In a nice bit of cinematic serendipity, Paul Schrader’s singular 1985 film Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters arrives on Blu-ray from Criterion at the same moment that his latest movie, First Reformed, is enjoying a deservedly successful art house run. Mishima remains perhaps Schrader’s most original and idiosyncratic film, which is really saying something; a meditation on the life and writings of Japanese author Yukio Mishima, it’s neither a conventional bio-pic nor a straightforward literary adaptation, though it combines elements of both forms. Schrader, writing in collaboration with his brother Leonard (Kiss of the Spider Woman) and sister-in-law Chieko, […]
by Jim Hemphill on May 25, 2018Disclosure: I’ve never done therapy, although it has certainly been suggested over the years. Any recent therapy-curiosity was tempered by watching a couple of episodes of the Naomi Watts/Netflix series Gypsy, which made seeing a therapist seem like being the unwitting subject of a Sophie Calle art piece. Offering a point-of-view both more optimistic and realistic is, timed to National Therapy Day, a set of six new shorts from directors Alex Karpovsky and Teddy Blanks in which five women and one man discuss their various experiences in therapy. Director Kimberly Peirce talks about an experience in couples therapy, author Susan […]
by Scott Macaulay on Sep 25, 2017“In Production” is a regular column which focuses on notable independent films that are currently shooting. After dropping out of the Ben Stiller-produced comedy The Apostles of Infinite Love, Richard Ayoade is busy directing The Double, his follow-up to his 2010 debut Submarine (also produced by Stiller). Described as a comedic take on Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s novella, The Double is about an insecure young man (Jesse Eisenberg – shocker) whose life turns upside down when he encounters his more confident doppelganger. The film also stars Mia Wasikowska (The Kids Are All Right), Wallace Shawn (My Dinner with Andre) and Noah Taylor […]
by Byron Camacho on Jul 23, 2012