“Sisterhood has not been this menacingly funny since Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?“ By Elias Savada. There’s a devilish wink running through this (mostly) housebound tale of two generations setting off against one another. In one corner is Linda (Precious Chong, daughter of Tommy, who also helped finance the film […]
Learning to Tell a Story: Scorsese Shorts (Criterion Collection)
By John Duncan Talbird. In 1974, soon after the splash of Mean Streets (1973), his first major directorial success, Martin Scorsese made a documentary about his parents, Italianamerican. Aside from still photos of the family and archival footage of Manhattan’s Little Italy neighborhood during the early 20th century, the film […]
On the Queen and Her People – Ella Fitzgerald: Just One of Those Things
By Ali Moosavi. She has been called The First Lady of Song and Queen of Jazz, titles which Ella Fitzgerald truly earned. In the documentary, Ella Fitzgerald: Just One of Those Things (2019), veteran British documentary filmmaker Leslie Woodhead charts Ella’s life from becoming a teenage orphan, running away from […]
Rise of the Female Director: Liberating Hollywood by Maya Montañez Smuckler
Madeline Hawk
July 1, 2020
A New Leaf (Elaine May, 1971) A Book Review Essay by Madeline Hawk. 83 years after Dorothy Arzner became the first female to direct a Hollywood feature film in 1927, Kathryn Bigelow became the first to win an Oscar for Best Director in 2010. But what happened in the 83 […]
The Comic Don’ts of Spying (and Filmmaking): My Spy
By Elias Savada. I wasn’t sure what to expect before watching My Spy, an action family comedy now streaming online. Mix a tough looking guy (Dave Bautista) with a cute, ornery 9-year-old (Chloe Coleman) with a small dose of cartoon characters. Alas, Wile E. Coyote would not approve of this […]
Period Drama Turned Upside Down: An Interview with Thomas Clay About Fanny Lye Deliver’d
By Alex Ramon. As startling and expressionistic in its visual style as it is intricate and juicy in its dialogue, a film of ideas that’s also a thrilling, unpredictable ride, Thomas Clay’s Fanny Lye Deliver’d is one of the mostdistinctive and dazzlingly enjoyable British films in decades. A “Puritan Western” […]
Stay Angry: Jon Stewart’s Irresistible
By Elias Savada. Entertainer Jon Stewart has been pissed off at a lot of things, but I suspect nothing riles him more than two words: Citizens United. During his years hosting The Daily Show he would rant and rave (and, out of necessity, joke) with innumerable guests about the influence […]
In Defense of an Iconoclast: Peter Wyngarde: A Life Amongst Strangers by Tina Wyngarde-Hopkins
Department S (1969-70) By Tony Williams. “Peter Wyngarde defined the complete, bravura actor who dominated a stage with an incomparable elegant physical presence and a voice which defined emulation, a voice akin to music.” Steven Berkhoff (190) “Peter Wyngarde is an incomparable player of dashing, juicy rakehells, men on the […]
Finding Your Own Answer: Ina Weisse and Nina Hoss on The Audition
Ali Moosavi
June 23, 2020
By Ali Moosavi. It is encouraging to see that films like The Audition / Das Vorspiel, with strong leading female characters are becoming more common. The Audition is directed and co-written by Ina Weisse, herself a veteran actress of more than fifty films. For the film’s leading role though she […]
A Western by Any Other Name: Destry Rides Again (Criterion Collection)
Jeremy Carr
June 21, 2020
By Jeremy Carr. There is, first and most famously, Marlene Dietrich. Since the time of its premiere in 1939, to its latest reemergence in the form of a Criterion Collection Blu-ray, conversation concerning Destry Rides Again has inevitably, and quite justly, hinged on the presence of this beguiling, Berlin-born beauty. […]