Shorts, 9/23.

The editors of Reverse Shot believe demonlover is "one of the most fascinating and relevant films thus far in our very young 21st Century." Accordingly, the September/October issue is all about Olivier Assayas: Six articles on various aspects of demonlover - shortish, but still, six - plus seven on his other films and a three-part interview.

Midnight Eye, meanwhile, is taken with Junji Sakamoto, chatting with him briefly and reporting from the set of Out of This World, due on Japanese screens next February. Nice premise: Americans and Japanese playing jazz together in the immediate aftermath of WWII. Also: reviews of last year's Bokunchi and Tokarev (1994).

"Rape and cinema are seemingly becoming more and more willing bedfellows." For kamera.co.uk, Bob Carroll reviews a film that sounds disturbing but not easily dismissed, Bad Guy, and points to an interview with director Ki-Duk Kim in Senses of Cinema and to the release dates, which turn up empty for the US.

"There was once a time when Lollywood, Pakistan's movie industry centred at Lahore, rivalled Bollywood, India's moviemaking powerhouse. That was long ago. From churning out 120 films a year in the 1970s, Lollywood currently produces less than 50 movies a year." A distressed "chlim01" points to a report and starts a discussion at Plastic. (A related entry from June.)

As for Bollywood, Outlook India's Namrata Joshi has seen the future and its name is "e-cinema." You know, that aside, some day I want to wander into a place like this:

The fantasy is unfolding almost invisibly in Prakash Talkies, a decrepit theatre with shocking pistachio green walls. On any given day, it's peopled as much by stray cows as film junkies. A poky stall outside briskly sells oil-laden bread pakoras and privileged street dogs move in and out of the hall.

"The first Indian film to be shot in New Zealand was Sanam Harjai in 1995 and since then 90 films have been produced entirely or in part in the country." But the competition among countries to nab Bollywood productions is heating up, evidently. Also via Movie City News: Ridley Scott, interviewed; Uma Thurman, profiled; Cate Blanchett, too; and marvelous excerpts from Christopher Doyle's journal in American Cinematographer - plus photos, all as he prepped for and shot Zhang Yimou's Hero.

For indieWIRE, Claiborne Smith talks to John Sayles about Casa de los Babys.

Ed Gonzalez looks ahead to the New York Film Festival for Slant. But the festival underway at the moment is Donostia-San Sebastian (great site - explore!). For the Guardian, Fiachra Gibbons reports on the storm kicked up by Julio Medem's La pelota vasca, la piel contra la piedra (The Basque Game, Skin Against the Stone). The film "urges the authorities in Madrid to reopen talks with Basque extremists," an absolute heresy in the eyes of Spanish prime minister Jose Maria Aznar and his government: "Even so Spanish critics, including some who had been hostile to the film before it was shown, as well as several ETA victims and those on death lists, gave it a five-minute standing ovation at its premiere."

Also in San Sebastian is Screen Daily's Dan Fainaru, and fortunately, reviews at the site are still accessible to us cheapskates. Today's offerings: Fernando Perez's Suite Habana and Gerardo Herrero's The Galindez File.

Sarah Vowell in McSweeney's: "John Ritter, Greatest Mom-Kissing, Tranquilizer-Laced-Cookie-Baking, Serial Killer Robot in TV History, Dead at 54."

Trash City asks, "Is it live, or is it anime?"

"As genres go, 'anthropomorphic food' has a fairly lousy track record," writes James Norton at Flak. "But Adult Swim mainstay Aqua Teen Hunger Force may be enough to singlehandedly rehabilitate the genre." What follows is a pretty entertaining interview with the creators. And there'll be a DVD in November. Any sculptures out there? Of course. Games? You bet.

Online viewing tip. The right thing to do today is to pass this one right over Persistence of Vision where, following a collection of wunnerful tips, Greg Allen adds another in the comments lounge.

Posted by dwhudson at September 23, 2003 7:50 AM