By David A. Ellis. Robin Vidgeon BSC born in August 1939 is a retired cinematographer. For many years he was a focus puller, working with the late cinematographer Douglas Slocombe and camera operator Bernard (Chic) Waterson. His last outing with them was on Steven Spielberg’s Indiana Jones and the Temple […]
DocuChronicles – Elsa Flores Almaraz on Carlos Almaraz: Playing With Fire
June 5, 2019
DocuChronicles is a blog dedicated to independent documentary cinema by filmmaker Marjorie Sturm. It includes a mix of reviews, interviews, and longer pieces. By Marjorie Sturm. The 2019 documentary Carlos Almaraz: Playing With Fire portrays the dramatic life of an artist. Co-directors/artists Elsa Flores Almaraz (whose late husband is the subject) and […]
Reassessing Blue Velvet: a Criterion Collection Release
Christopher Sharrett
June 4, 2019
By Christopher Sharrett. I have had a difficult history with David Lynch’s breakthrough film Blue Velvet (1986), and for that matter, much of the director’s work. At first, I thought the film a good antidote to the “morning in America” claptrap that was a major feature of the Reagan era […]
Film Scratches: Symphony of Bugs – Flesh City (2019)
June 3, 2019
Film Scratches focuses on the world of experimental and avant-garde film, especially as practiced by individual artists. It features a mixture of reviews, interviews, and essays. A Review by David Finkelstein. In the opening sequence of Flesh City, an engrossing new experimental/punk/horror feature by Thorsten Fleisch, we observe a series of brutal, […]
Kal-El Spelled Badly Is Brightburn
Elias Savada
June 3, 2019
By Elias Savada. Here’s a twist on one of those what if comic book, sci-fi scenarios. What if an alien baby (conveniently human in form) crashes to Earth and becomes an evil superhero. A real vindictive one. His small, single occupancy spacecraft arrives not in Superman’s adopted hometown of Smallville, […]
The De Palma Basics: Domino
Ali Moosavi
June 2, 2019
By Ali Moosavi. I have been an ardent Brian De Palma fan ever since watching Phantom of the Paradise at the cinemas in 1974. That was 45 years ago; he was a 33-year-old director making his eighth feature film in six years and I was a teenage movie fan. Flash […]
“Brooksie” Revisited: Beggars of Life (1928) from Kino Lorber and Beggars of Life: A Companion to the 1928 Film by Thomas Gladysz
Tony Williams
May 30, 2019
A Film/Book Review by Tony Williams. While we eagerly await the Criterion release of The Sound of Music with audio-commentary by Quentin Tarantino, joking aside, it is pleasurable to see Kino-Lorber’s latest contribution to a prestigious film repertoire needing release to a wider audience rather than already seen “usual suspects.” […]
Scholar, Lawyer, Catcher, Spy: The Spy Behind Home Plate
May 29, 2019
By Elias Savada. I can’t take credit for creating that tagline, but it is a perfect John Le Carré allusion. It’s from author Nicholas Dawidoff (who appears in this film), who used it as a title for a 1992 article for Sports Illustrated about a most unusual renaissance man. Aviva Kempner, […]
Beyond the “Post-Western” – Marlina: A Murderer in Four Acts
Matthew Sorrento
May 29, 2019
By Matthew Sorrento. Marlina begins with a scenario all too familiar: the title character, recently widowed, is now an object of desire (her body and fortune) for local men. One immediately arrives to her home as if ready to take ownership. Accusing her of sleeping around since her husband’s death, […]
Pondering the Ponderous: Malick’s A Hidden Life (Cannes 2019)
Ali Moosavi
May 28, 2019
By Ali Moosavi. My relationship with Terence Malick films has been love and hate. Watching Badlands (1973) back in the 70s was like a breath of fresh air; a film that, for me, has aged extremely well. Then the experience of watching a 70mm version of Days of Heaven (1978) in […]