By Wheeler Winston Dixon. “This is the end My only friend, the end Of our elaborate plans, the end Of everything that stands, the end No safety or surprise, the end I’ll never look into your eyes again Can you picture what will be So limitless and free Desperately in […]
Dark Humor in Films of the 1960s – Part 4
By Wheeler Winston Dixon. This is the fourth and final part of “Dark Humor in Films of the 1960s.” Follow these links for previous installments: Part 1. Part 2. Part 3. As the 1960s drew to a close, so did the string of dark comedies; the real world was bleak […]
Barbara Beyond East vs. West
By Daniel Lindvall. Barbara (2012), written and directed by Christian Petzold, is a remarkable film. It may well be the best so far of all the German films made in recent years on the still very much contentious subject of the defunct German Democratic Republic (GDR). Generally speaking, such films, […]
Planetary Projection: Call for Participation
September 5, 2012
caboose, an independent publisher of books about film located in Montreal, Canada, is starting a new project on film projection called Planetary Projection, coordinated by Marina Uzunova. They are seeking contributions for an online album and eventual book from projectionists willing to share their experiences. For more information about this project, […]
Capitalism Eats Itself: Gluttony and Coprophagia from Hoarders to La Grande Bouffe
By Gwendolyn Audrey Foster. “Recently my dull life seems to have no meaning I am stuck with someone We’re not communicating I want to buy Have you been affected I need consoling You could be addicted” (“Spend, Spend, Spend,” The Slits [1979]) Consumption. Excess. Gluttony. Hoarding. Waste. Massive debt. The […]
Ruby Sparks (2012)
By Jacob Mertens. All writers, at one point or another, have felt the inspired moment when a story moves through them as if they were a conduit. The ability to manifest a living, breathing creature on a piece of paper can feel like an act of magic, and it is […]
Dark Humor in Films of the 1960s – Part 3
By Wheeler Winston Dixon. This is the third article in a 4-part series. You can read Part 1 here and Part 2 here. Death has often been used to comic effect in films, but an all out assault on what Jessica Mitford termed “the American way of death” is another […]
Inside Film: The Condition of the Working Class
Inside Film’s upcoming documentary, The Condition of the Working Class (now in post-production), was inspired by Friedrich Engels’ book written in 1844, The Condition of the Working Class in England. How much has really changed since then? The power relations in our society remain essentially the same. As a result […]
The Do-Deca-Pentathlon (2012): A San Francisco International Film Festival Review
By Janine Gericke. 25 events, 2 brothers, 1 champion. Mark and Jay Duplass’ latest film, The Do-Deca-Pentathlon is an enigmatic comedy about two estranged brothers who want to determine once and for all, who the better brother is. How do they do this? By competing in 25 sporting challenges over […]
Dark Humor in Films of the 1960s – Part 2
By Wheeler Winston Dixon. This is the second article in a 4-part series. You can read Part 1 here. With sick comedy beginning to bubble up through the margins of the studio system in Hollywood, filmmakers in Britain soon leaped on the bandwagon. The country was in a “gallows humour” […]