THE EXPLODING GIRL and TALES FROM THE SCRIPT
Postponing the Blast: Zoe Kazan in THE EXPLODING GIRL
So actress Zoe Kazan slips into the room, gives director Bradley Rust Gray a hug, and lingers a minute to answer a couple of questions. Quite unanticipated, obviously. Very welcome, actually. And pretty much fitting for the film being discussed, THE EXPLODING GIRL, which itself has a [...]
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MMP at the 2010 Spirit Awards
ell, “next to” the Spirit Awards might be more accurate. We weren’t actually at the ceremonies, but over the past year we’ve been fortunate enough to cover a fair number of the 2010 winners.
So if the acceptance speeches didn’t get anywhere close enough to satisfying your curiosity about how these films came about, [...]
Moeller and Jacoby on HARLAN – IN THE SHADOW OF JEW SUSS
It’s typical in these circumstances to say, “I don’t know what came over me.” But I do know what came over me: I was going to interview Felix Moeller about his new documentary, HARLAN – IN THE SHADOW OF JEW SUSS — the film about German director Veit Harlan, his infamous, anti-Semitic 1940 creation JEW [...]
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THE ART OF THE STEAL Interview
At one point in the new film THE ART OF THE STEAL, one of the people protesting the moving of Dr. Albert Barnes’ art collection (Picasso, Modigliani, Renoir, Cézanne, amongst others) from its home outside Philadelphia into the city proper stands outside the gates of the museum’s eventual home, screaming, “Philistines!” The art world occasionally [...]
Michael Palmieri and Donal Mosher on OCTOBER COUNTRY
A tangent here, but stick with me: At the beginning of the animated film, MY NEIGHBORS THE YAMATAS, director Isao Takahata envisions the world of his titular family as an ocean voyage, complete with pounding waves and raging storms, but arriving eventually at a safe port. If the analogy was transferred to OCTOBER COUNTRY, the [...]
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Nicole Opper on OFF AND RUNNING
Before we get to the topic at hand, lemme tell you about another screening I went to a last week. Not going to tell you which film that was, because I walked out in the middle — yes, it was that good — but the focus of that film was on this family that was [...]
Kate Davis and David Heilbroner on WAITING FOR ARMAGEDDON
I’ll admit I have little patience for people who confuse religious mythology for real-world politics. You want to believe that, when the earthly going gets tough, you’re going to be zapped up to heaven and have a front row seat for the conflagration and the return of your deity? Cool, swell, no skin off my [...]
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Aaron Aites and Audrey Ewell on UNTIL THE LIGHT TAKES US
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not all that obsessive over metal, heavy or otherwise. Don’t hate it — in fact, I like the beat and the aggression and the flights into epic, audio assault — it just doesn’t take priority when I’m programming my Pandora stations. Nevertheless, I’m happy when one year brings us two [...]
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Flashback: Sacha Gervasi on ANVIL! THE STORY OF ANVIL
The rock documentary, ANVIL! THE STORY OF ANVIL is having its TV debut this Saturday, October 3, at 10 PM ET/PT on VH1 and VH1 Classic. In honor of the event, I figured I’d repost the interview I conducted with the film’s director, Sacha Gervasi. Check out the doc — it’s a good ‘un — [...]
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REPOST: Michael Almereyda on PARADISE
Let’s forget about narrative for now, shall we? Let’s not focus on narrative, let’s live in the moment. And let’s consider a documentary focused on isolated pieces of time, how those pieces can be compiled into a portrait of life as it is lived around the world.
Michael Almereyda is no stranger to toying with film [...]
