Categories
Archives
-
-
-
-
Recent Posts
- 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- “I don’t represent anything.” — Liz Phair
- “I don’t really know why, but danger has always been an important thing in my life – to see how far I could lean without falling, how fast I could go without cracking up.” — William Holden
- “Some syllables are swords.” — Metaphysical poet Henry Vaughan
- “To me, music is no joke and it’s not for sale.” — Ian MacKaye
- “All I need to make a comedy is a park, a policeman and a pretty girl.” — Charlie Chaplin
- “As a cinematographer, I was always attracted to stories that have the potential to be told with as few words as possible.” — Reed Morano
- “Even though I’m writing about very dark material, it still feels like an escape hatch.” — Olivia Laing
- “It’s just one of the mysteries of filmmaking that sometimes you do something that you don’t even think it’s important, then it turns out to be.” — Lili Horvát
- “Ballet taught me to stay close to style and tone. Literature taught me to be concerned about the moral life.” — Joan Acocella
Recent Comments
- sheila on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- sheila on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- Mike Molloy on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- Scott Abraham on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- sheila on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- Scott Abraham on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- sheila on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- Mike Molloy on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- sheila on March 2026 Snapshots
- sheila on “I don’t really know why, but danger has always been an important thing in my life – to see how far I could lean without falling, how fast I could go without cracking up.” — William Holden
- Jessie on March 2026 Snapshots
- Helen Erwin Schinske on “To me, music is no joke and it’s not for sale.” — Ian MacKaye
- Maddy on “I don’t really know why, but danger has always been an important thing in my life – to see how far I could lean without falling, how fast I could go without cracking up.” — William Holden
- sheila on “To me, music is no joke and it’s not for sale.” — Ian MacKaye
- Helen Erwin Schinske on “To me, music is no joke and it’s not for sale.” — Ian MacKaye
- Joseph Pedulla on Susan Hayward Sleeps Raw
- sheila on “For I am of the seed of the WELCH WOMAN and speak the truth from my heart.” — Christopher Smart
- P Nickel on “The realization of ignorance is the first act of knowing.” — Jean Toomer
- Melissa Sutherland on “For I am of the seed of the WELCH WOMAN and speak the truth from my heart.” — Christopher Smart
- Bryce on The Books: “Nine Stories”- ‘The Laughing Man’ (J.D. Salinger)
-
Tag Archives: Abbas Kiarostami
“I’ve never thought of my characters as being sad. On the contrary, they are full of life. They didn’t choose tragedy. Tragedy chose them.” — Juliette Binoche
Blue, d. Krzysztof Kieslowski (1993) It’s her birthday today. I first saw her in Unbearable Lightness of Being, so so many years ago, a frighteningly long time ago. There’s the scene where she and Daniel Day-Lewis have sex for the … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Movies, On This Day
Tagged Abbas Kiarostami, Certified Copy, Juliette Binoche
3 Comments
“Nothing can prevent me from making films.” — Jafar Panahi
It’s his birthday today. Jafar Panahi should need no introduction, but just in case… Jafar Panahi is an Iranian director with an international reputation, and a daunting list of films, many of which were made under terrible conditions (The White … Continue reading
Posted in Directors, Movies, On This Day
Tagged Abbas Kiarostami, Iran, Iranian film, Jafar Panahi, Offside
Leave a comment
Happy Birthday, Hediyeh Tehrani
I first encountered Iranian actress Hediyeh Tehrani’s work when I covered the Tribeca Film Festival in 2006 (it was my first real “gig”). was assigned to review Fireworks Wednesday. This was my introduction to Iranian film. Fireworks Wednesday was intriguing … Continue reading
“Cinema seats make people lazy. They expect to be given all the information. But for me, question marks are the punctuation of life.” — Abbas Kiarostami
It’s the birthday today of the great Iranian filmmaking master. Paying tribute to him – and the country from which he sprung – feels right, albeit sad, in this terrible disgraceful week. When Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami died at the … Continue reading
Posted in Directors, Movies, On This Day
Tagged Abbas Kiarostami, Certified Copy, Iran, Iranian film, Jafar Panahi, Juliette Binoche
Leave a comment
“I will stand with the families of the prisoners and murdered and demand their rights.” — Taraneh Alidoosti
Taraneh Alidoosti, one of the most famous actresses in Iran, has been arrested. Nobody knows where she is. [UPDATE: It’s been confirmed by her father that she’s in Evin Prison. Where they put “political” prisoners. Where they put Jafar Panahi. … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Movies
Tagged Abbas Kiarostami, Asghar Farhadi, Golshifteh Farahani, Iran, Iranian film, Jafar Panahi, Taraneh Alidoosti
Leave a comment
Men and women through a windshield darkly
Knife in the Water, Roman Polanski, 1962 A Married Woman, Jean-Luc Godard, 1964 Certified Copy, Abbas Kiarostami, 2010
Posted in Movies
Tagged Abbas Kiarostami, Certified Copy, Jean-Luc Godard, Roman Polanski
Leave a comment
2018 Top 10 Movies
To cut off people who want to say “But what about …” or “You forgot …”, let me just say: No. I did not. I did not forget. There will be another list to follow of all of the films … Continue reading
Posted in Movies
Tagged Abbas Kiarostami, documentary, Ethan Hawke, Japan, John Huston, Nicolas Cage, Orson Welles, Paul Schrader, Peter Bogdanovich, Sydney Pollack, women directors
13 Comments
February 2018 Viewing Diary
Supernatural, Season 13, episode 12 “Various & Sundry Villains” (2018; d. Amanda Tapping) I was happy to see that the series showed at least passing interest in the inner life of one of its lead characters. Six Feet Under, season … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged Abbas Kiarostami, Belgium, Bob Fosse, documentary, England, France, Ginger Rogers, Greta Gerwig, Iran, Iranian film, Joan Blondell, Kristen Stewart, Mervyn LeRoy, Olivia de Havilland, Robert Mitchum, South Korea, Stanley Kramer, Steven Spielberg, Supernatural, women directors, X-Files, Zac Efron
30 Comments
Year in Review: Running my mouth in 2016
I look at this and I wonder why I always feel like I haven’t done jack-squat. Or, at the very least, I could do more. Well, I always can do more. Regardless, here are links to some of the things … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Books, Movies, On This Day, Personal, RIP
Tagged Abbas Kiarostami, Baz Luhrmann, Buddy Holly, Camille Paglia, Carrie Fisher, Carroll Baker, Cat On a Hot Tin Roof, Chantal Akerman, Compulsion, David Bowie, Dean Stockwell, Dolly Parton, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Elizabeth Bishop, Elizabeth Taylor, Elvis Presley, Eminem, friends, Gena Rowlands, George Stevens, Gilda, Isabelle Huppert, James Dean, Jean Harlow, Joan Crawford, July and Half of August, Katherine Dunn, Langston Hughes, Little Richard, Marion Cotillard, Marlon Brando, Matthias Schoenaerts, Merle Haggard, Mia Hansen-Løve, Miriam Hopkins, Patricia Highsmith, Rebecca Hall, Richard Linklater, Rocky, Sam Cooke, Something Wild, Stephen King, Sudden Fear, Supernatural, Sylvester Stallone, Tennessee Williams, The Great Gatsby, Wanda Jackson, William Shakespeare, women directors, year in writing, Zac Efron
6 Comments
Jafar Panahi Remembers Abbas Kiarostami
Jafar Panahi, the talented and persecuted Iranian filmmaker, is – as everyone knows – banned from making films (he’s made 3 since the sentence came down), banned from traveling, and forbidden from speaking to foreigners or giving interviews (he continues … Continue reading