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Aaron Hillis is in the thick of things at Austin's SXSW festival and from there brings us two wholly different podcast interviews. First, Ondi Timoner ( DiG!) who won her second Sundance Grand Jury Prize this year for We Live in Public, her compelling new doc which tells the story of the effect the web is having on our society as seen through the eyes of 'the greatest Internet pioneer you've never heard of,' visionary Josh Harris. Second podcast: impassioned radio host and documentary filmmaker Alex Jones, who has a bit of a rabid cult following. Coming soon: Anna Faris(!). More >> |
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In This Dispatch:
- What's New: Yella, Elegy and more.
- What We're Watching: Dodes'ka-den, Shimizu, Battle in Seattle.
- Special Promo: Hitfix.
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"Christian Petzold's enigmatic thriller Yella offers a surreal X-ray vision of cutthroat capitalism in 21st-century Germany," writes Stephen Holden in the New York Times. "As the movie, which was inspired by the 1962 film Carnival of Souls, becomes increasingly abstract, the geography and the characters acquire a deeper symbolism." "Like Laurent Cantet's Time Out and Nicolas Klotz's recent Heartbeat Detector, it's a corporate ghost story in which the undead are scarcely (and scarily) indistinguishable from the living," writes Scott Foundas in the Voice. UPDATE: Please note, due to the folding of New Yorker Film, this film has been pulled from DVD release. We are saddened by this. Will update you when/if things change. |
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Based on a novel by Philip Roth about a relationship between a celebrated college professor, Kepesh, ( Ben Kingsley) and a younger woman ( Penelope Cruz), Isabel Coixet's film is "a good, serious and absorbing movie, " noted Time's Richard Schickel, "especially, perhaps, for a reviewer who is roughly Kepesh's age and, of course, eagerly evading the issues his story forces up." Adds Carrie Rickey: "If Coixet's film is substantially more restrained than its explicit source material, it is no less provocative as a poetic meditation on love, sex and death." |
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From Vadim Rizov: 1970's Dodes'ka-den stands alone and damned in film history as the rare film whose failure drove its director to attempt suicide. Unprecedented in Akira Kurosawa's career up to that point (its failure guaranteed no similar offerings), Dodes'ka-den was horrendously received in Japan; Kurosawa responded by slashing himself over 30 times with a razor. He survived; the film's reputation didn't. Criterion's issue of the film offers a chance at redemption. Safe to say the film won't be canonically integrated anytime soon — it's fairly turgid — but also rewarding viewing for Kurosawa devotees. There's nothing else like it in his canon.... More here >> |
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Criterion Eclipse unburies a real hidden treasure this week with this four-film set reintroducing this overshadowed master’s compassionate, lyrical worldview. “ Shimizu commanded a style as distinctive and almost as idiosyncratic as Ozu’s,” writes Dave Kehr in a lovely New York Times tribute to the filmmaker (whose career paralleled that other, better-known artist’s). On the Criterion site Michael Koresky also contributes an excellent essay on the set. |
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Stuart Townsend wrote and directed Battle In Seattle and the film (the actor's first outing in those capacities), makes no bones about his utter dislike and disrespect of the WTO (World Trade Organization) and its "achievements." He lays all this out at the beginning and then launches into his docudrama set during several tumultuous days in 1999 when protestors, joined by labor organizations, managed to prevent the WTO from holding any kind of successful conference in the city of Seattle. At the time, this event -- an important part of the history of the Progressive Movement in the USA -- made big international news and gave a much-needed adrenaline jolt to progressive organizations worldwide... read review >>
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HitFix brings you the best of breaking entertainment news, featuring original stories and high quality video and photo galleries as well as national and local entertainment events:
The Forecast: Plan your entertainment options by exploring the best in Movies, TV, DVD, Music, Concerts and Sporting events in convenient 7 and 30-day views, just as you would check your local weather forecast. Set alerts or download events to your iGoogle, iCal, Yahoo and Outlook Calendar. Breaking News Alerts: Stay on top of breaking entertainment news. Knowing Movie Contest: Enter this free contest for a chance to win a Wii Console, Flip Ultra Video Camera or an iTunes gift certificate!
Also: We congratulate the lucky winners of our Tokyo! tickets giveaway: Jeanne13 (SF winner and Vera Zakharov (LA winner). Enjoy the movie! |
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Emerald Isle
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