Flux Gourmet (Peter Strickland, 2022)
It took me a minute to catch up with Strickland's latest, for a number of tedious reasons. (It never opened here, of course. IFC kept sending me screener...
2022-08-30 05:17:54 +0000 UTC View Post
msicism posts
The Passengers of the Night (Mikhaël Hers, 2022)
Here's how I described the film for the Viennale catalogue:
Beginning with archival footage of celebrations following the election of François Mit...
2022-08-24 03:59:21 +0000 UTC View PostCooler Heads Prevail
So yeah. I've taken some time, and I feel like I have a more measured response to some recent events. And it seems worth sharing them with you, in case y...
2022-08-21 05:49:10 +0000 UTC View PostIndia Song (Marguerite Duras, 1975) (take two)
I had been under the mistaken impression that I'd seen India Song many years ago. I had a very bad VHS copy and now, having watching the version...
2022-08-21 05:12:57 +0000 UTC View PostIndia Song (Marguerite Duras, 1975)
10 Things I Prefer to Marguerite Duras:
-a bendy stras
-A Korean spas
-Quick Dras McGras
-broccoli slas
-"...
2022-08-20 06:58:57 +0000 UTC View Post
Fairytale (Aleksandr Sokurov, 2022)
Aleksandr Sokurov is a director typically perceived as having a distinctive style, a brand even. The work is thought of as being ponderous, grim, even a ...
2022-08-17 19:51:01 +0000 UTC View PostThe Adventures of Gigi the Law (Alessandro Comodin, 2022)
Following his well-liked (although unseen by me) Summer of Giacomo and his not quite as well-liked (and disliked by me) Happy Times Will Com...
2022-08-16 21:39:43 +0000 UTC View Post'Carno Knowledge
I reviewed a couple of Locarno competition titles for InReview Online. Here they are. Please excuse the formatting / kerning issues.
Tommy ...
2022-08-16 21:03:52 +0000 UTC View PostToo Many Ways to Be No. 1 (Wai Ka-fai, 1997)
Since Wai Ka-fai is "in the news" right now, owing to his very well-received new film Detective vs. Sleuths, I thought it was time to finally go...
2022-08-07 18:53:42 +0000 UTC View PostAgainst Time (Ben Russell, 2022)
Ben Russell's latest film is in part an expansion of his 2020 film What Distinguishes the Past, which was featured in this year's edition of Med...
2022-08-06 19:09:33 +0000 UTC View PostWhen There Is No More Music to Write, and Other Roman Stories (Éric Baudelaire, 2022)
This new featurette by Baudelaire is actually more of a compilation, comprised to two short films and the longer titular work, a documentary about experi...
2022-08-05 05:36:19 +0000 UTC View PostAfter Blue (Dirty Paradise) (Bertrand Mandico, 2021)
I have a soft spot for Bertrand Mandico. Granted, I have yet to really embrace his films. That's because they are, for lack of a better way to put it, at...
2022-08-05 02:57:17 +0000 UTC View PostTalking About the Weather (Annika Pinske, 2022)
This is a graduation film from a student at Berlin's dffb, and judging from the information in the credits, she worked closely with Maren Ade. This was m...
2022-08-04 19:18:22 +0000 UTC View PostThe Poll of Polls
Looking back, I see I have neglected to honor the dictates of a few earlier polls, including the 1972 films and a selection of semi-random, unseen films....
2022-08-03 11:01:05 +0000 UTC View PostA Summer's Tale (Éric Rohmer, 1996)
When I was a younger man, I was a complete idiot. This is not to say that I am some beacon of rationality and wisdom now. I'm sure I'll look back on thes...
2022-08-03 02:30:57 +0000 UTC View PostA little behind....
Hi folks, and thank you (once again) for your patronage, and your patience.
I'm behind on writing up the films I've seen, including a strong final ...
2022-08-02 04:14:04 +0000 UTC View PostRiotsville, USA (Sierra Pettengill, 2022)
A specter is haunting the world of documentary: the specter of the essay film.
Riotsville, USA is a good example of a film that might've b...
2022-07-27 20:16:03 +0000 UTC View PostThat Kind of Summer (Denis Côté, 2022)
My description for the Viennale:
The protagonists of Denis Côté’s films often live on the margins, having been cast aside because of psychologi...
2022-07-27 19:52:48 +0000 UTC View PostElvis (Baz Lurhmann, 2022)
Although Elvis is generally better than one might expect, it's strangely shapeless and ungainly. Luhrmann and his three co-scriptwriters have so...
2022-07-22 03:39:23 +0000 UTC View PostMother and Son (Léonor Serraille, 2022)
Here's what I wrote for the Viennale catalog description of this film:
Léonor Serraille follows her debut feature, the Camera d’Or winning J...
2022-07-22 03:03:34 +0000 UTC View PostIt Is Night In America (Ana Vaz, 2022)
In her longest film to date, Brazilian experimentalist Ana Vaz turns her attention to habitat encroachment in the city of Brasilia. It is an interesting ...
2022-07-20 02:29:32 +0000 UTC View PostThe Unstable Object II (Daniel Eisenberg, 2022)
Clocking in at just under 3 1/2 hours, The Unstable Object II bears the subtitle, "contributions to a future archive." And indeed, there is a co...
2022-07-18 04:56:35 +0000 UTC View PostWord (Beata Parkanová, 2022)
Depictions of life under totalitarianism tend to focus on dramatic instances, moments when someone either buckles under to compromise or, sticking to the...
2022-07-18 02:45:46 +0000 UTC View PostHit the Road (Panah Panahi, 2021)
Encroaching fascism keeps us perpetually off balance, always braced for the next punch in the gut. This state of anxiety has many side effects, one of th...
2022-07-15 02:00:58 +0000 UTC View PostThree Recent Experimental Films
Surface Rites (Ryan Ferko, Faraz Anoushahpor, Parastoo Anoushahpor, 2022)
The Canada-based law offices of Anoushahpour, Anoushahpo...
2022-07-12 04:28:58 +0000 UTC View PostSecrets & Lies (Mike Leigh, 1996)
Yes, I am only just now catching up with Mike Leigh's Palme d'Or winner, his biggest critical and commercial success Stateside so far. When it came out, ...
2022-07-10 02:46:39 +0000 UTC View PostLeonora Addio (Paolo Taviani, 2022)
This is a film I would have turned off well before the halfway mark, except for the fact that I have a weakness for old school auteurs. Despite it being ...
2022-07-06 03:31:09 +0000 UTC View PostMen (Alex Garland, 2022)
Having only read about Men and seen the trailer, I popped off on Twitter, as one does. I remarked that the film looked like the version of von T...
2022-07-04 02:18:28 +0000 UTC View PostThe Restless (Joachim Lafosse, 2021)
Belgian though he may be, Joachim Lafosse seems to fall into a particular category of French director whose work seems primarily designed to win Césars ...
2022-07-02 06:31:04 +0000 UTC View Post