Author Archive
Bird Watching – Nadine Labaki’s “Caramel”
On May 11, Lebanese director Nadine Labaki’s second film, Where Do We Go Now?, will open in the United States. A festival sensation, winning the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival amid heavy competition and receiving acclaim at Cannes, that film is…
READ MORE
Bird Watching – Constance Marks’s “Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey”
Though there was a resurgence of vocal Muppet devotion with the release of last year’s film The Muppets, one can’t really call that a “comeback.” Pretty much everyone I know has always loved the whole spectrum of Jim Henson’s creations, and millions upon millions of…
READ MORE
Bird Watching – Lena Dunham’s “Tiny Furniture”
As the tagline says: Aura would like you to know that she’s having a very, very hard time. The main character of the indie comedy Tiny Furniture (2010)—played by writer-director Lena Dunham—has just graduated college with a major in film theory, moved back in with…
READ MORE
Bird Watching – Ava DuVernay’s “I Will Follow”
Where the pathetic numbers in big budget Hollywood are stagnant at best concerning female filmmakers, women in indie film continue to prove that it is the system, not a lack of ability, that keeps women from these positions of creative power. It is, of course,…
READ MORE
Film Review – We Need to Talk About Kevin
When you have Tilda Swinton’s face available to you for use as a storytelling tool, you employ it for all that it’s worth. Lynne Ramsay, in her new film We Need to Talk About Kevin, finally opening in the U.S. today, understands this truth. Swinton is…
READ MORE
Film Review – Miss Representation
One of the reasons I am so passionate about film is because of the emotional experience the medium can provide. This is true as well of other types of stories and media; the narratives and images we are fed have incredible power. Obviously, this is…
READ MORE
What We’re Watching – 1/19/2012
Ah, winter. The time when my usual routine of watching a lot of stuff turns into “really watching a lot of stuff,” what with it being dreary outside most of the time. Here are a few things that have distracted me during the last stretch…
READ MORE
Film Review – Tomboy
A truly great child actor can illicit emotion from the viewer in ways that dissolve once the barriers to adulthood begin to be crossed. Perhaps this is because seeing a child invoke that kind of emotion reminds us that they feel as deeply as we…
READ MORE