Where does this film fall within the chronology of gangsterdom, American style? Somewhere in between this week's much-anticipated Public Enemies (and its actual chronological precursors, such as two
Above: Michael Mann (second from the right) and crew members working on Public Enemies. Photo by Rob Olewinski. I spent a few days in the summer of 2008 on the set of Michael Mann's Public Enemies
Andrea Arnold's follow-up to her acclaimed Red Road (2006), follows also in the footsteps of Alan Clarke, director of films and BBC plays, whose influence has spread out in strange ways since his untimely
Above: The Biograph Theater in 1934 and as it appeared when re-decorated in 2008 for the production of Public Enemies. I spent a few days in the summer of 2008 on the set of Michael Mann's Public Enemies
"Pontypool. Pontypool. Ponty-pool." It's such a pleasure to discover a film like director Bruce MacDonald and writer Tony Burgess's Pontypool at a film festival (Edinburgh, in my case) without knowing
If ever there was a director whose work should be represented by magnificent posters, it is Sergei Paradjanov. His symbol-laded films, and especially his 1968 masterpiece The Color of Pomegranates, are
Last week, we wrote, " [T]he Transformers films are abominations which any grown adult ought to be ashamed to even bring up in conversation." Hence, this week: Transformers! The jive (or whatever its
Above: Stand-ins help rehearse a scene from Public Enemies. Photo by Rob Olewinski. I spent a few days in the summer of 2008 on the set of Michael Mann's Public Enemies, which was shooting at the time
An interview with Milkway mastermind and Johnnie To collaborating producer, writer and director Wai Ka-Fai.
UP, UP AND AWAY At the beginning of 1969's The Red Tent, a Soviet-Italian co-production (perhaps the Soviet-Italian co-production?), a film without a reputation, a group of ghosts gather for a mock
Linked by their concerns with sexuality (or, more directly, perversion), if not by the near simultaneous release of several of their films on DVD in the US, Nagisa Oshima and Shohei Imamura belong to
Cheap to fund, digitally shot portraits of everyday life compose the heart and soul of contemporary American independent film. But when a director makes the decision to reject casual naturalism, shoot