There is so much to admire about Julio Torres’s PROBLEMISTA, from its magnificent manifestations of metaphor to its tweaking of subjective norms and random exploitation in a provocative satire as dark as night, but as hopeful as a buoyant full moon. The one that reigns supreme, though, is what Torres has done with the desperate,… Read More »
CABRINI
CABRINI is a handsome throwback to the hagiographies done so well by Hollywood in the 1940s and 1950s. Replete with luxurious cinematography worthy of anything to be found in a fine arts museum, it is fueled by a passionate, coolly confidant performance by Cristiana Dell’Anna as Mother Cabrini, America’s first saint. Amid the expected, and… Read More »
MARISOL — Kevin Casanova Interview
Click here to listen to the interview. Kevin Casanova Abrams’ MARISOL centers on an honors high-school senior in a Texas border town with dreams of attending college whose life is upended when she discovers that she is undocumented, having been brought to the United States when she was 10 months old. The first thing I… Read More »
SETTLERS — Wyatt Rockefeller Interview
Click here to listen to the interview. Wyatt Rockefeller knew from a very early age that his future was in filmmaking, but before making his feature-film directorial debut with SETTLERS, he took a detour into public service in the Obama administration. We got to that later in conversation with him on July 20, 2021. A… Read More »
KNIVES OUT
KNIVES OUT takes a brisk pace with its cinematic legerdemain as its cast expertly calibrate their performances so that arch never strays into the certain disaster of becoming artificial. The result is a giddily entertaining, emotionally engaging film that sets a new standard for its genre, and, if there is any justice, will launch the Benoit Blanc franchise.
ASK DR. RUTH — Ryan White Interview
Click here to listen to the interview. One of the first things we see in ASK DR. RUTH is the subject of that documentary, the legendary Dr. Ruth Westheimer breaking the fourth wall to tell director, Ryan White, to call his mother. And while she is serious, she also has a twinkle in her eye. … Read More »
HUMAN FLOW — Ai Wei Wei Interview
Ai Wei Wei is an artist and an activist who has combined both his callings into pieces and protests that can both be classified as provocative. His latest film, HUMAN FLOW, is an exquisitely filmed documentary in which Ai immerses himself into the lives of people displaced by war, repressive governments, disaster both economic and… Read More »
Frameline 41: The Pop Quiz
FRAMELINE 41 initiated a pair of press days for those of us covering the festival, and it offered me a rare opportunity to talk to many of the participating filmmakers while they were all gathered together in one place. The result was my inspiration to do a pop quiz with them, and the question I… Read More »
FINDING OSCAR — Ryan Suffern Interview
For his documentary, FINDING OSCAR, Ryan Suffern started at the end, filming what would be almost the last shot of the story before realizing what a compelling, and timely, piece of history he was witnessing. We talked about that during our conversation on April 20, 2017, but the first thing I asked him about was… Read More »
FOR HERE OR TO GO — Andrea Chase takes you Behind the Scenes of FOR HERE OR TO GO? — Rishi Bhilawadikar and Rucha Humnabadka Interview
Many years ago, I worked a hi-tech job in Silicon Valley, and though I worked side by side with people who had come there from India on work visas, I had no idea of the struggles with which these bright and talented people were dealing. FOR HERE OR TO GO? , though set in 2009,… Read More »