It’s been 20 years since Film at Lincoln Center’s last retrospective of Kira Muratova, in which time obviously much has changed: the filmmaker herself has since died, no prints will be in the projection mix this time and Muratova’s identity… Read more
It’s Valentine’s Day, and what better way to celebrate than a romance-themed new song from Bon Iver with a video by…John Wilson? The eponymous How To with John Wilson creator, director and star returns with a music video for Bon Iver’s forthcoming comeback album, SABLE, fABLE. In a press release, musician Justin Vernon states that “I knew what kind of record I wanted to make the day we made ‘Everything Is Peaceful Love.’ I always knew that would be the feeling I wanted to share first. I wanted the video to just be people smiling uncontainably. Luckily, Eric Timothy Carlson suggested […]
There’s a pivotal dramatic beat that occurs about 40 minutes into Paul Schrader’s Oh, Canada, out for rental and purchase on digital platforms today, that’s been less remarked upon in many of the reviews and interviews. In the film, Richard Gere plays terminally-ill documentary filmmaker Leo Fife as he gives a final interview for what will be a documentary about his life. Fife’s documentarian, former student Malcolm, is played by Michael Imperioli, who uses for the interview an Interrotron, a device invented by filmmaker Errol Morris that allows a subject to look down the barrel of the camera lens while […]
A beloved and virtuoso annual production, David Ehrlich’s video montage of the previous year’s best films is here. Set aside 23 minutes and dive in. Ehrlich’s practice it to use these videos to fundraise for non-profits, and he asks directors to name receiving organizations. Last year, he decided himself to direct the funds to Palestine Children’s Relief Fund. Today, he writes, he writes: This year, I would again like to do what I can to support the people of Palestine. Eager to ensure that this fundraiser is as effective as possible at a time when aide isn’t reliably reaching the […]
In a newly released featurette, writer/director/actor Jesse Eisenberg, actor Kieran Culkin, producer Emma Stone and others discuss Eisenberg’s Sundance-premiering feature, A Real Pain, out Friday from Fox Searchlight. It’s a comedy/drama about two cousins navigating long suppressed tensions while on a Holocaust remembrance tour to Poland, and one obvious question to ask is in what order those two elements occurred within the development process? Was Eisenberg attracted to the Holocaust tour concept first, or wanting to explore the family rivalry? That question is answered, along with more, in the above clip.
The latest venture from MEMORY — the 25 New Face-selected production company of producers Sebastian Pardo and Riel Roch-Decter — has kicked up a bit of mainstream attention this week, with TMZ, People Magazine and Daily Telegraph, among others, covering coded comments by The 1975’s Matty Healy on a certain ex. But the project – the Doomscroll political talk show series/podcast hosted by artist and writer Joshua Citarella and featuring Healy as the latest guest — is not another celebrity chat fest but rather a series of long-form discussions on contemporary politics, culture and theory — “‘Lex Fridman for the […]
Alfred Hitchcock, the director as well as self-analyzing critical observer, is evoked in the latest documentary from Mark Cousins, titled, appropriately, My Name is Alfred Hitchcock. During the pandemic lockdown, Cousins was invited by producer John Archer to make a film about the great director timed to the 100th anniversary of his debut film. Cousins set about watching all of Hitchcock’s films in chronological order, reading various critical book as well as works by his daughter and The Birds actress Tippi Hedren, all the while filling up notebooks of thoughts, reflections and details. That research and viewing produced a script, […]