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The Movies of Happenstance: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Jason Hutchens
In season 1 we celebrated the 25th anniversary of the movies of 1999, reckoned by many to be the greatest year of movies of all time. In season 2 we celebrated the 40th anniversary of the movies of 1985, watching movies that we missed in our youth. Now, in season 3 onwards, were celebrating undiscovered gems, by mining the Letterboxd archives for forgotten classics!
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- 3 weeks ago1h 3m
S03E08 - 2005
This month Jason Hutchens watches films from 2005 that he's never seen before, using Letterboxd ratings to uncover hidden gems. This month's selection is: Domino (Tony Scott, USA) Lady Vengeance (Park Chan-wook, South Korea) Broken Flowers (Jim Jarmusch, USA) Caché (Michael Haneke, France) Brick (Rian Johnson, USA) Linda Linda Linda (Nobuhiro Yamashita, Japan) The Proposition (John Hillcoat, Australia) The New World (Terrence Malick, USA) See Jason's review scores for these eight movies on Letterboxd.
- Aug 1, 202643 min
S03E07 - 2000
This month Jason Hutchens watches films from 2000 that he's never seen before, using Letterboxd ratings to uncover hidden gems. This month's selection is: Sexy Beast (Jonathan Glazer, UK) Joint Security Area (Park Chan-wook, South Korea) Yi Yi (Edward Yang, Taiwan) State and Main (David Mamet, USA) Wonder Boys (Curtis Hanson, USA) The Captive (Chantal Akerman, Belgium) Werckmeister Harmonies (Béla Tarr, Germany) Code Unknown (Michael Haneke, France) See Jason's review scores for these eight movies on Letterboxd.
- Jul 1, 202648 min
S03E06 - 1995
This month Jason Hutchens watches films from 1995 that he's never seen before, using Letterboxd ratings to uncover hidden gems. This month's selection is: Richard III (Richard Loncraine, UK) Strange Days (Kathryn Bigelow, USA) Dead Man (Jim Jarmusch, USA) Living in Oblivion (Tom DiCillo) Maborosi (Hirokazu Kore-eda, Japan) Fallen Angels (Wong Kar-Wai, Hong Kong) La Haine (Mathieu Kassovitz, France) Ulysses’ Gaze (Theo Angelopoulos, Greece) See Jason's review scores for these eight movies on Letterboxd.
- Jun 1, 202652 min
S03E05 - 1990
This month Jason Hutchens watches films from 1990 that he's never seen before, using Letterboxd ratings to uncover hidden gems. This month's selection is: State of Grace (Phil Joanou, USA) Miller's Crossing (Joel and Ethan Coen, USA) Bullet in the Head (John Woo, Hong Kong) The Match Factory Girl (Aki Kaurismäki, Finland) Ju Dou (Zhang Yimou, China) Jacob's Ladder (Adrian Lyne, USA) King of New York (Abel Ferrara, USA) Twilight (György Fehér, Hungary) See Jason's review scores for these eight movies on Letterboxd.
- May 1, 20261h 5m
S03E04 - 1985
This month Jason Hutchens watches films from 1985 that he's never seen before, using Letterboxd ratings to uncover hidden gems. This month's selection is: Come and See (Elem Klimov, USSR) The Time to Live and the Time to Die (Hou Hsiao-hsien, Taiwan) The Official Story (Luis Puenzo, Argentina) A Zed & Two Noughts (Peter Greenaway, UK) O-Bi, O-Ba: The End of Civilization (Piotr Szulkin, Poland) The Black Cannon Incident (Huang Jianxin, China) Phenomena (Dario Argento, Italy) Enemy Mine (Wolfgang Petersen, USA) See Jason's review scores for these eight movies on Letterboxd.
- Apr 1, 20261h 25m
S03E03 - 1980
This month Jason Hutchens watches films from 1980 that he's never seen before, using Letterboxd ratings to uncover hidden gems. This month's selection is: The Stunt Man (Richard Rush, USA) Out of the Blue (Dennis Hopper, USA) Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese, USA) City of Women (Federico Fellini, Italy) Night of the Juggler (Robert Butler, USA) Dangerous Encounters of the First Kind (Tsui Hark, Hong Kong) The Long Good Friday (John Mackenzie, UK) The Ninth Configuration (William Peter Blatty, USA) See Jason's review scores for these eight movies on Letterboxd.
- Mar 1, 20261h 3m
S03E02 - 1975
Jason Hutchens explores films from 1975 using Letterboxd ratings, jumping five years each month to trace movie trends and cultural shifts. He sets the scene with the era's music, politics and Hollywood changes before hunting for lesser-known favourites. The movies this week are: Dog Day Afternoon (Sidney Lumet, USA) Mirror (Andrei Tarkovsky, USSR) Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (Chantal Akerman, Belgium) 3 Days of the Condor (Sydney Pollack, USA) The Travelling Players (Theo Angelopoulos, Greece) The Day of the Locust (John Schlesinger, USA) Nashville (Robert Altman, USA) Manila in the Claws of Light (Lino Brocka, Philippines) See Jason's review scores for these eight movies on Letterboxd. You may also want to check out BFI's List of the Greatest Films of All Time.
- Feb 1, 20261h 57m
S03E01 - 1970
In this episode Jason launches Season 3 by exploring the movies of 1970. After setting the scene with seven era-defining songs and a brief cultural roundup (Apollo 13, Kent State, music and technology), he explains a new monthly approach: by browsing a list of all 1970 movies on Letterboxd he discovers eight movies from 1970 that he has never seen, or even heard of, to watch and review. The movies are: Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (Elio Petri, Italy) Le Cercle Rouge (Jean-Pierre Melville, France) The Conformist (Bernardo Bertolucci, Italy) El Topo (Alejandro Jodorowsky, Mexico) Heroic Purgatory (Yoshishige Yoshida, Japan) Dodeskadan (Akira Kurosawa, Japan) A Touch of Zen (King Hu, Taiwan) The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (Dario Argento, Italy) See Jason's review scores for these eight movies on Letterboxd. This episode mixes film discovery methods, historical context, and reviews of standout titles from the year.
About The Movies of Happenstance
In season 1 we celebrated the 25th anniversary of the movies of 1999, reckoned by many to be the greatest year of movies of all time. In season 2 we celebrated the 40th anniversary of the movies of 1985, watching movies that we missed in our youth. Now, in season 3 onwards, were celebrating undiscovered gems, by mining the Letterboxd archives for forgotten classics!
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