By Jessica Baxter. You could never accuse writer/director Anna Biller of masking her influences. She has, to date, painstakingly created two films that would fit seamlessly within the sexploitation genre of the 60s and 70s. She follows up her sexual revolution comedy debut, Viva (2007), with The Love Witch, a […]
The Coming-of-Age Mosaic of Don’t Call Me Son
By John Duncan Talbird. We open Don’t Call Me Son on Pierre (astonishing newcomer Naomi Nero), pleasantly drunk or high, beautiful and mascaraed with long, wild hair, loping through a party, teens dancing by themselves or in pairs to electronic music. The handheld camera follows him and we see that […]
Blind Chance: Free Will in 4D?
November 8, 2016
By William Repass. In Kieślowski’s 1981[1] metaphysical/political triptych, Blind Chance, the subtlest of details cut across three alternate storylines to triangulate a Poland on the verge of Solidarity. Take, for example, which drink the protagonist Witek (Bogusław Linda) favors in each divergence following the train station scene—a hinge, as it […]
Too Much Dull in the Dill: The Pickle Recipe
By Elias Savada. I know a lot of people who would love The Pickle Recipe, a low budget feature (made lower by Michigan’s now-defunct location incentive program), about a grandmother’s treasured secret cucumber process and the family members trying to claw it away from her. “A metaphor for life,” according […]
The Sound of Cool: Jim Jarmusch’s Gimme Danger
November 3, 2016
By John Duncan Talbird. Soupy Sales, on his legendary children’s show in the 1950s, encouraged his audience to write letters to him, but in twenty-five words or less. One member of the television viewing audience, James Osterberg, Jr., was a devoted fan and he saw that word count as liberating not […]
Old Hat for Cat People on Criterion
By Tony Williams. Cat People has long enjoyed a high reputation amongst discriminating members of the critical fraternity for its deserved status as well as its close links to film noir. Did it not emerge from the studio that produced Citizen Kane (1941), a film which, if not the first […]
The Other Europe is Far Away: Igor Cobileanski’s Eastern Business
November 1, 2016
By Brandon Konecny. After scamming some passersby for lunch money, Marian and Petro sit in a tiny restaurant in the Republic of Moldova, Europe’s poorest country. Petro devours the food arrayed on their table while Marian sits with his eyes fixed on the floor. Marian interrupts Petro’s unremitting chewing when […]
Gregory Crewdson: Chronicle of Decay
By Christopher Sharrett. Crewdson’s photos remind us how photography preceded cinema with its peculiar psychological impulses, provoking viewers to want more insight into being as images ‘redeemed physical reality.’” I write this short piece on photographer Gregory Crewdson for a film/television journal with the simple rationale that Crewdson’s photographs, as […]
Exit Stage Left: No Pay, Nudity
October 29, 2016
By Elias Savada. The directorial debut for Lee Wilkof – a long-time character actor in all forms of media and on many a stage – No Pay, Nudity is one for the art house crowd. Yet, even “art house” folks may have issues with the bland story line (by actor-turned-feature-debut screenwriter Ethan […]
Miss Sharon Jones!: Success and Other Crises
By Kate Hearst. Renewed interest in black female singers sparked the release last year of two documentaries focused on voices of the Civil Rights movement: What Happened, Miss Simone? about the late soul singer and activist Nina Simone, and Mavis! featuring gospel singer Mavis Staples and the Staple Singers. In […]