By Louis J. Wasser. Decidedly the memoir of a confident and determined man – one who, after minimal dilly-dallying at a yellow light, finds his way to the next significant greenlight in his life and acting career.” When noted actor Matthew McConaughey alerts us, “this is not a traditional memoir,” […]
Beer Lovers Rejoice! Even the Rest of You Can Enjoy Brewmance
By Elias Savada. The film is a light approach to what goes into the process of building a vision: a brewery, a name, a way of life.” In the world of beer-centric documentaries, Brewmance is the latest and one of the most effervescent salutes to fine craft libations, yet also […]
The Play’s the Thing: Jacques Rivette’s Céline and Julie Go Boating
By Jeremy Carr. Make-believe and storytelling are not only central to the shared and exclusive lives of the film’s fanciful female leads, but are devices ratified and dissected at every turn of the movie’s wonderfully screwy scenario.” There is a repeated refrain heard throughout Adrian Martin’s predictably perceptive commentary on […]
Lubitsch’s Last Bow: Cluny Brown (Criterion Collection)
By Tony Williams. Cluny Brown belongs to that lost realm of Hollywood cinema that combined expert and unique direction with distinctive acting and a humor that critiqued arbitrary patterns of imposed behavior….” Ernst Lubitsch’s last completed film, Cluny Brown (1946), represents a fitting conclusion to that director’s special version of […]
Dirty Girls in London’s Shadows: Corrina Faith’s The Power
By Alexandra Heller-Nicholas. Rose Williams shines as Val in an increasingly physically demanding performance that results in a powerful viewing experience, both in terms of the film’s gender politics and as a banger of a horror film.” In early 1974, the Tory government in Britain under the control of Prime […]
Essentially Human Ordeals: Chilean Cinema in the Twenty-First-Century World
Video Club (Pablo Illanes, 2013)
Embodying Coming of Age: An Interview with Jessie Barr on Sophie Jones
By Yun-hua Chen. I think we are always coming of age.” Sophie Jones is a sincere piece of coming-of age stemming from grief experiences of the director Jessie Barr and her cousin Jessica Barr, who plays the eponymous heroine. The film portrays a 16-year-old girl who suffers from the loss […]
Reinforced Perspective: Alan J. Pakula’s The Parallax View (1974)
By Jeremy Carr. Pakula adopts an accordingly striking compositional tension throughout the picture, isolating portions of the frame and dwarfing individuals in an abstract expanse, suggesting both a voyeuristic perspective and an unnerving environmental apprehension.” It might be hard to imagine now, but there was a time when being a […]
On Location, Post-Lockdown: Roger Spottiswoode on Either Side of Midnight
By Matthew Sorrento. Finding the right locations was even more important than usual on this film, because the city life within each location would have to tell the story as much as would the dialogue.” Roger Spottiswoode has had a journeyman’s career. After editing for Sam Peckinpah and others, Spottiswoode […]
Isolation in Contemporary Brooklyn: Tim Sutton’s Funny Face
By Gary M. Kramer. Funny Face may require some work on the viewer’s part to put the pieces together, but for those willing to make the effort, Sutton’s striking drama is ultimately rewarding.” Tim Sutton makes ambitious, hypnotic cinema. His latest effort, Funny Face is another brilliantly shot mood piece […]