"Glauber Rocha's Antônio das Mortes [1969] is surely one of the most astonishing films to come out of Brazil in the 1960s," writes Michael Chanan, reviewing Mr Bongo's DVD release in the August issue of Sight & Sound. "Rocha was the shooting star of Brazilian film, the enfant terrible of cinema novo, the Brazilian branch of the Latin American new wave of the day.... He would die young in 1981, after a stream of films that had a powerful influence on his contemporaries elsewhere in Latin America, especially Cuba, which gave him refuge for a while when he found himself persona non grata with the military rulers in Brazil."
Editor Nick James surveys the work of "Britain's secret Brazilian," Alberto Cavalcanti, "arguably the greatest expatriate influence on our national cinema... During the 1930s and 40s he transformed the capacities of British filmmakers, yet his story is paradoxical, because it calls auteurism into question, and makes a powerful case for the genius of collaboration at a time when British cinema might profit from a return to that ethos." See, too, last weekend's entry.
In the one other sample from this new issue online, Tim Lucas reviews Freddie Francis's Girly (1969) and Alan Gibson's Goodbye Gemini (1970), both out now on DVD from Scorpion Releasing. Taken together, they "suggest that something needs to be written about the influence of Tennessee Williams on horror cinema."
IN OTHER NEWS
Film Noir Foundation founder Eddie Muller will be in Austin tomorrow and Monday evening to present, respectively, Joseph Losey's The Prowler (1951; screening info) and Robert Parrish's Cry Danger (1951, info). Kimberley Jones interviews him for the Chronicle, where Louis Black reviews three noirs out on DVD from Olive Films, Rudolph Maté's Union Station (1950), Lewis Allen's Appointment with Danger (1951) and William Dieterle's Dark City (1950).
Rose Kuo will be replacing Mara Manus as the executive director of the Film Society of Lincoln Center. As Kate Taylor reports in the New York Times, Manus's brief tenure — she was hired in 2008 — "was almost immediately marked by discord. In her first year she fired 7 of the 42 employees, and 4 others resigned." Kuo may be best known and the former artistic director of AFI Fest, but her background is rich and varied in programming experience. As for the FSLC itself, Taylor notes that it's currently "in a period of significant growth, planning to open a dual-screen theater next year to go along with the Walter Reade Theater, which it runs." More from Eugene Hernandez and Anne Thompson at indieWIRE.
"Walt Disney Co has struck a deal to sell Miramax to an investor group led by construction executive Ron Tutor with backing from Colony Capital, a private equity firm, and James Robinson, chief executive of production company Morgan Creek," blogs Joe Flint. "More on what may be the final chapter from the Los Angeles Times and the Wrap." Anne Thompson: "I don't buy the idea of anyone starting up Miramax as a production entity. This is a library asset sale — assuming it goes through."
Updated so far today have been entries on Rivette's Around a Small Mountain and Christopher Nolan's Inception.
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