By Paul Risker. There are those projects that stand out in stark contrast to what has gone before, which engulf the individuals involved. 1864 (2014) is one of those moments, and as the young Danish actress Marie Tourell Søderberg, who stars in the epic war drama, explains: “This is by […]
The “Czar of Noir” on TCM’s Summer of Darkness
June 26, 2015
By Matthew Sorrento. The “Czar of Noir” Eddie Muller needs no introduction. Over the past two decades, he has become what we could describe as a public intellectual for golden age cinema. If not the scholar of film noir that Foster Hirsch or James Naremore may be, Muller has offered […]
Beauty from Chaos: Filmmakers Kenny Gage and Devon Downs on Anarchy Parlor (2015)
June 21, 2015
By Paul Risker. Anarchy Parlor (2015) is the directorial debut for Kenny Gage and Devon Downs, who along with co-directing this Lithuanian-set horror, together co-wrote the picture. Whether Anarchy Parlor will follow in the footsteps of Eli Roth’s Hostel (2005) and hurt the Lithuanian tourist trade, for what would certainly […]
Onward from the Editing Suite: A Conversation with Andrew Hulme
June 17, 2015
By Paul Risker. The magical touch of film editing, seen and yet often unacknowledged, is similar to putting a jigsaw puzzle together to create a narrative and aesthetic flow between the multitude of shots and scenes. Emerging from the confined and hidden space of the editing room, Snow in Paradise […]
The “Stagecoach Ride” of Seeds of Time: An Interview with Director Sandy McLeod
June 16, 2015
By Jude Warne. Sandy McLeod is more than familiar with the art of documentary filmmaking. After all, she has worked with the great Jonathan Demme on the 1984 Talking Heads classic Stop Making Sense and the 1987 television documentary Haiti: Dreams of Democracy. She was nominated for an Academy Award for her 2003 […]
There is No “There” Anymore: Shin Su-Won on Madonna (2015)
June 14, 2015
By Amir Ganjavie. What is particularly amazing about new Korean movies is their ability to be simultaneously popular and very critical of Korean society. We have already see this in masterpieces likes Memories of Murder (2003), a touching detective story that probes its social milieu throughout. Madonna, directed by Shin […]
Beyond Documentary: Brillante Mendoza on Taklub (2015)
June 12, 2015
By Amir Ganjavie. Taklub (2015, “Trap”), the most recent movie from Filipino filmmaker Brillante Mendoza, represents the lives of three families after the devastating Typhoon Yolanda. Here the established director uses his artistic tools to raise awareness about climate change and although it is a government-funded project, he has managed […]
“Graphic” Words and Feeling: Thomas Farone on Aftermath (2013)
June 8, 2015
By Paul Risker. Following the success at Raindance with his 2003 directorial feature debut Nate Dogg, filmmaker Thomas Farone has once again stepped behind the camera to direct his sophomore feature Aftermath (2013). More than a decade after his first dalliance with feature filmmaking he constructs a cause-and-effect narrative that’s infused […]
Survival and Stubbornness: Grimur Hákonarson on Rams (2015)
June 3, 2015
By Amir Ganjavie. Rams (2015), an Icelandic drama directed by Grimur Hákonarson, received the prize for the best movie in the Certain Regard category of Cannes Film Festival. The movie tells the story of two peculiar, single brothers who have spent forty years not talking to each other, despite being neighbors […]
Les Blank Chased Happiness: A Conversation with Harrod Blank
May 27, 2015
By Matthew Sorrento. Naming Criterion’s new DVD/Blu-ray collection of films by Les Blank (1935-2013) Always for Pleasure was a given. In borrowing the name of Blank’s 1978 documentary on New Orleans, the set contains that film and several others radiating the feeling. Though Blank is known for his works with […]