Tuesday, December 3, 2024

Belgian Filmmaker Calls out Belgium--and Commends Jazz--in the Devastating Documentary Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat

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SOUNDTRACK TO A COUP D’ETAT  (Johan Grimonprez, 2024, Belgium, 150 minutes)  In 1960, the same year the Democratic Republic of the Congo gai...
Friday, November 29, 2024

Gia Coppola's The Last Showgirl with Pamela Anderson and a Down-to-Earth Dave Bautista

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THE LAST SHOWGIRL (Gia Coppola, USA, 2024,  rated R, 85 minutes) I had heard, anecdotally, that Pamela Anderson is better than Gia Coppola...
Tuesday, November 26, 2024

Cucalorus 30 Dispatch #3: AJ Goes to the Dog Park, Anna Comes Home, Duino, Familiar Touch

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AJ GOES TO THE DOG PARK  (Toby Jones, USA, 2024, 78 minutes)  Fargo filmmaker and animator Toby Jones directs a straight-faced gentleman nam...
Saturday, November 23, 2024

Cucalorus 30 Dispatch #2: David Fortune's Astounding Directorial Debut Color Book

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COLOR BOOK  (David Fritz Fortune, USA, 2024, 115 minutes) Every once in a great while I'll see a festival selection so accomplished that...
Thursday, November 21, 2024

Cucalorus 30 Dispatch #1: Actor/Director Alexi Wasser's New York-Set Sex Comedy Messy

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I attended Cucalorus, the adventurous independent film festival in Wilmington, NC, for the first time in 2023 , and had a great time, but di...
Saturday, November 16, 2024

Kasi Lemmons, Eve’s Bayou, and the Pleasures and Pains of Black Cinema in the 1990s

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EVE'S BAYOU  (Kasi Lemmons, USA, 1997, 108 minutes)  "The summer I killed my father, I was 10 years old." --Eve Batiste  Befor...
Friday, November 8, 2024

Look at the Stars, Look How They Shine for You: Andrea Arnold's Bird with Nykiya Adams

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BIRD  (Andrea Arnold, UK, 2024, 119 minutes)  Since 1998, when she released her directorial debut  Milk , a short film, UK filmmaker Andrea ...