By Christopher Sharrett. I was far more impressed than I thought I might be with Bennett Miller’s Foxcatcher, a compelling film at various subtle yet complex levels. I should say first that as a person who spent his early life in Southeast Pennsylvania, I recall the John du Pont murder […]
“Isn’t it Bromantic?” – The Whole Damn Sony Mess, and What It Means
By Wheeler Winston Dixon. Now that some time has elapsed between the Sony hack and the release of the film that apparently precipitated it, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s The Interview (2014), there are more than a few lessons to take away from the entire affair not only in the […]
Elia Kazan’s Boomerang!: A Film of Qualified Pleasures
January 4, 2015
By Chris Neilan. Between 1945 and 1957 Greek born Elia Kazantzoglou had no directorial equal in Hollywood. The films he made in that period were nominated for fifty Oscars, twelve of those for A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), and launched the careers of Marlon Brando and James Dean. It was […]
The Best of 2014 – and the Most Overrated
By Film International. Another film year has come to an end and it’s time to sum up. Here are the films that some of the current and former members of the Film International editorial team particularly liked this year. And those that we found particularly – annoyingly – overrated. As […]
The 58th BFI London Film Festival
December 30, 2014
By Cleaver Patterson. Since its inception the BFI London Film Festival has – like the city which hosts it – prided itself in its ability to combine quirkiness with broad appeal. The result has always been an original and eclectic mix of films as seen in those shown in this […]
Brainquake: the Last Samuel Fuller Novel
December 29, 2014
A Book Review by John Duncan Talbird. In his 1968 study The American Cinema: Directors and Directions, Andrew Sarris wrote that Samuel Fuller was an “authentic American primitive,” to mean, I assume, that Fuller, like primitive painters, was untrained. It’s true that Fuller didn’t work his way up on the set […]
Tati Time: Criterion Delivers The Complete Jacques Tati
December 28, 2014
By Jeremy Carr. Aside from his general lack of recognition as one of film history’s great comedians, the most tragic part of Jacques Tati’s working life is his minimal output (indeed the two are probably connected). On the positive side of things though, while Tati directed just six feature films, […]
Process is Personal: An Interview with Robin Campillo on Eastern Boys (2013)
December 28, 2014
By Paul Risker. In a recent interview with Rolf De Heer, on the subject of influences and inspiration he told me, “I always think I am the son of all the influences I have ever had, which is all the films I have ever seen, and all of the life I […]
She Plays Me: Filmmaker Marjorie Sturm on The Cult of JT LeRoy
By Matthew Sorrento. “Victim culture” was a loaded term long before the recent killings of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner and others at the hands of police or, in the first case, an armed wanna-be officer. Giving a new face to the victimized, these tragic events are fueled by […]
Whiplash and the Deathliness of Co-opted Jazz
December 21, 2014
By William Repass. In Damien Chazelle’s new film Whiplash (2014), aspiring jazz drummer and conservatory freshman Andrew (Miles Teller) and his father (Paul Reiser) meet at the cinema to enact their moviegoing father-son ritual. Both characters are white. Andrew buys a bucket of popcorn and a box of Raisinets from […]