Girish Shambu writes in Days and Nights of a Cinephile…
There are movies we encounter at certain points in our appreciation for the medium that become, almost by accident, little breakthroughs in our viewing life. They may not be great masterpieces—though they well might—but the important thing is that we have the fortune of meeting up [...]
Archive for the ‘articles’ Category
signpost films
Posted in articles on May 21, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
putting down the whip
Posted in articles on May 13, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Forty Guns (1957)
Director: Samuel Fuller
With: Barbara Stanwyck
Samuel Fuller made the most of what little he had, not unlike those scrappy pioneers that tamed the West. He made an art out of taking what might have been slight B-pictures and terraforming them into substantial genre/gender/generation-challenging films.
40 Guns opens with a majestic Scope panorama of three men, [...]
the man from hungary
Posted in articles on October 4, 2007 | 1 Comment »
new york film festival commentary
THE MAN FROM LONDON (2007)
Director: Bela Tarr
With: Miroslav Krobot, Tilda Swinton
Written by: Bela Tarr & Laszlo Krasznahorkai
Based on the novel by: Georges Simenon
The films of Bela Tarr will most likely never be for the hoi polloi. Which is a pity, really, as he is one of the most original talents [...]
4… 3… 2… won.
Posted in articles on October 1, 2007 | 1 Comment »
new york film festival commentary
4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS AND 2 DAYS (2007)
Director: Christian Mungiu
With: Anamaria Marinca, Laura Vasiliu
Written by: Christian Mungiu
It is 1987 in Romania. You have to wait for things. A lot. It is before the time of cell phones, and you have to seek out a phone wherever you [...]
out with the old, in with el nuevo
Posted in articles on September 8, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
Jeronimo Rodriguez and Alejandro Fernandez are on a mission. They wish to share their particular love of cinema with the world, and thereby adjust how the world watches movies. Along with Jose Luis Torres-Leiva, these Chilean-born filmmakers and avid film buffs have discussed what they like about movies, what they think is necessary for movies [...]
antonioni, eclipsed
Posted in articles on August 6, 2007 | 1 Comment »
After noting that I began this blog with two obituaries (the video store’s and Bergman’s), I was all set to write about something light and fluffy to liven things up a bit. An easy-to-digest film, for instance. Something inoffensive. A response to a film by, say, oh, I don’t know, Pixar. But then I hear [...]
an enigmatic persona
Posted in articles on July 30, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
Ingmar Bergman, 1918-2007
Perhaps in a decade, when the centenary of his birth occurs, a new generation of filmmakers and filmlovers alike will (re-)discover the work of this master, just as many have finally caught on to Ozu in the past few years since his own 100th birthday. Bergman instructed the world just how deep [...]
the post-video store world
Posted in articles on July 23, 2007 | 1 Comment »
As a child growing up in Texas, I found the video store to be, if I may, the chimney that shot you up onto the rooftops of London, the wardrobe that lead to Narnia, the DeLorean that whizzed off to centuries past and future. (There weren’t yet hidden passageways behind mirrors that lead to Hogwarts.) [...]
