Mae West was very unusual for the time in that she was her own screenwriter, and was the complete creator of the Mae West character for 20 years in the theatre before she got anywhere near movies. Of course, she had to wait for the movies to not only be invented, but be talkies - she would not have fared well in the silent cinema.
Read MoreThe first question asked about Black Girl (at least in this column) must be “Is this really a short film?” At just under one hour, it’s definitely a short film but is that too long to consider it a Short Film? Where’s the breaking point?…
Read MoreWhen I was re-watching last year’s Licorice Pizza, something came across my mind that hadn’t on the previous viewings, and that’s the influence of Jonathan Demme on Paul Thomas Anderson. When Pizza was first released, I read one review comparing it to Robert Altman - as has happened with so many of his films - along with Martin Scorsese. These are two auteurs who have very distinct and obvious styles, and they’re two of his favorite filmmakers. But Anderson’s favorite is Jonathan Demme, whose style isn’t quite as overt.
Read MoreLuis Buñuel famously said “Thank God I’m still an athiest.”
I respond, “Thank God for atheist filmmakers like Luis Buñuel”
This isn’t meant to be glib. I make this statement with the hope of…
Read MoreLast week, here in Los Angeles, we had the 21st Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival, or LALIFF, which was five days of features, shorts, animation, and music. My friend, Pamela Ribon, who co-wrote Ralph Breaks the Internet and Moana, amongst many other things, had a short in the festival called My Year of Dicks,, so I went to see that as part of an evening of shorts that were really universally top notch.
Read MoreIn an effort to showcase the wide range of short film forms, previous installments in this series have discussed a handmade special effects extravaganza (Tango), a traditionally-structured horror narrative (La Cabina), and an absolute enigma (Who is on First?) This week’s selection, A Sense of History, offers another distinct approach: monologue.
Read MoreWhen thinking of the films of John Ford, one often doesn’t think of them as romantic. They may often think of them as noble, tough, and old fashioned in the best sense. But in many of his films there’s a longing for something that was past, and perhaps the most famous example in his career of this theme is his 1952 masterpiece The Quiet Man, which turns 70 today.
Read MoreThe effect the war had on moviemakers like John Ford, Akira Kurosawa, Federico Fellini, Jimmy Stewart, Toshiro Mifune, Lee Marvin, Robert Mitchum, George Stevens, William Wyler, Frank Capra, Marlene Dietriech, and countless others who fought in it is clearly visible in the increased complexity, directness, ambivalence of all the cinema that came after. Not to mention the incredible wave of foreign talent that came to Hollywood to escape persecution: folks like Billy Wilder, Fritz Lang, Jean Renoir, etc.
John Ford himself embodies so many contradictions of the war years. And at the same time he also embodies what was best about the collective war effort.
In many ways, it was World War II which would eventually produce movies like My Darling Clementine, Fort Apache, The Searchers, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.
Ford almost immediately enlisted…
Read MoreKilmer wanted to be an actor from childhood, and his brother, Mark, made movies, so there is much footage of comic remakes of Jaws, etc, and Val in school plays, all in an early ‘70s glow. He dated Mare Winningham in high school, and was the youngest person ever accepted into Julliard.
Read MoreWho is on First? is hard to classify as a specific, definite thing. Is it a comedy sketch? An art project? An act of aggression? Each of those descriptors are accurate to a degree but the filmmakers’ website includes it under their “Films” rubric so I’m inclined to defer to them on this one and why not?
Read MoreEven John Ford, a world class moviemaker, alternated between masterpieces like The Grapes of Wrath & Wagon Master-and head-scratching misfires like Tobacco Road. Often in the same year.
Read MoreThis past weekend, the UCLA Film and Television Archive held their first Festival of Preservation since 2019, at the Billy Wilder Theatre at the Hammer Museum. I was able to see several of the programmes, and rather than just pick one to write about, I thought I’d say a little bit about all of them.
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