M. Leary

Me and You (Bertolucci, 2014 – SLIFF, 2014)

Me and You is a small and quiet return of Bertolucci to the festival circuit. It has been almost a decade since The Dreamers. The film is much less ambitious in scope than most of his prior work. As a result, critics have been very mixed on whether the film eventually works or not. A Guardian reviewer even […]

M. Leary

A Master Builder (Demme, 2014 – SLIFF, 2014)

Wallace Shawn and Andre Gregory shared a simple theatrical frame My Dinner With Andre. The film is quintessential art house cinema, inspired internally by a choice quote from Bergman’s Autumn Sonata. Malle’s two-shot framing also presages a lot of the simplicity that would later characterize American indie cinema – convinced that something other than visual […]

M. Leary

The First Midrash SLIFF Jury Prize Winner…

I was happy to be part of the institution of a new annual award at the St. Louis International Film Festival called the Midrash St. Louis Film Award. Last night we went to the gala award ceremony and were happy to present a sizable cash prize to Chris Grega, director of the indomitable Game of […]

M. Leary

Game of The Year (Grega, 2009) SLIFF – 2009

Quotability is rarely used as a critical yardstick, but sometimes the shoe just fits. Films like The Big Lebowski, The Blues Brothers, or Office Space achieved their hallowed fandom aura so easily because of the way they become instantly portable. “Ah, ah, I almost forgot…I’m also going to need you to go ahead and come […]