By Dean Goldberg. Like many a baby-boomer it was television that brought the movies into my life and introduced me to the world of visual storytelling. If I had to pick a film that set the spark that became a full-fledged fire as I got older, it would have to […]
Viva Jodorowsky!: The Holy Mountain by Allesandra Santos
December 31, 2017
A Book Review by Tony Williams. “I hate Spielberg, because none of his movies are honest…He is fascist, because America is the centre of his world. If I can kill Spielberg, I will kill Spielberg…I think Spielberg is the son from whom Walt Disney fucked Minnie Mouse.” (1) Despite denials […]
Polish Social Dystopia: Bodo Kox on The Man with the Magic Box
December 28, 2017
By Martin Kudláč. Writer, director and actor Bodo Kox (né Bartosz Koszalka) introduced at Warsaw Film Festival his latest feature work, The Man with the Magic Box, shortly after its world premiere at Gdynia Film festival, a Polish showcase of domestic production. He garnered fair recognition and a following as an […]
More Than a Headrush: Frank Henenlotter’s Brain Damage (1988)
By Matthew Sorrento. Traditional readings of the film see it as a commentary on the damning nature of chemical dependency. While the theme’s presence is undeniable, the film also depicts the freeing and often empowering nature of stimulants.” After the release of his horror-comedy Re-Animator (1985), debuting filmmaker Stuart Gordon […]
The Question of Intelligence: Mother!
December 23, 2017
By Christopher Sharrett. The release last season of Darren Aronovsky’s Mother! was the unfortunate occasion for another assessment of the American mind. The reviewer chatter at the film’s release was on the order of “What’s he trying to say?” At the theater where I saw the film, angry patrons made remarks […]
The Dialectic of Historical Dictionaries: Peter Rollberg’s Historical Dictionary of Russian and Soviet Cinema (Second Edition)
A Book Review by Brandon Konecny. A history of soviet cinema, encompassing the films of Russia as well as the non-Russian former Soviet satellites, is an endeavor as large as the former empire itself, whose territory once covered approximately one sixth of the Earth’s surface. A project of that scale […]
The Carriage Set Upright: Stephen Broomer on Potamkin
By Brian Wilson. Stephen Broomer’s rapid ascension on the avant-garde landscape has been, quite simply, astounding. In the span of just seven years, Broomer has completed 35 short films and videos. His work utilizes a range of formats, including super 8, 16mm, and digital video, and is constantly pushing the […]
Noir from the States to the Ilses: The Stranger and Appointment with Crime from Olive Films
By Tony Williams. 1946 was an “annus mirabilis” (“amazing year” for those who never studied Latin) for American, British film noir, and many of its international counterparts. Both appearing a year after the end of World War Two, The Stranger and Appointment with Crime were generic achievements in their own right […]
The Kids Are Alright: Miss Kiet’s Children
December 18, 2017
By Jeremy Carr. Young Haya is having a rough time. At the beginning of the documentary Miss Kiet’s Children, this precocious primary school student is terribly upset. She fell on her way to school and her pants are dirty. She is sad and shameful. Her teacher, Kiet Engels, offers to give […]
Swimming in Poetry: The Shape of Water
December 14, 2017
By Elias Savada. When Guillermo del Toro makes a film, people take notice. For me, these are delicious, often unsettling – and sensitive – events. Critics adore his unique skill and have grown accustomed to his stylish shadings; audiences may be put off by his films’ strangeness, a tendency to excite […]