Behemoths of war rumble overhead and block out the sun in shadows carved from steel as people living ancient agrarian lifestyles look upward and see the inevitable conclusion of their way of life. Neighbors become competitors for dwindling resources as scarcity is manufactured from fear and the death of empathy triggered by …
Everywhere in the sweltering concrete expanses of Calcutta, men and women are competing for precious few jobs, candidates strictly vetted by their political affiliations, ideological preferences, and proficiency in English. Such exacting standards can only thrive in an environment where workers vastly outnumber available jobs, giving …
For Satyajit Ray’s third feature, he took a break from his Apu Trilogy to make a film about a broken man, once important but now barely remembered and then only as a formality. This man, Huzur Biswambhar Roy (Chhabi Biswas), was the landowner of an entire area who lived in an elaborate palace with his wife Mahamaya …
Mixing two storylines in different eras together is daring. That is even without considering the monumental success of The Godfather as a film. It sits proudly many a critical list and even more of people’s list, but there still rages debate on which is better: the first or the second. The first excels as a straightforward film with …
The postmodern Western films of the 1960s and 1970s eschewed the American myth of classic Westerns, instead focusing on tough examinations of the culture’s predilection for war, violence and oppression. The vocabulary of the classic Western film was often retained, however, but rather than being used to uphold …
His name is Ghost Dog. He lives on a rooftop in Jersey City, surrounded by the carrier pigeons he uses to communicate with the mafia. Working as a hit man, he lives his life according to Yamamoto Tsunetomo’s Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai. His best friend is a Haitian ice cream vendor who only speaks French. On …
Jim Jarmusch is one of cinema’s great minimalists, second only perhaps to Robert Bresson. For his third outing, Down by Law, Jarmusch focused his story on three perpetual losers for which very little works out. Losers and low-lives are Jarmusch’s most common characters and here he chooses a washed-up disk jockey, Zach (legendary …
To make one good film is a noble goal that evades the majority who try. Not Robert Altman who managed to touch greatness several times over. Perhaps most famous for his ensemble features, it’s McCabe & Mrs. Miller that stands out for the sustained longing infused into every frame. Set out on the limits when the great myth of a …
The train has been an integral component in the history of cinema since the Lumiere brothers filmed one arriving at a station that spawned the very medium, the Lumiere’s assisting in the transition of cinema from the novelty of traveling magic lantern shows and penny arcades to majestic theaters as imposing and ornate as hallowed …
A Most Wanted Man opens on the still waters of a canal coming to a roil as an undisclosed boat passes by in the waking dawn of the morning. The shot is held for an extended period of time, allowing the atmosphere and meaning to naturally reveal itself. It’s an effective metaphor for the imminent eruption of repressed emotions …