Category : film

…’where have you been all of my life?’ is what I was asking myself – surprised I had never heard of him and being such a French film fan and now planning to see all of his lowbrow slapstick comic roles – after making a rare cinematic pilgrimage to LA’s Cinerama Dome to get a ..

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…American Academy-style involved an Americanissimo coleslaw, homemade potato chips, grilled hamburger with fixins, potato salad, and watermelon lunch (making for a strange greeting for newly arrived guests who heard so much about the amazing seasonal local Roman RSFP cuisine) followed by the dramatic arrival of an elaborate patriotic blueberry and strawberry decorated American flag cake ..

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…is in now in theatrical release, coinciding with my my short U.S. visit, which was welcome news since it is the film that I have been waiting for months to see – so off to the local Portland theater (the ‘Living Room,’ where the audience tucks into a full-on dinner while watching the movie, which ..

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…is on my mind again – as he often is while contemplating the materially impoverished, but joyous, lively, celebratory, marginal, scrappy, hard-working, essential, common, quotidian, local, humane, modest, austere, resourceful, diverse, connected, localized, sensual, civilized, defiant, earthy, bawdy, slow, simple aspects of Italian culture that are being steamrolled – and then I always remember those ..

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…is the 95 year old newcomer/up-and-coming actress who plays Gianni Di Gregorio’s mother in his new film ‘Gianni e Le Donne‘ (a follow up to his 2008 low budget hit ‘My Mid-August Lunch‘, or ‘Pranzo di Ferroagosto‘ in which she also plays his mother) which we just saw this weekend at the cute Testaccio theater ..

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…the 1968 film by the singular Italian genius and poet Pier Paolo Pasolini is what we were up late watching tonight, reminding me of another Italy not too long ago – and now I want nothing more than to descend into a Pasolini marathon and watch or rewatch everything. (..

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…the amazing documentary that tells the story of Osama bin Laden’s former bodyguard was shown to us tonight by the director Laura Poitras, also in residence here at MacDowell Colony. (website) ‘The Oath’ tells the story of Abu Jandal, Osama bin Laden’s former bodyguard, and Salim Hamdan, a prisoner at Guantanamo Bay Prison and the ..

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…is someone I am going through a little obsession with, having just watched lots of his choreography including the “Rich Man’s Shrug” from the 1969 film Sweet Charity, and how remarkable to see the source for so much of Michael Jackson’s movements. (Bob Fosse on Wikipedia and video of “The Rich Man’s Shrug” from Sweet ..

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…the 2008 film by Pascal-Alex Vincent featuring handsome twin brothers Alexandre and Victor Carril, which I just watched last week is a very slow picturesque film with almost no dialog – and at the moment I’m actually feeling like it is one of my all time favorite French films &#..

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…which I went to see today in Pasadena, is an amazing, depressing, and outrageous (though one-sided) Philadelphia tale revealing a toxic stew of MONEY! (25 billion dollars worth of paintings), POWER! (‘charitable’ foundations, governors and mayors), TOURISM! (the ultimate Impressionist block-buster show), and ART! (that became too valuable for it’s own good, and well beyond ..

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…just sent out this exciting announcement: Last week, production began on a new feature film based on Dr. Sacks’s essay “The Last Hippie,” in An Anthropologist on Mars. Jim Kohlberg is directing the indie film, which stars J. K. Simmons (“Up in the Air” and “Juno”), Julia Ormond (“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” and ..

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…was in conversation with artist Simon Leung tonight after a screening of her 1971 (1980) film “Journey’s from Berlin” – hosted by the L.A. Film Forum at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood – which I couldn’t miss, being such a big Yvonne Rainer fan – but it was the hilarious/dry/brilliant performance by Annette Michelson that ..

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…is just amazing to me, and I’m still trying to figure out why I love her so much, but I think it’s mostly because she takes such obvious pleasure in what she does and throws herself into everything full-on – so…out I go at 11:30am on a weekday to get my Meryl-fix at the local ..

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