TÁR (Todd Field, 2022)
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' re...
2022-11-17 20:47:05 +0000 UTC View Post
msicism posts
Slaughterhouses of Modernity (Heinz Emigholz, 2022)
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, wh...
2022-11-16 05:45:19 +0000 UTC View PostHoly Spider (Ali Abbasi, 2022)
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...
2022-11-16 04:59:39 +0000 UTC View Post45th Parallel (Lawrence Abu Hamran, 2022)
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 ...
2022-11-09 04:51:13 +0000 UTC View PostTwo Minor Entries
Causeway (Lily Neugebauer, 2022)
Considering the backlog of viewing I have at this point, there's really no excuse for ...
2022-11-07 23:48:07 +0000 UTC View PostNope (Jordan Peele, 2022)
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 t...
2022-11-05 02:38:43 +0000 UTC View PostCorsage (Marie Kreutzer, 2022)
Corsage is eminently watchable, but the fact it's being considered one of the year's major achievements is frankly mind-boggling.
... 2022-11-04 02:56:11 +0000 UTC View PostDetective vs. Sleuths (Wai Ka-fai, 2022)
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 mak...
2022-10-29 00:49:20 +0000 UTC View PostSpeaking Directly...
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....
2022-10-28 04:50:32 +0000 UTC View PostA Woman Escapes (Sofia Bohdanowicz, Burak Çevik, and Blake Williams, 2022)
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 so...
2022-10-25 03:29:42 +0000 UTC View PostStars at Noon (Claire Denis, 2022)
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, weig...
2022-10-22 04:21:59 +0000 UTC View PostNobody's Hero (Alain Guiraudie, 2022)
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 ...
2022-10-19 02:26:37 +0000 UTC View PostAftersun (Charlotte Wells, 2022)
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 so...
2022-10-15 18:11:39 +0000 UTC View PostHuman Flowers of Flesh (Helena Wittmann, 2022)
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...
2022-10-14 01:45:47 +0000 UTC View PostThree Tidy Tigers Tied a Tie Tighter (Gustavo Vinagre, 2022)
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...
2022-10-10 04:21:42 +0000 UTC View PostConfess, Fletch (Greg Mottola, 2022)
A breezy comedy with snappy dialogue? In this economy? Obviously Paramount thought no, unceremoniously dumping Confess...
2022-10-05 20:43:10 +0000 UTC View PostExhibition (Mary Helena Clark, 2022)
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...
2022-10-01 03:36:17 +0000 UTC View PostStonewalling (Huang Ji and Ryuji Otsuka, 2022)
Here are the basic deets, per my Viennale catalogue entry:
"In their second collaboration, Ryuji Otsuka and Huang Ji offer a complex, heartrending ...
2022-09-30 02:38:09 +0000 UTC View PostThree Thousand Years of Longing (George Miller, 2022)
It's interesting that right now, George Miller and Baz Luhrmann are the two preeminent Australian directors on the scene, because they both have hi...
2022-09-25 03:38:28 +0000 UTC View PostYou Have to Come and See It (Jónas Trueba, 2022)
Here's my Viennale catalogue description:
Jónas Trueba follows his monumental study of Spanish youth, 2021’s Who’s Stopping Us, with ...
2022-09-22 17:29:13 +0000 UTC View Post"And All I'm Gonna Be Is Mean...."
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
EVENTIDE (Sharon Lockhart, 2022)
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 ...
2022-09-17 04:47:17 +0000 UTC View PostCrossroads 2022: Back to Basics
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 foun...
2022-09-16 04:02:34 +0000 UTC View Post2022? TIFF YOU! (final)
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 Onlin...
2022-09-16 03:58:35 +0000 UTC View Post
The Newest Olds (Pablo Mazzolo, 2022)
TIFF WAVELENGTHS 2022
Mazzolo is one of the most intellectually provocative filmmakers currently working in Argentina, a nation wi...
2022-09-08 18:24:50 +0000 UTC View PostAfter Work (Céline Condorelli and Ben Rivers, 2022)
TIFF WAVELENGTHS 2022
In recent years, the great British avant-documentarian Ben Rivers has been making a considerable amount of c...
2022-09-08 17:17:03 +0000 UTC View PostAnother Tiffing Year (Updated 9/15 - final)
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-spr...
2022-09-07 03:46:42 +0000 UTC View PostFour Nights of a Dreamer (Robert Bresson, 1971)
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 watch...
Unmaking the Grade
In addition to watching and writing reviews for the various fall festivals (TIFF, NYFF, Crossroads), this is also the time of year when I star...
2022-08-30 18:12:36 +0000 UTC View Post