Of all the filmmakers who have accomplished a great many things in their career, Kevin Smith is not very high on the list of those who need their own career retrospective. Namely because his life story has become a part of his brand, with podcasts and self-reflective movies, specials that share insider stories, etc. But…
★★★ Directed by: #EytanFox Written by: #EtyanFox, #ItaySegal Starring: #JohnBenjaminHickey, #NivNissim Film Review by: Alex Matraxia Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonEytan Fox’s feature Sublet takes us into the lonely lives of two gay men, generations apart. Currently screening in the BFI Flare Film Festival, Sublet is a mature and relevant film…
The hospital at the University of Porto has operated for more than 200 years. After the recent addition of a modern medical facility, part of the hospital has been turned into a museum celebrating and exploring the history of health and medicine in Portugal. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonIts earliest iteration…
Phil Sheerin’s The Winter Lake is an agrestic thriller that is appealingly small-scale and exceedingly grim. Taking place in isolation, the characters aimlessly wander their external grounds and internal plight, only to find themselves confronting an unspeakable truth that’ll cause many of them to turn to violence. Elaine (Charlie Murphy) and her son Tom (Anson…
The small town of Yoshimi, Saitama, is known mostly for the Hundred Caves, the largest grave cluster in Japan. A few minutes away from the caves, however, lies another strange cave that was once just as popular. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonGankutsu Hotel (“cave hotel”) is a strange structure dug out…
Rocks in space collide with things—Earth included—all the time, but in human history these collisions have mostly been small events that make little lasting impact. Go back long enough, and massive impacts start to appear in the geological record. And the solar system’s youth was downright barbaric: momentous impacts left, right, and center. While the…
Food is never simple. Take what is known as a cookie in America and a biscuit in the United Kingdom—two small, usually sweet treat concepts that sometimes overlap and sometimes don’t. However humble, these foods are inextricably tied to gigantic ideas in the history of both countries: the expansion of empire, the Industrial Revolution, waves…
Deep in the Big Thicket of East Texas, a former railroad spur affords visitors a glimpse of the bobbing, shimmering Light of Saratoga, which seems to approach, bounce, and change color before disappearing. It’s one of several “ghost lights” or “spooklights,” lights that appear without an obvious source or explanation, often surrounded by a unique…
Director Brad Furman’s “City of Lies” begins with a violent altercation on an open road between two men. The clash becomes a central event that the story keeps returning to: exactly why two angry drivers egg each other on, chase one another down a busy street and then open fire in broad daylight is a…
When leaving the metro at Slussen train station, perhaps to see the Katarinahissen, Sweden’s oldest animated sign, or taking in the Gamla Stan, visitors will find that part of the square is corded off for some apparent maintenance. Most people pass by the area without giving a second glance, but those who do will notice a hidden…
There’s a Sunday evening ritual in Baltimore, Maryland. Every summer, young riders blaze down the streets on dirt-bikes and four-wheelers, popping wheelies and tricks and waving to onlookers. The most badass riders can pull their bikes up completely straight, like the hands on a clock hitting midnight — these are the 12 O’Clock Boys. The…
An ancient ceremonial site, the Hill of Uisneach is considered by some to be Ireland’s most sacred site, as it is regarded as the symbolic center of the Emerald Isle. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonPrimarily associated with druids and the Celtic Festival of Bealtaine, the Hill of Uisneach is located at the center of the…
On a charming residential street in Nob Hill, an otherworldly structure arises from a corner lot. Slightly obscured by mature trees, indigenous flora, and corrugated metal fences, the locally-dubbed Spaceship House is actually the home and studio of eclectic architect Bart Prince. Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonBorn in New Mexico, Prince…
Last December, it felt like every day was a banquet at the sharehouse where I live in Tokyo. On the Sunday before Christmas, we snacked on snow crab shabu-shabu. On Christmas Eve, we sliced up a whole smoked chicken. On New Year’s Day, we savored wagyu sirloin steaks. And throughout, we savored top-quality shochu and…
If “Harriet” could hear, she might pick up the sound of ping-pong balls skittering across a table. If she could smell, she might detect a range of lunches being reheated in a nearby microwave. If her eyes could see, she might let them wander a busted Pac-Man machine, a TV, and a campus bookstore, decorated…
The year 2021 will find special mention in the annals of Berlinale history for giving us the first-ever virtually programmed edition of the largest film festival in the world. Something else is also unique about this year as May 2nd will mark the birth centenary of an auteur whose name pops up more than any…
“Welcome to the serial killer podcast. Today we have something very exclusive.” Holy hell this is insanely scary. Meet Jimmy is an excellent 7-minute horror short from Dutch filmmaker David-Jan Bronsgeest. It originally premiered in 2018 at the Nederlands Film Festival and it’s finally available to watch online via Short of the Week. Jennifer is…
★★★★ Directed by #ChrisMcKim Read moreA Guide to The Perfect Bong Joon-ho MarathonFilm Review by Hope Madden Maybe you don’t know who David Wojnarowicz is. Maybe you have no idea how to pronounce his name. It might be safer to butcher the provocative late artist’s last name (voy-nah-ROYH-vitch) than to read the title of director…
If there was one core argument Woody Allen made in his defense during the course of litigation against him, it would be fair to say it was the “woman scorned” argument. There has been an implication by some on Allen‘s side – including Allen himself – that the accusations of sexual abuse were a proxy…
In 1918, the Russian Imperial Romanov family was executed by Communist revolutionaries. After the royal family was murdered, there were rumors that one of the Romanov children had escaped. These rumors often centered around 17-year-old Grand Duchess Anastasia, which led to many women claiming to be Anastasia and therefore connected to the Russian royal lineage….
Hulu’s “Sasquatch” is a modern true-crime doc of a rare breed: rarely have they felt as nerve-racking, dangerous, and truly scary. It is not all about Bigfoot, one must say right off the bat, because I suspect that most people wouldn’t want to get into a series that’s about Bigfoot hunters unless it had a…