USA

With her radically anarchic Czechoslovak New Wave landmark DAISIES, director Věra Chytilová set out, in her own words, “to make a film that is aesthetically pleasing and interesting, yet [which] is an image of destruction,” one in which “the idea of ‘destruction’ is present in everything, in every move of the camera.” In this edition of Observations on Film Art, Professor Kristin Thompson breaks down the complex visual motifs—in particular the use of plant and food imagery—that Chytilová employs to advance this aesthetic of annihilation, ultimately creating a film that threatens to literally self-destruct.Read More »

Set in post war Japan, the film tells the tale of a woman (Martha Hyer) looking for her missing brother. Her brother operated a small export business and has suddenly disappeared. Strangely his business partner has also vanished. Japan is portrayed as a hotbed for smugglers and snoopers all trying to make a buck anyway they can.

Hyer soon comes in contact with the Japanese police who are somewhat sympathetic but they are also hunting for her brother because they believe he was involved in some smuggled opium. In steps an American ex-serviceman (Byron Mitchie), who works the black market and agrees to help Hyer find her brother.Read More »

Following the life of artist Nan Goldin and the downfall of the Sackler family, the pharmaceutical dynasty who was greatly responsible for the opioid epidemic’s unfathomable death toll.Read More »

October 20, 1971, Woody Allen. At this point he was writing Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex But Were Afraid to Ask, had just finished Bananas, and had only been in analysis for thirteen years.

He appeared a total of seven times on the Dick Cavett Show; the clip in Annie Hall (“In the event of war, I’m a hostage”) is not from any of these appearances, but was staged for the movie – as explained by Dick in the short introduction.

The interview is one hour plus a few minutes for questions from the audience.

Woody: “The thing is, I can only write comedy. When I try to write something serious, it doesn’t come out serious.”Read More »

Sarah Jo is a naive 26-year-old living on the fringes of Hollywood with her mother and sister. She just longs to be seen. When she begins an affair with her older employer, she is thrust into an education on sexuality, loss and power.Read More »

A controversial look at the lives and conflicts of a group of homosexual men set during one evening in a New York bath house for menRead More »

Out of work actor Joe volunteers to help try and save his sister’s local church for the community by putting on a Christmas production of Hamlet, somewhat against the advice of his agent Margaretta. As the cast he assembles are still available even at Christmas and are prepared to do it on a ‘profit sharing’ basis (that is, they may not get paid anything) he cannot expect – and does not get – the cream of the cream. But although they all bring their own problems and foibles along, something bigger starts to emerge in the perhaps aptly named village of Hope.Read More »

Filmed on location in Las Vegas, QUEEN revolves around the life of an alienated blackjack dealer. Starring Tinka Menkes as the intense, damaged dealer, the film was named one of the Year’s Ten Best by the Los Angeles Times and Film Comment.

“QUEEN OF DIAMONDS may become for America in the 90’s what JEANNE DIELMAN was for Europe in the 70’s—a cult classic using a rigorous visual composition to penetrate the innermost recesses of the soul.” –Berenice ReynaudRead More »

Nurse Charlotte Beale arrives at the isolated Stephens Sanitarium to work, only to learn that Dr. Stephens was murdered by one of the patients and his successor, Dr. Geraldine Masters, is not very eager to take on new staff. Charlotte finds her job maddeningly hard as the patients torment and harass her at every turn, and she soon learns why Dr. Masters is so eager to keep outsiders out.Read More »