A Woman’s Freedom: Dark Victory vs. Now, Voyager
This comparison shows Dark Victory to be conservative, and Now, Voyager to be liberal, on the question of how women can achieve lasting satisfaction. Of course, in Dark Victory one[…]
Trash and Masochism: The Transcendent Aesthetics of Dungeon of Harrow
“. . . a jewel with facets of disease running all through it.” – Lester Bangs * * * It was once said that the real heroes of 18th-century writer[…]
She-Gods, Gangsters, and Gunslingers: The “New Woman” in the Early Films of Roger Corman
As part of their liberation from convention, Corman empowers female characters with choices both real and metaphorical. Even a common love triangle can represent female empowerment, with the choice between[…]
Franchises & Series · Superheroes
Avengers: Endgame; or Looking Ahead to 2016, the Liberal Fantasy Redo
This is all to say that Endgame is more interested in fantasy outcomes than solving the problems it gives itself. It promises us a future more bearable than our present[…]
Actors & Personalities · Hollywood
“Newest Ideas about Brain Power”: Hair Color and Jean Harlow, Hollywood’s Platinum Blonde
INTRODUCTION Jean Harlow (1911-1937), born Harlean Carpenter, rose to screen fame in the early 1930s playing characters with an unaffected, uninhibited, spontaneous sexuality. [See Figure 1.] Dubbed the “Platinum Blonde”[…]
Donald Trump: Lynchian Monster
“We’ve met before, haven’t we?” – The Mystery Man in Lost Highway * * * David Lynch is not a horror director. With the possible exception of Eraserhead, his films[…]
FOLLOW-UP 6/19/19: The Lillian Gish/Bowling Green State University Controversy
Note: We don’t normally run press releases, but we’ve been close to the issue of Bowling Green State University’s removal of the names of Dorothy and Lillian Gish from the[…]
A Fine Romance: When Love Neither Leaves nor Stays
But goes on being itself * * * True Love in cinema is more than fine acting, well-written scripts, or even directorial tone. Not that IMDb cast and crew should[…]
Sexual Politics: On Olivier Assayas’s Non-Fiction
What interests me (and I suspect, Assayas) is not so much the substance of these dinner table debates, which tend to move in predictable repeating circles, as their texture. People[…]
The Birth of Night Moves: Alan Sharp on the Edge of America
The movie’s reviews were mixed, and it failed to make a profit in the summer of 1975. . . . but Night Moves has gone on to be recognised as[…]
Drama · Music & Musicals · War
Singing in the Rubble: A Musical Map of the Cold War in Paweł Pawlikowski’s Cold War
Suddenly jazz became a major taboo in Soviet society until Stalin’s death. In Western Europe, by contrast, mainly in Paris, jazz took off after the Nazis’ defeat in the hues[…]
Actors & Personalities · Commentary · Silents
Political Correctness Run Amok: Life and Lillian Gish at Bowling Green State University, Ohio
Those who affect a superior attitude toward a great artist such as Lillian Gish are not only ignorant of our cultural heritage but stubbornly unaware that art usually comes from[…]
Dispatch from Tribeca #6: Framing John DeLorean
Why hasn’t there been a biopic of John DeLorean, whose life, as his son Zachary says in the documentary Framing John DeLorean, has all the elements for a rip-snorter: “It’s[…]
Dispatch from Tribeca #5: Lucky Grandma
“Lucky Grandma,” says Claire Baiz in her fifth Tribeca dispatch, “features richly layered characters in director Sasie Sealy’s homage to Chinatown that make this universal tale both reassuring and groundbreaking.”[…]
Dispatch from Tribeca #4: Standing Up, Falling Down
In her fourth report from the Tribeca Film Festival, Claire Baiz looks at first-time feature director Matt Ratner’s intriguing family drama Standing Up, Falling Down, which, as a thoughtful film[…]
African American · Documentaries · Sports
Dispatch from Tribeca #3: What’s My Name (on Muhammad Ali)
Muhammad Ali was one of the great cultural figures of the 20th century, and of course, one of its most brilliant and inspiring sports figures, equally adept in the ring[…]
Activist & Political · Documentaries
Dispatch from Tribeca 2019 #2: Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project
Herewith (we love that word) is our second dispatch from the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival, brought to you by our correspondent Claire Baiz, who will be filing dispatches on some[…]
Documentaries · Festivals & Awards · Sound & Language
Dispatch from Tribeca 2019 #1: Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound
Herewith we begin our coverage of the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival, courtesy of our intrepid reporter Claire Baiz, who will be filing dispatches on some of the more worthy entries[…]
Composers · Historical & Epic · Reviews · Silents
Getting It Right the Second Time: Adapting Ben-Hur for the Screen
This is an updated and revised version of Gordon Thomas’s article first posted in Bright Lights in May 2006, reposted to celebrate Easter. * * * Bigger is better this[…]
LGBT & Queer · Music & Musicals
Bonjour, Paris! Musical Conventions in Les Chansons d’amour (2007, Christophe Honoré)
Les Chansons d’amour is unusual because of the realism of its characters, setting and story; the film has little dance and no big production numbers, but it is a musical.[…]
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