Shorts, 3/16.

"Could Dogville be the art-house equivalent of The Passion of the Christ?" asks J Hoberman, introducing a tidy bundle of three short pieces on the film in the Village Voice: "Cruel stunt or spiritual masterpiece, it's already one of the year's most debated movies... Let the baying begin." Jessica Winter meets cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle and Dennis Lim talks with Paul Bettany.

Both interviewees are, naturally, very pro-Lars von Trier, and it's Michael Atkinson who talks to the "formal nose-thumber, pro-am Dogmatist, petulant artiste, phobic imp" himself.

Also in the Voice, two pieces on Spalding Gray, one in the theater section by Mark Russell and one very disturbing essay from Davis Sweet. And:

• Joy Press on Family Business and The Sopranos.

• Nat Hentoff on the debate among American Jews "about how they should react to Mel Gibson's passionate film." Are some overreacting, thus fuelling the fire? "My reaction is that this debate is essential in view of the continuing reverberations of the film here, and surely abroad, in both Europe and the Arab nations."

• Alexis Soloski gently pans Tim Robbins's Embedded.

• Ed Halter appreciates the fact that "the Whitney Biennial is one of the few major art events committed to showcasing cinema... Still, the ability of art critics to assimilate experimental cinema made outside the gallery system remains to be seen." And he finds corraboration in Chrissie Iles, one of the three curators. More on the moving images at the Biennial: Greg Allen and Steve Gallagher.

• "Answers to the World's Hardest Movie Quiz."

• Winter on the Marco Bellocchio series at BAM.

• J Hoberman's reviews: Greendale and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Speaking of which: "There was a moment when suddenly people started talking about this movie Memento when I totally freaked out. I thought 'Oh I can't do this anymore,' and I called Michel and said 'I am not doing it,' then we called Steve Golin and said, 'We're not doing it.' Steve Golin was very angry and said, 'You are doing it!' So we did it." That's Charlie Kaufman, talking to CineMazing!'s Geoffrey Kleinman about Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Michel Gondry gets a few words in, too, and you can listen to the audio version as well (link's right there on the page, top and bottom). Kaufman and Gondry have also taken their pomo promo campaign to indieWIRE, where they talk with Anthony Kaufman about Darwin and comix. Among other things.

Armond White sees the "direct eloquence of a pop song" in the film, which "brings Kaufman back to the true idiosyncrasy of Being John Malkovich." Also in the New York Press, DVD reviews and Matt Zoller Seitz on the films of Craig Baldwin and Jon Moritsugu; and on Spartan, which brings us, via Alternet back to Armond White, who explains in Africana.com how "Derek Luke's open, youthful quality helps [Spartan's] writer-director David Mamet deceive the audience and win its assent to a story that isn't altogether flattering to African Americans' political and cultural participation."

Pallavi Aiyar in Outlook India: "Hindi films are the only association that the average Chinese person has with India. Yet, over the last few years, there has been little noise and virtually no action to actively promote Indian cinema here."

"There's no escaping Chiara Mastroianni's genes. The daughter of two of European cinema's most beloved icons - Catherine Deneuve and Marcello Mastroianni - looks as fabulous as you would expect." Fiona Morrow in the Independent.

It's a moot point whether [Italian PM Silvio] Berlusconi is even much interested in cinema. Though his wife Veronica Lario is a former B-movie actress (who comes to a very grisly end in Dario Argento's Tenebrae), the Italian prime minister himself doesn't seem overly preoccupied with the travails of the local film industry. None the less, the recent upheavals at the Venice film festival illustrate just how contaminated by politics Italian film culture has become." Geoffrey Macnab reports. Also in the Guardian: Tim Dowling talks to Gillian Anderson about her role as Dana (no, not that Dana) in Rebecca Gilman's play The Sweetest Swing in Baseball, at The Royal Court in London through May 15.

In the New York Times:

• Sharon Waxman: "There is little doubt at the studios that [The Passion of the Christ] will affect decision making in the short and the long term. Some predict, as one result, a wave of New Testament-themed movies or more religious films in general."

• Thumbs up for the "new new new Dangerous Liaisons" from Virginia Heffernan.

• Sarah Lyall on the controversial Sex Lives of the Potato Men: "Is it really, as some critics have decreed, the worst British movie ever made?"

ChartAttack passes along news of Last Days, a film set against the mid-90s Seattle grunge scene to be directed by Gus Van Sant.

"How closely does the membership of the MPAA align with campaign contributors to [California Attorney General Bill] Lockyer, a Democrat likely to run for governor in 2006?" Brian Flemming lays out the numbers at LA.com.

Roger Avary: "A brilliant director, a member of the cognazetti, emailed me an alarming link regarding Kubrick's murder. What does everybody think about this madness?!"

Back at indieWIRE, Eugene Hernandez reports - particularly on the political films - from SXSW.

Which is where Chuck is right now, blogging up a storm. If you feel you're missing out, you can watch at least a few of the goings on - Jonathan Demme's press conference and panel, for example - at the main site.

Posted by dwhudson at March 16, 2004 3:23 PM