My Night at Maud's (Éric Rohmer, 1969)
First things first: I'm sure my old friend Gabe Klinger would like me to point out that, for some reason, in the U.K. the film was released as My Night With 2022-06-30 03:58:06 +0000 UTC View Post
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Crimes of the Future (David Cronenberg, 2022)
In terms of my response to Crimes of the Future, I owe a significant debt to my friend Steve Carlson, whose comment on Twitter helped orient my viewing. Steve (who loves the film) suggested that...
2022-06-29 00:58:59 +0000 UTC View PostRRR (S. S. Rajamouli, 2022)
It's unusual for a popular Indian film to gain much critical or commercial traction in the U.S., apart from the Desi circuit, a parallel distribution network that occupies American multiplexes but is typ...
2022-06-28 02:00:34 +0000 UTC View PostPrometheus (Dominic Angerame, 2021)
In other writing, I've lamented the fact that so many showcases for experimental film have so fixated on discovering new talent that many old masters of the field have been left by the wayside. Recently ...
2022-06-23 02:35:55 +0000 UTC View PostClaire's Knee (Éric Rohmer, 1970)
Perhaps because Rohmer knew that La collectionneuse was too subtle for idiots like me, he thoughtfully made Claire's Knee, a film that is perfectly frank about the lechery of its leadin...
2022-06-23 01:47:35 +0000 UTC View PostBoth Sides of the Blade (Claire Denis, 2022)
This is an extremely difficult film to evaluate. I will state for the record that I did not enjoy watching it, although enjoyment is of course only one reaction that a work of art can provoke. What makes...
2022-06-21 01:44:30 +0000 UTC View PostThe Integrity of Joseph Chambers (Robert Machoian, 2022)
For In Review Online's Tribeca coverage:
"[...] As Joe treks through his best friend’s private ...
2022-06-19 05:57:55 +0000 UTC View PostMaria Schneider, 1983 (Elisabeth Subrin, 2022)
Elisabeth Subrin is a filmmaker who uses her art to make interventions into feminist theory. This was the challenge that Laura Mulvey posed in the early 70s when she wrote "Visual Pleasure and Narrative ...
2022-06-16 20:50:01 +0000 UTC View PostThe Tomb of Kafka (Jean-Claude Rousseau, 2022)
The more work I see by Jean-Claude Rousseau, the harder it is for me to pin him down. He is a bit of an anomaly in the contemporary film world. He makes short films and featurettes that are clearly exper...
2022-06-16 02:38:24 +0000 UTC View PostLa collectionneuse (Éric Rohmer, 1967)
[NOTE: Because a lot of things have taken me away from Patreon work this month, I am continuing to focus on Rohmer through July.]
Just out of curiosity, I went back over my screening logs to see ho...
2022-06-15 02:24:31 +0000 UTC View PostDe Humani Corporis Fabrica (Véréna Paravel and Lucien Castaing-Taylor, 2022)
TIFF WAVELENGTHS 2022
After the genre-redefining triumph that was Leviathan, Paravel and Castaing-Taylor took their Sensory Ethnography down a dead end street with Can...
2022-06-13 20:37:01 +0000 UTC View PostLetterboxing
Hey, just a note to say I watched a couple of recent films, and I didn't think I had a lot to say about them. So I did quick write-ups on Letterboxd instead of putting anything here.
To wit:
...
2022-06-10 03:50:25 +0000 UTC View PostVIVE LE DROIT!
So the Director of the Month for June is the one and only Éric Rohmer. So looking forward to getting down with this guy at long last.
Stay tuned...
2022-06-06 06:21:02 +0000 UTC View PostTwo People (Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1945)
Following the artistic triumph of Day of Wrath, Dreyer made Two People, a film that has a fairly shaky reputation. By some accounts the production was troubled; Dreyer apparently did no...
2022-06-06 06:02:30 +0000 UTC View PostWill-o'-the-Wisp (João Pedro Rodrigues, 2022)
TIFF WAVELENGTHS 2022
Since his feature film debut O Fantasma back in 2000, João Pedro Rodrigues has been one of the most protean filmmakers on the international scene. H...
2022-06-04 23:22:53 +0000 UTC View PostJune Director of the Month
This month, I want to be a bit more focused in my viewing. In light of this, I'm giving you a poll with a fairly limited slate of choices. This will probably not be a continuing thing.
2022-06-03 03:54:20 +0000 UTC View PostA Chiara (Jonas Carpignano, 2021)
If you are a filmmaker or group of filmmakers -- let's say, the Dardennes brothers -- the desire to combine a rough cinematic realism with contemporary sociopolitical problems is understandable. It allow...
2022-06-01 03:52:23 +0000 UTC View PostMichael (Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1924)
While it's difficult not to marvel at Michael's candor regarding same-sex attraction, specifically for a film made in 1924, it may be useful to place it in context. One of Dreyer's German films ...
2022-06-01 00:55:32 +0000 UTC View PostCannes Marginalia (Final)
At the end of 2021, I set it as a personal goal to attend Cannes this year. Like many of my personal goals, I failed to achieve it. I'll spare you the details.
However I am reviewing a few Cannes titles for In Review Online...
2022-05-27 03:18:32 +0000 UTC View PostPleasure (Ninja Thyberg, 2021)
Sometimes we want to explore the messiness of complex situations, the way that not every action, decision, or emotion falls in line with social or political orthodoxy. But that's not always possible. It ...
2022-05-24 04:34:05 +0000 UTC View PostJim Jennings (1951-2021)
One of the true unsung heroes of American experimental cinema, Jim Jennings has passed away, following a five-year mental and physical degeneration resulting from Alzheimer's. I will be writing a fairly ...
2022-05-21 17:58:59 +0000 UTC View PostParis, 13th District (Jacques Audiard, 2021)
There's nothing particularly wrong with Paris, 13th District (aka Les Olympiades). It has quite a lot going for it, actually. The black-and-white cinematography is crisp and dynamic, us...
2022-05-21 05:36:58 +0000 UTC View Post
Master of the House (Carl Th. Dreyer, 1925)
You know what? Women really do hold up half the sky!
There's nothing particularly complicated (or compelling) about this early Dreyer effort. It painstakingly details the plight of a famil...
2022-05-17 04:15:30 +0000 UTC View PostFresh (Mimi Cave, 2022)
[MILD SPOILERS]
Bless this movie's heart. Fresh is an attempt at psychological body-horror that is so besotted with its own dominant metaphor that it can't be bothered to do such basic thi...
2022-05-15 04:21:33 +0000 UTC View PostVortex (Gaspar Noé, 2021)
I cannot say I necessarily disagree with the conventional wisdom on Vortex. In most respects it is a fine film, and there's certainly no denying its technical excellence, especially when compare...
2022-05-15 03:57:43 +0000 UTC View PostCovering More (Prismatic) Ground
(Just a random-ass jawn for my Philly peeps.)
open sky / open sea / open ground (Martín Baus a...
2022-05-12 04:09:08 +0000 UTC View PostSome Brief Notes on.....
Although I was not able to completely devote my weekend to the Prismatic Ground online film festival -- a challenging and always intriguing selection of experimental documentaries -- I did get to sample ...
2022-05-11 06:08:26 +0000 UTC View PostX (Ti West, 2022)
Shakedown: 1979
Confession: I've never seen any of Ti West's other films, and so even though I spent a lot of X kind of wishing Rob Zombie had tackled the material instead, I even...
2022-05-07 04:58:46 +0000 UTC View PostVampyr (Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1932)
This is the one major Dreyer film I'd never seen, and wow, what an oversight. Made twelve years after The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Vampyr picks up the Expressionis...
2022-05-06 23:19:05 +0000 UTC View Post