Opinion

AFI Fest 2013

AFI Fest 2013: “The Unknown Known,” “The Past,” “Our Sunhi,” & “The Green Inferno”

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On my final night attending this year’s AFI Fest, I hustled across the Chinese multiplex lobby from a screening of Hong Sang-soo’s “Our Sunhi” to another of “Borgman,” the reportedly highly disturbing Dutch film that made waves at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. I was too late to secure anything better than a second-row seat, […]

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AFI Fest 2013: “The Marriage of Maria Braun” (1979)

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When a film festival includes previously released films on its schedule, especially older films, they are usually great achievements in cinematic history or straight-up crowd-pleasers. AFI did a gala presentation of “Mary Poppins” this year to coincide with its Opening Night Film, “Saving Mr. Banks,” the New York Film Festival debuted a restoration of “The

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AFI Fest 2013: “A Woman Under the Influence” (1974)

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Agnès Varda, Grand Dame of the film world, descended upon AFI Fest 2013 as Guest Artistic Director. In this role, she chose several canonical films to be screened with her own personal introductions. For Sunday morning she picked John Cassavetes’ “A Woman Under the Influence” (1974), a kinetic and disturbing film that Varda, appearing in

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AFI Fest 2013: “The Wind Rises” & “Vic + Flo Saw a Bear”

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Another year, another AFI Fest. It’s hard to believe I’ve been attending this Los Angeles institution for seven years now, but there’s nothing I look forward to more each November. And while I’m no longer able to see the ludicrous number of movies I once was—back in 2007 and 2008, I ignored my undergraduate obligations

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Óscar Jaenada and Guillermo Francella star in "¡Atraco!"

SDLFF 2013: Dispatch #3 — “¡Atraco!” and “Post Tenebras Lux”

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As the San Diego Latino Film Festival enters its final weekend, there’s still plenty of good stuff left to see (I have five selections slated for today and tomorrow). It’s been tough to find time to write about the festival films I’ve already seen—in addition to my usual load of regular screenings and reviews, I’ve

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A scene from Patricio Guzmán's "Nostalgia for the Light"

SDLFF 2013: Dispatch #2 — “The Body” and “Nostalgia for the Light”

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Three days into this year’s San Diego Latino Film Festival, I’m still very much enjoying myself. Festival fatigue—that inevitable wave of exhaustion one gets from watching several movies in a row, then returning home to write about them—has not yet set in, though I’m sure it will in a few days. So I’m committed to

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