By Ali Moosavi. Politics is a dirty game, no matter which side of the table you’re on.” –Brian Skiba There is a certain genre of film which, perhaps unkindly, can be called “Budget Action”. These are not the big budget action movies starring Keanu Reeves or Tom Cruise; or even […]
9000 Miles from Home and 30 Miles from Nowhere: An Interview with Caitlin Koller
By Alexandra Heller-Nicholas. If more work was done to showcase and embrace (the Australian) horror film past it could really help to foster awareness and hunger for local horror films.” How did emerging Australian filmmaker Caitlin Koller find herself in rural Illinois directing one of the most fun horror comedies […]
“We Like it When the Characters Fail”: Claes Bang on Bay of Silence
As an actor, you like when a character has both sides – when you actually are terrified but try to keep your calm.” By Gary M. Kramer. Claes Bang excels at playing suave, amoral men. His breakout performance in The Square, pivoted on his smug museum curator getting his comeuppance. […]
Art as Life Practice: Alejandro Jodorowsky on Psychomagic: A Healing Art
[Psychomagic] is an art, not a science. I make all the art.” By Gary M. Kramer. Chilean cult filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky has always been a cine-magician. He made his feature debut with the surrealistic Fando and Lis (1968) and then achieved worldwide attention for his cult films, El Topo (1970) […]
Hello, Vietnam: Trinh Dinh Le Minh on Goodbye Mother
By Tom Ue. Trinh Dinh Le Minh’s new film Goodbye Mother tells a seemingly familiar story: Van (Lanh Thanh) returns to his home in Vietnam, having been away in the US for nine years. Van brings with him his boyfriend Ian (Vo Dien Gia Huy) but the film’s focus is […]
“Found” in Translation: An Interview with Hirokazu Kore-eda on The Truth
When you have good actors, they know what I want. Hirokazu Kore-eda By Ali Moosavi. Japan has had a fine tradition of presenting world-class filmmakers to the world of cinema. These have included Kenji Mizoguchi, Yasujiro Ozu, Akira Kurosawa, Kon Ichikawa, Masaki Kobayashi, Shohei Imamura, Nagisa Oshima and Hayao Miyazaki […]
What’s in the Bag?: An Interview with Harold Holscher, Director of The Soul Collector (AKA 8)
By Ali Moosavi. The term “horror film” is often used as a short cut for a variety of movies that contain either scares, suspense or, on rare occasions, both. Therefore, it includes everything from slasher movies to psychological horror; from stories based on normal everyday life to those containing para-normal […]
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” […]
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 […]
Down to the Earth: An Interview with Victor Kossakovsky on Gunda
Yun-hua Chen
June 11, 2020
By Yun-hua Chen. It is a rare opportunity to have an eye-level communication with pigs, chickens and cows. Victor Kossakovsky has once again demonstrated the unique power of cinematic language to open up a new way of seeing commonplace phenomenon or creatures which have long been taken for granted, and […]