Revisiting Tarkovsky July 7 – July 14, 2009 The Walter Reade Theatre, Lincoln Center, New York Okay, so maybe New Yorkers are right after all: Manhattan really is the centre of the universe. To heck with the Empire State Building, they’ve got MOVIES! Years back I salivated over the two-month cinematic smorgasbord that was “The […]
Andrei Rublev might be considered the Mount Everest of spiritual film. It is intimidating, imposing, remote, yet sooner or later every cinephile with an interest in exploring the furthest reaches of faith and art will mount an inevitable expedition. For those who persevere, the film yields an extraordinary perspective on the world below.
Tarkovsky, Kieslowski, Bresson, the Dardennes. Of course a movie is more (or less) than the sum total of its influences, but critic name-checks of so many Filmwell faves catch the eye almost as much as that screenshot… Pacific Cinematheque, Vancouver: “Revanche, a ravishing, masterfully restrained, unusually intelligent neo-noir revenge tale from talented Austrian director Götz […]
Catherine Wheatley finds Mystery and muddle in South Pole doc “The bleak, barren setting yields some striking imagery, which would be surprising from any other director but is typical of Herzog’s ability to cast the most innocuous of objects in a reverential light. The twin motifs of religion and science fiction frame the landscape: an […]
The Joan of Arc themes, acknowledged debt to Béla Tarr, and unavoidable comparisons to Lars von Trier catch one’s attention, but Michael Brooke’s skeptical Sight & Sound review suggest that Mundruczó may be echoing the worst rather than the best of his influences. Still, Brooke says Delta looks great, and at 95 minutes (so much […]
Criterion’s May release of Wise Blood (1979, John Huston) makes available the flawed but fascinating artistic meeting of two uncontested American masters, novelist Flannery O’Connor and film maker John Huston.
Both of Jeffrey Overstreet’s recent Film Movement finds (Munyurangabo and Lake Tahoe) have limited theatrical/festival release this next month.
When I think that one man, one body, and one spirit was enough to turn a desert into the land of Canaan, I find after all that a man’s destiny can be truly wonderful. But when I consider the passionate determination, the unfailing generosity of spirit it took to achieve this end, I’m filled with […]
Back in the Sixties, God was dead (or so the rumours had it), mainline churches were dying (though they didn’t know it yet), and the Jesus People hadn’t yet been born (again). But a faith-filled few fought the good fight, in church basements across the continent. Chief among them, Chicago-born Swede Rolf Forsberg, who brought a live theatre background and art house enthusiasm to some distinctive short films.