Clik here to view.
Interview: Gia Coppola
“If it’s all going to be over anyway, then why does it matter?” Teddy, one of the tortured teens in Gia Coppola’s debut feature Palo Alto muses to his peers. It’s a cool evening in central California...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Bombast: Revenge
If we try to pinpoint cinema’s favorite vice, the contest isn’t particularly close. I’ve taken the liberty of sketching out a hierarchy of star billing for the mortal sins, based on how often they are...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Interview: Hubert Sauper
Hubert Sauper is a very charming man. His methods of engagement—eye contact, attentiveness, enthusiasm, easy laughter and self-deprecation—seem genuine, but they’re also invariably useful in his line...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Stanley Film Festival
Last year I walked away from the Stanley Film Festival questioning whether the brand-new high-profile horror affair was more about its fabled, supposedly haunted location than a serious love for the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Festivals: Istanbul
The Istanbul Film Festival, which held its 33rd edition in April, presents a formidably comprehensive showcase of Turkish cinema. In addition to the main competition, the programming is a good way to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Film of the Week: Godzilla
I have a vague—possibly imagined—memory of a Marvel Comics monster story from the early Sixties, the premise going something like this. Civilization is threatened by the menace of a gigantic ant,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Kaiju Shakedown: King Hu’s The Battle of Ono
A rustle of silk, a flash of steel, and a swordswoman flutters out of the sky and alights on a tree limb that bends gracefully beneath her feet. This is the image most people associate with wuxia,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Film Comment News Digest: 5/12/14
When we last checked, Abdellatif Kechiche was thinking about doing an update of Héloïse & Abélard. Scratch that—now his next project is The Real Wound. Let’s hope he sticks to his plans this time....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Cannes Diary #1
In recent years, the Cannes Film Festival has weathered considerable criticism for failing to welcome female filmmakers. Yesterday, two women made their mark in the press yesterday: competition jury...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Bombast: This Print Could be Your Life
Liquid Sky Last week, for the second year, I attended one of the best regional festivals that I know of in America, the Maryland Film Festival. There were two 35mm projections on the schedule, both of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Cleaning out the Closet: Fassbinder’s Fashion
Style can refer to any number of onscreen elements, but even at a glance, it’s easy to recognize a hallmark of the Fassbinder aesthetic: his characters really look like characters. They are...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Fassbinder A to Z
Rainer Werner Fassbinder was the juggernaut of the German New Wave—a writer, director, actor, producer, editor (as Franz Walsch), and occasional art director and DP who made 40 features in barely a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Cannes Diary #2
Early on in Bertrand Bonello’s new film Saint Laurent, a vibrant portrait of the acclaimed fashion designer, the eponymous character comes out of the closet. Yves Saint Laurent is naked and slightly...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Cannes Diary #3
David Cronenberg places Robert Pattinson in a limousine once again. In 2012’s Cosmopolis the actor appeared as a passenger, but for the Canadian auteur’s Cannes competition entry, Maps to the Stars,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Cannes Diary #4
The description of the film is simple enough: a woman (Marion Cotillard) has one weekend to convince her co-workers to sacrifice a pay raise so that she can keep her job. Simple but scathing, quiet...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Fassbinder Diary #1: Love Is Colder Than Death
Love Is Colder Than Death is a striking title—dour and grandiose in a way that invites thoughts of black-clad chain-smoking art students. Fassbinder’s 1969 debut feature lives up to its name—which...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Kaiju Shakedown: Dream Projects at HAF
Mother Film festivals are full of financing forums where invited directors pitch projects to investors and co-producers, but as far as I’m concerned the best of the bunch is Hong Kong’s HAF (Hong Kong...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Cannes Roundtable #1
Wild Tales Gavin Smith: Let’s start with introducing everybody: Scott Foundas, chief film critic, Variety; Todd McCarthy, chief film critic, The Hollywood Reporter; Wesley Morris, Grantland; and Marco...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Cannes Diary #5
Xavier Dolan is no stranger to the Cannes Film Festival: four of his five feature films have had their premieres here. But it’s his latest, Mommy, that seems to be stirring the sort of excitement...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Film of the Week: The Tribe
Critics on the Croisette are often expected by their outlets to file a roundup piece declaring that they’ve just seen “the best Cannes ever” or “the worst Cannes ever.” But there’s little...
View Article