By Thomas Puhr. Beyond just chronicling an event, Klein’s sports doc is a cultural artifact in and of itself – not about the time, but of it. With this year’s French Open making the rounds on the news, now is an ideal opportunity to revisit the tournament’s famous 1981 competition, […]
From Burundi with Cyberpunk: Neptune Frost
By Elias Savada. A vibrant celebration of homegrown culture set against an African dreamscape tinged with Marxist underpinnings.” Thou Shalt Not Exploit Technology might be one of the newer commandments to be considered after inputting this new, unconventional avantgarde piece, a self-proclaimed cyberpunk musical filmed in Burundi. It played at […]
Desperate Times, Desperate Measures: Fernando Ayala’s The Bitter Stems (Los tallos amargos, 1956)
By Jeremy Carr. The imagery of Los tallos amargos is not only its most strikingly noirish attribute, but it’s among the more dazzling of any film, of any genre.” A cursory survey of film history would seem to suggest that Hollywood had cornered the market on the best of what […]
Marion Davies’ Slow-Burn Revival: Zander the Great (1925) and Beverly of Graustark (1926)
By Thomas Gladysz. Davies was at her delightful best in comedies with a contemporary setting…. Nevertheless, her earlier costumes dramas and period pieces, like Zander the Great and Beverly of Graustark as well as the 2019 Undercrank release, Little Old New York, still have considerable charm.” The inherent contradiction in […]
Still Cruisin’ After All These Years – Top Gun: Maverick
By Elias Savada. Old fashioned fun.” Seemingly frozen in chivalrous time, the ever-youthful 59-year-old Tom Cruise is back in fine form 35-plus years after he scored big box office bucks with the original Top Gun. History should repeat itself for this long overdue sequel (with an additional two years tacked […]
Beautiful Decay: Dwein Ruedas Baltazar’s Ode to Nothing (Kani Releasing)
By Thomas Puhr. It has non-diegetic music, a considerable amount of dialogue, some fairly complex camera movements, and even a few quick editing cuts. So why does my mind keep returning to that word: quiet? The less you know about Dwein Ruedas Baltazar’s Ode to Nothing (2018) going into it, […]
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness: Demon Fatigue
By Elias Savada. Sam Raimi follows the Marvel bible but still manages to have his own directorial flair…. Action is almost non-stop, and you might just be gasping for air as you stick it out through the final credits.” Note: Some spoilers follow relating to “character developments” in this film. […]
Quietly Radical Filmmaking: Céline Sciamma’s Petite Maman
By Theresa Rodewald. Deceptively short but its impact and heart are huge. This is quietly radical filmmaking: Sciamma shows us that there is an alternative to narratives shaped by the patriarchy….” “You are often unhappy,” says 8-year old Nelly to Marion who is the same age as her but also […]
More Than Tradition: Fiddler’s Journey to the Big Screen
By Elias Savada. An affectionate tribute blending some behind-the-scenes material and mostly older (but still quite original) interviews with the film’s star Topol and others.” Harvesting a long-running infatuation with thrice Oscar-nominated director Norman Jewison, producer-director-editor Daniel Raim, an Oscar-nominated (for the 2001short subject The Man on Lincoln’s Nose) documentarian […]
Blood Brothers in Arms: Lino Brocka’s Cain and Abel (Kani Releasing)
By Thomas Puhr. A significant piece of Philippine cinematic history, given the royal treatment by Kani.” The biblical tale of Cain and Abel is fewer than 1,000 words long, with Abel biting the dust a mere eight verses in. “Now Cain said to his brother Abel, ‘Let’s go out to […]