Dolemite Is My Name (Craig Brewer, 2019)
The 1970s were an interesting time, to say the least. I recall my parents sending me out of the room so they could listen to filthy Richard Pryor records...
2019-11-24 18:44:49 +0000 UTC View Post
msicism posts
Zombi Child (Bertrand Bonello, 2019)
A perplexing film in that it is so simple and direct, you could come away thinking perhaps you missed something, some mitigating nuance that would make t...
2019-11-23 23:49:30 +0000 UTC View Post2008 (Blake Williams, 2019)
It's always a bit awkward to write about the work of friends, but as I've no doubt mentioned before, it's an occupational hazard when it comes to the ava...
2019-11-23 21:09:01 +0000 UTC View PostCavalcade (Johann Lurf, 2019)
Going through the files to catch up with 2019 experimental films that have somehow escaped me, I found this treat from the always-interesting Johann Lurf...
2019-11-18 02:22:22 +0000 UTC View PostCityscape (Michael Snow, 2019)
About five hours ago, I have the pleasure of seeing Michael Snow's latest film Cityscape at Rice Cinema, in a program I curated. I'll be honest;...
2019-11-18 00:35:13 +0000 UTC View PostThe Whistlers (Corneliu Porumboiu, 2019)
All in all, La Gomera really is a better title for this film. That's Porumboiu's original title, named for the name of the Canary Island w...
2019-11-16 17:37:46 +0000 UTC View PostThe Red Album, or a Poetic Intent (Miryam Charles, 2019)
The second (and far more interesting) of two short films I've discovered this year by Canadian filmmaker Miryam Charles, The Red Album, or a Poetic I...
2019-11-14 03:30:42 +0000 UTC View PostWhat I've Been Up To (in case you're curious)
I have been toiling away on my PhD. dissertation prospectus. Yes, against all odds, I have been given one more chance to complete my doctorate at Berkele...
2019-11-12 16:13:15 +0000 UTC View PostWasteland No. 2: Hardy, Hearty (Jodie Mack, 2019)
One of the true pleasures of being a film critic is when you are in the midst of a truly great artist who is in their creative prime. It doesn't happen a...
2019-11-10 20:03:01 +0000 UTC View PostAnne at Thirteen Thousand Feet (Kazik Radwanski, 2019)
(First of all, memo to Mike D'Angelo for future reference: the title above appears onscreen, in contrast to the numerals and abbreviations used in the "o...
2019-11-10 03:05:58 +0000 UTC View PostLight From Light (Paul Harrill, 2019)
Here's an instance in which I wish I'd kept better notes, and why I now try to write a little something about almost everything I see. I watched Paul Har...
2019-11-05 17:01:20 +0000 UTC View PostThe Wild Goose Lake (Diao Yinan, 2019)
"Overcorrection," my driver's ed teacher called it. Cannes, having made the mistake of keeping Bi Gan's dreamy but meticulous Long Day's Journey into...
2019-11-04 16:28:24 +0000 UTC View PostEl Camino (Vince Gilligan, 2019)
Well, I was supposed to watch The Wild Goose Lake, as per your instructions, and I will either today or tomorrow. But sometimes you need to watc...
2019-11-03 17:22:59 +0000 UTC View PostI Was a Bad Boy...
...so Twitter has put me in a time-out. I'll spend this twelve hours thinking about how Twitter is a waste of time, and also, how an offer of fellatio is...
2019-10-31 23:04:23 +0000 UTC View Post
Joker (Todd Phillips, 2019)
Astute readers will have already sussed out the pattern: having caught up with this year's winners at Cannes (Parasite) and Berlin (Synonyms...
2019-10-25 05:04:00 +0000 UTC View PostSynonyms (Nadav Lapid, 2019)
A very strange film, Synonyms is obviously being mistaken for a good film in many quarters, so much so that it won the Golden Bear in Berlin ove...
2019-10-24 16:18:23 +0000 UTC View PostParasite (Bong Joon-ho, 2019)
Bong Joon-ho's Parasite is a very rare film. It is timely, it seems to have emerged from the deep psychology of a culture in crisis, but without...
2019-10-23 01:59:35 +0000 UTC View PostColor-Blind (Ben Russell, 2019)
In its own way Color-Blind is one of Ben Russell's most challenging films. It certainly offers much in the way of pure sensual pleasure. Shot be...
2019-10-22 22:14:18 +0000 UTC View PostPlease Give Less Generously
Hello, my friends. It's been too long.
And that's the problem. This semester has been a real killer. I stupidly (well, greedily) took on seven cour...
2019-10-21 00:59:02 +0000 UTC View PostDear Babylon (Ayo Akingbade, 2019)
This is British filmmaker Ayo Akingbade's third film in a trilogy about social housing. I have only seen the first film in the series, 2019-10-15 20:46:23 +0000 UTC View Post
Mister America (Eric Notarnicola, 2019)
As a feature film, Mister America would be, one assumes, a logical entry point for the large and interlocking Tim Heidecker Project, which has e...
2019-10-14 17:17:22 +0000 UTC View PostTwo New-ish Films by Ephraim Asili
For the past two days, we were very fortunate to have Ephraim Asili visiting Houston presenting his work, through a joint effort of Aurora Picture Show a...
2019-10-13 06:15:22 +0000 UTC View PostFast Color (Julia Hart, 2018)
As time goes on, if future audiences discover Fast Color, one of the defining aspects of the film will be that it was largely ignored because it...
2019-10-08 03:22:44 +0000 UTC View PostThe Mafia is No Longer What It Used to Be (Franco Maresco, 2019)
Franco Maresco is a filmmaker I'm shamefully behind on, and so his newest film seemed like a good place to start catching up. He doesn't have a huge inte...
2019-10-02 02:12:43 +0000 UTC View PostAbout Endlessness (Roy Andersson, 2019)
In its own strange way, About Endlessness feels like an epilogue to Roy Andersson's grand trilogy, which in part explains its somewhat abbreviat...
2019-10-01 03:06:39 +0000 UTC View Post...And That's a Promise!!
Sorry, it's been insane around here. Reviews of the Roy Andersson and Franco Maresco in eight hours or so. Thanks for your patience.
2019-09-30 04:14:27 +0000 UTC View PostMonos (Alejandro Landes, 2019)
Essentially an exploitation film that doesn't have the courage of its convictions, Alejandro Landes' third film is redolent with high-art atmosphere, muc...
2019-09-23 04:13:28 +0000 UTC View Post
Two Recent Films by Friedl vom Gröller
I have been working, on and off, on a project that I have tentatively called "Small Films." The premise of this project is that there are certain filmmak...
2019-09-20 21:54:43 +0000 UTC View Post