By Noah Charney. February saw the release of a new, highly-acclaimed documentary film called The Rise and Fall of Penn Station, about the sadly-demolished, once-magnificent architectural wonder of a train station in the heart of Manhattan, one that made Grand Central Terminal look pale in comparison. Michael Rossi was a […]
Only Lovers Left Alive – A SXSW Review
March 25, 2014
By Jacob Mertens. A man and a woman lie naked on a bed of black satin, their pale skin holding the frame like a match struck in a dark room. Eyes closed, bodies delicately entwined, the two form an unconscious union. They hold close to each other and sleep […]
Berlinale 2014 Festival Report
March 22, 2014
By Yun-hua Chen. The 64th Berlinale opened with Wes Anderson’s Grand Budapest Hotel, a fitting festival film that set a playful tone and brought glamour to town, thanks to which we saw the presence of Ralph Fiennes, Tilda Swinton, Bill Murray and Saoirse on the red carpet. In this yearly […]
Bruno Dumont and the Revival of the Human, Part 3
March 22, 2014
By Christopher Sharrett. To Part 2. Hadewijch Hadewijch is the first of two films (the second is Hors Satan) directly focused on the pursuit of the spiritual. I should say first that the two films present a problem, since the search is embodied in Hadewijch in a hysterical young woman […]
Bruno Dumont and the Revival of the Human, Part 2
March 21, 2014
By Christopher Sharrett. To Part 1. L’Humanité Bruno Dumont’s second film has been termed by certain commentators a “remake” of La Vie de Jésus. The notion is bewildering. Yes, both films are shot in Bailleul, both films deal with often everyday, banal actions of characters, but to fail to note […]
Bruno Dumont and the Revival of the Human, Part 1
March 21, 2014
By Christopher Sharrett. Bruno Dumont is among our most important filmmakers, a fact that has gone mostly unnoticed outside Europe. His particular significance seems unrecognized in the US. There are very few critical essays about him of any depth and intelligence, except for a couple of notable contributions in Senses […]
Grand Piano (2013)
March 20, 2014
By Danny King. In the press notes for Grand Piano, director Eugenio Mira states the following: “Having been raised by wolves like Steven Spielberg, Robert Zemeckis, Brian De Palma and the Master of Masters Sir Alfred Hitchcock, when I first heard of Grand Piano’s premise, the feral infant film-geek in […]
The Spartans Meet The Muppets, or 300: Rise of an Empire
March 18, 2014
By Wheeler Winston Dixon. It would be a mistake to dismiss director Noam Murro’s sword and sandal “historical” pageant 300: Rise of an Empire (2014) entirely, if only because mainstream pop culture films can often tell us more about the times we live in than so-called “quality” films, since they […]
Surviving the Monster Mom: Child’s Pose
By Gwendolyn Audrey Foster. “I hope it’s like a mirror.” (Călin Peter Netzer on Child’s Pose) “They fuck you up, your mum and dad / They may not mean to, but they do.” (Philip Larkin, “This Be The Verse” [1971]) If a toxic abusive mother raised you, be forewarned. Child’s […]
Waking to Life: An Interview with Tom Gilroy on The Cold Lands
March 15, 2014
By Paul Risker. More than a decade has passed since actor Tom Gilroy stepped behind the camera to direct his first feature Spring Forward (1999). Gilroy returns to feature filmmaking with The Cold Lands, a meditative and dreamy tale of the passage of a few weeks in the life of […]