Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival is a science fiction film dominated by ideas. His Blade Runner 2049 is a science fiction film dominated by imagery. Dune strikes me as the filmmaker’s attempt to mesh those two divergent approaches together into a singular … Continue reading Now Playing — Dune
Without You I’m Nothing (John Boskovich, 1990). Too much of an iconoclast to have an easy path in the world of entertainment, Sandra Bernhard had to make her own way. In the late nineteen-eighties, she mounted a one-woman stage show … Continue reading Then Playing — Without You I’m Nothing; Love Is Strange; The One and Only Dick Gregory
The Worst Person in the World lays out its structure at the very top. The film consists, viewers are informed, of a prologue, twelve chapters, and an epilogue. The table of contents presented, the film introduces Julie (Renate Reinsve), a … Continue reading Now Playing — The Worst Person in the World
The core conceit of Petite Maman emerges with gentle grace. A young family — mother, father, eight-year-old daughter — returns to a childhood home to clear out the belongings of a recently deceased relative. It is a somber affair, but … Continue reading Now Playing — Petite Maman
The Ascent (Larisa Shepitko, 1977). The fourth and final feature from Soviet director Larisa Shepitko is a powerhouse drama set during World War II. After Sotnikov (Boris Plotnikov) and Rybak (Vladimir Gostyukhin) are dispatched from their unit to seek desperately … Continue reading Then Playing — The Ascent; Love Field; Dune
Pure Nostalgia: The Oral History of ‘That Thing You Do!’ by Jake Kring-Schreifels Jake Kring-Schreifels draws a dream assignment: gathering reminiscences about Tom Hanks’s directorial debut, That Thing You Do! The considerable charm of the feature comes through in the … Continue reading Outside Reading — A Record Record Record? edition
These posts celebrate the movie trailers, movie posters, commercials, print ads, and other promotional material that stand as their own works of art. For a few weeks in the late summer and early fall of 1996, nothing made me happier … Continue reading The Art of the Sell — That Thing You Do trailer
Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser (Charlotte Zwerin, 1988). This documentary was released during that strange stretch when Clint Eastwood admirably leveraged his considerable influence with Warner Bros. to get the studio to make movies about jazz. Eastwood serves as producer … Continue reading Then Playing — Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser; Somewhere; Ladies in Retirement
I saw the documentary The Eyes of Tammy Faye upon its release, over twenty years ago. After a couple decades of mental erosion, I remember only one moment, but I remember it quite sharply. Unsurprisingly, it’s that exchange, in which … Continue reading Now Playing — The Eyes of Tammy Faye
Krane’s Confectionery (Astrid Henning-Jensen, 1951). Writer-director Astrid Henning-Jensen convincingly conveys the numbing misery of a provincial seamstress (Rønnaug Alten) who’s relied upon and disrespected by nearly everyone in her personal sphere, including her terminally ungrateful teenaged children (Toralv Maurstad and … Continue reading Then Playing — Krane’s Confectionery; Freaky; The Bride Came C.O.D.
