May 16, 2007

Shorts, 5/16.

11 Samurai "[T]he sheer strength of films like 13 Assassins, The Great Killing and 11 Samurai, although deemed B action jidai geki at the time of their production, deserves a brand new evaluation in the light of political history." Robin Gatto on the work of Eiichi Kudo.

Also at Midnight Eye, Tom Mes interviews Hiromasa Hirosue, one of the co-directors (with Izumi Takahashi) of The Soup One Morning.

Grant Rosenberg has a terrific and quick piece for Time on the subtle art of subtitling.

Ben Wishaw If you know Ben Whishaw at all, it's probably for his lead role in Perfume. Now he's set to appear in a new adaptation of Brideshead Revisited, Todd Haynes's I'm Not Here, Pawel Pawlikowski's The Restraint of Beasts and Jane Campion's Bright Star. Liz Hoggard profiles him in the Independent.

Danny Boyle's Sunshine is "the cinematic oxymoron many of us have been waiting for: the thinking man's action movie," writes Peet Gelderblom at the House Next Door.

For Cheryl Eddy, Triad Election "enough stylish direction and underworld shenanigans to tide over the [Johnnie] To faithful" until Exiled sees its theatrical release this summer. Also in the San Francisco Bay Guardian, Johnny Ray Huston talks with Douglas Gordon about Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait and Max Goldberg: "Aestheticized poverty is always a risky proposition, but Killer of Sheep is miles from style for style's sake: its nebulous, contradictory beauty reaches out to touch the full variety of experience, leaving the audience to feel everything at once."

The Rape of Europa

Michael Guillén talks with Bonni Cohen and Richard Berge about The Rape of Europa.

"[W]hile [Laurence] Olivier in some ways belongs to another age, I'd argue that, as an actor, he was the first of the moderns and his legacy is still visible today," writes the Guardian's Michael Billington, anticipating Olivier's 100th.

"Severance is pleasantly shoddy, and the movie knocks about like a jerky haunted house ride with a few detours to the fun house," writes Jürgen Fauth.

In 28 Weeks Later, we "watch the recourse of the social/political/action tableaux set up by [Juan Carlos] Fresnadillo and his fellow screenwriters: the arrogance of the military, and the stupidity of expecting instant human results from a still dangerous and misunderstood scenario," writes Daniel Kasman. "The political edge of the film really does not extend beyond this simplicity, and as such cuts very little within the development of the story but cuts more deeply just because it now seems like the default, expected option for people to lightly allegorize the situation in Iraq into the settings for genre cinema. Better yet is the film's down-to-earth focus on a nuclear family gnawed away by the world around them."

Manu Luksch will be making a film comprised entirely of CCTV footage. The BBC explains. Via Scott Macaulay at Filmmaker.

Wired's Jason Silverman tells the story behind that epic homegrown remake of Raiders of the Lost Ark - he's got video, too.

Nathaniel R has 10 questions for Arden, whose blog is Cinephilia.

The Skin of the Film "Laura Marks's first book, The Skin of the Film, remains one of the most interesting forms of Deleuzian film theory from the last ten years that I've encountered," writes Jason Sperb at Dr Mabuse's Kaleido-Scope. "Marks makes two moves which I find useful in examining Deleuze and the cinema. On the one hand, she addresses his critiques of representation directly and succinctly (it is very easy to overread Deleuze). On the other hand, she finds in Deleuze's logic—if not his words—space for alternate directions in which to proceed."

Comic book artist and illustrator Mike Allred lists his top ten Criterion titles.

Tasha Robinson talks with Sarah Polley about Away From Her for the AV Club.

"Smallness" is the stand-out descriptive in Matt Zoller Seitz's New York Times review of The Changeling.

In the Los Angeles Times, Kim Christensen and Glenn F Bunting report on the mixed verdict that concludes the epic courtroom tangle between Sahara author Clive Cussler and "billionaire industrialist" Philip Anschutz.

The Nintendo Short Cuts Showcase is taking submissions through June 6.

Museum of the Moving Image Online browsing tip #1. For the future, that is. This fall, the Museum of the Moving Image will launch Moving Image Source, a two-pronged resource: a publication and a research directory, supervised by - and this is what makes it so promising - Dennis Lim, former film editor at the Voice. I'll post the press release as a comment.

Online browsing tip #2. For now. The original cinema program for 2001: A Space Odyssey, via Coudal Partners.

Online viewing tip #1. Mikkel, a modern parable from Karsten Meinich.

Online viewing tip #2. Salvador Dalí on What's My Line?, via Mark Frauenfelder at Boing Boing.

Online exploring tip. Conclave Obscurum, via Nick Antosca at the Return of the Reluctant.



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Posted by dwhudson at May 16, 2007 1:10 PM

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MUSEUM OF THE MOVING IMAGE ANNOUNCES MAJOR NEW WEBSITE DEVOTED TO FILM HISTORY AND RESEARCH: ‘MOVING IMAGE SOURCE'


New York, May 11, 2007—Rochelle Slovin, director of the Museum of the Moving Image, today announced the creation of a major new film website, Moving Image Source. The site, made possible with support from the Hazen Polsky Foundation, will launch this fall at movingimagesource.us. "Moving Image Source will be an important contribution to the fields of film history and film research," Ms. Slovin said. "It will take a contemporary view of film history by offering fresh perspectives on current retrospective programs. It will also serve the growing interest in film studies by providing a gateway to a wide array of research resources." The site will be supervised by Dennis Lim, the Museum's editorial director, who recently joined the Museum after working for eight years as the film editor at The Village Voice.



Moving Image Source will consist of two components: a publication and a research directory. The publication will contain original writing on film and film history, including in-depth coverage of retrospective programs at museums, media arts organizations, and film festivals around the world. Leading critics and scholars will contribute new essays and articles. A master calendar will provide an overview of key revivals and programs at major venues. For each highlighted series, the site will offer suggestions for further viewing and reading.



The site's research directory will feature an annotated and regularly maintained database of online and offline resources, ranging from scholarly and popular journals to film-related libraries and archives. It will also offer information, geared to students and scholars of all levels, on how to use research tools and serve as a meeting place for discussion on topics relating to film history and film studies.



I look forward to working on Moving Image Source," Mr. Lim said. "This site grows out of a belief that the health of film culture depends on a serious engagement with film history. Thanks to restored prints, new DVDs, and the vitality of retrospective programming at film institutions around the world, important old movies are now more accessible than ever. At the same time, coverage of revivals and historical surveys continues to dwindle at traditional media outlets. This is an ideal time for a publication and resource of this nature, and the Internet, which has enabled the emergence of a global cinephile community, is the ideal forum for it."



Moving Image Source was made possible with a gift from the Hazen Polsky Foundation in memory of Joseph Hazen. One of Hollywood's unsung executives, Hazen worked closely with Hal Wallis at Warner Bros. in the 1930s. Their independent company Wallis-Hazen Productions made 64 movies in just 26 years and nurtured the careers of Elvis Presley, Jerry Lewis, Dean Martin, Burt Lancaster, Barbara Stanwyck, and Shirley MacLaine, among others. "We are grateful for the generous and visionary support of the Hazen Polsky Foundation," said Ms. Slovin. "The Foundation understands both the importance of film history and the role that the Internet has as a forum for discussion and research. The first site of its kind, Moving Image Source will serve an international audience of cinephiles, scholars, students, and journalists."



Museum of the Moving Image (movingimage.us) is dedicated to advancing the public understanding and appreciation of the art, history, technique, and technology of film, television, and digital media. It does so by collecting, preserving, and providing access to the nation's largest permanent collection of moving image artifacts; screening significant films and other moving-image works; presenting exhibitions of artifacts, artworks, and interactive experiences; and offering educational and interpretive programs to students, teachers, and the general public. A major expansion and renovation, scheduled for completion in 2009, will add new film theaters, galleries, and an education center.

Posted by: David Hudson at May 16, 2007 1:18 PM