By Jude Warne. “The ferryman takes you from one bank of the river in his little craft, his boat, to the other bank of the river,” says Sir Ben Kingsley on this variety of the taxi-passenger experience. “You get off his boat and feel that your molecules have somehow been […]
Subversive Mysteries: François Ozon’s The New Girlfriend
September 6, 2015
By Elias Savada. There’s a tendency toward sexual subversion and sly mystery in any François Ozon film. Naughty fun in the comic farce 8 Women (2002). A year later, the voyeuristic Swimming Pool‘s American tagline was “On the Surface, All Is Calm.” More recently came the unsettling relationship between a […]
A Conchord Flies Solo: People Places Things
September 4, 2015
By John Duncan Talbird. New Zealand has given the world actors Sam Neil and Russell Crowe and directors Jane Campion and Peter Jackson. But above all others, I would have to express a soft spot for New Zealander Jemaine Clement, one half of the folk pop comedy duo, Flight of […]
State of Siege: The Radical Potential of Realism
August 31, 2015
By William Repass. In today’s economic and political climate, it can be tempting to dismiss film as merely spectacle: a flimsy replacement for or deflection from lived experience that nonetheless empowers and enriches the few at the expense of the many. Even accomplished films, if we step back and consider […]
Invincible to the Extreme: Meru
August 30, 2015
By Elias Savada. I like looking at mountains. From a safe distance. Or on my computer screen saver. Occasionally, from above, in a well-protected, warm airplane. And, of course, from the comfort of a nice secure seat in a earthbound movie theatre. I’ll leave the climbing of such extreme big […]
A Dark, Personal Path: Javier Diment on The Rotten Link
August 30, 2015
By Paul Risker. If a film is a journey that starts with a germ of an idea and grows into a fully formed creative and narrative entity, then Argentinian filmmaker Javier Diment’s The Rotten Link (2015) encapsulates this journey that every filmmaker is required to steer and guide their film […]
A Director’s Labour of Love Gone Wrong: Ketan Mehta’s Manjhi: The Mountain Man (2015)
By Devapriya Sanyal. Beginning in 2012, the Indian film audience has been treated on and off to a number of excellent biopics – the topics being covered in these films varying greatly, both in terms of subject matter as well as treatment. Ketan Mehta’s Manjhi: The Mountain Man is one […]
Honor the Benefactor: Aviva Kempner’s Rosenwald
August 28, 2015
By Elias Savada. Aviva Kempner has struck again. A Jewish liberal landmark in Washington for many decades, she has forged a multi-faceted career that includes making documentaries that focus on people and events Jewish. The Washington Jewish Film Festival was started by Kempner in 1990 (she’s still on its advisory […]
Spotlight on the “Final Girl”: Akasha Villalobos and Danielle Evon Ploeger on Last Girl Standing
August 28, 2015
By Paul Risker. Billy Wilder, during his conversations with Charlotte Chandler (Billy Wilder: Nobody’s Perfect: A Personal Biography (2004)) was undecided whether The Apartment’s (1960) romantic leads Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine would remain together. The contemplation alone, however, is enough to infer that a film continues to exist beyond […]
Letting Your Freak Flag Fly: Pat Mills’ Guidance
August 24, 2015
By Elias Savada. The more you laugh at David Gold, the more you want to smack him on the side of his loopy head. He’s the central character in Guidance — the feature debut from Canadian writer-director Pat Mills (who also stars) — and the world is his Goliath. His […]