I haven't seen a film in quite a long time that so bracingly invited me to think about it, one that I almost immediately wanted to read other writers' responses to. There are several reasons for this, so...
2022-11-17 20:47:05 +0000 UTC View Post
The NYFF Currents regime doesn't have a lot of use for the old lions of the avant-garde. So it was surprising that an exception was made for Emigholz, whose work has changed a bit in recent years but has...
2022-11-16 05:45:19 +0000 UTC View Post
When I first moved back to Houston after several years in Syracuse, Jen and I lived with my parents for a bit. And they watched the local news, something that I've never really been...
2022-11-16 04:59:39 +0000 UTC View Post
It hasn't gone unnoticed that a large number of short films included in this year's NYFF Currents selection came from the museum / gallery world, rather than the more traditional co-op filmmaking circles...
2022-11-09 04:51:13 +0000 UTC View Post
Causeway (Lily Neugebauer, 2022)
Considering the backlog of viewing I have at this point, there's really no excuse for having watched this. But as Jen correctly pointed ...
2022-11-07 23:48:07 +0000 UTC View Post
I get the sense that maybe Jordan Peele would like to work outside of the confines of genre, but his backers won't allow it. I say this in part because the first 20-30 minutes of Nope is a rathe...
2022-11-05 02:38:43 +0000 UTC View Post
Corsage is eminently watchable, but the fact it's being considered one of the year's major achievements is frankly mind-boggling.
As others have already mentioned, Corsage 2022-11-04 02:56:11 +0000 UTC View Post
A film does not have to make sense in order to be compelling. However, it's good if there's a compelling reason not to make sense. The late films of Alexei German are a goo...
2022-10-29 00:49:20 +0000 UTC View Post
Hi there!
Although it probably isn't necessary, I did want to post a quick note to address the fact that I have been rather distracted from cinema. In addition to teaching five online classes this ...
2022-10-28 04:50:32 +0000 UTC View Post
Disclosure of personal connections is always an odd thing when it comes to writing about experimental film. It is a small coterie, and I probably have some personal connection with about 80% of the avant...
2022-10-25 03:29:42 +0000 UTC View Post
It's been an odd year for Claire Denis. Her film from Berlin, Both Sides of the Blade, was a French star vehicle in the lineage of Chabrol, weighted down by a seriousness that neither of its for...
2022-10-22 04:21:59 +0000 UTC View Post
The English title of this film is Nobody's Hero, while the French title, Viens je t'emmène, roughly translates as "Come on, I'll take you there." Very different titles, perhaps linked ...
2022-10-19 02:26:37 +0000 UTC View Post
I appear to be in a distinct minority where this film is concerned. Many reviews describe it as evocative, poetic, emotionally resonant. And I see why some folks would feel that way. Aftersun is...
2022-10-15 18:11:39 +0000 UTC View Post
During a Q&A in Houston, Argentinian director Matías Piñeiro was asked why he was making so many films based on Shakespearean texts. His answer was fairly simple: "I don't like starting from nothin...
2022-10-14 01:45:47 +0000 UTC View Post
One of the few remaining vestiges of the old Movie Nerd Discussion Group I used to belong to -- a Yahoo! Group, so yeah, do the math -- is a private site called Crix Pix, where about 20 to 25 of us still...
2022-10-10 04:21:42 +0000 UTC View Post
A breezy comedy with snappy dialogue? In this economy? Obviously Paramount thought no, unceremoniously dumping Confess, Fletch into theaters and VOD with nary a pr...
2022-10-05 20:43:10 +0000 UTC View Post
Mary Helena Clark has consistently been one of the most compelling avant-garde filmmakers on the current scene. A large part of the success of her films -- particularly Orpheus (Outtakes) ...
2022-10-01 03:36:17 +0000 UTC View Post
Here are the basic deets, per my Viennale catalogue entry:
"In their second collaboration, Ryuji Otsuka and Huang Ji offer a complex, heartrending portrait of a young Chinese woman searching for lo...
2022-09-30 02:38:09 +0000 UTC View Post
It's interesting that right now, George Miller and Baz Luhrmann are the two preeminent Australian directors on the scene, because they both have highly specific aesthetics that, looked at in a cert...
2022-09-25 03:38:28 +0000 UTC View Post
Here's my Viennale catalogue description:
Jónas Trueba follows his monumental study of Spanish youth, 2021’s Who’s Stopping Us, with an unexpectedly light seriocomic miniature focusin...
2022-09-22 17:29:13 +0000 UTC View Post
If saying it in the street is a knockout, is publishing it in Cinema Scope Online a cop-out? 2022-09-17 22:45:25 +0000 UTC View Post
Movement creates instability. This is a basic tenet of cinema, and it's true no matter how elegantly that movement is orchestrated. A still image allows us to grasp it fully, to see how its parts interac...
2022-09-17 04:47:17 +0000 UTC View Post
And lest it get lost in the TIFFing shuffle, here's my report on Crossroads 2022. Not quite as comprehensive as in years past, but then I'm afraid I found much less to like than in previous editions. 202...
2022-09-16 04:02:34 +0000 UTC View Post
In addition to firing off angry film critiques to the editor of your favo(u)rite Canadian magazine, I'm also doing a few longer pieces for InReview Online. Here come those links!
2022-09-16 03:58:35 +0000 UTC
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TIFF WAVELENGTHS 2022
Mazzolo is one of the most intellectually provocative filmmakers currently working in Argentina, a nation with a proud and significant history when it comes t...
2022-09-08 18:24:50 +0000 UTC View Post
TIFF WAVELENGTHS 2022
In recent years, the great British avant-documentarian Ben Rivers has been making a considerable amount of collaborative work. Always intent on learning more ...
2022-09-08 17:17:03 +0000 UTC View Post
Once again, I am not attending. While this has mostly to do with discomfort with the prospect of getting Covid in what could possibly becomes a super-spreader event, it's also not the most tantalizing li...
2022-09-07 03:46:42 +0000 UTC View Post
This is a Bresson film that doesn't get as much play as it should, mostly because it hasn't been restored yet. (Word is, it's coming soon.) But even while watching it, I wavered. Is this major or minor Bresson?...
In addition to watching and writing reviews for the various fall festivals (TIFF, NYFF, Crossroads), this is also the time of year when I start scouting films for my November program at the Ho...
2022-08-30 18:12:36 +0000 UTC View Post