“You’ve got to work at maintaining your version of the world. So start being alone!” An Interview with Terry Gilliam Maša Peče September 2009 Feature Articles A wide-ranging interview in which Gilliam talks at length about his life, his work, the malaise of the film industry, and the state of the world. As expected from Gilliam, it makes for fascinating and sometimes controversial reading.
The Deep Morals of Inglourious Basterds Joseph Natoli September 2009 Feature Articles Is Tarantino’s latest just another pastiche of postmodern cinéphilic references? Perhaps not. Joseph Natoli looks for the moral compass in the director’s blood soaked war saga.
Does Laughter Make the Crime Disappear?: An Analysis of Cinematic Images of Hitler and the Nazis, 1940-2007 Robert C. Reimer September 2009 Feature Articles What is a fit subject for laughter? Reimer looks at one of the most contentious of all subjects and discovers a surprisingly long history of films that have addressed it through the comedic mode.
A Traitor to His Class: John Dillinger and Public Enemies Jay Rothermel September 2009 Feature Articles For all Michael Mann’s claims about the veracity of his research into Depression-Era America, Jay Rothermel argues that he has “printed the legend” more than the facts.
Artistic Encounters: Jean-Marie Straub, Danièle Huillet and Paul Cézanne Sally Shafto September 2009 Feature Articles The French painter is the subject of two films by the Straubs, Une Visite au Louvre and, more significantly, Cézanne. Sally Shafto looks at the importance of his art and ideas on the Straubs.
Knowing Icons and Transforming Experience: Sergei Eisenstein’s ¡Que Viva México! (1932) Gabrielle Murray September 2009 Feature Articles Though Eisenstein’s vision for ¡Que Viva México! was never fully realised, Gabrielle Murray argues that the version(s) we have reveals the twin influence of Russian icon painting and ethnographic film.
Marker, Resnais, Varda: Remembering the Left Bank Group Robert Farmer September 2009 Feature Articles Too often overshadowed by the fame of the Nouvelle Vague, Robert Farmer gives due attention to the concurrent ‘wave’ known as the Left Bank Group.
Nick’s “I”/Nick’s Eye: Why they couldn’t film Gatsby Bruce Jackson September 2009 Feature Articles In the light of Baz Luhrmann’s announcement that he intends to bring The Great Gatsby to the screen once again, Bruce Jackson looks at the failures already at hand and offers some salient advice about why F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel is so resistant to successful screen adaptation.
On the Subjective Æsthetic of Adrian Lyne’s Lolita Michael Da Silva September 2009 Feature Articles Though much derided on its release, Michael Da Silva provides an insightful analysis of the æsthetic logic that informs Lyne’s adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov’s infamous classic.
Hatari! and the Hollywood Safari Picture Michael J. Anderson September 2009 Feature Articles Originally titled “Africa”, the production history of Howard Hawks’ Hatari! is a tale in its own right. Michael J. Anderson teases out its place in the long history of Hollywood big-game-hunting films set in Africa.
Merle Oberon: She walked in beauty … Brian McFarlane September 2009 Feature Articles There is always a degree of libidinal investment in our appreciation of screen icons. No doubt it has McFarlane in its sway in his contemplative piece on the career and singular charisma of Merle Oberon.
Brando and the Bounty Tony McKibbin September 2009 Feature Articles At the centre of McKibbin’s article is a re-evalution of Marlon Brando’s performance as Fletcher Christian in Lewis Milestone’s 1962 production of Mutiny on the Bounty. But there is much else on offer.
Down and Away to Botany Bay Murray Pomerance September 2009 Feature Articles Pomerance looks at one of Australian-born John Farrow’s least-known films, the 1953 Botany Bay, through the prism of Hollywood’s representation of the “land down-under”.
Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: An Existential Odyssey Pedro Blas Gonzalez September 2009 Feature Articles Since the time of this classic’s release, the one question that seems to have always hung over it is: “But what does it all mean?” Pedro Blas Gonzalez goes in search of answers.
Bien Sur: The 11th Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente Jay Kuehner September 2009 Festival Reports
Edinburgh in Darkness and Light: The Edinburgh International Film Festival Neil Young September 2009 Festival Reports
Great Expectations – Fulfilled: The 11th Far East Film Festival Olaf Möller September 2009 Festival Reports
Centre of the East: The 44th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Chris Berry September 2009 Festival Reports
“May you live in interesting times”: Cinema, Politics & Censorship at the 58th Melbourne International Film Festival Alice G. Burgin September 2009 Festival Reports
Nightmares & Wonders: The Necessity of Revelation: The 12th Revelation Perth International Film Festival Damien Spiccia September 2009 Festival Reports
Killer Instinct: The 52nd San Francisco International Film Festival Jay Kuehner September 2009 Festival Reports
Bigger than Ever: The 12th Shanghai International Film Festival Chris Berry September 2009 Festival Reports
Chris Marker and the Archival Imperative: La Jetée: ciné-roman and Staring Back by Chris Marker and Chris Marker by Sarah Cooper Patrick Friel September 2009 Book Reviews
Displaced Allegories: Post-Revolutionary Iranian Cinema by Negar Mottahedeh Michelle Langford September 2009 Book Reviews
Vincente Minnelli: The Art of Entertainment edited by Joe McElhaney Peter Hourigan September 2009 Book Reviews
Cities in Transition: The Moving Image and the Modern Metropolis edited by Andrew Webber and Emma Wilson Anna Knight September 2009 Book Reviews
Kaleidoscope of the B-film Director: Edgar G. Ulmer: Detour on Poverty Row edited by Gary D. Rhodes Lance Duerfahrd September 2009 Book Reviews
Lighting Fireworks Indoors: Britton on Film: The Complete Film Criticism of Andrew Britton edited by Barry Keith Grant David Melville September 2009 Book Reviews
“All the Thrills of the Exotic”: Collective Memory and Cultural Performance in Chris Marker’s Dimanche á Pekin Louise Sheedy September 2009 CTEQ Annotations on Film
Adieu, Eric Rohmer Rolando Caputo and Michelle Carey April 2010 Eric Rohmer Dossier, Feature Articles, Special Dossiers Co-editors’ introduction to this commemorative issue on Eric Rohmer.
When Rohmer Was Making ‘Silent Films’ Jackie Raynal with Berenice Reynaud April 2010 Eric Rohmer Dossier, Feature Articles, Special Dossiers Like many of his collaborators, filmmaker Jackie Raynal was present at the Cinémathèque Française’s memorial homage to Rohmer earlier this year. Sparked by the occasion, she looks back at her time with Rohmer in this heartfelt reminiscence.
New Interview with Eric Rohmer Pascal Bonitzer, Jean-Louis Comolli, Serge Daney and Jean Narboni April 2010 Eric Rohmer Dossier, Feature Articles, Special Dossiers A landmark interview originally published in Cahiers du cinéma in 1970. The journal was in the midst of its Marxist/Leninist era, while Rohmer's Bazinian idealism was vindicated by the success of My Night at Maud’s. A fascinating joust between two entirely opposed views of the cinema
Eric Rohmer’s Place de l’Étoile Luc Moullet April 2010 Eric Rohmer Dossier, Feature Articles, Special Dossiers Fellow critic and filmmaker Luc Moullet gives due consideration to Rohmer’s sketch in Paris vu par… highlighting its fidelity to location.
Secrets and Lies: Three Documentaries About Eric Rohmer Bruce Perkins April 2010 Eric Rohmer Dossier, Feature Articles, Special Dossiers Rohmer was himself a private and reserved individual who, more often that not, shunned the spotlight. Bruce Perkins examines three documentaries on the filmmaker, and concludes that together they offer as vivid and multi-dimensional a portrait of Rohmer as we can wish for.
Eric Rohmer, Educator Alain Hertay April 2010 Eric Rohmer Dossier, Feature Articles, Special Dossiers Former pupil and author of a study on Rohmer, Alain Hertay, offers a reflection on the short films Rohmer made for educational television.
Cinema and the Classroom: Education in the Work of Eric Rohmer Darragh O’Donoghue April 2010 Eric Rohmer Dossier, Feature Articles, Special Dossiers In both content and form, a strong pedagogical endeavour has informed the work of Rohmer throughout his career. Darragh O’Donoghue discusses this inclination, focusing on some of the earlier shorts and made-for-television documentaries.
The Sign of the Map: Cartographic Reading and Le signe du lion Roland-François Lack April 2010 Eric Rohmer Dossier, Feature Articles, Special Dossiers The topographical tracings of Rohmer’s feature debut reveal a dual motif: the cartographic and the photographic. Roland-François Lack’s insightful essay meticulously traces the unfolding of this dual motif.
La collectionneuse: Dandies on the Côte d’Azur Jacob Leigh April 2010 Eric Rohmer Dossier, Feature Articles, Special Dossiers Jacob Leigh looks into both the production history and the general cultural influences that inform Rohmer’s first-produced but fourth listed of the feature length ‘Moral Tales’.
Night Moves Around Maud Bruce Jackson April 2010 Eric Rohmer Dossier, Feature Articles, Special Dossiers Arthur Penn’s 1975 detective thriller contains one of the most noted of references to My Night a Maud’s, but as Bruce Jackson argues, it is more than just a token nod.
Choice and Chance: A Dialectic of Morality and Romance in Eric Rohmer’s My Night at Maud’s Constantine Santas April 2010 Eric Rohmer Dossier, Feature Articles, Special Dossiers Love, morality, fidelity and chance crystallised around Pascal’s ‘wager’. Taken by many to be the key film of the ‘Six Moral Tales’ series, the fascination of this film has not receded with time. Constantine Santas unravels the film’s thematics.
The Roving ‘I’: Ambiguous Subjectivity in Eric Rohmer’s ‘Six Moral Tales’ Karen Goodman April 2010 Eric Rohmer Dossier, Feature Articles, Special Dossiers Karen Goodman examines the nature of desire and subjectivity, both male and female, in Rohmer’s first great series of films.
The Tale of Perceval le Gallois and the Young Althusserians Daniel Fairfax April 2010 Eric Rohmer Dossier, Feature Articles, Special Dossiers Infused with artifice, Rohmer’s remarkable adaptation of Chrétien de Troyes’ 12th-century verse poem marked a temporary radical shift in style for the filmmaker. But why? Daniel Fairfax looks for answers in the light of post-68 French film theory.
Love and Desire in Eric Rohmer’s ‘Comedies and Proverbs’ and ‘Tales of the Four Seasons’ Fiona Handyside April 2010 Eric Rohmer Dossier, Feature Articles, Special Dossiers Much of Rohmer’s ‘80s and ‘90s work concerns the myriad of amorous choices his modern heroines face. Moreover, Fiona Handyside argues, they form a meta-text on the representation of love through the ages.
Following The Law of One’s Own Being: The Crying Woman in The Green Ray Tony McKibbin April 2010 Eric Rohmer Dossier, Feature Articles, Special Dossiers A discursive exploration on the philosophic significance of the figure of ‘the crying woman’ in this most radiant of films.
Short Take Tributes on Rohmer Various. April 2010 Eric Rohmer Dossier, Feature Articles, Special Dossiers A selection of individual tributes and short essays by Terry Ballard, Adam Bingham, Conall Cash, John Conomos, David F. Coursen, Adrian Danks, Linda Ehrlich, and Wheeler Winston Dixon.
Reworking Romanticism: Paul Cox’s Man of Flowers Victoria Duckett December 2009 Paul Cox Dossier, Special Dossiers Let us not say, “If only the texts were richer, the witnesses more loquacious, the confessions more detailed!” Don’t we seem today to have everything ...
Paul Cox: An Appreciation Roger Ebert December 2009 Paul Cox Dossier, Special Dossiers I believe the first film by Paul Cox I saw was Man of Flowers (1983), at the 1984 Chicago Film Festival. The next year, My First Wife (1984). I heard ...
Ardea Paul Carter December 2009 Paul Cox Dossier, Special Dossiers Ardea cinerea is the scientific name of the Grey Heron found in Europe. In Human Touch (2004) a heron alights for a moment on a stone basin in the gar...
The Persistent Maverick Maria Stratford December 2009 Paul Cox Dossier, Special Dossiers “I find living itself quite difficult so you may as well make it more difficult by doing something crazy.” - Paul Cox (1) Paul Cox has been making...
A Collaboration Between Two Artists Asher Bilu December 2009 Paul Cox Dossier, Special Dossiers My work with Paul Cox as Production Designer has been successful, I believe, because we have much in common. On the surface, our backgrounds are simil...
Idiosyncrasy and Film Alexander Garcia Duttmann December 2009 Paul Cox Dossier, Special Dossiers 1. If I had to choose a motto for Paul Cox’s films, no motto would seem more appropriate to me than the phrase: “For people who like that sort of thin...
To the point on point Chris Haywood December 2009 Paul Cox Dossier, Special Dossiers “Paulus Henrikus Benidictus Cox”: the name triggers images of a character from some historical tale by Umberto Eco. From my experiences of collaborati...
On The Beach (Stanley Kramer, 1959, USA) Deane Williams September 2009 Key Moments in Australian Cinema, Special Dossiers
Strike Me Lucky (Ken G. Hall, 1934) Lesley Speed September 2009 Key Moments in Australian Cinema, Special Dossiers
Wolf Creek (Greg Mclean, 2005) William “Bill” Blick September 2009 Key Moments in Australian Cinema, Special Dossiers
On the Home Front: Newsfront (Phillip Noyce, 1978) Adrian Danks September 2009 Key Moments in Australian Cinema, Special Dossiers
Intervention: Katherine, NT (Julie Nimmo, 2008) Dugald Williamson September 2009 Key Moments in Australian Cinema, Special Dossiers
Romper Stomper (Geoffrey Wright, 1992) Lucille Paterson September 2009 Key Moments in Australian Cinema, Special Dossiers
“Take it all off baby, take it all off” – The Australian Kamasutra: Love Serenade (Shirley Barrett, 1996) Catherine Simpson August 2009 Key Moments in Australian Cinema, Special Dossiers
Moving through the Absence: Viviane Vagh’s Ground Zero NY, 2005 Diana Gonzalez July 2009 Special Dossiers, Spotlight on Viviane Vagh From there, faced with these large frescoes, the feeling of the past being wiped away, of its disappearing and the impression of ruins: of traces of...
Notes on Free Women/Femmes libres Grant Wiedenfeld July 2009 Special Dossiers, Spotlight on Viviane Vagh In a field dominated by intellectual showmanship and hermetic eccentricity, Viviane Vagh’s filmmaking speaks with a voice as familiar as it is poe...
Magical Transformations: A Conversation with Viviane Vagh Justine Gaunt July 2009 Special Dossiers, Spotlight on Viviane Vagh “There are lots of different identities in my genes”, says Viviane Vagh. We speak on the ’phone, she in Paris, me in Yorkshire, but either of us c...
Viviane Vagh and the Poetics of Disappearance, Or: A Portrait of Cinema as a Young Girl Gabriela Trujillo July 2009 Special Dossiers, Spotlight on Viviane Vagh A young girl on a sunny day. Gracefully, she comes and goes. Does she know she’s being filmed? Does she know that, as her image multiplies on the ...
Experimental Fusions: Viviane Vagh’s Beachcombers Installations Romy Sutherland July 2009 Special Dossiers, Spotlight on Viviane Vagh Viviane Vagh’s absorbing installation series, “Beachcombers”, is a celebration of fusion. Vagh explores the meeting points of natural elements, su...
Indonesia Calling: Joris Ivens in Australia John Hughes July 2009 MIFF Premiere Fund/Post-Punk Dossier, Special Dossiers The new feature documentary scheduled for release at the Melbourne International Film Festival this year, Indonesia Calling: Joris Ivens in Austra...
On The Beach (Stanley Kramer, 1959, USA) Deane Williams September 2009 Key Moments in Australian Cinema, Special Dossiers
Strike Me Lucky (Ken G. Hall, 1934) Lesley Speed September 2009 Key Moments in Australian Cinema, Special Dossiers
Wolf Creek (Greg Mclean, 2005) William “Bill” Blick September 2009 Key Moments in Australian Cinema, Special Dossiers
On the Home Front: Newsfront (Phillip Noyce, 1978) Adrian Danks September 2009 Key Moments in Australian Cinema, Special Dossiers
Intervention: Katherine, NT (Julie Nimmo, 2008) Dugald Williamson September 2009 Key Moments in Australian Cinema, Special Dossiers
Romper Stomper (Geoffrey Wright, 1992) Lucille Paterson September 2009 Key Moments in Australian Cinema, Special Dossiers
“Take it all off baby, take it all off” – The Australian Kamasutra: Love Serenade (Shirley Barrett, 1996) Catherine Simpson August 2009 Key Moments in Australian Cinema, Special Dossiers
