THE SPRING ISSUE
Posts Tagged ‘film’
Blue Gold
American Jeans The story of denim is a true love story steeped in American culture and has all the elements of a true love story. This story has been told compellingly with a sharp attention to detail in Christian D. Brunn’s documentary, Blue Gold: American Jeans. Brunn, a Denmark native holding a Masters from the […]
San Francisco International Fashion Film Festival
A low electronic growl. A flicker of light across a black screen. A nude female figure, stark white, writhes in restraints, fading in and out of the darkness. The soundtrack sizzles and pulses, and the images grow choppier. Lightning strikes. Patterns fly across contorted struggling bodies—electric stripes, stark cross-hatching. Luminous purple cloth flutters in slow […]
We Women Warriors
“In Colombia, we are living in a war that is not ours.” This statement by Flor Ilva, one of the subjects of first-time filmmaker Nicole Karsin’s We Women Warriors, captures the striking premise of the documentary. The film manages to condense the multifaceted conflict of Colombia by focusing on the account of three women: Doris, […]
PEERING INTO THE EAMERY
As I walked into filmmakers Jason Cohn and Camille Servan-Schreiber’s home in Berkeley, California, a wave of déjà vu swept over me. An abundance of color and warmth, a pronounced playful sentiment… then the connection struck me: the décor bore many of the elements found in the work of two of the most influential mid-century […]
NICOLAS WINDING REFN & DRIVE
The circulating story of Drive revolves around an awkward silence between two men broken by REO Speedwagon’s “I Can’t Fight this Feeling Anymore,” sung obnoxiously by a Dane hopped up on flu medication. The voice in question belonged to Nicolas Winding Refn, a self-professed “fetish filmmaker” from Copenhagen whose Pusher trilogy and recent English-language films […]
Wim Wenders
On using new technology, the challenges of capturing dance onscreen and the hope for 3D as a tool for future cinematic travel. Among the world’s greatest filmmakers, Wim Wenders has persistently resisted easy categorization. One of the leading representatives of New German Cinema in the 1970s, he also has to his credit a $20 million […]
Bill Carter
The U2 Connection Bill Carter has had a long and varied career as an assistant director, bartender, adobe mason, firefighter, commercial fisherman, photographer, journalist and filmmaker. In 1993, he landed in Sarajevo during the Bosnian War and joined The Serious Road Trip, an unofficial aid organization that delivered food to children affected by the war. […]
Vidal Sassoon: The Movie
“Shake it,” an 82-year-old Vidal Sassoon demands an elegant waif as his hand vigorously enters and ruffles her hair. Mr. Sassoon has just exited a limo and is striding, entourage in tow, along a downtown LA street en route to a press conference. All that’s missing from making this look like an outtake from Austin […]
Tiffany Shlain
Filmmaker, Internet advocate, artist and activist, Tiffany Shlain is a woman of all trades. When she’s not blogging for The Huffington Post for her column “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” she’s jet-setting to the Sundance Film Festival for the premiere of one of her documentaries (or in this year’s case, two) or presiding over the Moxie Institute, […]
Oscilloscope Pictures
“Indie” is one of those words that gets thrown around with far too much frequency—what does it mean to be an “indie label” or an “indie production house”? Oscilloscope Pictures’ co-founders Adam Yauch and David Fenkel won’t define it for you, but they know what it means to them. “Yauch saw the correlation between film […]
Darren Aronofsky
A dark character study of obsession Darren Aronofsky has been talking about a cup of coffee he had with Natalie Portman quite a bit in the past few weeks. While some might be inclined to recount the intimate sips and informal pleasantries they might have with Ms. Portman, for the acclaimed director of Requiem for […]
Ye Old Ink
After a trip to Coney Island, tattoo artist “Philadelphia” Eddie Funk recounts: “I wanted a skull and crossbones like the pirate flag!” Drinking, sex and body art (“stewed, screwed and tattooed”) are the muses of Hori Smoku Sailor Jerry, a documentary featuring artists like Funk and Ed Hardy recounting tales of the infamous “F**in’ Sailor […]
Dennis Hopper’s 9 Lives
Dennis Hopper Signs of the Times Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York, September 12–October 24, 2009 Dennis Hopper didn’t just create memorable roles; he defined entire epochs. Hopper, a cool cat with some nine lives—actor, filmmaker, photographer, painter, sculptor, drug-fueled maniac and redeemed man—died on May 29, 2010, at the age of 74, leaving behind a body of […]
Christian McKay
An unapologetic performance from an Inspired Newcomer Christian McKay is a natural born storyteller. The little-known English actor has had his fair share of intriguing anecdotes off stage, including walking door to door to posh London hotels as a classically trained pianist, selling office furniture to corporations, and working as a golf tourism marketing salesman. […]
American Me
The story of contemporary auteur Ramin Bahrani There is a moment in the 2008 Spirit Awards that gives a glimpse of how out of touch mainstream Hollywood is to-wards independent filmmakers; particularly Ramin Bahrani. American born and raised, Bahrani was given the “Someone to watch” award for Chop Shop, the story of a adolescent Latino […]
Michael Stuhlbarg
In the Coen Brothers newest film, the actor is not “A Serious Man” The Coen Brothers have always found witty and inventive ways of introducing audiences to their larger-than-life characters and stories. But the Cohens’ latest black comedy, A Serious Man, springs to life on a more personal note for the two cult filmmakers. In […]
The Story of a Fashion Icon
Director Anne Fontaine gives us a glimpse of Coco Avant Chanel Those unfamiliar with the enigmatic prowess of Coco Chanel will surely have a fashion history lesson upon viewing Anne Fontaine’s newest cinematic exploration, Coco Avant Chanel. The film tells the story of how the iconic designer created an empire from humble beginnings and surpassed […]
Beauty and the Bottom Line
Editing the trends with Anna Wintour To outsiders, the fashion industry may seem no less chaotic and perplexing than a three-ring circus, what with its overproduced runway shows, and power players often known for their outré visions. In this world of costumed eccentrics and unabashed excess, Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour plays ringleader, her whip being […]
Behind the Veil of Diane Pernet
Illuminating Fashion From a Shaded View Diane Pernet carries a dark and mysterious elegance that can often intimidate. Intentionally fading into the black uniform of her signature dress, she is quite a beauty if one is lucky to see her even partially unveiled. Diane’s voice is a soft whisper; yet her words ring true to […]
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 […]
