Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne
The latest issue of Paste magazine is in print, so look for it on newsstands. It contains a shortened version of my interview with Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne at the Toronto International Film Festival last September, which I’m posting in full here. –Doug
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The Belgian brothers Jean-Pierre [...]
Entries from March 2006
Interview with the Dardennes
March 23rd, 2006 by Doug Cummings · Comments Off
Categories: Interview
Our Times
March 22nd, 2006 by Doug Cummings · Comments Off
A few months ago, Facets released Rakhshan Bani-Etemad’s Our Times (2002) on DVD. It’s a fascinating and revealing documentary–reportedly the first ever released in Iranian cinemas–about the 2001 Iranian presidential election that politicized record numbers of women and young people (70% of the country is under 30), who campaigned in the streets for the [...]
Categories: DVD review
BFI Dreyer & Master of the House
March 17th, 2006 by Doug Cummings · Comments Off
Master of the House (1925)
The British Film Institute has Dreyer fever these days, having just released David Rudkin’s study of Vampyr (1932) for their Film Classics book series and several region 2 DVDs, beginning this week with Master of the House and Ordet (1955).
No complaints here, as I’m solidly within the ranks of [...]
Categories: DVD review · Texts
The Future of Food
March 16th, 2006 by Doug Cummings · Comments Off
I’ve pretty much always been a blasÈ omnivore (blame it on my Midwestern roots), but in recent years I’ve developed more of an appreciation for underlying food concerns like nutrition, economics, and ethics. I’ve watched friends organize their lives around identifying food allergies or monitoring blood sugar or adopting new eating habits. As [...]
Categories: Film review
Moving Spaces
March 13th, 2006 by Doug Cummings · Comments Off
Production design for Mon Oncle (1958)
Occasionally, I’ll check out the revolving exhibitions at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences here in Los Angeles, which often amount to a one-room setup on their fourth floor. Invariably, I’m the only person around whenever I attend, but the exhibitions do tend to run for weeks. [...]
Categories: Special event
Oscar Shorts 2006
March 1st, 2006 by Doug Cummings · Comments Off
The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello
Major media outlets may be enthusiastically promoting Oscar dresses this week, but what they haven’t promoted much are the films in three of the event’s categories–short live action, short animation, and short documentaries. While the news of Wellspring’s folding last week can still register grief, the films in [...]
Categories: Film review