By Thomas M. Puhr. If the synopsis sounds familiar, then you’ve probably seen It Follows (2014). Don’t Look Away acknowledges this indebtedness… but this grating self-awareness relies far too heavily on its influences.” A haunted mannequin stalks a group of dimwitted twentysomethings in Micheal Bafaro’s Don’t Look Away (2023). Once […]
The Creator: Something Rotten in the State of AI
By Elias Savada. With all the talk of artificial intelligence taking over our lives, this technically proficient film may be timely, but its futuristic concept – mankind vs. an enemy of its own making – flails about as a misguided, muddled search for (non-)human salvation.” I can’t accept the overblown […]
Never Getting Over This: Miles Joris-Peyrafitte on The Good Mother
By Ali Moosavi. [Hilary Swank’s character] is not a person who’s grieving the way that we think she should when we meet her…. It’s very easy for us to think that’s not how she should be feeling and grieving. I think in a movie about grief that was a compelling […]
Birdeater: An Australian Masculinity Run Amok
By Alexandra Heller-Nicholas. Sydney filmmakers Jim Weir and Jack Clark turn the mirror inwards to examine the conditions where, if left unchecked, certain kinds of male social relationships can grant violence against women a space to flourish.” Launched in 2021, the Australian government-supported Our Watch organization rolled out the “Doing […]
Ukraine, Pre-Invasion: Maryna Vroda on Stepne
By Yun-hua Chen. The shooting took place before the full invasion by Russia and just before the pandemic started. When we arrived in Kiev, we had to go through special pandemic control measures. Everything was shut down. We were lucky to be able to finish the shooting, but then for […]
The Unexpected Raymond Griffith
By Thomas Gladysz. The two films included in Raymond Griffith: The Silk Hat Comedian serve as an excellent introduction to the comedian’s considerable talents.” Many rediscoveries aren’t. All-too-often, the thing in question – a movie or book or album, an actor, artist or musician, hasn’t been undeservedly forgotten so much […]
The Street of Forgotten Men (1925): From Story to Screen and Beyond
By Thomas Gladysz. An act of cinematic and cultural archeology. I just kept on digging to find out what I could find out.” Film International contributor Thomas Gladysz has published a fifth book, The Street of Forgotten Men: From Story to Screen and Beyond (PandorasBox Press). He describes it as […]
Chaos on an Island – Roman Polanski: Behind the Scenes of His Classic Early Films
A Book Review by Thomas M. Puhr. With The Palace recently premiering at Venice, now is an opportune time to revisit these early works, and Roman Polanski: Behind the Scenes of His Classic Early Films may prove a valuable companion for such a journey….” In a 2011 Cineaste review, David Sterritt noted that “Cul-de-Sac […]
For the “God Jean-Luc”: Thomas Imbach on Say God Bye
By Yun-hua Chen. I was already under the spell of Godard. I thought, why not just start in my home country as a self-taught filmmaker?” From his teenage years, Swiss filmmaker Thomas Imbach was ensnared by Godard’s allure. Say God Bye, his latest documentary, chronicles his journey embarked upon with […]
Boo-Who-dunit – Kenneth Branagh Sinks A Haunting in Venice
By Elias Savada. Not the charm you might be hoping for, unless you’re a fan of endless rain, too many jump scares, unsettling camera angles, ragged hand-held camerawork, onerous close-ups, and a score drowning in dreary woodwinds and screechy violins.” Those actor-ensemble, murder mystery set pieces you’ve experienced in movie […]