Love and Death: The Romantic Sorrow of Fritz Lang’s ‘Destiny’
“‘Destiny’ arrives at its final satisfying destination as a poetic and deeply affecting film, an ethereal meditation from a now legendary filmmaker…”
Of Love and Other Demons: ‘American Gigolo’ (Paul Schrader, 1980)
“‘American Gigolo’ doesn’t necessarily work as a neo-noir, but it still has enough romance and intrigue to be well worth watching.”
The Style, Sins and Sympathies of Robert Bresson’s ‘Au hasard Balthazar’
“Much of Au hasard Balthazar’s transcendental value derives from its explicit openness to theological interpretation, particularly given Bresson’s oft-commented upon Catholicism and some of the film’s more overt symbolism.”
‘Modern Times’: Charlie Chaplin Finds Freedom in the Age of Industry
“‘Modern Times’ is emblematic of a ‘Hollywood realism,’ with a rather immaculate industrial setting, strategically tattered clothing and deliberately designed destitution.”
Studio Ghibli Forever: An Initiation – ‘Princess Mononoke’
“‘Princess Mononoke’ explores the gaping chasm between nature’s gentle acceptance of circumstance and humanity’s steadfast refusal to quietly accept death.”
Piecing Together the Fragments of Jean-Luc Godard’s ‘A Married Woman’
“With ‘A Married Woman,’ Godard appears fully devoted to topical bullet points through an essayistic structure, forgoing conventional narrative, character development or expedient pacing.”
Studio Ghibli Forever: An Initiation – ‘Kiki’s Delivery Service’
“‘Kiki’s Delivery Service’ captures the imaginations of young viewers while imploring the older among them to let common sense go in order to enjoy the pop music and irrefutable heart.”
The Feminine Grotesque #10: Genre Is a Woman and She Has Fangs – On ‘A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night’
“After viewing ‘A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night’ for the first time, I wondered, ‘Doesn’t a woman have to be at least a little bit monstrous to survive?'”
Review: Corbin Bernsen’s ‘Christian Mingle’
“Like a lot of reality television, ‘Christian Mingle’ is funny for hateful reasoning that displays damaging, scary facets of our culture.”
The Uneasy Allegiances of Nicholas Ray’s ‘In a Lonely Place’
“‘In a Lonely Place’ finds Nicholas Ray still the relative newcomer to the Hollywood studio scene, yet he is already displaying subversive evidence of instilling in his work representative preoccupations.”
Violently Tender: The Secret Humanism of Vincent Gallo’s ‘Buffalo ’66’
“Though bleak and at times brutal, ‘Buffalo ’66’ manages to evoke a world of sensitivity that’s, dare I say, rather feminine.”
The Feminine Grotesque #9: Learning How to Live – On ‘Eve’s Bayou’
“‘Eve’s Bayou’ is like a living poem, deftly exploring the way memory can both comfort and haunt us, long after the actual wounds of our tragedies heal.”
The Feminine Grotesque #7: She’s a Loaded Gun – On ‘The Last Seduction’
“As Bridget Gregory in ‘The Last Seduction,’ Linda Fiorentino is like the shock of hearing a gunshot in the dead of night. She embodies, more than any other character, the ethos of the modern femme fatale.”
Lust, Caution: Paul Morrissey’s ‘Women in Revolt’
“‘Women in Revolt’ stands in defiance of the majority of transgender-specific cinema…”
Of Love and Other Demons: ‘The One I Love’ (Charlie McDowell, 2014)
“A fever dream of marital discontent, Charlie McDowell’s ‘The One I Love’ tackles a failing marriage with sci-fi panache.”
‘Whisper of the Heart’ and the Tragedy of Yoshifumi Kondō
“What would the world of animation be like if Yoshifumi Kondō had lived to make another film?”
Of Love and Other Demons: ‘The Rose Tattoo’ (Daniel Mann, 1955)
“An incredible failure, ‘The Rose Tattoo’ has value in understanding the confines of the production code and the importance of good direction.”
Of Love and Other Demons: ‘Gilda’ (Charles Vidor, 1946)
“‘Gilda’ is one of the great examples of onscreen masochism.”
Of Love and Other Demons: ‘Blood for Dracula’ (Paul Morrissey, 1974)
“‘Blood for Dracula’ is confusing thematically, but I think that’s part of the point. As pulpy as it is, Morrissey’s film strongly confronts and challenges our ideas of purity and gender.”
SANFIC 11: Kill (f)or Love: Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s ‘The Assassin’
Jaime Grijalba on Santiago Festival Internacional de Cine