f i l m j o u r n e y . o r g

I’ve been complaining about Film Comment for the past few years, its silly sarcastic newsbriefs and short fiction, its efforts to sacrifice meaningful coverage for “hip” mainstream criticism, etc. But I chanced across the latest issue, and it’s actually got me sitting down and reading:
ï Joan Rivers’ Guilty Pleasures (just kidding!)
ïAn article on early [...]

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While Fahrenheit 9/11 has been passing the $100 million mark this week, reinforcing the resurgence of documentary filmmaking as a popular art form, it has also been deflecting criticisms that suggest documentaries should be free of opinion. Unlike the “actualities” by early filmmakers (trains arriving in stations, people sneezing or kissing)–or even newsreels or industrial [...]

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The new issue of the redesigned Senses of Cinema is online, and noteworthy contributions by Filmjourney discussion participants include Acquarello’s article on “A Divine Tragedy: Kim Ki-duk Searches for Redemption in The Samaritan Girl,” Darren Hughes’ piece on “The New American Old West: Bruno Dumontís Twentynine Palms,” and Michael Kerpan on Ozu’s Passing Fancy [...]

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Multi-region DVD players (allowing you to watch DVDs purchased from around the world) are becoming cheaper all the time. One of the latest units is the Cyber Home CH-DVD 300, a player that can be purchased from Best Buy in the US for $32.99. Ted Mills writes his review at DVDBeaver.com.
I’ve also [...]

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I know it’s a bit early, but consider this fair warning to mark your calendars and stock up on pre-orders: September will be Carl Theodor Dreyer month for cinephiles. In addition to the cable retrospective scheduled by Turner Classic Movies, Image Entertainment have just announced their long-awaited DVD restoration of one of Dreyer’s best [...]

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Grigori Kozintsev (1905-1973) is a filmmaker whose work I’ve long wanted to see, and thankfully, RusCiCo’s new 2-disc DVD set of his King Lear (1969) finally offers the opportunity. Although its NTSC version is PAL-sourced and therefore exhibits subtle ghosting, its solid widescreen transfer and original mono soundtrack (something RusCiCo has been previously known to [...]

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The website for the 29th Toronto International Film Festival (September 9-18) has officially gone live today, and I couldn’t be more delighted as I’m planning to attend this year. Passes will go on sale July 19 and in-person sales will begin on July 26.
While the official line-up won’t be announced until August 24, the [...]

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A few weeks ago, the American Film Institute in Washington, D.C. sponsored a Val Lewton retrospective that included such films as Cat People (1942), The Leopard Man (1943), and I Walked with a Zombie (1943), three of Lewton’s most famous productions, all directed by Jacques Tourneur. In many ways, Tourneur’s reputation has always struggled [...]

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This week, Miramax video released Martin Scorsese’s moving four-hour documentary on postwar Italian cinema, My Voyage to Italy (1999). I’ll never forget seeing the film in a packed Castro Theatre in San Francisco a few years ago and the raucous applause that followed it. It’s a personal tribute to internationally acclaimed films by [...]

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For those who have been wondering about my recent absence, I went to a music festival with some friends last week and was surprised to discover I didn’t have Internet access for a few days. Stay tuned for several updates…
After I arrived back home yesterday, I learned of Terrence Rafferty’s piece on Robert Bresson [...]

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