March 5, 2007

Cineaste. Spring 07.

Cineaste Cineaste runs three pieces from its new issue online, but adds five more exclusive to the Web.

Jared Rapfogel: "Unbowed and seemingly incorruptible, [Peter] Watkins has built a body of work which, whatever reservations one might harbor about particular films, is a truly astonishing and admirable achievement, a testament to his iron-willed determination to make movies on his own terms and in defiance of the obstacles placed in his path."

There are interviews and there are interviews, but this is quite a trio:

Michael Joshua Rowin: "Venturing beyond conventional entertainment and into the realm of simulated reportage, Children of Men employs stunning verisimilitude within its mise-en-scène, raising the stakes of intense action and at the same time, intentionally or not, questioning exactly what it is audiences seek in these displays. It's a profound, unsettling amalgam expressing the crisis of and for relevant entertainment a little more than five years after the events of September 11 have altered American viewers' relationship to on-screen catastrophe."

"The Departed and Gangs of New York mark a change in Scorsese's handling of race," argues Rahul Hamid. "The Departed starts where Gangs left off: the racial prejudice and scapegoating manifested by the riots have now been entrenched for over a hundred years and are articles of faith." An engaging close reading follows.

"Some films take a long time to find their audience, but in this respect The Noah is in a league of its own." Dan Georgakas tells the tale.

Christopher Long reviews the anthology, The Films of Woody Allen: Critical Essays: "[Editor Charles LP] Silet's 'broad-ranging' approach can also be described as eclectic, and this eclecticism leads to some intriguing and idiosyncratic choices."



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Posted by dwhudson at March 5, 2007 12:52 AM