Described as “the father of African cinema,” Ousmane Sembène receives a mostly conventional biodocumentary in Sembene!, but it is enlivened by biographer Samba Gadjigo’s personal perspectives and an impressive array of contextual footage, personal photographs, rare archival footage, interviews with intimates, and clips of Sembène’s films that are only now being preserved. Sembène had much […]
Produced and Directed by Les Blank and Gina Leibrecht Released by Kino Lorber USA. 65 min. Not Rated With Happy Mother’s Day (1963), directed by Richard Leacock and Joyce Chopra (26 min.) In a bit more than an hour, How to Smell a Rose: A Visit with Ricky Leacock in Normandy provides a leisurely, insightful […]
Edited, Written, and Directed by Stevan Riley Produced by John Battsek, R.J. Cutler, and George Chignell Released by Showtime Films UK. 100 min. Not rated “Inferiority. I’ve been close to it all my life.” The voice is unmistakable: sussurant, slurred, sensual, and exhausted. Its meandering cadences emerge from the once beautiful and now bloated Marlon […]
Directed by Lucia Small and Ed Pincus Produced by Mary Kerr Released by First Run Features USA. 105 min. Not rated In Japanese swordsmanship, the expression “one cut, one life” refers to the importance of making every movement count. For Ed Pincus, it is also a philosophy for how to live life, one that has […]
Directed by David Zellner Produced by Nathan Zellner, Cameron Lamb, Chris Ohlson, Andrew Banks, and Jim Burke Written by David Zellner and Nathan Zellner Released by Amplify English and Japanese, with English subtitles USA. 105 min. Not rated With Rinko Kikuchi, Nobuyuki Katsube, Kanako Higashi, Kyokaku Ichi, Ayaka Ohnishi, Mayuko Kawakita and David Zellner A […]
Written and Directed by Peter Strickland Produced by Andy Starke Released by Sundance Selects UK. 106 min. Not rated With Sidse Babett Knudsen, Chiara D’Anna, Eugenia Caruso, Zita Kraszko, Monica Swinn, Eszter Tompa, and Fatma Mohamed Isn’t it amazing how the most unique, unconventional relationships generally, when put under a microscope, turn out to be […]
The Beast (1975). 93 min. Immoral Tales (1974). 103 min. Written & Directed by Walerian Borowcyk French with English subtitles Back in the early 1970s, as porn was poking it’s way into the mainstream, a few daring filmmakers raised on arty fare like Bergman and Fellini tried to incorporate some deep ideas with blatant erotica, […]
The Fun Starts Here Who would have thought that the funniest moments at the Toronto International Film Festival would revolve around climate change and activism? Ten years ago, the message-delivering pranksters, the Yes Men, first spread their alarming messages in their eponymous documentary. Instead of staging street protests, they pull off media stunts to the […]
Directed by Steve James Produced by Zak Piper, James and Garrett Basch Released by Magnolia Pictures USA. 118 min. Rated R Perhaps the most shocking thing about the Roger Ebert documentary Life Itself is the revelation that Ebert became a full-time paid film critic at a major newspaper in the third largest city in the […]