By Elias Savada. With all the talk of artificial intelligence taking over our lives, this technically proficient film may be timely, but its futuristic concept – mankind vs. an enemy of its own making – flails about as a misguided, muddled search for (non-)human salvation.” I can’t accept the overblown […]
The Unexpected Raymond Griffith
By Thomas Gladysz. The two films included in Raymond Griffith: The Silk Hat Comedian serve as an excellent introduction to the comedian’s considerable talents.” Many rediscoveries aren’t. All-too-often, the thing in question – a movie or book or album, an actor, artist or musician, hasn’t been undeservedly forgotten so much […]
Chaos on an Island – Roman Polanski: Behind the Scenes of His Classic Early Films
A Book Review by Thomas M. Puhr. With The Palace recently premiering at Venice, now is an opportune time to revisit these early works, and Roman Polanski: Behind the Scenes of His Classic Early Films may prove a valuable companion for such a journey….” In a 2011 Cineaste review, David Sterritt noted that “Cul-de-Sac […]
Boo-Who-dunit – Kenneth Branagh Sinks A Haunting in Venice
By Elias Savada. Not the charm you might be hoping for, unless you’re a fan of endless rain, too many jump scares, unsettling camera angles, ragged hand-held camerawork, onerous close-ups, and a score drowning in dreary woodwinds and screechy violins.” Those actor-ensemble, murder mystery set pieces you’ve experienced in movie […]
To Love the Uncanny – Haunted by Vertigo: Hitchcock’s Masterpiece Then and Now
A Book Review by Dávid Szőke. The book’s eleven chapters approach the master’s film from broad, yet intersecting angles, allowing the reading and cinematic audience into the colourful patterns that weave the filmic narrative threads into a magnetically composite unity.” “Scottie, do you believe that someone out of the past, […]
War at a Distance: Aurora’s Sunrise
By James Slaymaker. In its intricate tapestry of storytelling modes and its profound engagement with the ethics of representation, “Aurora’s Sunrise” stands as a cinematic work that dares to confront the complexities of historical memory. It forces us to re-examine the role of cinema in shaping and distorting the past….” […]
The “Idiot Trier” Redux: The Kingdom Exodus
By Alexandra Heller-Nicholas. Undeniably clunky plotpoint aside – and it is, admittedly, a pretty major one that’s hard to miss – The Kingdom Exodus is otherwise a playful, spooky and at times genuinely moving return.” With the passing of legendary Swedish actor Ernst-Hugo Järegård in 1998, Lars von Trier said […]
Tom Mix Rides Again: Sky High (1922) and The Big Diamond Robbery (1929)
By Jeremy Carr. Although many Mix pictures are lost, these illustrative entries showcase his customary assurance, his virtue, and his penchant for showmanship.” If Hollywood’s classic Western heroes are generally given little positive thought these days, the cowboy celebrities of the silent era in particular are even less familiar. In […]
Life During Wartime: Maryna Er Gorbach’s Klondike (2022)
By Thomas Puhr. This film about the Donbas region of Ukraine that borders Russia, set in 2014, features images that are hauntingly beautiful as often as they are simply haunting.” Maryna Er Gorbach’s searing Klondike (2022) takes place in 2014 Ukraine, in the Donbas area that borders Russia. Although the […]
Living Through Hell on Wheels: Yuval Adler’s Sympathy for the Devil (2023)
By Thomas M. Puhr. Cage enthusiasts might get a kick out of this film’s meager offerings (if you managed to make it through Willy’s Wonderland, then this one should be a cinch). Others may find themselves daydreaming about Collateral or The Hitcher. If you’re going to set your film almost […]