Film Comment Number 2

FEATURES First Cow By Clinton Krute = 28 Kelly Reichardt returns to the Pacific Northwest with a delicate yet sharply drawn rumination on friendship and fortune-seeking in the old, weird America. Plus: an interview with Reichardt by Haden Guest Bacurau by Ela Bittencourt = 36 The Brazilian rebel yell from Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles grippingly mingles international movie genres—spaghetti westerns, Cinema Novo, American horror and sci-fi—to drive its all-too-real political parable. King Vidor By Nick Pinkerton = 42 Portraying invigoratingly different ideas of America, industry, and individualism, the Hollywood auteur of The Crowd and The Fountainhead made maximalist films while remaining a master of the small moment. Lou Ye By Wang Muyan = 50 The stalwart Chinese filmmaker talks about his latest, Saturday Fiction, a pristine black-and-white World War II espionage drama starring the great Gong Li, about flawed human beings caught in the gears of history. Heimat Is a Space in Time By J. Hoberman = 54 Through the story of a German family in the 20th century, Thomas Heise illuminates a personal and historical past with the dramatic urgency of letters and the grim ironies of hindsight. On the So-Called Inevitable By Michael Koresky = 58 Have no fear: despite the ritual predictions of its imminent demise, cinema still holds its great promise as an art form—as long as we stand firm as its steadfast champions. DEPARTMENTS & COLUMNS THE PRE-SHOW = 6 News, views, conversations, and other things to get worked up about News, Inspired: Pietro Marcello on Martin Eden, Release Me: The Ross Brothers’ Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets by Nicolas Rapold, Directions: Garrett Bradley by Amy Taubin, Restoration Row: Warrington Hudlin’s Street Corner Stories by Max Nelson CRITICS’ CHOICE = 12 Critics rate and comment on new releases MAKE IT REAL = 14 The wide, wide world of cinematic nonfiction Imagining mortality by Eric Hynes FINEST HOUR = 16 One actor, one performance Isabelle Huppert in Loulou by Julien Allen INSIDE STORIES = 18 Redefining the boundaries of the new-media age The Quay Brothers in Rotterdam by Jonathan Romney ART AND CRAFT = 20 Filmmaking according to the makers Costume designer Ruth E. Carter by Christina Newland SCARE TACTICS = 22 The pleasures of cinematic horror George Romero’s The Amusement Park by Maitland McDonagh CURRENTS = 24 New and important work plucked from festivals and elsewhere Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese's This Is Not a Burial, It's a Resurrection and Arun Karthick's Nasir by Devika Girish, Nuria Gimenéz's My Mexican Bretzel and Juan Mónaco Cagni's Offering by Jordan Cronk, Yonah Lewis & Calvin Thomas’ White Lie by José Teodoro, and Iryna Tsilyk's The Earth Is Blue as an Orange by Nicolas Rapold IN MEMORIAM = 26 Remembering the cinéastes who have passed on Kirk Douglas by Steven Mears & Fox studios by Michael Sragow FESTIVALS = 66 Sundance By Amy Taubin THE BIG SCREEN = 68 Reviews of notable new films opening in theaters (hopefully near you) Never Rarely Sometimes Always by Sheila O'Malley, The Truth by Molly Haskell, The Wolf House by Manu Yáñez Murillo, EMMA. by Phoebe Chen Short Takes: Saint Maud by April Wolfe, Sorry We Missed You by Steven Mears, The Wild Goose Lake by Yonca Talu, The Painted Bird by José Teodoro, Corpus Christi by Justin Stewart HOME MOVIES = 74 Cinema spun, streamed, and beamed Bamboozled by Ina Diane Archer, Solid Metal Nightmares: The Films of Shinya Tsukamoto by Grady Hendrix, The Whisperers by Teo Bugbee, The Prince of Tides by Sheila O'Malley, Tex Avery Screwball Classics: Volume 1 by David Filipi, Guns by Clinton Krute, Sweeney! and Sweeney 2 by Bruce Bennett, Maya Deren Collection by Sierra Pettengill, Wish List: The Devil's Cleavage by Nellie Killian READINGS = 78 Books about all aspects of filmmaking and film culture Play Time: Jacques Tati and Comedic Modernism by Malcolm Turvey, reviewed by J. Hoberman; Phantom Lady: Hollywood Producer Joan Harrison, The Forgotten Woman Behind Hitchcock by Christina Lane, reviewed by Michael Sragow; Making Images Move: Handmade Cinema and the Other Arts by Gregory Zinman, reviewed by Abby Sun GRAPHIC DETAIL = 80 The art of the movie poster The poster art of Ted CoConis by Adrian Curry

Show more