By Paul Risker. From the hustle and bustle of Paris, the stage for Spiral (Engrenages, (2005-)) and Braquo (2009-2014), the new French crime series Witnesses (Les Témoins, (2015)) retreats to the small coastal town of Lille to offer us a change of scenery for the latest serving of Gallic crime […]
Many Selves: The Horror and Fantasy Films of Paul Wegener (2012)
October 12, 2015
A book review by Tony Williams. Though mostly well known to western audiences for playing the title characters in The Student of Prague (1913), The Golem (1920), and Rex Ingram‘s The Magician (1926) as well as appearances in Nazi-era films such as Der Grosse Koenig (1941) and Kolberg (1945), Paul Wegener’s […]
New Age Emptiness: Jose Nester Marquez’s Reversion
October 12, 2015
By Elias Savada. There’s a glossy bio-tech veneer bubbling up in Jose Nester Marquez’s new feature, Reversion. Despite its high concept sci-fi storyline (co-scripted with Elissa Matseuda, based on a story by Marquez), apparently set in Los Angeles in the very near future, there is a low budget feel that pervades […]
Between Order and Chaos: An Interview with Jerzy Skolimowski on 11 Minutes
October 8, 2015
By Amir Ganjavie. An out-of-control jealous husband, his sexy performer wife, an immoral Hollywood director, a careless drug messenger, a perplexed young woman, an ex-con hot dog seller, a struggling student on a obscure mission, an elderly sketch artist, a hectic paramedic team, a high-rise window cleaner on an illicit […]
An Ogre’s Hide: Samad and Foolad Zereh, the Ogre
By Ramin S. Khanjani. For many avid followers of Iranian cinema across the world, the experience of this national cinema justifiably doesn’t go much beyond recent works of festival fixtures such as Abbas Kiarostami, Jafar Panahi and now Asghar Farhadi. Now imagine seating these fans in front of a screen […]
The Ethnographer of Fantasy: Woody Allen’s Irrational Man
By Axel Andersson. The middle-aged philosophy professor Abe Lucas (Joaquin Phoenix) pulls up to a liberal arts college in Newport in an old Volvo, liberally helping himself to the content of his stainless steel hip flask containing vintage single malt. The young students move along a mock-US version of already […]
The Cerebral Thrills of The Messenger
October 5, 2015
By Cleaver Patterson. As the autumn nights draw in and winter fast approaches, the season seems more disposed to cinematic tales which induce unease within the viewer. The time is then perfect for the release of The Messenger (2015), a psychological chiller from BAFTA and Emmy winning British director David […]
The Rise of NWA in Straight Outta Compton
October 5, 2015
By Kyle Huffman. In the first scene of Straight Outta Compton (2015), Easy E (Jason Mitchell) barely escapes a drug den being raided by the LAPD. This harrowing sequence feels like something ripped right out of a war movie, as the confusion of overwhelming force scatters the opposition like roaches. But […]
The 2015 New York Film Festival Report
October 3, 2015
By Gary M. Kramer. The 53rd New York Film Festival runs through October 11 and there are several outstanding features by established and returning filmmakers playing at the fest. Here is a rundown of five notable films. Athina Rachel Tsangari has been chosen as the official New York Film Festival […]
From Weeping to “Balls-Out”: An Interview with Horror Icon Barbara Crampton
October 3, 2015
By Paul Risker. Looking back to You’re Next (2012) Barbara Crampton explains how: “It was with that movie that this spark for the love of acting was reignited in me.” If You’re Next marked her return to the screen after a hiatus, then appearing in four films (Sun Choke (2015), […]