Shorts, 6/16.

"With its jarring formal economy in the service of a classic melodramatic tale of two brothers torn apart by a faithless woman, the film appears like some long-lost bridge between the radical end of American B-movie production (especially Sam Fuller and Edgar Ulmer) and the anti-imperialist modernism of Nagisa Oshima." Michael Sicinski on Shin Sang-ok's A Flower in Hell (1958).

Also fresh at Moving Image Source:

• Nick Pinkerton on Jean Eustache, "whose conflation of life and movies made for a cinema of real physical grit."

• Thomas Doherty traces the evolution of the serial killer, both off screen and on, from Scorpio, "the smirking psychopath" in Dirty Harry, through that "aspiring law student and polite Republican," Ted Bundy, to the Zodiac killer in Zodiac, "a cipher, a shadowy figure whose motives and personality are beside the point."

• And David Schwartz argues that Sydney Pollack's "best work may well have been a supporting performance in another director's film, his 20 minutes of screen time as Victor Ziegler in Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut (1999)."

"Reflecting an eclectic Broadway season, the 62nd Annual Tony Awards crowned a salsa-flavored musical written by a theater novice [In the Heights], a nostalgic glamorous revival [Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific], a sweeping melodrama from a writer making his Broadway debut [August: Osage County], and the revival of a 60s sex farce [Boeing-Boeing]," reports Campbell Robertson for the New York Times. Commentary and more from Robert Cashill, Julie Klausner (Vulture), Nathaniel R and Gabriel Shanks.

"What will a world without print film critics be like?" asks S James Snyder in the New York Sun. "A partial answer to that question could be found last week amid a most unusual East Village gathering. Assembled to salute the recent release of the book Exile Cinema: Filmmakers at Work Beyond Hollywood, a collection of film essays that celebrate and analyze unsung cinematic masters, edited by the film professor and critic Michael Atkinson, New York movie buffs heard readings by such prominent critics as Ed Halter, Stuart Klawans, B Kite and Mr Atkinson.... In effect, the book functions as a fantasy edition of what its collected writers hope that film criticism can once again be. 'Exile Cinema,' in that sense, is their rallying cry."

It's still Frederick Wiseman Month at Not Coming to a Theater Near You.

"[T]his year marks ten years since the unheralded demise of laserdisc," notes Mark Altman at the Digital Bits, where he delivers "the final eulogy to this dearly departed format." Picking up on the piece, Jeffrey Wells sparks a string of comments.

The AV Club looks back on "16 protested movies."

"Tony Schwartz, a self-taught, sought-after and highly reclusive media consultant who helped create what is generally considered to be the most famous political ad to appear on television, died Saturday at his home in Manhattan," reports Margalit Fox in the NYT. And here's his "Daisy Ad" for LBJ.

Online listening tip #1. Hitchcock and Truffaut discuss Strangers on a Train at If Charlie Parker Was a Gunslinger....

Online listening tip #2. Glenn Kenny and Karina Longworth are John Lichman and Vadim Rizov's guests at the House Next Door.

Online viewing tip. E Steven Fried has come across "one of the best fan videos I've ever seen." So he's decided to contact its maker, Thomas Kanschat and interview him for the Siffblog. The song: Mr Bungle's "Pink Cigarette."

Online viewing tips. Owen Hatherley has not one but two videos David Bowie made for "Sense of Doubt" in 1977. Actually, the second seems to be some sort of portrait done by someone else, but the posturing and, as OH notes, the jacket make it worth the watch.

Posted by dwhudson at June 16, 2008 1:24 PM