This is sort of like complaining that the op-ed guys keep writing about politics.

Posted by le corbeau at August 22, 2007 6:48 PM

comment #12

le corbeau says ...

Oops-- same here --> what's your point, Jeff, I can't tell

Posted by le corbeau at August 22, 2007 6:49 PM

comment #13

le corbeau says ...

Whoa, Monogram's Decoy is out on DVD? (Legit, from MGM?)

I can't tell you how unbelievable that is...

Posted by le corbeau at August 22, 2007 8:07 PM

comment #14

Nate West says ...

When I was a kid growing up in the hinterland, the best one could hope for was READING about most foreign, silent, or esoteric films. There was zero chance of actually seeing them. And so I dived into "The Parades Gone By," and the Truffaut/Hitchcock interviews, and the "Focus On" series (i.e., "Focus on Science Fiction, etc."), and whatever less I could discover in the stacks of the town's tiny red brick library.

Today, at least, with the advent of vast film libraries on DVD, young persons (including Seth Rogen) have the opportunity to cultivate themselves, if they wish to do so, in the history of the cinema. In that way, it's a golden age for the film fan, budding cineaste or otherwise.

Posted by Nate West at August 22, 2007 8:32 PM

comment #15

lipranzer says ...

Kehr's column is invaluable because he reminds us of what's out there besides the regular new releases, and he's a terrific film scholar. The problem is, he's such an auteurist. He only seems to like directors if they fit in that certain box. I don't think he wrote about ACE IN THE HOLE when it came out because it seems Billy Wilder can do no right in his book.

Posted by lipranzer at August 22, 2007 8:48 PM

comment #16

T. S. Idiot says ...

Kehr is smart and writes well, but as lipranzer observes, he has a narrower focus than he should. See his often snide, snippy responses to the comments on his blog.

Posted by T. S. Idiot at August 22, 2007 8:58 PM

comment #17

D.Z. says ...

Apparently, you can get a DUI, even if you're only driving a golf cart. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/film/news/e3if825afe213e0ca9c9d1b66a90e2e39d8

Posted by D.Z. at August 22, 2007 9:02 PM

comment #18

alynch says ...

I never would've guessed that Bill Murray ever could've been a bigger hero to me, but I've been proven wrong. That's the greatest DUI of all time.

Posted by alynch at August 22, 2007 9:14 PM

comment #19

corey3rd says ...

You can get a DUI riding a horse.

Seems like the last place you want to find out about a new DVD is the NYTimes cause by the time you read the paper, the damn thing is already long wait on Netflix.

Wonder if Kehr is going to write about Season 2 of the Odd Couple. That's what I'm enjoying at the moment. Jack Klugman needs to get one of the Kennedy Center honors

Posted by corey3rd at August 22, 2007 9:20 PM

comment #20

malibugigolo says ...

I got a DUI on a lawnmower once just outside of Auburn, AL.

Posted by malibugigolo at August 22, 2007 9:37 PM

comment #21

pm123 says ...

Wells:

No, sadly, the Cabo T-shirt crowd probably hasn't ever seen a Bunuel film (although I have no idea about Mr. Rogan personally - I don't know him). What's doubly sad is that the Film School generation that makes movies for that crowd have all watched Bunuel films only under duress, and then probably only _on_ DVD. After which they excitedly got back to watching "Raiders of the Lost Ark" for the twelfth time and said "Now _that's_ the kind of movie _I_ want to make!" When they realized that that vein was pretty well mined by the 1940's, they turned to making movies about their own thrilling teenage years.

And hey - what's wrong with being an auteurist? Sure it can give you blind spots, but it can also lead to great insights...

Posted by pm123 at August 22, 2007 9:44 PM

comment #22

MAGGA says ...

pm123, it is very true about film students. I watched many classic movies on worn video cassetes on a creaky projector with a green tint while the speakers were malfunctioning and the hard chairs were bruising my seat-muscles, and for that reason I think Goddard felt like my personal nemesis for a long time. Then I re-watched Weekend, and things changed. I do not know any film lover who does not like Bunuel, but we still all love Raiders Of The Lost Ark regardless. Twelve viewings of that film is NOTHING! It is every bit as good as... Well, almost any other film.

Posted by MAGGA at August 22, 2007 10:02 PM

comment #23

Arizona Joe says ...

Yes, Mr. Kehr does review a lot of fare for elite cineastes. And I am glad he does. But he also shines a light on a lot of chestnuts that I have never heard of.

Recently on Mr. Kehr's recommendation, I rented "Caged" 1950, a woman in prison movie, heavy with a lot of matron cruelty. It was very good.

He also steered me to "Kansas City Confidential" 1952, a noir picture featuring John Payne, the starlet Coleen Gray, and veteran character actors Jack Elam and Neville Brand. Art Fern would have been proud to show that one on "Tea Time Movie."

Posted by Arizona Joe at August 23, 2007 3:00 AM

comment #24

source188 says ...

everyone, shut the fuck up and watch

http://movies.aol.com//movie/the-assassination-of-jesse-james-by-the-coward-robert-ford/26180/video/trailer-no-2/1960752

Posted by source188 at August 23, 2007 3:52 AM

comment #25

malibugigolo says ...

re: Kansas City Confidential

"Yeah, I know a sure cure for a nosebleed: a cold knife in the middle of the back."

Posted by malibugigolo at August 23, 2007 4:54 AM

comment #26

Glenn Kenny says ...

FYI, the whole point of Dave's column is NOT TO review DVDs of recent theatrical releasesâ€”as the Times is committed to reviewing everything that gets a theatrical release, and as it's the paper of record, if Dave were to review a DVD of, say, "The Lives of Others," he'd be obliged to note, for instance, "In February of 2007, on the film's theatrical release, A.O. Scott wrote..." which, among other things, would be a waste of Dave's talents as a critic.

Posted by Glenn Kenny at August 23, 2007 6:28 AM

comment #27

gruver1 says ...

Wells to Kenny: Dave could just have his own say -- why would bhe be obliged to quote Scott? While I respect Dave's mission as a Times DVD columnist, it seems to me that the column would exude a tad more vitality if he would put on the hip boots and wade into the swamp of popular taste more often. I was just saying that he seems to always write about the venerated Collective for Living Cinema highbrow stuff from Criterion, and that makes the column feel a tiny bit dweeby sometimes.

Posted by gruver1 at August 23, 2007 7:23 AM

comment #28

RoyBatty says ...

To Wells' critics: what exactly are YOUR points? I fail to see any disconnect between either what he wrote in the main article or in his follow-up. I have to admit that perhaps the man is right: some of you come here simply to try to take issue with everything he writes. I think such a mindset has you looking for problems where there are none.

Think I'll have to bookmark Mr. Kehr for now on. Thanks for the tip.

Posted by RoyBatty at August 23, 2007 7:33 AM

comment #29

le corbeau says ...

To Wells' critics: what exactly are YOUR points?

it seems to me that the column would exude a tad more vitality if he would put on the hip boots and wade into the swamp of popular taste more often

My point is that I hate, hate, hate the idea that if you're not commenting on Lindsay, Brittany and Shittany, or whoever the hot bimbos and their hot movies of the moment are, you're not vital, relevant, whatever.

The same comment could have been made in 1946-- what the fuck is Kehr doing writing about Eisenstein and Chaplin, his column would be more hep if only he'd write about Jeanne Crain and Linda Darnell once in a while.

There are 6000 years of human history, not everything has to be about the last five of them. Kehr has the high movie culture beat at the NYT. God bless him, and them for that if little enough else....

Posted by le corbeau at August 23, 2007 8:25 AM

comment #30

le corbeau says ...

By the way, what I really love about Kansas City Confidential is that only about ten minutes of it take place in Kansas City, the whole rest of the movie is in backlot Mexico....

Posted by le corbeau at August 23, 2007 8:26 AM

comment #31

Bocephus says ...

I think it is good that Kehr doesn't wallow in the muck. There are plenty of critics who do, and not enough who focus solely on films that derserve it.

Posted by Bocephus at August 23, 2007 8:27 AM

comment #32