Shorts, 5/2.

"I doubt that many young people, whatever their admiration for Godard of today or yesterday, have any sense of the electricity which each new release of roughly 1960-67 sent through his audiences," writes George Fasel. "I didn't doubt then that those years were the most creative, imaginative, innovative, stimulating, and original run that any director - any director, ever - has enjoyed, and a selective viewing of the releases from those years has done nothing to change my mind." What follows is a subjective tour of those years, a vital primer for anyone who hasn't yet gotten around to looking into what all the fuss is about or, for those soaking in it, a vantage point from which to look back and reconsider "those early years, that burst of creativity and energy and joy - even with all the deaths, even with all the gloom - he gave us."

The Tribeca Film Festival wrapped yesterday and its page announcing the award-winners is particularly fine - each title is linked to its own little page.

More Tribeca:

• Anthony Kaufman has a bone to pick with the jury.
• Cinematical's Karina Longworth posts a few final thoughts.
• Matt Dentler's loads o' photos.

Speaking of winners, André Soares not only points to the winners of this year's David di Donatello Awards (shorthand: Italian Oscars, sort of) but also links to reviews of six of them at his Alternative Film Guide.

There are a couple of weeks to go before the marathon known as the Seattle International Film Festival opens (May 19 through June 12), but Tablet has already launched Siffblog, where, courtesy of NP Thompson, you can see what a contrarian's view of Head-On looks like.

David Cornelius previews the Deep Focus Film Festival (May 5 through 8 in Columbus). Also at Hollywood Bitchslap, book reviews: Charles Tatum on Kenneth Anger's Hollywood Babylon II and Matthew Bartley on Peter Biskind's Down and Dirty Pictures.

"Mumblecore"? Leave it to a sound guy; it just might work. Context: At indieWIRE, Michael Koresky asks Funny Ha Ha director Andrew Bujalski, "Are there other directors working today with sensibilities that you find harmonize with your own in their final product?" Part of the answer: "My new film, Mutual Appreciation, premiered at South by Southwest, and there was some talk there of a 'movement' just because there were a bunch of performance-based films by young quasi-idealists. My sound mixer, Eric Masunaga, named the movement 'mumblecore,' which is pretty catchy."

Everyone's intrigued - and understandably so - by the announcement that Richard Linklater is set to direct Catalina Sandino Moreno in an adaptation of Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation. Filmmaker's Scott Macaulay seems to have the most info for non-Variety subscribers.

More coming-soon news via Karina Longworth at Cinematical: Pedro Almodóvar has cast Penélope Cruz and Carmen Maura in his next one, Volver, "a generational comedy about three women who travel from Spain's south to Madrid seeking a better life."

Doug Cummings admires Orson Welles's essay film, F for Fake. Two footnotes for those who receive TCM: May is Welles month, but May 5, as Flickhead points out, is Buñuel day.

So here comes Paul Schrader's Exorcist prequel, Dominion. Dave Kehr suggests that a "simultaneous, side-by-side screening" along with Renny Harlin's Exorcist: The Beginning "could provide fodder for a textual analysis of the auteur theory, with almost identical material yielding wildly different results in the hands of two tempermentally opposed artists."

Also in the New York Times:

• The editorial page is an odd place for it, but Brent Staples has a fine, quick piece on Ishiro Honda's original Godzilla and what the Americans cut out of their own version.

• Conservatives are praising South Park for bashing liberals. They may not be celebrating long, writes Frank Rich.

• Dave Itzkoff wonders if there'll ever be another Star Trek again.

Anyone who doubts that promoting a movie is hell is kindly referred to Lillian Ross's record of Judi Dench and Maggie Smith's New York stopover. Wonder if they ever made it to Tiffany's. Oh, the movie, by the way, is Ladies in Lavender. Also in the New Yorker: Anthony Lane is impressed by neither Kingdom of Heaven, the "politically nervous" "damp gust" nor The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy; and John Lahr: "Everything that's wrong with [the Roundabout Theatre production of A] Streetcar [Named Desire] - the casting, the rhythm, the attention to detail - is right in Joe Mantello's pitch-perfect revival of David Mamet's majestic Glengarry Glen Ross (at the Royale)."

Gael García Bernal is in London to perform in a new version of Lorca's Blood Wedding. Kate Kellaway meets the "sensationally handsome pixie." Also in the Observer: Anthony Haden-Guest sorts through Brando's stuff.

The San Francisco Chronicle's Hugh Hart interviews Arnaud Desplechin. Via Movie City Indie.

At Film Threat, Sean McCarthy has a good long talk with Malcolm McDowell.

Think about it... "Is there a movie that's in love with Los Angeles?" asks Dennis Cozzalio.

Online browsing tip. And possible bookmark, too. Rex Sorgatz has found what so far looks to be a terrific new blog: Posterwire.com. That's right, posters. And commentary on posters. Love it.

Online viewing tip. The only known film appearance by Leadbelly. 1945. edited by Pete Seeger. At iFilm, via Salon's "Audiofile."

Posted by dwhudson at May 2, 2005 9:46 AM