Dispatches from Cannes 2011: #1: Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris
DATELINE CANNES, May 13, 2011: When watching Woody Allen movies in the past, I was always reminded of a remark John Updike makes of one of his characters: “He thought[…]
Category: Festivals & Awards
Asian · Comedy · Festivals & Awards
The New-Style Comedy: Wai Ka-Fai and the Hong Kong International Film Festival (2011)
“This wonderfully flexible approach to movie-making explains why Wai and To’s films seem so alive to every implication — unlike most current U.S. comedies, where directors carefully steer around obstacles and pretend not to notice flaws in the set-up.”
Directors · Festivals & Awards
A Handful of Keepers: The 40th New Directors/New Films Festival
“Kudos to the Vegas for showing not only the grimness of hustling, but also the ordinariness. As Clemente dresses, his middle-aged, matronly partner puts on her reading glasses to count the cash.”
Cinemas of Poetry and Violence: The 40th International Film Festival Rotterdam (2010)
Rotterdam’s edge is intact despite increasing hints of commercialism
Ac-Ac-Academy Notes
It’s an award show full of lost speech, from the literal stroke of Kirk Douglas to the stutters and confusion of presenters and recipients, to the SPEECH itself. reminding us[…]
Festivals & Awards · Lists · Reviews
Ten from 2010: Jacob Mikanowski: Selections from the Chicago and Warsaw International Film Festivals
#7: “A family drama about the dangers of beekeeping.”
Documentaries · Festivals & Awards
Werner Herzog & Errol Morris Headline DOC NYC Fest at IFC Center
DOC NYC, a new documentary festival that runs from November 3-9, features more than 40 films, U.S. premieres, tributes, and appearances, among them both Errol Morris and Werner Herzog. Films[…]
I’m Not There: The 2010 Melbourne International Film Festival
“The Killer Inside Me recalls the novel and film of American Psycho, in which a handsome killer unleashes three-dimensional violence on an otherwise banal society.” Puzzling, singular, and downright whacked, Francis Ford[…]
Movie Love: The First TCM Classic Film Festival
“Standing in line ahead of someone was enough to start such a friendship.”
Heavy Hitter in a Delicate Balance: The 48th New York Film Festival
Despite concessions to commerce, much to admire
Documentaries · Festivals & Awards
Illuminating the Interior: The DOC NYC Festival Debut
Boasting Werner Herzog and Errol Morris, fest sets a high standard
Activist & Political · Festivals & Awards
Cinema, Virginity, and Swans: The Abu Dhabi International Film Festival 2010
“For a brief week or two, adventurous filmgoers can capture elusive truths found in works of complexity, moral ambiguity, and seriousness of purpose, all uncensored.”
Russia, Godard, Frankenstein – Era New Horizons 2010
I recently got back from a few days at the Era New Horizons Film Festival in Wrocaw. When I was there, most of the excitement centered on Xavier Beauvois’ Of[…]
Festivals & Awards · LGBT & Queer
History, Herstory, Our Story: The 2010 QDoc International Film Festival in Portland, Oregon
“She had a lot of action inside!”
Love, or Something Close to It: Four Films from the 50th Thessaloniki International Film Festival
“There is always some madness in love; but, there is always some reason in madness.” — Nietzsche
The Sound of Silence: The 2010 San Francisco Silent Film Festival
“Even the most obscure titles drew impressive crowds, and the premiere events boasted sold-out houses.”
Festivals & Awards · TV & Streaming
MTV 2010: You’ll Believe a Big Fat “Bleeep” Can Fly
And how can you not love that Tom Cruise has made the foul-mouthed coked-up Jewish producer-type into a stock comic expression of nothing less than the highest level of Nietzschean ubermenschood in the form of his TROPIC THUNDER role, Les Grossman?
Documentaries · Festivals & Awards
Warsaw Doc Festival
The Miscreants of Taliwood, dir. George Gittoes Nénette, dir. Nicolas Philibert I recently spent a week at the Warsaw Documentary Film Festival. The two films that made the deepest impression[…]
Tout Ne Va Pas Bien: Rendez-vous with French Cinema 2010
“Vestiges of French customs and family life remain throughout these films, yet their concerns testify to a rapidly shifting society.”
New Directors / New Films 2010
The unpredictable, occasionally thrilling New Directors / New Films fest opens in New York City today. Locals are, of course, the immediate beneficiaries of this annual collaboration between the Film[…]
