V

There were four “V” movies on my list, and three of them were quite good. In fact, I’m not sure which of these I liked best:

• Victim — 1961. If I said this was gay noir you’d probably get the wrong idea. It’s a taut and suspenseful drama about a time (not that long ago) when being a homosexual was literally a crime.
• Victor Victoria — 1982. I think everyone in the world has seen this, but I hadn’t. What a treat.
• V for Vendetta — 2006. One of the scariest films I’ve ever seen. Scary political, not scary horror.

All three of these films are highly recommended, but I particularly want to single out Victim because I think it’s less well known than the other two.

And then there was Vampire’s Kiss — 1989. Nick Cage acting crazy in a vampire flick. I didn’t care for it very much.

(Yes, we’re watching a list of movies in alphabetical order. These are the “V” movies I’d always wanted to see but never did. I didn’t list Valmont or The Virgin Suicides or Vanilla Sky or Videodrome because I’d already seen those. Of course, my favorite “V” movie ever is probably Vertigo, that great Hitchcock masterpiece from 1958.)

I’m posting about trivial stuff because I’m having trouble articulating the serious stuff that’s on my mind right now.