“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.”
“It’s fitting that Donner leaves behind a body of work that champions open-mindedness, films that illustrate how everyone is deserving of understanding. With understanding, even the impossible has the potential to become possible.”
“Masculinity in Mann’s world is its own prison, a conundrum of duality, a question of what someone will stand for and the masks they may wear while striving for an identity.”
“‘Zola’ is a star-making opportunity that Paige owns with every raised eyebrow and skeptical look.”
Joey Keogh on the 20th Anniversary of ‘The Fast and the Furious’
“Beautifully shot, wildly inventive and devilishly unpredictable – and with a swooning, dead-cool soundtrack to match – ‘Sexy Beast’ is well worth celebrating on its 20th anniversary.”
“Unlike many neo-westerns, which bandy hollow notions of ‘civilization’ that play out on the film’s surface, ‘Let Him Go’ runs a classical plot through a refined image of modern society.”
“In ‘Freeway,’ Vanessa isn’t a girl who has won a battle, but one who has lost a war.”
“Loznitsa’s ‘State Funeral’ is an important reflection on the moving image.”
“Had ‘Censor’ managed both Enid’s personal nightmare and wrestled more deliberately with some of the moral questions posed by the title, more viewers might have been inclined to initiate conversations about the horror genre’s traditions of transgression.”
Mannhunting #3 by Bill Bria (‘Ali,’ ‘The Insider’ and ‘Collateral’)
The Art of the Score #1: Blake Howard on David Mamet’s ‘Heist’
“‘The Disciple’ can be highly rewarding if one notices and appreciates its technical brilliance. Criticizing the film for its slow pace and aloof camerawork is akin to labeling classical music as boring and tedious.”
“Seidl has produced many scenes of lengthy sexual humiliation or nasty perversion, but they are stories of the world that are drawn from the horrible truth of human behaviour.”
“Sure, ‘Saint Maud’ can be called a horror film, but it is equally a psychological drama that gets a lot of mileage from a tried and true trope: the shifting power dynamics in a superior/subordinate relationship.”
“Bellocchio’s 1986 film ‘Devil in the Flesh’ is perfectly representative of the great Italian director’s outlook.”
“If ‘Gauguin’ and ‘Guernica’ shine a light on their respective subjects, they also present a key part of Resnais’ own development as an artist.”
Author Joseph B. Atkins on Filmmaker Monte Hellman’s Life and Career
Mannhunting #2 by Bill Bria: “In Mann’s duality of man, cop and robber are, in Stevenson’s words, ‘radically both’ one and the same.”
“What do we do with the Teen Agers movies, which were no more intended to be seen 75 years later than a dinner cooked in 1947 was intended to be eaten in 2021?”
