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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
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged Agnes Varda, Albert Maysles, Argentina, Asghar Farhadi, baseball, Chantal Akerman, Denmark, documentary, France, Iran, Iranian film, Italy, Jean-Luc Godard, John Wayne, Josef von Sternberg, Nicholas Ray, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, Sandrine Bonnaire, Supernatural, Sweden, X-Files
32 Comments
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
Posted in Books, Movies, Music, Personal
Tagged Alfred Wertheimer, Anna Magnani, Austria, Carroll Baker, Christopher Hitchens, Claude Rains, Eli Wallach, Elvis Presley, Eminem, France, friends, Gena Rowlands, Germany, Harry Potter, Howard Hawks, Inherent Vice, Iran, Iranian film, Israel, Italy, Jafar Panahi, Japan, Jim Jarmusch, Joan Crawford, John Cassavetes, Juliette Binoche, Kristen Wiig, Kwik Stop, Lars von Trier, Lauren Bacall, Lester Bangs, Liv Ullmann, Lon Chaney, Love Streams, Mark Twain, Martin Scorsese, Nicolas Cage, Orpheus Descending, Palestine, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Poland, Richard Linklater, Romania, Russia, Seth Rogen, Seymour Cassel, Sudden Fear, Supernatural, Sweden, Tennessee Williams, The Beatles, The Everly Brothers, Tommy Lee Jones, Trotsky, war, year in writing, Zac Efron
14 Comments
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
Posted in Movies
Tagged Australia, Bong Joon-Ho, Denmark, documentary, France, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Germany, Iranian film, Jafar Panahi, Jean-Luc Godard, Jim Jarmusch, Josephine Decker, Kristen Stewart, Kristen Wiig, Lars von Trier, Paul Thomas Anderson, Poland, Richard Linklater, South Korea, Sweden, Vietnam, Wes Anderson, Zac Efron
35 Comments
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
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
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
Posted in Movies
Tagged Andrzej Wajda, France, historical drama, horror, Norma Shearer, Poland, politics, reviews, sports movies
19 Comments
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
Posted in Movies
Tagged Andrzej Wajda, Germany, Poland, politics, reviews, Russia, Stalin, war, war movies, WWII
14 Comments
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