Firecrackin' shorts.

The centerpiece of the new issue of Firecracker, the eighth, is a special package on Malaysian cinema. Ben Slater, of harrylimetheme fame and fortune, opens the package with an introduction to several films we may be hearing much more about in the future (and who knows, we might even get a shot at seeing a few, too): "We may be just over the half-way mark but I suspect that 2005 will be remembered as ‘The Year Indie Films Broke’ in Malaysia."

Robert Williamson looks at the work of Malaysian indie filmmakers James Lee, Ho Yuhang and Tan Chui Mui as well as: "A feisty Malay schoolgirl with a passion for John Woo and Frantz Fanon, and a Chinese gang member with a sideline in writing romantic poetry. Welcome to the quirky world of Sepet (Chinese Eyes), an intelligent, insightful and unashamedly emotive love story from writer-director Yasmin Ahmad." Also: Princess of Mount Ledang.

Erika Franklin interviews writer-director Ryoo Seung-wan who, with his younger brother, actor Ryoo Seung-beom, may be "set to change the way independent film works in Korea forever." Also: Arahan.

Reviews:

• Franklin on Kim Ki-duk's 3-Iron, Nagisa Oshima's Empire of Passion, Lee Jong-hyuk's H and an Ozu box set.

• Nick North on Kim Sang-moon and Park Sun-min's Sky Blue, Marco Mak and Wong Jing's Colour of the Truth, Wong Jing's Love Me, Love My Money, Junya Sato's Never Give Up, Kim Ki-duk's Real Fiction

• Anthony Holden on Sammo Hung's Dragons Forever.

• Kim Woods on Benny Chan's Heroic Duo.

• Ziad Semaan on Mitsumasa Saito's Ninja Wars and Kinji Fukasaku's Legend of the Eight Samurai.

• Alison Wong on Wong Jing and Billy Chung's Kung Fu Mahjong.

• Leung Wing-Fai on Hou Hsiao-Hsien's Three Times.

• Williamson on Jira Malikul's The Tin Mine.

Via They Shoot Pictures, Don't They?, Nigel Andrews's ode to The Night of the Hunter in the Financial Times.

At Cinema Strikes Back, Blake's found Henry Sheehan's 1977 (or 1978) lengthy interview with Vincente Minnelli.

Jonathan Jones on Dziga Vertov: "What we forget when we see these films as high art is that in Soviet Russia cinema was first and foremost addressed to the people - like Chaplin, it was meant to be universal."

Also in the Guardian Review: Andrew Pulver's adaptation of the week, Joseph Losey's The Go-Between, and Nicholas Lezard on Nathaniel Rich's San Francisco Noir: "It is unlike any work of film criticism I have ever seen. Tourist guides that mention films are usually woefully stupid about the films; and film critics generally don't talk about the real locations as if they actually existed. Yet this is good on both."

As with Kings and Queen, Arnaud Desplechin's How I Got Into an Argument (My Sex Life) sends George Fasel to a passage from Philip Roth's The Human Stain.

A bit like Michael Winterbottom's career (and life, too, evidently), Stephen Rodrick's profile of the director in the New York Times Magazine, opening with an off-putting scene from the shoot for A Cock and Bull Story (the adaptation of Tristram Shandy), is disorganized, lively and ultimately winning.

In the paper:

• Richard Sandomir on Ithuteng (Never Stop Learning), a documentary on a school in Soweto and "a raw but inspiring journey into the lives of teenagers ravaged by abuse, crime and AIDS."

• Terrence Rafferty on what Jacques Audiard saw in Fingers and what James Toback sees in The Beat That My Heart Skipped.

• Michael Krantz gets a preview of HD3D TV: "Imagine what that could do to your living room. Your kid sprawls on the floor, happily splattering the virtual walls of Quake 3-D, while you sit on the couch watching the news and your spouse beside you talks with friends in a virtual chat room - all on the same TV, all at the same time, and all in 3-D." Related: John Schott points to researchers developing holographic movies (via Cinema Minima, which, on an unrelated note, is also pointing to IndieFlix).

• Franz Lidz on the "positively booming... dollar DVD industry."

Mark Gilson at Twitch: "A strange slapstick take on the Spider-Man legend by way of the Philippines, Gagamboy is definitely one for those who like their entertainment a little cheesy."

The quote of the weekend comes from M Valdemar: "Thomas Friedman may be pulling crazy new metaphors out of his ass every week about the shape of the earth, but I still can't get my hands on South Asian shock films."

Benjamin Wagner interviews Cameron Crowe for MTV. Via Movie City News.

For the Independent, Liz Hoggard talks to Ioan Gruffudd about Wales and Hollywood.

Kenneth Turan: "[A]s demonstrated by "Dark Mirrors: The Films Noirs of Robert Siodmak," a fine new series at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Siodmak was one of the great noir directors, a filmmaker who, for a period of time at least, never heard of the sunny side of the street."

Also in the Los Angeles Times:

• John Horn: "Top moviemaking talent enjoy a variety of hands-on helpers: personal assistants, drivers, chefs, hairstylists, costumers and even yoga coaches. Now there's an increasingly popular benefit for A-list actors and even some leading directors - the personal screenwriter."

• Mary McNamara visits the set of indie horror flick The House at the End of the Drive. Says first-time producer David Oman: "I've always been told that I have a very open energy... The spirits sense that, I guess, that I am open like a light, and they come to me like moths."

• Mark Olson profiles Isla Fisher.

"Is Anybody Making Movies We'll Actually Watch in 50 Years?" asks Newsweek's David Ansen.

For the San Francisco Chronicle, G Allen Johnson previews next weekend's San Francisco Silent Film Festival. Via the Alternative Film Guide.

Online browsing tip. Bighappyfunhouse. Via filmtagebuch.

Online viewing tips. Ricky Gervais x 2: Yes, the concert is over, but the promo is still terrific; and a clip (featuring Kate Winslet) from his upcoming Extras, both via Todd at Twitch.

Posted by dwhudson at July 3, 2005 7:40 AM