Farran Smith Nehme
@selfstyledsiren.bsky.social
Film critic; NSFC, NYFCC. Bylines at Criterion, Sight & Sound, Noir City, my own Substack, and wherever fine film geeks are found.
https://selfstyledsiren.substack.com/
https://selfstyledsiren.substack.com/
Note that The Criterion Channel has a lot of Tatsuya Nakadai films streaming, including Sanjuro, Sword of Doom, and The Face of Another, as well as all of the nearly 10 hours of The Human Condition. www.criterionchannel.com/search?q=tat...
November 11, 2025 at 1:32 PM
Note that The Criterion Channel has a lot of Tatsuya Nakadai films streaming, including Sanjuro, Sword of Doom, and The Face of Another, as well as all of the nearly 10 hours of The Human Condition. www.criterionchannel.com/search?q=tat...
RIP Tatsuya Nakadai, one of the all-time great postwar actors. And, not for nothing, one of the most heart-stoppingly beautiful too.
November 11, 2025 at 1:28 PM
RIP Tatsuya Nakadai, one of the all-time great postwar actors. And, not for nothing, one of the most heart-stoppingly beautiful too.
I saw. Ross is not OK this morning.
November 5, 2025 at 2:01 PM
I saw. Ross is not OK this morning.
Now I need Bret Stephens' take. Preferably filed from a bunker in Fort Worth. Don't hold out on me, NY Times.
November 5, 2025 at 1:51 PM
Now I need Bret Stephens' take. Preferably filed from a bunker in Fort Worth. Don't hold out on me, NY Times.
She was a big fitness proponent and explains some of her favorite exercises in MY WAY OF LIFE. A book that you can't call neglected because Joan fans love it (and it was reissued), but I did have to pay through the nose for my hardcover copy.
November 5, 2025 at 1:37 PM
She was a big fitness proponent and explains some of her favorite exercises in MY WAY OF LIFE. A book that you can't call neglected because Joan fans love it (and it was reissued), but I did have to pay through the nose for my hardcover copy.
Good morning!
November 5, 2025 at 1:16 PM
Good morning!
Zohran Mamdani working to peel off a few more "Curtis Sliwa Cat Lady" votes 😭
November 3, 2025 at 5:25 PM
Zohran Mamdani working to peel off a few more "Curtis Sliwa Cat Lady" votes 😭
Autumn Joan Blondell with #MondayMood
November 3, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Autumn Joan Blondell with #MondayMood
I don't think AI closed captions are working very well with early 20th century slang, y'all.
November 2, 2025 at 12:31 AM
I don't think AI closed captions are working very well with early 20th century slang, y'all.
Happy Halloween! Nancy Carroll and Clara Bow remind you they have films screening at the AFI Silver Classic Film Weekend, 11/6 – 11/9 — four restored silents, many pre-codes and two programs of rare classic cartoons. I'll be there with David Stenn and many others! silver.afi.com/classic-film...
October 31, 2025 at 5:48 PM
Happy Halloween! Nancy Carroll and Clara Bow remind you they have films screening at the AFI Silver Classic Film Weekend, 11/6 – 11/9 — four restored silents, many pre-codes and two programs of rare classic cartoons. I'll be there with David Stenn and many others! silver.afi.com/classic-film...
"I have never judged my mother for her emotional gluttony, only for the way she treated those who loved her." RIP Maria Riva. I think people wrestling with the extremes in Riva's Marlene Dietrich biography should read Molly Haskell's powerful 1993 review (no paywall) www.nytimes.com/1993/02/07/b...
October 30, 2025 at 5:19 PM
"I have never judged my mother for her emotional gluttony, only for the way she treated those who loved her." RIP Maria Riva. I think people wrestling with the extremes in Riva's Marlene Dietrich biography should read Molly Haskell's powerful 1993 review (no paywall) www.nytimes.com/1993/02/07/b...
You can tell Bluesky needs more classic film peeps just by scrolling the answers! (observation, not a rebuke) By my standards Vertigo isn't even that old, but ignore the haters—on a big screen you have rarely seen anything so beautiful.
October 30, 2025 at 12:26 PM
You can tell Bluesky needs more classic film peeps just by scrolling the answers! (observation, not a rebuke) By my standards Vertigo isn't even that old, but ignore the haters—on a big screen you have rarely seen anything so beautiful.
"Although it is a surface departure from his prior efforts, stripping away almost all of his usual supernatural trappings, del Toro’s adaptation of Nightmare Alley is one of his most evocative films." @sarahweinman.com for the Criterion edition of this great film. www.criterion.com/current/post...
October 29, 2025 at 11:42 AM
"Although it is a surface departure from his prior efforts, stripping away almost all of his usual supernatural trappings, del Toro’s adaptation of Nightmare Alley is one of his most evocative films." @sarahweinman.com for the Criterion edition of this great film. www.criterion.com/current/post...
Never in my life have I see such desperation to pin something, anything at all on a candidate like the establishment press is desperate to do with Mamdani. He calls his cousin aunt, he eats with his hands, my right-wing friends never heard of his mom — my god, people, you're embarrassing.
October 28, 2025 at 1:02 PM
Never in my life have I see such desperation to pin something, anything at all on a candidate like the establishment press is desperate to do with Mamdani. He calls his cousin aunt, he eats with his hands, my right-wing friends never heard of his mom — my god, people, you're embarrassing.
Jean Harlow says wrap up well today, New Yorkers! It's chilly out there.
October 28, 2025 at 12:39 PM
Jean Harlow says wrap up well today, New Yorkers! It's chilly out there.
Mildred Pierce: I like to hear you talk.
Wally Fay: So do I. Something about the sound of my own voice fascinates me.
Jack Carson, the ultimate (somewhat) lovable heel, was #BornThisDay in Carman, Manitoba.
Wally Fay: So do I. Something about the sound of my own voice fascinates me.
Jack Carson, the ultimate (somewhat) lovable heel, was #BornThisDay in Carman, Manitoba.
October 27, 2025 at 11:43 AM
Mildred Pierce: I like to hear you talk.
Wally Fay: So do I. Something about the sound of my own voice fascinates me.
Jack Carson, the ultimate (somewhat) lovable heel, was #BornThisDay in Carman, Manitoba.
Wally Fay: So do I. Something about the sound of my own voice fascinates me.
Jack Carson, the ultimate (somewhat) lovable heel, was #BornThisDay in Carman, Manitoba.
June Lockhart also shows off her pre-LASSIE range in the transcendently weird B-noir BURY ME DEAD (1947), rolling with all the changes of mood it packs into 68 minutes.
October 26, 2025 at 1:25 PM
June Lockhart also shows off her pre-LASSIE range in the transcendently weird B-noir BURY ME DEAD (1947), rolling with all the changes of mood it packs into 68 minutes.
The late June Lockhart checks for signs of fur in SHE-WOLF OF LONDON (1946). Seeing all these tributes to Lockhart has been a wonderful glimpse of an incredibly varied career. #RIP
October 26, 2025 at 1:19 PM
The late June Lockhart checks for signs of fur in SHE-WOLF OF LONDON (1946). Seeing all these tributes to Lockhart has been a wonderful glimpse of an incredibly varied career. #RIP
Glamorous Lilyan Tashman, known as one of the chicest women in Hollywood, was #BornThisDay in 1896. Delightfully wised-up and witty on screen, Tashman died much too young, of cancer, in 1934. The quintessential Tashman film GIRLS ABOUT TOWN (Cukor, 1931) is a pre-Code classic.
October 23, 2025 at 12:36 PM
Glamorous Lilyan Tashman, known as one of the chicest women in Hollywood, was #BornThisDay in 1896. Delightfully wised-up and witty on screen, Tashman died much too young, of cancer, in 1934. The quintessential Tashman film GIRLS ABOUT TOWN (Cukor, 1931) is a pre-Code classic.
♥️ Deneuve is legendary in perfume circles for what is clearly a major collection. How do we know? Go to any of the top perfume places in Paris or NY — they'll tell you she's been there and what she bought, and they'll say she bought a lot. Her long-discontinued perfume is a collector's item.
October 22, 2025 at 1:44 PM
♥️ Deneuve is legendary in perfume circles for what is clearly a major collection. How do we know? Go to any of the top perfume places in Paris or NY — they'll tell you she's been there and what she bought, and they'll say she bought a lot. Her long-discontinued perfume is a collector's item.
The fact that this is also the birthday of another goddess, the divine Catherine Deneuve, signals a magnificent cosmic energy at work. Let's all take advantage of it today.
October 22, 2025 at 1:15 PM
The fact that this is also the birthday of another goddess, the divine Catherine Deneuve, signals a magnificent cosmic energy at work. Let's all take advantage of it today.
Happy birthday, beautiful Joan Fontaine! Pretty please: Stop talking about her overhyped "feud" with her sister, and watch her films—REBECCA, LETTER FROM AN UNKNOWN WOMAN, IVY, THE CONSTANT NYMPH, KISS THE BLOOD OFF MY HANDS, SUSPICION, SOMETHING TO LIVE FOR, BORN TO BE BAD. She was so talented.
October 22, 2025 at 1:11 PM
Happy birthday, beautiful Joan Fontaine! Pretty please: Stop talking about her overhyped "feud" with her sister, and watch her films—REBECCA, LETTER FROM AN UNKNOWN WOMAN, IVY, THE CONSTANT NYMPH, KISS THE BLOOD OFF MY HANDS, SUSPICION, SOMETHING TO LIVE FOR, BORN TO BE BAD. She was so talented.
Me too. The drama is in the subtleties of conversation and reactions. I loved Aleksandr Kuznetsov, who is good-looking but has the craziest boxer's profile since Louis Wolheim.
October 19, 2025 at 7:35 PM
Me too. The drama is in the subtleties of conversation and reactions. I loved Aleksandr Kuznetsov, who is good-looking but has the craziest boxer's profile since Louis Wolheim.