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NEWS
Johnnie To on the set of Chihuo Quan Wang.
- Amidst a flurry of rumors that Hong Kong auteur Johnnie To had retired, news (and images!) has now emerged that he's in post-production on what looks to be a romance set in the world of mixed martial arts. Thanks goes to @dirtylaundri for spotting the fresh IMDb page.
if this is real: something to look forward to https://t.co/9zHRWELg0q
— nachtisch (@dirtylaundri) June 9, 2019
RECOMMENDED VIEWING
Claire Denis' Keep It For Yourself.
- Online streaming platform Le Cinéma Club has relaunched its website and a new season of selections, starting with Claire Denis's newly restored Keep It For Yourself (starring Vincent Gallo and Sara Driver!), which follows a French woman's excursion to New York City. As the Brooklyn Rail notes, Le Cinéma Club's restoration "is and will be the only way to see the film (unless another VHS shows up on eBay, that is)."
RECOMMENDED READING
Jim Jarmusch's The Dead Don't Die & George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead
- "[Zombies] come from within; they are us. In addition to being monsters, they are also victims, because they didn’t ask to be reanimated." In a new interview with the Criterion Collection, Jim Jarmusch discusses zombies as a metaphor and the connection between Romero's Night of the Living Dead and his latest zombie flick, The Dead Don't Die.
- In conjunction with the aforementioned online premiere of her film Keep It For Yourself, Claire Denis shares some thoughts on a few of her favorite films at Le Cinéma Club.
- Sabzian has published a dossier on the films of Wang Bing, charting the trajectory of his artistry and mapping his portraits of China.
Pauline Kael.
- To celebrate what would have been the late critic Pauline Kael's 100th birthday, The Guardian has published a series of reflections on her contributions to film criticism as a "blissfully cruel" warrior.
- In the present era of film criticism, critics Matt Turner and Ben Nicholson have compiled and edited a zine entitled Sojourns, which features stories from "film critics reporting from film festivals around the world — writing about anything but the movies." Sojourns is available to order now.
- The newly re-launched edition of online journal Jugend Ohne Film focuses on "different encounters of cinema and poetry" in the films of Margaret Tait, Michael Snow, Lee Chang-Dong, and D.W. Griffith.
- Richard Brody of The New Yorker reviews a new book of essays by François Truffaut that "illuminates the spark behind [the term "auteur" and the purpose that it serves," particularly in the tradition of ow-budget independent filmmaking
RECOMMENDED LISTENING
- Glasgow film and sound artist Luke Fowler, whose Electro-Pythagorus: A Portrait of Martin Bartlett previously has played on MUBI, shares a mix of unreleased material and various collaborations with this hypnotic mix for 12th Isle.
RECENTLY ON THE NOTEBOOK
- Greg Cwik reviews David Milch's Deadwood: The Movie, the conclusion to the "loquacious and vulgar" TV western cancelled thirteen years ago.
- "[Isabella Eklöf's Holiday] bites its teeth into male-female power dynamics and the blood is all glitter," writes Savina Petkova. Holiday, receiving an exclusive global online premiere on MUBI, is showing from June 7 – July 6, 2019 in the Debuts series.
- Published for the first time in English, Peter von Bagh, former Artistic Director of Il Cinema Ritrovato, discusses the filmmaking of Henry King, subject of a retrospective at this year's festival.
EXTRAS
- We send thanks to whoever uncovered this inspiring glimpse of a young Nicolas Cage.
Best Actor at the Beverly Hills High School Student Film Awards in 1981 pic.twitter.com/ZXWBq4FyTp
— Eyes On Cinema (@RealEOC) June 13, 2019