To Mr. James Franco, We always knew that you would do it. You always knew that you would do it. Really, it was only a matter of time before you set your sights on Faulkner, and to be quite honest, we’re glad that you did. It’s high time another piece Read More…
The ninth annual Queer Women of Color Film Festival took place from June 14 to 16 at the Brava Theatre in San Francisco’s Mission District. Presented by the Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project, the festival seeks to promote the creation, exhibition and distribution of films that increase the Read More…
“In the House” balances beautifully the two things that French filmmakers do best — substantial natural dialogue and that singular sexuality inevitable in Francophone work — while reattributing them to a very different kind of story. Far from the Nouvelle Vague “Breathless” couples and quasi-sex-fantasy Brigitte Bardot fodder of the Read More…
Here’s a pitch that wouldn’t be hard to sell on a college campus — a religion about sex, drugs ‘n’ rock and roll. After all, many of us are already devotees to at least one of them. The co-directors, Maria Demopoulos and Jodi Wille, tell the story from the points Read More…
Movies with all-star casts are not the easiest to love. Usually, their budgets are so large that all they need to do is rely on their celebrity status to draw large crowds to movie theaters. Sure, they tell a funny story that will keep you entertained for 90 minutes, but Read More…
Early twentieth century Russian filmmaker Dziga Vertov once observed that “everybody who cares for his art seeks the essence of his own technique.” Director Shane Carruth’s sophomore effort, the new film “Upstream Color,” strikes directly at this exploration; it is a sprawling, emotionally wrought movie whose abstract plot seems less Read More…
“Expand or Die.” This is the mantra of the 21st century’s $2 trillion agricultural market, depicted in Ramin Bahrani’s “At Any Price.” Henry Whipple (Dennis Quaid) is a firm believer of this saying. Whipple realizes that in order to survive he must expand, and to do this he must cut Read More…
If you’re looking for a documentary to break your heart with harrowing images, “The Revolutionary Optimists,” by Nicole Newnham and Maren Grainger-Monsen, is not for you. If you’re looking for a film to inspire you, it is. The documentary, which opened on April 5, instead presents a hopeful view of Read More…
It has been over 40 years since political activist and scholar Angela Davis landed on the FBI’s Most Wanted list, but her story of perseverance and courage in the fight for civil rights is timeless. The upcoming documentary, “Free Angela & All Political Prisoners,” chronicles Davis’s lifework and her journey Read More…
If you ride like lightning, you’re gonna crash like thunder.” It is a single moment of electricity and its monumental reverberations that transfix us in Derek Cianfrance’s gripping new film, “The Place Beyond the Pines.” Tension is hurtled from one generation to another in a bloodied tapestry of legacy and Read More…
