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Embeth Davidtz

Reviews

Retribution (2023)
Not Okay (2022)
Paranoia (2013)
Junebug (2005)
13 Ghosts (2001)
Mansfield Park (1999)
Fallen (1998)
Matilda (1996)
Feast of July (1995)

Blog Posts

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Mad Men: Memories, doppelgängers & phantoms

"It's the greatest curse that's ever been inflicted on the human race, memory." -- Jed Leland (Joseph Cotten), "Citizen Kane" (1941)

Nearly every scene in "The Phantom," the Season 5 finale of "Mad Men," conjures a ghost from the show's past. "Mad Men," like many great series from "Hill Street Blues" to "SCTV" to "The Sopranos," has always been exceptionally good at this (see "The Long Walk"), setting images, gestures and emotions reverberating off one another across episodes and seasons. The series has a memory, and the curse of memory is a primary theme of "The Phantom," which is why the episode is composed as it is. As Nancy Sinatra sings in that final song:

You only live twice, or so it seems, One life for yourself and one for your dreams.

(Spoilers from here on out.)

That's a James Bond theme song, from "You Only Live Twice" (1967) -- and it's the second Bond theme we hear in the episode, after Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass bite into Burt Bacharach's theme from the James Bond parody "Casino Royale" (1967) at the weekday matinée where Don (the suave, masculine Bond of New York advertising) runs into Peggy. (The Beatles, who have figured prominently in Seasons 4 and 5, released "Help!" in 1965 and it was in part a 007 parody, too -- especially the John Barry-like orchestral music written by George Martin.) Echoes and repetitions are everywhere.

Movie Answer Man

'Sound' strikes false note with some

Q. The documentary "Touch the Sound," which is about a deaf musician named Evelyn Glennie, will not be released theatrically with subtitles. Think about this for a second. While many people might want to see this film, I would guess that the movie will be of particular interest to the hearing-impaired. They would require subtitles to appreciate the content in any meaningful way beyond visual imagery and perhaps lip-reading.

Festivals & Awards

Best films stand out at festival

TORONTOWaiting in the lobby of the Elgin theater Friday night, I talked to a guy who had seen 45 films in this year's Toronto Film Festival: "Yesterday I saw a $60 million movie I can hardly remember, and a $40,000 film I'll never forget."