A Book Review by Thomas Puhr. It’s hard to make the mental jump from Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel to, say, Douglas Sirk, but Robert B. Pippin pulls off such connections in his thoroughly-researched Filmed Thought: Cinema as Reflective Form (University of Chicago Press, 2020). Though film criticism frequently incorporates philosophical […]
The Magnificent Stranger: Pasolini’s Teorema and its Tradition (Criterion Collection)
Christopher Sharrett
February 24, 2020
By Christopher Sharrett. Many years ago I moved into a small house not far from the university where I took my first tenure-track position. It was a cozy little place on a pleasant street where ancient trees formed a protective, shady bower. It was a lower-middle-class neighborhood that seemed friendly. […]
Interweaving Korean Film and Performance: A Conversation with Korean Filmmaker and Performance Director Kim Tae-yong
Areum Jeong
February 19, 2020
By Areum Jeong. Korean filmmaker Kim Tae-yong made his directorial debut in 1999 with Memento Mori (directed with Min Kyu-dong), the second installment of the girls’ high school horror film series. The film was hailed as one of the most beautiful horror films in Korean cinema and received Best New Director at […]
Danton Revisited – Ray Danton: The Epitome of Cool (a Career Retrospective) by Joseph Fusco
Tony Williams
February 18, 2020
By Tony Williams. I previously reviewed an earlier version of this book from BearManor Media where I commented that another edition was necessary in view of the lack of listing of the actor’s television achievements. Fusco has not only supplied this in his expanded 516 page new edition but also […]
The Decline and Fall of an Innovative Series – The Outer Limits: Season Two (Kino Lorber)
Tony Williams
February 11, 2020
By Tony Williams. The Outer Limits now has a justifiable reputation as one of the great achievements of American science fiction television. However, while this reputation derives from the first season, the second season, apart from a few exceptions, failed to continue the promise of the first and this led […]
What Do You See? Alien in the Mirror: Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Glazer and Under the Skin by Maureen Foster
Thomas Puhr
February 4, 2020
A Book Review by Thomas Puhr. Recently appearing on both Cahiers du Cinéma’s top 10 of 2010-2019 and Variety’s list of the decade’s most overrated films, Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin (2013) remains deeply divisive. Though Maureen Foster acknowledges and embraces its polarizing effect in her superb Alien in the […]
“A Love Letter to Life and Film”: An Interview with Willem Dafoe on My Hindu Friend
January 24, 2020
By Patrick McGilligan. Five years after it was made, My Hindu Friend, directed by Hector Babenco, finally is being shown in limited English-language markets. Fans and scholars familiar with the Argentinian-Brazilian filmmaker’s best-known works – Pixote in 1981, his breakthrough, Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), Ironweed (1987) and At […]
The Language of Lovecraft: Richard Stanley’s Color Out of Space
January 24, 2020
By Alexandra Heller-Nicholas. To say that the US premiere of cult filmmaker Richard Stanley’s much-awaited return to feature filmmaking was one of the most buzz-laden events at this year’s Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas, is an understatement. On one hand this was driven by the enigma of Stanley alone, director […]
More Than You Can Bear: The Cloud-Capped Star (Criterion Collection)
Jeremy Carr
January 23, 2020
By Jeremy Carr. When Montu (Dwiju Bhawal), the youngest of four children in a Bengalese family, returns home after having been injured at work, a neighbor attempts to reassure the beleaguered household by asserting, “God doesn’t give you more than you can bear.” Whatever the truth to this claim, the […]
Post-Soviet Descent into Capitalist Chaos: Alex Gibney’s Citizen K
Michael Sandlin
January 17, 2020
By Michael Sandlin. After narrowly avoiding being nicked by the UK authorities for supposed “document theft” during the filming of his Troubles documentary No Stone Unturned, Alex Gibney is back tear-assing around the world with his camera crew making controversial films. In his latest, Citizen K, his subject is someone […]