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NEWS
- The prolific, captivating Sean Connery has died. As critic Glenn Kenny writes in his obituary for Decider, Connery will always be "tied to the role of James Bond, [but] so many of Connery’s non-Bond roles were [...] fascinating, challenging, and cinematically important."
RECOMMENDED VIEWING
- Grasshopper Films' official trailer for the new 4k digital restoration of Manoel de Oliveira's 1981 Francisca, an adaptation of Agustina Bessa-Luís’ acclaimed novel.
- Oscilloscope has released the first trailer for The Twentieth Century, Matthew Rankine's dark comedy-drama that reimagines the life of former Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King. The film won the FIPRESCI prize in the Forum section of the 2019 Berlinale.
- The Asian Film Archive has announced Monographs 2020, a series of video essays commissioned and conceived during lockdown. Featuring a wide range of filmmakers (including Truong Minh Quý and Raya Martin, whose films have shown on MUBI in the past), the series aims to offer "an important space for writers and thinkers to discourse upon the moving image within the context of the region."
RECOMMENDED READING
- David Cairns and Daniel Riccuito interview the legendary horror icon Barbara Steele, who shares a singular perspective on dark fairytales, working with Mario Bava and Federico Fellini, the sensuality of Italian horror, and being a "dark goddess [...] made for horror."
- "...the personal is political and the political, personal, but this juncture is also a site of friction, open to manifold recombinations." Erika Balsom writes on Milestones, the 1975 film by Robert Kramer and John Douglas.
- In a new interview with Reverse Shot, Oliver Laxe discusses his third feature Fire Will Come, the feeling of shooting in his hometown, and the significance of the Leonard Cohen song “Suzanne.” For Grasshopper Films, Laxe has also shared three films that influenced his latest title.
- Rolling Stone's K. Austin Collins reviews Borat 2, a "psychotic tangle of headlines and political dilemmas as impenetrable as a clump of extension cords that we all can’t help but trip over."
- Entertainment Weekly explores how animators continue to explore new means of virtual and remote production during the pandemic, which includes remote "pillow fort" kits for voiceover work, color correcting on iPads, and working with a larger group of artists who are not locally based.
- For Le Cinema Club, Martin Eden director Pietro Marcello shares a list of films he loves, from Jean Vigo's L'Atalante to The Umbrellas of Cherbourg by Jacques Demy.
RECOMMENDED LISTENING
- In celebration of the 85th anniversary of James Whale's 1935 The Bride of Frankenstein, Waxwork Records is presenting the premiere vinyl release of the original soundtrack recording as a "deluxe album featuring re-mastered audio, new artwork, and likeness approvals from famed actress Elsa Lanchester’s estate."
RECENTLY ON THE NOTEBOOK
- "... that we each shoulder a collective responsibility, have a creative role to play, in shaping the world we wish to see." John Gianvito introduces his film Profit Motive and the Whispering Wind, a loose adaptation of Howard Zinn's A People’s History of the United States and a dedication to resistance. The film is exclusively showing November 3 - December 2, 2020 on MUBI in the Rediscovered series.
- This year's Sheffield Doc/Fest featured a retrospective focusing on agriculture, land rights, labor, and the land. In his reflection on the series, Matt Turner describes the feeling of exploration it inspired, like "being fourteen again and posting screenshots of films on Tumblr, finding nerdy new sites and adding them to my blog-roll."
- In a new video essay, James Slaymaker explores Irish political struggles and the legacy of colonization through a rich and varied cinematic history.
- Matt Carlin traverses through the divided and uncertain America of Wes Craven's The Hills Have Eyes, which is now showing on MUBI in the United Kingdom, United States, and Ireland.
EXTRAS
- In the face of the ongoing U.S. election, we're reminded of William A. Wellman's 1947 film Magic Town, starring James Stewart as a political pollster in search of a small town with the perfect demographic, whose votes will directly reflect the nation's public opinion.
- A gorgeous, transfixing redesign of the original poster for Joyce Chopra's Smooth Talk by Janus Films. The restoration of the 1985 film will premiere on November 6th through the Film Society for Lincoln Center's Virtual Cinemas.
