THE SPRING ISSUE
Posts Tagged ‘film’
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 […]
Street Pulse: New York Film
In the spirit of our Oscar month film issue, SOMA asked several up-and-coming auteurs about their relationships with cinema. 1 What’s your favorite recent film? 2 What’s the last film you saw? 3 Who’s your favorite director? 4 What’s your favorite film genre? 5 What do you love about movies? Photography by Laura Hollabaugh Caveh […]
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 […]
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 […]
Caveh Zahedi
For the last decade and a half, Caveh Zahedi has been dedicated to making films that stand firmly outside the mainstream, that tear up the comforting façade of day to day to gaze intently at the soul that lurks beneath—his own soul, specifically. Since his wonderfully irreverent debut, 1991’s A Little Stiff, Zahedi has been […]
Purveyors of Escapism
Lawrence Lazarou, Jim Colvill and Jamie Johns in pursuit of modern music and antiquated ideals. The “play kingdom” of Social Registry Text by Matthew Nestel Photographs by Lane Coder On a summer afternoon, Greenpoint is the Brooklyn-enclave of Polish natives gobbling kielbasa and pierogies between cigarette drags. Closer down toward the water is an old […]
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 […]
Mike Mills
Mike Mills’ voice, like so much of his work, carries an air of directness and vulnerability as he speaks from his studio in Los Angeles. Probably most noted for his first feature-length film Thumbsucker, the 40-year-old designer, director, screenwriter and illustrator is at a turning point in his life. At a glance, Mills’ particular story […]
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 […]
Leo Fitzpatrick’s Composed Cool
Text by Patrick Knowles Photograph by Glynnis McDaris The measure of celebrity is a tricky thing to gauge. These days, an actor’s notoriety is more often defined by leaked sex videos and internet buzz than box office bottom lines. So, it’s an odd testament of one’s career when say, some random person creates a fake […]
Larry Clark: A Portrait of the Artist as an Outsiders
Text by Mila Zuo Photographs by Brigette Sire Larry Clark is sometimes depicted as a detached voyeur whose books and films are a divination into the secret and seedy lives of teenagers. On the contrary – Clark is co-conspirator in his tales, whether by intimating the story via his own personal narrative of sex, drugs […]
Film Reviews
Wordplay Directed by Patrick Creadon In the occasionally fuzzy world of habits and addictions, some things are clearly much worse than others. For instance, smoking is probably worse than picking your nose, but better than robbing liquor stores. The compulsion to tackle The New York Times crossword puzzle, then, must surely rank somewhere between channel […]
Scottish Film: Waiting For Godard?
Text by Mitchell Miller Photograph by Gautier Deblonde My friend Elke is giving me one of her quizzical looks. It is a magical thing, encompassing amusement, pity and a quick scan of all available exits. A fellow film critic, she is compelled to unleash this interpersonal nuke as countermeasure to yet another intemperate rant over […]
