British filmmaker Peter Watkins’ nearly six-hour film, La Commune (Paris, 1871), made in the year 2000, is without a doubt one of the best and most important films of the decade, and it was just released this week on DVD by First Run Features. Count yourselves lucky–the film, which commemorates the short-lived working class [...]
Entries from October 2006
La Commune (Paris, 1871)
October 26th, 2006 by Doug Cummings · No Comments
Categories: DVD review · Uncategorized
Where Does Your Hidden Smile Lie?
October 10th, 2006 by Doug Cummings · No Comments
Where Does Your Hidden Smile Lie? (2001)
The news is spreading that DaniËle Huillet–the personal and filmmaking partner of Jean-Marie Straub for over half a century–passed away this week, ending one of the most acclaimed filmmaking teams of the New German Cinema (though Huillet and Straub were both French and lived in Rome). If you’re [...]
Categories: DVD review
Magic Lanterns
October 5th, 2006 by Doug Cummings · No Comments
“Those who had the least confidence in the future of the cinema were precisely the two industrialists Edison and LumiËre. . . . As for the real savants such as Marey, they were only of indirect assistance to the cinema. They had a special purpose in mind and were satisfied when they had accomplished [...]
Categories: Special event
Kieslowski’s documentaries, Part 2
October 4th, 2006 by Doug Cummings · No Comments
The following reviews cover the films included on Disc Two of the Polish region-2 DVD release of documentaries by Krzysztof Kieslowski. (Disc One reviews and other relevant info can be found here.)
First Love (1974)
Of the twelve films included on this DVD release, this is among Kieslowski’s most emotionally compelling works, and also an early [...]
Categories: DVD review