Daily Movie Rec 4/18/2023
Modern Times (1936)
"We're not burglars - we're hungry."
Directed by: Charlie Chaplin
Cinematography by: Ira H. Morgan & Roland Totheroh
Country: United States
Plot:
The constant need for more speed and higher production rates causes a man to have a nervous breakdown at work, and he then bounces around from job to job with a destitute young woman - both looking for a stable home.
Reasons to watch:
Paulette Goddard is an absolute firecracker as the female lead - more than enough to match Chaplin’s boundless onscreen presence - and the film’s earnest, optimistic message about perseverance in the face of overwhelming adversity was probably very needed in the U.S. and abroad between The Great Depression and World War II. Even so, the anti-capitalist ideology that would get Chaplin banned from the country in the early 50s is still entirely present in the film, where Chaplin comedically skewers the systems that value profits over people and highlights the plight of the working poor and the steep, slick-walled trap that’s meant to keep them on the bottom.
The Criterion Channel/Max
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