Favorites are the 4 latest new-to-me, five-star flicks
Favorite films
Recent activity
AllPinned reviews
More-
trapline 1976
Ultra Dogme’s latest program, Five Films by Ellie Epp, spotlights an under-screened multi-disciplinary artist and, in just over 45 minutes, makes an emphatic argument for her place among the giants of avant-garde cinema.
Stream the program for free (with a new essay from Sophia Satchell-Baeza) through September 1st and check out my overview of the program for Split Tooth Media.
-
The Squid and the Whale 2005
Rather than revisit a recurring surrogate, an Antoine Doinel or a Nathan Zuckerman, Baumbach reconfigures similar types, reshuffles traits, and continually experiments with subtle shifts in the placement of his semi-autobiographical spotlight. Identifying the presence of “Noah Baumbach” within the text is not so simple as finding the character who most resembles him. Figures both fully realized and thinly sketched have wondered at the auteur’s central themes, asking why they aren’t where they’re supposed to be by now and how…
Recent reviews
More-
The Nun II 2023
Indistinct in every way except for the fact that Catholic liturgy and transubstantiation play a key role in its climax. Like the first one, it gains some points for commitment to a bit that’ll, unfortunately, always work on me.
-
Popular reviews
More-
Sink or Swim 1990
It felt as if the act of writing it down would make it really come true, so she used a pencil instead of her favorite cartridge pen.
This time, the structural similarities to some of Hollis Frampton's work reminded me why I adore Friedrich's work while merely respecting his.
While no less precise in its construction than (Nostalgia) or Zorn's Lemma, Sink or Swim is so achingly personal, so impossibly emotional, that one almost wants to read imperfections into it.…
-
Night Moves 2013
Cash, the poor person’s money.
Would make a great double feature with Buzzard. Reichardt is most often associated with Oregon’s forests and rivers, but nobody frames McMansions and strip malls better.