AUTHOR | Jean-Michel Frodon

ARCHIVES

Korean cinema : paradox, ideology and cultural exceptionalism

Korea emancipates itself from the Hollywood-imposed orthodoxy to produce vital, first-rate cinema: overview

Korean cinema was born at a time when the peninsula was still under Japanese control (since 1910). It immediately became a tool of resistance, with communists, especially, seizing on this opportunity. Na Un-gyu directed, in 1926, the first known (but since lost) film, “Arirang.” And yet, cinema as we know it today was borne of the civil war (1950-1953), a conflict that resulted in the country ... more >

lapriere-screencomment

“La Prière,” the strange journey of an addict toward himself

A film that's both moving and stimulating
Anthony Bajon and Louise Grinberg
Directed by Cédric Kahn

He arrived. We do not know where from, nor how. With his round face marked by blows, this teenager looks like a kid and a tough guy all at once. We do not know where he comes from, but we know what he’s become a product of: his addiction to hard drugs. We don’t know how he got there, but we understand where he hails from: a community of men living in the mountains, aging addicts, now devoted to ... more >

Martin Scorsese’s foundation releases new boxed set | REVIEW

Saving a cinema that's vital from extinction

World Cinema Foundation Boxed Set (Carlotta). Includes: “Touki Bouki,” directed by Djibril Diop Mambéty (Senegal); “Revenge” directed by Ermek Shinarbaev (Kazakhstan); “Trances,” directed by Ahmed El Maanouni (Morocco); “Redes,” co-directed by Fred Zinnemann and Emilio Muriel Gomez (Mexico). This second DVD offering includes movies very different from each other but nevertheless combined in a ... more >