By M. Leary on February 21, 2012 · Leave a Comment
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“Cult” as a label has recently re-entered national conversation on the heels of conservative voters trying to figure out how to best think about Mitt Romney’s Mormon religious affiliation. The ensuing confusion expressed at times in this debate is a good example of how fluid and misunderstood this term often is. For recent generations, the images connected to this term are violent and infrequent, yet it is still exotic enough to makes us listen with a little more interest when it appears in the news. Because of this, I often begin class lectures on cults and new religious movements with this thought in mind: Cults tend to enter media and public discourse in unconventional ways, bringing with them a sense of fear, intrigue, and suspicion that does not always attend news about more established religious movements.
Aside from YouTube clips of various moments in the history of western new religious movements, media resources coordinating the experience of cult members with constructive reflection on the nature of religious experience are few and far between. And excepting the rare occurrences such as the Mitt Romney case, few areas of public discourse provide helpful contemporary reflection in this regard. But I would like to suggest that Sean Durkin’s recent film Martha Marcy May Marlene and related critical response is just such a rare opportunity to talk about cults and new religious movements with greater clarity.
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By nkcarter on February 20, 2012 · Leave a Comment
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The Secret World of Arrietty, the new Studio Ghibli film, isn’t really a Miyazaki, but you could easily mistake it for one. Disney’s marketing has carefully pitched the film as being “from the studio that brought you Spirited Away and Ponyo,” both Miyazakis, and it could happily fit somewhere between those films and another of his films, My Neighbor Totoro. I can’t speak for Hiromasa Yonebayashi, who directed the film,... Read More
By Jason Morehead on February 18, 2012 · 2 Comments
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It’s the year 2012 and as it turns out, the Mayans were right: Earth is doomed. An asteroid is heading our way, and it seems that nobody, not even the United States can save us (their ambitious asteroid-busting mission has failed). But we still have one thing on our side that the Mayans and their “Long Count” didn’t predict: punk rock. And not just any punk rock, mind you, but the very first punk rock song, recorded in Japan... Read More
By Jason Morehead on February 14, 2012 · 2 Comments
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Cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki was recently interviewed about his work with Terrence Malick on The Tree of Life, and discusses some of the technical aspects of working with the acclaimed director. But this is perhaps the most interesting bit:
Lubezki, who has since made his third film with Malick, an untitled love story with Ben Affleck and Rachel McAdams about a man who reconnects with a woman from his hometown while struggling with his marriage,... Read More
Midnight Eye’s Mark Player has written a fascinating and very in-depth essay on the sub-genre of Japanese cyberpunk cinema and its major figures (e.g., Shinya Tsukamoto, Shozin Fukui), notable films (e.g., Tetsuo: The Iron Man, Electric Dragon 80,000V, Akira, Rubber’s Lover), and themes.
The world of live-action Japanese cyberpunk is a twisted and strange one indeed; a far cry from the established notions of computer hackers, ubiquitous technologies... Read More
By Mike Hertenstein on February 3, 2012 · Leave a Comment
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By the third time out or so, you realize that a filmmaker you’ve only been vaguely or even just accidentally keeping up with clearly deserves more particular notice – and so you sit up and pay attention, remember the name, start looking for it on festival schedules, indeed, choose that name over others, becoming attuned to obviously ongoing stylistic and thematic concerns that portend a significant body of work in the making.
Asghar Farhadi... Read More
By nkcarter on January 26, 2012 · Leave a Comment
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This less-than-seasonal post is brought to you by NVidia and their faulty logic boards.
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For most Americans, stop-motion is something of a Yuletide affair.
Don’t get me wrong; the surge of stop-motion in theaters lately has been extremely gratifying. Aardman Studios is stretching beyond their Wallace and Gromit brand, Laika is capitalizing on the success of Coraline to produce ParaNorman, and even Wes Anderson having... Read More
Thanks to A Conversation On Cool for sharing this revelatory moment from the set of Marathon Man.
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By M. Leary on January 20, 2012 · 1 Comment
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There is often talk of framing our cultural experiences in terms found commonly in Christian spirituality. On account of this, we find film and theology groups that are structurally identical to group bible studies. We reserve watching certain films for certain spots on the Christian calendar, like annual Easter screenings of Gibson’s Jesus film. In a more specific example, a few years back it was popular to talk about cinema and the practice of... Read More
By nbooth on January 18, 2012 · Leave a Comment
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Crime fiction has both the opportunity and the obligation to be the most political of any writing or any media, crime itself being the most manifest example of the politics of the time. We are defined and damned by the crimes of the times that we live in. The Moors Murders, the Yorkshire Ripper, and the Wests, Rachel Nickell, Jamie Bulger, and Stephen Lawrence: I strongly believe that these crimes and their victims, these investigations and trials... Read More
