Of Love and Other Demons: ‘Baby Doll’ Celebrates Its 60th Anniversary
A Column on Love and Erotica in Cinema by Justine A. Smith
Justine Peres Smith
Justine Smith (@redroomrantings) lives and writes in Montreal, Quebec. She has a bachelor’s degree in Film Studies and a passionate hunger for all kinds of cinema. Along with writing for Vague Visages, she has written for Vice Canada, Cleo: A Feminist Journal and Little White Lies Magazine.
Why Criticism: Adam Nayman’s ‘Ben Wheatley: Confusion and Carnage’
A Column on Film Criticism by Justine A. Smith
Why Criticism: Understanding Film Restoration
A Column on Film Criticism by Justine A. Smith
RIDM 2016 Review: Atsushi Funahashi’s ‘Raise Your Arms and Twist – Documentary of NMB48’
“Focusing on a group from Osaka rather than Tokyo unveils a more nuanced reality of the industry, offering a look from the outside.”
RIDM 2016 Review: Nele Wohlatz’s ‘El futuro perfecto’
“As we take for granted the ease of our own native tongue, we are perhaps ignoring its full potential.”
RIDM 2016 Review: Mehrdad Oskouei’s ‘Starless Dreams’
“In some ways, Oskouei’s involvement can be construed as invasive, but it feels integral.”
RIDM 2016 Review: Claire Simon’s ‘Le concours’
“What makes someone a great artist before they’ve made any great works of art? That becomes the central question and object of scrutiny at the heart of ‘Le concours,’ making it one of the most compelling examinations of auteur driven cinema.”
RIDM 2016 Review: Patric Chiha’s ‘Brothers of the Night’
“‘Brothers of the Night’ takes an unexpected approach and reveals hidden parts of life amongst Bulgarian male hustlers in Vienna.”
Of Love and Other Demons: ‘House by the River’
“While Lang never fully embraced socialist principles over the course of his career, he always seemed to have a violent distaste for the men who stood on the shoulders of those who were less fortunate, knowing full well that social class does not correlate a strong moral conscious.”
Why Criticism: The Simple Joys of Food and Film
A Column on Film Criticism by Justine A. Smith
Of Love and Other Demons: ‘The Woman in the Window’ (Fritz Lang, 1944)
“The film has an unusually conservative vibe for a noir, maintaining that the status quo may be boring but criminality has nothing to offer — not even carnal thrills.”
Why Criticism: Éric Rohmer’s ‘Louis Lumière’ (1968) or Dinner Among Friends
A Column on Film Criticism by Justine A. Smith
Of Love and Other Demons: ‘Someone’s Watching Me!’ (John Carpenter, 1978)
“Carpenter doesn’t frame the film as being about an outlier male abuser, but a culture that has little respect for a woman’s personal space.”
Why Criticism: Horror’s Fight for Respect
A Column on Film Criticism by Justine A. Smith
Of Love and Other Demons: ‘Christine’ (John Carpenter, 1983)
“In many ways, ‘Christine’ reflects a skepticism of the ‘I take what I want, when I want it’ system that emerges when consumerism becomes the dominant ideological force of society.”
Why Criticism: Defining New Cinema at FNC 2016
“In search of new worlds and experiences, this year’s FNC has been a journey from the physical world to the metaphysical.”
Of Love and Other Demons: ‘Prince of Darkness’ (John Carpenter, 1987)
“At the heart of ‘Prince of Darkness,’ the failures of religion and science reflect the limits of the human mind to grasp the immensity of the universe and our menial position within it.”
Why Criticism: The Tale of the Festival Film
A Column on Film Criticism by Justine A. Smith
Of Love and Other Demons: ‘In the Mouth of Madness’ (John Carpenter, 1994)
“In John Carpenter’s ‘In the Mouth of Madness,’ the delicate reality in which we live exists only as far we as believe it.”
Why Criticism: Writing About What You Don’t Know
A Column on Film Criticism by Justine A. Smith