Shorts, 5/6.

The dozen obstinately weird and wild films of Kira Muratova, seven of which are playing this month at the Gene Siskel Film Center, are described by some critics as Russian to the core, and I wouldn't hesitate to call her the greatest living Russian filmmaker. (I'd link Alexander Sokurov's work to the 19th century rather than to the 20th or the 21st.) Yet I'm not entirely sure what "Russian" means these days or how it applies to her.... The more I see, the more complex her talent seems.

Meanwhile, the Chicago Reader is also offering a guide to the Human Rights Watch Traveling Film Festival.

For 25 years, from the late 60s to the early 90s, Alexander Mackendrick, who'd had more than his fill of Hollywood, taught the practice and philosophy of filmmaking at the California Institute of Arts. "British author and director Paul Cronin has spent the last few years pulling together anything and everything available related to these courses," writes Filmbrain, "as well as conducting extensive interviews with former students of Mackendrick, and the resulting book (On Film-making) and film (Mackendrick on Film) are so utterly vital that it will establish a place for Cronin in the history of cinema." If that sounds like overstatement, read the full post as well as the excerpt from the book Filmbrain points to. Little wonder "Filmbrain found himself walking away [from a screening at Tribeca of two of the seven hours Cronin has put together so far] with newfound inspiration, something that no screenwriting book (or class) has ever come close to achieving."

"Miranda July's Me and You and Everyone We Know and Vît Klusák and Filip Remunda's Czech Dream took top honors this week at the 48th San Francisco International Film Festival." Brian Brooks has the other award-winners as well at indieWIRE.

Nick Rombes revels in one of the "radical possibilities of digital cinema: not the elimination of error, but its embrace."

Seeing Code 46 has only made David Lowery all the more anxious to see Michael Winterbottom's adaptation of Lawrence Sterne's Tristram Shandy: "The screenplay was written by Winterbottom's frequent collaborator, Frank Cottrell Boyce, who I recently decided I should pay much more attention to after reading this charming interview [conducted by Roger Ebert]. I'm always quite interested in writers adapting material in untraditional ways, as Boyce did with The Claim (based on Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge) as well.

For PopMatters, Michael Beuning looks back on the BAMcinématek series, "Before and After: Jean-Luc Godard."

Alternet's Jon Frosch notes that the subject matter of Gregg Araki's Mysterious Skin is "hardly surprising," but: "What is surprising, given the thinness of his previous work, is how much of a knockout the film is."

Anne Thompson on Matthew Vaughn: "Overnight, it seems, the 34-year-old Brit has leapt from rookie director of the upcoming $7 million gangster flick Layer Cake to A-list director of the latest $100 million X-Men sequel.... But there's more to this rapid career climb than meets the eye."

Also in the Hollywood Reporter: Well... Kirk Honeycutt's review of Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, naturally. His and Todd McCarthy's for Variety appeared almost simultaneously. Matt Dentler's seen it, too, and his instant review's pulled in well over 70 comments so far - perhaps a record for an indieWIRE blog?

Two more at Twitch, currently featuring a slew of fresh reviews: Yoji Yamada's The Hidden Blade, MX Oberg's The Stratosphere Girl, Lasse Spang Olsen's In China They Eat Dogs and, yes, Jaume Serra's House of Wax.

Two lists front-load the Guardian's Friday Review: Tim de Lisle lists 40 arguments against Star Wars and Peter Bradshaw previews twelve of what he considers to be the most noteworthy films lined up for Cannes.

Howard Feinstein takes a closer look at one - Last Days - and talks to director Gus Van Sant. Here's where one could add a spoiler warning, but you already know how this one ends. Otherwise: "The individual shots are exceptionally intense. For this, he credits Hungarian director Bela Tarr, whose opus Satantango is a leisurely film with very strong imagery in shots of long duration."

Also: Will Hodgkinson talks music with Robert Downey Jr.

In Elaine Lipworth's conversation with Jeremy Irons, we learn that he's "working on a screenplay" with David Lynch. Co-writing? Probably not. Preparing for a role? Could be. Also in the Independent: Tiffany Rose meets J-Lo and more Cannes previewing from Sheila Johnston.

The Toronto Star's Peter Howell talks to two fellow countrymen heading to Cannes: David Cronenberg and Atom Egoyan. Via Movie City News.

In the London Times, Neil Fisher offers a few Cannes do's and don'ts, while Joanna Hunter gathers the URLs of a few hotels you might consider staying in if you're going to stargaze.

Also: Wendy Ide meets Machuca director Andrés Wood (more on the film from Tim Robey in the Telegraph) and Jonathan Riley-Smith, a professor of Ecclesiastical History at Cambridge, has several bones to pick with Kingdom of Heaven. Separating fact from fiction, he adds, "At a time of inter-faith tension, nonsense like this will only reinforce existing myths."

The New Dance Cinema 2005 series runs on in Seattle through Sunday; Annie Wagner finds "something bracing and delicious about watching dance skillfully choreographed for film." Also in the Stranger: Bradley Steinbacher on Kingdom of Heaven (more from Manohla Dargis in the New York Times) and Andrew Wright on Crash (more from AO Scott in the NYT). More on both - in the same breath! - from Slate's David Edelstein.

Andy Klein (and here's his take on Kingdom) in the LA CityBeat on Los Angeles Plays Itself: "It is hard to imagine anyone who sees this nearly-three-hour documentary not being provoked a) to go rent a bunch of the forgotten or never-known films it shows clips from, b) to argue the issues [Thom] Andersen raises with your friends (or with Andersen, if he happens to be handy), and c) to reconsider all of one's assumptions about Hollywood, film, Los Angeles, and LA." That's right, there's a difference.

Profiles and interviews in the Telegraph: Jasper Rees with Tom Wilkinson, Elizabeth Grice with David Thewlis and Mark Monahan on Anna Chancellor.

The Synoptique team is now blogging? Thanks, Chuck Tryon.

Wiley Wiggins: "I think that there's a pretty serious disconnect between media-dealers and people who watch media. They intend for us to rent culture... when obviously lots of people want to be curators of it. Collection, in a way, is a creative act, and I love looking through my friends collections."

Online listening tip. Screenwriter John August is rewriting a feature called Father Knows Less and not only is he blogging about it, but Variety's Claude Brodesser has been following the development of the project as well on KCRW's "The Business." August rounds up the direct links; via The Artful Writer.

Posted by dwhudson at May 6, 2005 9:39 AM