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Elbert VenturaFeaturesThe 18th Annual Washington, DC International Film FestivalThis year's Filmfest DC, the 18th, was mild cause for excitement among locals and hardly at all for international cinephiles. Thus, it seems, it will always be for a film festival located in the capital, where the national soap opera invariably drowns out everything in its radius. [13 May 2004] 17th Annual Washington, D.C. International Film FestivalLess a curated collection than an eclectic grab bag, the films defied audience expectations and easy categories, even the ones its organizers devised. [22 May 2003] Columns
Living in Ghost World: Washington, DCWith US Presidential candidates vying for the best seat in the White House in mind, we revist an essay on what living in DC is like for the common man. [24 September 2008] (more Pop Past) Reviews
Millennium Mambo (2003)A filmmaker fixated on the continuing past, Hou has become the foremost chronicler of our mortality. [9 August 2004] 
The Triplets of Belleville (2003)Sylvain Chomet's first feature is a doggedly strange, if effortlessly whimsical, movie that fuses vaguely recognizable elements to form an exceedingly alien universe. [4 December 2003] 
Once Upon a Time in the West: Special Collector’s Edition (1968)Sergio Leone never met a portentous entrance he didn't like. [17 November 2003] 
Carnages (2002)Carnages' denizens spin into each other's orbits and offer the prospect of communion and regeneration. [23 October 2003] 
In This World (2002)Attempting to put a human face on the refugee crisis, Winterbottom puts a premium on legibility. [9 October 2003] 
The School of Rock (2003)A welcome reminder that studio comedies need not be shoddy, dumbed down, vulgar, and impersonal, the movie is unimaginable without Jack Black. [2 October 2003] 
The Secret Lives of Dentists (2003)Eschewing the loopy romanticism of his past efforts, Alan Rudolph displays admirable restraint in representing domestic drudgery. [14 August 2003] 
Camp (2003)A patchwork quilt for the unloved misfits it glorifies and indulges, Todd Graff's 'Camp' has a quarter of the polish of 'Chicago', but three times the humanity. [7 August 2003] 
Little Big Man (1970)It didn't just dispel the cloudless America of Westerns past -- it dismembered the genre, threw the parts in a trench, and spit on the tombstone. [17 June 2003] 
The Sea (Hafið) (2002)Shooting for King Lear, Kormákur instead gives us much ado about nothing. [29 May 2003] 
Ten (2002)Abbas Kiarostami has made a career of demolishing our complacency as viewers, blurring the divides between fiction and documentary, spectator and screen. [22 May 2003] 
Dracula: Pages From a Virgin’s Diary (2002)The lasciviously titled Dracula: Pages From a Virgin's Diary is a reliably unhinged exponent of Maddin's antiquarian vision. [15 May 2003] 
Raising Victor Vargas (2003)At once affectless and affecting, 'Raising Victor Vargas' is remarkably self-possessed for a first-time feature. [24 April 2003] 
The Awful Truth (1937)Never sappy, The Awful Truth is at once light on its feet and grounded at heart. [2 April 2003] 
Open Hearts (Elsker Dig For Evigt) (2002)Distinguishes itself with its fondness for its characters -- hardly a trademark of the Dogme movement. [13 March 2003] 
Old School (2003)Peddling the same jokes and ideas as countless other undistinguished 'Animal House' wannabes, 'Old School' is too dutiful for its own good. [28 February 2003] 
Divine Intervention (2001)Suleiman proves himself an essential voice in world cinema because his formalism is inextricable from the political moment it documents. [20 February 2003] 
The Other Network - PopMatters Film Review )Driven by instant gratification and a bottom line ethos, the networks have all but abandoned the cause of great TV comedy. [13 February 2003] 
Tully (2002)Locating its story of familial disquiet in the locus of the American myth, Tully doesn't quite go so far as to debunk the idealized heartland. [6 February 2003] 
City of God (Cidade de Deus) (2002)A longtime director of commercials, Meirelles is a consummate showman. Therein lies the problem. [23 January 2003] 
The Son (Le Fils) (2003)Unfailingly disciplined, the Dardennes resist glib payoffs and easy answers. [16 January 2003] 
Analyze That (2002)To endure Analyze That requires not just suspension of disbelief, but suspension of neurological activity as well. [5 December 2002] 
The Grey Zone (2002)This crepuscular work offers the most realistic depiction of the infernal workings of a Nazi death camp ever seen in a fiction film. [31 October 2002] 
Quitting (2001)Perverse as that sounds, the opportunity really is an actor's dream: role-of-a-lifetime gig and therapeutic session in one fell swoop. [18 October 2002] 
The Trials of Henry Kissinger (2002)Weaving together a vivid assemblage of stock footage, archival documents and talking-head spots, the movie winnows the book down to three of its more damning studies. [10 October 2002] 
Vanya on 42nd Street (1994)Elastic yet precise, Malle's film has the vitality and vividness of a Renoir -- it breathes. [3 October 2002] 
8 Women (2002)Sabotaging the happy play of color, song, and glamour with a deeply felt despair, Ozon has finally made his subversiveness genuinely surprising. [19 September 2002] 
Secret Ballot (2001)If its feminism is unmistakable, Secret Ballot's stance on democracy is more complex. [6 September 2002] 
Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars (1973)Ziggy falters as a visual experience, a conspicuous failing considering its spectacle-obsessed subject. [30 August 2002] 
I Am Trying to Break Your Heart (2002)The apotheosis of a very good band, Sam Jones' I Am Trying to Break Your Heart begs the question of whether merely very good bands deserve to be deified. [22 August 2002] 
Songs From the Second Floor (Sånger från andra våningen) (2002)Songs From the Second Floor may be blasphemous in its relentless tweaking of Christianity, but it is never less than sincere about its search for divine intercession. [15 August 2002] 
The Fast Runner (Atanarjuat) (2002)Exotic and universal, The Fast Runner is as engrossing as any thriller, as majestic as any epic. [20 June 2002] 
Late Marriage (Hatouna Mehuheret) (2001)A new comedy from Israel, could be funnier in a lot of ways, and more serious in others. [31 May 2002] 
Profit and Nothing But! / A Grin Without a Cat / Diamonds and Rust - PopMatters Film Review )At their best, documentaries can offer revelatory vistas of neglected worlds. These films offer singular perspectives -- they make journalism and artistic expression seem inextricable. 
Dogtown and Z-Boys (2001)Stacy Peralta's propulsive [Dogtown and Z-Boys] is at once irreverent and reverential. [2 May 2002] 
Les Destinées (2000)As its title suggests, the pall of inevitability hangs over Les Destinées. [25 April 2002] 
No Such Thing (2002)Arid and hermetic, it's the first misstep in Hartley's intriguing and varied career. [4 April 2002] |
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