By Jacob Mertens. A few months ago I was listening to NPR’s This American Life podcast, and I caught an episode that was devoted entirely to a hostage situation in Egypt’s Sinai desert. The story involved journalist Meron Estefanos stumbling onto a den of hostages all seeking rescue, unable to […]
The Counselor
October 28, 2013
By Christopher Sharrett. This overly promoted film had little to recommend it to me, certainly not the presence of Ridley Scott, whose last compelling film was Blade Runner (1982), made over a generation ago. I was interested in the screenplay by Cormac McCarthy, a novelist whose work I view with […]
Theodor Adorno and Film Theory: The Fingerprint of Spirit (2013)
October 25, 2013
Book Review by Brandon Konecny. Theodor W. Adorno, one of the most recognized members of the Frankfurt School, is a figure seldom mentioned in film studies—and his scarcity is, admittedly, understandable. For anyone who’s read “The Culture Industry: Enlightenment of Mass Deception,” Adorno firmly establishes himself as a scathing critic of […]
Miguel Gomes’ Tabu & F. W. Murnau’s Tabu
October 22, 2013
By Perle Petit. Miguel Gomes’ third feature film takes its name from F. W. Murnau’s 1931 Polynesian epic Tabu, a Story of the South Seas (1931). Released in 2012, Gomes’ sumptuously filmed black and white drama takes reference from the silent film genre to create a unique variation on Murnau’s classic, […]
The Aesthetic of Shadow: Lighting in Japanese Cinema (2013)
October 17, 2013
Book Review by Brandon Konecny. Historically, the skillful manipulation of light and shadow has contributed to the distinctiveness of a number of canonical cinemas. From Weimar “street films” to the golden age of horror in the 30s, German Expressionism to detective noirs, lighting has provided filmmakers various ways with which […]
Conspirators: A San Francisco Film Society Hong Kong Cinema Review
October 16, 2013
By Janine Gericke. Conspirators is the third film in Oxide Pang’s Detective trilogy, beginning with The Detective (2007) and The Detective 2 (2011). All three films star Aaron Kwok as detective Chan Tam. Pang should be somewhat familiar to American audiences, having given us a remake of his own film […]
Blue Caprice
October 12, 2013
By Christopher Sharrett. The advertisements for this film by Alexandre Moors contain the blurb “based on the true story of the DC snipers.” One would think that the claim of “true story” would have run its course (at least for those seriously interested in the medium) in film advertising decades […]
A Complicated Story: A San Francisco Film Society Hong Kong Cinema Review
October 11, 2013
By Janine Gericke. I was surprised to learn that A Complicated Story was made as a student film by first-time filmmaker Kiwi Chow, with executive production through the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts’ film production program and the legends Johnnie To and Bill Kong. Not a bad way to kick […]
To Be or Not to Be (1942)
October 9, 2013
By William Repass. “I know that I look like Hitler, and I’m gonna prove it right now!” Since any discussion of German-American director Ernst Lubitsch must devolve, sooner or later, into a feeble attempt at pinning down the so-called “Lubitsch Touch,” let us resign ourselves the inevitable, and see if […]
The Unbearable Lightness of Gravity; The Depth and Resonance of Adore
October 6, 2013
By Wheeler Winston Dixon. I’m always in a bad mood after I see a bad movie, especially when I have hopes that the film will be an altogether different experience. Such was the case today with Gravity (2013), the latest feature from director Alfonso Cuarón, which has been playing to […]