Shorts, 4/4.

Alongside Emma Brockes's interview, in which we learn the iconic American actress is also an architect with a penchant for feminist conceptualization, the Guardian runs an extract from Jane Fonda's autobiography, My Life So Far. The book evidently sets out to be quite a project, an ultimate how-to of sorts: "[B]y moving back inside ourselves, we can restore balance - not just within ourselves, but on the planet." But at the same time, even in just this clip, we're treated to encounters with quite a cast of characters: her father and brother only briefly here; swimming with Garbo; but the bulk of what's here is all about Roger Vadim.

Jonathan Hourigan, who worked with Robert Bresson on L'Argent, interviews Tim Cawkwell, author of The Filmgoer's Guide to God: "The four central characters - Bresson, Dreyer, Tarkovsky and Rossellini - are all recognised as great filmmakers.... I wanted to write a book that considered them seriously as religious artists. The twentieth century is the great century of doubt, of scepticism and atheism. Perhaps cinema has been the prime art form to express the rough materialism of the world and here were four great filmmakers who were saying that religious themes were still vital to our understanding of the world." Via Darren Hughes.

Back to the Guardian: Andrew Pulver introduces the paper's guide to the long hard summer ahead. Going by that list alone, it would seem that the only possible - and the stress here comes down hard on possible - moments of relief from what otherwise looks like one of the most dreadful summers yet might be: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (and by the way, Jay Sweet and Stewart Engesser talk to the filmmakers for Paste), The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse, Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Linklater's The Bad News Bears... and maybe, just maybe Peralta's Lords of Dogtown and Spielberg's War of the Worlds.

Fortunately, Hollywood Bitchslap is maintaining a far more encouraging list. Even so... it ain't autumn.

In the New York Times:

• Manohla Dargis: "Panorama Ephemera weaves together 64 black-and-white and generally faded color film sequences that taken together create a compelling narrative of our collective conscious."

• Susan Dominus talks to Denzel Washington about his demanding working vacation playing Brutus in a Broadway production of Julius Caesar. Review: Ben Brantley.

• The Devil and Daniel Johnston was quite the hit at SXSW this year. In an article accompanied by a dash of multimedia itself, Alec Hanley Bemis looks ahead to a PR campaign for Johnston that'll range from a coffee table book to a tour.

Two pieces in the Observer are only tangentially related to film but definitely worth a look: Gaby Wood meets Benjamin Buchloh, Rosalind Krauss, Hal Foster and Yve-Alain Bois to talk about their book, Art Since 1900, and Sean O'Hagan presents an "interview/collaboration" with John Berger.

David Thomson in the Independent: "The idea of this column is that I list my 10 favourite pieces of movie music... I am going to cheat. Ten is absurd."

Filmbrain argues that Oskar Roehler's Agnes and his Brothers is "one of the best German films in years."

"A Hole in My Heart makes a useful companion to Sin City," asserts Anthony Lane in the New Yorker. "Rodriguez is pleased to flash his hipster credentials, proud of the hole where his heart is supposed to be, whereas Moodysson cannot film a threatening gesture without reminding us that somebody's heart has received another blow."

Ian Whitney files the first entry from the Minneapolis-St Paul International Film Festival for Dual Lens; meanwhile, Chuck Olsen and Lorika are sending in "tiny M-SPIFF reviews."

The Full Frame Documentary Film Festival opens in Durham, North Carolina, on April 7 and runs through April 10. In the Independent Weekly, David Fellerath notes that the fest "has been very good to local artists." Still, Anthony Kaufman notes that "the Chicago International Documentary Festival (CIDF) could steal some of Full Frame's thunder."

Cyndi Greening talks to North Carolina Gay and Lesbian Film Festival programmer Israel Ehrisman about Full Frame and, well, just a whole host of issues.

For Hollywood Bitchslap, Ryan Arthur looks ahead to the 7th Annual Roger Ebert's Overlooked Film Festival, April 20 through 24.

Salon's Heather Havrilesky highly recommends that you catch Oscar-winning director Jean-Xavier de Lestrade's eight-part documentary, The Staircase, on the Sundance Channel.

Adam Sternbergh chats briefly with Christopher Guest in New York. Turns out The Office - the British one - is the "best TV show I've ever seen."

Kristen Elde checks in with the creators of Aqua Teen Hunger Force for Flak.

Online listening tip. Stream the soundtrack to Brian Flemming's The God Who Wasn't There: "DJ Madson remixes Thievery Corporation, David Byrne, Zap Mama and Le Tigre."

Online viewing tip #1. At Fimoculous, Rex Sorgatz points to a handful fun music videos. The best, IMHO: Futureshock's "Late at Night."

Online viewing tip #2. Matthew Clayfield's Mark and Katrina Go Boating.

Posted by dwhudson at April 4, 2005 6:18 AM