March 8, 2008

Film Comment. March/April 08.

Munyurangabo Of all the films Robin Wood saw in Toronto, Lee Isaac Chung's Munyurangabo is his favorite. It "grows out of cultural collapse on a grand (and horrific) scale, and then proceeds to transcend it."

Also in the new Film Comment: "This year Messrs Coen, Coen, Anderson and Fincher appear to have induced a total mind meld, with their films netting the same top slots in our Readers' Poll as in last issue's survey of critics." Not only are the "extended" results are an online exclusive; so are the rants and raves.

La Question humaine (Heartbeat Detector) recently screened in the Rendez-Vous with French Cinema series, which wraps tomorrow (see James Van Maanen's overview, parts 1 and 2), and Irina Leimbacher considers the work of Nicolas Klotz: "With a background in music documentary and theater, Klotz combines attention to socioeconomic realities, corporeal gesture, and music in an absolutely unique way."

Elisabeth Lequeret puts out this issue's call for distribution: Philippe Ramos's Captain Ahab.

Michael Chaiken on Standard Operating Procedure: "The film bears an affinity with both Joseph Strick's 1971 film Interviews with My Lai Veterans and the Winterfilm Collective's 1972 Winter Soldier, two documentaries made during the Vietnam Era. However, in his attempt to reach a wide audience, [Errol] Morris subverts his own intentions by compromising formal conventions in ways those films never did."

Posted by dwhudson at March 8, 2008 8:48 AM

Comments

I'm so pleased Munyurangabo is receiving continued attention. It was one of my favorites from TIFF as well.

Posted by: Maya at March 8, 2008 9:21 AM

That's uncanny. Two minutes ago I finished my first draft of an article about Munyurangabo. (If all goes as planned, it'll be in the June issue of Sojourners.) I open GreenCine Daily and what do I find? Awesome. And Robin Wood, no less.

I'm dying for some small distributor to take a chance on this film. Andrew/Filmbrain, are you reading this?

Posted by: Darren at March 8, 2008 1:09 PM

Maya Darren! Close enough.

Posted by: Ryan at March 10, 2008 8:18 AM

Darren --

Missed this at the Berlinale as well as the press screening at ND/NF. Perhaps I'll make it to the public screening.

Posted by: Filmbrain at March 10, 2008 10:07 AM