2020s

  • Scott Eyman – 20th Century-Fox: Darryl F. Zanuck and the Creation of the Modern Film Studio (2021)

    2021-2030BooksScott EymanUSA

    From New York Times bestselling author Scott Eyman, this is the story one of the most influential studios in film history, from its glory days under the leadership of legendary movie mogul Darryl F. Zanuck up to its 2019 buyout by Disney.

    March 20, 2019 marked the end of an era – Disney took ownership of the movie empire that was Fox. For almost a century before that historic date, Twentieth Century-Fox was one of the preeminent producers of films, stars, and filmmakers. Its unique identity in the industry and place in movie history is unparalleled – and one of the greatest stories to come out of Hollywood. One man, a legendary producer named Darryl F. Zanuck, is the heart of the story. This narrative tells the complete tale of Zanuck and the films, stars, intrigue, and innovations of the iconic studio that was.Read More »

  • Sang-soo Hong – Dangsin-eolgul-apeseo AKA In Front of Your Face (2021)

    Sang-soo Hong2021-2030DramaSouth Korea

    After years of living abroad, a middle-aged former actress (Lee Hye-young) has returned to South Korea to reconnect with her past and perhaps make amends. Over the course of one day in Seoul, via various encounters—including with her younger sister; a shopkeeper who lives in her converted childhood home; and, finally, a well-known film director with whom she would like to make a comeback—we discover her resentments and regrets, her financial difficulties, and the big secret that’s keeping her aloof from the world. Both beguiling and oddly cleansing in its mix of the spiritual and the cynical, In Front of Your Face finds the endlessly prolific Hong Sang-soo in a particularly contemplative mood; it’s a film that somehow finds that life is at once full of grace and a sick joke.Read More »

  • Robert Gottlieb – Garbo (2021)

    2021-2030BooksRobert GottliebUSA

    “Countless books have been written about Greta Garbo since her self-imposed exile in the 1940s, yet this comprehensive biography may be the final word. Gottlieb’s research is so complete and his style so engaging that this book almost reads like an oral biography told through a singular voice… This is a brilliantly written and constructed portrait of a true icon of the cinema…” (Library Journal)

    “Searching and sensitive … A lengthy “Garbo reader” full of excerpts and articles about her rounds out Gottlieb’s perfectly paced account and the wealth of photos is a plus. The result is a masterful look at an elusive Hollywood giant….” (Publishers’ Weekly)Read More »

  • Joaquín Cociña & Cristóbal León – Los Huesos AKA The Bones (2021)

    Joaquín Cociña2021-2030AnimationChileCristóbal LeónHorror

    Quote:
    Using human corpses and invoking the spirits of two damned Secretaries of State, a girl performs a ritual to free the kingdom of Chile from its feudal heritage.Read More »

  • Marcus Werner Hed, Dan Fox – Other, Like Me: The Oral History of COUM Transmissions and Throbbing Gristle (2020)

    2011-2020Dan FoxDocumentaryExperimentalMarcus Werner HedUnited Kingdom

    BBC Four Website
    Hull, England, 1970. In a run-down commune in a tough port city, a group of social misfits – mostly working class, mostly self-educated – adopted new identities and began making simple street theatre under the name COUM Transmissions. Their playful performances gradually gave way to work that dealt openly with sex, pornography, and violence. The group lived at the edge of society, surviving on meagre resources, finding fellowship with others marginalised by the mainstream.Read More »

  • Maureen Fazendeiro & Miguel Gomes – Diários de Otsoga AKA The Tsugua Diaries (2021)

    Maureen Fazendeiro2021-2030ArthouseExperimentalMiguel GomesPortugal

    IMDb wrote:
    Follows Crista, Carloto and João who are building an airy greenhouse for butterflies in the garden and share household routines, but they are not the only ones.

    A COVID-era vacation story told in reverse, starting with Day 22 and working itself back to Day 1. The proposition is a bit gimmicky, but I found the results moving and fun, one of my favorites of the year.Read More »

  • Ieva Balode – Commission (2020)

    2011-2020ExperimentalIeva BalodeLatviaShort FilmThe Female Gaze

    The story of a film “Commission” starts in Georgia at some unknown point of time where a heroic, mythical female character has written a book which is being delivered by a courier (the artist herself) to three powerful women. The content of a book is hidden within an existing book – “The Knight in the Panther’s Skin” written by Medieval Georgian poet Shota Rustaveli who dedicated the book to 12th century Queen Tamar who at the time brought prosperity and many social changes in the country. Being used as a secret shell or a reference to female power from the past, the freshly embedded content of a book serves as manifesto to the women who haven’t been equally appreciated due to history books still being written from male perspective. The book offers alternative gaze to a world history which can exist only in utopian science-fiction film commissioned and executed by females only.Read More »

  • Nanni Moretti – Tre piani AKA Three Floors (2021)

    Nanni Moretti2021-2030ComedyDramaItaly

    The story of three families living in three apartments in the same bourgeois condominium.Read More »

  • Mengqiao Li – Bipolar (2021)

    2021-2030ChinaDramaMengqiao Li

    IMDB synopsis:
    Based on the myth of Orpheus: in Lhasa, a young woman encounters a lobster that will change her life.

    Quote:
    A journey that takes the myth of Orpheus as a starting point and that accompanies the protagonist on a pilgrimage that is physical, but also psychological. In her journey she meets different characters who represent a dysfunctional society. The memories and hallucinations seem real, and reality seems like a hallucination. As a viewer, the journey however has not led me anywhere.Read More »

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