“The Lady of the Lake” is from Bernard Malamud‘s classic short story collection, The Magic Barrel (1958). In a number of the author’s fictions, men are smitten with women they should not pursue or they should pursue them but make poor choices along the way. “Lady” is an example of the latter.

The comely Isabella asks Henry, vacationing in Italy, if he is Jewish. Growing to love the girl, Henry lies and says no since he fears Isabella might reject a Jewish lover. But this is not the case. A piercing, carefully written item, the story shows us the complications surrounding identity—and has no resolution at the end. Worthy, this, and superior to such men-in-love Malamud works as Dubin’s Lives and even “In Retirement.”

Somebody mentions in the Amanda Milius documentary The Plot Against the President, from 2020, that “Devin Nunez [a former Congressman] sensed there was wrongdoing early on.” Nunez was right: the corruption was deep, the wrongdoing that of lying about Pres. Trump and Russia. First, though, the doc tells us of an intelligence community working to service not the country but the Obama regime. Indeed, it did so with its plot against Trump. Republican officeholders speak of their perplexity and disgust over the “Clinton disinformation” in the Steele dossier. Consider that Trump was accused of sexual perversion in a Moscow hotel room which did not exist. Consider the ugly treatment of foreign-policy advisor Carter Page. A FISA court kept mum about Page’s being an asset to the CIA—because he just had to be a Russian asset.

Long before Tulsi Gabbard declassified DNI documents, Ms. Milius knew that making a film about anti-Trump wickedness in high places was justified. And a good idea. We are fortunate to have it, even if this kind of doc ought to have emanated from the legacy media.

Gee, I wonder if the cops on the TV show Chicago P.D. like working under Mayor Brandon Johnson. Doubt it. I don’t think Johnson is as sweatily concerned about Chicago crime as Sgt. Hank Voight is.

In an interview on his morning program, Joe Scarborough never got Johnson to admit that Chicago crime would or might drop if there were more police officers on the streets. Say, 5,000 more, Scarborough said. Johnson replied that he doesn’t believe in “arbitrary” numbers. Is this arbitrary leadership?

The Robert Zemeckis movie, Used Cars (1980) is a raw and foul-mouthed satirical comedy. Of course it satirizes the deceit and unscrupulousness of car salesmen and plenty of others. An obvious but often funny item, it stars Kurt Russell, Jack Warden, Gerrit Graham and Deborah Harmon—all of them rich in personality and never overacting. I don’t know how good an actor Cheryl Rixon is, but—her character undergoes a wardrobe malfunction, and Rixon is truly gorgeous in both her face and her bare bosom. No malfunctioning in Used Cars.

Matt Dillon, Lili Taylor and Marisa Tomei are all savvy, amusing and sensual—indeed, wonderfully memorable—in Bent Hamer‘s Factotum, a 2005 picture based on writings by Charles Bukowski. Dillon’s Hank Chinaski is a would-be writer who cannot adapt to ordinary life and is sometimes a feckless jerk. In one instance, he slaps to the floor of a bar his “loser” girlfriend (Taylor), who nevertheless needles him. She often drolly thinks Hank is too big for his britches.

Hank needs the odd jobs he gets fired from. A heavy drinker inept at manual labor, like the pitiable Laura (Tomei), he is finally homeless. These people are oddities in a dull milieu confusing or disappointing to them. And what comic oddities they can be. Factotum—directorially and photographically impressive—is never depressing. Good show.