Double Feature: For Sama and A Diary for Timothy
The shot lasts only about seventeen seconds, a simple downward tilt. First we see Sama, the young daughter of journalist and filmmaker Waad al-Kateab, being held by her father, Hamza, […]
Tag Archives: documentary
The Felliniesque Century
Consistently regarded as one of the world’s very greatest filmmakers, Federico Fellini is a daunting subject. Developing a bombastic and playful style, he is one of the few who can […]
Double Feature: Zora Neale Hurston’s Ethnographic Films and Daughters of the Dust
Zora Neale Hurston, a prominent novelist of the Harlem Renaissance, was also something of an amateur filmmaker, documenting everyday life and work in the American South as part of anthropological […]
Notes on the Nominees for the 92nd Academy Awards
Lucy pulls the ball away once again! What’s amazing about the Oscars is that, for movie fans, Lucy can do this twice in the span of a month or two. […]
Uh … 3 ½? — The Other Side of the Wind
The Introduction Now that we have it, what do we do with it? Thirteen months ago, The Other Side of the Wind was released to the public, just like that — […]
Uh … 3 ½? — Voyage of Time
The Introduction Terrence Malick’s first and, to date, only nonfiction film took an appropriately long and strange journey into existence. Its origins can be traced back to the abandoned film […]
Uh … 3 ½? — No Home Movie
The Introduction Chantal Akerman’s final film, No Home Movie traveled the festival circuit for a year before arriving on the streaming service MUBI in the summer of 2016. By the time […]
My Most Anticipated 2019 Movies
As it turns out, two things can be true at once. First, with the aid of a couple different subscription services, I’ve been able to see more movies from the […]
Double Feature: Sans Soleil and Cameraperson
“Everything interested him.” These words are spoken by the unseen narrator early on in Chris Marker’s Sans Soleil. The “him” of the sentence is essentially Marker, though the speaker always refers […]
Mister Rogers’ America
The height of my political idealism (or naïveté, as you please) was around the year 2015. Amid all the usual rancor, I felt optimistic that things could improve. One of […]
