A Book Review by Thomas Puhr. A much-needed overview not just of the filmmaker, but of his enduring cultural impact.” Read any critical piece on Albert Brooks and you’ll invariably encounter descriptors like “underappreciated” or “overlooked.” But what is meant, exactly, by such labels? After all, two of his films […]
Death of a Telemarketer and the Birth of a Career: An Interview with Khaled Ridgeway
By Johnnie Hobbs III. I was acting for a bit and working as a telemarketer in the shitty call centers right near Koreatown. We’d get a number of death threats because people were so annoyed with us calling. It started to become a running joke.” Through cultivating healthy relationships and […]
Producing for Netflix, the Pandemic, and Covid-19 on Set: An Interview on Coyotes
By Anees Aref. When we did the first Covid test, I was positive. So since I had seen everyone, we had to stop for a week, during prep. That was the first case of Covid we had, and then we had five to six cases during shooting.” –Andre Logie, producer […]
Noir and the Current Moment: Eddie Muller on Dark City and Programming
Below is an excerpt from “‘Just How You’re Wired’: Talking Noir with TCM’s Eddie Muller” by Zoe Kurland, which is forthcoming in Issue 19.3 of Film International: Noir 2020 and Beyond, a special issue guest edited by Retreats from Oblivion: The Journal of NoirCon. [Noir is] just as cogent, even […]
The Houses That Hooper Built – American Twilight: The Cinema of Tobe Hooper
A Book Review by Thomas Puhr. An artist who found ways to mine his obsessions late into his fraught career. Those who agree will find American Twilight indispensable.” With George A. Romero garnering posthumous accolades, thanks to the release of his long lost The Amusement Park (1973), now is an […]
When Parker Met A Guru Named Shuroo: Donal Brophy and Emrhys Cooper on The Shuroo Process
By Ali Moosavi. It’s about his whole cancel culture and internet bullying and the weight that it starts to have on people, if they give it too much emphasis. In the retreat Parker finds what her original passion was… really that’s what gets her through the hard times.” –Donal Brophy […]
New York Stories: Dasha Nekrasova’s The Scary of Sixty-First (2021)
By Thomas Puhr. Nekrasova shows a willingness to tackle taboo subject matter in what is nominally a comedic genre exercise.” The opening credits of The Scary of Sixty-First (2021) deftly blend elements of ‘60s and ‘80s horror. The pink, handwritten font – played over panning shots of Manhattan – instantly […]
Innovative Filmmaking, Rainbow Horror, and a Movie That Cannot Decide Which Story to Tell: Lair
By Theresa Rodewald. The demonic presence itself is never properly explained or explored…. Still, Lair tells an interesting story with numerous twists and turns and has quite a few chilling moments.” Steven Caramore (Corey Johnson) is a ghost hunter who does not believe in ghosts. To him, the supernatural is […]
Shoot and Shoot Again – Any Gun Can Play: The Essential Guide to Euro-Westerns (2nd Ed.)
A Book Review by Tony Williams. By using “Euro-Westerns” Grant reveals his respect for the genre, his refusal to acquiesce in previous terminology and his dedication to writing what is the most definite study of the genre it has ever received.” Although European Westerns and their Mexican counterparts influenced the […]
Questioning Family Ties: An Interview with Tunisian Director Mehdi M. Barsaoui on A Son (Un Fils)
By Matthew Fullerton. A Son deals with a family, and it’s through this lens that I speak out about the society in which I live.” Without a doubt, Tunisia has witnessed a resurgence in filmmaking since the 2011 Jasmine Revolution. Whether it be from the new freedoms of opinion, thought […]