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Film: The Yards

American film lovers owe James Grey an apology.  Why is he so neglected?  He gets better performances from Joaquin Phoenix than Paul Thomas Anderson.  The lighting in the Yards is better than anything I've seen in years.  He's trying to make the Godfather, for chrissake.  How do we reward this ambition?  Middling reviews.  Treating the films as middle-tier entertainments.  I am as guilty as anyone. I loved We Own The Night and it's taken me years now to watch The Yards.  All his other films are going to the top of my Netflix cue immediately.

I don't love PTA as much as most film buffs, but I used to think of all the working filmmakers, he had the best chance to make "the greatest film of all time" or the next Citizen Kane type of thing.  I'm not so sure James Grey isn't equally capable.