By Yun-hua Chen. For me, the third installment of the trilogy is about liberation and breaking out of certain emotional or psychological prisons, shedding old skin so that new skin can grow. The sparrow is important because of this potential for freedom and flight.” —Ramon Zürcher From cat to spider, […]
“Old as Dirt”: Common Ground
By Jonathan Monovich. The kind of film that leaves you invigorated, full of energy, and wanting to fight the good fight.” In Joshua and Rebecca Tickell’s well-informed documentary, Kiss the Ground (2020), Woody Harrelson spoke of a solution “as old as dirt” that may help prevent humanity’s demise. The solution […]
The Grand and the Personal – King Vidor in Focus: On the Filmmaker’s Artistry and Vision
A Book Review by William Blick. Informative, erudite, and comprehensive in several ways, with exhaustively precise details of Vidor’s career.” When I opened the pages of Kevin Stoehr and Cullen Gallagher’s new book, King Vidor in Focus (McFarland, 2024), I was immediately drawn to Vidor’s “Creed and Pledge” in the […]
Steven Zaillian’s Ripley: Neo-Noir or Revisionary Noir?
By M. Keith Booker. Many aspects of Zaillian’s series, both thematic and visual, make it an almost perfect example of neo-noir. Yet, in other ways, Ripley goes beyond the original noir cycle in ways that are reminiscent of the best revisionary noir films.” In my new book American Noir Film: […]
Three Sides of the Same Coin: Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (Criterion Collection)
By Theresa Rodewald. An unflinching depiction of the dying West and the violence inherent to the frontier….” Sam Peckinpah’s Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973) is a film shaped and defined by its past. Shot more than 50 years ago, its production was infamously fraught. Director Sam Peckinpah and […]
Kevin Smith’s “Reel Life”: The 4:30 Movie
By Jonathan Monovich. The 4:30 Movie pridefully asserts its fandom.” In The 4:30 Movie, Brian’s (Austin Zajur) life – like that of his friends Burny (Nicholas Cirillo) and Belly (Reed Northrup) – revolves around his time spent at his local theater, Atlantic Cinemas, where he dreams of becoming a filmmaker. […]
Skeletons in the Basement: Daniel Lasker’s Hidden Within (2023)
By Thomas M. Puhr. I hope we get more Zimbabwean horror movies in the future, and that they’re much better than this one.” It gives me no pleasure to announce that Daniel Lasker’s Hidden Within (2023) is a disaster. Made in Zimbabwe, the actor’s feature directorial debut concerns people and […]
Space and Its Limitations: Yang Zhengfan on Stranger
By Yun-hua Chen. I was initially attracted to the concept of space, but space brought many limitations, which I actually like because they encourage exploring more possibilities.” Composed of snippets that capture different hotel rooms inhabited by various “strangers”, Chicago-based Chinese director Zhengfan Yang is acutely sensitive to how spaces […]
Walking Over Time and Space: Lisandro Alonso’s Eureka (2023)
By Andrew Montiveo. Alonso has much to say with Eureka – about indigenous cultures, capitalism, history, and progress…. While the filmmaker seems intent on challenging his audience visually, this very challenge complicates his stated goal of amplifying indigenous voices.” Lisandro Alonso’s Eureka (2023) is a film that resists easy categorization. […]
All the Fear Looking Back at You – Us: The Complete Annotated Screenplay
A Book Review by Matthew Sorrento. The supplementary footnotes included in Us: The Complete Annotated Screenplay should launch more needed commentary, showing that a scholarly monograph on the film is already overdue….” In his very informative and enjoyable 2008 autobiography, X Films, Alex Cox finishes a discussion of his cult […]