THE PEOPLE ISSUE
Film
Zaire ’74
Jeffrey Levy-Hinte’s Soul Power releases Zaire ’74 from the vault In its day, Zaire ’74 was in the same league as concerts like Woodstock, Monterrey Pop, and Altamont. Planned by renowned South African musician Hugh Masekela and producer Stewart Levine to accompany the legendary Ali-Foreman boxing match, “Rumble in the Jungle,” was a three-day concert that aimed [...]
An Axe to Grind
Davis Guggenheim and Three Generations of Rock Documentarian Davis Guggenheim gives a brief history of the electric guitar, as explored through the eyes of three rock goliaths in his latest feature film. To the careless observer, It Might Get Loud bears some of the ostensible trappings of what we’ve come to know as the “rockumentary.” [...]
Platinum Submarine Dreams
Guided by his own compass, Wyatt Cenac divines the humor in race, identity and ultra-wealthy jackasses There was a time when Wyatt Cenac worried that he might actually become a hobo. One might argue that he would have made a great (if not the greatest) hobo to walk the streets of Los Angeles. He’s gregarious, [...]
Into the Void
Tom DeCillo’s When You’re Strange resurrects Jim Morrison’s cosmic wandering myth. Tom DeCillo has never made a documentary film before. The New York-based director, who gave Brad Pitt his first leading role in the film Johnny Suede back in 1991, generally leans towards dreamy, darkly comedic filmmaking. Genre-jumping is no easy feat and directing a film [...]
Deconstructing Rudo Y Cursi
Carlos Cuarón unravels universal themes in the language of cinema’s new era. A fraternity of Mexican filmmakers is credited with ushering in a new cinematic movida, an epoch during which prescribed storytelling maxims have been dismantled and the visibility of Latin American films has swelled internationally. These men, of course, are Alfonso Cuarón, Guillermo del Toro [...]
Far From Tinseltown
The Berlinale bares the unadorned cinematic spirit The usually tame Potsdamer Platz came alive when journalists, film executives, and international A-listers descended upon Berlin’s quadrangle of theaters for the 59th annual Berlinale in February, one of Europe’s longest running international film festivals. While Berlin’s grey skies and frigid temperatures don’t leave much room for glamour [...]
Waltz With Bashir: A new direction in documentary film making
Text by Jesi Khadivi Waltz With Bashir impressively navigates the cross-currents of anguish, fantasy and war, all the while reminding us through the veil of post-traumatic reverie that war’s vagaries are very, very real. In the summer of 1982, Israeli soldiers invaded Southern Lebanon with the intent of “stabilizing” the civil war-torn country that was [...]
The Western
The Western: The American Genre. We could be heroes. (but why bother?) Gran Torino Text by David N. Meyer Westerns—once the American myth, America incarnate. Now, hardly relevant. Once it was easy to be a manly man; easy because Westerns told us how. A manly man never expressed emotion, never stopped until he achieved his [...]
Matteo Garone
Married to the Mob: Italian filmmaker Matteo Garrone shares his experience with making his harrowing yet brilliant film Gomorrah, as well as subverting the mafia genre Text by Adam Keleman “At the beginning, I was really worried to work in the ‘real’ territory,” filmmaker Matteo Garrone states, cautiously. He’s referring to the Italian region inhabited [...]
Parts of a Whole: Scenes that echo above the din
Text by Markus von Pfeiffer If we were each to stop and consider for a moment, or perhaps an hour, each of us who consider ourselves fans of cinema would be able to finger one scene, one moment in the multitudes, which resonates persistent above all. For me, it is the opening sequence to Ridley [...]
There’s Always Time for a Change: Brit Eddie Marsan on His Role in Mike Leigh’s New Film, Happy-Go-Lucky and How His “Strange” Looks Have Served Him Well
Text by Adam Keleman “You can never sell a film on me,” reveals a candid Eddie Marsan, one of the players in Mike Leigh’s new film Happy-Go-Lucky. “My job is not to be anybody. My job is for no one to know who Eddie Marsan is. My job is to be the out-of-focus best friend [...]
The Six Shooter Film Series: Bending, Perhaps Even Breaking International Genre-Driven Cinema
Text by Jesi Khadivi Feeling broody? Go see a cop film. Want to sleep with your lights on for a week? Check out the latest Saw movie or any of its myriad spin-offs. There’s an appropriate film genre for whatever emotion you’re looking to elicit. Historically produced on-the-cheap to screen as opening pictures for bigger [...]
A German Newcomer, A Veteran British Director Translate Bernhard Schlink’s Seminal WWII Novel The Reader to the Celluloid, One Page at a Time
Text by Heidi Atwal His youthful exterior consists of a rakish grin and kempt blonde locks, but in The Reader, German newcomer David Kross displays degrees of dramatic lyricism to rival that of a seasoned actor twice his 18 years. Kross plays opposite Kate Winslet in the film adaptation of Bernhard Schlink’s best-selling novel. The [...]
Meet Me in Mumbai
Up-and-coming actress, Freida Pinto, talks about her new movie Slumdog Millionaire and her experience with the slum kids in the ever-crowded streets of Mumbai, India Text by Adam Keleman Freida Pinto, one of the stars of Danny Boyle’s awarding-winning new film, Slumdog Millionaire, is stuck in heavy traffic on a blisteringly hot night in her [...]
The Changing Tide of Indie Film Distribution
Is this the end of everything we know? Medicine for Melancholy Text by Andrew Rogers With a global economic meltdown afoot, wars involving American soldiers raging on two continents and a landmark presidential race entering the home stretch, it might seem trivial to spend much time thinking about the state of independent film. But then [...]
The Evolution of Ramin Bahrani
Text by Andrew Rodgers Writer-Director Ramin Bahrani just added another major accolade to his already crowded trophy cabinet. In early September, the Winston-Salem-born filmmaker’s third feature, Goodbye Solo, held its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival and received the prestigious fipresci International Critic’s Prize. The film then traveled to Canada and had its North [...]
Down in the Delta
Filmmaker Lance Hammer ponders his journey to Mississippi, and what led to the self-distribution of his award-winning debut Ballast. “There is a place for industrial filmmaking, and film as a commodity that you sell like an iPod or a car or a sandwich. But I also think there is another reason to make films,” filmmaker [...]
Late on the Scene
Quantum of Solace’s anti-Hollywood actor, David Harbour, acts like an adult. I’m thinking about wearing a Hold Steady T-shirt to a couple of movie premieres,” says David Harbour, via telephone. “Maybe that will help the cause?” “The cause” is Harbour’s pending nuptials to Strangers With Candy’s Maria Thayer (Tammi Littlenut) for which he has single-mindedly [...]
Film Reviews
This Film Is Not Yet Rated Directed by Kirby Dick The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) is the lobbying organization for the film industry charged with advising filmgoers to the appropriateness of a film’s content for certain ages, and it wields enormous power over what gets seen in American theaters. If, for instance, members [...]
Death Arrives with Ozon’s Time to Leave
Text by Yon Motskin “It is often said that when people grow old they become children again,” director François Ozon said recently about his latest film Time to Leave. The tough, love-loss drama is the second in the French filmmaker’s “trilogy of mourning” that began with Under the Sand, and though it treads similar water [...]
The Independent Mind of Lili Taylor
Text by Michelle Lanz Photography by Jason Nocito Over the last two decades, Lili Taylor has portrayed a feminist assassin, a deranged kidnapper and a heartbroken teenage songstress, and just shy of her 40th birthday, she has cemented a reputation unparalleled in its boldness by playing subversive characters most actresses wouldn’t dare attempt. As one [...]
Lying Awake with Michel Gondry
Text by Andrew Rodgers Photograph by Ye Rin Mok Known for crafting beautifully stylistic music videos for the likes of Björk, the Chemical Brothers and the Foo Fighters, as well as for a number of award-winning commercials and the incredibly well-received feature Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, French-born director Michel Gondry has made a [...]
Film Reviews
I Like Killing Flies Directed by Matt Mahurin The greasy spoon, long a staple of Americana, is paid an affectionate tribute in director Matt Mahurin’s new documentary. The film focuses on Shopsin’s, a Greenwich Village restaurant popular as much for its unusual specialties as for the eatery’s lovably crusty owner and cook, Kenny Shopsin. In [...]
The Autonomy of Brazilian Cinema
Text by Hanna Eves National film industries ebb and flow, and when they flow, critics inevitably start bandying about the phrase “new wave.” In recent years, there has been a tremendous resurgence of successful filmmaking in Brazil, causing many to sit up and take notice. For example, Carlos Diegues’ God is Brazilian (2003) took the [...]
