Welcome to issue 47 of our journal! the editors May 2008 Editorial As this issue goes on-line in this month of May, it would be remiss not to mention the 40th Anniversary of another seminal month of May long gone. We refer, of course, to the so-called ‘events’ of May 1968 ...
Seven Thieves: Making the World Gasp Pedro Blas Gonzalez May 2008 Feature Articles What seems at first little more than a run-of-the-mill Hollywood heist movie of the 1960s is for Gonzalez a film that “allows us to re-discover, or re-event, the order of what Edmund Husserl has referred to as the lived-world of experience”.
A Film is Trying to Build a Sort of Eternity: An Interview with Mahamet-Saleh Haroun Angela Dalle Vacche May 2008 Feature Articles The Chad-born director of Bye Bye Africa, Abouna and Darratt discusses the significance of his films, and the broader context of African Cinema today.
Ennui, Fatelessness, Misdirection: Juno and the Cast-Iron Chrysalis of American Banality Matthew Boyd May 2008 Feature Articles A highly praised Indie success, but what is it actually saying about contemporary American culture?
You Know My Name: On Beginnings and Replications in the New Bond Robert von Dassanowsky and Jeffrey Bunzendahl May 2008 Feature Articles The success of Casino Royale has radically re-energised and redefined perceptions of the long-standing 007 franchise. The authors offer some unexpected insights about the ever-developing James Bond stories.
What I Owe to Hammer Horror John Potts May 2008 Feature Articles Autobiography and critical analysis blend together as the author looks back to his days as a boy in the flatlands of regional Australia and the Hammer films that shaped his imagination.
Forgotten Lean: The Ann Todd Trilogy John Orr May 2008 Feature Articles Though other titles loom larger in perceptions of David Lean’s career, John Orr makes a case for the significance of Lean’s collaboration with Ann Todd in The Passionate Friends, Madeleine and The Sound Barrier.
On the Terminal in Cinema Andrew C. Schenker May 2008 Feature Articles Taking up literary critic A. Alvarez’s notion of a “terminal æsthetic” (as first applied to Samuel Beckett’s work), Schenker discusses its relevance to a range of contemporary films.
The World Tasted: Dušan Makavejev’s Sweet Movie Lorraine Mortimer May 2008 Feature Articles The author of the forthcoming first English-language book devoted to the director, Terror and Joy: The Films of Dušan Makavejev, dissects this most sensuously complex film.
Sweet Movie: The Gentle Side of “Destructive Art” Dušan Makavejev May 2008 Feature Articles The esteemed director of this landmark movie looks back at his most controversial film.
Slovak Cinema of the 1970s Revisited Peter Hourigan May 2008 Feature Articles For the West, the “Czech New Wave” label unintentionally elided what was in fact a productive mix of Czech and Slovak filmmakers. Recent DVD releases from the Slovak Film Institute help reclaim their cultural identity.
“When men, even unknowingly, …”: Quién sabe?, Love is Colder than Death, Le Cercle rouge: The Buddy Movie Becomes Romance Jason Mark Scott May 2008 Feature Articles A Spaghetti Western, a Brechtian gangster film and a stylised French crime film by, respectively, Damiani, Fassbinder and Melville are brought together in this perceptive look at the underlying dynamics of the male friendship movie.
Market, Ethics, Frontiers and Bamboo: The 27th Sundance Film Festival Bérénice Reynaud May 2008 Festival Reports 17–27 January 2008 Market The shadow of the seemingly never-ending writers strike was looming over Sundance this year (we didn’t yet know it wou...
Young At Heart: Sydney’s 3rd Seniors Film Festival Scott Henderson May 2008 Festival Reports 6 - 13 April 2008 Cinema can sometimes breed the worst kinds of snobbery. It’s a misdemeanour that I have on more than one occasion been guilty...
Of Proletarians and Termites, Working Girls and the Whispering Wind: The 45th Vienna International Film Festival Barbara Wurm May 2008 Festival Reports 19–31 October 2007 Every festival has a reputation. A good reputation, or a bad reputation, however deserved it may be, either way. But only a ...
Six Degrees of Separation: The Small Possible Worlds of Canadian Film: The 2nd Possible Worlds Film Festival Dee Jefferson May 2008 Festival Reports 29 November – 5 December 2007 Possible Worlds, Sydney’s Canadian Film Festival has, unforeseeably, become amongst the best of the city’s burgeo...
The Little Festival That Could: Media City 14: The 14th Annual International Festival of Experimental Film and Video Art Patrick Friel May 2008 Festival Reports 4 - 8 March 2008 They say good things come in small packages. Case in point: the Media City International Festival of Experimental Film and Vid...
Coming to the World Too Late: A Retrospective on Gerbert Rappaport at the 2008 Diagonale Festival of Austrian Film Martina Lunzer May 2008 Festival Reports 1 - 6 April 2008 It was in a small cinema that we gathered. Five mornings in a row in Graz during the Diagonale Film Festival to see about a th...
“This is a small country, you know” The Diagonale Festival of Austrian Film Claudia Siefen May 2008 Festival Reports 1 - 6 April 2008 Love – Work – Cinema. This motto seemed to me something real and grounded and I was looking forward to discovering the richnes...
Daily Reports from the 57th Melbourne International Film Festival Various May 2008 Festival Reports Everything is Fine by Peter Hourigan The French-Canadian film Tous est parfait (Everything is Fine, Yves Christian Fournier, 2008) tackles the dif...
Gazing Lessons: German Films at the 58th Berlin International Film Festival Mattias Frey April 2008 Festival Reports 5-15 February 2008 Industry trade papers have pronounced yet another German crisis. Cinema ticket sales dropped 9% in 2007 vis-à-vis 2006, a pe...
Shadows on the Pier: The 48th Thessaloniki Film Festival Jared Rapfogel April 2008 Festival Reports 16 – 25 November 2007 Thessaloniki may be an ancient city, but much of its history has been effaced by time, war and relentless modern building...
Gijón at the Turning Point: The 45th Gijón International Film Festival Lidia Merás April 2008 Festival Reports 22 November – 1 December 2007 The substantial increase in the number of film festivals in recent years in Spain is doubtless an interesting cas...
The Bridge: The 17th Film Festival Cottbus Catherine S. Cox April 2008 Festival Reports 6-10 November 2007 Films from Eastern Europe were once a staple of art house cinema. Today one could be forgiven for wondering if they’re still...
Cinema Unbound: Some notes on the 9th Festival des Cinémas Différents de Paris Gabriela Trujillo April 2008 Festival Reports 4-7 December 2007 Roland Barthes said about cinema that “it granulates, it sizzles, it caresses, it rubs, it cuts: it comes”. The 9ème Festival...
Jackson, Peter Matthew Stephenson May 2008 Great Directors b. 31 October 1961, New Zealand Filmography Bibliography Articles in Senses Web Resources Peter Jackson, currently one of the world’s mos...
A Critic Unbuttons: I Peed On Fellini: Recollections of a Life in Film by David Stratton Jake Wilson May 2008 Book Reviews Every film lover in Australia owes David Stratton an enormous debt of gratitude. He was largely responsible for the growth and success of the Sydn...
Clever Meets Stupid: Criticism, Theory, and Spielberg Apologists: Citizen Spielberg by Lester D. Friedman and Empire of Dreams: The Science Fiction and Fantasy Films of Steven Spielberg by Andrew M. Gordon Stephen Rowley May 2008 Book Reviews DAVID ST HUBBINS : It’s such a fine line between stupid, and... DEREK SMALLS : ... and clever. – This Is Spinal Tap (Rob Reiner, 1984) Two familiar...
The Future is Now: The Virtual Life of Film by D.N. Rodowick Tony McKibbin May 2008 Book Reviews If cinema as a celluloid form allowed us to meditate on the issue of scepticism, does the age of digital demand something closer to suspicion? This is...
Searching for Schindler by Tom Keneally Scott Murray May 2008 Book Reviews Given the barbarous German persecution of Jews, Gypsies and homosexuals, to name just a few, it is not surprising some of World War II’s oppressed fou...
Pride and Panic: Russian Imagination of the West in Post-Soviet Film by Yana Hashamova Lars Kristensen May 2008 Book Reviews There is no question of the achievements of Yana Hashamova in this vivid publication on post-Soviet cinema and I see Pride and Panic as an important d...
James Benning edited by Barbara Pichler and Claudia Slanar Vera Brunner-Sung May 2008 Book Reviews If I am going to make up my history let me make it up the way I want to. If you criticize that, you have to criticize all history not just mine. – ...
Letters to the Editor from Martha P. Nochimson and Lindsay Coleman Various April 2008 Book Reviews Letter to the Editor: re. Dying to Belong: Gangster Movies in Hollywood and Hong Kong, by Martha P. Nochimson, reviewed by Lindsay Coleman in Senses ...
Ordet Darragh O’Donoghue May 2008 CTEQ Annotations on Film Ordet/The Word (1955 Denmark 126 mins) Prod Co: Palladium Film Prod: Erik Nielsen Dir: Carl Theodor Dreyer Scr: Carl Theodor Dreyer, based on t...
Vampyr Catherine S. Cox May 2008 CTEQ Annotations on Film Vampyr (1932 France/Germany 75 mins) Prod Co: Carl Th. Dreyer Produktion Prod: Carl Theodor Dreyer, Baron Nicolas de Gunzburg Dir: Carl Theodor...
Carlton + Godard = Cinema Bruce Hodsdon May 2008 CTEQ Annotations on Film Carlton + Godard = Cinema (2003 Australia 145 mins) Prod Co: Sunshine Picture Co. Prod, Dir, Sc: Nigel Buesst Leaving aside Giorgio Mangiam...
Præsidenten (The President) Miguel Marías May 2008 CTEQ Annotations on Film Præsidenten/The President (1919 Denmark 105 mins) Prod Co: Nordisk Films Kompagni Dir, Art Dir: Carl Theodor Dreyer Scr: Carl Theodor Dreyer, b...
La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc Michael Koller May 2008 CTEQ Annotations on Film La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc/The Passion of Joan of Arc (1927 France 90 mins) Prod Co: Société Générale de Films Dir: Carl Theodor Dreyer Scr: Dr...
The Palm Beach Story (Preston Sturges, 1942) Brian Wilson May 2008 CTEQ Annotations on Film By the time The Palm Beach Story was released in 1942, Preston Sturges had already enjoyed a series of artistic and commercial successes as both scree...
Mambo Girl Kevin Lee May 2008 CTEQ Annotations on Film Mambo Girl (1957 Hong Kong 92 mins) Prod Co: MP and GI Prod: Lin Yiliang Dir, Scr: Yi Wen Phot: Dong Shaoyong Ed: Wang Zhaoxi Mus: Qi Xiangtang...
Dreaming in Words: Gertrud Trevor Mowchun May 2008 CTEQ Annotations on Film Gertrud (1964 Denmark 115 mins) Prod Co: Palladium Film Prod: Jørgen Nielson Dir: Carl Theodor Dreyer Scr: Carl Theodor Dreyer, based on the pl...
Day of Wrath Martyn Bamber May 2008 CTEQ Annotations on Film Day of Wrath/Vredens dag (1943 Denmark 100 mins) Prod Co: Palladium Film Prod: Tage Nielsen Dir: Carl Theodor Dreyer Scr: Mogens Skot-Hansen, P...
Boxing on with Mao and Mundine: Come Out Fighting Dylan Rainforth May 2008 CTEQ Annotations on Film Come Out Fighting (1973 Australia 50 mins) Dir: Nigel Buesst Scr: Nigel Buesst, based on the play by Harry Martin Phot: Byron Kennedy Ed: Tony ...
Ashes and Diamonds Rahul Hamid April 2008 CTEQ Annotations on Film Ashes and Diamonds/Popiól I diament (1959 Poland 103 mins) Prod Co: Zespól Felmowy “Kadr” Dir: Andrzej Wajda Scr: Jerzy Andrzejewski, Andrzej W...
A Generation and Kanal Boris Trbic April 2008 CTEQ Annotations on Film This annotation previously appeared in Senses of Cinema, no. 14, June 2001. Kanal (1956 Poland 95 mins) Source: NLA/CAC Prod Co: Film Polski...
Mississippi Mermaid Jonathan Dawson April 2008 CTEQ Annotations on Film La Sirène du Mississippi/Mississippi Mermaid (1969 France 123 mins) Prod Co: Les Films du Carrosse/Les Productions Artistes Associés/Lopert Pic...
Polish Reveries & Reflections: Andrzej Wajda’s Man of Marble Adam Bingham April 2008 CTEQ Annotations on Film Man of Marble/Czlowiek z marmuru (1977 Poland 165 mins) Prod Co: Film Polski Film Agency/Zespól Filmowy “X” Dir: Andrzej Wajda Scr: Aleksander ...
Duet for Three: Les Deux Anglaises et le Continent David Melville April 2008 CTEQ Annotations on Film Les Deux Anglaises et le Continent/Two English Girls/Anne and Muriel (1971 France 132 mins) Prod. Co: Les Films du Carosse/Cinétel Prod: Marcel...
Day for Night Brian Hoyle April 2008 CTEQ Annotations on Film Day for Night/La Nuit américaine (1973 France 116 mins) Prod Co: Les Films du Carrosse/P.E.C.F./P.I.C Dir: François Truffaut Scr: François Truf...
Death in Brunswick: 2 Disc Collectors Edition (Umbrella Entertainment) Peter Hourigan May 2008 DVD Reviews In 1952, non-Anglo-Saxon migrants were such a strange phenomenon that the Australian Government’s Film Division, Department of the Interior, for t...
They’re a Weird Mob (Roadshow Home Entertainment) Peter Hourigan May 2008 DVD Reviews By the mid-1960s, two near-down-and-outs came together. One was Michael Powell. Despite having made (many with Emeric Pressburger) some of the gre...
Saved from the Flames: 54 Rare and Restored Films 1896-1944 (Flicker Alley) James L. Neibaur April 2008 DVD Reviews The survival rate of films made before 1950 is at such a low percentage that any effort to locate and restore our cinematic heritage is commendable. T...
Killer of Sheep: The Charles Burnett Collection (Milestone Film & Video) John Fidler April 2008 DVD Reviews A vehicle crawls along a road that cuts across a brown and dusty landscape, where an African-American youngster tends an ailing horse. Three shiftless...