A Book Review by Tony Williams. Compared to the acting studies of the type produced by Richard Dyer and James Naremore (neither of whom receive mention in either text or bibliography), this study is severely lacking.” This book promises much but delivers little. Far from being “the first to be […]
The Personal Touch – A Uniquely American Epic: Intimacy and Action, Tenderness and Violence in Sam Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch
A Book Review Essay by Jeremy Carr. While there’s some inevitable overlap…on the whole, this anthology adds, with each chapter, discerning passages of unique insight and interpretation.” There’s a lot of substance proposed in its title, but then again, there’s a lot delivered by the film in question. A Uniquely […]
A Rural Portrait of China: Ripples of Life (Cannes 2021)
By Yun-hua Chen. With such a team, it is thus no surprise that Ripples of Life is able to tellingly allude to Chinese arthouse cinema’s current trend of exploring rural portraits, examine unequal relationships between those who film and those who are filmed, and question the innate outsider perspective of […]
Ambiance over Narrative: Are You Lonesome Tonight? (Cannes 2021)
By Yun-hua Chen. With its fair share of problems, Are You Lonesome Tonight attempts to be unpredictable…like a film which indulges itself in ambiance at the expense of narrative.” Rarely do we see a Chinese noir thriller that is so invested in style and ambiance. Wen Shipei’s debut feature Are […]
Unsavory Blend: Touch (2020)
By Yun-hua Chen. Drifting between numerous subject matters, genres, emotions, cultures, the film proves how too many ingredients can spoil a dish as well as a film.” Touch, the directorial debut of Aleksandra Szczepanowska, is an audacious attempt to mix genres and defy cultural barriers. This one-woman show, where she […]
Seeking the Unknown – The Loneliest Whale: the Search for 52
By Elias Savada. A fascinating tale about a undiscovered, single beast that emitted a sound, one that other whales did not comprehend. No one has ever answered his call…. Zeeman casts this project as something akin to the old Leonard Nemoy television series In Search of….” There are plenty of […]
Offbeat, with Occasional Quotes: Maria Bissell’s How to Deter a Robber
By Theresa Rodewald. Problematic implications aside, How to Deter a Robber is a confidently directed film that has the potential to become an unconventional Christmas favourite, thanks to its off beat humour, nuanced female lead and sharp-eyed depiction of dysfunctional family dynamics.” It’s Christmas in snowy, rural Northern Wisconsin. Madison […]
An Explosion of Punk Creativity in a Time of Decline: Sōgo Ishii’s Burst City (1982)
By Matthew Fullerton. Though a commercial failure on its release in March 1982, Burst City has, in recent years, reached cult status, primarily for its elements of Japanese cyberpunk, which make it a “landmark” for this genre of cinema, and for its blending of styles.” Give the punk a camera […]
Duality of an Exile: Anton Walbrook, A Life of Masks and Mirrors
A Book Review by Bibi Berki. Author James Downs asserts that Walbrook (above in Der Kurier des Zaren, 1936) was always drawn to parts that contained some degree of duality and wonders if this might have been related to the fact that the exile lives a ‘destabilised’ kind of life, […]
Life Saving Persian Lessons in Concentration Camps: An Interview with Vadim Perelman
By Ali Moosavi. Many people are unhappy about me humanizing the Nazis and making the viewer even sympathetic (a Nazi)…. I wanted to show that we are all capable of that, not only the Germans. I don’t think that’s ever been shown in any of the Holocaust movies; only in […]