By Margaret C. Flinn. The New Wave cast a shadow that extends far beyond influencing French film of the late 1950s-early 1960s. That is the central argument of Douglas Morrey’s The Legacy of the New Wave in French Cinema (Bloomsbury Academic, 2020). This assertion might seem self-evident to many French cinephiles, but […]
Cinema of Hidden Histories: Leontina Vatamanu’s Siberia in the Bones (2019)
Brandon Konecny
January 29, 2020
By Brandon Konecny. Moldova has a fascinating recent history, and Leontina Vatamanu is perhaps its most articulate cinematic chronicler. Poke through her films, and you’ll realize that her cinema is one of hidden histories: whether it’s exploring one of Moldova’s most famous modern poets and politicians in Grief of Ion […]
Blunt Force Psychodrama: José Ramón Larraz’s Edge of the Axe (Arrow Video)
January 28, 2020
By Rod Lott. By the time the 1980s settled into middle age, the Gothic and/or supernatural horrors in which José Ramón Larraz specialized – Vampyres, Whirlpool, Stigma, et. al. – no longer were in favor. Thanks to Jason Voorhees and the VHS explosion, the slasher movie became de rigueur. Within […]
The Language of Lovecraft: Richard Stanley’s Color Out of Space
January 24, 2020
By Alexandra Heller-Nicholas. To say that the US premiere of cult filmmaker Richard Stanley’s much-awaited return to feature filmmaking was one of the most buzz-laden events at this year’s Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas, is an understatement. On one hand this was driven by the enigma of Stanley alone, director […]
Jack Clayton’s “Angry Young Man”: Room at the Top (Kino Lorber)
January 23, 2020
By Gary M. Kramer. The 1959 classic drama, Room at the Top, based on John Braine’s “angry young man” novel, has just been released on DVD by Kino Lorber in a 2K Restoration Special Edition. The film was a sensation at the time of its initial release for its frank […]
More Than You Can Bear: The Cloud-Capped Star (Criterion Collection)
Jeremy Carr
January 23, 2020
By Jeremy Carr. When Montu (Dwiju Bhawal), the youngest of four children in a Bengalese family, returns home after having been injured at work, a neighbor attempts to reassure the beleaguered household by asserting, “God doesn’t give you more than you can bear.” Whatever the truth to this claim, the […]
Post-Soviet Descent into Capitalist Chaos: Alex Gibney’s Citizen K
Michael Sandlin
January 17, 2020
By Michael Sandlin. After narrowly avoiding being nicked by the UK authorities for supposed “document theft” during the filming of his Troubles documentary No Stone Unturned, Alex Gibney is back tear-assing around the world with his camera crew making controversial films. In his latest, Citizen K, his subject is someone […]
Babenco’s Swansong: My Hindu Friend
Ali Moosavi
January 17, 2020
By Ali Moosavi. Death has been a popular theme for filmmakers to explore almost ever since cinema was invented. Some of the films dealing with mortality have contained some autobiographical elements. In Blue (1993) director Derek Jarman, as he was close to death from AIDS complications, made a cinematic diary […]
A Very English Cinema – Britpop Cinema: From Trainspotting to This is England by Matt Glasby
Thomas Puhr
January 14, 2020
A Book Review by Thomas Puhr. Hear the term “Britpop,” and the usual musical suspects come to mind: Blur, Oasis, Suede, and the like. Less obvious is the movement’s cinematic corollary, explored in Matt Glasby’s Britpop Cinema: From Trainspotting to This is England (Intellect, 2019). Much like the music with […]
Empathetic and Unblinking: The Painted Bird
Yun-hua Chen
January 14, 2020
By Yun-hua Chen. Seldom can film-viewing be such a devastating experience. Having competed in the category of main competition at the Venice Film Festival and being handpicked by Around the World in 14 Films, the Berlin festival of festivals, it is a film experience of three hours which deeply challenges […]