How Films Saved My Life by Elsie Ramsey

Every night, with a small handful of exceptions, I’ve watched a movie in lockdown. I discovered the Criterion Channel and my first, truest love (books)are feeling threatened.

It’s been a deep, magical dive into the visual realm. My heart, intellect and spirit have been calmed, awakened, challenged, shattered and made whole by cinema’s look at the human struggle.

Two genres have captured my imagination with unparalleled force; film noir and what I’ll call simply “1970s New York City Realism”.

Noir speaks to me about the nature of female power as understood by men. Truly fertile ground for psychoanalytic musings. Women are…..

Duplicitous

Spectacular

Corrupting

Fickle

Brilliant

…As Linda Richman would say “Talk Amongst Yourselves!”

Then there are the trips back in time to a New York flooded with muggings, police corruption, Andy Warhol inspired loft parties and sex acts in midtown movie theaters. Each of these films will stay with me for the rest of my life:

Midnight Cowboy

The Conversation

Serpico

Klute

Find them — stream them — be changed by them.

Images inspired by the women of noir

Makeup/Hair by Sadiq Trusty

Model: Me