ALL HAPPY FAMILIES – Movie Review
All Happy Families is director/co-writer Haroula Rose’s highly amusing foray into dysfunctional family dynamics. With all of the film’s endearing characters’ quirks and through all of the plot’s engaging twists, everything is wrong — until it’s right.
Read MorePORTRAIT OF JASON (1967, 2013) – Documentary Retroview
As part of its ongoing Shirley Clarke Project, Milestone Pictures has completely restored Portrait of Jason, and is re-releasing the film theatrically, on DVD and via broadcast. Portrait of Jason had its theatrical premiere on October 2, 1967 in New York. After a successful art house run, the masterful film was added to the inventory of several film archives and collections, including that of the Museum of Modern Art. However, the prints eventually became worn and/or damaged to the degree that the fine qualities of the film were obscured. And, the original master was lost for more than 45 years.
Read MoreORNETTE Made in America – Movie Retroview – 1986/2012
Filmmaker Shirley Clarke’s experimental approach to movie making matches up perfectly with jazz man Ornette Coleman’s experimental approach to music making in this classic documentary profile and tribute film. The project was initiated during the early 1980s in response to producer Kathelin Hoffman’s wish to document the debut performance of Ornette Coleman’s symphony, Skies of America, at the opening of Fort Worth’s new Caravan of Dreams Performing Arts Center. As Clarke and crew worked on the film, ORNETTE Made in America developed into an experimental foray into the previously untried amalgamation of different film stocks and video format into a film that could be released theatrically.
Read MoreNostalgia For The Light (2010) – Documentary Retroview
Searching For Truth in Chile’s Atacama Desert Icarus Films Patricio Guzman’s beautifully filmed documentary is an exploration of Chile’s remote and pristine Atacama Desert, an arid area that attracts three groups of researchers, each searching for answers to essential human inquiries. With his refined and rather pensive narration, Guzman connects the three apparently disparate searches […]
Read MoreGIRLS WILL BE GIRLS (2024) – Movie Review
Girls will be Girls is Indian director Shuchi Talati’s narrative feature about Mira (Preeti Panigrahi), a smart but naive teenage girl who is trying to figure out what being a woman is all about. Mira is the best student in her coed high school and, as such, is given the position of prefect, which puts her […]
Read MoreDocumentary Retroview: THE END OF AMERICA (2008)
The End Of America presents the ten step blueprint that Hitler and other dictators used to subvert democratic process and put an end to personal freedoms. It compares, step by step, events leading up to establishment of the Third Reich with what has happened in the United States in recent years. Very convincing. Very scary. Should be required viewing for anyone old enough to vote or join the army.
Read MoreHOUSE OF THE DRAGON: Character Essentials – Interview with the Cast
HBO Max’s series House of Dragons creates its own fantastic universe around a cast of mythic characters who weave themselves into the fabric of an immensely complicated and twisting history. The series doesn’t shoot in sequence, so Keeping track of where they are in the tale and in their personal character arcs must be a daunting task for the actors. At a recent press conference, I had the opportunity to ask them about the choices they’ve made to help them with their journey. One question, in particular, surprised them and garnered a lively discussion with some revealing — and amusing — answers from several members of the acting ensemble.
Read MoreLATE BLOOMERS – Movie Review
Late Bloomers is a soulful film that gives way to compassionate consideration of some heart heavy subjects like loneliness, abandonment, self esteem and the agonies of aging. The story has enough quirky embellishments to to be thoroughly engaging throughout. And the performances by Karen Gillan as Louise and Margaret Sophie Stein as Antonina are so utterly charming that you can’t help rooting for their endearingly troubled characters to find their way to joy.
Read MoreTHE COMMANDANT’S SHADOW – Documentary Review
The Commandant’s Shadow is Daniela Volker’s revelatory Holocaust documentary about life after Auschwitz. More specifically, it focuses on Auschwitz Commandant Hoss’ son and daughter and grandson, delving into how they’ve come to terms with knowing that their beloved forebear mass murdered more humans than any other human in history. Hoss’ wife is also questioned about her husband’s ‘work,’ executing Adolf Hitler’s command for the death camp.
Read MoreSIRA – Movie Review
Burkinabé filmmaker Apolline Traoré’s Sira is a tale of a woman’s revenge. Sira (Nafisatou Cisse), the titular character, is the joyful and beloved daughter of the chief of a Muslim village, and she is about to be wed to her childhood sweetheart, Jean Sidi (Abdramane Barry), the son of a prominent and wealthy Christian farming […]
Read MoreWelcome to Cinema Citizen, an AWFJ Network Blog authored by Jennifer Merin
