Wait for someone named “Margaret” to appear in Kenneth Lonergan’s film of that name, and it will be in vain. The title “Margaret” is taken from Gerard Manley Hopkins’s poem “Spring and Fall,” addressed to a grieving girl too young and small to understand the enormity of what she grieves Read More…
Film Readers know I have talked about “Melancholia” ad nauseum, but this Thursday, Feb. 23 at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco could be your last chance to see Lars von Trier’s spectacular film on the big screen. It’s kind of a trek, but witnessing “Melancholia” — which stars Kirsten Read More…
“The Vow” is a movie about amnesia and thus comes with a plethora of requisite amnesia jokes (i.e. “Who’s the president?” “Obama.” “The senator?”), which are one of the few things going for this endearing flop of a chick flick. Gearing up for Valentine’s Day, “The Vow” follows happily married Read More…
Currently in its 14th year, the San Francisco Independent Film Festival is one of many transgressive film forums our Bay Area has to offer in the spring. Along with SF International and the SF International Asian American Film Festival, among others, IndieFest offers an array of diverse films by international Read More…
The Woman in Black” begins with all the prerequisites of classic horror. There’s the fog, the ominous music and the sinister visages of antique dolls. Three young girls appear, clad in identical clothing a la the twisted twins of “The Shining” and a tragedy strikes. We’ve seen this pattern before, Read More…
Classic Schmosby. After seven years of playing Ted Mosby in “How I Met Your Mother,” Josh Radnor has been making efforts to discover life apart from his architect alter ego. However earnestly he has tried to create another image of himself, he only kind of, sort of departs from Ted. Read More…
San Francisco has a hard time finding representation in cinema. It’s too expensive to film here, and besides, New York is cinema’s favorite city. We have LA-transplant Barry Jenkins to thank for writing and directing “Medicine for Melancholy,” the quintessential San Francisco film because it wouldn’t work any place else. Read More…
You won’t see a bewitched princess, rosy-cheeked and slumbering away in a castle to await her prince in Julia Leigh’s “Sleeping Beauty.” Instead, Leigh’s chilling arthouse film presents the heroine as Lucy (Emily Browning), a college student strapped for cash. Lucy works a variety of odd jobs, one of which Read More…
Simin wants to leave Iran. Her husband, Nader, will not allow it because he believes this will be bad for their child, Termeh. Simin sues for divorce. The two separate, and Nader is left on his own to care for their young daughter and his Alzheimer’s-suffering father. So begins Iranian Read More…
Mallory Kane doesn’t care about your feelings. Played by Gina Carano, she is a black ops super soldier (whatever that is, neither director Steven Soderbergh nor I really care) privately contracted by Kenneth (Ewan McGregor) with whom she shares a fraught, but vague, personal history. She is delegated to free Read More…
