Dispatch From MacGuffins: January Viewing Diary

an exercise in the surreal

Denis Villeneuve’s Criterion Closet

I ended 2024 with every intention to spend January 2025 living at the Burbank AMC catching up on awards season releases, but ended up spending only two nights in LA before leaving due to the fires. My crisis-rattled brain only allowed me to watch The Floor or Mad Men (why those two? who knows), so my watch list is sparse this month.

Secret Beyond The Door (1947)

I’m in the middle of revisions on the gothic erotic thriller I wrote last year, so I’ve been watching gothic romances to get me in the zone every morning. Two favorites from the ‘40s, Secret Beyond The Door and The Lost Moment, are both avail in full on YouTube. I was reminded of the violent start to Secret Beyond The Door’s central romance while watching Queer’s cockfight meet-cute, one of my favorite cinematic moments last year. SBTD is an underrated noir classic (probably because it’s difficult to get ahold of), a combo of Rebecca’s Bluebeard-eqsue marital anxieties and Spellbound’s woozily hallucinatory visuals. Probably my favorite Fritz Lang movie after he left Germany. And starring Joan Bennett AKA Madame Blanc from Argento’s Suspiria!