By Ali Moosavi. There were four films made by Iranian directors in this year’s Berlin Film Festival, shown at four different festival sections: Panorama, Forum, Generation and Berlinale (Main Competition). Mohammad Rasoulof’s There Is No Evil (Shaytan Vogoud Nadared), shown at the Main Competition section, walked away with the Festival’s […]
Rocket Mom: An Interview with Alice Winocour on Proxima
March 16, 2020
By Ali Moosavi. A welcome fact at San Sebastian was that women film directors were conspicuous by their presence this time. Proxima (dir. Alice Winocour) depicts the challenges that a woman astronaut, who is also a single mother, has to face in order to realize her lifelong ambition of going […]
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“They’re Gonna Put a Walmart Here”: PJ Harvey and A Dog Called Money
John Duncan Talbird
March 12, 2020
By John Duncan Talbird. I became aware of Polly Jean Harvey in 1993 when I first saw the video for her song “50 Ft Queenie” on MTV’s 120 Minutes. I was blown away. She was simultaneously petite and huge, dangerous and feminine, just like Juliette Lewis in Natural Born Killers […]
All Senses Considered – Contemporary Film Directors: Lucrecia Martel by Gerd Gemünden
Thomas Puhr
March 11, 2020
A Book Review by Thomas Puhr. I received Gerd Gemünden’s Contemporary Film Directors: Lucrecia Martel without having seen a single film by the titular artist. To say I’ve been missing out is an understatement. The movies themselves are evidence enough of Martel’s singular vision and its significance to global cinema, […]
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Light and Silly: Love Type D
Elias Savada
March 10, 2020
By Elias Savada. Love Type D is a light, silly satire that could use a little more development in its wacky plotline. Still, the feature debut from writer-director Sasha Collington does have its moments until it rushes to solve one big scientific riddle with a bit of madcap ho hum […]
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Folks, Please Lock Your Doors!: The Dark End of the Street
Elias Savada
March 10, 2020
By Elias Savada. World premiering at the DC Independent Film Festival, director-writer Kevin Tran’s feature debut brews up a disconcerting cross-sampling of concerned residents in a middle-class, suburban New York City neighborhood. They want to think they are in Mayberry (where no one locks their doors), but one wonders why […]
An Immersive Observational Doc: Paris is Burning (Criterion Collection)
March 9, 2020
By Gary M. Kramer. Jennie Livingston’s vibrant, groundbreaking 1990 documentary, Paris Is Burning, about the Harlem drag-ball scene, has been digitally remastered and released by Criterion on DVD and Blu-ray. The film, which was part of the New Queer Cinema movement, remains a stunning achievement thirty years after its initial […]
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Suspense Gone Sluggish: The Burnt Orange Heresy
Gary M. Kramer
March 5, 2020
By Gary M. Kramer. The Burnt Orange Heresy purports itself to be the power of the critic in shaping the experience of a viewer, or, rather, how one should never let the truth get in the way of a good story. Well the truth about this film, directed by Giuseppe […]
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Coding the Language: Corneliu Porumboiu on The Whistlers
Amir Ganjavie
March 4, 2020
By Amir Ganjavie. A la Police, Adjective (2009) and with a tough of noir style, Corneliu Porumboiu’s The Whistlers introduces us to the Canary Islands language and its specificity. The beautiful shots in the film, impressive performances by the cast, a sublime and a pleasant set design; they all have contributed to […]
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(Re)considering Rudolph Valentino
Thomas Gladysz
March 4, 2020
By Thomas Gladysz. We are going to see why Rudolph Valentino got his first star billing, in a picture called Blood and Sand…. In 1922, when that picture was released, it was considered the absolute epitome of adult entertainment. Well, it is still a good show. Before this picture, his […]