Sheffield Doc/Fest Day Two: Politics and ‘Pickle’
“Nothing mixes quite like politics and a funny name.”
Sheffield Doc/Fest Day One: Remembering Chantal Akerman
“The 2016 iteration of the Sheffield Doc Fest boasts a film lineup consisting of 29 world, 20 European and 14 international premiers, alongside an international contingent of buyers and programmers hunting for the best of the best.”
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?'”
We Failed This Film: Lexi Alexander’s ‘Punisher: War Zone’ (2008)
A Series by Dylan Moses Griffin
Of Love and Other Demons: ‘Sweetie’ (Jane Campion, 1989)
A Weekly Column on Love and Erotica in Cinema by Justine A. Smith
‘Candyman’ or (How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Say Farewell to the Flesh)
“As an adult viewer with a wider range of experiences and reference points than my pubescent self (this is what I tell myself anyway), what engages me most about ‘Candyman’ now is the themes on the fringes of the urban legend focus.”
Studio Ghibli Forever: An Initiation – ‘Grave of the Fireflies’
“A gripping drama whose defiant youths refuse to bow to war, hunger and indifference, Grave of the Fireflies is a film for children to learn the harsh realities of life so that they can do all in their power to prevent the cycle from continuing.”
Moving Picture: ‘Frances Ha’ and Me
An Essay by Kyle Turner
A Cinema of Relics: ‘The Phantom’ at 20
“Call it the Silver Age of Comic Book Movies.”
Why Criticism: Writing about Acting and Performance in 2016
A Column on Film Criticism by Justine A. Smith
The Boundaries of Intimacy Are Explored in Porn-Based Dramas ‘After Eden’ and ‘Malgré la nuit’
“In the end, the two films are essentially stories about connections with others, with life itself and ourselves.”
Vague Visages on Agnès Varda’s 88th: ‘Vagabond’
“People often fear or misrepresent what they don’t understand.”
Demon in Utero Pregnancy: ‘Shelley’ Opens Transilvania Film Festival
“With clear references to the cult horror ‘Rosemary’s Baby’, ‘Shelley’ explores the theme of pregnancy as an invasion.”
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.”
We Failed This Film: Jody Hill’s ‘Observe and Report’ (2009)
A Series by Dylan Moses Griffin
Studio Ghibli Forever: An Initiation – ‘My Neighbor Totoro’
“An astonishing achievement of handcrafted animation, Miyazaki’s third Ghibli film solidified the studio’s presence, and has become an enduring symbol of its excellence.”
Of Love and Other Demons: ‘In the Cut’ (Jane Campion, 2003)
A Weekly Column on Love and Erotica in Cinema by Justine A. Smith
Vague Visages on Agnès Varda’s 88th: ‘Jane B. par Agnès V.’
“An uncompromising visionary, Agnès Varda seems unable to acknowledge precedent or standard practice when becoming involved with creative works.”
Vague Visages on Agnès Varda’s 88th: ‘The Gleaners & I’
“Varda’s sense of play, fun, silliness and humor comes from a collected bricolage of incident, travel and people.”
Why Criticism: Setting Up a Podcast with Francisco Peres
A Column on Film Criticism by Justine A. Smith