Kim Morgan

“I’m choosing Merrily We Go to Hell, an incredibly daring film about marriage and the breakdown of a marriage. There’s so much more to say. This is such a complicated movie. And Fredric March and Sylvia Sidney are so incredible in it. Watch all of Dorothy Arzner’s films that you can, because she was such a fascinating woman and filmmaker and very important in the history of cinema.”

“Something Wild by Jack Garfein. This film really means a lot to me because I became good friends with him and I know this was a very personal film to him, starred his then-wife, Carroll Baker, and it’s a very… realistic depiction of the aftermath of rape and the surreal, anxious feelings that follow. Cinematography by Eugen Schüfftan, who did Eyes Without a Face, so there’s all these experimental elements to the film as well. Sheila O’Malley wrote a beautiful essay for this, too. I recommend that you read her essay on this.”

“Ellen. Ellen from Leave Her to Heaven. Farran Smith Nehme and I have talked a lot about the movie. She writes a lot for Criterion. We’re always discussing this film together because we feel, although she does many misdeeds, obviously, in an understatement, we have this feeling that she maybe, perhaps, is an artist herself and she’s not really happy with her husband’s book. However, do not dedicate a book to your wife’s sister. You will have Vincent Price defending you in court after you pass away. I’m summarizing it in the briefest way possible, so, please, you’ll get much more out of it when you watch it.”

“Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould. I love movies that aren’t traditional biopics. I love that through the music– There’s a scene in here that I love where he’s at a diner and he’s listening to all the sounds, he’s listening to the people talking, and you can feel the musicality of that, and what Glenn Gould would incorporate, just in regular life, how musical he was, what a genius he was. More people should check out this film, and it’s just a beautiful… meditation on Glenn Gould. It’s not just directly telling you about him. It feels the way music makes you feel. There’s mystery still there. He allows the mystery, it’s so… such a beautiful film.”

“I love this movie, Punch-Drunk Love. I remember seeing this at a screening and just walking out… just kind of walking on air. I love that what Paul Thomas Anderson did with Adam Sandler, who, of course, in other work, I believe, showed that he had dramatic chops, and even in his comedy, the anger that he would show, you see it in here and he pulls it out of him, somewhat in a way that Hitchcock pulled out of Jimmy Stewart. It’s universal, but there’s something so American about Jimmy Stewart and Adam Sandler, just the way that he shows his… his sadness, his… his anger, and the edginess, right down to the score, the way that you feel constantly on edge, either with his happiness, as he’s walking through the grocery store and doing the little tap dance, or just the constant worry. It’s such a romantic, beautiful movie, all about the messiness, also, of love and all of the anxiety that it can produce. Unforgettable. Unforgettable.”

“So Kiss Me Deadly by Robert Aldrich. This was made in 1955. It’s a little bit late in the noir cycle. This film was so influential to the French New Wave, and then all the way to Quentin Tarantino with Pulp Fiction, with the suitcase, and Alex Cox’s Repo Man before that. But the movie is just, still to this day, I don’t want to use the word modern. I want to say timeless. If you have not seen the opening sequence of this movie, you have not watched cinema. You need to see the opening of this movie. And I love that Aldrich, he ranged from doing Ulzana’s Raid to The Longest Yard. A vicious, somewhat nihilistic filmmaker, in terms of this film, but also had a lot of heart and sensitivity towards men, women, and really saw the whole human condition. There’s a reason this film has endured and has inspired so many people and I love it so much. And I love all the Los Angeles locations. In fact, when I’m driving down Wilshire, I always point out Mike Hammer’s apartment building. It’s right on Wilshire. Every time I pass by. My friends make fun of me because I have to, like, take a picture and text them.”

“So I’m choosing The Killing. This is a seminal Kubrick film, and what I love about it is it moves like clockwork in terms of the heist, but then it ends with that suitcase. And I don’t want to just focus on the suitcase here, but he buys the worst suitcase, I must say. The absurdity of it is almost beautiful. In fact, it is in the way that Sterling Hayden, who’s so perfect in this film, says those great final lines, “What’s the difference?” Which you could read as very sad, and his life is over, or very Zen-like. I recommend this, but also get Barry Lyndon and Eyes Wide Shut, get all three. But I don’t want to be greedy, so… this in the bag.”

“So, Criterion kindly pulled these out for me. I wanted to show these in honor of the great Udo Kier: Flesh for Frankenstein, Blood for Dracula. Two of his greatest performances. I’m very partial to Udo. I adored him. Watch these movies and watch all of Udo Kier’s movies. He made many, and he always left such an impression. There was no one like him. No one like him.”

“So, Criterion kindly pulled these out for me. I wanted to show these in honor of the great Udo Kier: Flesh for Frankenstein, Blood for Dracula. Two of his greatest performances. I’m very partial to Udo. I adored him. Watch these movies and watch all of Udo Kier’s movies. He made many, and he always left such an impression. There was no one like him. No one like him.”