Mother to the Man? Rethinking Luc Besson’s Léon
Age is just a number I was both enchanted and disturbed by viewing Léon again today. Luc Besson’s film has undoubted charm, and the performances, especially by the precocious Natalie[…]
Made in China: Jennifer Baichwal and Edward Burtynsky on Their Travels Across Manufactured Landscapes
“We’ve created a world that buffers us from nature.” In the past few years, there has been a healthy emission of premium-grade eco-conscious documentaries — Darwin’s Nightmare, Our Daily Bread,[…]
“Give My Love to the Sunrise” The Lady from Shanghai
Welles bids farewell to Hayworth and Hollywood With Wong Kar Wai’s remake of The Lady from Shanghai (1948) set for release in 2008, it is a fitting time to re-evaluate[…]
Whose Noir Is It, Anyway? Robert Aldrich’s Kiss Me Deadly
Mike Hammer deconstructed, or Mike Hammer disrespected? Back in the day — way, way back in the day, when life in America was not a total girlie show — Americans[…]
IMAX – The Bigger Picture: Everything New Is Old Again
Superman, we need you! The BFI London IMAX is an ever-present background entity to all those who leave Waterloo Station and descend the steps into the city. Since its erection[…]
Reflecting the Theoretical Beyond: The Quay Brothers Talk About Art, Life, and The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes
“It’s hard to be intuitive when you’ve got 42 crew behind you and they’re like, ‘Look, they don’t know what to do here. They’re panicking, look at them!’” Introduction Ever[…]
The Poisoned Story: The Myth of Magic in Wait ‘Til You’re Older
“Even the least imaginative people are incredulous about aging: surely this isn’t the only story, the only body I get to inhabit.” To start off, Hong Kong films may not[…]
Will the Shark Bite? G. W. Pabst and The Threepenny Opera
“Macheath: I’m not asking you to put on an opera.” ~ Bertolt Brecht, The Threepenny Opera, Act 1, scene 2 Down the crooked lanes of London, gangster Mackie Messer stalks a[…]
Colleen Moore Comes Back: On the Rediscovered, Restored 1927 Rarity Her Wild Oat
“Go sit on a flagpole!” Film is inherently fragile, so no success story feels more impressive or heartening than the sudden reappearance of an artwork thought irretrievably lost in the[…]
The Devil Wears a Fatsuit: John Travolta in Hairspray
“Even if the new Hairspray seems a welcome return to camp for Travolta, his mock-seriousness is as frozen as ever.” When Hairspray was released in 1988, cult cinema fans lamented the softening[…]
Actors & Personalities · Directors · Reviews
Looking at Charlie — The Gold Rush: An Occasional Series on the Art and Life of Charlie Chaplin
Hats off, dudes! A masterpiece! The Gold Rush is Charlie Chaplin’s masterpiece — the one film in which his desire to make the audience laugh and the desire to make[…]
Imagine a Man in a Box: Berlin Alexanderplatz on DVD
“As the twig is bent, so grows the tree.” Rainer Werner Fassbinder was born in Bavaria in 1945, and made his first feature, Love Is Colder Than Death, in 1969[…]
Oh What a Lovely Jail: Crime Is Old, Crime Is New
Just Like Those Mind-Forged Manacles Blues A desire for revenge is a normal response to crime. Ask anyone who has just had his house burgled or car stolen. But there[…]
Bright Sights: Recent DVDs
An ongoing column that looks at some of the most intriguing of recent, under-the-radar releases The Valentino Collection (The Young Rajah, Moran of the Lady Letty, Stolen Moments, Society Sensation)[…]
“Ode to a Nectarite Harvest”: On Brand Upon the Brain!
Maddin at his most masochistic — and magical For a film as deliriously fecund and fittingly bizarre as Guy Maddin’s Brand Upon the Brain! (2006), declaring the well-deservedness of its[…]
Too Gay, or Not Gay Enough? Greg Mottola’s Superbad
The urge to merge with a splurge — story of my life Personally, I think it’s just wonderful if two young men want to hold hands and shout out their[…]
Covering the Cinema: On Wallpaper in Some Films
What first drew me to the back of the frame, to the thin membrane standing between setting and set? I think it must have been Jacques Demy’s Les Parapluies de[…]
Tonight, Invite Jessica
With DVDs coming out faster than we can watch them, there’s a whole range of great stuff to rent or buy tonight if you’ve no other plans, rent or buy[…]
Halloween Special – 31 Essential Horror Films
This is my ranked list of 31 Essential Horror Films culled from Ed Hardy, Jr.’s 183 Official Nominees for the 31 Flicks That Give You the Willies List. In keeping[…]
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