By Salomon Rogberg. The other day I read in one of Sweden’s largest daily newspapers Dagens Nyheter, that biopics were on the rise. Maybe the critic was right. Both Margaret Thatcher, who was the British prime minister between the years 1979 to 1990, and J Edgar Hoover, the first director of […]
The Legend of Kaspar Hauser
By Celluloid Liberation Front. “It’s such a struggle to self-produce your own film” sighs Davide Manuli. “You’ve got no idea, cinema is a rigid and harsh structure that does not allow any intrusion among its ranks,” he continues. Far from being dispirited, the director of La Leggenda di Kaspar Hauser […]
The Music Man in Retrospect
By Christopher Sharrett. My recent viewing of Meredith Willson/Morton da Costa’s film The Music Man, for the first time in decades, forced me to reflect on my initial viewing (in 1962, the year of its release) with my parental family while I endured another insufferable summer vacation in Bennington, Vermont, […]
Call for reviews and reviewers
January 31, 2012
The journal Anthropology of the Contemporary Middle East and Central Eurasia (ACME) welcomes film reviews. Should you like to review a particular documentary or send us one to review, please email the film review editor, Dr Michael Abecassis, directly: michael.abecassis AT modern-langs.ox.ac.uk ACME is an interdisciplinary peer-reviewed journal devoted to […]
The Devil Inside (2012)
By Steven Harrison Gibbs. A new year in horror cinema is upon us, and kicking it off is another entry into the exceedingly popular ‘found footage’ subgenre. The film opens – as many of its kind do – with intertitles explaining what lies ahead; this is followed by audio and […]
Noir City shines a light on neglected artists
By Michael T. Toole. Noir has many sides, aside from the stunning stylistic things we look for in the films (the imposing verticality of a cityscape, rain soaked streets, darkly lit corridors) there are the more intrinsic elements, like lovers’ betrayal and protecting ill-fated choices, that give it its narrative […]
Saving London’s Cinema Museum: A Little Film Club
By Deirdre O’Neill. The Cinema Museum in London is remaining true to its ongoing attempt to cater for lovers of film whose needs are not met by the multiplex. The Museum is joining forces with Little Joe magazine and the Rio Cinema in Dalston to launch ‘A Little Film Club’, […]
From Where Clooney’s Oscar Nominated Role Descends
By Matthew Sorrento. Many have noted (including the Academy) the strength of George Clooney’s performance in The Descendants, and how the former is essential to the latter. Immediately coming to mind is Clooney’s role in Up in the Air, about a travelling corporate “henchman” whose job is emotionally wearing him […]
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
By Christopher Sharrett. Upon viewing Stephen Daldry’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, I am reminded of the difficulty the American mind has in conceiving its own destruction, at least by the Other. When it attempts to imagine such destruction, it is cast in apocalyptic terms suggesting no other atrocity could […]
The Skin I Live In (2011)
By Jacob Mertens. The iconic image of Dr. Frankenstein hunched over a slab of metal, peering into the glassy eyes of his patch-work creation, cannot be easily forgotten when watching Pedro Almodóvar’s The Skin I Live In. In its place, Antonio Banderas, playing Dr. Robert Ledgard, watches his own mysterious […]