The Power of "NO"

Anyone who knows Pablo Larraín's early work may wonder if his recent bio-pics, Jackie, about the First Lady's life after her husband's assassination and Spencer, a portrait of Princess Diana, were made by another filmmaker with the same name. (Larraín's upcoming film is Maria, about the opera singer Maria Callas.) At the beginning of his career he was celebrated for his haunting, sanguineous tales of unrest in his native Chile. 

Then there was NO (2013), his breakout film, nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. That movie is about a political campaign, one that Larraín saw as marking a dramatic shift in the history of his country. It is a riveting film, and I interviewed him for Film Journal International upon its release. Here is the link to that conversation: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OkruY0ZPaq2oyW1bVITQauswqr0w24c9/view?usp=sharing

To the right of this column are several more wonderful films you may wish to watch while you fret over the outcome of our presidential race. One of them follows the escapades of a millionaire who decides to run for president, and others are skillfully crafted documentaries. My favorite is Preston Sturges's The Great McGinty.

Internet Archive Rediscovers My Work in its "Way Back Machine"

 

 In the spirit of the "Way Back Machine" here is a photo taken

at MoMA in 2013 after my interview with production designer 

Dante Ferretti and his wife set decorator Francesca Lo Schiavo. 

 

 

One of the vagaries of writing for online outlets is that a writer's work can disappear if the magazine or newspaper is sold to another company, or if the outlet decides the work is outdated. That is why hundreds of my reviews, features and blog posts, written as a contributing writer for Film Journal International, are no longer on the Internet. I am delighted to report that five of my interviews found their way into the Internet Archive's "Way Back Machine." If you are a film buff, you know that Internet Archive is the best site for free movies. (These are films with no copyright restrictions, and includes the John Ford masterpiece Stagecoach, 1939.)

 

I am lucky to have some of my work preserved on databases such as Jstor and The Film Index, as my interview with Ferretti and Lo Schiavo is, and many of my other features and reviews, but often my "small film" coverage, usually about art house fare, especially documentaries, are not available.  The loss of of reviews and features written contemporaneously with the film's release are irreplaceable because the writer more accurately contextualizes the movie, identifying its relevance in that historical moment, rather than reviews written retrospectively that view the film quite differently and sometimes inaccurately. 

 

While audiences may discover new meanings in the films of the past, it is the critic's job to judge the writer's and the director's original intent so that the historical record is complete. I hope you will read the following reviews and features on Internet Archive, not solely because it revives my work but because it will encourage the website to continue this wonderful practice that, again, preserves the historical record. I have been writing about film for nearly 30 years, and remain one of few critics with an M.A. in cinema studies. 

"Mrs. Henderson Presents," an interview with Stephen Frears (2006): https://web.archive.org/web/20071016062234/http://www.filmjournal.com/filmjournal/filmmakers/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001806375

 

"Leviathan," an interview with Andrey Zvaginstev (2014): https://web.archive.org/web/20150924004113/http://www.filmjournal.com/content/belly-beast-andrey-zvyagintsevs-acclaimed-leviathan-depicts-one-mans-fight-against

 

"Defying Jihad," an interview with Abderrahmane Sissako (2015): https://web.archive.org/web/20151118024817/http://www.filmjournal.com/content/defying-jihad-abderrahmane-sissako%E2%80%99s-acclaimed-timbuktu-dramatizes-city-under-siege 

 

"Power to the People," an interview with Stanley Nelson (2015): https://web.archive.org/web/20150905231846/http://www.filmjournal.com/features/power-people-stanley-nelson-debuts-timely-chronicle-black-panthers 

 

"The Guardians," an interview with Xavier Beauvois (2018): https://web.archive.org/web/20180504210545/http://www.filmjournal.com/features/women-wartime-xavier-beauvois-guardians-offers-documentary-portrait-wwi-hardship-rural

 

 These articles load slowly, so please be patient.

Miracles and Wonders: Alice Rohrwacher on the Mysteries of "La Chimera"

My interview with Italian filmmaker Alice Rohrwacher for La Chimera (2023) appears in the current issue of Cineaste, a print magazine devoted entirely to film. The writer-director is one of the most original voices in world cinema, and her latest movie is about the leader of a group of grave robbers. Arthur (Josh O'Connor) lives in Italy and was once a scientist, but since the death of his wife, he has lost his way. Arthur's peculiar talent for finding buried antiquities provides some income but the trade of the items he finds is illegal. He subsists mostly on his dreams of his late wife and a fleeting romance with Italia (Carol Duarte) until he and his band uncover objects of inestimable value. Rohrwacher is a thoughtful subject and speaks eloquently in the interview about the cinema and her way of work. 

My Interview with Giuseppe Tornatore for "Ennio"

 

                                                        The Italian composer Ennio Morricone.

Giuseppe Tornatore and the iconic composer Ennio Morricone have been friends since their initial collaboration on Cinema Paradiso (1990). Morricone went on to write music for all of the writer-director's films. Tornatore's comprehensive documentary, "Ennio," that had a recent U.S. theatrical release in New York City, is now streaming. My interview with the filmmaker was published in Ambassador Magazine (https://www.niaf.org/niaf_magazine/ambassador-magazine-vol-35-no-3/), but it's easier to read here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1i5EvSsR4mq7qsUcltB5GiKH66OsYjIrk/view?usp=sharing

Alice Rohrwacher's "La Chimera" Gets U.S. Theatrical Release

 

 

 

 The (mostly) Italian band of grave robbers in "La Chimera."

 

Italian filmmaker Alice Rohrwacher's latest film that had its American premier at The New York Film Festival last year will open in the U.S. on March 29th. The film is mentioned in my "Italian Slate" article in Ambassador Magazine: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bZp1gTdqkmPrMxh6EcJMyUm_au7l3Tzc/view?usp=sharing