By Peter Lavetti. Michel Hazanavicius is a brilliant filmmaker, an equal to Murnau and Hitchcock in his ability to compose images that propel a story forward. There is no “fat” here. It is obvious that not a filmic second is wasted or ill-placed. The film plays out with the terseness […]
On Stifling Families, Diana Lynn, and a Killer Cat
By John Bredin. Track of the Cat, a 1954 early Cinemascope offering—produced, curiously enough, by John Wayne—had an unhappy childhood to say the least. It was thoroughly rejected by both critics and the public alike. So said Brooklyn College film professor Foster Hirsch, while presenting this odd alchemy of family […]
Rob Byrne and the resurrection of Abel Gance’s Napoléon
By Michael T. Toole. For the last two weekends of March in Oakland’s Paramount Theater, the San Francisco Silent Film Festival (SFSFF) presented Abel Gance’s, thrilling, sweeping epic, Napoléon (1927). This showcase had the air of a once in your lifetime happening, and for many of us that very well […]
13th Tempo Documentary Festival
By Salomon Rogberg. Since the Tempo Documentary Festival’s inception thirteen years ago it has continually brought a wide range of fascinating documentaries to Stockholm each March. This year’s films targeted a wide range of tastes from the grimmest societal issues to unusual stories of inspiring people. There were difficult and […]
Subversion at Manchester’s Cornerhouse
March 30, 2012
Subversion is a new group show of Arabic art taking place at Cornerhouse in Manchester from 14 April – 5 June 2012. It’ll feature work by eleven emerging and established artists including Marwa Arsanios, Sherif El-Azma, Wafaa Bilal, Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige, Khaled Hafez, Larissa Sansour, Tarzan and Arab, […]
New Cinephilia: toward a retro-maniacal future?
By Celluloid Liberation Front. ‘One can look forward to future contests, their outcome by no means predetermined, since problems that seem insurmountable today will yield to the more complex intelligence of children still playing ball in the parks of the world.’ (Amos Vogel, 1974.) The following (confused) thoughts and many […]
The Adventures of Tintin (essay collection): Call For Papers
March 23, 2012
Abstracts are now being accepted for possible inclusion in an anthology on “The Adventures of Tintin.” Proposed essay topics should creatively engage with the critical, philosophical, and social issues explored in the Tintin universe and intended to appeal to the intelligent lay reader. Possible topics include, but are not limited […]
‘We Need to Talk about Kevin’ or The Devil is a Woman
By Christopher Sharrett. I find Lynne Ramsay’s We Need to Talk about Kevin to be among the more vexing films I have recently seen. It is a notable contribution to the domestic melodrama, at a time when the genre is besieged by “dramedies” about families with problems that aren’t problems […]
What Separates Us from ‘A Separation’
By Celluloid Liberation Front. ‘Their universe of discourse is populated by self-validating hypotheses which, incessantly and monopolistically repeated, become hypnotic definitions or dictations.’ (Herbert Marcuse) The cinema of the Middle East is often stereotypically seen under the restrictive frame of ‘realism’. Euro-American audiences tend to associate formal experimentation with Western […]
Rampart: A Man Really Apart
By Matthew Sorrento. Passive victims of crime are rare in popular American cinema. In Crime Films, scholar Thomas Leitchobserves that a lead character, if violated, will move toward vengeance, either on his/her own or with assistance. A strong exception is the new abuse victim film (Mysterious Skin, Towelhead, Precious), which […]