By Jacob Mertens. At some point in watching modern spy films—be they centered around James Bond, Jason Bourne, Jack Ryan, et al.—viewers can lose sight of the fact that being a spy is a job. As with any job, moments of exhilaration are matched with moments of mundanity, and a […]
I am Cuba at 50
August 11, 2014
By James Knight. “My sugar was carried away on ships, but my tears were left behind.” This year marks the fiftieth birthday of Mikhail Kalatozov’s classic film I am Cuba. Not in the half decade since has a film been so effective in its portrayal of history. It is a […]
Making Personas: Transnational Film Stardom in Modern Japan (2013)
August 6, 2014
A Book Review by Carmen Siu. Earlier this year, Avril Lavigne garnered considerable negative attention for her ‘Hello Kitty’ music video. Filmed in Tokyo, the video features an enthusiastic Lavigne jumping around in stereotypical Japanese locales, like a clothing boutique, a candy store and a sushi bar, backed by four expressionless […]
Alive Inside: Reconnecting the Self, with Sound
August 2, 2014
By Paul Risker. Earth: a world of sound within a vacuum, despite the best efforts of science fiction to convince us otherwise. Then there is the metaphysical question of a tree falling in a forest that confronts the very ontology of sound. In my own contemplation of music there are two […]
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
August 1, 2014
By James Teitelbaum. The coolest thing about Joss Whedon’s film The Avengers (2012) is that it exists. The notion that four major Marvel Comics heroes (The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, and Captain America) could each appear in their own individual movies, and then be brought together in a team-up […]
The Films of Joanna Hogg
July 31, 2014
By Gary M. Kramer. With the release of Joanna Hogg’s three features, Unrelated (2007), Archipelago (2010), and Exhibition (2013), it is imperative for cinephiles to discover her brilliance as a filmmaker. Hogg’s films are remarkable for their perspicacity. The filmmaker captures the intimacies between family members and their environments in […]
What’s at Stake in the Work of Art: John Cassavetes’ The Killing of a Chinese Bookie
July 28, 2014
By Brandon Konecny. Apart from Faces (1968) and A Woman Under the Influence (1974), none of Cassavetes’ films were successful, both commercially and critically. They were seen as chaotic, technically inept, haphazardly improvised—they were, in short, a chore to watch. But none of them, not even Husbands (1970), incurred the […]
The Time of His Life: Richard Linklater’s Boyhood
By Matthew Sorrento. I honestly hope the “sublime” trend ends soon, with the recent output of Terrence Malick, his bombastic, excessive Tree of Life and To the Wonder, and gaseous muck like Cloud Atlas, cramming together years of history and a speculative look to the future, to signify nothing. Thankfully, […]
Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)
July 24, 2014
By Jeremy Carr. Even if we weren’t told at the start that Picnic at Hanging Rock was about a group of girls who disappeared Saturday, Feb. 14, 1900 and were never seen again, it would become apparent almost immediately that this 1975 film was not going to end happily, or […]
Hide Your Smiling Faces (2013)
July 22, 2014
By Jude Warne. In his 1854 book Walden, Henry David Thoreau sets forth a crucial instruction: “Resign yourself to the influence of the earth.” This, perhaps, is the overarching message of Daniel Patrick Carbone’s first feature film Hide Your Smiling Faces. In the proverbial end (or, for the sake of […]