Authors — Vadim Rizov
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“Burn That Film! Burn It!” Tsui Hark and Patrick Lung Kong on A Better Tomorrow
It’s not every day a director comes on stage in Buddhist monk’s garb and slippers, but such was Patrick Lung Kong’s refreshingly idiosyncratic appearance Saturday night at Queens’ Museum of the Moving Image, two days into a two weekend retro of his work. To his right was Tsui Hark, who himself reshaped the Hong Kong film industry multiple times: with 1986’s Peking Opera Blues, a breakthrough moment for international recognition of HK martial arts fare, 1992’s Once Upon a Time in China, and as producer on John Woo’s 1986 A Better Tomorrow, among many other instances. 1967’s The Story of […]
by Vadim Rizov on Aug 19, 2014 -
Watch: A New Algorithm Near-Seamlessly Edits Footage from Multiple Cameras
Disney has a research division, and this video demonstrates something pretty cool they’ve been working on: an algorithm that automatically cuts together footage from multiple cameras. This isn’t entirely a new development: in the video above, the research team compares their results with those obtained using Vyclone, which kind of does the same thing. But Vyclone has trouble sorting footage in an orderly fashion if the camera pans between two separate actions happening in the same area, tending to randomly cut between the two. There are other advantages to Disney’s algorithm, which respects the 180-degree-rule when cutting between multiple sources, […]
by Vadim Rizov on Aug 18, 2014 -
Jealousy or, What Does Philippe Garrel Want?
Jealousy’s first view is from a keyhole. Daughter Charlotte (Olga Milshtein) peeps through, watching mother Clothilde (Rebecca Covenant) weep and beg actor husband Louis (played by Philippe Garrel’s son of the same name) not to leave. The film doesn’t primarily concern her feelings, nor necessarily Charlotte’s reaction to the split, though both are foregrounded in passing; as in i.e. recently Boyhood, a primary focus does not preclude space for alternate POVs. The main trajectory is Louis’ short, tumultuous relationship with his new partner Claudia (Anna Mouglalis), someone not nearly as in love with shabby-comfortable apartment life; the movie’s narrative is […]
by Vadim Rizov on Aug 15, 2014 -
Stray Links, 8/11-8/14: Film Preservation in China, Ferguson, and the Weight Watchers Recipes of 1974
Here’s this week’s round-up of reading, film-related and otherwise: • “Trying to make a film in Sub-Saharan Africa can be a financial and logistical feat, but getting it to audiences can be an even bigger task. A networking event at the Locarno Film Festival is a chance for African film-makers to make their project come to life.” Jo Fahy reports from Locarno on the Open Doors Lab, which brings 12 filmmakers from continental Africa to the festival to receive script mentoring, apply for Swiss funding and more. • Peter Greenaway has completed shooting one film about Sergei Eisenstein, which he’s […]
by Vadim Rizov on Aug 14, 2014 -
Watch: How to Pull Off a Dolly Zoom Timelapse
Here’s a compact instructional video from Eric Stemen, who demonstrates how to pull off a dolly zoom timelapse using some basic gear and software. A dolly zoom timelapse allows for both accelerated views of changing light and some impressive distortions of space; it’s an effect that’s very showy and always gets attention. Stemen’s short video walks you through the surprisingly relatively process of pulling off this expensive-looking trick. Hat tip to our friends at No Film School for spotlighting this video.
by Vadim Rizov on Aug 14, 2014 -
The 52nd New York Film Festival Main Slate is Here
Here we have the just announced line-up for the main slate of the 52nd New York Film Festival. It’s probably safe to expect some additional titles to be added later on, but the 30 titles below are already no joke, covering a broad swath of some of the most-discussed titles from this year’s festival circuit. Titles and descriptions are from Lincoln Center’s press release, which can be read in full here, with links to any previous coverage of the films as applicable in the title. Gone Girl (Opening Night – World Premiere, previously announced) David Fincher, USA, 2014, DCP, 150m […]
by Vadim Rizov on Aug 13, 2014 -
Watch: Lauren Bacall Remembers John Huston on Johnny Carson, 1987
In 1987, the late Lauren Bacall paid her last of five visits to The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. She had two recently completed movies to talk up, but in the first interview segment above, the actress and host don’t get around to lesser-remembered titles Appointment with Death and Mr. North. Instead, they focused on Katharine Hepburn’s recently published memoir The Making of The African Queen: Or How I Went to Africa With Bogart, Bacall and Huston and Almost Lost My Mind, with Bacall telling stories about her time on the set. The clip’s given new resonance today by an […]
by Vadim Rizov on Aug 13, 2014 -
Seattle’s Scarecrow Video Raising Funds to Transition to Non-Profit
Seattle’s legendary Scarecrow Video houses some 120,000 titles on VHS, DVD, Blu-Ray, VCD and laserdisc. The store was the brainchild of the late George Latsios, whose compulsive purchasing of ever more and more titles (documented in this affectionate obituary from 2003) provided the base foundation for the store’s current inventory. With rentals decreasing 40 percent in the last six years, current owners Carl Tostevin and Mickey McDonough have come up with a viable strategy to try to keep the store’s formidable collection intact. A Kickstarter has launched to help Scarecrow complete a planned conversion to non-profit status, a move necessary […]
by Vadim Rizov on Aug 12, 2014 -
Revisiting Robin Williams in The Birdcage
I didn’t particularly intend (or want) to contribute to the inevitable avalanche of Robin Williams memorial writing online today, but I dropped by last night to visit a friend who’d just put on The Birdcage, which seemed the most appealing of the instant tribute options on Netflix Instant, so here we are. The bedrock tools powering Williams’ patented babble of voices were his formidable mimicry skills and the kind of physical dexterity great athletes have that makes the extremely difficult look very simple. His capacity to assimilate dozens of disconnected reference points and appearances was favorably comparable to Peter Sellers, […]
by Vadim Rizov on Aug 12, 2014 -
Watch: The First Footage Shot with the Blackmagic URSA
In his dispatches from NAB this year, Joey Daoud noted the 4K Blackmagic URSA as one of the conference’s big announcements: URSA’s ergonomics definitely look more like a traditional ENG camera than Blackmagic’s Production cameras, but it’s got some interesting twists. First off the flip out monitor is huge – about the size of an iPad. It’s also got two touchscreens on both sides of the camera to change settings, check image, pull up scopes and monitor levels. Today our friends at No Film School drew our attention to the first publicly shared footage shot with the URSA, though note […]
by Vadim Rizov on Aug 11, 2014
