msicism

The Tragedy of Macbeth (Joel Coen, 2021)

"It's the Scottish play, whaddya need, a roadmap?"

Joel Coen's take on Macbeth was one of the few major-auteur films from 2021 that I stil...

Sundown (Michel Franco, 2021)

While watching Sundown, I was convinced for about an hour that, against all odds, Michel Franco had ...

Flash Poll: Wrapping 2021

Now that the semester is over, I want to prioritize finishing off the major films from last year. As per usual, I will eventually see all the films from ...

Electra, My Love (Miklós Jancsó, 1974)

This appears to be the point at which Jancsó descends into silliness, but Electra, My Love is by no means without interest. Here Jancsó abjure...

Silence and Cry (Miklós Jancsó, 1968)

Interiors!

With Silence and Cry, it seems Jancsó was trying something different, and the results are mixed. The primary themes are still ...

Red Psalm (Miklós Jancsó, 1972)

Happy May Day!

While Red Psalm is a far cry from the triumph of The Red and the White, is does depict Jancsó's art at a particul...

May Poll

We are not quite done with Jancsó. But let's go on and set the course for the merry, merry month of May.

This time, I am including directors with ...

The Red and the White (Miklós Jancsó, 1967)

Often, the great modernists were forced to devise a new formal approach to their art in order to fully accommodate the subject matter they wanted to expl...

Putting It Together: Two Avant-Garde Films

The Red Thread (Larry Gottheim, 1987)

Thanks to Max Proctor's wonderful 2022-04-25 04:08:00 +0000 UTC View Post

Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan (Chor Yuen, 1972)

In 2013, avant-garde filmmaker Shambhavi Kaul produced a short film called Mount Song. It consisted of isolated, moonlit village scenes, often c...

Robe of Gems (Natalia López Gallardo, 2022)

If you are not familiar with the work of Natalia López Gallardo, the opening sequence of Robe of Gems, her feature directing debut, will help y...

Fabian: Going to the Dogs (Dominik Graf, 2021)

Nothing in Dominik Graf's latest film is as exciting as its first ten minutes. In the opening sequence of Fabian, Graf and cinematographer Hanno...

Feathers (Omar El Zohairy, 2021)

Based on the little bit I'd read about Feathers (the 2021 Cannes Critics' Week winner), I expected a comedy. And I suppose an argument could be ...

A Couple of Recent Views

Grandma's House (Sophy Romvari, 2018)

I watched this, along with the somewhat more straightforward Nine Behind (2016), on...

The Wilkinson Household Fire Alarm (Morgan Fisher, 1973)

Morgan Fisher is an unusual figure in experimental cinema. While his work is clearly aligned with the concepts and procedures of structuralism, he isn't ...

Variations on a Cellophane Wrapper (David Rimmer, 1970)

This is a bit of classic as far as Canadian structural film goes, although it isn't shown all that much these days. (A few years ago, TIFF Wavelengths pr...

Agnus Dei (Miklós Jancsó, 1971)

Obviously it's a bit premature to make any grand declarations about Jancsó, seeing as I've only seen three of his films, one so long ago I can barely re...

The City and the City (Christos Passalis and Syllas Tzoumerkas, 2022)

A film that is far more interesting than successful, The City and the City more than lives down to its odd, elliptical title. It seems that its ...

The Round-Up (Miklós Jancsó, 1966)

The first of Jancsó's films to really break through in the West, The Round-Up seems to suggest things to come. The film is explicitly about the...

The Cathedral (Ricky D'Ambrose, 2021)

Often we follow filmmakers who show continued promise, but for whatever reason are unable to bring their talent and vision to the next level. So it's inc...

Welcome to the Yawn Show

Miklós Jancsó, that is! The Hungarian master, who shone brightly in the 60s and 70s, fell out of favor in the 80s, and is now making a comebac...

April Director of the Month Poll

In Reverse

So I've been swamped with work this semester, and I am not getting to write as much here as I'd like to. In light of this, I have decided to make some mi...

The Novelist's Film (Hong Sangsoo, 2022)

Once again giving the lie to the common claim that all Hong films are the same, The Novelist's Film pointedly demonstrates the formal limitation...

Azor (Andreas Fontana, 2021)

One of 2021's standout debut films, Azor is a meticulous and frustrating experience. Loosely patterned on Heart of Darkness -- even end...

Master (Mariama Diallo, 2022)

[NOTE: This review contains spoilers.]

In his review for the 2014 comedy Let's Be Cops, 2022-03-26 01:51:38 +0000 UTC View Post

Jackass Forever (Jeff Tremaine, 2022)

1.

2.

2022-03-24 23:49:10 +0000 UTC View Post

Losing Ground (Kathleen Collins, 1982)

There's no getting around the historical importance of Losing Ground, it being the second feature film directed by a Black woma...

Three Floors (Nanni Moretti, 2021)

Moretti's latest is bizarre. The film hurtles from incident to incident, almost as if an entire season of some middling prestige-TV entry had been edited...

Lingui (Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, 2021)

Chad's leading auteur -- perhaps the country's only regularly working director -- has never been known for his subtlety. Haroun has a particular m.o., wh...