Film International editors, contributors, and correspondents offer personal tributes and commentary on the late scholar of cinema. I regret never having the pleasure of meeting David Bordwell. My only interaction with him was a lively email exchange little over 10 years ago. I was planning an article on the early […]
Now is the Time! Med Hondo’s West Indies (1979)
By Thomas M. Puhr. Proof positive that a musical can simultaneously educate and entertain, excite and incite.” France’s imperial history is portrayed through experimental musical theater in Med Hondo’s West Indies (1979). Based on Daniel Boukman’s 1971 book Les Negriers and subtitled The Fugitive Slaves of Liberty, the film is […]
A Captivating World of Indigenous Culture: Filmmaker Ivan Sen on Limbo
By Jenny Paola Ortega Castillo. There’s a lot of secrets to all the land in Australia, especially since colonization…. And sometimes the land gives those secrets up if you listen to it. And so this incredible landscape was the inspiration for the characters who are very similar to this damaged […]
An Inventory of Losses – Watching the World Die: Nuclear Threat Films of the 1980s
A Book Review by Thomas M. Puhr. A quick and engaging study addressing a scholarly blind spot.” Amid escalating tensions between the U.S. and Soviet Union, the 1980s were something of a golden age for films about humanity’s annihilation. Yet despite its ubiquity in the arthouse and grindhouse alike, a […]
Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Queer-Themed Monster
By Brad Windhauser. Kore-eda’s Monster portrays Japanese queer youth forced to carve out a safe space away from their society just to experience moments of joy.” Kore-eda’s film Monster (Kore-eda, 2023), recently released digitally, demonstrates how Japanese culture, which does not encourage open exploration of queer identities, sets up their […]
Laughter over Comedy: from the Introduction to Death by Laughter: Female Hysteria in Early Cinema
By Maggie Hennefeld. Imagine being so hilarious that your jokes, impressions, or other repartee literally caused someone to laugh themselves to death.1 —“Does Your Stand-Up Act Need Death by Laughter Insurance?,” Trusted Choice, insurance web advertisement, August 10, 2019 Imagine being so wild and free that your laughter literally killed […]
Tangled Up In Blue: Patrick Tam’s My Heart Is That Eternal Rose (1989)
By Thomas M. Puhr. Violent, sensual, and at times poetic….” Kani Releasing continues to expose Western audiences to unsung masterpieces of Asian cinema, and their latest – a restoration of Patrick Tam’s violent, sensual, and at times poetic My Heart Is That Eternal Rose (Sat sau woo dip mung, 1989) […]
Young at Heart: Julio Torres’ Problemista
By Jonathan Monovich. Writer-director-star Julio Torres cleverly compares the one-month countdown for finding work visa sponsorship to both an hour glass running out of sand and a never-ending maze…. Problemista‘s tone possesses a childlike innocence, which works quite well in contrasting serious subject matter.” Slinkys that refuse to fall down […]
Mad Props – For the Movie Collector Nerds Amongst Us
By Elias Savada. Humankind’s appetite for many things nostalgic is at play here, and it is a satisfying meal.” Most folks who do genealogy, like myself, cherish old photos of their great-great grandparents, a family bible with birth, death, and marriage records handwritten in the back, or assorted documents and […]
Rebel Revelations – Mavericks: Interviews with the World’s Iconoclast Filmmakers
A Book Review by Jeremy Carr. The variance of the interviews in Mavericks is part of what makes the book such an engaging read. No two are exactly alike, and any given conversation yields surprising and rewarding conclusions.” Gerald Peary makes it clear, from the very beginning, what readers can […]