The 9th film from Quentin Tarantino, aka ONCE UPON A TIME . . . IN HOLLYWOOD, takes us back to 1969, and a land of fragile dreams, transactional relationships, and the manifestation of the dark side of it all in the form of Charles Manson (Damon Herriman). Manson himself has but a cameo in the… Read More »
WOMEN HE’S UNDRESSED — Gillian Armstrong Interview
Gillian Armstrong knew little if anything about George Orry-Kelly when she started making her zesty and intimate documentary about him, WOMEN HE’S UNDRESSED. The Australian with enormous talent and even more guts, hopped a boat to New York City when he was 24, where he met and fell in love with Archie Leach, and became… Read More »
CAFÉ SOCIETY
There is a theological bent to Woody Allen’s CAFÉ SOCIETY. It’s there in the constant bickering between the hero’s parents about whether or not a relative has a Jewish-shaped head. And, furthermore, if he doesn’t, how can he be a proper Jew? Such questions are a Midrash on the actual story, which concerns a young… Read More »
HAIL, CAESAR!
If Douglas Sirk had directed a film noir written by Billy Wilder, it might have looked something like HAIL, CAESAR!, the latest thoughtful tangle of philosophy and whimsy from the Coen Brothers. Taking place in a 1951 Hollywood not entirely unlike the one that actually existed, it mixes Cold War paranoia, carefully managed studio PR… Read More »
Gurinder Chadha’s Imaginative BRIDE AND PREJUDICE
Gurinder Chadha, like her films, has a lot to say on a great many topics. Also like her films, she’s entertaining while she’s saying it. When I spoke to her on January 27, 2005, she waxed loquacious on Bollywood meeting Hollywood on and off the screen, her responsibility as a filmmaker to her audience, and why… Read More »