Masterpieces of the American New Wave
Criterion outdid themselves this month with the announcement of their November titles. America Lost and Found: The BBS Story is pretty much the most exciting box set this year. For those looking to get acquainted with late 60s/early 70s American cinema, this is an...
A Rejection Of Symbolism & Coded Meaning
The critic or audience member who searches and picks apart a movie to assign and define symbolism is analogous to the tourist who visits the Louvre and only looks at the paintings through the viewfinder of her digital camera. A. the storing up of self-congratulatory...
Eric Rohmer (1920 – 2010): RIP Maestro
We are deeply saddened today at the passing of a giant of filmmaking. Eric Rohmer gave us everything he had, year after year, masterpiece after masterpiece. My own first feature, Pieces, is unthinkable without Rohmer. Aside from perhaps Robert Bresson, no one achieved...
Max et les ferrailleurs (Max and the Junkmen)
Claude Sautet mostly made (or was most famous for making) "domestic, bourgeois" dramas. He also made a handful of crime films. Max seems to be a melding of the two, almost perfectly. Up until the forty minute mark or so, it was almost boring, almost too slow for a...
Fosse 80
I suppose it could have been Lenny, just as easily. Disregarding the superstar American directors of the 70′s, did anybody have a better run than Bob Rafelson, Mike Nichols, and Bob Fosse? Rafelson: Five Easy Pieces, The King Of Marvin Gardens, Stay Hungry Nichols:...
The Genius Of Olmi
Disregarding the ridiculous anti-capitalism rant at the end, this is one of the best film interviews I have ever read: Reflecting Reality — And Mystery Find and watch every film by Ermanno Olmi you can get your hands on. The Job and The Fiances should go down easy for...