Essays
Artwork by Neven Udovičić Any list of the best films of all time suggests the idea of consensus. Yet so much of creativity, both in terms of writing for the journalists voting in polls, and for the filmmakers who make the films being voted for, is about resisting consensus to
Extras
At the Marrakesh Film Festival, I took the opportunity to talk to Australian director Justin Kurzel, who was enjoying his first ever festival jury experience there, watching films alongside jury president Paolo Sorrentino, actors Vanessa Kirby, Diane Kruger, and Tahar Rahim, and filmmakers Nadine Labaki and Laïla Marrakchi. We talked
Essays
Director Daniel Goldhaber on his film How to Blow Up a Pipeline In August of 2003, a few months after George W. Bush’s “Mission Accomplished” speech, the Pentagon’s Directorate for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict, an anti-guerilla task force, circulated a flier to officers and civilians
Essays
Several recent attempts to deconstruct American megachurches and televangelists fail to grasp what truly makes institutionalised evangelicalism so insidious One glance at the news can provide an immediate insight as to why American society is currently living in decidedly faithless times. In the wake of a pandemic that has ravaged
Essays
Directors Lise Akoka and Romane Gueret on their feature debut The Worst Ones When does a fascination for colourful characters fall into condescending and morbid curiosity? Where is the line between being given a chance and being used? Such questions of ethics and respect have always animated documentary filmmaking, but
Essays
American director Paul Schrader on his film Master Gardener, controversy, Facebook, Taxi Driver and more Marrakesh was one of the locations for Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist — “not a film I should have made,” according to Paul Schrader, who was back in town for the Marrakech Film Festival to accompany
Essays
The Lynchian, existential sequel celebrates its tenth anniversary Already embedded within the concept at the heart of the Universal Soldier franchise is an acute bitterness about the American military’s treatment of the men who do its dirty work. In the first film, soldiers thrown into the meat grinder that
Essays
Artwork by Neven Udovičić The films discussed in this issue all, to some degree, use provocation to fulfil their goals. Speaking to Mark Asch, Daniel Goldhaber explains that his film How to Blow Up a Pipeline isn’t designed to advocate for a specific politics, but rather to shake up
Extras
Flamingo Road (1949) is a film noir / melodrama starring Joan Crawford as a woman who, through factors largely outside of her control, finds herself climbing the echelons of social life until she becomes what Joan Crawford always becomes: rich. But there is a price to pay, and this is a
Essays
On Nathan Fielder's show The Rehearsal (photo Allyson Riggs/HBO) There’s a telling moment about halfway through the pilot of The Rehearsal, Nathan Fielder’s series for HBO Max, in which Kor, the episode’s middle-aged subject, compares Fielder to Willy Wonka. The remark is meant
Essays
On Babak Anvari's I Came By (2022) The hypocrisies of modern life, where all of us are complicit in the suffering and exploitation of others whether we choose to be or not, are not a new field of creative exploration for filmmakers (heard of Fight Club, anyone?). Beyond
Essays
On Satyajit Ray's Devi (1960) “I’ll convince him! I have all the latest arguments at my fingertips,” boasts the cocky Umaprasad (Soumitra Chatterjee), when his friend confesses that he wishes to marry a widow but is afraid of his father’s disapproval. Throughout Satyajit Ray’s Devi