Directed by Christian Tafdrup and co-written with his brother Mads, “Speak No Evil” is a film where the kindness of strangers is something that should be sidestepped, as two families (one Danish, one Dutch) learn after meeting on holiday. Premiering as part of the festival’s “Midnight Selection” category, this is director Tagdrup’s first film (after two tries) to be selected for ... more >
NEWS
SUNDANCE 2022 | “Speak No Evil”
Blissful weekend goes bad
Morten Burian, Sidsel Siem Koch and Fedja van Huêt
Directed by Christian Tafdrup
SUNDANCE 2022 | “AFTER YANG”
Life can be a struggle to find ourselves, but, my, what a beautiful struggle
Colin Farrell, Jodie Turner-Smith, Justin H. Min
Directed by Kogonada
“What the caterpillar calls the end, the rest of the world calls a butterfly.” Filmmaker Kogonada’s “After Yang” was selected as part of the Sundance Film Festival’s “Best of the Fest.” These are films that are chosen to make their Sundance premiere even as they may have already been shown at another festival. In this case, “After Yang” premiered at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, but this ... more >
SUNDANCE 2022 | KATE BOSWORTH in “Bring On The Dancing Horses”
From opening night at Sundance
Kate Bosworth, DJ Qualls and Lance Henriksen
Directed by Michael Polish
Writer/Director Michael Polish has created an intriguing ten-episode series that’s modern Western with a philosophical edge that made its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. There is a lead character surrounded by death. Revenge. Pistols. Blood. The whole piece exists as a visual representation of a quote from “Once Upon a Time in America”, “People like that have something inside... ... more >
“Don’t Look Up” and “The Last Duel,” ANTHONY FRANCIS on the year that was
We are ready to take a look back
2021 was a much stronger year for cinema than 2020, creativity and originality both made a comeback. Sure, Hollywood overwhelmed us with too many big budget money grabs and there is always some type of comic book adaptation playing somewhere, but directors of weight made a welcome return. It made my cinema-loving heart glad to see films from Jane Campion, Paul Schrader, Pedro Almodovar, Steven ... more >
“East of the Mountains” and “Supernova” among some of this year’s best films | ERIC ALTHOFF’S 2021 ROUND-UP
Stanley Tucci and Colin Firth gave Oscar-worthy performances in "Supernova"
Despite our most fervent hopes, 2021 was the second strange year for both cinema and the world. Festivals were either online or continued a hybrid format (Slamdance just announced that due to omicron, they will be online only in January), and that communal feeling we have missed being in theaters together has only partially returned. All this to say it was a most unusual twelve months—again. I saw ... more >
THIRTY YEARS OF ADDICTION AND JAIL : “Life of Crime, 1984-2020”
Interview with film director Jon Alpert
Freddie Rodriguez, Robert Steffey and Deliris Vasquez
Jon Alpert had been working on his documentary for so long, he had to transfer footage from videotape. Using a digital process known as “TerraNexing,” Alpert’s eighties and nineties footage was renewed on the 16:9 aspect ratio. What couldn’t be sanitized was the horror of the nation’s drug epidemic, which Alpert shows us in microcosm in “Life of Crime, 1984-2020,” now playing on HBO. Alpert ... more >
INTERVIEW | Peter Middleton and James Spinney; “The Real Charlie Chaplin”
Documentary is currently airing on SHOWTIME
Cast: Pearl Mackie, Jeff Rawle and Paul Ryan
Charles Chaplin was born in a tough area of London and came to America not only to reinvent himself but partially to invent the language of the then-new art of cinema itself. Through pluck, luck and sheer determination, Chaplin became a leading man and director—often playing the familiar “Little Tramp” character for decades, first in silent films and then, most famously, with a rousing closing ... more >
