7 years ago
criterion 10
The Unnerving Dream Logic of “Mulholland Dr.”
Early in Mulholland Dr., writer/director David Lynch makes a statement that clarifies his larger ambition, in a scene with two men who aren’t shown in any other portion of the film. If you have the subtitles on, or have especially good hearing, you can hear on...
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In “The Brood,” Even Cronenberg’s Basics are Intricate
It’s a testament to the heady complexity of the later works of Canada’s proudest son David Cronenberg that a film as fully realized as 1979’s The Brood would be considered one of the basics of his deep filmography. He’s moved through so many phases as a stylis...
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Modern Love in “The Honeymoon Killers”
The Honeymoon Killers is the kind of title that hints at sensational thrills, a promise true crime movies usually fulfill. The genre enables audiences to engage in voyeuristic pleasures; it reminds them that the terrible scenes they are witnessing are not mere...
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Blu-ray Review: “The Killers”
With his "Iceberg Theory" laying the foundation for every college writing workshop, and his terse, conjunction-laden prose presenting a stark contrast to the verbosity favored by William Faulkner, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and James Joyce, Ernest Hemingway remains ...
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Blu-ray Review: “Valerie and Her Week of Wonders”
Released just before the Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia signaled the end of the country’s cinematic revolution, Jaromil Jires’s 1970 film Valerie and Her Week of Wonders has long been more known than seen. Residing in reputation somewhere between softcore ...
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Realism and Intimacy: The Partnership of Andre Gregory and Wallace Shawn
Theater is a feeling, more than anything, and performativity defines the act of living. The world is a stage and we the players, as Shakespeare’s Jaques said. In the vision of Modern Theater, stemming from the likes of Henrik Ibsen and Anton Chekhov, and which...
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The King and the Fool: Robin Williams in “The Fisher King”
Robin Williams’s suicide last August kicked off the latest round of handwringing over the received wisdom that the funniest comedians often suffer from overwhelming depression. But as shocking as the entertainer’s death was, Williams could never really bury hi...
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“Me and Earl and the Dying Girl”
There’s an art to manipulating a moviegoing audience. Every movie practices this art. Filmmakers have to sculpt their viewers’ responses to their work, even if only to a limited extent; some do it less than others, or perhaps they do such a good job exploiting...
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The Criterion Collection: “The Merchant of Four Seasons”
Rainer Weiner Fassbinder almost never worked on just one project at a time. From 1969 to 1971, the well-known workaholic waltzed from directing more than 10 films to writing several stage plays. The production of The Merchant of Four Seasons (1971) proved to b...
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A World Filled With Schlemiels: On “Make Way for Tomorrow”
Make Way for Tomorrow is a prime example of the cinema functioning as an emergency broadcast system. Its timelessness is shocking to behold nearly 80 years after its release in 1937, primarily because it suggests that humanity, for all its pride in evolution, ...
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