The premise of THE TICKET is the decidedly mixed nature of blessings. In this case, what happens when James, played by Dan Stevens, miraculously regains his eyesight after losing it as a child. The initial euphoria felt by him and his wife, Sam, soon gives way to the stresses that ensue as their relationships change… Read More »
THE SOUNDING — Catherine Eaton and Teddy Sears Interview
I sometimes warn the people I’m interviewing that I have a tendency to read way too much into things. When I did that before starting my phone conversation with Catherine Easton and Teddy Sears on March 3, 2017 about their film, THE SOUNDING, they both assured me that everything I read into the film was… Read More »
FARE — Thomas Torrey Interview
The first thing I asked Thomas Torrey when I spoke with him by phone on February 23, 2017, was whether shooting his film, FARE, in three days, and entirely within a car, was necessity or personal challenge. Once that was out of the way, we went on to talk about the odd sort of intimacy… Read More »
CAMERAPERSON — Kirsten Johnson Interview
Kirsten Johnson has spent 25 filming other people’s documentaries. With CAMERAPERSON, she uses the outtakes of those films, as well as new footage of her family, to make a film that is much more than the sum of its parts. When I spoke with the ebullient and thoughtful filmmaker on September 30, 2016, we talked… Read More »
MAX ROSE — Daniel Noah Interview
Daniel Noah didn’t exactly base his film, MAX ROSE, on his own relationship with his beloved grandfather, but the way that grandfather dealt with the grief of losing Noah’s grandmother was the inspiration for the film. Grief is depicted as something with as much vitriol as sadness, which is what sets it apart from most… Read More »
Brian Perkins Takes Us to the GOLDEN KINGDOM
Brian Perkins didn’t go to Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, with the intention of making a film, but when he came across a small Buddhist monastery in the countryside, that changed. When I spoke with Perkins via Skype on June 17, 2016, it’s one of the topics we covered, along with his struggles with the… Read More »
Géza Röhrig and László Nemes on SON OF SAUL
When I spoke with actor Géza Röhrig and director/co-writer László Nemes on December 12, 2015, I knew it was going to be a serious conversation. I also knew that it was going to be as insightful as their film, SON OF SAUL. We started the interview with my asking why these two would want to immerse themselves… Read More »
Brian Sloan has A WTC VIEW
WTC VIEW was the first play from The New York International Fringe Festival to make the leap to the big screen in 2005, but playwright Brian Sloan resisted the temptation to fundamentally change the nature of his play by opening it up beyond the one apartment in which it takes place. The metaphor of a… Read More »
Perry Blackshear, MacLeod Andrews & Evan Dumouchel Insist that THEY LOOK LIKE PEOPLE
THEY LOOK LIKE PEOPLE is a first-rate existential horror film, as well as a psychological thriller. I got the same vibe watching it that I had gotten watching PI and BRICK, the maiden efforts of Darren Aronofsky and Rian Johnson respectively. Writer/director Perry Blackshear understands more than just how to create evocative, even sumptuous, visuals, he knows… Read More »
Shlomi Elkabetz Records GETT: THE TRIAL OF VIVIANE AMSALEM
GETT, the Hebrew word for a bill of divorce, is the third film in a trilogy made by brother-and-sister filmmakers Shlomi and Ronit Elkabetz. The theme, as Shlomi explained to me on October 6, 2014, is freedom, specifically women’s freedom in the modern world. Inspired by their mother’s life, it’s a contemplation on the nature… Read More »