By David Greven. Echoing classical Hollywood and classical myth, the triple protagonist film of the present breaks new ground while reinforcing longstanding myths about sexuality and gender stereotypes.” In Luca Guadagnino’s great films, such as Call Me By Your Name (2017), Bones and All (2022), and I Am Love (2009), […]
“A Dying Man, Scared of the Dark”: Don Siegel’s The Shootist (Arrow Video)
By Jeremy Carr. Just as crucial to The Shootist is what Books leaves behind, which, prior to the beginning of the film, was nothing more than his dubious exploits and the tales that followed. By the end of the film, though, there is something more.” It obviously isn’t necessary to […]
Everyone’s Cinema Scholar: Remembering David Bordwell (1947-2024)
Film International editors, contributors, and correspondents offer personal tributes and commentary on the late scholar of cinema. I regret never having the pleasure of meeting David Bordwell. My only interaction with him was a lively email exchange little over 10 years ago. I was planning an article on the early […]
Laughter over Comedy: from the Introduction to Death by Laughter: Female Hysteria in Early Cinema
By Maggie Hennefeld. Imagine being so hilarious that your jokes, impressions, or other repartee literally caused someone to laugh themselves to death.1 —“Does Your Stand-Up Act Need Death by Laughter Insurance?,” Trusted Choice, insurance web advertisement, August 10, 2019 Imagine being so wild and free that your laughter literally killed […]
Rebel Revelations – Mavericks: Interviews with the World’s Iconoclast Filmmakers
A Book Review by Jeremy Carr. The variance of the interviews in Mavericks is part of what makes the book such an engaging read. No two are exactly alike, and any given conversation yields surprising and rewarding conclusions.” Gerald Peary makes it clear, from the very beginning, what readers can […]
Movie Theaters Need to Win Us Back
By Gary D. Rhodes. Movie theaters must do more work to ensure that we are seeing unique content, not films that are already streaming or will be within a few weeks. And this means being clever, because movie theaters can show far more than just movies. (Thank you, Taylor Swift!)” […]
Teddy Co and the Regional Remapping of Philippine Cinema: An Obituary
By Paul Douglas Grant. Saying goodbye to this luminary figure, we know his legacy endures through the flourishing diversity and dynamism within the Filipino film landscape, in all its vernacular forms.” On November 1, 2023, the Filipino film community faced a profound loss as Teddy Co, a powerful influence on […]
Pastiche and Performance: Barbara Stanwyck in All I Desire (Douglas Sirk, 1953)
By Catherine Russell. The cinema exalts the role at the same time that it destroys the actor.” —Edgar Morin, The Stars Stanwyck made two films with Douglas Sirk in the 1950s—All I Desire (1953) and There’s Always Tomorrow (1955)—in which she gives two of her finest performances. In both films […]
A Bloated Beauty: Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)
By Thomas M. Puhr. Here is a filmmaker who remains unafraid of taking big creative risks but has clearly struggled with the ethical implications of adapting this dark chapter from American history. His heart is in the right place, but is he not still on that stage at the end?” […]
The Surveillance Economy of David Fincher’s The Killer (2023)
By David Ryan. The Killer argues that no matter how much security wealth buys or the number of datalocks that conglomerates build, these defenses can be poked and usurped by determined criminals. Conversely, no matter how clandestine criminal cells are organized, they can be destroyed, particularly from within.” Spoiler Alert […]