By Alexandra Heller-Nicholas. Although often unspoken, there is a frequently assumed “right” and “wrong” way to approach an artist’s body of work, be they a novelist, composer, director or actor. In this sense, I came to Jean Seberg all wrong. My first encounter with her was not the default “essentials” […]
Drenched with Grim Teen Angst: Monos
Elias Savada
September 19, 2019
By Elias Savada. There’s a certain phantasmagoria at play in Alejandro Landes’ Monos, in which a group of eight teenagers are living an odd communal life in the mountains of Latin America. Maybe it’s the altitude – they live in a spartan, often muddy, encampment high above the clouds and […]
Think You Know the Syrian Conflict? Think Again: For Sama
September 16, 2019
By Ali Moosavi. Many years ago, I attended a scientific conference in Damascus. I was touched by the beauty of the place and hospitality of its people. Many of the conference delegates stayed a few extra days to visit Aleppo. They described as a truly historical city of unrivalled beauty […]
On Mutants, Monsters and Mushroom Clouds – Apocalypse Then: American and Japanese Atomic Cinema, 1951-1967 by Mike Bogue
September 13, 2019
A Book Review by Matthew Fullerton. Apocalypse Then (McFarland, 2017) is an informative and entertaining examination, and comparison, of science fiction films from the U.S. and Japan with both indirect and direct ties to the “nuclear threat,” such as testing, accidents, fallout, radiation, and war. The author Mike Bogue, an American […]
A Hidden Gem: Interview with Trương Minh Quý (Nhà cây / Tree House, 2019)
Yun-hua Chen
September 10, 2019
By Yun-hua Chen. A hidden gem in the sidebar section “Concorso Cineasti del presente” at Locarno Film Festival, Trương Minh Quý’s Nhà cây (Tree House) is a co-production from Singapore, Vietnam, Germany, France and China which sets in the futuristic 2045 but recounts a story of the past. In the imagined […]
They’ve Come to Save Us!: Gothic Inspiration Returns in Toy Story 4
September 9, 2019
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By Matthew Sorrento. Like all films in the series, the fourth installment of Toy Story (2019) concerns kids’ fears of abandonment, with lost toys working in place of children. Once again, the toys get lost for an adventure, for some form or return/reconciliation at the conclusion. There’s only so much […]
Theatrical, Organic Unity: Marcel Pagnol’s The Baker’s Wife (Criterion Collection)
Tony Williams
September 9, 2019
By Tony Williams. Though most notably associated with the Marseille Trilogy of Marius (1931), Fanny (1932), and Cesar (1936) as well as the first version of Manon of the Springs (1952), later remade in two parts by Claude Berri (1934-2009) in 1986 and 1989, Marcel Pagnol (1895-1974) also won acclaim […]
Two from Venice 2019: The Scarecrows and Corpus Christie
Ali Moosavi
September 7, 2019
By Ali Moosavi. Two films which premiered in the 2019 Venice Film Festival, both looking critically at the role of religion in modern society. The Scarecrows, written and directed by the veteran Tunisian director Nouri Bouzid is set in Tunisia in 2013. It deals with the aftermath of being freed […]
The Method to His Madness: Grady Hendrix and Satanic Panic
John Duncan Talbird
September 5, 2019
By John Duncan Talbird. Grady Hendrix is a novelist, sometimes-journalist, essayist, and screenwriter. He’s written several horror novels, including the very recent We Sold Our Souls, “a heavy metal take on the Faust legend.” He is one of the founders of the New York Asian Film Festival and, on his […]
Dachra: A Different Kind of Tunisian Revolution
Greg Burris
September 3, 2019
By Greg Burris. Early on in the Tunisian horror film Dachra (Abdelhamid Bouchnak, 2018), we see a class of university students as they listen to their professor’s instructions for their final assignment. The students are to arrange themselves into groups and produce a filmed investigative report on a subject of […]