Soundtracks of Cinema: ‘Grease’
‘Grease’ Soundtrack: A Vague Visages guide for every song in Randal Kleiser’s 1978 movie.
Know the Cast & Characters: ‘Grease’
‘Grease’ Cast: A Vague Visages guide for every actor and character in Randal Kleiser’s 1978 movie.
Shifting Landscapes: Jerzy Skolimowski’s ‘Deep End’ and ‘The Shout’
“Skolimowski imbues his films with his signature iconographic sense of obscurity and mystique; both ‘Deep End’ and ‘The Shout’ grapple with the tensions brought about by characters suddenly entering (and quickly coming to terms with) new environments.”
Mystical Ennui: Peter Cook at a Distance
“Peter Cook was never able to bridge the distance between his personal world and his many creations, and one gets the impression that he derived a certain satisfaction from keeping people guessing.”
Il Cinema Ritrovato: ‘Tony Arzenta’ and Recanonizing Italian Genre Cinema
“Do some films get ignored because they are unavailable or do they get ignored because they aren’t that good to begin with? This is precisely where I stand with ‘Tony Arzenta.'”
Death Is Not the End: Self-Destruction in the Films of David Cronenberg
“Perhaps David Cronenberg is owed another kind of reputation: that of a humanist filmmaker who observes and questions, who understands our pain and sorrow as well as our ambitions both intellectual and libidinous.”
They Know Not What They Do: The Passion of the Christ in Franco Zeffirelli’s ‘Jesus of Nazareth’
“‘Jesus of Nazareth’ is precisely a film of moments, and Zeffirelli depicts them with expert technique.”
The American Horizon: Working Life in the New Hollywood
“What is so strange about the New Hollywood renaissance of the 70s is that it took place at a time of acute crisis for the business. It was a signal of the industry’s weakness that these cracks in the veneer were not only permitted but encouraged…”
No Future for You: The Cinematic Image of 70s Britain
“The 70s were a tumultuous and often bleak decade for the British film industry, and this pessimism bled into its output.”
Reality Is a Deadly Place: LSD Cinema’s Short and Strange Trip
“Drug culture and social upheaval became inextricable on the screen in the 60s; it was a belated recognition on the part of the industry’s tastemakers that American cinema’s scrupulously maintained state of grace was no longer sustainable…”
The Endless Yearning in Mani Kaul’s ‘Ashad Ka Ek Din’
“Fifty years since its release, ‘Ashad Ka Ek Din’ holds on to its Bressonian and austere power.”
‘That Sinking Feeling’ and a Very Scottish Heist
“At a time when on-screen Scotland was mostly shown to be either Ken Loach or ‘Brigadoon,’ ‘That Sinking Feeling’ manages to be its own thing…”
Know the Cast: ‘Messiah of Evil’
‘Messiah of Evil’ Cast: A Vague Visages guide for every main performer and character in Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz’s 1973 horror movie.
‘Cotton Comes to Harlem’ – The Neo-Noir That Black America Needed
“At first blush, ‘Cotton Comes to Harlem’ may not seem like a traditional noir production. But over time, the 1970 film has become one of the most vivid examples of the genre being inclusive.”
Monte Hellman: A Master of the Language of Cinema
Author Joseph B. Atkins on Filmmaker Monte Hellman’s Life and Career
How Questions of Exploitation Stain the Triumph of ‘Grey Gardens’
“The utter sadness of Little and Big Edie’s story is why ‘Grey Gardens’ is so moving — direct cinema allowed this story to be explored with a level of intimacy previously unavailable.”
Mannhunting: Exploring Masculinity in the Films of Michael Mann – Part One
Mannhunting #1 by Bill Bria: “The protagonists and antagonists in Mann’s films tend to be mirror images of each other, all of them caught within masculinity’s shackles.”
We’re All Mad Here: Chris Marker’s ‘A Grin Without a Cat’
“For a film about anger — both that of the social movements animated in protest and that belonging to the state which will brook no challenge to its authority — ‘A Grin Without a Cat’ is surprisingly without its own anger.”
Tobe Hooper’s ‘The Texas Chain Saw Massacre’ Offers a Close-Up Look at Cosmic Pessimism
“Under its brutal dissembling of anthropocentrism and customary moral divides, ‘The Texas Chain Saw Massacre’ points to the terror of a harsh and uncaring universe.”
The Past Dreamed the Future Present: Derek Jarman’s ‘Jubilee’
“Jarman’s mix of time, history, memory, fantasy and dreams in ‘Jubilee’ is ultimately a hopeful warning for the future.”