By Jacob Mertens. David O. Russell’s American Hustle begins with a title card stating “Some of this actually happened,” and for once a Hollywood film makes an honest claim to real events. Upon closer examination though, Russell had little choice but to say so. His film features well-developed characters, but […]
The 19th Annual Cucalorus Film Festival
January 12, 2014
By Brandon Konecny and Jacob Mertens. Tucked away on the coast of North Carolina, there is a festival dedicated to the weirdly beautiful, the perversely provocative—a lovingly programmed lineup, taking shape as an island of misfit films that find refuge with their own kind. Carefully placed at the year’s end, […]
The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
January 3, 2014
By Jacob Mertens. “The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge […]
Call for Reviews – Winter 2013
December 29, 2013
By Jacob Mertens, Review Editor for Film International. Here we are at the cusp of a new year, and the long-awaited Film International call for reviews is finally here! It is my pleasure to announce that we are actively seeking reviews for the titles listed blow. If you are interested in receiving […]
The 20th Annual Austin Film Festival
December 5, 2013
By Jacob Mertens. At some point during the madness of Halloween—in which flying monkeys from Wizard of Oz gave pedicab rides, No-Face from Spirited Away handed out candy to strangers, and Sleeping Beauty staggered drunk through the streets—downtown Austin yielded to a strange confluence of cinema and life. It was […]
3:10 to Yuma (1957)
November 28, 2013
By Jacob Mertens. In film, there is often a feeling of moral certainty. A protagonist has a line drawn for him by cultural expectations and he knows not to cross it, lest he find himself the villain of his own story. However, if any genre has been poised over the […]
Whitewash: An Austin Film Festival Review
November 19, 2013
By Jacob Mertens. Left buried in the formidable winter of Northern Quebec, Bruce (Thomas Haden Church) dwells in the cramped cabin of a snow plow. He drinks melted ice and eats tree bark, waits for the gas to ebb and the plow’s heat to die, then strikes out to forage […]
Big Sur: An Austin Film Festival Review
November 11, 2013
By Jacob Mertens. How tempting it would be to open this review with some Kerouac quote, a burst of frayed genius from his late stage novel Big Sur to set the tone. No doubt, it would give a better idea of what Michael Polish’s film adaptation sets out to accomplish, […]
Inside Llewyn Davis: An Austin Film Festival Review
November 5, 2013
By Jacob Mertens. The folk singer sits at the fore of a small crowd in the Gaslight Cafe. The lights hang dim around him, pale concrete at his feet—more a somber tomb than a stage. He sings a strained ballad, voice raw and clear and imperfect but beautiful still. He […]
Captain Phillips (2013)
October 29, 2013
By Jacob Mertens. A few months ago I was listening to NPR’s This American Life podcast, and I caught an episode that was devoted entirely to a hostage situation in Egypt’s Sinai desert. The story involved journalist Meron Estefanos stumbling onto a den of hostages all seeking rescue, unable to […]