Well, it looks like I'm not going to be writing my novel this month:

Michael Powell: Beauty Unending opens this Friday at the Walter Reade Theater in Lincoln Center. It's mind-boggling: a full retrospective of the work of the man who was, quite simply, the best, most inventive, most abundant director to ever work in movies, and one of the best artists to work in any medium. It's a crime that more of his films aren't available on DVD, but they're all here: The Red Shoes, of course, but also The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, Black Narcissus, I Know Where I'm Going, and many, many more that I haven't seen, notably The Tales of Hoffman and A Matter of Life and Death.

You know, almost three years ago, I posted a list of my favorite movies to this blog. I'm somewhat reassured to see that the list hasn't changed that much: they've been reordered a bit, that's all, and Citizen Kane had to make room for Lawrence of Arabia. Back then, I placed The Red Shoes fourth. These days, it's number one, most of the time. I've increasingly come to see it as a life-changer, one of the few works of art that consoles me when I worry that I'll never be much of an artist. There's enough beauty in The Red Shoes to make my own lack of a contribution almost bearable; as long as this movie exists, the world can get along without me, for a while longer, anyway.

Anyway: a month of great movies at the Walter Reade Theater. Over the next few weeks, I plan to see them all. Won't you come join me?