10 articles
In 1988, Chile held a referendum to decide whether dictator Augusto Pinochet should stay in power. For one month, both sides could express their views in daily 15-minute TV slots. Pablo Larraín’s new...
Feb 7, 2013 / Alison Frank
Audiences and critics alike seem to have a soft spot for nostalgia of late: witness the superlative praise lavished on “The Artist” (2011), which did little more than copy silent films of the past....
Oct 17, 2012 / Alison Frank
Art films don’t have to be serious, but a lot of them are. Madness, suffering, death—at times these become depressingly familiar themes at film festivals. For this reason, the rare comedy film is...
Jan 28, 2012 / Alison Frank
Ryan Gosling in Nicolas Winding Refn's "Drive" It’s that time of year again when we intrepid critics whittle down the hundreds of titles we’ve seen over the last 365 days to the top 10 that made us...
Jan 8, 2012 / Eric M. Armstrong
The feature debut of director Tomáš Lunák, Alois Nebel (2011) is an animated film based on a trilogy of graphic novels by Jaromír99 and Jaroslav Rudiš. The film’s black-and-white images sometimes...
Oct 26, 2011 / Alison Frank
Jude Law and Rachel Weisz star in Fernando Meirelles's "360" This year’s London Film Festival launched with a damp squib in the form of 360 , Fernando Meirelles’ latest feature. How far Merielles...
Oct 12, 2011 / Alison Frank
Having experienced my first two festivals as a member of the press, I feel compelled to compare them, noting the areas where one festival outperformed the other. Although London and Berlin are quite...
Mar 14, 2011 / Alison Frank
In last week’s blog I talked about the experience of seeing a film with low expectations, and the potential this has to skew one’s judgement, making a surprisingly good film seem even better than it...
Jan 17, 2011 / Alison Frank
Controversial Japanese director Takashi Miike is making a samurai film that he hopes will educate Japan’s youth, according to the AP. “I wanted the audience to realize that this story is not taking...
Sep 11, 2010 / Bryan Lufkin
Film is a fickle medium. In any other industry if you take two of the top performers in their respective spheres and put them together you’ve got a hit. Derek Jeter and A-Rod, peanut butter and...
Apr 13, 2010 / Eric M. Armstrong


