Tag Archives: Poland

April 2015 Viewing Diary

About Elly (2009; d. Asghar Farhadi). At long last. Wrote it up here. Misery Loves Comedy (2015; d. Kevin Pollak). Navel-gazing documentary about comedians and how they think about what they do. A cast of thousands. Lots of great anecdotes. … Continue reading

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Year in Review: Running my mouth in 2014

I may write some magnum opus in the next two days, you never know, but here are links to some of the things I’ve written in 2014, here and elsewhere. I have worked hard to keep my site an eclectic … Continue reading

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My Favorite Films of 2014

My Top 10 (more in-depth commentary, and other writer’s choices over at Rogerebert.com): 1. Beyond the Lights, directed by Gina Prince-Blythewood. 2. Boyhood, directed by Richard Linklater. Review here. 3. Closed Curtain, directed by Jafar Panahi. Review here. 4. Force … Continue reading

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Tonight! Polish Filmmakers NYC Present Ida

Tonight I will be participating in a panel discussion at Columbia University about Pawel Pawlikowski’s brilliant film Ida (Wrote a bit about it here. So far, it’s the film of the year for me, albeit with some pretty stiff competition. … Continue reading

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Review: Ida (2014); directed by Pawel Pawlikowski

Ida is one of those miraculous films where the images on the screen are so startling, so unique, so themselves, that the visuals take on a whole subterranean level of meaning, coursing beneath the actual plot. The power of the … Continue reading

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Year in Review: Running my mouth in 2013

Some of the things I’ve written in 2013, for my own site, and also other outlets. Thoughts on Memphis. “Memphis is wounded, and Memphis is obviously depressed. There are a lot of sad ghosts here. But Memphis does not forget. … Continue reading

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Seen Recently: Meet John Doe (1941), A Short Film About Love (1988), The Heiress (1949)

Meet John Doe directed by Frank Capra In his autobiography, Frank Capra opens the section on Meet John Doe with these words: Making a film out of Meet John Doe proved to be as full of surprises as breaking a … Continue reading

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Seen Recently: The Conjuring (2013), Marie Antoinette (1938), Chasing Mavericks (2012), Danton (1983)

The Conjuring directed by James Wan At one point during The Conjuring, my friend Jen whispered to me, “I have got to stop screaming.” Well, no, you don’t. Why would you? Let it out. Let your screams cry out into … Continue reading

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Katyn (2007); Dir. Andrzej Wajda

In mid-September, 1939, on a bridge in Poland, groups of people flee from opposite directions. The Germans invade from behind, and the Russians approach from the front. It is utter chaos. The crowd is well-dressed, for the most part, holding … Continue reading

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Man of Marble (1977); Dir. Andrzej Wajda

Agnieszka (Krystyna Janda), a young woman in 1970s Krakow, wants to make her thesis film on a famous bricklayer and Communist hero named Birkut, whose rise and fall occurred in 1950s Poland. Birkut was celebrated in song and poetry, with … Continue reading

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