Review

By Christopher Sharrett. I usually begin a review of a piece of neglected film history with a tirade about the state of film culture, as the New Hollywood rides roughshod over the past, while pretending (at least a few of its prominent personnel) to have preservationist concerns, when in fact […]

By Cleaver Patterson.  In 8th century, Tang Dynasty China, Nie Yinniang (Qi Shu) has lived for many years, isolated from her family in a remote temple, where she has been trained in martial arts, becoming one of the country’s most feared assassins. Only when she is sent by her teacher […]

By Elias Savada. Mexico’s grand auteur Arturo Ripstein is in fine neorealistic form with his devilishly depressing feature Bleak Street (La calle de la amargura), tripping over the world of luchadores wrestling as street walkers cozy by. With its film noir tonal quality, it is destined for the art house market, […]

By Brandon Konecny. As we gear up for Academy Awards, it’s important to note the countries not taking part in this all-too-American enterprise. There are the usual absentees, such as Belarus, Tajikistan, Bhutan, and Armenia; but then there are the countries we were certain would submit something. In this case, […]

By Elias Savada. The other day North Korea exploded what it called a hydrogen bomb, when, in reality (we’re told), it wasn’t all that big, or as Trevor Noah of The Daily Show said, “They farted.” The flatulence is equally noticeable in the meandering, awkward conspiracy theory comedy Moonwalkers, making its […]

By Christopher Sharrett. William S. Burroughs is often regarded as the King of the Beats, the central figure of the Beat Generation who mentored Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, telling them what books to read. Or he is seen as the ultimate loon of American literature, shooting and killing his […]

By Elias Savada. The emotional stability of five delightfully effervescent sisters is mightily tested in Mustang, a biting and anguishing indictment of conservative religious ideology set in present day northern Turkey. It’s a powerful debut feature from Deniz Gamze Ergüven, a Turkish-born cinephile educated in Paris and Johannesburg, who displays an […]

By Giuseppe Sedia.  In a certain way, Shûji Terayama never reached a point in his career when he felt the need to retrace his childhood. More truly, his multidisciplinary body of work, taken as whole, can be considered as an uninterrupted meditation on his past. Nevertheless, the Japanese cineaste never adopted a […]

By Sotiris Petridis. Filmmaker Mark Hartley’s (2008’s Not Quite Hollywood, 2010’s Machete Maidens Unleashed!) latest delightful chronicle of B-movie splendor, Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films, spotlights the story of a production company run by two eccentric Israeli cousins, Menahem Golan (1929-2014) and Yoram Globus (1941- ). Created in 1967 […]

By Elias Savada. “Anything can be turned into anything.” So says scruffy, droopy-eyed musician/music producer Nick Koenig, the eponymous subject of writer-producer-director Adam Bhala Lough’s documentary Hot Sugar’s Cold World. Grammy-nominated Koenig, a.k.a. Hot Sugar, and composing as Nick Koenig-Dzialowski likes to think outside the box, pushing his digital recording devices […]