On July 7, 2010, Lonnie Franklin Jr. was arrested at his South Los Angeles home in connection with the “Grim Sleeper” murders — at least ten, but potentially several more, homicides that occurred from 1985 to 1988 and then, after a long hiatus, from 2002 to 2007. DNA evidence connected Franklin to the murders, and an …
AFI Fest 2014 Review: “Tales of the Grim Sleeper” Read More »
If you didn’t know going into “Blind” that the film marks the directorial debut of a longtime screenwriter— Eskil Vogt, who most notably penned the Joachim Trier-directed “Reprise” and “Oslo, August 31st”—you will rapidly develop a hunch for this as the film progresses. Reminiscent of the ensemble-based work of Paul Haggis, another scribe-turned-filmmaker, the film …
If the essence of cinema lies not in dialogue—a relic of previous art forms—but in the gestures, the movements, the compositions, and the editing, then Miroslav Slaboshpytskiy’s “The Tribe” should not feel like it is missing anything. The film is conducted entirely in Ukranian sign language, without the assistance of subtitles or narration, leaving the …
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, …
AFI Fest 2013: “The Unknown Known,” “The Past,” “Our Sunhi,” & “The Green Inferno” Read More »
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 …
AFI Fest 2013: “The Marriage of Maria Braun” (1979) Read More »
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 …
AFI Fest 2013: “A Woman Under the Influence” (1974) Read More »
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 …
AFI Fest 2013: “The Wind Rises” & “Vic + Flo Saw a Bear” Read More »
