8 years ago
All posts by Jake Mulligan
“The Living”
The Living is one of those unfortunate films ignorant of any world outside its author’s head. Main characters live without interests, hobbies or incomes. Massacres occur that should be heard for miles, but no sirens follow. An ostensibly destitute character wo...
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“The Duke of Burgundy”
Being in a relationship means doing things you don’t want to do. Abstract cybercrime thrillers may not be your thing, but if your partner is into Michael Mann, then odds are high you saw Blackhat. It’s all part of the routine - not so much about placating your...
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“Son of a Gun”
A good crime film, like a good crime, doesn’t make concessions for its audience. It’s an inherently tragic genre, from Spies through to GoodFellas. But in the wake of Scorsese’s charismatic sociopaths came movie gangsters who are downright cuddly: Guy Ritchie’...
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“The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness”
Spectres of the past line the halls of Studio Ghibli. The frames of The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness, Mami Sunada’s documentary about the studio’s rush to complete Hayao Miyazaki’s 2013 film The Wind Rises, are decorated with them. A sketch of Kiki hovers ove...
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“Dying of the Light”
A traumatized taxi driver torn between savior and sinner. A kidnapped heiress gone revolutionary. A Calvinist father out to hunt down his porn-actress daughter. The concerns of director Paul Schrader vary in specifics but rarely in terms of overarching themati...
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The Man In a Room: Alex Ross Perry
Alex Ross Perry and I are at the tail end of a long discussion about his career when I finally ask him why his movies are so obsessed with loneliness. And then we talked about Paul Schrader.
Perry, 30, is speaking to me on the eve of the release of his thir...
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“Dear White People”
There’s a scene early in Justin Simien’s debut film Dear White People where Sam (Tessa Thompson) - a student at a fictional Harvard-ish Ivy League school who’s known for organizing rallies against racist school policies - has an argument with her white friend-...
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The Directors Who Influenced “Dear White People”
Like so many others before me, I fell into the trap: After sitting down with Dear White People director Justin Simien, the first thing I brought up was Spike Lee. And while my comment didn’t directly concern the fact that both Simien and Lee are black American...
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“Calvary” A Grim, Existential Take on Catholic Guilt Bolstered by Brendan Gleeson
Sean Burns: Well, Jake, who better, I guess, than two red-faced Irish pricks from Boston to sit down over a couple of pints and jaw on about Calvary, writer-director John Michael McDonagh’s mordantly funny and deeply sad meditation on a higher calling in a fal...
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Mike Cahill and Michael Pitt on “I Origins” and New Sincerity
I Origins is divisive. Even the statistics bear that out: go to the (admittedly specious) Rotten Tomatoes website, and you'll find that exactly 50 percent of critics have given it positive marks -- battle lines are being drawn around it as we speak. You can co...
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