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In This Dispatch:
- What's New: Man Hunt, True Blood, and more.
- What We're Watching: Empire of Passion, Grin Without a Cat, Det. Bureau.
- Explore: Martin Scorsese podcast!
- Contest: SilverDocs! (reminder)
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Sure, Valkyrie is out today, and despite the presence of Tom Cruise as a German spy, it's actually quite suspenseful, even fun. But we prefer this similarly plotted 1941 film, also new to DVD. "One of the best-loved of [Fritz] Lang's spy dramas," writes DVD Beaver's Gary Tooze, " Man Hunt is a superbly exciting, tightly constructed picture which stars [Walter] Pidgeon, terrific as Thorndike, a big-game hunter in the Bavarian Alps who accidentally discovers that he has a chance to assassinate Hitler." The film is "clean and concentrated, elegant and precise, pointed without being preachy," adds Dave Kehr. |
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Sookie Stackhouse comes to television in the Alan Ball adaptation, for HBO, of Charlaine Harris' Southern vampire series. We think it took a few episodes to find itself, but then it became something to sink your teeth into. "True Blood isn't meant to be an exercise in good taste," noted Tom Shales. "Just a romp and a wallow--and a bloody good one." Adds TV Guide's Matt Roush: "Graphically sexy and scary, and often wildly funny... turns Harris' rollicking mystery novels into a broadly entertaining, deliciously twisted slice of modern Southern Gothic." |
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Nagisa Oshima is an interesting figure in postwar Japanese cinema. He was the sort of romantic provocateur who glorifies transgression for its own sake, and wants very much to shock you. He was also, unlike many of his contemporaries, very indebted to French cinema, both for inspiration as well as funding and support. This is what you need to know to understand Empire of Passion. It is almost pathologically devoted to the glory of unbridled human passion, while at the same time... read review >>
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Grin comes off in many ways like a home movie: narration that comes and goes, often simultaneously with other things we are trying to hear on the soundtrack; grainy images from all over the place, sometimes goosed with background colors or filters – red, yellow, blue – that suggest the moviemaker wanted to experiment with color and its meaning. But since the maker is Chris Marker and his subject is leftist history, worldwide, during the 1960s and 70s, those inclined will pay careful attention to what this icon ( La Jetee, Sans Soleil) has to say. He says a lot, and it's dense, but I wouldn't have missed a moment. Marker's goal is to explain the changes that took place in the philosophy and actions of the left... read review >>
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Occasional GreenCine contributor and film critic Sean Axmaker, writing on his own blog, talks up this Japanese cult crime movie: "It may not be the best film of the week but this early Seijun Suzuki yakuza potboiler certainly sports the greatest title I’ve seen flash across my flatscreen all year: Detective Bureau 2-3: Go To Hell Bastards! The film, starring a cocky and cool Jo Shishido as a private detective (with a side job publishing a scandal rag) who hires himself out as an undercover agent to infiltrate a new gang in town for the local cops, is pure B-movie silliness and Suzuki knows it, plays with it, flaunts it." |
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Dedicated to film restoration and preservation, Martin Scorsese's World Cinema Foundation—whose advisory board includes Wong Kar Wai, Abbas Kiarostami and Guillermo Del Toro—has just unveiled three new projects for 2009: Edward Yang's A Brighter Summer Day (Taiwan, 1991), Shadi Abdel Salam's Al-Momia (Egypt, 1969), and Fred Zinnemann & Emilio Gomez Muriel's Redes (Mexico, 1936). Under the new partnership, many more eyes will hopefully get to take in the fruits of WCF's efforts. Scorsese spoke on the phone from Cannes with GC's Aaron Hillis for a new podcast. GC podcasts are now available on iTunes! Search for GreenCine on the iTunes store, or go here. |
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Just a reminder: Attend the festival Variety calls "Non-fiction Nirvana" by entering GreenCine's SilverDocs Film Festival Pass giveaway! Enter now to win two Industry passes, which includes:
Invitation for one to Opening Night screening and gala (RSVP required); NO TICKETS NEEDED for all regular screenings; Access to Conference programs and Festival Lounges; Access to sponsored Conference meals, happy hours and regular receptions. This year's festival takes place Monday, June 15 through Monday June 22 in the Washington, DC area. For more details and to enter the contest, go here >>
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In Memorial
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