FrightFest 2023: ‘Cobweb’ Tells a Story Trapped Within Itself
If we listen closely enough to the knocking on the wall, we can hear the anguished whispers of a stronger story caught in the web of Cobweb’s weaker one.
Film
Budd Boetticher’s ‘Ranown Westerns’ Are Complex and Ambiguous
The heroes and villains in Bud Boetticher’s Ranown Westerns are less mighty opposites than mighty complements.
Director Jared Moshé on Sci-fi Film Aporia’s Moral Ambiguity
Following Aporia’s world premiere at Fantasia, director Jared Moshé talks about leaving his audience grappling with moral ambiguity.
The Returned Gaze of the Past: Patricio Guzmán’s ‘The First Year’
Films like The First Year play a crucial role in how nations negotiate and re-negotiate their self-image, and its reemergence is yet another step forward for post-Pinochet Chile.
Call for Papers: All Things Reconsidered – FILM Autumn 2023
We are seeking essays for our Autumn 2023 All Things Reconsidered film series. These essays analyze and contextualize classic movies in history.
The Claustrophobic Drama in ‘In the Name of the Father’ Still Haunts
The claustrophobic atmosphere in biographical crime drama In the Name of the Father creates a world where evil actions are made more remorseless by the silence surrounding them.
‘Lady for a Night’ Poked a Stick in the Eye of Southern Censors
Hays Code era Lady for a Night links black American characters with upstart so-called “white trash” to expose corruption and “zombie” hypocrisy from the so-called “quality class”.
Lenny Bruce vs. Lenny Bruce: The Real and the Imagined
There are two Lenny Bruces: 1. the real-life subject of thoughtful documentaries and biographies, and 2. the TV/movie hip mentor and accidental deity.
Barbenheimer, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Barbie
Barbie and Oppenheimer recall times when a product changed the world by introducing something new that threatened – or promised – sameness. The resulting Barbenheimer is the meme change of all memes.
French Pop Cinema of the 1960s Brings Tintin to Life Twice Over
Tintin is one of the secret engines of 20th Century pop culture in Europe and Hollywood, as shown in these James Bond-like movies for the elementary school crowd.
‘Mamamoo: My Con the Movie’ Gives Fans the Over-the-Top They Want
While following the customary format of K-pop documentaries, My Con the Movie shows the candid, magnetic sides of each member of K-pop sensation Mamamoo.
‘Last and First Men’ Is a Symphonic Meditation on Humankind’s Brevity
Last and First Men, an astounding and unusual art film, science fiction meditation, and visual symphony, is the first and only film created by the late Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannson.