By Brandon Konecny. Pavel Cuzuioc is a filmmaker with a flair for creating thoughtful meditations on working-class people, and he doesn’t diverge from this course in his recent documentary Secondo Me (2016), which concerns three employees at different European opera houses. Given its settings and Italian title (which means “in […]
Cops, Criminals, and Cultural Revolution: The Nile Hilton Incident
September 8, 2017
By Jeremy Carr. There are bound to be comparisons made between Tarik Saleh’s The Nile Hilton Incident and several films of the past. Understandably so. This 2017 thriller, a multinational coproduction, has the embittered cynicism of Roman Polanski’s Chinatown (1974) and the seedy city view of Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver (1976), […]
Daughter of the South, Star Across Borders – Ava: A Life in Movies by Kendra Bean and Anthony Uzarowski
A Book Review by Louis J. Wasser. I once confessed to a friend that, despite my preoccupation with serious film, I remained guilty of sporting an unabashed crush on Ava Gardner. While I’d never deluded myself that she possessed the superb talents of, say, French actor Simone Signoret or American […]
The Pulse of Russian City Life: An Interview with Johnny O’Reilly on Moscow Never Sleeps
September 7, 2017
By Sergey Toymentsev. Johnny O’Reilly is an Irish director making movies in Russia and with an exclusively Russian cast. Such an unusual choice of setting is due to his genuine passion for the country which he acquired since his undergraduate study of Russian at Trinity College Dublin. He first came to […]
The Last Hurrah of John Garfield: Criterion’s The Breaking Point (1950)
September 6, 2017
By Tony Williams. Since the inclusion of a co-written article by Tom Flinn and John Davis in the pre-David Bordwell University of Wisconsin-Madison era of The Velvet Light Trap (in an issue titled “Forbidden, Forgotten, Neglected and Unlucky Films”), Michael Curtiz’s The Breaking Point (1950) has been relatively neglected until […]
Gilda Lost and Gilda Regained: Concerning The Lady Eve’s Destructive Relationship with Two Sexually Confused Adams
September 5, 2017
By James Churchill. Nobody forgets the first time they experienced Hayworth’s sudden emergence from the bottom of the frame in Gilda. The quick snap of the head that sends her hair in orbit, the calculated smirk, and the snarky, one-word response that lets us know right away who she cares most […]
Haunted Houses and Gothic Dread: An Interview with Brian O’Malley on The Lodgers (TIFF)
September 5, 2017
By Jeremy Carr. The Lodgers is a gothic horror tale set in 1920 Ireland. Directed by Brian O’Malley, it is a stately, tempered take on the traditional haunted house scenario. Centering on orphaned twins Rachel (Charlotte Vega) and Edward (Bill Milner), the film picks up as the youth have just turned […]
A Workman Finding His Artistry: The Cinematography of Roger Corman by Pawel Aleksandrowicz
September 4, 2017
A Book Review by Brad Cook. For many film fans, myself included, the name Roger Corman typically evokes an immediate response: That guy who makes schlocky movies quickly and cheaply and throws them out there to make a few bucks. Anyone who’s also a fan of the show Mystery Science Theater […]
The Brethren of GG (i.e., Jesus Christ) Allin: The Allins
By Johannes Schönherr. New York City, June 27th 1993: Notorious punk rocker GG Allin had finally served out a lengthy prison sentence in Michigan and was set to play his first concert after his release. The venue was a club called the Gas Station on the corner of East 2nd Street and […]
For Tobe Hooper: 1943-2017
By Christopher Sharrett. Some weeks ago I wrote a brief eulogy for George A. Romero, forthcoming in the print edition of Film International (15.4). Now I get word that Tobe Hooper is gone, so we lose almost all of the major figures of the horror film’s renaissance in the 60s and […]