By Elias Savada. There is a brazen, dangerous atmosphere floating about the French-language feature Elle, a dramatic thriller with much to admire but, depending on your sensibilities, not as much to like. Maybe I’m too much of a puritan in this case and need to re-watch it. It’s an edgy […]
Bridging the Ideological Gap: Reform Cinema in Iran by Blake Atwood
December 21, 2016
A Book Review by Ali Moosavi. I have always thought that for a deeper understanding of Iranian films, one has to have a better knowledge of the Iranian culture, history, and politics. Blake Atwood’s Reform Cinema in Iran (Columbia University Press, 2016) goes a long way to bridge the gap that currently […]
Near Silent Complexities of The Quiet Man on Olive Films
By Tony Williams. The Quiet Man (1952) is another excellent addition to that fine series of DVDs released by Olive Films in its Signature editions. Already acclaimed for its reissue and restoration of classics such as Body and Soul (1925), Force of Evil (1948), and Twilight’s Last Gleaming (1977), the company is […]
Compleat Welles, in “Drops of Sorrow”: Macbeth on Olive Films
December 1, 2016
By Tony Williams. Humorously referred to by one academic as “Shakespeare Rides Again” due to Macbeth’s origins in Herbert J. Yates’s Republic Studios and having several familiar locations such as the cave used in the final sequences of Passage West (1951) as well as Macbeth and Banquo on horseback in […]
Mifune: The Last Samurai – Overshadowing His Tribute
By Christopher Weedman. Released by Strand Releasing and narrated by actor Keanu Reeves, director Steven Okazaki’s new feature-length documentary Mifune: The Last Samurai (2016) is a well-intentioned yet underdeveloped tribute to the larger-than-life actor Toshiro Mifune. As the documentary boldly proclaims, Mifune possessed an unbridled energy and commanding screen presence […]
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls: Vulgarity as Satire
By Christopher Sharrett. The Criterion Collection’s release on Blu-ray of Russ Meyer’s Beyond the Valley of the Dolls might bring accusations of slumming. Such accusations won’t come from me. I have long seen Meyer as one of the great American satirists of low-rent cinema, able to rip the nation and […]
The Undersung Heroes of Music: Soundbreaking (A DOC NYC Review)
November 20, 2016
By Jude Warne. “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.” –Idiom of recording artist indicating the producer What defines a quality music producer? Well-informed and developed artistic taste? Phenomenal technical prowess in the recording studio? Is it someone who stands off to the side of the musicians, supporting and […]
Before and After the Wall – Re-Imagining DEFA: East German Cinema in Its National and Transnational Contexts
A Book Review by Tony Williams. Berghahn is known for its publication of excellent books on German Cinema within its catalog. This recent work proves no exception to the rule. Including fifteen essays by well-known scholars in the field aware of the changing complexities of subject matter and well-versed in […]
Being 17: Sexual Awakening and Race in the Hautes-Pyrénées
by Kate Hearst. A renaissance of teen films about sexuality has energized French cinema in recent years with works by Abdellatif Kechiche, Céline Sciamma, and Katell Quillevere, among others. Now, in Being 17, veteran filmmaker André Téchiné brings his unique sensibility to examine the complex inter-play of sexual awakening and […]
Life, Celebrated: Arrival is a Must See
November 11, 2016
By Elias Savada. In Hollywood, when you hear the words “alien invasion,” you might expect any manner of shoot-’em-up movies like Independence Day (1996) or Edge of Tomorrow (2014), among many other rousing popcorn-munching action pictures that have landed in our planet’s multiplexes. Arrival is a bit different. It is a wildly satisfying “alien […]