Sight and Sound

Duty Calls : Kathryn Bigelow’s acclaimed new feature Zero Dark Thirty, about the hunt for Osama bin Laden, arrives just 18 onths after the climactic kill mission it depicts. But is such haste at the expense of perspective, asks Michael Atkinson = 30 FEATURES COVER FEATURE Trail Blazer In Django Unchained, Quentin Tarantino addresses the vexed subject of American slavery - spaghetti-western style. By Kim Newman PLUS Tim Lucas on the cinematic roots of Django Unchained = 34 Polanski and the Grotesque : A new season reveals the collision of reality and the surreal in the director’s work. By Philip orne LUS Michael Brooke on the Polish years, and Charles Barr on his work with Tynan = 40 Boom and Bust : Lenny Abrahamson’s What Richard Did delves into the fallout from the demise of the Celtic Tiger, finds revor Johnston = 46 Mister Freedom : Graham Fuller investigates the position of Lincoln within Steven Spielberg’s oeuvre and examines the range f receptions that greeted its US release = 50 DEEP FOCUS 21st Century Noir : The crucial elements of violence, sex, memory and identity - remain as germane to today’s leading ilmmakers as to last century’s, argues Nick James = 56 REGULARS Editorial Zero tolerance = 9 Reader Offers = 28 Rushes Michael Koresky celebrates the tone of effortless ease at the heart of screwball = 10 Object Lesson: Hannah McGill on film’s troubled treatment of changes to gender = 12 First Sight: Anton Bitel talks to Jen and Sylvia Soska about American Mary = 15 Dispatches: Mark Cousins on the architecture of Amour = 17 The Industiy Development Tale: Charles Gant on the interrupted gestation of The Liability = 18 The Numbers: Charles Gant reviews the year’s arthouse fortunes = 19 Set Report: Ashley Clarke on an innovative ‘urban’ British comedy = 20 Profile: Nick Roddick on Russian film ambassador Catherine Mtsitouridze = 23 Festivals Nick James on Morelia’s unique charms = 24 Simon Merle reports from Rome = 26 James Bell reports from Tokyo = 27 Wide Angle Brian Dillon previews the first UK survey of video artist Gerard Byrne = 66 Soundings: Frances Morgan on the innovative soundtrack of Performance = 68 Primal Screen: Matthew Sweet pays tribute to the first four-legged film stars = 69 Gonzalo de Lucas celebrates the heartfelt film criticism of Serge Daney = 70 Carlos Losilla finds fascinating signposts to new directions at Seville = 71 Bradlands: Brad Stevens asks what musicians offer when they make films = 72 Lost and Found: Chris Darke on Chris Petit’s knowing neo-noir Chinese Boxes = 73 Forum Kieron Cor less investigates the new currency of the newsreel format and hears from three filmmakers embracing its tential: em Cohen, Sylvain George and Alex Reuben PLUS Rebecca Vick on the history of the newsreel in Britain = 74 Letters = 77 Endings : David Jenkins on Big Night = 128 FILMS OF THE MONTH 80 Antiviral = 80 82 Bullhead = 82 84 You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet = 84 86 Zero Dark Thirty = 86 FILMS American Mary = 88 Ballroom Dancer = 88 Bullet to the Head = 89 Code Name: Geronimo = 90 Django Unchained = 90 Do Elephants Pray 1 = 91 Everyday = 92 Elight = 93 Hitchcock = 94 The Hobbit An Unexpected Journey = 94 Hyde Park on Hudson = 95 I Give It a Year = 96 I Wish = 98 JackReacher = 99 Jiro Dreams of Sushi = 99 The Liability = 100 A Liar's Autobiography The Untrue Story of Monty Python's Graham Chapman = 101 Lincoln = 101 May I Kill U? = 102 Midnight Son = 103 Les Miserables = 104 Playing for Keeps = 105 The Punk Syndrome = 105 The Sessions = 106 Song for Marion = 107 So Undercover = 108 UPO = 108 V/H/S = 108 What Richard Did = 109 Wreck-It Ralph = 110 HOME CINEMA Abraham Lincoln, Les Amants de Montparnasse, Dance Hall, Excision, The Punhouse, In the Mood for Love, Nowhere to o, urple Noon (Plein Soleil), Ramrod, Red Dust, Rosemary's Baby, Les Soeurs Bronte, Sunday Bloody Sunday, W+B Hein: Materialfilme 1968-1976 = 112 DVD features Philip Kemp on Rene Clement’s early promise Kate Stables discovers Pathe’s early colour ‘fairy film’ fantasias James Blackford has his appetite whetted by Zombie Plesh Eaters Television : Accused, Connie, Luck- Season i. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie = 121 BOOKS Kevin Jackson hails the loquacious charms of Richard Burton’s diaries = 122 Jasper Sharp pries the lid off North Korean cinema culture = 123 Kim Newman assesses Taschen’s mammoth tome from the 007 files = 124 Ian Christie appraises a collection of essays on early cinema = 124

Show more