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Film Review – Cedar Rapids
Cedar Rapids (2011) tells the story of a naïve insurance agent put into a situation that is way over his head. Directed by Miguel Arteta, whose previous work includes The Good Girl (2002) and Youth in Revolt (2009), the film is a quirky combination of…
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Noir City at SIFF – Crashout
The 1955 film Crashout, from director Lewis R. Foster (Those Redheads from Seattle), is about as lean and pulpy as they come. The movie opens on a prison, about a second before a massive break. Pandemonium erupts, along with gunfire, as the guards attempt to…
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Noir City at SIFF – The Woman on the Beach
Legendary French director Jean Renoir (The Lower Depths, Grand Illusion, and Rules of the Game) turns in this near-masterpiece of an atmospheric noir film, centering on a love triangle between a Coast Guard officer, a blind artist, and the wife who blinded him. Rare for…
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Noir City at SIFF – Crack-Up
The seedy world of crime/noir stories has often crossed paths with that of the art world. In Charles Willeford’s novel A Burnt Orange Heresy (1971), he invents a new art movement called Nihilist Surrealism, which he uses as a means of his own criticism towards…
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Noir City at SIFF – The Dark Mirror
The Dark Mirror, from German-born director Robert Siodmak, is an oddity of a noir film. Its premise revolves around murder, and more or less the search for the killer. Its approach to going about that is something that, while different, is absorbing and fun. We…
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Noir City at SIFF – A Double Life
You ever hear of the phrase, “Getting into character”? This is when an actor dedicates himself or herself to becoming the role they are playing, completely changing their behavior, accent, and even appearance. There are some actors that are so good at this that they…
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Noir City at SIFF – Angel Face
The title of Otto Preminger’s Angel Face (1952) works perfectly in describing the seemingly innocent façade of both its characters and the film itself. This is a great film noir, a story that keeps us guessing even when we think we have everything locked down.…
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Noir City at SIFF – Don’t Bother to Knock
Tonight’s Noir City line-up at SIFF Cinema features a film that contains one of the best performances of Marilyn Monroe’s career. I believe that Monroe was a much finer actress than she is often given credit for, with her sex symbol image and tragic death…
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